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Post by cperry on Oct 16, 2008 20:03:15 GMT
Wishful Thinking were on Ed and Zed tx: 21 /11/1970 and it exists ex-2" at the NFTVA.
c
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Post by Stephen Doran on Oct 17, 2008 11:00:07 GMT
They were quite well known by 1970 formed around 1966 67. Thought Opp Knocks was about new acts didnt they record on Decca?
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Post by Rob Tompsett on Oct 23, 2008 9:47:20 GMT
They did very well on the continent but not here - the appearance on opnox on 30/07/1966 was to introduce them to the British public. My friend Sylvia was at the time their fan club secretary.
I understand it wasn't shown in all ITV regions, something to do with the World Cup.
Does anyone know what other acts were on that episode?
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Post by Phil Leach on Oct 24, 2008 11:27:53 GMT
They were quite well known by 1970 formed around 1966 67. Thought Opp Knocks was about new acts didnt they record on Decca? They were indeed on Decca and had a catchy beat-pop effort called 'Step By Step' released around 1966. It must have been a struggle for any new group to break through in those days as there were thousands of beat groups around! I don't think you had to be a new act to get onto Opp Knocks as I've read somewhere that the group The Riot Squad were on the programme circa 1967 after they'd released a string of singles on Pye.
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Post by William Martin on Oct 24, 2008 16:15:40 GMT
unfortunately I have no information on your episode, but just to clarify things I've been looking through my notes and perhaps this information will help research in other directions their biggest hit was in Germany in 1970/71 with "Hiroshima" the line at the time of the Opertunity knocks was Brian Allen -D Roger Charles -B Roy Daniels -V Terry New -G for further information and a complete discography their fan site is here www.wishfulthinking.de/
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Post by Peter Elliott on Oct 24, 2008 16:44:03 GMT
I don't think you had to be a new act to get onto Opp Knocks as I've read somewhere that the group The Riot Squad were on the programme circa 1967 after they'd released a string of singles on Pye. Hmmm... how much truth is there in a story PJ Proby has told? Proby says that in 1972 or 1973, Hughie Green wanted to get out of his contract with Thames (something to do with an offer from Australia) and to try and do so, enlisted Proby to enter on the show wearing a mask. The idea was that eventually Proby would be unmasked and it would create an uproar since Proby was already a famous name and lead to Green getting fired. Proby swears by the many tales he tells, so does anyone remember anything about a masked performer during that time and what, if anything, actually happened?
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Jun 6, 2011 14:43:31 GMT
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Jun 6, 2011 14:57:59 GMT
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Jun 6, 2011 15:06:49 GMT
Last post by me on this thread concerning the Brothers clips.
Research suggests they debuted in 1976.
The Songwriters edition (second clip) cannot come from before 1977, as their hit featured on TOTP (as it charted) in early January '77. The Cotton Mill Boys (featured on the second clip, Songwriters' Show), according to their website, appeared in....1976.
As this is the complete list of show:- OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
""1 in 1965, 20/7/1968,
20/12/71 "All Winners Show" 27/12/71 03/04/72 24/04/72 "Scripts Edition" 30/10/72 "All Winners Show" 08/01/73 "Fanfare For Europe" 30/12/74 "Variety Club Award Show" 22/12/75 "Songwriters Show" 29/12/75 "Variety Club Award Show" 27/09/76 08/11/76 "Satellite Edition - Australia" 30/12/76 "Variety Club Awards Show" 02/01/78 "Variety Club Awards" 05/03/78 12/03/78 20/03/78 "The Last Show""
....and as there are only two existing from '76, and one is a 'satellite edition', we can deduce the second youtube clip posted above is missing, and the first, we are not sure about!
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Jul 4, 2012 9:17:40 GMT
This is a tad irrelevant, if not O/T, but....this is fascinating....from the Grauniad....
"" Opportunity blocked: how Hughie Green brought chaos to the EEC
'Frightful' affair had Foreign Office mandarins in a panic as TV programme plans threatened to upset Heath's Fanfare for Europe
Alan Travis, home affairs editor The Guardian, Tuesday 8 July 2003 07.37 BST
The Foreign Office mandarins who planned Ted Heath's Fanfare for Europe festival to sell Britain's membership of the European Community to a sceptical public 30 years ago could not have bargained for Hughie Green when they planned the festivities.
The centrepiece of the 11-day celebrations to mark the "tremendous moment" when Britain joined the then EEC was the arrival of Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonia to perform Beethoven's 9th Symphony at a gala evening at Covent Garden.
But as an FO file recently released at the National Archives in Kew shows, the inside story of the attempts to persuade Britain's new EEC partners to sign up for a Euro-version of Hughie Green's Opportunity Knocks TV show made the disputes over Britain joining seem straightforward by comparison. "This is all too awful for words," complained one FO mandarin.
The BBC had arranged for its Radio One DJs Tony Blackburn and Jimmy Young and Radio Four's Today programme to broadcast from different European capitals. The director-general of the BBC told the Foreign Office that he regretted that the special edition of It's Your Line had been dropped but explained it was because the panel had all been invited to the official banquet at Hampton Court Palace the same night.
All seemed set fair until Hughie Green and Thames TV persuaded the industrialist Lord Mancroft, who was in charge of the official Fanfare for Europe committee, that the time had come for a European version of his Opportunity Knocks talent show. Thames told Mancroft that Opportunity Knocks had been one of Britain's top TV programmes for the past 13 years with a weekly audience of 20 million. Hughie Green's style - "and I mean this most sincerely, folks" - had ensured the success of such "international names" as Frankie Vaughan and the Batchelors.
The one-hour "talent discovery" show "will be an ideal vehicle to introduce 20 million viewers to Common Market artistes, as well as to educate them on the principles and ideas of the common market," explained Thames. The British entry would be the Don Bostock Youth Orchestra from a school in Liverpool.
Mancroft agreed and Hughie Green set off, with Foreign Office support, to sign up the television companies of Europe to the idea. The planned format was for each country to come up with a selection of performers, with one act to be selected by Green for use in the show, to be recorded in London.
Each country's act would be introduced by a politician or other personality who would stress the value of the enlarged EEC. Viewers in each country would then vote by post for their favourite act, with the winner given the "Common Market talent award".
Mission
Hughie Green set off around Europe on a personal mission to sell the idea, meeting senior executives at ORTF in Paris, RAI in Rome and NDR in Hamburg. The response was less than communitaire . Given the political importance of the occasion, no European television company wanted to be the first to reject it; but FO telegram traffic between London and British embassies that followed Green's progress around Europe gave a more candid picture.
Peter Murphy, the consul-general in Hamburg, said Dieter Schwartzkopf of NDR television and his "entertainment director Vock" had seen two videotapes of Opportunity Knocks: "They were appalled at the quality of the show and the manner in which it was presented. He said that in fact words failed them. He said that he would be a laughing stock if he allowed such a show to be shown on German television. Therefore there was no question of participating, much as he regretted the lack of chance to use a programme such as this for political reasons."
The Paris embassy reported that ORTF was also reluctant to get involved: "They expressed fears that ITV might be using this project as a device to get in on the lucrative European song contest formula which is the preserve of the BBC."
The Rome embassy was no more encouraging: "In confidence the producer said RAI did not like Green's programme which they consider second rate and they could not consider letting one of their top artistes appear in it. It also clashes with the final of RAI's own top song contest, Canzonissima. Green, however, regards this as a minor point and is certain he can find a way around it."
Denmark and Luxembourg also sent their regrets, leaving the FO saying it looked as though the project was going to "blow up in Mr Green's face". The mandarins feared they would "bear the brunt of Mr Green's wrath if he fails to bring off this programme".
With just two months to go the matter was referred to the foreign secretary, Sir Alec Douglas Home, who appears to have insisted that a major diplomatic effort be made to rescue the programme.
After some serious pressure through the Quai D'Orsay - the French foreign ministry - ORTF agreed to take part, but the Germans would have nothing to do with it. The Italians agreed to participate, but only on a small scale. The Dutch, the Irish and the Belgians also said yes. The Danes and Luxembourgeois declined.
Even in the final days before recording, the French end of the enterprise took what the FO termed another "somewhat delicate turn". The French wanted their act to be introduced by a variety artist, Mme Mick Micheyl, who had been running her own TV talent programme. Green took against her, saying he had strong reservations about her English.
The FO were not that keen on her either. They wanted Leon Zitrone - the "French Robin Day" - who could put over an intelligent case for the EEC in excellent English. Green wasn't sure. His first choice was Yves Montand, or his wife, Simone Signoret, but after being told by the FO they were too leftwing he backed Zitrone. The French government leaned on ORTF but the message came back: "Mickey or nothing".
"This all sounds frightful," minuted one official in the margin of the file.
This was not the end of what one mandarin described as the "whole imbroglio". The Prince of Wales refused to present the talent award. Lord Mancroft had to do it himself. The FO vetoed Ode to Joy as the opening theme on the grounds that it was not then the official European anthem.
The FO file contains little evidence on how the final programme went down. It only includes two reviews from Belgian papers, which complain about a joke about Flemish. The most prominent Euro-personality to take part appears to have been Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, but the reviews fail to make clear whether the award went to Norm and Eve from Belgium or Britain's Don Bostock Youth Orchestra.""
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Post by Stefan Cole on Aug 7, 2013 20:05:01 GMT
I have an Op-Knocks query, and rather than start a new thread, this seems the best place for it...
I know of an old winner, but have no idea which show, and was hoping someone here could help, as my own Google-fu has let me down.
It was a duo of singers, whose stage-name was "Keith and Tim West". I believe they won some time in the 60's.
The episode/year is what I'm after. I don't really expect anyone to find a clip, but if one exists, I'd love to see it!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2013 7:44:26 GMT
Please post under a real name, please, Jamdog. No handles are allowed on forum. Thanks.
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Post by Stefan Cole on Aug 8, 2013 17:36:12 GMT
Sorry - I wasn't aware of that - edited my profile. The funny thing is that I've used my handle on every website for the last 20 years, so by putting my real name, no-one will know who I am...
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Post by Aki Buhidma on Oct 5, 2013 23:11:31 GMT
Hi Guys, I know there hasn't been a post on this forum for a while, but recently I have been tasked by a good friend of mine to look for an episode of Opportunity Knocks from 04.11.1974 (the date when it aired) - Season 15. He actually won Opportunity Knocks that time, his name is Brian McCann - anybody know where I can find this episode? He has helped me in my career a lot and I would like to get a recording of this episode for him. He even mentioned that a few years ago, his time on Opportunity Knocks was aired on a show called "The White Line" - aired in Northern Irish Tv. Anybody familiar with that?
Thanks
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Post by robincarmody on Oct 6, 2013 0:18:26 GMT
You might have some problems here. According to the relevant Kal guide, the 04.11.1974 edition of Opportunity Knocks - like most editions of the show - is missing.
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