In 1987 a guy called Matt Groening did a cartoon segment on the Tracey Ullman Show about a yellow family. Can you believe The Simpsons started that long ago? 

My mum has never liked The Simpsons. We weren’t allowed to watch it at home. Now it’s on all the time on 20 bazzilion channels, so it’s hard not to have seen the whole thing.

Politics forging my brain in 1987

The Cold War of the 80s is something I was too young to understand, but it’s something I was aware of. It was near impossible not to be aware of it. It was a subject used throughout popular culture and issues about the tension between the Eastern Block and us Westerners was often on the news. It was 1987 that Ronald Reagan called on Mikhail Gorbachev to ‘tear down that wall’. I mostly remember that Alvin and the Chipmunks sang Let the Wall Come Down. When kids cartoons are singing about it, it kind of sticks in your brain.

While looking up stuff that happened in 1987, I found out that Aretha Franklin was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame had been running for four years, but it took them that long to recognise a female in the music industry.

Music in 1987

I never knew Kylie Minogue’s character on Neighbours, so I didn’t get all the soap-star turned pop-star stuff, but it was in 1987 that she released The Locomotion and started her music career.

Another hit from that year was Kim Wilde with Keep Me Hanging On. Hair just couldn’t be big enough at this stage of the 80s.

A big thing in my life

The biggest thing in my life from 1987? It all involved a cartoon dog from New Zealand. The Footrot Flats movie, Footrot Flats; The Dog’s Tale was released in 1987. I adored the cartoons, absolutely loved them, so the movie was like chocolate topping on ice cream. So wonderful. I still have all the cartoon books and I still love the movie. The song, Slice of Heaven, still makes me happy, even though I don’t really like that sort of music.

I love Dog.