Popular Nostalgia

The story of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was written in 1939 by Robert L. May, a copywriter for the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward department stores, as a promotional gift for the store’s customers. May considered Rollo or Reginald before settling on Rudolph. Rudolph’s story was made into a song when May’s brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, developed [...]

First released by Gene Autry in 1950, Frosty the Snowman was later performed by the Jackson 5 and many other artists. The first version got to number 7 in the US charts and is a perennial success. Gene Autry had previous success with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. “Frosty” was written by Steve Edward Nelson and [...]

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me In St. Louis” – in which a family is distraught by the father’s plans to move to New York City for a job promotion, leaving behind their home in St. Louis, Missouri just before the long-anticipated Louisiana [...]

Nat King Cole recorded The Christmas Song for the first time in 1946 with his group The Nat King Cole Trio. The record company re-recorded it with a string section, and Cole recorded it again in 1953 with Nelson Riddle. Capitol Records released it in December of 1960. It stayed on the chart for a [...]

“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is a song by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the The Plastic Ono Band. It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October of 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir. This [...]

Walking in the Air is the signature song from The Snowman an animated Christmas film about a boy who makes friends with a snowman. It is shown at Christmas time every year. It was sung by St. Paul’s Cathedral choirboy, Peter Auty for only £300. He was left out of the credits in a rush [...]

It’s one of those golden oldies that gets wheeled out for four weeks of the year and results in serious torture issues for anyone working in a shop with music on repeat. Supermarket workers and Gap employees are most at risk. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge [...]

Teddy Boys’s style was a reaction against the austerity of the post-war years. A new generation attempted to scandalise their parents with wasteful fashions that were far too camp for working class sensibilities. Velvet collars on long jackets harked back to Edwardian style (which was only 40 years previous). Edward was shortened to Ted – [...]

Friday nights at 6pm were where everyone knew – “The Weekend Starts Here”. The BBC’s flagship youth programme opened to the tune of The Sufaris’ track: “Wipe Out,” which was later replaced by Manfred Mann’s “5-4-3-2-1″ and finally Them’s “Baby Please Don’t Go”. Cathy McGowan cemented her place at th forefront of Mod fashion after [...]

In the 1970′s Wonder Woman hit US television in the shape of Lynda Carter. The series started with Major Steve Trevor crash landing in the Bermuda Triangle onto Paradise Island. He finds a society of Amazon women who compete for the opportunity to take him back to the US. Wonder Woman wins and dresses up [...]

Happy Days was nostalgic in its own right, being set in the 1950′s but first aired in the 1970′s. Howard, Marion, Richie, Joanie, and Chuck are the Cunningham family. Richie gets up to tricks with his friends Potsie and Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli. The Fonz was originally a dropout but became a huge hit with viewers. [...]

Robin Williams was Mork, an alien who came to Earth from the planet Ork in a large egg-shaped space ship, and Pam Dawber was Mindy McConnell, his human friend, roommate, and wife after they married in the final season. The series was a spinoff of the sitcom Happy Days. The character of Mork first appeared [...]

Mike Brady (Robert Reed), has three sons; Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight) and Bobby (Mike Lookinland). He marries Carol Martin (Florence Henderson), who has daughters; Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb) and Cindy (Susan Olsen). Carols daughters take the Brady surname like their mum. Mike brings a live-in housekeeper Alice (Ann B. Davis) to [...]

In the 1930′s, David Low drew Colonel Blimp cartoons for the Evening Standard. The Topical Budget, a weekly comic commentary ran for almost six years, from April 21st, 1934 to March 16th, 1940. One morning, Low read a Colonel’s letter to the newspapers, protesting the mechanisation of the cavalry and insisting they must wear spurs [...]

Released in 1966, “Reach Out I’ll Be There” epitomised the Tamla Motown era. Sung by Levi Stubbs, Renaldo Benson, Lawrence Peyton and Abdul Faki, the song took the US and UK by storm. They were shown round Britain by Beatles manager Brian Epstein. In Stubbs obituary, The Independent says: “The unusual arrangement with its use [...]