What d'ya think about that?

Timeslip moment again...

...and we're hurtling back in time three decades once more - to 1992: HM The Queen's annus horribilis, after the official separation of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, the separation of the Duke and Duchess of York, the Princess Royal divorcing Capt Mark Phillips (and subsequently marrying Tim Lawrence) and the devastating fire at her favourite residence Windsor Castle; it was also the year of the Maastricht Treaty, Ab Fab, Nigel Mansell, President Bill Clinton, Ebeneezer Goode, Stella Rimington, the continued bloody break-up of Yugoslavia and the war in Bosnia, Slobodan Milošević, Madonna's Erotica, "Black Wednesday", Eldorado, Alan Shearer, "You Know When You've Been Tango'd", Andrew Morton, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, The Big Breakfast , John Smith, Rachel Nickell, Damien Hirst's "shark", Sister Act, Nagorno-Karabakh, Jeffrey Dahmer, Wayne's World, David Mellor, BCCI, For The Boys, Steffi Graf, Yitzhak Rabin, polytechnics transformed into new universities, The Camomile Lawn, the Barcelona Olympics, Pope John Paul II, Boris Yeltsin and Strictly Ballroom; the year that Miley Cyrus, EuroDisney, the Republic of Mauritius, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the Ford Mondeo, Sam Smith, the Commodore Amiga 1200 computer, Classic FM, Nick Jonas, Slovakia, Windows 3.1, Cara Delevingne, The Oldie magazine, Selena Gomez and Wagamama were all born; and the year Marlene Dietrich, Nancy Walker, Anthony Perkins, Sandy Dennis, Peter Allen, Robert Morley, José Ferrer, Ástor Piazzolla, Lawrence Welk, Menachem Begin, Denholm Elliott, Isaac Asimov, Thames Television, TVS, TSW and TV-am died.

In the news headlines in April '92? The UK elected Margaret Thatcher's successor John Major as Prime Minister in the biggest landslide vote in history, there was civil war in Afghanistan, the declaration of independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serbian siege of Sarajevo, an IRA bomb destroyed the Baltic Exchange in the City of London, the massive Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness (featuring Queen and an array of heavy rock bands, as well as Dame Elton John, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, David Bowie, George Michael, Seal, Paul Young, Annie Lennox, Lisa Stansfield and Liza Minnelli) took place at Wembley Stadium, Betty Boothroyd became the first female Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall first opened to the public, and the acquittal of four police officers in the Rodney King beating criminal trial triggered massive rioting in Los Angeles; we also waved a sad goodbye to "national treasures" Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill on consecutive days. In our cinemas: My Own Private Idaho; Hook; The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. On telly: Jeeves and Wooster; Take Your Pick! with Des O'Connor; the debut of Heartbeat.

And what of our charts this week thirty years ago? All present and correct in the Top Ten were the fabulous Shakespear's Sister, Iron Maiden, Vanessa Williams, Curtis Stigers, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Marc Almond's Days of Pearly Spencer, SL2 On a Ragga Tip, one-hit-wonders Ten Sharp with You, and some dirge by an act called "Mr Big" [I'll be the judge of that! - Ed.].

However, finally - after their magnum opus I'm Too Sexy was thwarted by the seventeen-week-chart-topping behemoth that was Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It for You in '91, and their second hit Don't Talk Just Kiss was beaten by the Xmas re-release of Bohemian Rhapsody following Freddie's death - it was the turn of the very lovely Right Said Fred to take the top slot - with this one!

Right Said Fred - Deeply Dippy

Love it - but not as much as this (unsurprisingly)...

Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy

I'm too sexy for my love
Too sexy for my love
Love's going to leave me

I'm too sexy for my shirt
Too sexy for my shirt
So sexy it hurts

And I'm too sexy for Milan
Too sexy for Milan,
New York and Japan

And I'm too sexy for your party
Too sexy for your party
No way I'm disco dancing

I'm a model, you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah, on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah
I do my little turn on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my car
Too sexy for my car
Too sexy by far

And I'm too sexy for my hat
Too sexy for my hat
What d'ya think about that?

I'm a model, you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah, on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah
I shake my little tush on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my
Too sexy for my
Too sexy for my

'Cause I'm a model, you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah, on the catwalk, yeah, on the catwalk, yeah
I shake my little tush on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my cat
Too sexy for my cat
Poor pussy
Poor pussy cat

I'm too sexy for my love
Too sexy for my love
Love's going to leave me

And I'm too sexy for this song!

Yay!

But... THIRTY YEARS?! Lordy, We're old...

I'd like to put you in a trance

Timeslip moment again...

We've beamed down in this week 25 years ago, in 1992: HM the Queen's annus horribilis (with the divorce of Ann and Cap'n Mark, the scandalous split of Andy'n'Fergie, the separation of Charles and Di and the near-destruction of parts of the historic Windsor Castle, her favourite palace); the year of Boris Yeltsin, the BCCI banking scandal, Steffi Graf, the Barcelona Olympics, Damien Hirst's "shark", PM John Major (who won the general election), the Maastricht Treaty, Betty Boothroyd, Euro Disney, the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Nigel Mansell, the dismantling of Yugoslavia, the Los Angeles riots, the election of President Bill Clinton, and the births of Miley Cyrus, Cara Delevingne - and Ab Fab.

In the news in October 1992: the fallout from so-called "Black Wednesday" (the UK's withdrawal from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism) continued, fuelling a continuing recession; protest rallies were held in Washington to challenge the Bush administration's lack of action on AIDS (and the AIDS Memorial Quilt was born); there were protests, too, in the UK about the planned closure of a string of coal mines and over 30,000 job losses; the Mozambique civil war finally ended after sixteen years; a huge earthquake in Cairo killed 543 people and injured more than 6,500; in the ascendant were Lithuania (which held a referendum on its first democratic constitution since it seceded from the former Soviet Union), the Cartoon Network (the world's first TV channel devoted to animation) and Sinéad O'Connor (who ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live); but we bade our sad farewells to the multi-talented actor Denholm Elliott. In our cinemas: Patriot Games, Beauty and the Beast and Strictly Ballroom. On telly: Later... with Jools Holland, Gladiators and The Big Breakfast.

And in the UK charts? At the top of the heap at #1 was "one-hit wonder" Tamsin Archer with Sleeping Satellite; also present and correct in the Top Ten were Bizarre Inc, Boyz II Men, The Shamen, Dr Alban, Simple Minds, Prince, Take That, Undercover and Doctor Spin (whooo?). But, just landed - and about to cause a media shit-storm - was Our Glorious Leader Queen Madge, with this all-time smutty classic...

Madonna - Erotica

Can it really be a quarter of a century since we first met "Dita"...?

Do I lie like a lounge-room lizard, or do I sing like a bird released?

Timeslip moment again...

We're hurtling at warp drive into this week in 1992, folks - HM The Queen's annus horribilis; the year of Balkan Wars and French truck driver blockades, of Hurricane Andrew and the Clintons, of the Barcelona Olympics and El Dorado; when the first nicotine patches, the first smartphone/touch-screen PDA and the ill-fated CD-i player were all launched, and TWA went bust.

In the news this week twenty-five years ago [where does the time go?]: Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence (triggering years of bloodshed across the former Yugoslavia); PM John Major announced a general election was to be held on 9th April; the People's Republic of China ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; and in the ascendant were Microsoft (with the release of the soon-to-be-predominant Windows 3.1), Douglas Adams (who released Mostly Harmless, the fifth (and final) book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series) and Britain's polytechnics (which under the Further and Higher Education Act could now become universities), but 263 people were killed in a mining disaster in Turkey. In our cinemas: The Prince of Tides, Betty Blue and The Last Boy Scout. On telly: Men Behaving Badly, Thomas the Tank Engine and The Camomile Lawn.

And what of the charts in March 1992? At #1 was one of our house faves Shakespear's Sister with Stay, closely followed by (believe it or not) The Temptations with their classic My Girl [which was re-released as the title number of the film of the same name], Shanice, Guns'n'Roses, Opus III, Madness, The Pasadenas, Bryan Adams, Michael Jackson and the KLF. But waiting in the wings just outside the Top Ten was Aussie band Crowded House and this uplifting classic:

Crowded House - Weather With You

Walking 'round the room singing 'Stormy Weather'
At Fifty Seven Mount Pleasant Street
Well it's the same room, but everything's different
You can fight the sleep, but not the dream

Things ain't cookin' in my kitchen
Strange affliction wash over me
Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire
Couldn't conquer the blue sky

Well, there's a small boat made of china
It's going nowhere on the mantelpiece
Well, do I lie like a lounge-room lizard
Or do I sing like a bird released?

Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you
Everywhere you go, always take the weather
Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you
Everywhere you go, always take the weather, the weather with you

Unfortunately if anyone wanted to "take the weather with them" today, it would be blustery heavy showers...

Why waste your time? You know you're gonna be mine

Timeslip moment again, and our little wormhole has plonked us down in this week twenty-three years ago, in 1992.

In the news - the country's ugliest Government minister David Mellor resigned over his extra-marital affair, Britain's withdrawal from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism was still causing ructions with the pound and unemployment was at an all-time high, the new 10p coin was unveiled, Glengarry Glen Ross and The Crying Game were in the cinema, and on the small screen we saw the launch of Channel 4's The Big Breakfast and the BBC's ill-fated soap Eldorado was already suffering widespread ridicule [we loved it!].

In the charts, "Acid House" was still a force to be reckoned with - the Shamen's Ebeneezer Goode was at Number 1 - but the rest of the chart was a real mish-mash. Everything from Daniel O'Donnell to Mike Oldfield to Def Leppard to Manic Street Preachers to Tamsin Archer to Stereo MCs was here - but hovering in the wings, waiting for its moment in the sun was this classic:

Bizarre Inc (featuring Angie Brown) - I'm Gonna Get You

"Yo, DJ, pump this party!"

And why not?