A letter found by a dad clearing out a room of his home provides a fascinating glimpse into how Brits lived during the 1980s.
Carl Skivington found a letter from 1982 signed by Deborah Stokes, aged 14, after ripping out a cupboard in the box room of his home in Horninglow, Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire.
Carl was stunned as he read the letter, in which the writer tells how the president of the Soviet Union at the time, Leonid Brezhnev, had just died and how milk was just 20p per pint.
She also says bread cost around 30p for a loaf, with a pint of beer costing a punter 60p at the pub in the eighties, Staffordshire Live reports.
Deborah goes on to reveal her favourite bands, including The Boomtown Rats, and asked the future reader if they're still around when the letter is opened.
Dad Mr Skivington, 44, lives with his partner Lori Davies, 33, and their two-year-old son Jace, and was doing up the old room as a nursery because the couple are expecting a second child.
The work saw him removing a built-in cupboard where he found the letter wedged behind.
After the find, he put a post on Facebook and was amazed to find Deborah Dishman, who is now in her 50s.
Mr Skivington, who is a gym manager, said: "We was really shocked actually.
"Me and my partner were turning the box room into a nursery as my partner is 15 weeks pregnant.
"It had like on of these weird pre-built cupboards in the corner which I decided I wanted to take out."
The letter written on an A4 sheet says: "I wonder what is happening in the world when you read this letter? Last week, President Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union died of a heart attack and was now quickly replaced by Yuri Andropov.
"My favourite groups are Haircut One Hundred and The Boomtown Rats. I wonder if they're still around?
"By the way, milk is 20p per pint, bread is 30p to 38p per loaf, while beer is 60p per pint. I hope the world is a better place by the time you see this. I like to think it will be."
Mrs Dishman, who now lives in Leicester, said she wrote the letter after being told to do it by her dad, Derek Stokes, who said it would serve as a 'time capsule' for people living in their house in the future.
He then popped the letter behind the cupboard where it could not lay undiscovered unless the cupboard was removed, which did not happen until 40 years later.
Mrs Dishman heard about the letter being found after a friend saw Mr Skivington's post on Facebook and showed it to her. She said at first she could not figure out how her friend had got a copy of the letter she wrote as a girl.
"And then it all just come back to me and I actually remember writing it," she added.
Mrs Dishman said her dad, who died two years ago, would have been incredibly proud to hear this had happened 40 years later.
She added that since Mr Skivington's find, her children have written their own letters and put them behind cupboards at their home.
She said: "So that would be amazing when we sell our house that the next people may find them and this will happen all over again."
Mrs Dishman has lived in Leicester for 26 years with her husband, Bernard Dishman, 56, who together have four children; and she's also a grandma-of-three and works at Christian charity 'The Navigators UK', having previously had a career as a solicitor.
Asked if they thought the world is a better place today Mr Skivington said: "I mean what we've gone through in the last 40 years has been horrific.
"Obviously more recently you have the covid pandemic and now with the wars going on abroad [ Ukraine ], it's one thing after another that you couldn't predict.
Mrs Dishman added: "It's a tricky one to answer isn't it. I think things have been pretty grim, especially the last couple of years with all that has gone on."
