Missing 20th Centuary Boy on TOTP

[Clive]

Watching VH1 the other night I saw the Promo video of T Rex's 20th Century Boy and remembered it well from the re-release of the single in 1991 when it was shown on TOTP.

Ironically about a third of the video is based on the old TOTP performance from 1/3/73 (albeit in B&W) and featured from the 'Disco' performance on SteveP's webpage.

So whilst the BBC claim to have wiped this performance, they were indeed showing at least part of it on TOTP during the 1991 re-release.

I wonder if the BBC got any royalties for the use of their footage in the 1991 Promo video ?

[ASM]

Dear Clive
It's a good point you raise. I would hope the BBC could check again to see if they have the whole clip. Also; it's such a shame that the colour copy that German show "Disco 73" have runs at under 2 minutes - a great pity! ASM

[Mike]

The short version Disco aired of '20th Century Boy' is in colour but is very short. Does the BBC hold the b&w performance in full? Anyone know?

[Clive]

I think the clip used in the Promo video was intentionally shown in B&W to match the style of the rest of the promo, the original colour clip has lots of solorisation on it which I guess the director of the 1991 promo wanted to avoid.

I guess they did use the short 'Disco' version as towards the end of the promo they switch to using another (possibly European) tv performance of Bolan singing '20th Century Boy'

[Mike]

Oh that's right, they do use the Musikladen performance later on. I was hoping the BBC might have had the longer performance in b&w.