Ah, yes, 1985. That autumn, I was actually in London on an exchange program at U. of L. Our dorm was a row house on Pembridge Gardens in Notting Hill Gate.
Your mentioning of the NFL on Channel 4 brings many memories of Sunday nights (I believe it was seven days after the fact) of the taped game of the week. I can still envision the opening segment each week had the Bonnie Tyler song "Holding out for a Hero" and then former Pats kicker John Smith and the announcer would comment on a game that edited out the huddles, OT's, etc. I think it was all packaged in an hour program. After the game, Smith would have a segment explaining a football rule.
It's hard to put in context the meaning of that show for slightly homesick 20 year olds to people today. There were no cell phones, no internet/e-mail, in fact there were no phones in our rowhouse. The only way to call home was to collect a lot of coins and go down to the corner red box phone booth on Bayswater Road (outside the Soviet Embassy - or Consulate, I forget - all I remember is that it was a Soviet Governement building and, in 1985, that was a very good conversation piece for my phone calls from that booth!) and try to get 10 or 12 minutes out of the money.
The NFL was pretty new to the UK then, but they seemed intrigued. The Fridge became a minor celebrity there after the following preseason's exhibition game at Wembley between the Bears and the Cowboys.
