Life in the UK in March 1982 – the last time inflation was 9%

How the economy, politics and pop culture looked 40 years ago.

Inflation levels may have been similar, but the UK was a very different place in March 1982 – the last time the cost of living was estimated to be rising as fast as it now.

The unemployment rate stood at 10.4%, the highest for 50 years, compared with 3.7% today.

The basic rate of income tax was 30%, 10 percentage points higher than where it is now, while the standard rate of VAT was 15%, five points lower than the current rate.

The Government hoped to reduce the amount of money in circulation by simultaneously cutting spending and raising indirect taxes.

Inflation did start to come down, but not before the UK economy spent the whole of 1980 and early 1981 in recession.

By March 1982, Margaret Thatcher was nearly three years into her first term as prime minister, but her party was averaging around 31% in the opinion polls.

This was low enough to place the Tories behind both Labour (32%) and the Alliance (34%) – a recently-formed pact between the Liberal and Social Democratic (SDP) parties.

Roy Jenkins – London — Members of the SDP outside the House of Commons in March 1982, including Roy Jenkins (third left) who had recently won a by-election in Glasgow, along with co-founders (left to right) David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams (PA)

Away from Westminster, everyday life in March 1982 might seem somewhat primitive to a visitor from 2022.

All large shops were closed on Sundays by law, and many closed for a half a day on Wednesdays.

New BT phones — Sales officer Deborah Eden demonstrates the latest range of British Telecom telephones in November 1981 (PA)

The UK’s gas, electricity, coal and water industries were all in public hands, along with the Royal Mail, British Rail, British Airways, British Steel, BP, Rolls-Royce and British Leyland (later known as the Rover Group).

Breakfast television had yet to begin, so BBC1 and ITV did not typically start broadcasting on a weekday until lunchtime, while BBC2 filled most of its daytime schedule with programmes for the Open University.

Around 14 million households watched television on colour sets, while four million still watched in black and white.

Television – Queen visit to Coronation Street – Granada Studios — The Queen visits the recently rebuilt set of ITV’s Coronation Street in May 1982 and meets some of the cast; from left to right: Jack Howarth, William Roache, Anne Kirkbride, Eileen Derbyshire and Thelma Barlow (PA)

Top of the album charts for most of March 1982 was Barbra Streisand with Love Songs, a collection of some of the American singer’s best-known material that also included a version of Memory from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s recent hit musical Cats.

Number one in the singles chart for almost the whole of March was a novelty version of the traditional song The Lion Sleeps Tonight, performed by the three-piece dance act Tight Fit.

TIGHT FIT : 1982 — Tight Fit pictured in 1982: Carol Dean (left), Vicky Pemberton and Steve Grant (PA)