Check Mate

News today that Radio 4 is to broadcast a short series on chess – a game that perhaps doesn’t easily lend itself to radio. But, as the press release notes, chess made regular appearances on the old Network Three between 1958 and 1964. Sure enough here’s a Radio Times billing from 24 October 1958.

Across the Board with Dominic Lawson can be heard from 30 December . There’ll be more about Network Three on my blog in January.  

Christmas Punch – Benny Green

Today Benny Green recalls how professional musicians are suddenly in demand over the festive season, if only to play for the conga line!  

This programme was the first in a series titled Christmas Punch and aired on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Eve 1984.

There’s more from Benny on Radio 2 this coming Christmas as his son Leo presents stories and music from the Golden Age of Hollywood with archive interviews that Benny recorded in the  1970s as part of his research for the documentary series Hooray for Hollywood.
Leo Green on Hollywood is a 2-part series on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.   

Christmas Punch – Alan Coren

It was Alan Coren that ensured the popularity and longevity of The News Quiz, his wit and humour coming to the fore even when he didn’t know the answer. His day job was as a columnist in numerous publications and, for twenty years, literary editor then editor of Punch.

In this short series from Christmas 1984 writers from Punch such as Hunter Davies, Simon Hoggart and Ray Hattersley examine the humorous side of Christmas. Here Alan Coren looks at some variations on time-honoured party games. This edition of Christmas Punch was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Day. The producer is Jennie Campbell. Tomorrow: Benny Green.

Elsewhere on BBC radio that day it was rather a low-key affair on Radio 4 with loads of repeats: Stilgoe’s Around, Quote…Unquote, Round the Horne, The Prisoner of Zenda (starring Julian Glover, Nigel Stock and Hannah Gordon), and an adaptation of Saint Joan with Judi Dench and Michael Williams. Amongst the new stuff was a morning comedy slot, The Rest of the Day’s Your Own, with Brian Johnston, Martin Jarvis, Tony Slattery and Alison Steadman.

On Radio 2 you could wake up to Ray Moore and then Good Morning Christmas with Paul McDowell. Terry Wogan had his last seasonal show for a while, he would leave the station, first time round, the following week. There was a throwback to the days of the Light Programme when Jean Metcalfe presented Forces’ Favourites from 1 to 3 p.m.  (There had been a Family Favourites revival on Christmas Eve with husband Cliff). Wallowing in nostalgia throughout the day were Nanette Newman, Stubby Kaye and Hubert Gregg. Comedy was supplied by The Grumbleweeds, The News Huddlines and The Impressionists.

Radio 1 opened at 6 a.m. with Keith Chegwin and Maggie Philbin followed by Peter Powell, Simon Bates, Mike Read, Jonathan King, Bruno Brookes, Janice Long and John  Peel with his Festive 50.

 

Trumpton Riots

Childhood memories will come flooding back with this celebration of the work of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin from Christmas Day 1995.

First a quick review of what else was on offer that day from the pages of the Radio Times.

On 1FM it was Chris Evans at breakfast, live one assumes, followed by Simon Mayo, Danny Baker, Wendy Lloyd and a Radio Tip Top Christmas special. The evening line-up included Peter Cunnah, D-Ream front man, reviewing the year’s dance music and a concert from Wet, Wet, Wet.

As was tradition for many years Roger Royle (he's back again this Christmas Day) was on Radio 2 before Don Maclean’s Good Morning Christmas. Daytime shows included Ken Bruce, Aled Jones and a Disney special. The late night DJ, sitting in for the holidaying Derek and Ellen Jameson, was Martin Kelner.

Radio 3 presenters doing the Christmas shift were Penny Gore, Paul Gambaccini, Piers Burton-Page and Susan Sharpe. Aside from classical music offerings there was a Dave Brubeck concert in celebration of his 75th birthday and Jeremy Nicholas spinning some old 78s in The Shellac Show.

The war in Bosnia had finally come to an end in December 1995 so Radio 5 Live had several shows live from the area with Sheena MacDonald and Liz Barclay. The station also had three different reviews of the year with Robin Lustig presenting Spotlight 95, Bill Hamilton presumably concentrating on the positive news only in Now the Good News and Sybil Ruscoe also in retrospective mood in the daily Ruscoe on Five.

Radio 4 was still providing the kind of music programme that have long since disappeared from its schedules: opening the day was Brian Kay and in the evening the BBC Singers gave us “music in a lighter vein”.  From 7 to 8.40 a.m. Russell Davies hosted Morning Cordial and during the day amongst the repeats were three new series: Walter’s Festive Frolics with John Walters, At Bertram’s Hotel, a Michael Bakewell  adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel starring June Whitfield and Trumpton Riots. Comedy came from The Masterson Inheritance, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue and News Quiz of the Year with Barry Took in the chair.

Commercial radio listings for Christmas Day 1995

But back to the world of the Graculus, Professor Yaffle, Blue String and magic bean plants in the first programme in a five-part series paying tribute to children’s TV of the 70s (in fact the 60s and 70s), Trumpton Riots. In episode 1, Nogs, Togs and Clangers, Brian Cant remembers the creations of Postgate and Firmin’s Smallfilms outfit: Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, The Clangers and Pogle’s Wood.

 

Project Santa Claus

 It’s back to 1986 for this dip into the Christmas Day archives, the first in a short series of seasonal posts.

Flicking through the Christmas edition of the Radio Times - no special artwork on the cover just an EastEnders, it was the year of that Den and Angie episode –  BBC radio offered very traditional fare, with the highlight of the day being a 30 year-old repeat.

On Radio 1 there was a throwback to the days when Leslie Crowther and Ed Stewart used to trek round children’s wards with Peter Powell, Janice Long and Simon Mayo broadcasting from hospitals around the UK. It was pretty much a first team line-up during the day with Bates, Read, Mayo, and Brookes with the day rounding off with P and V’s Christmas Party (The Ranking Miss P and Robbie Vincent).   

 

 

Radio 2’s morning included Roger Royle with Good Morning, Christmas and Ken Bruce. There was comedy of the end-of the-pier variety with The Christmas Huddlines and Ken Dodd’s Christmas Cracker. Terry Wogan may have been in his BBC1 chat show period but didn’t entirely abandon radio as he popped up between 1 and 3 p.m. You’ll have nodded off post-lunch with this line-up: In with the Old! (a musical comedy starring Evelyn Laye, Elisabeth Welch, Dora Bryan, Maxine Audley and Richard Murdoch), Gerald Harper as DJ in My Favourite Things, Sing Something Seasonal and A Celebration of Christmas with Roy Castle, Cliff Richard, Dana, Mary O’Hara and Alvin Stardust.

 

Radio 3’s day including a live concert from Amsterdam, simulcast on BBC2, with Tony Scotland introducing the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink.

Radio 4 was living in the past that year. In the morning we had the Vintage Archers with the Archer family sharing memories and events from the last 35 years.  That 30 year old highlight was The Goon Show edition Operation Christmas Duff, originally broadcast on the General Overseas Service in 1956 but never heard on domestic radio until 1986. There was a 27-year old repeat in the evening with the start of a re-run of Paul Temple and the Conrad Case.  In fact there was a whole stack of drama to enjoy: part one of John Tydeman’s adaptation of Emma, Rattigan’s French Without Tears, Murder for Christmas was The Nine Tailors starring Gary Bond as gentleman sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey and a binaural production of Jenny Hursell’s A Winter’s Tale.

Tucked away at 23.30 was Project Santa Claus, an early Punt and Dennis collaboration with Steve providing the script and Hugh doing some of the voices. In fact it was almost a Week Ending spin-off. At the time Steve was writing for the programme, added to which Ending regulars David Tate and Sally Grace (she gets to do her Thatcher impersonation) were in the cast and David Tyler was the producer. You’ll recognise some of the musical cues too.

Project Santa Claus starred Tony Slattery as Michael Downhill, Joan Sims as Beryl Downhill, David Tate as Mr Claygate, Hugh Dennis as James and Richard O’Brien as Ambridge.

Memories Are Not Made of This

Hardly a month goes by without one of the offshore pirate radio guys popping up and talking about life on the ocean wave. Just try stopping them!  So it was no surprise when a Mark Dean, DJ on Radio Caroline North, came in to speak to Alison Butterworth on her late-night BBC Radio Lancashire show this week.

After about an hour or so of gentle coaxing from Alison little in the way of anecdotes about life onboard MV Caroline was forthcoming other than he’d interviewed Gene Pitney a number of times and that he’d heard of but not met Bob Stewart. Then it all got rather interesting when pirate radio guru Paul Rowley phoned in. This recording starts just before that moment. I’ll leave it to you to make up your own mind.
 

The whole show is still online here.

For an A-Z of broadcasters who worked on offshore radio visit The Pirate Radio Hall ofFame.

Sounds Lusher

Trombonist and band leader Don Lusher would have been 90 this month.  Depending on how far you go back you may remember him as a Radio 2 regular playing with his own Big Band in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1950s he played with Ted Heath and his Music and, years later, would lead the Ted Heath outfit until 2000.  

I was reminded of Don a couple of weeks back when he was mentioned on Clare Teal’s Sunday night show. Digging through my tapes I’ve unearthed this session featuring the Don Lusher Big Band with guest singer Valerie Masters recorded for Radio 2 in 1978. Here are some selected tracks. These recordings are not commercially available, though Don had previously released at least two of them on record earlier in the decade.

Kicking things off is Cole Porter’s It’s Alright with Me featuring the tenor sax of Tommy Whittle. Tommy, who died just last month, also played with Don in Jack Parnell’s ATV Orchestra and the Ted Heath Band.

Valerie Masters joins the band for The Best is Yet to Come.

Written and arranged by Don this is DL Blues featuring  Albert Hall, the trumpet player not the concert venue.

Ray Davies, of Buttondown Brass fame, wrote Martinique.

You may remember this tune as one of the themes from Radio 2’s Two’s Best. One of Don’s own compositions this is Carnaby Chick.

Be Good to Me was originally recorded by Deniece Williams. This arrangement is by Ken Moule.

Stuff Like That was recorded and released by Quincy Jones is the same year as this BBC session. Barry Forgie, who would for many years conduct the BBC Big Band, arranged this version.

Finally another piece used as a theme tune: Ragging a Bone was Alan Dell’s choice of opening music for his time on The Late Show in the late 70s. It was written by Wally Ridley and arranged by Pete Moore.

Read more about Don Lusher here.

Read more about Valerie Masters here.

Don Lusher 1923-2006