Posts > Category: TV Shows
Pat Sharp Talks Twins, TV and T-Shirts!
February 1989 will be remembered for a number of interesting reasons. The Soviet army withdrew its last troops from occupied Afghanistan; Sky TV launched in Europe; Salman Rushdie had a $3m bounty placed on his head and the first GPS satellite was launched into space.
But here at Truffle Towers, the big news of February 1989 was the launch of the best kids TV game show that has ever been! Set in a zany obstacle course, Fun House delighted us young telly addicts with it's fast paced Grand Prix, gungey games and the tag hunt finale around the house.
Fun House became an immediate hit, propelling it's host Pat Sharp into TV stardom. Pat hosted each of the 146 episodes of the show's 11 year run and has since appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Come Dine With Me and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out O Here!, famously messing with Lorraine Chase's teddy and causing "Tedwardgate".
Today, Pat hosts the afternoon show on national Smooth Radio, runs an online presenter academy (www.presenteracademy.co.uk) and spins his wheels of steel DJing at events all over the world.
We're lucky enough to work directly with Pat on our range of Pat Sharp T-Shirts and Fun House T-Shirts and thought you TruffleShufflers would be as interested as we were to hear some of Pat's memories of working in kids TV in the 80s and 90s.
TS: Let's get the obvious questions asked first Pat... What was the best and worst thing about owning such an impressive mullet?
PS: I think the best thing about the mullet was the fact that twenty years later, people still remember it and talk about it! Not many people can say that their haircut from the 80's is still a talking point!
Top Geeks of the 80s!
Everyone loves a good geek, whether you can simply marvel at their genius, or smile at their quirky geeky ways they never fail to intrigue and entertain us on the big and small screens.
With the geek clothing scene these days bigger than ever, it seems revealing you inner nerd has never been cooler. Modern day screen heroes are more and more not the all-out amazing lead roles, but increasingly the cooky sidekick that can out gadget and out think any challenge. With some amazing new characters hitting the big time recently such as the new Dr Who, BBC Sherlock series and Q from James Bond played by Ben Whishaw, we thought we would take the time to appreciate the geeks of old with our Top Geeks of the 80s list!
Anthony Michael Hall in everything from 1982 to 1985
Best known for his roles as The Geek in 'Sixteen Candles,' Brian Johnson in 'The Breakfast Club,' Garry Wallace in 'Weird Science', Anthony is well known and loved by all retro film lovers in the land and we're sure everyone has a little bit of his characters inside them. Geeky but cool!
David Lightman in 'WarGames' (1983)
Our Cuppa Tea! New Mugs!
As you can imagine working at Truffle Towers is never dull however sometimes, all we really want is a tea break and "teatime" gets better every day with our ever increasing collection of retro mugs.
Check out our latest additions including Big Bang Theory Mugs:
Which one are you? Little Miss Mugs:
Reasons an 80's Childhood rocked
Sometimes a song, a smell or a friend inquisitively asks â do you remember those...?â and your instantly warped back in time to a memory or a place where something quite awesome may have happened. Weâve been agonisingly drudging through our brain matter (and the internet) to find our sometimes obscure, sometimes amazing memory inducing artefacts!
You may recognize some......! If you had, wanted or hated let us know.
Your school transport was one of these!
Any other bike was instantly made cool with "Spokey Dokes"
"Bag" Yourself A Retro Treat!
You already know we sell awesome Retro T-Shirts but have you seen our huge selection of amazing Retro Bags to complete your look? With different brands and various styles, we have the perfect arm candy to accessorise your wardrobe!
Talk Ti-mmy! We catch up with the legendary Timmy Mallett...
School holidays were supposed to be about lie-ins and staying in bed until lunchtime, but this dream was shattered in 1985 when the alarm clock had to be set for 8:45am in order to hit the sofa for the 8:50am start of Wacaday.
Oringinally co-presenting the Saturday morning show Wide Awake Club, Wacaday gave Timmy Mallett the chance to shine in the zaniest way possible, and within days of the first show being aired (which coincidentally was the same week Timmy turned 30), us 80s kids were hooked on this utterly brilliant show!
25 years after those good ole Wac-a-days, Timmy remains a legendary character. His thirty year career started out as a radio presenter (in charge of a team including Chris Evans and Brian Cox) before presenting various TV shows, singing a number one hit single, appearing on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, performing in a couple of pantos and more recently enjoying the limelight of being a very successful artist.
We have the pleasure of working with Timmy on our range of Mallett's Mallet T-Shirts and thought you TruffleShufflers might want to know the same things we've wanted to know all these years...
TS: So Timmy, we love your fabulously daring sense of fashion in particular those crazy glasses you wear! Which are your all-time favourites?
TM: I have squillions of pairs of spex. Lots were made specially for my TV shows and hit records! The Eiffel Tower, the mad skier, the Olympic rings, The Wacaday spex and the big Mallett's Mallet pair. I have the pink cadillac spex and the Itsy Bitsy spex with palm trees! Wild, and I love 'em all. I have a pair in my studio at the moment that I spent the morning painting. I've attached toys and buttons to them and they will be on my face at my next show!
