I grew up in Ireland, where even Playboy magazine was not legal.
As far as TV — we had two — count ‘em, TWO — TV channels. If you could afford a 20-foot antenna, you could get four more, from England.
Then, in the late ’80s, cable TV came in, bringing with it two new channels, SKY and Super (I don;t think Sky was owned by Murdoch then).
A majority of what Sky and Super showed was music videos. And among the spoils was the hit video below, which would never have passed muster in the British isles.
I was 13. I loved it.
The Youtube resolution isn’t as clear as the original…but bear in mind that white bathing suits go transparent VERY easily.
Now imagine how it was to get this in a sexually barren culture…
She has an official Myspace now too.
Wow. The early days of the nip slip…
Luke – Maybe it’s a dumb question, but did Ireland get The Sun and all the tabloid papers back then? Or would they import them and tear Page 3 out of all of them?
Was Samantha Fox big there as well?
As for Sky, Murdoch’s always been involved, but he became the majority shareholder in 1990.
We certainly knew who Samantha was even before her pop songs.
I don’t know what the deal was with the “page 3″ tabs. I know Ireland had its own papers like that, though they seemed generally less hysterical.
You’d have to ask my dad – I’m sure he’d know.
The Page 3 thing is a national phenomenon – a daily picture of a topless woman in The Sun, on page 3. About once a year one of the women seems to manage to break through to the mainstream consciousness, usually when involved in a sex scandal with a footballer.
There’s about 10 different tabloids over here – I think they call the ones with “glamour models” in them “red tops” or something like that.
Oh, I know what it is. What I meant was I don’t know if they were available or not. Homegrown Irish tabs didn’t have them.
Ben,
Many questions.
Is this daily picture of a topless woman in The Sun like paparazzi caught-in-the-flesh type shots or posed Playboy type photographs? The Sun is, like, just a newspaper you get on the street right? Or is it more like the National Enquirer? Or none of these things?
Finally, what is the vogue slang for “knockers” or “church bells” in the English street tongue?
I can answer some of those, Justin.
The Sun is similar to the New York Post. Probably less reliable. And on page 3, there is a full-page posed photo of a topless woman.