Paul McCartney Wings Lift Off with Ayshea December 19 1973
Dec 20, 2019 8:05:26 GMT
Thomas Walsh, Tony Walshaw, and 2 more like this
Post by petercheck on Dec 20, 2019 8:05:26 GMT
I asked Keith Badman about this. Here's his reply:
After discovering this topic I thought I would share some info with you. I was first made aware of Lift Off's shocking survival rate back in 1994 when I was carrying out archive research on the Granada / Ch4 series My Generation. I was informed then that just 3 complete episodes survived in the archives and the one featuring Wings was not one of them. Knowing this I asked whether any paperwork for that show existed.
Unlike the BBC - and the information available at their Written Archives Centre in Caversham - ITV then was not so forthcoming about info relating to their past shows (payments to artists etc) but - thru the Lady there - I was able to get clarification - via some surviving paperwork - that Wings did perform and the precise details of the studio in which they appeared.
In 1996 - thru my contacts at Granada - I was put in touch with a most delightful chap who worked on Lift Off With Ayshea from 1972 onwards at the time of the show's revamp. His memory of his time on the program was pretty good as well. I was also hoping he might have some lost clips from the series (sadly he didn't).I showed him a VHS of the Helen Wheels MPL promo film and he said he was pretty certain it wasn't the one used on the program. He also said he remembered it being a straight performance clip rather like all the other acts on Lift Off.
I put all this information in my 1999 book The Beatles After The Break Up and then in 2002 (not long after the second version of my tome had gone to print) another piece of industry trivia turned up... Wings' performance was actually a pre-taped insert and not actually a part of the live broadcast as I once assumed. It was no wonder then that Ayshea had no recollection whatsoever of Paul and Wings appearing personally... Because they didn't. (I intended putting this update in the third version of my After The Break Up book but the chance never materialised for several reasons which I won't go into now.)
Hard to comprehend now just how popular Lift Off With Ayshea was with viewers and acts alike. As we well know David Bowie even chose the program to unveil Starman... Three weeks prior to performing the song on TOTP. (That too was an insert.) The show's saying 'The stars don't need asking twice' summed its popularity entirely.
McCartney certainly wasn't against appearing on children's TV shows in the early 70s...remember his Basil Brush Show BBC1 performance in 1972? And on Boxing Day 1973 he and wife Linda hosted an episode of Disney Time on the same channel.
If the information I was given all those years ago is indeed wrong I would love to know about it for future reference so please send it thru. But with the program long since wiped (in 1975 I understand) it will be unfortunately hard to prove anything otherwise 100 per cent certain... Sorry to say. Unless of course Chris Perry or Peter Checksfield can find a copy.
Keith Badman
After discovering this topic I thought I would share some info with you. I was first made aware of Lift Off's shocking survival rate back in 1994 when I was carrying out archive research on the Granada / Ch4 series My Generation. I was informed then that just 3 complete episodes survived in the archives and the one featuring Wings was not one of them. Knowing this I asked whether any paperwork for that show existed.
Unlike the BBC - and the information available at their Written Archives Centre in Caversham - ITV then was not so forthcoming about info relating to their past shows (payments to artists etc) but - thru the Lady there - I was able to get clarification - via some surviving paperwork - that Wings did perform and the precise details of the studio in which they appeared.
In 1996 - thru my contacts at Granada - I was put in touch with a most delightful chap who worked on Lift Off With Ayshea from 1972 onwards at the time of the show's revamp. His memory of his time on the program was pretty good as well. I was also hoping he might have some lost clips from the series (sadly he didn't).I showed him a VHS of the Helen Wheels MPL promo film and he said he was pretty certain it wasn't the one used on the program. He also said he remembered it being a straight performance clip rather like all the other acts on Lift Off.
I put all this information in my 1999 book The Beatles After The Break Up and then in 2002 (not long after the second version of my tome had gone to print) another piece of industry trivia turned up... Wings' performance was actually a pre-taped insert and not actually a part of the live broadcast as I once assumed. It was no wonder then that Ayshea had no recollection whatsoever of Paul and Wings appearing personally... Because they didn't. (I intended putting this update in the third version of my After The Break Up book but the chance never materialised for several reasons which I won't go into now.)
Hard to comprehend now just how popular Lift Off With Ayshea was with viewers and acts alike. As we well know David Bowie even chose the program to unveil Starman... Three weeks prior to performing the song on TOTP. (That too was an insert.) The show's saying 'The stars don't need asking twice' summed its popularity entirely.
McCartney certainly wasn't against appearing on children's TV shows in the early 70s...remember his Basil Brush Show BBC1 performance in 1972? And on Boxing Day 1973 he and wife Linda hosted an episode of Disney Time on the same channel.
If the information I was given all those years ago is indeed wrong I would love to know about it for future reference so please send it thru. But with the program long since wiped (in 1975 I understand) it will be unfortunately hard to prove anything otherwise 100 per cent certain... Sorry to say. Unless of course Chris Perry or Peter Checksfield can find a copy.
Keith Badman
