David Bowie and other music guests on 'Six-O-One: Newsday'

[markdixon]

I was wondering if anyone has any information about the two (now missing) appearances that David Bowie made on Granada's regional news/magazine programme 'Six-O-One: Newsday'? This is what I've been able to find so far:

Bowie's 'Memory of a Free Festival' was released as a single on 12 June 1970. According to Nicholas Pegg's 'The Complete David Bowie' the record was promoted by an appearance by Bowie on 'Six-O-One: Newsday' in June 1970. The only flaw with this information is that the programme didn't begin until 28 September 1970, by which time Mercury Records would surely have given up on promoting this unsuccessful single. Granada had a bulletin called 'Newsview' in June 1970, but it would have been too short to feature musical guests.

I think I can explain the discrepancy in dates. I think there's a strong possibility that Bowie recorded an appearance for 'Octopus' (Granada's early-evening regional arts programme that ran from January-July 1970 and which featured guests such as Nick Drake, Love, Mighty Baby etc. ) However, I doubt that Bowie's performance of 'Memory of a Free Festival' was ever broadcast on 'Octopus'. Granada was off the air from 26 May-21 June 1970 because of a strike and when the service resumed it's likely that several advertised programmes were pulled from the schedule to make space for the delayed coverage of World Cup '70. It's possible that the Bowie clip was saved until the Autumn of 1970 and then broadcast on 'Six-O-One: Newsday'. I didn't realise there was such a strong link between the two programmes until I saw how the 'TV Times' described the first edition of 'Six-O-One Newsday' in September 1970:

At this time Granada's nightly look at the North West - the controversy of 'On Site' and 'Campaign'', the music and science of 'Octopus', plus the North Western background to the day's events.

Bowie returned to Granada on 18 January 1971 for his second appearance on the programme (the day its title was shortened to 'Newsday'). His performance of 'Holy Holy' was broadcast on 20 January 1971. He wore a dress for this appearance (similar to the one he wore on the cover of 'The Man Who Sold The World').

Other music guests on 'Newsday'

It's likely that 'Newsday' featured many more now lost appearances by other notable musical guests. I know that Gene Vincent performed 'Sunday Morning Comin' Down' on 23 September 1971 (his final ever TV appearance). The Electric Light Orchestra appeared, probably in 1973 shortly before the programme was replaced by 'Granada Reports'.

There are a few surviving performances. I think the British Film Institute hold a complete edition of 'Newsday' from 25 March 1971 which features a song by Ralph McTell. The BFI also hold 19 minutes of film inserts from an edition from 17 November 1970, but I don't know if this includes any musical material.

ITN Source hold 'pop promo' type clips of the Flirtations at the speedway track at Belle Vue, Manchester (14 May 1971) and the Troggs performing 'Lazy Weekend' on a barge on a canal (01 Jun 1971).

There are also a number of 'Newsday' music-related features listed on ITN Source. These include coverage of the Bickershaw Pop Festival in Lancashire in May 1972 (including a brief clip of Country Joe McDonald performing 'Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine' and an interview with Jerry Garcia).

I know that Captain Beefheart was interviewed for a Granada programme on the opening night of his art exhibition at the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool. This was in April 1972. There's some mystery about which programme featured the interview, but I think that it was 'Newsday' (the only other possibility is 'What's On', which at that stage was a weekly 10-minute programme presented by Harry Davis). The interview isn't listed on ITN Source, but I know it exists because a segment was featured in the 1997 BBC2 documentary 'The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart'.

[John Green]

Clever research,Mark.Always nice when you discover that a source of information is wrong!

[williammcgregor]

David sang "Memory of a Free Festival" on Granada TV on Friday the 26th June 1970 (but my source does not divulge the TV show)

David sang "Holy Holy" on 'Six-O-One' on Monday the 18th January 1971.

David was introduced to Roger Damon Price later to create children's TV series 'The Tomorrow People' which featured a master-race known as Homo Superior and incorporated into his song "Oh You Pretty Things"

[John Green]

Thanks,William,though I was familiar with the term 'homo superior' from reading the X-Men,and I wouldn't be surprised if DB was too!

[Tim Brown]

Not an exhaustive list be any means:

Davy Jones & The King Bees 'Liza Jane' (Ready Steady Go 1964)
Davy Jones & The King Bees 'Liza Jane' (The Beat Room 1964)
David & The Manish Boys - 'I Pity The Fool' (Gadzooks It's All Happening 1965)
David & The Buzz - 'Can't Help Thinking About Me' (Ready Steady Go 1966)
'Love You Til Tuesday' (Fan Club 1967)
'Love You Til Tuesday'/'Did You Ever Have A Dream'/'Please Mr Gravedigger' (4-3-2-1 Musik Fur Junge Leute 1968)
'When I Live My Dream' (Music For Everyone 1968)
David mimes 'Poor Jimmy Wilson' with The Strawbs (Colour Me Pop 1969)
'Space Oddity' (Top Of The Pops 1969)
'Space Oddity' (Doebidoe 1969)
'Space Oddity' (Like Now 1969)
'London Bye Ta Ta' (Cairngorm Ski Night 1970)
'Memory Of A Free Festival' (Six-O-One 1970)
'Memory Of A Free Festival' (Ready Eddy Go 1970)
'Holy Holy' (Six-O-One 1971)
'Oh You Pretty Things' with Peter Noone (Top Of The Pops 1971)
'Starman' (Lift Off with Ayshea ITV June 1972)
'My Death' performance (Russell Harty Pop Plus 1973)

[Deleted]

Feb 7, 2016 20:36:01 GMT John Green said:

Thanks,William,though I was familiar with the term 'homo superior' from reading the X-Men,and I wouldn't be surprised if DB was too!

There was a Bowie fan where I used to work who got a lot stick from some of the less enlightened of his colleagues for singing "Got to make for the homo-superior ...". They only heard the first part of that word and drew their own conclusions ...

[markdixon]

Feb 7, 2016 20:16:47 GMT williammcgregor said:

David sang "Memory of a Free Festival" on Granada TV on Friday the 26th June 1970 (but my source does not divulge the TV show)

David sang "Holy Holy" on 'Six-O-One' on Monday the 18th January 1971.

David was introduced to Roger Damon Price later to create children's TV series 'The Tomorrow People' which featured a master-race known as Homo Superior and incorporated into his song "Oh You Pretty Things"

Thanks for the information, William. It looks to me like 26 June 1970 was the recording date, not the broadcast date, for Bowie's performance of "Memory of a Free Festival". I've checked the TV listings on the Guardian Online Archive and I couldn't see any programmes broadcast by Granada on that day that were likely to have included Bowie as a guest.

I had a look at the following week's schedule. The bulletin "Newsview" had a 15 minute running time on Monday 29 June (although at least 5 minutes of that time was taken up by "Police File"). If Bowie did appear on "Newsview" then I imagine that only a very short extract of his performance would have been shown (and it probably would have included end credits rolling across the screen).

I'd prefer to think that he appeared on 'Octopus' on 1 July 1970. "Memory of a Free Festival" would have been heard in full and the song would have fitted in with the rest of the show. I'm sure this edition of 'Octopus' was broadcast as planned, because it seems that most of the programmes delayed by the Granada strike (such as coverage of the World Cup Final) had been shown by then.

[williammcgregor]

You're welcome Mark.

I have just checked my TV Times dvd for the 26th June it is for the (Yorkshire region) and no sign of any programme there that would have included Bowie as a guest. The page also had details of what was showing that day on (Anglia,Midlands and Tyne-Tees) and nothing there either.

I also had a look for "Newsview" for the 29th June 1970 (Anglia region) but no sign of that programme (also no sign in the London,Midland Yorkshire or Southern regions)

No sign of an appearance on "Octopus" either after looking at the very well researched "Any Day Now" The London Years 1947-1974 book by Kevin Cann.

[markdixon]

Hi, William. I think I've got the same 'TV Times' DVDs as you. 'Octopus' was only shown in the Granada area. The DVD doesn't contain scans of any Granada region 'TV Times' for January-July 1970 (and there are none from that time for ATV and HTV which listed Granada schedules as part of their 'Regional Variations' sections).

I think it's most likely that Bowie appeared on the 1 July 1970 edition of 'Octopus', although I've got no evidence. I've seen all the Granada 'TV Times' that listed 'Octopus' and none of them included the names of guests on the show.

I can't rule out the idea that there might have been a Bowie appearance on 'Newsview', but I think it's unlikely because the programme was usually 5 minutes long and I've never read any references to musical guests being featured on it. 'Octopus' featured music every week. It was Granada's attempt to connect with the era of the underground press, Arts Labs and free festivals, so Bowie would have been a perfect guest. 'Octopus' was produced in July 1970 by Brian Winston and he was also one of the producers of 'Six-O-One: Newsday' in January 1971. Maybe he played a part in arranging both of Bowie's Granada performances during this era.