Memories of TOTP - The 'Wiped Years', 1964-1977

[Alan Turrell]

May 27, 2014 18:24:37 GMT Patrick Coles said:

I can recall Pink Floyd singing 'See Emily Play' - the picture alternated between normal pic and negative & back several times as the camera panned in on the band...

plus Traffic singing 'Hole in My Shoe' - Dave Mason playing a sitar sat cross legged - a close up still of a little girl's face during the spoken passage 'I climbed on the back of a giant albatross...'

also The Searchers doing (I think) 'Take it or Leave it' on film from Australia (circa 1965 or 66) they all waved goodbye at the end...and when the pic cut back to Pete Murray in TOTP studio it was 'upside down' at first - as they were 'down under' !

Yes i can remember several totps performences where the picture turned negative just like a dalek exterminating his victim.

[williammcgregor]

Thanks Jerry, You do a great job on your website; so I'm just glad my info has helped you

It happened serendipitously as I was looking through an old issue of the Edinburgh Evening News for articles on football.

By the way I have another Pan's People Evening News article from 1972 on order from the library,hopefully it'll have another "wee gem"?

cheers
William

[jerryg]

Thank you William ,yes lets hope there is another gem of info on a song pp danced to in the next article ,1973 is another year of uncertain pans dances as well ,with the very kind help of other members who remember certain dances plus sue menhenick and dee dee wilde from pans people we have been able to fill in most of 1974 ,all but about 3 entries for 1975 and all but one entry for 1976 on the pans people totp database ,so any info William especially from these news articles in the paper where they review the previous nights totp are very welcome indeed ,ive also give you a thank you on the pans people dance list on one for the dads ,for the recent info on the chairman of the board song ,thanks once again mate.

[williammcgregor]

Thanks Jerry,

I found an article from the 20th July 1972 it mentions that a couple of weeks previously Pan's People had danced to "I've Been lonely So Long" by Frederick Knight Flick Colby said they looked like something out of the Arabian Nights,all cleavage and navels (nice) but she said she never consciously thinks about baring any particular part of them. (boo!)

The same article mentions Pan's People also danced to "Betcha By Golly Wow" by The Stylistics they'd rehearsed for 3 days.

No specific date for either performance unfortunately!

Songs that they thought were successful were "Another Day" "My Sweet Lord" "Me and Julio" and Edwin Starr's "War"

I'll try and post the whole interview asap but it's about A2 in length and an awkward set up column wise.

cheers
william

[jerryg]

Wow William this info is really wonderful news to me ,there are 3 songs on your post that I can add to the pans people database ,ive been lonely for so long ,betcha by golly wow ,and me and Julio down at the school yard are all songs that until now were not entered on the pp database because until now there has been no info anywhere to confirm it ,just as I was saying on one for the dads the other week that I had run dry of ideas on getting any more info on any more songs to add to the database 4 new entries come in one week ,so a million thanks William for all your hard work researching all the info ,its very much appreciated.

[williammcgregor]

glad to be of help Jerry

William

[jerryg]

Hi William I know hat you are very busy researching for us on here ,but if you ever come across any reviews in the papers on the 1st july 1976 edition of top of the pops will you please let us know .The reason is there is just one edition of top of the pops from ruby flippers time on the show that we don't on one for the dads have any definite info on ,the show is wiped and apart from guess work on what could be the songs ruby flipper performed to on that show it remains a missing listing on their database ,I know its a long shot ,but so far you have managed to find out lots of info that we didn't know before ,so who knows if there was a review the day after this edition was aired then the mystery of ruby flippers performances from that show might be solved at long last ,many thanks once again.

[jerryg]

Hi William I know hat you are very busy researching for us on here ,but if you ever come across any reviews in the papers on the 1st july 1976 edition of top of the pops will you please let us know .The reason is there is just one edition of top of the pops from ruby flippers time on the show that we don't on one for the dads have any definite info on ,the show is wiped and apart from guess work on what could be the songs ruby flipper performed to on that show it remains a missing listing on their database ,I know its a long shot ,but so far you have managed to find out lots of info that we didn't know before ,so who knows if there was a review the day after this edition was aired then the mystery of ruby flippers performances from that show might be solved at long last ,many thanks once again.

[williammcgregor]

I'll have a look Jerry;the good about this forum is that you never know what'll turn up next.

[Jeff Leach]

Jun 3, 2014 23:03:16 GMT jerryg said:

Hi William I know hat you are very busy researching for us on here ,but if you ever come across any reviews in the papers on the 1st july 1976 edition of top of the pops will you please let us know .The reason is there is just one edition of top of the pops from ruby flippers time on the show that we don't on one for the dads have any definite info on ,the show is wiped and apart from guess work on what could be the songs ruby flipper performed to on that show it remains a missing listing on their database ,I know its a long shot ,but so far you have managed to find out lots of info that we didn't know before ,so who knows if there was a review the day after this edition was aired then the mystery of ruby flippers performances from that show might be solved at long last ,many thanks once again.

Assuming this entry is correct

JULY 1976:

1-7-76: Presenter: Jimmy Savile O.B.E. (Wiped)

(NEW) HELLO – Love Stealer *
(21) LIVERPOOL EXPRESS – You Are My Love
(14) DR. HOOK – A Little Bit More (danced to by Ruby Flipper)
(11) THE MANHATTANS – Kiss And Say Goodbye (video)
(17) T-REX – I Love To Boogie
(26) ONE HUNDRED TON & A FEATHER – It Only Takes A Minute (danced to by Ruby Flipper)
(NEW) BILL ODDIE & THE SUPERSPIKE SQUAD with JOHN CLEESE – Superspike (video)
(29) HOT CHOCOLATE – Man To Man
(2) OUR KID – You Just Might See Me Cry ® *
(27) DON WILLIAMS – I Recall A Gypsy Woman (video)
(7) THE SHANGRI-LAS – The Leader Of The Pack (danced to by Ruby Flipper)
(1) THE REAL THING – You To Me Are Everything ® *

Entry on Popscene® website
z6.invisionfree.com/popscene/index.php?s=5977ce91acf9bb28690f24222e5e5010&showtopic=8381&st=0

[jerryg]

hi jeff ,I really enjoy reading popscene and its totp listings ,infact I use the forum a lot ,but I never go by the dancers entries on the wiped shows because a member once said a lot of the dancers entries from wiped shows are guess work , there have been wrong guesses in the past on songs etc ,so I like to get definite proof if possible ,this is not in anyway a dig at popscene its just as part of a member for pans people legs and co appreciation group ,I like to try and get the dance spot from the totp shows as accurate as possible ,thanks mate

[jerryg]

Hi William ,if it is possible some time would you be able to post the whole interview regarding pp that you mentioned a few posts back ,much appreciated.

[williammcgregor]

Hi Jerry,

Here's the Pan's People article in full

20/07/72

section 1



section 2



section 3



section 4



section 5



cheers
William

[Sue Butcher]

Circa 1968, Jimmy Saville being "strangled" by a large gonk octopus (his "co-host" for that particular show).

[jerryg]

Thanks William so much for the excellent article ,The info you have found on these wiped routines is like finding gold dust to me ,when I first started trying to put a database together for one for the dads website for pans peoples totp dances ,I wanted to list songs that had definite info about ,I knew it was not going to be an easy task at all ,but as time goes on finding info is getting harder and harder mainly because im running out of ideas of as where else to look ,so finding that you have uncovered 4 new entries of songs in one week is absouletley excellent.