It may surprise you to discover that the microwave oven wasn’t actually invented in the eighties though. A patent was filed in the 1930s that proposed the groundwork for the method that microwave ovens use, and in 1945 it was found that microwaves could have a heating effect when a radar engineer discovered that a radar set had melted a chocolate bar in his pocket.

The first home microwave oven was launched in 1952 in the US, but it failed to catch on due to it’s expensive price tag. In the 1960s further models were released by various companies but it still failed to catch on, again due to expense and the unfamiliar technology. By the late 1970s prices started to come down, and by the time the 1980s arrived the cost was low enough for many normal families to consider buying one.

Cost however was not the only barrier stopping microwave ovens from coming into peoples homes. Scare stories about the effects of radiation of different kinds soon got linked to microwave ovens, and people were paranoid about these devices leaking rogue microwaves and slowly cooking them to death. Devices were even sold which were like mini Geiger counters for microwaves, which you could wave around your microwave oven to make sure it was safe.

Add to this fear the fact that you should not use metal containers in a microwave, and that anything you did use needed to be certified “microwave safe”, and it’s a wonder they took off at all!

Probably the biggest disappointment when you finally got a microwave was the look, texture and taste of the food once it had been cooked. Microwave ovens do not brown the food, so you end up with pale food that somehow doesn’t quite taste right.

Baked potatoes are a great example of this, as they were the poster child for many a microwave oven advertising campaign. “Why take an hour or more to make a baked potato when you can do it in minutes in a microwave?“, the adverts cried. How about because you want a fluffy inside with a thick crunchy skin to munch on afterwards?

Nowadays microwave ovens have fancy digital controls and lots of preprogrammed cooking options, but in the eighties it was typical two dial controls – one to set the cooking power, the other a timer dial. Hands up how many of you remember having to turn the dial clockwise then anti-clockwise in order to accurately set the time you wanted! Today you can also get microwaves combined with convection ovens and grills which help get round the browning problem.

The microwave oven is still a great invention, and over the years we’ve got used to the taste of microwave ready meals. Also, there’s one thing you can do in a microwave oven which you can’t do in a regular oven. Next time you have a packet of marshmallows, try popping one on a plate and putting it in the microwave, just don’t leave it in too long unless you enjoy cleaning up marshmallow explosions!

Given this is an eighties site, I figure many of you reading this will have been around when EastEnders first aired, so I’m curious to find out whether the show is still popular with people from this era, simply because they started watching it when they were a kid and have not stopped. Please choose the option below which best fits your viewing habits for EastEnders.

The programme has a very memorable theme tune, but it came as quite a surprise to most people when Anita Dobson, aka Angie Watts, the Queen Vic landlady, released a record which put lyrics to the theme song.

The lyrics may well be considered cheesey now (and probably was back in 1986 when it was released) but it has to be said that Anita Dobson didn’t actually have a bad singing voice, so whilst it was most likely the popularity of EastEnders that saw the record reach number 4 in the UK charts, at least there was some talent involved in the production of the record.

The EastEnders theme tune was originally composed by Simon May, with the lyrics added afterwards by Don Black. It was produced by Dobson’s husband Brian May. That’s right, the big haired Brian May from Queen! Well, it’s nice that he supported his wife, isn’t it?

Sadly for Anita, whilst she did release other records after this, none were particularly popular, which I suppose comes as no surprise since she was never going to be popular with the younger market because it would be like buying a record sung by your Mum.

Want to have a listen for old times sake. Check out the video clip below. Sadly I couldn’t embed it, but there’s also footage of Anita performing the song on Top of the Pops. I bet she felt a bit of a plum during the quite long instrumental break.

When kids programmes on Four did make an emergence though, they were often aimed at younger children and were actually very good. A good example of this is Pob’s Programme, which first came on air in 1985. It was created by Doug Wilcox and Anne Wood of production company Ragdoll. If that sounds familiar then Anne and Ragdoll have gone on to be incredibly successful with shows such as Teletubbies and In The Night Garden.

Back to our friend Pob then. Pob was a puppet with a large round (presumably wooden) head with big sticky out ears and pinky purple papery looking hair. You never saw his body because he wore a very long pink and yellow striped knitted jumper, the end of which stretched far away below him, and was slowly unravelling as if someone was pulling at a loose end.

Pob was supposed to live inside your television set, so our view was generally of Pob stood in front of the electron guns behind the glass of the screen. Pob would use the screen to write his name and draw pictures, which he did by breathing on the screen (it sounded more like blowing raspberries though) until it fogged up and he could draw on it with his finger.

Pob had a strange way of speaking, which was mostly English but with a lot of unnecessary repetition and the odd bit of incomprehensible mumbling to himself when it seemed like he was getting frustrated by something.

I mentioned his jumper unravelling earlier, and the reason for this was the episodes special guest. Many household names appeared on the show, including Brian Blessed, Spike Milligan and Roy Castle among many others. The guest would arrive in a garden, and follow a length of wool to try and find Pob. Along the way the guest would play games and read stories, and at the end of the show would leave Pob with a little present to play with, whilst the end credits ran, which Pob wiped off the screen with a duster.

One interesting aspect regarding the guests was that the guest for the next episode used to arrive at the end of the show, then realise they were a week early and wander off feeling sheepish.

Pob’s Programme is a very fondly remembered show with anybody who saw it, and if you count yourself in that group then you might be excited to find out that the voice of Pob, Robin Stevens, has actually posted a whole bunch of Pob videos on YouTube, which are definitely worth a look if you’re a fan.

Clip Ons came in all sorts of guises, and my sister’s collection was extensive. Some were just little animals like rabbits or bears in various colours (be they realistic looking greys and browns or brightly coloured variations), but you could also get pretty much anything you care to think of.

Whilst some were fairly generic, such as clowns, dolls, snowmen or Father Christmas, others were created in the form of well known cartoon characters. Amongst my sister’s collection she had Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, The Get Along Gang, E.T. and many more. In total she had around 130 of them, surprisingly no two of which were the same.

How did she build up such a large collection? Well, most were amassed during our holidays to the seaside. The little gift shops at British seaside towns used to be a treasure trove of things such as these, and my sister used to scour the shelves of each and every one we came across looking for another different Clip On to add to her collection, which she displayed in her bedroom hanging from a number of cords.

Impressive though her collection was, it has to be said that I think several of the character tie in ones were far from officially licensed. Whilst some were very accurate representations, others could only be construed as being a little mutated looking, which was fine I suppose if it was a Ninja Turtle…

Surprisingly this type of toy seems to have stopped being made these days, and I can’t really see a reason why this should be, especially considering how eager companies seem to be to cash in on cartoon and film characters in whatever way they can. Surely a Clip On Harry Potter or Spongebob Squarepants would sell, wouldn’t it?

My ultimate favourite Dahl book has to be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I fell in love with this book when it was read to us at primary school, and I’ve loved it ever since. I even love the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, if only for the wonderfully named Vermicious Knids. Another favourite from school was Danny the Champion of the World, a book about poaching pheasants no less!

Whilst Dahl always had a wicked streak in his books this streak got more and more pronounced as time went by. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is full of wonderful inventions, but it is very much based around a very normal little boy. By the time of The Twits and George’s Marvellous Medicine most normality had been thrown out of the window and the characters have become larger than life in most cases. Not that this is a bad thing, but there is a distinct difference between his earlier and later works.

So, what’s your favourite Dahl book? I’ve provided what I consider the essential Dahl below (although I must confess I’ve never actually read James and the Giant Peach for some reason), but if you feel strongly about one that I’ve missed feel free to add it, even if its Tales of the Unexpected, which isn’t really a kids book!

All the above are common and understandable responses, but if I said “The herald of the 3D videogames” you might think I was crazy. How could such a lowly powered piece of silicon and plastic be a forerunner in 3D gaming? Well, in a way, it was, when you consider the landmark game 3D Monster Maze.

3D Monster Maze was really a very simple game. You were placed in a randomly generated maze and had to find the exit before being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. What was unique for this game at the time was that your (admittedly blocky) view of the maze was from a first person perspective, as though you were actually standing in the maze. You saw the corridors of the maze stretching away in front of you, and with no birds eye view to show your position, that made the game far more difficult.

The real star of the show was the T-Rex however. Considering how low resolution the graphics were, the images of the dinosaur were actually surprisingly good, especially when you were looking straight at him and he was just a couple of steps away from eating you. When he did eat you, the screen was filled with a close up of some very sharp looking teeth and a message telling you that you had lost!

Seeing Mr. Rex appear in front of you was one of the most panic inducing moments I’ve experienced to this day. In fact the only other examples I can think of that come close are the first time you see the wolves jump through the window in the first Resident Evil game, and the encounter with a similar dinosaur foe in the original Tomb Raider!

Adding to the tension were the simple text messages that appeared on screen whenever Rex got close to you. “Footsteps approaching“, “Rex has seen you” and the somewhat pantomimey “Run! He is behind you” got you fumbling at the keys to get away from the dinosaur before you’ve even clapped eyes on him!

Playing at the event will be some of the biggest names of the 1980’s (see the list below). The Open Air Theatre last played a concert in 1986, and not long after this the venue closed and fell into disrepair. However it is being renovated and The Greatest Eighties Party is to be a fitting event to mark its reopening.

The full list of acts is:

• Boy George
• Rick Astley
• Paul Young
• Nik Kershaw
• Midge Ure
• Heaven 17
• Kid Creole and the Coconuts
• T’Pau
• Hazel O’Connor
• Toyah

Tickets went on sale on Friday 26th February and start at just £25 (with additional booking fee). You can get them from Ticketline on 0871 424 4444 or via the Ticketline website.