TOTP montage

[William Martin]

was the joe dolan clip Teresa 30th October, 1969 or You're Such A Good Looking Woman 12th March, 1970 ?

[Neil Barker]

It's "You're Such A Good Looking Woman".

[William Martin]

ta
lets hope we get to see these shows within this particular life-time.

ps are the montagews readable yet?

[Serendipity]

William said:

as a friend of mine once said "Microsoft Works", no it doesn't

it is unusual that no home video of pre 1970 totp has turned up, this seems to be one of the most likely progs to be recorded, there wern't that many home videos in the sixties but enough (at least 2000 probably many more)that a few totp should exist somewhere. and for those who think that 2000 is an overestimation remember that in 1939 when bbctv closed for the war there were an estimated 20,000 tv sets in homes or on order.

based on survival of other shows, an esimated figure of suriving 60s TOTP episodes would give 15-20 that minus the 5 or so we know exist that would give 10-15 . This doesn't mean that there are any more but if there are this is the most likely number.
However it could be that one home video pioneer bought one of the first videos on late 1964 and recorded all of them from then on it only takes one(rich) die-hard fan of totp, dr who, Adam Adamant lives etc and we would have all the missing episodes in one home, well we can dream.
what would help is if the bbc made a public assurance that they will not prosecute and place the names of the returners(if they want to be identified) on the cover and in the credits. a bit of servile crawling can get you a long way.Think basil fawlty and lord melbury.

Thanks, William. Thinking further about Works, I have noticed one glitch but there could be more, that when you copy information from Notepad or you change the font size, the text can be misarrayed so that there are more paragraph line spaces or more letter spaces than in the original copy. Other than that, I've not noticed anything wrong but can believe there will be other things. XP was a complete mess at one point, according to some friends who have it but now it is very stable, as far as they can see, as I presently still have Millenium but we can all but hope that several errors will be erradicated in the end.

I wish I knew people personally who hold lost recordings of Top of the Pops. If I ever come across any, I'll put them in touch with Edward Russell but I'm hopeful that a certain number of 1964-1977 editions are in existence somewhere, plus isolated inserts or incomplete editions, going by comments made by various people and the private ownership of certain editions from Neil Barker's, Keith Badman's and Rick W's collections. Mostly audio but also visual, in the case of Keith. It's been circulated that some recordings exist overseas but other than that, all I know is what's been posted here.

It's also possible that some private owners could have recorded Top of the Pops, and other shows on film, as although probably quite expensive, I've been led to believe that some people had film projectors in the 1960s and 1970s with the choice of either Pictures only or both Sound and Picture.

I've not heard of Lord Melbury but I'm an avid fan of Fawlty Towers and so recognise the name Basil Fawlty. John Cleese was superb as Basil, as were Prunella Scales, Connie Booth, Andrew Sachs and the actor whose name I can't place who played the major, who was in some 1980s comedy series. They and the other cast made a very memorable comedy, which was on the other week.

[Deleted]

If youre a fan of Fawlty Towers you would know who Lord melbury is.......

He was a crook pretending to be LORD MELBURY, that is until
THE REAL LORD MELBURY appeard to stay at the hotel and Basil went right out of his tree, and a load of chased and swearing around the hotel.

right in front of the real one and his wife.

this edition shares the same humour as THE GERMANS

i think it's the edition called Communication problem


FAWLTY TOWERS - SERIES 1 (1975)

1.A Touch of Class [ FAWLTY TOWERS ]
An confidence trickster comes to stay at the hotel, just after Basil has
taken an ad in a posh magazine to upgrade the clientele.
b: 19 Sep 75

2.The Builders [ FAWLTY TOWERS (L is hanging) ]
The Fawltys take a holiday and leave Polly and Manuel to run the place
just as O'Reilly's builders come to redo the lobby.
b: 26 Sep 75

3.The Wedding Party (a.k.a. Sex)" [ FARTY TOWER (W is hanging) ]
Basil wants `none of that' going on in his rooms and suspects some
guests and Polly of carrying on.
b: 3 Oct 75

4.The Hotel Inspectors [ FAW TY TO WER ]
Some inspectors are in town and Basil gets paranoid, so he alternately
fawns over and offends his guests.
b: 10 Oct 75

5.Gourmet Night (a.k.a. Gourmet's Paradise)" [ WARY TOWELS ]
To bring the right type of crowd into the hotel Basil establishes a
Gourmet Night.
b: 17 Oct 75

6.The Germans [ no sign ]
Sybil goes into the hospital for toe surgery, leaving Basil to cope with
a fire drill single handed. After a couple of blows on the head, Basil
tells some German guests where Germany went wrong in WWII.
b: 24 Oct 75

FAWLTY TOWERS - SERIES 2 (1979)

7. Communication Problems (a.k.a. Theft)" [ FAWLTY TOWER (L hanging down) ]
A slightly deaf woman named Mrs. Richards insists that she has had a
large amount of money stolen at the hotel, and against Sybil's wishes
Basil puts a fiver on Dragonfly.
b: 19 Feb 79

8.The Psychiatrist [ WATERY FOWLS ]
A psychiatrist and his wife come to stay and Basil thinks Sybil is
telling them all about his life.
b: 26 Feb 79

9.Waldorf Salad [ FLAY OTTERS ]
An American and his wife get unsatisfactory service at Fawlty Towers
when he orders a Waldorf salad, after the kitchen has closed.
b: 5 Mar 79

10.The Kipper and the Corpse (a.k.a. Death)" [ FATTY OWLS ]
Unknown to Basil, a guest dies in the night and he tries to serve him
breakfast anyway and an obnoxious woman insists on service for her dog.
b: 12 Mar 79

11.The Anniversary [ FLOWERY TWATS ]
gs: Ken Campbell [ Roger ], Una Stubbs [ Alice ], Pat Keen [ Virginia ],
Robert Arnold [ Arthur ], Roger Hume [ Reg ], Denyse Alexander [ Kitty
], Christine Shaw [ Audrey ]
Sybil leaves before Basil's surprise anniversary party and Basil spends
the evening trying to convince their friends she's ill.
b: 26 Mar 79

12.Basil the Rat (a.k.a. Rats)" [ FARTY TOWELS ]
The health inspector is coming and Basil tells Manuel to get rid of his
pet rat which he later finds out is named Basil.
b: 25 Oct 79

NOTE: This episode was transmitted much later due to a strike at the
BBC.

[Deleted]

also puzzled with the FARTY TOWERS where the other "R" came from within this juggling of letters

[David Brunt]

also puzzled with the FARTY TOWERS where the other "R" came from within this juggling of letters

Well, there isn't one. The sign reads FARTY TOWELS...

[William Martin]

Guest-Serendipity said:

I wish I knew people personally who hold lost recordings of Top of the Pops. If I ever come across any, I'll put them in touch with Edward Russell but I'm hopeful that a certain number of 1964-1977 editions are in existence somewhere, plus isolated inserts or incomplete editions, going by comments made by various people and the private ownership of certain editions from Neil Barker's, Keith Badman's and Rick W's collections. Mostly audio but also visual, in the case of Keith. It's been circulated that some recordings exist overseas but other than that, all I know is what's been posted here.

It's also possible that some private owners could have recorded Top of the Pops, and other shows on film, as although probably quite expensive, I've been led to believe that some people had film projectors in the 1960s and 1970s with the choice of either Pictures only or both Sound and Picture.

Ballard Berkeley played the major he's on the internet movie database www.imdb.com

in the 60s and 70s(and up to the present day, part of natural born killers was shot on super8) usualy super8 8mm could be either sound or silent, sound is more expensive at least £10(about 5 years ago when I last bought any) for one roll of 50ft which would last about 120-180 seconds so 2-2 1/2 minutes barley enough for one performance although at a lower film speeds there would be enough for about 1 whole record. silent film is/was much cheaper I don't know how much movie film was in the 60s and 70s but it was probably cheaper comparativly than now because it was mass produced then. there were other types of film mostly 8mm or 16mm and didn't last that long, sound film has either a thin(a few mm wide) magnetic tape running down one side of the film or some had optical sound

one possibilty is that early colour totp perhaps even the first 27/11/69 survive as clips on colour home movie which would be invaluable in recolourising early colour episodes that only survive as b/w TR.

there must be home video of totp out there if only home recordings by the pop stars themselves, i have mentioned before that sonny bono had a home video in about 1965 in the USA so others in the UK could well have had one at about the same time.

as for bill gates, if his monopoly can be broken by the courts he'll have to make good software,.. or not

[Serendipity]

Neil said:

Whoever it is they definitely know about this site as they once posted a message on the TOTPtastic board that made it pretty obvious they had seen this forum.

I enquired on the old Missing Episodes forum as to who the chubby bloke in the first montage was, and they posted a message on the TOTPtastic board to tell me it was Joe Dolan.

Thanks, Neil. Oh yes, Joe Dolan. He's an Irishman I've heard. The only songs of his that I've heard, other than the one surviving at the BBC are You're Such a Good Looking Woman (1970) and Make Me An Island (1969). I'm not acquainted with Teresa, as he's rarely heard on the radio but I may possibly have heard it at some point.

If the person or persons in question who hold the Montages you've quoted or any other montages are reluctant to give up their master copies, they could always send a copy and let the BBC digitally remaster the recordings, so I've been led to believe is what the BBC does once they receive newly found recordings. Let's hope these valued recordings become available to them eventually for you, I, other Missing Episodes users and others who aren't aware of this forum but like Top of the Pops. The BBC needs all it can find in time for the 40th anniversary edition.

[Serendipity]

Pete said:

If youre a fan of Fawlty Towers you would know who Lord melbury is.......

He was a crook pretending to be LORD MELBURY, that is until
THE REAL LORD MELBURY appeard to stay at the hotel and Basil went right out of his tree, and a load of chased and swearing around the hotel.

right in front of the real one and his wife.

this edition shares the same humour as THE GERMANS

i think it's the edition called Communication problem


FAWLTY TOWERS - SERIES 1 (1975)

1.A Touch of Class [ FAWLTY TOWERS ]
An confidence trickster comes to stay at the hotel, just after Basil has
taken an ad in a posh magazine to upgrade the clientele.
b: 19 Sep 75

2.The Builders [ FAWLTY TOWERS (L is hanging) ]
The Fawltys take a holiday and leave Polly and Manuel to run the place
just as O'Reilly's builders come to redo the lobby.
b: 26 Sep 75

3.The Wedding Party (a.k.a. Sex)" [ FARTY TOWER (W is hanging) ]
Basil wants `none of that' going on in his rooms and suspects some
guests and Polly of carrying on.
b: 3 Oct 75

4.The Hotel Inspectors [ FAW TY TO WER ]
Some inspectors are in town and Basil gets paranoid, so he alternately
fawns over and offends his guests.
b: 10 Oct 75

5.Gourmet Night (a.k.a. Gourmet's Paradise)" [ WARY TOWELS ]
To bring the right type of crowd into the hotel Basil establishes a
Gourmet Night.
b: 17 Oct 75

6.The Germans [ no sign ]
Sybil goes into the hospital for toe surgery, leaving Basil to cope with
a fire drill single handed. After a couple of blows on the head, Basil
tells some German guests where Germany went wrong in WWII.
b: 24 Oct 75

FAWLTY TOWERS - SERIES 2 (1979)

7. Communication Problems (a.k.a. Theft)" [ FAWLTY TOWER (L hanging down) ]
A slightly deaf woman named Mrs. Richards insists that she has had a
large amount of money stolen at the hotel, and against Sybil's wishes
Basil puts a fiver on Dragonfly.
b: 19 Feb 79

8.The Psychiatrist [ WATERY FOWLS ]
A psychiatrist and his wife come to stay and Basil thinks Sybil is
telling them all about his life.
b: 26 Feb 79

9.Waldorf Salad [ FLAY OTTERS ]
An American and his wife get unsatisfactory service at Fawlty Towers
when he orders a Waldorf salad, after the kitchen has closed.
b: 5 Mar 79

10.The Kipper and the Corpse (a.k.a. Death)" [ FATTY OWLS ]
Unknown to Basil, a guest dies in the night and he tries to serve him
breakfast anyway and an obnoxious woman insists on service for her dog.
b: 12 Mar 79

11.The Anniversary [ FLOWERY thingyS ]
gs: Ken Campbell [ Roger ], Una Stubbs [ Alice ], Pat Keen [ Virginia ],
Robert Arnold [ Arthur ], Roger Hume [ Reg ], Denyse Alexander [ Kitty
], Christine Shaw [ Audrey ]
Sybil leaves before Basil's surprise anniversary party and Basil spends
the evening trying to convince their friends she's ill.
b: 26 Mar 79

12.Basil the Rat (a.k.a. Rats)" [ FARTY TOWELS ]
The health inspector is coming and Basil tells Manuel to get rid of his
pet rat which he later finds out is named Basil.
b: 25 Oct 79

NOTE: This episode was transmitted much later due to a strike at the
BBC.

Thanks, Pete. I must have had a slip of memory there. I saw Fawlty Towers in the television listings but haven't watched them for a while, though now that you mention it, when you describe more about Lord Melbury, the name now rings a bell again. This must be episode 1 - A Touch of Class.

Looking at your Fawlty Towers guide, they're all coming back to me, some more vivid than others. Ones I particularly remember from previous repeat showings are: Communication Problems, where Mrs Richards can't see anything without her glasses and her vase gets accidentally broken after Basil had won some money from a horse, who asked the Major to hold it for him. This may be the same one where Bernard Cribbins' character gets irate and starts hitting Basil in frustration.

There's one where a Roast is supposed to be delivered and when they remove the lid, it turns out to be a trifle!, which I think is Gourmet Night;

The Germans, where Basil does inappropriate impersonations of Germans during the war, which understandably upsets the German guests;

The Kipper and the Corpse, in which a Welsh actor from the school comedy series Please Sir! is one of the guests who asks Basil to open the door when he hears strange moaning noises from a cupboard!

Ah yes, The Builders - O'Reilly was played by that bloke who had one arm missing in Robin's Nest. I'd not heard of this comedy until about 2001 when Granada Plus repeated the entire series from 1976 to 1981 and Manuel says to a bearded man "O-re-lee, instead of O-rei-lly and Basil tells Manuel to say something to the bearded man who then hits him.

The Wedding Party sounds like the one where Sybil had left the house in disgust after some disagreement with Basil and some guests wanted to see Sybil. Polly then dressed up as Sybil!

Surprisingly, only twelve made but all very quickfire and very memorable to watch time and time again.

PS: Good observations about the mis-spelt signposts with rude words! I'll have to watch the repeats again but they seemed to have letters falling off and transposed letters, making some most amusing wordings of the hotel!

[Serendipity]

William said:

Ballard Berkeley played the major he's on the internet movie database www.imdb.com

in the 60s and 70s(and up to the present day, part of natural born killers was shot on super8) usualy super8 8mm could be either sound or silent, sound is more expensive at least £10(about 5 years ago when I last bought any) for one roll of 50ft which would last about 120-180 seconds so 2-2 1/2 minutes barley enough for one performance although at a lower film speeds there would be enough for about 1 whole record. silent film is/was much cheaper I don't know how much movie film was in the 60s and 70s but it was probably cheaper comparativly than now because it was mass produced then. there were other types of film mostly 8mm or 16mm and didn't last that long, sound film has either a thin(a few mm wide) magnetic tape running down one side of the film or some had optical sound

one possibilty is that early colour totp perhaps even the first 27/11/69 survive as clips on colour home movie which would be invaluable in recolourising early colour episodes that only survive as b/w TR.

there must be home video of totp out there if only home recordings by the pop stars themselves, i have mentioned before that sonny bono had a home video in about 1965 in the USA so others in the UK could well have had one at about the same time.

as for bill gates, if his monopoly can be broken by the courts he'll have to make good software,.. or not

Thanks, William. I'll split my replies in this case.

"as for bill gates, if his monopoly can be broken by the courts he'll have to make good software,.. or not" - Indeed. Bill Gates' monopoly does need to be broken, to be fair to other companies and the consumers themselves. One web site said that, in the early years, a lot of time was taken over making Microsoft's products properly but as time's gone on, they've become complacent and rush out the software instead. I can't speak for their early years but the latter description accurately applies to today's software.

The only alternatives I'm aware of, as I've never used anything but Microsoft are: Apple and Linux. One of my friends has an Apple, which looks pretty stable on the whole. The problem is, most software is geared towards Microsoft users, so that anyone who has Apple can't use Zone Alarm for instance and there are few or no Free spam blockers and other utilities, which are widely available for Microsoft users. It seems unlikely that Microsoft will ever be overturned by a more successful company who has better stability in their software but the market needs to be equalled so that other operating system users aren't penalised and their companies have better revenue.

Nobody I know has Linux, which is believed to be very stable but it's difficult to fix if anything goes wrong.

[Serendipity]

William said:

Ballard Berkeley played the major he's on the internet movie database www.imdb.com

in the 60s and 70s(and up to the present day, part of natural born killers was shot on super8) usualy super8 8mm could be either sound or silent, sound is more expensive at least £10(about 5 years ago when I last bought any) for one roll of 50ft which would last about 120-180 seconds so 2-2 1/2 minutes barley enough for one performance although at a lower film speeds there would be enough for about 1 whole record. silent film is/was much cheaper I don't know how much movie film was in the 60s and 70s but it was probably cheaper comparativly than now because it was mass produced then. there were other types of film mostly 8mm or 16mm and didn't last that long, sound film has either a thin(a few mm wide) magnetic tape running down one side of the film or some had optical sound

one possibilty is that early colour totp perhaps even the first 27/11/69 survive as clips on colour home movie which would be invaluable in recolourising early colour episodes that only survive as b/w TR.

there must be home video of totp out there if only home recordings by the pop stars themselves, i have mentioned before that sonny bono had a home video in about 1965 in the USA so others in the UK could well have had one at about the same time.

as for bill gates, if his monopoly can be broken by the courts he'll have to make good software,.. or not

Ah yes, Ballard Berkeley. I've looked up Ballard's movie career. He was a veteran actor. I seem to recall seeing something of him at one point, I think it was black and white from the 1950s when he was a fair bit younger but I have no idea what film that was. I now recall that the 1980s comedy series he appeared in was Fresh Fields, starring Julia Mackenzie and Anton Rogers.

He had some interesting character names - Lord Snodley! in something called Confessions of a Driving Instructor. Never seen this film, which is presumably a murder mystery thriller like Miss Marple. Please tell me more if you or anyone else knows, as I'm not acquainted with this.

I'd love to see anything of TOTP returned to the BBC - complete editions, incomplete editions and inserts but one of the most interesting would be the first ever colour edition from 27/11/69 that you quoted. I've seen the line-up for this and am astounded by the superb range of performances. The recovery of a studio performance of Whole Lotta Love by CCS, the two Christmas 1970 shows and many others would be good to get back if anyone has these and the performances borrowed from one or more unknown sources for Digging the Dancing Queens, as stated in another thread.

You're much more well up than me on film, William. This is most useful. I must have been too ambitious about the length of time home Film equipment had, so probably very few performances will have been recorded after all by home users. Some of the early editions of Top of the Pops appear to be on film, as there are scratches and specs on some recordings, like A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum (1967) and Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968), whereas I Can't Get Next to You by The Temptations (1970) could be from a video recording, as I recall the picture being very clear but am sure the sound was slightly faded.

Home Movie equipment must be a different kettle of fish, where lengths are concerned, unless I've misunderstand you but if I've read you right, this would mean that home movies of some performances or whole editions could be existent somewhere. Let's hope so, as seeing the pattern of losses of complete or substantially existent editions, eg jumping from 6/6/68 to 27/2/69 to 29/1/70; 26/2/70 to 15/10/70; 1/7/71 to 27/12/71 to 22/6/72 to 16/11/72 to 28/11/72; 1/2/73 to 27/9/73; 27/12/73 to 11/4/74; 8/1/76 to 4/4/76, etc bar inserts, there are many gaps to be filled. It would be nice if a substantial proportion of lost material could be recovered, though I suspect only a fifth, comprising 1964-1977 as a whole would be available, but any recoveries are better than nothing, so let's all keep our fingers crossed.

"there must be home video of totp out there if only home recordings by the pop stars themselves, i have mentioned before that sonny bono had a home video in about 1965 in the USA so others in the UK could well have had one at about the same time." - I believe there are many web sites run by pop stars, both past and current, including Carly Simon, David Essex, David Bowie, Chicory Tip, Lyn Paul (of the New Seekers), Middle of the Road, Mud (I think), and so many more.

Reflecting your comments, it makes me wonder how many people in the entertainment business, eg pop stars and presenters (both TOTP and other music shows from the 1960s and 1970s heyday), who are involved in the music business know that several Top of the Pops recordings are missing. Steve Harley does, as in a radio interview of earlier this year he said in a disappointed voice that "The BBC wiped Judy Teen", David Jacobs once said that The Beatles appeared on a show in 1963, probably Juke Box Jury and "I wish the BBC had kept the tape" and someone from Middle of the Road on the TOTP 2 web site was sorry that most of their performances had been wiped. It seems to me that many people in the entertainment business know about the losses and I presume that many will have been approached but probably to no avail in most cases but I could be wrong. With the Internet though, there must be a much greater likelihood of music, drama, comedy and factual programmes turning up, and in terms of TOTP, as the 40th anniversary edition is coming up, I'm sure all of us will agree that the return of more editions and performances, ready for this special show are essential to give the widest possible range of performances, both ones often repeated and newly found ones to give the most varied scope of songs, and instrumentals, whatever's left of those {Sleepy Shores by the Johnny Pearson Orchestra from 30/12/71 is probably the earliest surviving one).

[Deleted]

3.The Wedding Party (a.k.a. Sex)" [ FARTY TOWER (W is hanging) ]
Basil wants `none of that' going on in his rooms and suspects some
guests and Polly of carrying on.
b: 3 Oct 75

so where did the mystery "R" appear from

also the little collector toy cars (matchbox/Lledo/Corgi ) have the little red Austin 1100 and a mini version of Basil and the barnch in pose to give it a darn good thrashing......

poor car....

[SteveP]

Guest-ASM said:

Re Montage Definatly Tremeloes "Me And My Life" Dates ? 3/9/70 17/9/70 1/10/70 & 29/10/70. Family "Weavers Answer" also on TOTP 24/9/70. Definatly Joe Dolan "You're Such A Good Looking Woman" 12/3/70 & 26/3/70. Rattles "The Witch" also screened 29/10/70 & 5/11/70. Only a guess but these clips just might be from one of those technicians christmas tapes. Both ITV & BBC had xmas `do's` where unofficial compilation tapes were shown (The Late Dave Watkins got hold of a few) it's a small possibility.
ASM

I agree. I viewed one of these tapes (called "All Those Rock Years") at the BFI once (God knows what it's doing there) and it had very similar TOTP compilations to those .rm files - edited in short snippets just like that.

I'm afraid I'm doubtful there are longer versions of those clips around.

Steve

[SteveP]

Guest-Edward said:

I'm not sure I agree. The dancing / hand with tambourine is completely in time with the music and the rest of the editing doesn't seem to suggest that this person is a professional editor.

If you check out the most recent TOTP documentary (with Jamie Theakston), a bit of that dancing clip is used therein with its original soundtrack (McCartney).

Steve