Looks Unfamiliar: Bob Fischer – It Was Unthinkable You Would Have An ‘R’ In An Eighties Tabloid

Bizarre Love Triangle by Frente! (Mushroom, 1994) - listen to Bob Fischer and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

Joining Tim this time is broadcaster and writer Bob Fischer, who’s scouring the Sunday newspaper magazines for any gossip about Ralph Halpern, ‘Hunky Plasterer Terry’, Emma ‘Wild Child’ Ridley and other examples of the eighties ‘Tabloid Celebrity’ phenomenon, Accidentally Kelly Street by Frente!, The Two Ronnies’ mini-drama ‘Mileaway’, Rude Food and other books labelled ‘Explicit Content’ in book club adverts, BSB talk show Suggs On Saturday, and the mysterious origins of inexplicably widely known ‘School Folk Songs’. Along the way we’ll be recalling Joan Collins’ scandalous affair with Ian Revolution 9-Smith, revealing how TV’s Alf Stewart reacts to a small hours fire alarm, finding out how Ronnie Barker can ruin two franchises at once, and expressing some serious reservations about Suggs’ grasp of basic mathematics.

If you enjoy Looks Unfamiliar, why not buy us a coffee here?

Rude Cocktails by Pierre Le Poste and David Thorpe (Macmillan, 1983).

About Bob

Bob Fischer is a broadcaster and writer. Wiffle Lever To Full, Bob’s book about sci-fi fandom, is available from Amazon here. You can find Bob’s website The Haunted Generation here and follow him on Bluesky at @bobfischer.bsky.social.

Buy A Book!

If you’ve enjoyed this, you’ll enjoy Tim’s book Can’t Help Thinking About Me, a collection of columns and features with a personal twist. Can’t Help Thinking About Me is available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Alternately, if you’re just feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee here. Let’s have none of this ‘Rude Coffees’ nonsense please.

Further Listening

You can also find Bob on Looks Unfamiliar talking about The Tom O’Connor Roadshow, Giant Hogweed, Can’t Get A Ticket (For The World Cup) by Peter Dean, Glee Bars, J. Edward Oliver’s ‘Abolish Tuesdays’ and How To Be A Wally here, Tucker’s Luck, Pookiesnackenburger, We Wanna Be Famous by Buster Gobsmack And Eats Filth, game show contestants’ jobs being booed by the audience and paper plate and shaving foam Custard Pies here, and joining forces with Georgy Jamieson for a look at some of the signs that Christmas was coming that you just don’t seem to get any more here and a similar chat about the drizzly joys – or lack thereof – of the Great British Summer here. You can also find Bob on The Golden Age Of Children’s TV talking about The Owl Service here.

Bob also appears in The Best Of Looks Unfamiliar alongside Justin Lewis on the original Only Fools And Horses theme tune, Jane Hill on His Land, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch on The Llŷn Peninsula Earthquake, Carrie Dunn on Too Close To The Sun, Tom Williamson on Samurai Pizza Cats, which you can find here.