Exploding 70s Hype

"OH NO, IT'S ANORAK WOMAN!!", people cry. "She's thrilled to prove that the space hopper was released in 1969... whoopee!"

OK, but when you think that our licence money, a tax collected by the BBC which we have to pay whether we like it or not, paid the researchers for the space hopper trash, don't you think they could be a little more careful?

You can go through your local newspaper archive, as "Why I Don't Love The 1970s" was doing when it found the 1969 space hopper ad, and disprove BBC research, and yet the BBC has a huge archive of material to draw on and a reputation for research second to none...

But it can't get right what was for sale in toy shops in 1969. That's quite beyond it, I'm afraid!

"I Love 1970s" was littered with errors, a not so hidden agenda was in force to hype the 70s, just as "I Love 1980s" was designed to portray a decade that we could conveniently scapegoat as the cause of all modern ills.

Likeable 80s fads, wherever possible, were transferred to the 70s.

The fact that "I Love 1980s", just like "I Love 1970s", didn't actually bear much resemblance to the decade was apparently neither here nor there.

The BBC is quite happy to rewrite history so that we think as it thinks!

Enjoy some real 1980s pop culture, as it was in Britain, at http://80sactual.blogspot.com/ - though I warn dial up users it will take seven hundred years to download, so you might be better having a squint at individual pages!

So, you believe that the good old space hopper was released in Britain in 1971, eh? It says so on the BBC's "I Love 1970s" site and on the Toy Retailers site (which, in reality, always echoes the Beeb), so it must be so...

So why are advertisements from British newspapers of 1969 turning up on the blogosphere - showing that the space hopper was actually on sale here then?

See here: http://70struth.blogspot.com/

"Why I Don't Love The 1970s" states:

"For the I Love... series, a small caption was inserted in the opening titles, stating that the space hopper was released in 1968 and then "bounced its way through the 70s". Fair enough, but the I Love... website states that the first spacehoppers arrived in this country in 1971. Would you like onions with your tripe?

The spacehopper was an instant hit, very popular from 1968 onwards. It was still going strong in the '70s, yes, but did it really deserve such major billing? Other sites follow the BBC's line, touting the hopper as either new in 1971 or as THE craze of 1971. Popular, yes. New or a sudden craze? Most certainly not.

Still, if it makes 70s pop culture look good..."

What is it with 70s hype? Is it simply 40 and 50-somethings, telling porkies about their youth era so it looks good? Is it young geeks and nerds, clutching on to a fake notion of the 1970s like Linus clutches on to his security blanket?

I dunno. But it's stupid and time it stopped.

Like your pop culture history accurate but wouldn't class yourself an anorak? Then Exploding 70s Hype is for you - taking a look at a decade hyped to distraction by the BBC, the Toy Retailers Association, old Uncle Tom Cobbley and all...

However, if you prefer to live in fantasy land, don't read on!