National Beat Group Contest 1964 Grand Final

[williammcgregor]

The BBC Genome Project entry for this reads as

BBC One Monday 4 May 1964 22.35 - 23.05 pm National Beat Group Contest Grand Final
First Prize: £1,000 and a Recording test.
Since last October more than 1,000 beat groups have taken part in this nation-wide competition
Tonight BBC Outside Broadcast cameras bring you the exciting final stage of the contest, direct from the
Lyceum, Ballroom, London
Compere: Alan Freeman Arranged by Eric Morley Organised by Mecca Dancing Presented for TV by Mary Evans

While the TV Pop Diaries entry differs in some aspects
Monday 4 May 1964 BBC 1 22.35 - 23.05 National Beat Group Contest: Grand Final
Hosted by Alan Freeman live from the Lyceum, in London
Panel: Five people from all aspects of pop
Groups: The Falcons, plus five others
Each group had to perform two songs, one beat number, one slow.
Prize of £5000 for the overall winner, with a recording audition for the top three groups

This programme poses many questions...

While the programme went out at 22.35 pm, was it recorded earlier in the evening for transmission later that night?

Does the BBC still hold a Recording?

Did Eric Morley or Mecca Dancing receive a copy of that recording?

Which of the 2 entries is the more accurate in terms of prize money and the number of groups that received the recording audition?

Who were the 5 people from Pop that made up the Panel?

Who were The Falcons, where were they from? (I've looked on Google but can't pin them down)

Who were the 5 other Groups?

If the top 3 Groups did receive recording auditions, who were these 3 groups?

Who were the Winners of the Grand Final?

Who finished second and third in that evening programme?

They may be other questions that you can add to, about this fascinating show or programme

[markdixon]

I had a quick look online and it was difficult to find reliable information about this contest. Here’s what I found:


The Falcons didn’t win a prize. Did they come last?


Wainwright’s Gentlemen came fifth and the Gravediggers were in fourth place.


The Roadrunners (a group from Falkirk) were in the final, but they didn’t win. Did they come second or third?


I think the other two groups were the Spartans and Tony Adams and the Viceroys.


Maybe one of the music papers printed a list of the finalists. 

[johnpoole]

The Road Runners -
www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/falkirk-s-very-own-fab-four-1-2078047

Tony Adams & the Viceroys (scroll down for photo)- two of the group became members of the Shots and later the Smoke ('My Friend Jack')
yorkoralhistory.weebly.com/past-projects.html

[andyc]

The final took place a few hours before the TV broadcast. Some sources state that there were actually 13 finalists, so it's possible that this was whittled down to 6 acts for the climax.

As Mark Dixon mentioned above, Wainwright's Gentlemen were 5th. A certain Ian Gillan joined the group shortly after this contest, and Brian Connolly a couple of years later.

Tony Adams and the Viceroys did compete, one source mentions that they entered the same competition in 1963 although I cannot verify this.

[williammcgregor]

According to Melody Maker dated 23rd may 1964 the winners were (The Martin Jae Five) sic

and they had been added to the cast of BBC2's "Top Beat" show at London's Albert Hall on Monday 25th May 1964.


..............................................................

This is from the Radio Times

[markdixon]

I had a look online at an article from the “Daily Mirror” (05 May 1964) titled “Gravedigger Terry livens things up”. This has some more information about the contest.

The Martin Jae Five from Croydon won the first prize of £1000. They performed “Anyone Who Had a Heart”.

The Corvettes Combo from Ashton-under-Lyne came second and collected £250.

The Trojans from Croydon picked up third prize of £100.

In fourth place were a group featuring Terry Francis, who was a City of London gravedigger. I don’t think the article mentioned the group’s name (some of the text was illegible). Initially, I thought they were called the Gravediggers.

We know that Wainwright’s Gentlemen came fifth and presumably the Falcons were sixth.

There were 13 groups in the final, but only six of them appeared on television. Therefore, the Roadrunners, the Spartans and Tony Adams and the Viceroys must have been amongst the groups who didn’t appear on screen.

[John Green]

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this.
Personally,I've always been hopeless at the "Three of them have smartphones but no car. Two dog-owners have never flown. One home-owner has no cat" type of quizzes!

[johnpoole]

The Corvettes -
www.manchesterbeat.com/groups/corvettes/corvettes.php
the above suggests that they beat Herman's Hermits in the Manchester heat in front of Mickie Most (who of course signed up the Hermits instead)