Why are we looking back at 1990?
Because it was the year that FSTL was founded!
What was the world like then? Cast your mind back…
World politics
1990 was a remarkable year in politics. We began the new year and the new decade with a war – the Gulf War. This war was significant for the UK as it involved the largest single deployment of British troops since WW2. On a more positive note, it was also the year in which the unification of East and West Germany occurred, 11 months after the world watched as the Berlin Wall finally fell. It also saw the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison.
Closer to home
It was also a tumultuous year in the UK. The poll tax or community charge came into effect in England & Wales in early 1990, leading to riots, protests and refusals to pay. It was no doubt a contributing factor in Margaret Thatcher’s resignation later that year. After 2 years of construction, the first ground connection between England and France since the last ice age was made as workers on the Channel Tunnel finally connected. Would you believe it was also the year that supermarket chain Aldi opened its first store in the UK – with Birmingham being the first location?!
Technology
This is possibly one area where you could say we’ve seen this biggest change in the last 30 years. The World Wide Web/Internet protocol (HTTP) and WWW language (HTML) were created by Tim Berners-Lee, which effectively meant the launch of the internet. The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed by NASA. In terms of tech at home, we were still listening to music on the Discman, Sky TV was just a year old and we were still using floppy disks to save and store information!
Entertainment
Looking back at 1990, we saw some firm favourites! Think Home Alone, Pretty Woman and Ghost as just 3 films from the year that went on to become classics. It’s also the year the Mitchell brothers were first seen on the Square – which made us realise that Phil Mitchell has been in Albert Square as long as we’ve been around! Michael Bolton brought tears to the eyes of many a lady crooning “How Am I Suppose to Live Without You” which by mid January 1990 became the first new number one single of the 1990s. Mr Bean and Twin Peaks took UK TV by storm and we were also introduced to The Simpsons for the first time. It was the first year of the Chelsea Flower Show, which was opened by Princess Anne.
To make you feel really old, it was also the year in which Emma Watson who played Hermione in all the Harry Potter films was born!
Sports
A year of disappointment was on the cards in 1990, particularly in the form of the semi-finals of the World Cup which saw Paul Gascgoine in tears as England lost once again on penalties to West Germany. Andre Agassi, Nick Faldo and Ayrton Senna were all the sporting heroes of the year.
Some incredible memories… watch this space for some memories of our own from 30 years ago!
And there we are! For more fun from January 1990 take a look at our blog!