…Bought Cliff Richard and The Young Ones today.
Made a dog puppet as well…

I absolutely loved this record when it came out. I thought it was utterly hilarious.

I played it over and over again on the tiny, battery-powered portable record player I had in my bedroom, which had been bought for me as a birthday present a couple of years earlier.

Yet, being barely 10 years old, I’m sure I can’t have had the faintest idea who The Young Ones were. I’d certainly never seen them on television.

I’m trying to imagine how I must have rationalised their involvement in a duet with Cliff (of whom I certainly was aware).

Perhaps I thought they were a sort of novelty pop group. Or a troupe of performers like the Grumbleweeds. I’m sure they would’ve been talked about at school.

Anyway, I would have purchased the record from either Woolworths or WHSmiths in the town centre. And, like every record I ever bought, I’ve still got it:

I would’ve read the sleeve notes and been none the wiser as to the identity of Ben Elton and Richard Curtis (for I would not have been allowed to watch Blackadder yet), never mind Lionel Bart or Mariella Frostrup.

But I would have played the B-side (“It’s on the tip of my tongue!” “What a STUPID place to keep your guitar!”) just as much as the A-side and relished them both. I still do. I’m afraid/unashamed to admit that “What does this button do? [EXPLOSION]” cracks me up even now.

Ditto “Can I go now? [WHACK].”