26March

Readers are cautioned that this recap contains a truly abysmal pun, which may work better in the original French.

This week in 1997: John Major dropped the handkerchief on the general election, confirming that he had booked the removal men for 2 May. It's difficult to see how Labour can lose this election, said Bob Worcester of MORI. Mr. Major was accused of rushing the election to beat the publication of the Downey report into Cash for Questions; the report eventually cleared everyone except Norma Lamont-Badger. Mr. Major agreed to a three-way debate between himself, Labour party leader Tony Blair, and Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown; Mr. Blair declined the terms, and the debate never took place. Robert Kilroy-Silk accepted damages from Warren Hawkesley; the Conservative MP for Halesowen had claimed political bias in the Kilroy! chat show.

The Transperience Museum in Bradford closed after 18 months. A judge ruled that Asda's Puffin biscuits were too similar to McVities' Penguin. A concrete multi-story car park in Wolverhampton collapsed; the enquiry found that the design was inadequate, and the event was not linked to the day's visit of Charles Windsor. Wilbert Awdry, creator of the Thomas the Tank Engine books, died.

After the arrival of thousands of refugees from Albania, Italy declared a state of emergency. France urged its nationals to leave Zaire; Kinsangani fell during the week, and they had Kinshasa in their sights; President Mobutu returned from cancer treatment in France to prop up his regime. The Solar Temple Cult, a religious group who believed that Comet Hale-Bopp would end the world, killed themselves on a farm in Quebec.

Manchester United reached the semi-finals of the European Cup after beating Porto 4:0 on aggregate. Newcastle left the UEFA Cup to Monaco, but Liverpool completed their win over Brann in the Cup-Winner's Cup. On Blue Peter, Katy Hill dressed up as Princess Leia. Calm down at the back, there.

UK Singles Chart for w/c 16 March 1997

Number One	Mama / Who do you think you are? - Spice Girls - 3rd week
Highest new entry	I believe I can fly, R Kelly, number 2
Fastest climber (within top 40)	Don't speak, No Doubt, up 1 to 3
Fastest climber (within top 75)	A different beat, Boyzone, up 10 to 65
Lemming-like fall (within top 40)	Oxygene 8, Jean-Michel Jarre, down 22 to 39
Lemming-like fall (within top 75)	Ni-ten-ichi-ryu, Photek, down 32 to 69 Waterloo sunset, Cathy Dennis, down 32 to 74
Top 40 debuts	Tall Paul, Lamb
Top 40 ends	Sean Maguire, Lamb
Top 75 debuts	NRG, Tall Paul, Sweetback, Smaller Featuring Noel Gallagher, Lamb, Richie Rich And Esera Tuaolo, Stereophonics
Top 75 ends	Dub War, Babyface, Kerbdog, Dunblane, Smaller Featuring Noel Gallagher, Sweetback, Richie Rich And Esera Tuaolo

Entries outside the top 40 for Dub War, NRG, Sweetback, Benz, Richie Rich and Esera Tuaolo, and Smaller featuring Noel Gallagher. Dub War had a hit in 1990, Benz had had a couple of top 40 hits in 1996, and NRG's Never lost his hardcore would return in remixes in 1998 and 2004. For the rest, it was in and out and that's your lot.

Apache Indian's comeback song, Lovin' (let me love you) stalled at 53; the original bhangra pop star was no longer flavour of the week. Stereophonics had their first significant hit, Local boy in the photograph began its life at number 51. Kerbdog's final hit, Mexican wave, entered at 49; they'd briefly tickled the top 40 in summer 1994. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci came in at 42 with Diamond dew, one place lower than the previous November's Patio song.

Second single in two months for The Braxtons, The boss made 31. One place higher came Gorecki, for the one-week wonder Lamb. The song was based on the Polish composer's third symphony, which had been a significant crossover hit in the early 1990s. The Kolansky Brothers have a bit of an obsession with this song, and have arranged it in many variations for Scala.

Third single for the Fun Loving Criminals was King of New York, in at 28. The group had yet to cross into the mainstream, still less appear on derivative dog-training shows. Sean Maguire's hit-making career is almost forgotten now, even though he had eight top 30 hits between 1994 and 1997. His biggest was Good day, a number 12 hit in May 1996; his last and smallest hit was at number 27 ten years ago. It was a tribute to his favourite daytime quiz show, Today's the day.

Blackbird on the wire was the third single from the Beautiful South's album Blue Is The Colour, and continued the group's average of one-and-a-half big hits per album by entering at the not particularly large position of 23. Hard to make a stand was the third of five singles released from Sheryl Crow's The Globe Sessions, but the rather whinging song could only make number 22.

Can't nobody hold me down was a chart-topper on the Billboard list for Puff Daddy, but only made 19 in this country. Whitney Houston came in at 16; I believe in you and me was the follow-up to the hugely popular Step by step, and is a slightly under-played hit of hers. Seal's Fly like an eagle was in at 13; the Steve Miller Band cover became the fifth and final top 20 hit of his career. Tall Paul's Rock da house came in at 12, it remains his only hit.

Gina G's Fresh dropped four to 10, and new at 9 came the Pet Shop Boys' Red letter day. The fourth and final single from their Single:Bilingual album owed a certain debt to some recordings of Can't help falling in love, particularly a traditional-Irish version that did the rounds about ten years earlier. Red letter day would become interesting for other reasons, but we'll come to those next week.

Boyzone's Isn't it a wonder collapsed from 2 to 6, making way for Madonna's version of Another suitcase in another hall to enter at 7. The third single culled from the Evita soundtrack was neither a new song (as had been You must love me) nor a re-interpretation of a classic (cf Don't cry for me Argentina). The only attraction of this release was that the B-sides comprised the other two singles from the production.

Sash! dropped a place to 6, and BBE's Flash came in at 5. Their previous single, Seven days and one week, had become a club anthem in autumn 1996, but this work wouldn't even become an advert for cleaning powders. Anywhere for you became the second hit of the year for the Backstreet Boys, making number 4. It's probably the least well-remembered of their early hits.

No Doubt had the fastest climber this week, Don't speak rebounding one place to number 3. Highest new entry honours came at 2 for R. Kelly's tribute to her neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Fly, and their children Abdul, Yves, and Hakim. R.'s career to this point had been as much hit as miss. This was a far more soulful and less explicit song than had marked her career to date, and instantly became the biggest hit of a short career. R. was also standing for parliament, in a Bolton constituency.

If she'd run against the Spice Girls, holding at the top for a third week, it's certain that R. would have lost. So would Mr. Blair, for the Spices were sweeping all before them. In retrospect, this final week at the top marked the high water mark for Spicemania; an awful lot would change before their next chart hit in October.

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