Post by Larry Dutch on Sept 2, 2003 10:09:26 GMT
Can anybody tell me if a London-made 1960s-70s magazine-style program called 'London Line' was ever screened on UK TV?
Over 500 editions were made on 16mm film by the British COI (Central Office of Information) between c1963-1978. Hosted by a variety of presenters but often by Michael Smee, each episode typically ran for approximately 15 minutes and contained 3-4 separate news items. Within each show, the presenters would talk about such diverse items as the latest current affairs issues (featuring external footage), inventions, innovations and most importantly for this forum, feature the latest cultural happenings.
Of the latter, on occasion, various pop artists would come in to an unknown London studio where the show was filmed and perform their latest song.
The late 1960s/early 1970s episodes seem to have the greatest strike rate for artists appearing. It should be noted that these performances were exclusively filmed often IN COLOUR for this program, so while there is unlikely to be any TOTP, Ready Steady Go, Thank Your Lucky Stars rarities turning up, the clips in themselves are extremely rare.
The main raison d'etre for this news program was I believe its use as an educational tool. Copies would be sent to the various commonwealth countries to keep the colonial outposts aware of the latest happenings in the 'mother country', presumably screened on TV(?) Particular episodes would cater for specific countries (such as Nigeria, Ghana, Canada etc) and focus on events pertinent to them.
As such, the shows featured a variety of Bristish and non- British artists. Some of those featured which still survive officially in the COI archives include:
Olivia Newton John - 'What Is Life' (#396 - 1972)
Procol Harum - 'Shine On Brightly' (#200? - 1968)
Middle Of The Road - 'Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum' (#360 - 1971)
The New Seekers - 'Blackberry Way' (#353 - 1971)
The Sweet - 'Coco' (#358 - 1971)
Other artists appearing and surviving officially include Osibisa, Ronnie Scott's Jazz Combo, The Peddlers, Cleo Laine, Sounds Incorporated, The Cougars and more. As I said, these I believe are all exclusive performances to this program.
Intriguingly, Pink Floyd's appearance, listed as "A rainbow explosion of colour - A New Dimension In Sound - it's a noise, it's a colour, it's The Pink Floyd" from episode #105? - 1967 has mysteriously vanished, being listed as "both VHS and Master not found"!!
Does anyone know what this might be?
Other episodes featuring pop artists not known to survive officially in the COI archive but known to survive elsewhere include:
Gerry & The Pacemakers - 'Girl On A Swing' (1966)
David & Jonathan - 'Ten Storeys High' (1967) - both in glorious colour. Rumors also abound of an extremely rare Manfred Mann clip from 1965.
A fascinating mix of material.
Does any of this ring a bell to British TV viewers of this site?
Larry
Over 500 editions were made on 16mm film by the British COI (Central Office of Information) between c1963-1978. Hosted by a variety of presenters but often by Michael Smee, each episode typically ran for approximately 15 minutes and contained 3-4 separate news items. Within each show, the presenters would talk about such diverse items as the latest current affairs issues (featuring external footage), inventions, innovations and most importantly for this forum, feature the latest cultural happenings.
Of the latter, on occasion, various pop artists would come in to an unknown London studio where the show was filmed and perform their latest song.
The late 1960s/early 1970s episodes seem to have the greatest strike rate for artists appearing. It should be noted that these performances were exclusively filmed often IN COLOUR for this program, so while there is unlikely to be any TOTP, Ready Steady Go, Thank Your Lucky Stars rarities turning up, the clips in themselves are extremely rare.
The main raison d'etre for this news program was I believe its use as an educational tool. Copies would be sent to the various commonwealth countries to keep the colonial outposts aware of the latest happenings in the 'mother country', presumably screened on TV(?) Particular episodes would cater for specific countries (such as Nigeria, Ghana, Canada etc) and focus on events pertinent to them.
As such, the shows featured a variety of Bristish and non- British artists. Some of those featured which still survive officially in the COI archives include:
Olivia Newton John - 'What Is Life' (#396 - 1972)
Procol Harum - 'Shine On Brightly' (#200? - 1968)
Middle Of The Road - 'Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum' (#360 - 1971)
The New Seekers - 'Blackberry Way' (#353 - 1971)
The Sweet - 'Coco' (#358 - 1971)
Other artists appearing and surviving officially include Osibisa, Ronnie Scott's Jazz Combo, The Peddlers, Cleo Laine, Sounds Incorporated, The Cougars and more. As I said, these I believe are all exclusive performances to this program.
Intriguingly, Pink Floyd's appearance, listed as "A rainbow explosion of colour - A New Dimension In Sound - it's a noise, it's a colour, it's The Pink Floyd" from episode #105? - 1967 has mysteriously vanished, being listed as "both VHS and Master not found"!!
Does anyone know what this might be?
Other episodes featuring pop artists not known to survive officially in the COI archive but known to survive elsewhere include:
Gerry & The Pacemakers - 'Girl On A Swing' (1966)
David & Jonathan - 'Ten Storeys High' (1967) - both in glorious colour. Rumors also abound of an extremely rare Manfred Mann clip from 1965.
A fascinating mix of material.
Does any of this ring a bell to British TV viewers of this site?
Larry