Oddly, in 1990, Saddam didn't know who Cowell was, either

Some delicious footage has emerged of what is believed to be Simon Cowell's first TV appearance, on the ill-fated 1990 Sky revival of Sale of the Century. Barbara Humphreys was on the show with home, and it was she who had a tape of the programme - to be honest, she's probably the only person who ever saw the programme.

Cowell won twenty quids worth of kitchen tools - spatula! spatula! Because he wasn't very bright, it seems:

“He was very pleasant and said he was a record company director. But the main thing I remember about him is he couldn’t answer one of the questions.

“He didn’t know who Saddam Hussein was, but I suppose in 1990 a lot of people would have been the same.”

Well... if the Iran-Iraq war had passed you by, surely the invasion of Kuwait in that year - to say nothing of the frantic negotiations prior to it - might have given you a hint?

Cowell's dream prize on the show would have been a Fiat Uno. We do wonder, if he'd won that, if perhaps he might not have spent the last decade wreaking a terrible revenge on the gameshow format.