the summer of

What it was like to be 15 in 1986 in Britain

To be fifteen in Britain in 1986 was to have “The Final Countdown” by Europe everywhere, Top Gun on every screen, and EastEnders on after school. That year, gas cost £0.38/L and the Amstrad PCW word processor in every front room was the new thing. Born in 1971? You turned 15 in 1986 — a teenager from 1984 to 1990, right in the window a soundtrack bonds to you for life.

Compiled by the Original Lore archive from period charts, box-office and price records. How we build these · sources noted throughout.

▶ Play your 1986 reel with sounda 30-second video of your year — the song, the screen, the turn.

the mixtape of 1986

The Final Countdown — Europe

  1. The Lady in Red — Chris de BurghThe last slow dance of every youth-club disco, cheek to cheek under the lights going down.
  2. Papa Don't Preach — MadonnaMadonna's defiant teenage confession blaring from the radio while your own mum tutted along.
  3. Don't Leave Me This Way — The CommunardsSomerville's soaring falsetto turned a Motown ache into pure sweat-soaked summer euphoria.
  4. The Edge of Heaven — Wham!Wham!'s glorious goodbye, and somehow you knew a whole chapter of being young was ending too.
  5. I Want to Wake Up with You — Boris GardinerGentle lovers-rock drifting from open windows on a warm evening, everything soft and unhurried.

▶ Play your 1986 reel

why this one mattered

That synth fanfare is 1986 distilled: the sound of the school disco, the football terrace and every kid air-drumming in their bedroom. Big-haired, gloriously daft and impossible to escape, it made being fifteen feel like the start of something enormous, even if you never quite knew what.

the year-end #1 was Don't Leave Me This Way by The Communards was the UK's best-selling single of 1986.

the movies you are watching in 1986

  • Top Gun
  • Aliens
  • Crocodile Dundee
  • Highlander
  • Labyrinth

the tv shows you are binging in 1986

  • EastEnders
  • Only Fools and Horses
  • Grange Hill
  • Blind Date
  • Spitting Image

the games you are playing in 1986

  • Ghosts 'n Goblins
  • Paperboy
  • Green Beret
  • Commando
  • Yie Ar Kung-Fu
  • Elite

what things cost in 1986

What things cost in 1986
a pint of lager£1.00
a cinema ticket£2.20
a first-class stamp17p
a gallon of gas£0.38/L
the average income£9,600

trending this year

Filofax personal organiser
The M25 motorway
Photo by Julian P Guffogg (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M25_Motorway_sign_-_geograph.org.uk_-_3603101.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
The M25 motorway
Cadbury Twirl
Big Bang trading
AI-generated illustration
Big Bang trading
Fujifilm disposable camera
Photo by TaurusEmerald (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fujifilm_QuickSnap_Camera.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Fujifilm disposable camera

the gadgets you just got

Mitsubishi Roamer mobile phone
Amstrad PCW 8256
Photo by Bobo11 (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schneider-Joyce-PCW-8256--Museum-Enter-6094720.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Amstrad PCW 8256
Sony Walkman WM-F
Photo by Kyra Rehn (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sony_Sports_Walkman_WM-F5_(Okinawa).jpg · CC BY 2.0
Sony Walkman WM-F
Compact Disc player
Photo by Daderot (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CD_63_compact_disc_player,_manufactured_by_Marantz,_1983_-_Design_Museum,_Kensington_-_London_-_DSC01623.jpg · CC0
Compact Disc player
ZX Spectrum 128
Photo by A7N8X (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sinclair_Spectrum_128.jpg · CC0
ZX Spectrum 128

what everyone is snacking on

Wispa
Photo by Evan-Amos (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wispa-Split.jpg · Public domain
Wispa
Monster Munch
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monster_Munch_pickled_onion_1.jpg · CC0
Monster Munch
Space Raiders
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Space_Raiders_snacks.jpg · CC0
Space Raiders
Wham bar
AI-generated illustration
Wham bar
Club biscuit
Photo by Ubcule (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McVities_Club_Mint_biscuit_(whole_and_filling_shown)_(UK_version).jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Club biscuit

what everyone is drinking

Vimto
Photo by GreaterPonce665 (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vimto_Can.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Vimto
Panda Pops
AI-generated illustration
Panda Pops
Quatro
Photo by Briantist (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Can_of_Quatro.png · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quatro
Kia-Ora
AI-generated illustration
Kia-Ora
Ribena
Photo by Melaneas (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ribena-All-Sizes-and-Flavours.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ribena

what made the news in 1986

  • Prince Andrew marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in July, watched by millions
  • The Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the USSR spreads fallout across Europe, reaching British farms
  • The M25 motorway around London is officially completed and opened
  • The Big Bang deregulates the City of London, transforming the Stock Exchange overnight
Prince Andrew weds Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey
Photo by Elke Wetzig (Elya) (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_Sarah_wedding_19860723.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Prince Andrew weds Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey
Chernobyl reactor explodes, spreading radiation across Europe
Photo by Mattias Hill (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chernobyl_reactor_4.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chernobyl reactor explodes, spreading radiation across Europe
The M25, London's orbital motorway, is completed
Photo by David Dixon (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M25,_London_Orbital_Motorway_-_geograph.org.uk_-_7588675.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
The M25, London's orbital motorway, is completed
Big Bang deregulation transforms the City of London
Photo by Christine Matthews (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_London_Stock_Exchange_Building_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1501273.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Big Bang deregulation transforms the City of London
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster shocks the world
Photo by Kennedy Space Center (NASA) (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Challenger_explosion.jpg · Public domain
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster shocks the world

what everyone is saying

  • "Wicked!"playground word for something brilliant
  • "Ace!"the highest praise a kid could give
  • "Lovely jubbly"Del Boy's catchphrase from Only Fools and Horses
  • "Rad"borrowed from skateboarding, meaning cool
  • "Naff off"a polite-ish way to tell someone to clear off

the summer of 1986.

you think you've got all the time in the world.

…and then it cools. Play the reel to feel where 1986 goes.

Turn 1986 into a 30-second reel →

▶ Play your 1986 reel with sound