1. The Big Snow
January 1982 saw Ireland grind to a halt for a week after 25cm of snow fell in some parts of the country.
It will forever be known as The Big Snow, no matter how many big snows have happened since, or are yet to come.
2. This tracksuit
A highly coveted Flahavan’s tracksuit – the one from the ad in fact – was recently presented to actor Andrew Scott on The Late Late Show.
Scott now plays Moriarty on the BBC’s Sherlock show, but he had a pretty impressive start.
3. Barry McGuigan winning the world title in 1985
Any child of the early eighties can tell you where they were when Barry McGuigan became the World Featherweight Boxing Champion.
He beat defending champion Eusebio Pedroza from Panama at Queen’s Park Rangers Football Ground, Loftus Road in London, on 9 June 1985.
4. Barry McGuigan’s manager Barney Eastwood
McGuigan’s manager Mr Eastwood was almost as famous as the boxer himself, as he guided him to global success.
The pair fell out not long after McGuigan’s massive win, and became embroiled in a legal battle.
Dermot Morgan even wrote a song about Barney Eastwood, released as a single in December 1985:
5. Alan Hughes’ hair in the Going Back ESB ad
This ad hit our TV screens in 1988, and we still can’t hear that song without having a little cry.
6. Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche hitting the cycling big time
Roche and Kelly were responsible for a lot of this in the mid eighties:
Stephen Roche became a national hero when he won the Tour de France in 1987, while the eighties also saw Seán Kelly become one of the most successful road racers of his generation.
7. The Seán Kelly cycling game
Kelly was such a fixture of the eighties that he got his own board game.
8. These ice creams
Wouldn’t you kill for a Fat Frog right now?
9. Ronald Reagan having a pint of Guinness in Ballyporeen in 1984
Sure you may as well not bother coming to Ireland if you’re not going to be pictured with a pint of the black stuff.
And sure you might as well hold a local baby while you’re at it.
10. Henri Hippo
If you joined Ulster Bank’s junior savings club in the eighties you were rewarded with an Henri Hippo money box, along with an assortment of other branded goodies; a wallet, a calendar, pencils etc.
Henri made a return to the bank a couple of years ago.
11. Zig and Zag’s first appearance on Dempsey’s Den
In 1987 the lovable aliens from Zog made their first appearance alongside Ian Dempsey.
12. John Treacy and Eamonn Coughlan becoming household names
John Treacy won a silver medal for Ireland in the marathon at the LA Olympics in 1984 while Eamonn Coughlan set the world indoor 2000m record in 1987 which stood until 1998.
EVERYONE knew who they were and everyone pledged to train extra hard for the cross country events in Community Games.
13. Johnny Logan winning the Eurovision TWICE
He won first for What’s Another Year in The Hague in 1980, and then again for Hold Me Now in 1987 in Brussels.
14. Divorce Referendum
In 1986 a proposal to remove the prohibition on divorce from the Irish constitution was rejected.
The ban on divorce was eventually lifted in 1996.
15. Northern Ireland hunger strikes
The hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981 represented the culmination of protests by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland.
The strike of 1980 ended after 53 days and all involved survived. The strike of 1981 resulted in the deaths of 10 prisoners, including Bobby Sands.
16. Self Aid
On 17 May 1986 a 14 hour concert took place in the RDS, Dublin to highlight the unemployment problem in Ireland. A quarter of a million people were out of work.
Rory Gallagher, U2, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy were among the artists who played on the day.
17. My Left Foot
Directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker won two Academy Awards for the lead actors.
18. Who put the ball in the English net? Ray did!
On 12 June 1988 the Irish football team made their debut at an international competition in their first game at the European Championships in Stuttgart.
Ray Houghton scored the match’s only goal, against England, and sealed his name in the history books forever.
19. We are the Boys in Green
We are the Boys in Green was Ireland’s first big football anthem, and the lads and Jack Charlton and Gay Byrne gathered on The Late Late Show to sing it for the nation.
20. U2 at Croke Park
U2 played several major concerts in Ireland throughout the eighties, but their first headlining stadium show was at Croke Park in 1985.
21. Mike Murphy gets Gay Byrne on Candid Camera
It doesn’t get much more eighties than Mike Murphy and Gay Byrne, and in 1982 Murpy and his Candid Camera show got Gay Byrne. They got him good.
