Bizarre Penguins

A few days ago in the Rye Hotel (a Nunhead Pub, by my definition), they decided to have what they called an "'80s evening". Now, I suspect this was mostly to do with the music they chose that night, but the bar staff also dressed up in what they imagined/recalled of the clothes of the '80s. Bubble-gum day-glo coloured tights for the girls and big hair. Quite unpleasant.

Which made me begin to think about the common themes of the decade that I could recall. Certainly opposing the iniquitous and incompetent Thatcher government was one of them, but I was looking for something iconic that crossed the political and the cultural domains.

Steve Bell obviously comes to mind - the greatest newspaper cartoonist of the period, and one who conveyed a real sense of outrage about politicians and all their works. Which leads us straight to The Penguin:

Aka Prince Philip of Greece/Pulp (later Lord) Quango. Born in the Falkland Islands in 1981 to a family of enthusiastic Empire Loyalists (hence the first name), the Penguin met Reg Kipling at the height of the Falklands war and never looked back. Essentially a free, anarchic though exceptionally cynical spirit who would by his own admission "do anything for a piece of fish", he was smuggled home by Kipling when hostilities finally came to an end. They lived in a flat in Peckham, which they later shared with the Penguin's partner, Gloria and their offspring Prudence and Percy. By coincidence Monsieur L'Artiste occupied the flat downstairs.
(According to the Guardian Website)

Note however, that unlike most other penguins, Bell's has teeth.

So now I was on to something. Where else in the decade did I remember a penguin from?

And then it came to me: my favourite film of the period, Gregory's Girl. I don't need to say much about this at all, ' cos it is just so wonderful. The boy in the penguin suit wandering around the school - marvellous. And of course it features the inimitable Chick Murray, as here:


And finally, to bring it up to date, the Bell Penguin is back on the Falklands and 'drilling' (see the strip a few days ago in the paper); also this week it was the 30th anniversary of Gregory's Girl and this picture - sad but sweet - was in all of the papers:
There was a special screening in Glasgow, and to quote The List:

Bill Forsyth captured teenage life and love with a perfect balance of humour and insight that touched audiences around the world – apparently it’s one of Scorsese’s favourites – and it was lovely to see that even today everyone involved is flabbergasted at the impact Gregory’s Girl continues to make. Special mention should also go to the penguin that made an appearance at the screening; as Gregory himself John Gordon Sinclair said, with tongue firmly in cheek, "If you don’t know what the penguin means, you don’t know Gregory’s Girl”.

And so I rest my case. The '80s was the decade of strange penguins.