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Post by markdixon on Mar 30, 2018 8:50:44 GMT
I’ve updated my earlier post in this thread by adding nearly 20 names to the list of “Firstimers” contestants. These include The Fairytale (a psych-pop group from Warrington who released a great single on Decca called “Guess I Was Dreaming”) and The Kirkby Town Three (a folk-group from Merseyside fronted by the playwright Willy Russell). I’m quite intrigued by The Buddies, a vocal duo from South Wales who specialised in spoof flower power songs. Apparently, they used to appear on stage with a psychedelic goat called Hippy.
Other information
Here are a few more snippets of info about the “Firstimers” series:
• Chris Kelly presented the Wednesday night omnibus editions. However, there was also a prize for best guest compere. I think one of these guest presenters was Bob Stewart, who had previously been a DJ on Radio Caroline
• The series was very popular at the time. Some of the contestants even appeared in a number of non-televised Sunday night shows at Blackpool North Pavilion. The first of these shows took place on 30 July 1967 and featured The Grumbleweeds, Michael Terry, John Paul Joans, Paul Weldon and the Tennessee Sound, Helen Del and Kathy Jones
• A new series of half-hour editions of “Firstimers” was due to start in the Granada region on 3rd May 1968. However, shortly before transmission the name of the show was changed to “New Faces”. This new series was presented by Tommy Vance and lasted for 13 episodes. Contestants included folk-pop group The Wednesday Folk (later known as The Fivepenny Piece), singer-songwriter Linda Stevenson and classical guitarist Michael Strutt. A lot of the other entrants were established singers and groups from the cabaret circuit, such as Patricio, Maggie Kelly, The Eddie Connors Four and Sami Sarjeant
Any further information is welcome. I think it’s possible that many audio recordings of “Firstimers” episodes are out there somewhere. Maybe some of these will surface on YouTube at some point.
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Post by markdixon on Mar 4, 2018 10:26:57 GMT
Recently, I was trawling through some newspapers from the 1960s, and I found a couple of articles about two separate occasions when a foreign TV channel broadcast an entire evening of programmes supplied by an ITV company.
The first article is from the Coventry Evening Telegraph, 05 October 1966
Germans to see Coronation St:
German television viewers will see Granada’s “Coronation Street” on Saturday. Granada are supplying a complete evening of British ITV to a Hamburg station that evening. The programmes include “Coronation Street”, “University Challenge”, “Cinema”, “Scene” and the news. This will be the first time that British TV programmes have been shown this way in Germany, say Granada.
I know that all episodes of “Coronation Street” still exist, but it’s likely that the other programmes shown that night are missing.
The second item is from The Stage, 20 October 1966
Swedes to have an evening of Tyne Tees
On Wednesday November 2, Radio Sweden is devoting an entire evening to Tyne Tees programmes. These are the programmes the Swedes will see beginning at 6.30.
“Gangway”. A special Swedish edition of Tyne Tees’s weekly programme for children. “Swedish National News”. A discussion between Tyne Tees announcer Liz Fox and her Swedish opposite number live in Sweden. “A Turn-Up for Tony”. Tyne Tees’s programme without words which was the official independent television entry in the Hors Concours section of the Montreux Golden Rose Festival. “Big Deal in Gothenberg”. Tyne Tees’s documentary on Swedish shipbuilding which was networked in the UK on September 7. “Tournament”. A general knowledge quiz between Uppsala and Newcastle universities chaired by Ludovic Kennedy. “The Other Sweden”, Tyne Tees’s light-hearted look at the Swedish way of life. “Swedish National News”. The last programme of the evening will be a drama programme still to be decided.
This cultural exchange between Tyne Tees and Sveriges Television was part of the “North-East Meets Sweden” festival sponsored by the North-East Development Council and the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation.
“A Turn-Up for Tony” and “Big Deal in Gothenburg” still exist, but the rest of the programmes are missing. I seem to remember that very little survives of Tyne Tees programmes from the Sixties, apart from film inserts from documentaries and the news.
Many European broadcasters looked after their archives better than their British counterparts during this era. Does any of this missing British material still exist overseas?
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Post by markdixon on Feb 28, 2018 20:37:44 GMT
No, there doesn’t seem to be a link between these Granada programmes and ATV’s “New Faces” from the 1970s.
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Post by markdixon on Feb 26, 2018 20:31:22 GMT
I’ve just watched the Amen Corner clip on YouTube. I’d like to see the rest of “Max Bygraves Introduces New Faces”. The other guests were the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, the Grumbleweeds, Friday Brown, John Paul Joans, Danny Wilson and Bobbie Jean.
This one-off networked programme wasn’t related to the “New Faces” series from 1968, despite the similar title. The “New Faces” series was a talent show hosted by Tommy Vance. It was broadcast in the Granada region only and all 13 episodes are missing.
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Post by markdixon on Jan 14, 2018 9:38:49 GMT
I really don't think there was anything left of lift off from probably 1980 onwards ,the reason I'm guessing this is ,when there has been on the rare occasion a clip shown from lift off with Ayshea ,eg Clive James and a 1970s children's TV DVD with Philip Schofield ,which were both shown or released on video early 1990s ,the same clips of Barry blue ,bay city rollers and Eli Culbertson were shown on both ,and they happen to be on one of the two lift offs that have survived at the time .I personally think that if the shows had still have been in the archives then ,they would have picked a few more memorable clips ,eg Slade, David Bowie ,sweet,wizard etc etc to represent the glory years of lift off .Most of the other pop series around the same time called 45 ,also got wiped ,so I just think they were both junked mid to late 70s ,in my opinion. I suspect that nearly all episodes of “Lift Off” had already been wiped by 1975 or 1976. The series was never shown outside the UK (as far as I know) and I think this sealed its fate. I mentioned earlier in this thread that other early 70s Granada children’s programmes such as “Anything You Can Do” also had a very poor survival rate. It seems that during that era Granada were ruthless in getting rid of children’s programmes that were perceived to be of no further use. In contrast, Granada's “Shang-a-Lang” (first broadcast in the UK in 1975) was shown on various Australian TV channels between 1975 and 1978. All episodes of this series still exist. I believe I’m correct in thinking that all the other music programmes that Muriel Young produced for Granada’s Children’s Department from 1975 onwards also still exist. Perhaps the overseas success of “Shang-a-Lang” convinced Granada that their music programmes for children were worth keeping permanently. Such a policy change wouldn’t have saved “Lift Off” because most of the series had probably already been wiped by then.
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Post by markdixon on Nov 26, 2017 12:40:38 GMT
I think it was a typo. Apparently, “I Get So Excited” by The Equals was released as a single on 02/02/68 (the day of the broadcast), so they were probably on the show promoting that song.
I had a quick look online for bands called The Eagles who were releasing records in 1968. I could only find one. They were a reggae band and I doubt that they performed outside Jamaica during that era.
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Post by markdixon on Oct 31, 2017 21:30:54 GMT
The archive inventory doesn’t go into much detail about the Bath Pop Festival footage. The following description is the only information I have:
Bath Pop Festival with Lindsey Clennell - rock concert in London (reel-to-reel), circa 1970
I know that Lindsey Clennell is a film director and producer. The filmography on his website includes a documentary called “Bath Rock Festival” completed in 1971. I don’t know if the reel-to-reel film footage in the Stan Lee Archives differs from Bath Pop Festival footage available elsewhere.
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Post by markdixon on Oct 29, 2017 13:43:02 GMT
I’ve been a fan of Marvel Comics for a long time, but it’s only very recently that I found out that the archives of Stan Lee (writer, co-creator of Spider-Man and the Hulk etc.) are held at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. The collection contains a vast amount of video and audio tapes dating from the 1960s onwards. As you’d expect, most of these are of American origin, but I know there is at least one example of missing British TV in the archive. The university has a video tape of Stan Lee’s appearance at the Roundhouse, London, on 20 October 1975, which was filmed by the pay TV channel Greenwich Cablevision. Apparently, the British author Rob Kirby was trying to get this tape digitised in 2013, but I don’t know if he succeeded.
Strangely, there’s also video footage from the Bath Pop Festival 1970 in the collection.
I’ve had a look at the inventory of the archive and there are some boxes containing “miscellaneous” video and audio material from the 1970s. Could there be more missing British material in there?
I’ve made a list of some of Stan Lee’s appearances on British TV and radio during the 1970s. It’s possible that he kept copies of excerpts (or even complete editions) of some of these programmes:
??/10/1974: BBC-1’s “Pebble Mill at One” (interviewer was Bob Langley)
??/10/1974: LBC’s “Sounds New” arts programme (host was Tony Palmer)
04/03/1975: Thames TV’s “Magpie” (interviewer was Mick Robertson)
??/10/1975: BBC Radio 4’s “PM Reports” (presenter was Gordon Clough)
??/10/1975: BBC Radio 1’s “Newsbeat” (reporter was John Walmsley)
??/10/1975: Marc Bolan interviewed Stan Lee on Thames TV’s “Today” programme (audio exists on Soundcloud)
??/10/1975: BBC-1’s “Nationwide” (interviewer was Bob Wellings)
??/10/1975: Janet Street-Porter interviewed Stan Lee on LWT’s “The London Weekend Show” (I think this exists in the ITV archives)
??/10/1975: Capital Radio’s “Hullabaloo” programme (presenters were David Briggs and Maggie Norden)
??/10/1975: BBC Radio Birmingham (interviewer was Bob Langley)
23/10/1975: Interview on Piccadilly Radio, Manchester
23/10/1975: Tony Wilson interviewed Stan Lee on the “What’s On” segment of “Granada Reports” (Clive James appeared dressed as Spider-Man)
??/10/1976: Appearance on STV’s “Scotland Today” news programme
03/03/1979: Appearance on BBC-1’s “The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop”
??/03/1979: Another appearance on “Pebble Mill at One”?
Any additional information or corrections are welcome.
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Post by markdixon on Oct 15, 2017 12:01:08 GMT
“The Public Ear” was a fortnightly magazine programme which ran on the BBC Light Programme from 06 October 1963 to 22 March 1964. It was introduced by Allan Scott (satirical performer and screenwriter) and regular contributors included Pauline Boty (Pop artist and actress), Tony Hall (DJ and record producer), Dick Vosburgh (comedy writer) and Danny Blanchflower (footballer and journalist). Music was provided by the Max Harris Group.
The programme took an offbeat look at the world of entertainment and featured candid interviews with celebrities. The guests were often encouraged to give their views on the state of the world. Apparently, many of the items segued into each other without being linked by presenters, so the programme sometimes had an “audio collage” feel.
Does anyone know if any full episodes of this series still exist?
I know that segments of the editions which featured appearances by The Beatles (03/11/63, 12/01/64, 22/03/64) have survived.
I’m also aware that the producer of the show, John Fawcett Wilson, kept various production tapes throughout his career and these were donated to Kaleidoscope following his death in 2011. There’s an online list of his collection (wipednews.files.wordpress.com) which identifies two of the tapes as being from “The Public Ear”. However, I’ve looked at Radio Times listings and I think the contents of many of his other tapes correspond with what was featured on “The Public Ear”. Therefore, I believe that many sequences from the show have survived (mainly in an unedited form different from the broadcast versions). These include interviews with the following people:
Joan Bennett, John Schlesinger, Roy Boulting, Eamonn Andrews, Kenneth Tynan, Morecambe and Wise, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Nanette Newman, Bryan Forbes, Annie Ross, Eva Bartok, David Frost, Ned Sherrin, Marion McNaughton, Tippi Hedren, Mary Quant, Jon Pertwee, Benny Hill
Transcripts of some of Pauline Boty’s monologues have survived, but I don’t know if any of the audio of these still exist.
Any further information about the series is welcome.
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Post by markdixon on Sept 4, 2017 17:50:43 GMT
These are my choices (in chronological order)
1) The Idiot Weekly, Price 2D
2) Armchair Theatre
3) Scene at 6.30
4) Ready Steady Go!
5) Late Night Line-Up
6) The Wednesday Play
7) A Whole Scene Going
8) Zokko!
9) Octopus (Granada regional arts programme from 1970)
10) Ace of Wands
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Post by markdixon on Aug 13, 2017 13:01:39 GMT
Those clips of the Rolling Stones are currently owned or represented by Kinolibrary, a film archive agency based in East London. They license film clips to documentary makers. Their website, blog and YouTube channel are worth exploring because they have access to a vast range of obscure film footage, a lot of which relates to pop music and youth culture.
Unfortunately, Kinolibrary don’t provide detailed information online about a lot of this material. Therefore, I don’t know if Peter Whitehead directed the Rolling Stones footage or not.
I did recognise some of the film material in the Kinolibrary collections. For example, there’s some footage of Marc Bolan in the Transatlantic Films collection which is clearly from the 1970 documentary “London Rock”. However, it’s difficult to identify the original sources of a lot of the other footage.
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Post by markdixon on Aug 6, 2017 19:03:36 GMT
I was looking at the Getty Images website today and I was surprised to see that both parts of the 1965 Dylan BBC concert are listed on there. I think the most obvious explanation is that someone has inputted details from the filmographic records without realising that the BBC don’t hold any actual footage from these episodes. It’s also possible that the BBC TV archives have acquired their own copy of the complete audio of the concert and this has ended up being listed on the Getty Images site.
I’m sure there would have been lots of publicity if the rumoured existing footage had been returned to the BBC. Does anybody have any further information?
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Post by markdixon on Jul 10, 2017 16:56:26 GMT
The Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span performances are from an episode of a series called “Out Front”, which was broadcast in the Granada region in 1971. The entire series exists in the ITV archives. The episode featuring the Jack Bruce Band is also on YouTube.
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Post by markdixon on Jun 10, 2017 12:50:06 GMT
Here’s some information about an obscure children’s programme which often featured musical guests.
“Gangway” was broadcast in the Tyne Tees region only and it appears to have been a magazine show similar to “Blue Peter” and “The Five O’Clock Club”. It ran weekly from 07 April 1966 to 12 September 1967. I think that the show may have been partly set aboard a cargo motorship called Hopecrest. The presenters at various times were Don Spencer, Judith Chalmers, Jane Turner, Howard Williams and Sheila Tracy. The producer was Penny Wootton and directors included Anna K. Moore and Don Gollan.
Here’s a very short list of some of the performers who appeared on the show:
1966: Kiki Dee - “I’m Gonna Run Away From You” 28 July 1966: Paul and Barry Ryan 29 September 1966: Cy Grant 28 August 1967: The Small Faces
Does anyone have any more information about this series?
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Post by markdixon on May 28, 2017 19:04:28 GMT
I found a snippet of information about “My Kind Of Folk” in “The Stage” (16 September 1965):
Terry Yarwood will be directing My Kind Of Folk, a series introduced by George Melly, and featuring folk music, blues and jazz. The resident team will include The Settlers, Weston Gavin and Davy Graham.
The series also gets a very brief mention in Colin Harper’s excellent book “Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival”. In one of the footnotes, Harper provides an overview of folk music on mid-Sixties British TV:
Out in the regions George Melly was fronting My Kind Of Folk for Southern TV, Ulster TV had Swinging Folk, TWW had Folk In The West, while Grampian TV had won the Italia Prize with their documentary An Impression Of Love, featuring Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger.
It appears that quite a few folk music series from that era are now missing.
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