1990

**1990**

**MCMXC**

* FA Cup Winners: Manchester United (beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in replay after 3-3 draw)
* Christmas Number One: Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day
* Eurovision Song Contest: Zagreb, Yugoslavia 05 May
	+ UK Eurovision Entry: Emma - Give a Little Love Back to the World (6th place)
	+ Contest Winner: Toto Cotugno - Insieme: 1992 (Italy)

* Blue Peter Team: Caron Keating (until 22 January), Yvette Fielding, John Leslie, Diane Louise Jordan (from 25 January).
* Doctor Who: -
* Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ: Simon Mayo
* Big Christmas Day Film on BBC1: *ET* (world TV premiere), *Baby Boom*

## Main events

* March: Ambulance crew dispute ends after six months - workers agree to a 17.6% pay rise; Poll Tax Riots in London as Community Charge introduced
* April: first Aldi UK supermarket opened
* May: BSE rumours denied by govt.
* June/July: Italia '90 World Cup, England go our in semi-final shoot-out v. Germany ("one night in Turin")
* August: UK heat wave peaks at 37°C
* November: Geoffrey Howe resigns from govt., attacking Margaret Thatcher's anti-European stance, Michael Heseltine steps up for leadership challenge, Thatcher resigns as Conservative leader and PM. John Major elected.
* December: heavy snowfall in UK, first Poundland opened; Christmas Day storms leave 100,000 British homes without power.

*The Buddha of Suburbia* (novel) published for first time

TV
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### New shows

(channel and first broadcast date in brackets)

* *Mr. Bean* (ITV, 01 January), *One Foot in the Grave* (BBC1, 04 January), *Vic Reeves Big Night Out* (25 May), *MasterChef* (02 July), *Stars in Their Eyes* (21 July), *Drop the Dead Donkey* (C4, 09 August), *Have I Got News for You* (BBC2, 28 September). *Twin Peaks* (BBC2, 23 October), *Keeping Up Appearances* (29 October),  *House of Cards* (BBC1, 18 November) (*full list)*

### Shows ending

* *Blankety Blank* (BBC1, 12 March - revived 1997), *Opportunity Knocks* (02 June), *Juke Box Jury* (25 November), *Howards' Way* (25 November)*, All Creatures Great and Small*  (24 December) (*full list)*

### Other TV events

* November: British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) founded as a merger between Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting

## Radio

* January - BBC Radio 1 launches a new 30 minute news programme *News 90*
* March - BBC Radio 2 becomes available on FM 24/7 for the first time
* 27 August - BBC Radio 5 begins broadcasting - sports programming moved from BBC Radio 2
* 30 September - Mark Goodier replaces Bruno Brookes as host of BBC Radio 1’s Top 40 show.
* 01 October - Goodier debuts *The Evening Session*
* November - The Broadcasting Act 1990 receives Royal Assent, paving the way for deregulation of the British commercial broadcasting industry

## Music

* **Biggest selling singles**: The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody (orig. rel. 1965), Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U (orig. rel. 1985), Elton John - Sacrifice / Healing Hands (*full list*)
* **Biggest selling albums**: Phil Collins - *...But Seriously* (rel.1989), *Carreras Domingo Pavarotti in Concert,* George Michael *- Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1* (10th biggest seller, biggest selling 1990 studio album of original songs) *(full list*)
	+ Compilation albums: Madonna - *The Immaculate Collection* (biggest selling 1990 release, second biggest selling album overall), *The Very Best of Elton John*, Luciano Pavarotti - *The Essential Pavarotti*
* Debut albums: Jon Bon Jovi - *Blaze of Glory* (*full list*)
	+ Eponymous debuts - Lloyd Cole, The Brand New Heavies, Mariah Carey,
* Alternative/independent: Ride - *Nowhere*, The Lightning Seeds - *Cloudcuckooland*

## Films

UK release date

* *Driving Miss Daisy\** (23 February), *Born on the Fourth of July*\* (02 March), *The War of the Roses\** (09 March), *Nuns On the Run* (16 March) *She-Devil\** (11 May), *Pretty Woman* (01 June), *The Phantom of the Opera* (15 June), *Back to the Future Part III* (11 July), *Robocop 2* (12 October), *The Little Mermaid\** (12 October), *Ghost* (05 October)

\*premiered in 1989

## Births

* Jordan North (14 Feb.), Princess Eugenie of York (23 March), Giovanni Pernice (05 Sept.)

## Birthdays

* **20**: Ethan Hawke
* **30**: Gary Lineker, Bono Vox, Tony Hadley, Hugh Grant, Kim Wilde
* **40**: Peter Gabriel, Princess Anne,
* **50**: Gloria Hunniford
* **60**:
* **70**:

## Deaths

* Terry Thomas (08 January), Rex Harrison (02 June), Malcolm Muggeridge (14 November), Roald Dahl (23 November)

## See also

* 1990 Category page

## External links

* *Smash Hits* 1990 Issues by Magazone on flickr.com