Celebrations turned sour for Bushey pop duo Wham! just hours after being voted Best British Group in the British Phonographic Industry awards on Monday evening.

Gold and silver discs awarded to George Michael, who has lived in Radlett for most of his life, and his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, from Bushey, were stolen in London on Tuesday.

The discs – awarded for the Fantastic album and the singles Bad Boys, Young Guns and Club Tropicana – were in a glass-fronted presentation case which had been left for repair at the premises of Work and Art in the West End.

A man went to the workshop and helped himself to the discs, after claiming he had been sent to collect them for a charity auction.

Other “locals” among the honours at the awards evening were Alison “Alf” Moyet, who recently moved to Radlett, voted Best Female Singer , and Frankie Goes to Hollywood producer Trevor Horn, from Letchmore Heath, chosen as Best British Producer.

[From the Watford Observer of February 15, 1985]