Freddie Mercury wasn’t the obvious contender for a Flexipop! interview back in August 1981. But as it turned out, he was right up our street. ‘I can’t bear extremely straight places,’ he told us, ‘just like I can’t bear totally gay places. I like a bit of a challenge. I like to go to places with a bit of danger.’ Wonder if he ever went to Millwall in the early 80s…?

‘Repugnant’ Huw Collingbourne admitted he had many a sleepless night thinking of David Sylvain’s, ‘enthralling loveliness’ at the beginning of his interview with the Japan front man in the Christmas 1981 issue of Flexipop!. ‘A bit of make-up helps,’ said David. ‘I started wearing make-up and dyeing my hair when I was about 14 or 15.’

In April 1983, OMD’s Andy McCluskey told Flexipop! that pop stars like Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger had a lot to answer for. ‘They’ve helped to create this stereotypical image of the Rolls-Royce-driving, decadent pop star. In fact, pop musicians are nothing special. Seventy per cent of those that I’ve met are the biggest bunch of flaming idiots on the face of the earth…’