Local sailors line up on the gang plank of HMS Edinburgh at Leith Docks in December 1985.Local sailors line up on the gang plank of HMS Edinburgh at Leith Docks in December 1985.
Local sailors line up on the gang plank of HMS Edinburgh at Leith Docks in December 1985.

Edinburgh in the Eighties: Here are 31 pictures to transport you back to life in the Capital in 1985 - including visits from Lulu and Michael Palin

They may have been taken almost 40 years ago, but there are still plenty of familiar faces and places in these fascinating pictures from the archives.

Events making the headlines in 1984 included the first underwater photographs of the RMS Titanic's wreckage being taken 73 years after it sank, Mikhail Gorbachev becoming Soviet leader, and the sinking of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior.

On television viewers were tuning into the first episodes of ‘Eastenders’, ‘Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds’ and ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole’, while at the cinema ‘Back To The Future’, ‘A View To A Kill’, ‘Police Academy 2’ and ‘Rambo: First Blood Part II’ saw film fans queue around the block.

In the music charts Jennifer Rush had the best-selling single of the year with ‘The Power of Love’, followed by ‘I Know Him So Well’ by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson, Madonna’s ‘Into The Grove’, ‘19’ by Paul Hardcastle, and Sister Sledge’s ‘Frankie’.

It was also the year that the first Nintendo Entertainment System went on sale on the High Street, and the first publication of the popular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.

And there was plenty going on in Edinburgh, including royal visits, showbiz sparkle, and the opening of the HMV store on Princes Street.

Here are 31 pictures to take you back to Scotland’s Capital in 1985.

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In the music charts Jennifer Rush had the best-selling single of the year with ‘The Power of Love’, followed by ‘I Know Him So Well’ by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson, Madonna’s ‘Into The Grove’, ‘19’ by Paul Hardcastle, and Sister Sledge’s ‘Frankie’.

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