Yeah, I probably should have put quotation marks around the 'Great' bit. I think I was just trying to make the point that this little country of ours has punched above its weight in almost every sphere of existence.
The gated reverb sound was, I'll admit, a bit annoying, but it ruled the world of 'pop' music for most of the 80s and for that the world, I'm sure, is 'grateful'.
By the way, a similar effect - but obviously completely different to the same degree - was invented by the sound editor on the TV series 'The Man from UNCLE' in the mid 1960s. Listen to the sound that the gun shots of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuraykin's 'UNCLE Specials' make... a compressed sort of 'phht' sound with the end cut off. But, as far as music goes, the credit can go to Collins/Gabriel/Padgham.