Questions of Sport

Questions on sport are always a part of any general knowledge quiz but radio has, with just a couple of minor exceptions, pretty much stayed away sports-based quiz shows for the last 30 years. Meanwhile, on the telly you could watch, at least until recently, A Question of Sport or A League of their Own, though the BBC offering had long since strayed from anything approaching a serious quiz and Sky’s show was likened to A Question of Sport without sports questions. 

From the 1960s through to the 1990s radio regularly posed sports questions in Sporting Chance, Brain of Sport, Games People Play and a pre-tv version of They Thinks It’s All Over. Of more recent vintage, and those minor exceptions I mentioned above, are a talkSPORT Sports Quiz and even some radio editions of A Question of Sport, both broadcast during the Covid pandemic.

In the 1940s and 50s there were occasional sports quizzes on BBC radio such as the wartime Captain Cuttle’s Sports Quiz during Ack-Ack, Beer-Beer (the magazine for the Anti-Aircraft, Balloon Barrage and Searchlight Units), youngsters competing in Children’s Hour quizzes or The Younger Generation Under 20 Parade, this with Rex Alston as question master. The Welsh Home Service put sporting questions to teams in Sports Forum (1953-54) and although the Scottish Home Service also broadcast what was billed as Sport Quiz (1950-52) this turns out to be a “weekly feature in which experts answer questions on sport put to them by members of a studio audience”.

Some serious sports quizzing starts to appear in the autumn of 1957 when Sports Report (Light Programme) broadcasts an Inter-Regional Quiz; this pits a team of BBC national sports commentators against regional sports reporter colleagues. But it was Welsh broadcasting legend and producer Alun Williams who developed the idea of sports clubs competing in a knockout quiz. Going out on the Welsh Home Service in late 1957/early 1958 was Top of the League. This saw football supporters clubs talking part in a Top of the Form fashion, with the recording made at two venues and the team and a quizmaster at each. Posing the questions were Alun himself and Ifor Rees. This was followed by another Welsh Home Service series, again devised by Alun, called Make Your Mark. For the first series in 1958 the slant was towards the game of rugby with members of rugby clubs answering questions ‘on the laws of the game, its personalities, their own club and general sport.’ For the second 1959-60 series both rugby and football clubs competed, this time dealing with ‘questions of a general sporting nature’. Joining Alun as question master for Make Your Mark was Cliff Morgan.  Cliff also hosted a TV version of the quiz in 1959/60 as part of the weekly Welsh Sports Parade.   

Sporting Chance 24 June 1968

On national radio the first regular sports quiz was the Light Programme show Sporting Chance (1960-74). The original chairperson was Brian Johnston and it was devised by Michael Tuke-Hastings (who later would also come up with the Treble Chance quiz). Initially an inter-town quiz, later series were also inter-services and from 1963 invited teams played against a resident team made up of commentators and sports journalists.  Setting the questions was cricketer and scorer Roy Webber who, following his death in 1962, was succeeded in the role by two more Test Match Special statisticians:  Arthur Wrigley and, from 1967, Bill Frindall.

The 1964 series of Sporting Chance had the resident team of Maurice Edelston, Peter West and Alun Williams playing against a team of four boys representing a school (with the supposition, no doubt, that no girls would be interested in sport). Rounds included ‘I’ll Always Remember’ in which well-known sports persons recalls a highlight of their career, a ‘Guess the Year Round’ and a ‘Spot the Mistake’ in which a commentator makes one deliberate mistake. The questions were in the main confined to ‘Rugger, Soccer, Cricket, Athletics, Swimming, Boxing and Lawn Tennis’ but apparently, according to Frindall, horse racing was ‘‘for some unfathomable reason considered unsuitable”.   

Both Sporting Chance, and Brain of Sport that followed, took their quizzing seriously probably because both were produced by the Sport and OB department. Michael Tuke-Hastings was, from 1957 to 1972, the producer of Test Match Special which may explain the reason he approached cricket scorers to set the questions. Other producers of Sporting Chance included Geoff Dobson and John Fenton who both directed the Sports Service on Network Three (later Radio 3) and Sport on 2.   

A question from the Brain of Sport 1980 quiz book 

Sporting Chance was followed by Brain of Sport (1975-89) with heats and a grand final and questions split between general and specialist rounds. The programmes were recorded at sports clubs and social clubs around the country. Again devised by Michael Tuke-Hastings it was chaired by Peter Jones and this time writing the questions was Chris Rhys. Chris was a rugby player turned freelance journalist who wrote over 20 books on sport, including some Brain of Sport quiz books, and also researched ITV’s response to A Question of Sport, Sporting Triangles. After Tuke-Hastings stepped aside from production duties it fell to Paul Garside, Patricia Ewing, Richard Maddock, Caroline Elliott, Joanne Watson, Pat Thornton and Gill Pulsford.  

The 13 champions of Brain of Sport are listed on the UK Game Shows website and there’s a rare recording of a 1984 edition on the Ye Olde Sports Videos channel on YouTube. There were also occasional Brain of Sport Challenge specials were, much like the Sporting Chance days, finalists would take on three sports commentators

Games People Play (Radio 2 1975-78) was a more light-hearted affair, produced by Richard Willcox of the Light Entertainment department, It was billed as testing the knowledge of ‘well-known stars of entertainment and sport’. So, for instance, on the first show it was Mike and Bernie Winters, Graham Hill and Bob Wilson. Other appearing in the first series included Eric Morecambe, Bernard Cribbins, David Hamilton, Pete Murray, Chris Brasher, Henry Cooper, Graham Hill, Fred Trueman and Barry John. Asking the questions this time was Peter West.  

Before its went over to BBC1 They Think It’s All Over enjoyed a short life on BBC Radio 5 (1992-4). It was created by comedy writers Bill Matthews and Simon Bullivant, both of whom had started writing for Week Ending. Chairing proceedings was Des Lynam and as team captains were Rory McGrath, who went on to be a regular on the TV version, and, getting the opportunity to try out his commentator impressions, Rory Bremner.   

From the second series comes this edition that was broadcast on Radio 5 on 21 February 1993, though my recording is of the Radio 4 repeat on 17 July. Des gets the first big laugh of the show with “Meet a man whose rich vocal talents are adored by millions. (short pause) Good evening”. The guest players in this edition are Steve Davis and Roger Black.  

Which brings me to Game, Set and Match and yet another series with Chris Rhys setting the questions. If this one usually slips under the sports quiz radar that’s because it aired on the BBC World Service. Chairing this was World Service sports stalwart Paddy Feeny (so I find myself writing about Paddy for the second time this year). I’ve little information about the programme other than it ran for 20 editions over three series in 1993, 1994 and 1995. This recording comes from the third series (I can’t date it precisely) and facing the questions are hurdler Kriss Akabusi (you’ll recognise the laugh), hockey player Simon Mason, rower Steve Redgrave and squash player Peter Nicol. Keeping the score is Louise Friend, extracts are read by announcer John Stone and the producer is Gillian Grey.     

Game, Set and Match

Series 1: 7 episodes August and September 1993

Series 2: 6 episodes August and September 1994 

Series 3: 7 episodes in April and May 1995.

Sporting Chance with Brian Johnston, then John Snagge, John Arlott , Alun Williams, Max Robertson and Peter Jones . BBC Light Programme (with repeats on the Sports Service of Network Three) and BBC Radio2 from 16 January 1960 to 16 June 1969 over 10 series. It returned as Quiz on 2 as part of Sport on 2 November 1973 to January 1974 with Peter Jones as questionmaster. Reverted back to Sporting Chance November to December 1974 again with Peter Jones and again during Saturday afternoon’s Sport on 2.

Brain of Sport with Peter Jones. BBC Radio 2 November 1975 to December 1989 over 13 series. The first series was broadcast as part of Sport on 2. 

Games People Play chaired by Peter West. 39 programmes over four series on BBC Radio 2 between 4 September 1975 and 22 September 1978.

The Matchplay Quiz was a junior sports quiz chaired by Paul McDowell. BBC Radio 2 for one series 8 August to 26 September 1987.

They Think It’s All Over with Desmond Lynam and team captains Rory Bremner and Rory McGrath. BBC Radio 5 6 episodes 21 February to 27 March 1992 then 8 episodes 14 February to 4 April 1993 plus two Christmas specials with guests Brian Johnston and John Motson December 1993/January 1994.

 talkSPORT Sports Quiz March to September 2020 with Darren Bent and Laura Woods or Faye Carruthers or Lynsay Hipgrave

A Question of Sport with Mark Chapman, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell 4 April to 13 June 2020 plus 24 December 2020.

If you have any recordings of the other quizzes I’ve mentioned that you’d like to donate I’d love to hear from you. Also if you happen to have any copies of London Calling or BBC Worldwide from the mid-90s please do get in touch.  

And the answers to the Brain of Sport 'Who are they?' questions are: Sebastian Coe, Hallamshire Harriers, Alberto Jantuorena (Cuba) and Zurich

Give Us A Conch

Conch (noun) a thick heavy spiral shell occasionally bearing long projections of various marine gastropod molluscs of the family Strombidae.

Give Us A Conch (later The Conch Quiz) was a light-hearted natural history quiz that ran on BBC Radio 2 between 1984 and 1987. Teams wrestled with “animal sounds, songs and riddles” in an attempt to win the (virtual) “glittering Conch Shell”.  Given its subject matter it’s perhaps not surprising that it was produced by the Bristol-based Natural History Unit, with programmes recorded at the city’s Watershed Theatre.

Chairing every edition was Paddy Feeny (pictured with conch above), at the time co-chairing Top of the Form and presenter of the World Service sports service Saturday Special. Paddy told the Radio Times: “We’re so surrounded by scientific hardware these days that I get the impression people just can’t hear enough about natural history”. He later confessed that chairing the quiz has “turned me into a real enthusiast. I now read books on the subject just so that I can suggest a few questions.”

The panellists were a mix of zoologists, botanists and so on, and showbiz guests chosen for their particular interest in the subject such as Frank Thornton, Eric Morecambe, Spike Milligan, Bill Oddie, Bernard Cribbins and Andrew Sachs. (They had all previously appeared as guests on Sounds Natural with Derek Jones, episodes of which have been repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra).  Folk that regularly worked for the Natural History Unit also popped up, names such as Derek Jones, Tony Soper and Johnny Morris. For later episodes they split into two teams captained by Pam Ayres (sometimes Don Maclean) and marine biologist Dr Sheila Anderson.  

The questions were set by Kate Tiffin and later Tess Lemmon, both of the Natural History Unit. Kate went on to write natural history books and contribute to the BBC Wildlife magazine. The producers were Melinda Barker (for series one and two) who also produced Radio 4’s The Living World. She later married wildlife film director and producer Alastair Fothergill. Producing series three and four was John Harrison who was with the BBC in Bristol for 18 years from 1973, working mainly on The Living World with Derek Jones

Give Us A Conch ran for 20 episodes in 1984 and 1985 and came back in late 1985 for a further 18 episodes as The Conch Quiz. Other than the last series being aired on the BBC World Service the quiz has never been repeated, so this is a rare opportunity to hear what it was all about. From 1^st January 1985 this is the first programme in series two with Don Maclean, Derek Jones, Sheila Anderson and zoologist Professor Mike Stoddart. The continuity announcer is Jean Challis.

It’s a week later, 8^th January 1985, for the second episode with Pam Ayres, Johnny Morris, Sheila Anderson and Mike Stoddart. The announcer at the end of the recording is Nick Page.

Give Us A Conch series details  

Series 1:  25 January to 28 March 1984 (10 episodes)

Windsor Davies, Andrew Sachs, Pat Morris, Chris Mead, Frank Windsor, David Shepherd, Mike Stoddart, Wilma George, Carol Drinkwater, Derek Jones, Michael Clegg, Sheila Anderson, Bill Oddie, Tony Soper, Penny Anderson, Malcolm Coe, Eric Morecambe, Pam Ayres and David Bellamy

Series 2: 1 January to 5 March 1985 (10)

Don Mclean, Derek Jones, Sheila Anderson, Mike Stoddart, Pam Ayres, Johnny Morris, Tom Baker, Michael Clegg, Judy Geeson, Jeremy Cherfas, Jeffrey Boswell, Frank Thornton and Andrew Sachs

Name changed to The Conch Quiz

Series 3: 25 November 1985 to 13 January 1986 (8)

Don Maclean, Sheila Anderson, Irene Christie, Malcolm Coe, Pam Ayres, Bernard Cribbins, Michael Clegg, Roger Lovegrove, Bill Oddie, Johnny Morris and Joe Henson

Series 4: 24 January to 28 March 1987 (10)

Pam Ayres, Sheila Anderson, Don Maclean, Roger Lovegrove, Johnny Morris, Michael Clegg, Joe Henson, Bernard Cribbins, Peter France, Spike Milligan and Lionel Kelleway

This series was repeated on the BBC World Service August to October 1987 

The answers to the picture quiz are (l-r) a slug, a North American salamander, a furry armadillo

Jazz Score

There’s no shortage of music quizzes on the radio from the current all out pop variety of PopMaster and Ten to the Top and the former Pop Score (1972-92) to the general music quiz ‘from Bach to the Beatles’ of Counterpoint. But for pure jazz only content there was Jazz Score.

Jazz Score was heard on BBC Radio 2 over nineteen series spanning 1981 to 1997. As I’ve written before, though “ostensibly a music quiz it effectively allowed a load of jazzers to reminisce and entertain the audience with their anecdotes”.

The idea for the programme came from clarinettist Roy Pellet, a one-time member of the Clyde Valley Stompers. It was Roy that researched and wrote the questions. He told the Radio Times: “I spent 20 years travelling with jazz musicians and roaring with laughter at their stories. Each question is tailored to provoke a particular memory.”

In charge of production for most of the run was light entertainment producer, and part-time jazz trombone player, Richard Willcox. Chairing virtually every edition was Benny Green who reckoned that “a lot of people are listening just for the jokes. But don’t be fooled, underneath the banter there’s lots of knowledge”. Most often taking a spot on the panel and providing that banter were Humphrey Lyttelton, Ronnie Scott, George Melly and Acker Bilk.

Over 70 guests, mostly jazz performers, appeared though it often sounded like a gentlemen-only club, at least until later (and independently produced by Unique) series. Early series would often have special jazz enthusiast guests such as Eric Sykes, Kingsley Amis or Barry Cryer. To make everyone feel at home the shows were mostly recorded at Ronnie Scott’s on Frith Street or the 100 Club on Oxford Street.

I’ve uploaded a couple of editions of Jazz Score on YouTube. First from the start of the sixth series is a programme that was broadcast on Saturday 7 September 1985. Joining Benny are Humph, Acker, Chris Barber and Alan Elsdon.

Two years later the eighth series kicked off with this edition recorded in 1986 but broadcast in April 1987 (Radio Times billing above) just a few weeks after the death of special guest Buddy Rich. Also taking part are Barney Kessell, Ronnie Scott and George Melly.       

 

Jazz Score series details

Chaired by Benny Green except Shaw Taylor (s01e04/5), Peter Clayton (s02e05-7, s04e11-12) and Humphrey Lyttelton (s05e01-06),

The pilot episode was recorded in October 1980 and was broadcast at the start of series 1.  

Series 1: 3 October 1981 to 28 November 1981 (9 editions)

Special guests Eric Sykes, Deryck Guyler, Barry Took, Kingsley Amis, Jack Brymer, Barry Foster, Barry Cryer, Roy Castle and Mike Hailwood

Series 2: 17 April to 3 July 1982 (12)

Special guests: Arthur Davidson. Jimmy Edwards, Barry Fantoni and Philip Jones

Series 3: 26 March to 11 June 1983 (12)

Series 4: 31 December 1983 to 17 March 1984 (12)

Series 5: 6 October to 22 December 1984 (12)

Series 6: 7 September to 30 November 1985 (12) (not 28 Sept due to boxing coverage)

Special guests: Charlie Byrd, Don Lanphere, Slim Gaillard

Series 7: 30 March to 29 June 1986 (13)

Special guests: James Moody

Series 8: 26 April to 28 June 1987 (10)

Special guests: Buddy Rich and Barney Kessell

Series 9: 14 December 1987 to 22 February 1988 (12) (not 28 December)

Series 10: 8 November 1988 to 7 February 1989 (14)

Series 11: 20 November 1989 to 19 February 1990 (14)

Series 12: 2 February to 20 April 1991 (12)

Series 13: 9 November to 28 December 1991 (8)

Series 14: 19 October to 7 December 1992 (8)

Series 15: 3 January to 14 February 1994 (7)

Series 16: 7 November 1994 to 26 December 1994(8)

Series 17: 17 July to 4 September 1995 (8)

Series 18: 10 June to 5 August 1996 (9)

Series 19: 22 July to 26 August 1997 (6)

Series 16 to 19 were produced by Unique. The BBC World Service broadcast selected repeats between 1988 and 1997.

Panellists: George Chisholm, Humphrey Lyttelton, Annie Ross, Ronnie Scott, Acker Bilk, George Melly, Jack Parnell, Peter Clayton, Digby Fairweather, Chris Barber, John Turner, Richard Clegg, Beryl Bryden, Alan Clare, Alex Welsh, Kenny Ball, Ian Christie, Andy Cooper, Alan Elsdon, John Barnes, Roger Bennett, Geoff Nicholas, Eddie Thompson, Jack Fallon, Herb Ellis, Peter Ind, Ian Carr, Slim Gaillard, Coleridge Goode, John Dankworth, Geoff Nichols, Al Cohn, Yank Lawson, Murdell Lowe, Dave Shepherd, Barney Kessell, Charlie Byrd, George Masso, Nat Gonella, Max Jones, Roger Horton, Monty Sunshine, Campbell Burnap, Major Holley, Bobby Rosengarden, Peter Appleyard, Dave Shepherd, Derek Smith, Dick Charlesworth, Pete King, Diz Disley, Bob Wilber, Kenny Baker, Eddie Harvey, Oliver Jones, Ken Rattenbury, Tommy Burton, Carol Kidd, Al Gay, Roy Williams, Alan Barnes, Sheila Tracy, Dick Hyman, Rob McConnell, Cleo Laine, Brian Priestley, Marion Montgomery, Stan Tracey, Alan Plater, Bruce Adams, Vic Lewis and Larry Adler. 

Finally the answer to the question posed in the opening photo of Benny Green is Bobby Hackett and Lionel Hampton.

The Monday Movie Quiz

In my previous post I presented some recordings of Ray Moore during his Radio 2 early show years. But there’s another programme that Ray was associated with for just over a decade and that’s The Monday Movie Quiz. Radio 2’s movie quiz provided the opportunity for listeners to answer about five mostly multi-part questions, usually posed with accompanying film music, songs or dialogue, and to send off their postcards in the hope of winning a cash prize, usually about a tenner. This at least kept up the listening figures across the series as you always had to wait a week for the answers. How this was dealt with for the last programme in the series I can’t now remember; I can only assume a continuity announcer read them out the following Monday night.

The programme was the idea of producer Martin Fisher, who would also research and set the questions for the first nine series, after which he was promoted to Head of Light Entertainment, Radio. Following Ray’s forced retirement from the microphone in January 1988, Chris Serle took over the role of question master. By this time David Rider was tasked with writing the questions.  

In late 1990 the programme moved to a Saturday night at 5.30 pm coupled with Cinema 2 at 5.00 pm in a timeslot that had previously been the home for Sports Report until that, and all Radio 2’s sports coverage, had been shifted over to the new Radio 5. Of course the Monday bit of the title was dropped in the process. For the 1991 series Chris Stuart became the new host for the remainder of the run of The Movie Quiz.  

The final two series in 1993 and 1994 moved to Friday nights at 7 pm by which time contestants were also invited to take part over the phone in addition to just one write-in round. Upping the budget, any winners now pocketed £20.

Later in 1994 Radio 2 would also drop Cinema 2, with any movie news now covered by the Arts Programme. Film aficionados could still test their knowledge against that of a celebrity panel on Radio 4’s Screenplay, which had been running since 1987, but that too ended in December 1994.

I’ve posted these first two editions of The Monday Movie Quiz before but they’re now on YouTube. First, from series 8 is the third programme on 28 February 1983. The theme tune, in case you’re wondering is Showtime by Neal Hefti from the 1965 film Harlow.

At least you can hear the answers to that last edition as here’s the quiz as heard the following week on 7 March 1983. Incidentally the opening and closing announcements are by Len Jackson.

Forward three years for an edition from the eleventh series and a programme broadcast on 27 January 1986. The announcer is Robin Boyle.

The final edition of the 18^th series from 23 July 1993 is also on YouTube posted by Radio Recollections.

The Monday Movie Quiz series details

Series 1 to 12 presented by Ray Moore

Series 13 and 14 presented by Chris Serle

Series 1 to 9 were devised and produced by Martin Fisher. Series 10 to 14 written by David Rider and the producers were Mark Robson (s10 & s12), Harry Thompson (s11) and Lissa Evans (s13 & s14).

Series 1: 5 April to 28 June 1976 (13 programmes)

Series 2: 14 March to 30 May 1977 (12)

Series 3: 6 March to 22 May 1978 (12)

Series 4: 22 January to 9 April 1979 (12)

Series 5: 25 February to 12 May 1980 (12)

Series 6: 5 January to 4 May 1981 (18)

Series 7: 25 January to 31 May 1982 (except 3 May) (18)

Series 8: 14 February to 13 June 1983 (18)

Series 9: 23 January to 2 April 1984 (11)

Series 10: 13 May to 24 June 1985 (7)

Series 11: 20 January to 31 March 1986 (11)

Series 12: 1 June to 3 August 1987 (10)

Series 13: 25 April to 27 June 1988 (10)

Series 14: 15 May to 17 July 1989 (10)

The Movie Quiz series details

Series 15 to 17 on Saturday night. Series 18 and 19 on Friday night.

Series 15 presented by Chris Serle and the remainder by Chris Stuart.

Producers: Paul Schlesinger (15), Philip Clarke (16-17) and Barry Littlechild (18-19)

Series 15: 10 November 1990 to 19 January 1991 (except 29 December) (10)

Series 16: 29 June to 17 August 1991 (8)

The Christmas Movie Quiz: 21 December 1991

The New Year Movie Quiz: 28 December 1991

Series 17: 8 August to 26 September 1992 (8)

Series 18: 4 June to 23 July 1993 (8)

Series 19: 25 March to 13 May 1994 (8)

Back to Square One

In what is sure to be an election year in the UK the Prime Minister (at time of writing Rishi Sunak) is fond of saying that were the current Opposition (at time of writing, the Labour Party) to win then Britain would be “back to square one”.

Ah yes, back to square one, an idiom often used but whose origins seem to be uncertain. Look online and you’ll see references to the grid printed in the Radio Times to help describe the action during early football and rugby commentaries (note below). This seems credible until you hear what are admittedly early recreations of those commentaries and the second voice only just has time to say “Square 7, Square 5” etc.  Indeed why would play be described as going “back to square one”? Other suggestions are that it comes from the games of Hopscotch or Snakes and Ladders with the earliest print citation being as late as a 1952 UK Economic Journal which wrote "He has the problem of maintaining the interest of the reader who is always being sent back to square one in a sort of intellectual game of snakes and ladders."

Anyway, all this is by way of saying that the derivation of everyday expressions and sayings would be ripe for the quiz format. And that is exactly what BBC Radio 2 offered over seven series and 54 programmes in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the quiz show Back to Square One.   

The premise was, according the chairman, the ever dependable Chris Serle, that “all the questions are about the origins of everyday words, well known expressions, superstitions, customs, places and pub signs and so on”. The programme was devised by author Graeme Donald who went on to write a number of books on history and the meaning of words.

A team captain throughout the run was author Leslie Thomas, a regular on radio panel shows such as Quote...Unquote, Hoax! and Trivia Test Match. For series one he’s joined by the queen of panel shows Barbara Kelly. For series 4 to 7 the other captain is Pam Ayres.  

Here’s the first ever edition from 9 December 1986 with Pam Ferris and Roy Kinnear joining the panel.

They make no mention of ‘back to square one’ itself but it did turn up in the fourth show – which I’m not uploading as the recording quality is poor. Needless to say they go for the football commentary definition.

Moving to 1988, for the third edition from the third series. Sheila Steafel is the other team captain for this series and she and Leslie are joined by Frances Edmonds and Bill Oddie. Writer Frances Edmonds was one of the regular panellists (8 appearances), others were Sid Waddell (10 appearances, including for two shows with Jeremy Hardy) and Bill Tidy (6 appearances).

Back to Square One finally ran out of steam in 1992 by which time many of Radio 2’s quizzes and panel games were getting the chop anyway. All the programmes enjoyed a worldwide audience on the World Service and selected programmes were repeated over on Radio 4 in 1991/92. 32 programmes were issued by the Transcription Service for overseas sales. 

Series Details

Series 1

9 December 1986 – 27 January 1989 (8 weeks) produced by Ron McDonnell

Team captains: Leslie Thomas (except weeks 5 & 7 John Dunn) & Barbara Kelly

Panellists: Roy Kinnear, Pam Ferris, Peter Moloney, Sheila Steafel, Benny Green, Sheila Hancock, Stephen Fry and Jessica Martin

Series 2

15 September 1987 – 3 November 1987 (8 weeks) produced by Ron McDonnell

Team captains: Leslie Thomas plus Lucinda Lambton (1&5) Katie Boyle (2.4.6&8) and Moira Stuart (3&7)

Panellists:  Moira Stuart, Peter Moloney, Jane Reed, Jeffrey Holland, Pam Ayres, Sid Waddell, Claire Rayner and Bernie Clifton

Series 3

26 April 1988 – 14 June 1988 (8 weeks) produced by Paul Z. Jackson

Team captains: Leslie Thomas and Sheila Steafel

Panellists: Jeffrey Holland, Noddy Holder, Jeremy Hardy, Sid Waddell, Frances Edmonds, Bill Oddie, Benny Green and Pam Ayres.

Series 4

13 June 1989 – 1 August 1989 (8 weeks) produced by Paul Z. Jackson

Team captains: Leslie Thomas and Pam Ayres

Panellists: Molly Parkin, Sid Waddell, Jane Reed, Bill Tidy, Maggie Fox, Jeremy Hardy, Frances Edmonds and Chris Stuart

Series 5

25 July 1990 – 12 September 1990 (8 weeks) produced by Paul Z. Jackson

Team captains: Leslie Thomas and Pam Ayres

Panellists: Dillie Kean, Sid Waddell, Sandi Toksvig, Bill Oddie, Bill Tidy, Helen Atkinson-Wood, Frances Edmonds and Peter Tinniswood

Series 6

30 October 1991 – 18 December 1991 (8 weeks) produced by Paul Z. Jackson

Team captains: Leslie Thomas and Pam Ayres

Panellists: James Reeve, Jessica Martin, Stephen Fry, Frances Edmonds, Sue Cook, Bill Tidy, Sid Waddell and Jane Reed

Series 7

17 November 1992 – 29 December 1992 (6 weeks) produced by Andy Aliffe

Team captains: Leslie Thomas and Pam Ayres

Panellists: James Pickles, Gill Pyrah, Angela Douglas, David Thornton, Natalie Wheen and James Reeve

Theme tune: A Fuguey Day by Johnny Hawksworth played the Ron Grainer Harpsichord Group (Chappell Music, 1966)

Note: Grids were first published in the Radio Times on 18 February 1927 one for football and one for ‘Rugger fans’.

Popping the Questions

Question: What's the name of the first Radio 2 pop quiz presented by Ken Bruce? If you answered Pop Master then you could be said to be "one quiz out!" The answer is Pop Score, the quiz that ran from 1972 to 1992 which Ken chaired for the last five series.

Devised by Light Entertainment producer Richard Willcox is was initially seen as a Radio 1 versus Radio 2 contest (early series were carried on both stations) with Tony Blackburn captaining the Radio 1 side and Terry Wogan representing Radio 2. Popping the questions was Pete Murray. Willcox continued to produce and write all the questions, and indeed do the audience warm-up, for the first fifteen series until Mark Robson took over production. By this time Willcox  had already brought in a certain Phil 'The Collector' Swern to help set the questions. Phil had previously attended some of the show's recordings to 'help' Tony with some of his answers until he was thrown out of the Paris studio a few shows later.    

Early guest stars were a  little eclectic to say the least. You can hardly say it was on trend, more like a decade behind. Many of the musicians had been sixties hitmakers with virtually no current chart performers taking part in the early series with perhaps the exception of Lynsey de Paul, Dana, Neil Sedaka, Long John Baldry and Mike Batt. But Deryck Guyler and Reg Varney?

In time under Willcox's tenure a smaller pool of contributors was called upon, often appearing on a other radio panel games. For instance we have actor Patrick Mower (also on The Law Game), singing impressionist Johnny More and Ray Alan (both on The Impressionists), Lance Percival (also on Wit's End and Just a Minute) and Duggie Brown (also on The Name's the Game and Dealing with Daniels). Some folk such as Tim Rice (also on Just a Minute and Trivia Test Match) really knew their stuff but generally it was a chance to muck about and the quiz side was never taken that seriously.    

Later series, produced by Robson, Dirk Maggs and Phil Clarke took things a little more seriously, but only just, with people from the music business and DJs. Typically a show might include rounds such as continuing to sing a song after its faded (think of Clue's Pick Up Song), correcting song titles, identifying song covers or  records played backwards, and a final quick-fire round. Throughout the quiz the chairman would, depending on how many points they'd scored in the round, read out so many letters of a song title that team's could guess at any time for bonus points.   

The old Blackburn/Wogan rivalary ended in 1977, though they returned for the 200th edition in 1987. Coming in as team captain for Terry was David Hamilton and a couple of series later Ray Moore replaced Tony. Ray in turn would become chairman when Pete left the BBC and after a series of different captains - Joe Brown, Duggie Brown and Helen Shapiro, who eventually became a show regular - new boy Ken Bruce was drafted in.

Following Ray's untimely death Ken took over as quizmaster (Ken was also hosting the Radio 2 general knowledge show The ABC Quiz) and with David off to commercial radio the team captains settled down to be Helen Shapiro and Alan Freeman.       

It all came to an end in April 1992 by which time panel games were virtually a thing of the past  on Radio 2.

Six years later Ken Bruce and Phil Swern, who had both worked together on Pop Score,  put their heads together (together with Ken's then producer Colin Martin) and came up with the format for Pop Master. The daily music quiz which stops the country is celebrated tonight in the Radio 2 programme One Year Out-The PopMasterStory and tomorrow sees the second All Day quiz.

Series Details

Question masters:

Pete Murray series 1 to 10.

Ray Moore series 11 to 13

Ken Bruce series 14 to 18 

The theme tune used for the majority of Pop Score's run was Chicken Feathers by film and TV composer Pat Williams from his 1968 album Think. In the late 80s Weather Report's Birdland was used for a while.  

Series 1 Team captains Tony Blackburn (TB) and Terry Wogan (TW)

24 Oct 1972-6 Feb 1973

Guests: Ken Goodwin, Alan Price, Lynsey de Paul, Kenny Lynch, Roger Greenaway, Rolf Harris, Peter Noone, Vince Hill, Dana, Roy Castle, Anita Harris, Georgie Fame, Tim Rice, Lance Percival andTony Brandon

Series 2 TB TW

20 June 1973-20 Mar 1974

Roger Whittaker, Peter Noone, Tony Brandon, Lance Percival, Wally Whyton, Leslie Crowther, Bob Monkhouse, Mitch Murray, Roy Castle, Dana, Chris Barber, Joe Brown, Jimmy Tarbuck, Adrienne Posta, David Jacobs, George Chisholm, Kenneth Williams, Tim Rice, Gerry Marsden, Peter Jones, Deryck Guyler, June Whitfield, Bernard Cribbins, Johnny Pearson, Matt Monro, Lonnie Donegan, Rolf Harris, Ron Goodwin, Reg Varney, Eric Idle, Ray Fell, Frankie Vaughan, Michael Aspel, Diana Dors, Jon Pertwee, Kenny Ball, Neil Sedaka, Dickie Henderson, Peter Goodwright and Henry Cooper.  

Series 3 TB TW (Paul Burnett covered for TB on two shows and Tim Rice covered for TW on two shows)

2 Oct 1974-26 Mar 1975 Leslie Crowther, Henry Cooper, Cathy McGowan, Bob Monkhouse, Joe Brown, Kenny Ball, Ray Alan, Long John Baldry, Michael Parkinson, Marian Montgomery, Ray Fell, Vince Hill, Clive lea, Tim Rice, Ronnie Carroll, Matt Monro, Mike Batt, Mitch Murray, Cindy Kent, Roy Castle, Diana Dors, Norman, Newell, Roger Whittaker, Ray Barrett and Roger Kitter 

Series 4 TB TW

30 Oct 1975-22 Jan 1976

Bernard Cribbins, Tim Rice, Diana Dors, Kenny Ball, Roy Hudd, Ray Alan, George Chisholm, Long John Baldry, Lonnie Donegan, Rolf Harris, Clive Lea and Johnny Moore

Series 5 TB TW

13 Sept-29 Nov 1976

Leslie Crowther, Diana Dors, Bernard Cribbins, Tim Rice, Rolf Harris, Charlie Williams, Johnny More, Duggie Brown, Bobby Knutt, Jack Douglas, Patrick Mower

Series 6 TB TW

1 Sept-17 Nov 1977

Bobby Knutt, Bernard Cribbins, Faith Brown, Derek Griffiths, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Vince Hill, Duggie Brown, Ray Alan, Johnny More, Patrick Mower, Dave Evans and Tim Rice (also captain on a couple of shows) 

Series 7 TB David Hamilton (DH)

11 Sept-27 Nov 1978

Lance Percival, Joe Brown, Mike Batt, Clive Lea, Patrick Mower, Johnny More, Tony Brandon, Bill Oddie, Rolf Harris, Bobby Knutt, Dave Evans and Tim Rice

Series 8 TB DH

19 May-4 Aug 1980

Dave Dee, Lance Percival, Mike Batt, Vince Hill, Joe Brown, Tim Rice, Duggie Brown, Bernard Cribbins, Bobby Knutt and Johnny More

An edition of Pop Score from this series is on Mixcloud here though sadly the last couple of minutes are missing.

Series 9 DH Ray Moore (RM)

24 Aug -9 Nov 1981

Faith brown, Johnny More, Duggie Brown, Lance Percival, Rolf Harris, Tim Rice, Joe Longthorne, Dave Evans, Vince Hill, Acker Bilk and Joe Brown

Series 10 DH RM

20 June-5 Sep 1983

Helen Shapiro, Acker Bilk, Joe Brown, Vince Hill, Duggie Brown (also captain on two shows), Patrick Mower, Susan Maughan, Freddie Garrity and Mike Berry

I've unearthed the 7th programme from this series.

Series 11 DH (Other captain was either Duggie Brown, Joe Brown or Helen Shapiro)

19 Feb-14 May 1985

Rolf Harris, Mike Berry, Acker Bilk, Helen Shapiro, Clodagh Rodgers, Susan Maughan, Frank Ifield, and Russ Conway

I've previously posted the 11th programme in this series before but only recently uploaded it to YouTube

Series 12 DH Ken Bruce (KB)

15 Mar-24 May 1986

Frank Ifield, Acker Bilk, Duggie Brown, Helen Shapiro, Lonnie Donegan, Vince Hill, Helen Shapiro, Tim Rice, Des Cluskey, Con Cluskey, Noddy Holder and Paul Nicholas

Series 13 DH KB

14 Mar-20 June 1987 (includes 200th edition with Pete Murray, Terry Wogan and Tony Blackburn)

Alvin Stardust, Helen Shapiro, Lynn Sheppard, Denny Laine, Rick Wakeman, Noddy Holder, Steve Marriott, Acker Bilk, Tim Rice and Frank Ifield 

Series 14 Helen Shapiro (HS) + either Joe Brown, TB, Adrian Love or Paul Jones (First to be compiled by Phil Swern)

12 Mar-28 May 1988

Cathy McGowan, Adrian Love, Tony Blackburn, Duggie Brown, Dave Dee, Gloria Hunniford, Rick Wakeman, Tommy Vance, Noddy Holder, Robbie Vincent, Tom McGuinness

Series 15 HS + either Adrian Love or Alan Freeman (AF)

25 Mar-10 June 1989

Duggie Brown, Rick Wakeman, Rolf Harris, Peter Dickson, Noddy Holder, John Craven, Tim Rice, Alvin Stardust, Paul Jones and Vince Hill

Series 16 HS AF (Producer Dirk Maggs)

21 Apr-7 July 1990

Janice Long, Adrian Love, Sheila Ferguson, Paul Jones, Duggie Brown, Stephanie de Sykes, Joe Brown, Rose-Marie, Don Powell, Lyn Paul and Colin Berry

The first edition of this series is available on Mixcloud here. 

Series 17 HS AF

27 April-15 June 1991

Cheryl Baker, Adrian Love, Wendy Richard, Noddy Holder, Alvin Stardust, Janice Long, Rose-Marie and Colin Berry

Series 18 HS AF (Prod Phil Clarke)

28 Feb-17 April 1992

Terry Wogan, Pete Murray, Adrian Love, Lyn Paul, Lynsey de Paul, Alvin Stardust, Noddy Holder and Rose-Marie

As is typical with virtually all Radio 2 panel shows from this era they've never been repeated since they ended so if you've got any recordings of Pop Score please let me know.

Beat the Chasers

So the question was: Broadcast on radio in 1937, Britain's first quiz programme was a test of what? (a) Mental arithmetic (b) General knowledge or (c) Spelling? This was the question posed to a contestant on last night's Beat the Chasers (ITV). And the answer...

UK radio's first on-air contests were write-in affairs. The first was The Query Programme aired on 2LO on 7 May 1924. Unbilled artistes had to be listed in correct Radio Times billing, the three listeners with the closest entries being invited to the studio at Savoy Hill for the evening. Subsequent programmes, there were seven in all, generously offered five guineas to the most successful entrant and runners-up prizes of three guineas and one guinea.   

Another write-in competition was Puzzle Corner ("Hello Puzzlers") which became a feature of the show Monday Night at Seven (and later Monday Night at Eight) that had started in 1937. The show featured a number of elements such as music, comedy sketches and a short drama, Inspector Hornleigh Investigates being the best known, and, from January 1938, Puzzle Corner. With general knowledge questions, anagrams and a musical medley it proved immensely popular and ran until 1949, by which time it was part of The Family Hour. It got a TV spin-off in 1950 as part of Kaleidoscope and then as a stand-alone show (1953-55).   

But the first quiz game to be battled out on air in real time, and the subject of that Beat the Chasers question, was a Spelling Bee broadcast as part of Children's Hour on Thursday 25 November 1937. Billed as An Inter-Regional Spelling Competition the Radio Times tells us that "this is an experiment which, it is hoped, will prove amusing. Mac (Derek McCulloch aka Uncle Mac) will conduct a spelling competition for boys and girls in several different regions simultaneously, and listeners will hear how the competitors got on".

The idea obviously caught on and in January 1938 the BBC entered into a co-production with NBC in the States for an adult version called Transatlantic Spelling Bee. Teams from Harvard & Radcliffe College played Oxford University with question-masters Tommy Woodrooffe (UK) and Pail Wing (US) overseeing proceedings. The US team won by 28 points to 24. The cameras of Pathé News were there to record the event.

A further transatlantic version was held in March followed by further UK-only inter-city competitions chaired by Freddie Grisewood, some dialect versions ("none of the words will be found in the Oxford dictionary") and even a TV version on the pre-war BBC service. 

The idea on was revived on BBC radio during the war under the chairmanship of Ronnie Waldman pitting together teams such as Actors v Actresses or GIs v Tommies, and post-war with Lionel Gamlin being the most regular 'spelling-master'. UK broadcast spelling bees fizzled out in the early 50s but they remain popular in the US with the National Spelling Bee running since 1925 with TV coverage for the last 20-odd years on ESPN.    

Round Britain Quiz

A power-hungry citizen; the rent paid in kind by a 12th-century Scottish farmer; and Hollywood Brit ... all sound the same but are spelt differently. Who (or what) are they and why should the lattermost's catch-phrase be appropriate to Round Britain Quiz?

Regular listeners to radio's longest-running quiz will recognise the question style: three cryptic crossword-style clues providing the link to an overall question. And, in typical RBQ style even if you know the answer the trick is, according to one-time exponent of the quiz Irene Thomas, that "it's really a matter of thinking aloud. If you know the answer and say it straight out, it's no fun. You have to amble towards it, and the fun always come when you get lost on the way".

A new series of Round Britain Quiz kicks off today on BBC Radio 4. Starting in 1947 its five-years older than  Brain of Britain, but its roots go back to a wartime cultural exchange between the US and the UK. Here's my brief history of RBQ, which, quite neatly, fits into three parts.

Part 1 The Hale Years

In  April 1944 the BBC's North American Service and the American Blue Network (formerly part of NBC) launched a joint programme called Transatlantic Quiz. The quiz consisted of a chairman and two team members who "traded questions between London and New York with the idea of testing one team's knowledge of the other's country. Some of the questions were cryptic, but many were plain general knowledge." The chairman in New York was Alistair Cooke whilst back in London it was Lionel Hale (both pictured below). Cooke had already appeared in a similar venture the previous year, a transatlantic discussion programme called Answering You. 

Transatlantic Quiz featured some well-known participants such as David Niven, Peter Ustinov and Joyce Grenfell. But the unlikely star was Professor Denis Brogan, a man who "could identify the most obscure political quotations, or plumb the shadiest depths of American literature." In July 1945 home listeners got a chance to hear the quiz when the Light Programme started to broadcast it. It ran for a further six years, ending its run in 1951.

Meanwhile in 1947 the Light Programme was looking for a similar UK-based quiz and in November Round Britain Quiz was launched, This set the basic programme format for the next fifty years. Each week the two-person London team took on a two-person team from one of the regions -  Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the West, the North and the Midlands. There were two chairmen, with the London team it was always Lionel Hale (he remained with the programme for twenty years) and with the regional teams Gilbert Harding. Like its predecessor the mainstay of the London team was Denis Brogan, like Hale he put in a twenty year stint. Others on the London team included Hubert Phillips and Cedric Cliffe. Long-time participants for the regions included Jack House and Sir James Fergusson in Scotland and Welsh novelist Wyn Griffith. Following Gilbert Harding's death in 1960 there were a number of short-term replacements before Roy Plomley became the regular second question-master.

Inexplicably following the 1968 series Round Britain Quiz was dropped from Radio 4's schedule. It would be a five years hiatus.

Part 2 Revival and Expansion into Europe  

RBQ's revival was due, in part, to the persistence of a former contestant Irene Thomas (pictured left), the Queen of Quizzes long before Daphne Fowler came onto the scene. Irene, a former Brain of Britain winner , had joined the programme before the end of its 1960s run as one of the London team. Apparently she wrote some "nice but persistent" letters to Radio 4 controller Tony Whitby to bring the programme back. He agreed and assigned the production to BBC Manchester under the guidance of Trevor Hill. The programme returned on 1 April 1973.

Hill recalled that he slightly tweaked the format which saw the introduction of more cryptic "verbal crossword" questions that have become the programme's trademark. "I discovered ... that it was no use for one person to set the questions, however inventive and amusing they might be, and then for another person to pose them. When contestants are seeking clues and guidance the quizmaster has to know all he can about the background in order to 'feed' the teams and often to get their minds working on another tack so that they see the common link between one part of the answer and the other parts".

Setting and asking the questions at the London end was Professor Anthony Quinton and with the regions it was Jack Longland, at the time well-known to listeners for Any Questions and My Word!  The regular London team consisted of Irene Thomas and Professor John B Mays - can their ever have been so  many professors on the same show since the days of The Brains Trust? Later Irene's team mate was Eric Korn.

Jack Longland left the programme in 1976, to be replaced by Gordon Clough. Familiar to Radio 4 listeners for PM and The World at One, Gordon contended that RBQ was "one of the hardest jobs I have to do in radio. I have to aim at creating questions which contain at least one part that the audience at home can answer without too much trouble". 

Here are a couple of recordings from the mid-80s. From 19 August 1984 this first programme features Irene Thomas and Eric Korn on the London team and Patrick Nuttgens and Paddy Fitzpatrick representing the North. Asking the questions are Gordon Clough and Louis Allen, who replaced Anthony Quinton between 1983 and 1991.

I recorded this edition on 26 September 1985 when the competing team for the Midlands was John Julius Norwich and Peter Oppenheimer. The London team had a fearsome reputation for winning, but here the Midlands team, and in particular Peter Oppenheimer, show their mettle.    

Such was the success of the revived Round Britain Quiz that it spawned two spin-offs. First there was Round Europe Quiz (3 series 1977-81) with Irene Thomas and John Julius Norwich representing England taking on teams from France, Italy Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark Austria and Poland. Gordon Clough and Anthony Quinton continued in their inquisitorial roles. Producer Trevor Hill recalls that the idea came from network controller Ian McIntryre who asked him to widen his quiz horizons. "needless to say each European I saw had to have, in the first instance, a very good knowledge of the English language plus the ability, when I tested them, to take part in and enjoy that essentially English pastime of doing crossword puzzles."    

The second spin-off was our old friend Transatlantic Quiz (7 series 1976-86). Again it was populated with the usual suspects: a London team of Irene Thomas and John Julius Norwich, questions posed by Louis Allen and Anthony Quinton (later Gordon Clough). In the States the team was Brendon Gill and, for the most part, Shana Alexander.  

When the 1995 series of Round Britain Quiz came to an end it dropped off the schedules. The death the following year of Gordon Clough seemed to finally have put paid to the programme's return.

Part 3 Slimmed Down but Not Dumbed Down

But you can't keep a good quiz format down and in 1997 RBQ returned reinvigorated and with further tweaks to the format. Gone was the resident London team, they now had to compete on an equal footing like everyone else. Gone indeed was Irene Thomas ("I loved every minute of it" she told Sue Lawley, "I could have gone on doing it all the time"). This slimmed down version now had just one question master, Nick Clarke who was not expected to devise the questions himself. There was some debate as to whether the questions had been dumbed down with Roland White noting in the Radio Times that "the pool of knowledge has been widened". Listening again to the 1980s editions I'm inclined to agree with him.

Nick Clarke's tenure lasted until 2005 (he died the following year) when again the programme's future hung in the balance. It did return, of course, from June 2007 with Tom Sutcliffe now posing the questions.

Tom is back at 3 pm today when Round Britain Quiz returns with Scotland and Wales competing.

And the answer to the question posed at the start of this post, culled from a Radio Times article written  by Nick Baker in 1985, refers to a power-hungry citizen, think of Citizen Kane played by Orson Welles in 1941 film. The rent paid by Scottish farmers was called, assuming you know your Gaelic, as Cain. That Hollywood Brit is one Michael Caine (who back in 1985 had yet to return to live in the UK). All of which should lead you to his supposed catchphrase "Not a lot of people know that", though he has denied ever saying it.

The UK Game Shows website lists some of the Round Britain Quiz question masters but then they didn't have the benefit of the estimable BBC Genome, The full list is as follows:

Lionel Hale 1947/1949-68

Gilbert Harding 1947-60

Leonard Sachs 1948

Robert McDermott 1948

Philip Hope-Wallace 1948

Peter Watson 1949

Howard Marion-Crawford 1957

Lionel Gamlin 1957

Stephen Potter 1960-61

Kevin Fitzgerald 1961

Edward Ward 1961

Michael Flanders 1961

Roy Plomley 1961-68

Patrick Harvey 1962-66

Anthony Quinton 1973-82/92-95

Jack Longland 1973-76

Gordon Clough 1977-95

Louis Allen 1983-91

Nick Clarke 1997-05

Tom Sutcliffe 2007-2021

Kirsty Lang 2022

References:

Transatlantic Quiz by Lionel Hale in The World Radio and Television Annual (Sampson Low, Marston & Co 1947)

Alistair Cooke: The Biography by Nick Clarke (Weidenfeld & Nicholson 1999)

Over the Airwaves by Trevor Hill (The Book Guild 2005)

Riddled with clues by Nick Baker, Radio Times 5 October 1985

Blimey, even I could get that one by Roland White, Radio Times 16 August 1997

BBC Genome website

Post edited 27 March 2022