No Rock And Roll Fun

LOTS OF LETTERS: Ade from Big Bubbles was inspired to Apple+N by our mention of the NatWest Online account:

Wow, that was my first bank account to go with my first proper job! (Well, porter in the Warrington Index stockroom). I might even still have the calculator (wonder if you can get the batteries now though?). There was also a binder for your statements, with an authentic 80s-style coloured diagonals design (it matched my duvet cover).

I remember saving up my wages before withdrawing 400 quid in my hot, sweaty palm and scurrying round the corner to buy a Commodore Amiga. ("I was Sad when you were still in nappies, sunshine...")

....Ghod, I hate the eighties.

The NatWest offering was better than that of the Midland, of course, where you got a fairly crappy sports bag and a Dictionary with a picture of the Griffin on it. This does remind us of the time legendarypeelproducer John Walters tried to open an account at, I think, the Woolwich, because he wanted the Henry's Cat moneybox. Told the account in question was only available to children, he opened the account in the name of his cat. After he'd told this tale on Walter's Week on the Janice Long show, the Woolwich got in touch and asked if he'd appear in press photos for them - "We've got a lifesize Henry's Cat", they told him. "... and I thought 'What do they mean lifesize? The size of a real cat? The size the cat is on TV, because he's only a couple of inches there..." It turned out to be a bloke in a costume.