The List at 40: The best of 1985
For those who say that contemporary news has never been bleaker, there was plenty to get morose about in 1985. But we’re going to sidestep all that misery to reflect upon the more fun cultural elements of the year in which The List was born
On the big screen, cinemagoers enjoyed the first instalment of the Back To The Future trilogy, Out Of Africa (poignant now, given the recent passing of Robert Redford), A View To A Kill with Roger Moore’s final appearance as 007, Brazil, A Room With A View, My Beautiful Laundrette and a pair of Brat Packer flicks in the shape of The Breakfast Club and St Elmo’s Fire.
In TV land, long-running programmes which debuted this year include our very own Taggart, cheeky dating show Blind Date, miserable old EastEnders, its cheerier antipodean bedfellow Neighbours, The Golden Girls and the Cybill Shepherd/Bruce Willis wisecracking detective show, Moonlighting. Meanwhile, cameras were allowed to show a debate in the House Of Lords for the first time (not sure if this counts as a TV highlight though) and a mere 1.9 billion worldwide tuned in for Live Aid.
In the world of sport, the main highlight up here was the 100th Scottish Cup Final in which Celtic met Dundee United (the magazine’s current editor was in attendance but for reasons of public safety, his age and allegiance shall not be revealed . . . all we’ll say is that the little guy went home happy) while another huge TV audience (18.5 million) stayed up late to see upside-down-spectacles man Dennis Taylor beat Steve ‘Interesting’ Davis on the last black to win snooker’s world championship.
As for those in the public eye who are also 40 years young in 2025, how about this little lot: acting talents such as Keira Knightley, Léa Seydoux, James Norton, Jonathan Groff, Rooney Mara, Kaley Cuoco, Gal Gadot, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Amanda Seyfried and Anna Kendrick; music people Lana Del Rey, Caroline Polachek, Charlie ‘Busted’ Simpson, Lily Allen, Leona Lewis and Carly Rae Jepsen; also, comedy’s James Acaster, Hasan Minhaj and Michelle Wolf, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, fitness guru Joe Wicks, former First Minister Humza Yousaf, plus sporty people Lewis Hamilton, Megan Rapinoe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modrić, Chris Froome and Michael Phelps. In terms of October births in that hallowed year, we are delighted to share the month with Saltburn director Emerald Fennell, Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts, amazing footballer/not-so-great manager Wayne Rooney, Bruno Mars, and the drummer from Hanson. Happy birthday one and all.
Follow The List’s timeline for more reminiscences from magazine’s past:
< The List at 40: Nigel Billen (editor 1985–1989) – ‘It was always financially precarious, but creatively rich’
> The List at 40: Carol Main (writer) – 'More fun and personable than today’s solitary pressing send on an email'