by Feeney, Paul
Morecambe and Wise (Two of a Kind: 1961–68, ATV for ITV; The Morecambe and Wise Show: 1968–77, BBC): It was in the 1960s shows that we first heard those popular catchphrases: ‘I’ll smash your face in’, ‘Get out of that’ and ‘More tea Ern?’ Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise were the funniest comedy duo on television in the sixties. All the top celebrities queued up to be on the show and to be jokingly told by Eric that they were ‘Rubbish!’ The long list of guests included The Beatles, the Kinks, Engelbert Humperdinck, Matt Monro and Bruce Forsyth.
The Newcomers (1965–69): BBC1. A twice-weekly half-hour soap opera about a London family, the Coopers, who moved into a new housing estate in the fictional English country town of Angleton. The cast included Alan Browning, Judy Geeson and Wendy Richard.
No Hiding Place (1959–67): Associated-Rediffusion for ITV. A British crime series which followed the cases of Detective Superintendent Tom Lockhart (Raymond Francis) of Scotland Yard.
Opportunity Knocks (1964–78): ABC, then Thames Television for ITV. A British television talent show hosted by Hughie Green. A studio ‘clapometer’ measured the studio audience’s opinion of each act, but this didn’t count towards the final result. The winning act was decided by postal votes sent in by the viewing public and the winner was announced the following week. Les Dawson (1967) and Mary Hopkin (1968) were among the 1960s contestants who went on to become famous. The BBC later revived the show (1987–90).
Perry Mason (1957–66): BBC TV and BBC1. This American legal drama series starred Raymond Burr as a fictional Los Angeles defence attorney, Perry Mason, who always won his cases. Perry would solve the cases with the help of his investigator, Paul Drake, played by William Hopper, and his confidential secretary, Della Street, played by Barbara Hale. They did it all by themselves, sometimes they even found the body! And of course the police and the district attorney always charged the wrong person with the crime. The programme would end with Perry Mason getting the real villain to break down in the courtroom’s witness box and admit to having done it.
The Phil Silvers Show (1955–59, re-run in the 1960s): Phil Silvers played the fast-talking Sergeant Ernie Bilko in this American situation comedy, in which he and his subordinate team of soldiers undertook all sorts of get-rich-quick schemes behind the back of Colonel John T. Hall, played by Paul Ford, at the fictional Fort Baxter. Other cast members included Harvey Lembeck as Corporal Rocco Barbella, Allan Melvin as Corporal Steve Henshaw, Herbie Faye as Private Sam Fender and Maurice Gosfield as the slovenly Private Duane Doberman.
Please Sir! (1968–72): LWT for ITV. A situation comedy series set in the fictional Fenn Street School, with teacher, Bernard Hedges (John Alderton), doing his best to control the rowdy but likeable students of class 5C. The cast included Derek Guyler as Norman Potter the caretaker, Joan Sanderson as fearsome teacher Doris Ewell, and Richard Davis as Welsh teacher Mr Price. The class of 5C pupils included smooth-talking Peter Craven (Malcolm McFee), wisecracking Eric Duffy (Peter Cleall), dimwitted Dennis Dunstable (Peter Denver), mummy’s boy and wannabe tough guy Frankie Abbott (David Barry), sexy Sharon Eversleigh (Penny Spencer) and soppy Maureen Bullock (Liz Gebhardt) who was hopelessly in love with Mr Hedges.
Popeye the Sailor (1960–62 and re-run thereafter): ITV. The cartoon adventures of Popeye the sailor man, his girlfriend Olive Oyl and his love rival, the villainous brute Bluto. There was also the infant, Swee’ Pea, who was found abandoned, and the hamburger-munching J. Wellington Wimpy. The adventures always involved a punch-up with Bluto, with Popeye eventually winning after gaining some extra muscular strength by swallowing a can of spinach. This show was a firm favourite with the kids and was repeated throughout the 1960s.
The Prisoner (1967–68): ITC for ITV. A cult television drama series that nobody seemed to understand, but everyone kept watching anyway. It starred the show’s co-creator Patrick McGoohan who, after resigning as a British secret agent, is kidnapped and taken to an unnamed village in an unknown location, where he is to be known only as ‘Number Six’. The village authorities subject him to a series of psychological challenges designed to break his will and get inside his mind. The bizarre plots and the use of psychedelic imagery and nursery rhymes made this quite a weird drama series.
Ready Steady Go! (1963–66): Associated-Rediffusion for ITV. It was a very popular rock/pop music television show presented by Keith Fordyce and Cathy McGowan, who was dubbed ‘Queen of the Mods’. The programme usually started with the slogan, ‘The Weekend Starts Here’. The show included interviews, chat, fashion, competitions and the latest pop music. The audience and dancers were also allowed to mingle with the guest artists on the studio floor. Initially, guest artists mimed to records, but from 1964 some were performing live, and by April 1965 all performances were live. The show featured the most successful artists of the era, including The Beatles, Dusty Springfield (who sometimes also presented it), the Supremes, the Rolling Stones, The Who, the Dave Clark Five, the Beach Boys and the Small Faces.
The Rolf Harris Show (1967–70): BBC1. A popular light entertainment show featuring Rolf Harris and his guests. On each show Rolf would paint wonderful pictures on a huge whiteboard – ‘Can you tell what it is yet?’ Not forgetting Rolf’s trademark wobbleboard and didgeridoo, both of which he often used as accompanying instruments when he sang.
On Friday 2 April 1965, the popular television rock/pop music programme, Ready Steady Go! went live for the first time, which meant that artists appearing on the show had to perform live instead of miming. The picture is of Cathy McGowan, the show’s presenter.
Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (1968–73): BBC2. An American comedy sketch show hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin with a bewildering array of guests. The show was filled with a series of quick-fire gags and sketches involving familiar regular guests that included Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Arthur ‘Arte’ Johnson, Jo Anne Worley and Alan Sues.
The Saint (1962–69): ITC for ITV. A mystery spy thriller series, starring Roger Moore as Simon Templar, The Saint, who was billed as the Robin Hood of modern crime. The fictional detective was created by Leslie Charteris and featured in many of his novels. The television series portrayed the London-based Simon Templar as a secret agent who solved all sorts of mysteries in fantasy-style plots. In 1978, the series was revived as Return of the Saint, starring Ian Ogilvy as Simon Templar.
Softly, Softly (1966–69): BBC1. A British drama series centred on the work of a regional crime squad based in the fictional area of Wyvern, somewhere in England. The programme was a spinoff from the popular Z-Cars series after the original series ended in 1965. As with the Z-Cars series, Softly, Softly featured Detective Chief Inspector Charles Barlow and Detective Inspector John Watt, played by Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor.
Star Trek (1969–71): BBC1. This was the first series of Star Trek programmes. They aired in America from 1966–69, but didn’t make it to the UK until July 1969. These episodes starred William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock, DeForest Kelley as Lt Commander Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, James Doohan as Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott, Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura, George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand and Majel Barrett as Christine Chapel. They all voyaged on the starship Enterprise’s ‘five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before’.
Steptoe and Son, the fictional father and son rag-and-bone men from Shepherd’s Bush, first appeared on our television screens in 1962. From the left, the picture shows Harold Steptoe (played by Harry H. Corbett), Hercules the horse and Albert Steptoe (played by Wilfred Brambell).
Steptoe and Son (1962–65 & 1970–74): BBC TV, then BBC1. A British situation comedy written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about the lives of two fictional rag-and-bone men living in the fictional Oil Drum Lane in Shepherd’s Bush, London. The long-running series was born out of a one-off
Comedy Playhouse play called The Offer. In a 2004 poll done by the BBC, the show was voted fifteenth best British sitcom of all time.
Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955–67): ATV for ITV. A British television variety show produced by Val Parnell. The regular 1960s hosts were Bruce Forsyth (1958–60 and 1961), Don Arrol (1960–61), Norman Vaughan (1962–65) and Jimmy Tarbuck (1965–67). Entertainment included the Tiller Girls, speciality acts and top artists of the time. The middle of the show featured the popular game show, Beat the Clock, in which members of the audience were invited to complete unusual tasks in a short period of time, measured by a large clock at the back of the stage. The show ended each week with all the guests assembled on a revolving stage. The show was briefly revived in 1973 and 1974.
Thank Your Lucky Stars was a weekly British television pop music show made by ABC television for ITV from 1961–66. It featured many of the top bands and artists of the day.
Take Your Pick (1955–68): ITV. A popular quiz show in which quizmaster, Michael Miles, invited contestants to answer simple questions for 60 seconds without them using the words ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Alec Dane stood next to him with a gong, ready to sound it at the contestant if they uttered the forbidden words. If the contestant got through that round then they could select any key from one of thirteen boxes. Miles would offer them increasing amounts of money in exchange for the key. If the money didn’t tempt the contestant then he or she went on to open their chosen box. Three of the boxes would contain booby prizes and box thirteen would contain a mystery prize. There was also a ‘treasure chest of money’ and ‘tonight’s star prize’, which was always a three-piece-suite – ‘O-o-o-o-o-o-h-h!’
That Was The Week That Was (aka TW3) (1962–63): BBC TV. A groundbreaking satirical television comedy programme that was devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost. No target was deemed to be out of bounds and nothing and nobody was spared criticism, from royalty and religion to politicians and businessmen. For the first time on British television, they were all made fun of by cast members that included Bernard Levin, Lance Percival, Kenneth Cope, Roy Kinnear, Willie Rushden, Frankie Howerd and Millicent Martin. The show had a huge team of off-screen scriptwriters that included John Bird, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Peter Cook, Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Bill Oddie and Eric Sykes (to name but a few).
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1961–66): ABC for ITV. A British pop music television show that featured many of the top artists and bands of the era. The show’s hosts included Jim Dale, Pete Murray and Keith Fordyce, but the main host throughout the series was Brian Matthews. The girl with the strong Black Country accent, Janice ‘Oi’ll give it foive’ Nicholls, joined the show in 1963 as part of a team that reviewed new records.
Thunderbirds (1965–66): ATV for ITV. A British television marionette puppet show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by A.P. Films. The series followed the adventures of the Tracy family, who ran International Rescue, an organisation created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced equipment. They flew on rescue missions in their futuristic space and aqua vehicles called Thunderbirds. The team consisted of Jeff Tracy (ex-astronaut and head of the organisation), Scott (pilot of reconnaissance rocket Thunderbird 1), Virgil (pilot of vehicle transporter Thunderbird 2), Alan (astronaut of space rocket Thunderbird 3), Gordon (aquanaut of submarine Thunderbird 4), John (operator of space station Thunderbird 5), Brains (scientist), Lady Penelope (the London agent) and Parker (Lady Penelope’s chauffeur). And let’s not forget Lady Penelope’s pink Rolls-Royce car, FAB 1.
Till Death Us Do Part (1965–75): BBC1. A British situation comedy series created by Johnny Speight and starring Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett, the head of a fictional working-class family in London’s East End. Each week, Alf subjected his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and anyone else who would listen, to bigoted rants about everything from immigration to the permissive society. He referred to his long-suffering wife Else (Dandy Nichols) as a ‘silly moo’, and his work-shy Liverpudlian son-in-law, Mike Rawlins (Anthony Booth), as a ‘Scouse git’. Una Stubbs played Alf’s daughter, Rita. The series attracted a lot of complaints; one of its main critics being Mary Whitehouse, the self-appointed moral guardian of the sixties. The offensive language used by Alf Garnet’s character especially outraged her: ‘I doubt if many people would use 121 bloodies in half an hour.’
There was an abundance of children’s comics and magazines around in the 1960s, including these two from the television series Thunderbirds; Lady Penelope for girls and Thunderbirds for boys, c. 1966.
Top of the Pops (1964–2006): BBC1. A half-hour pop music UK-chart television programme broadcast every Thursday evening at 7.30 p.m. The first ever show was on New Year’s Day 1964 and was presented by the then 37-year-old disc jockey, Jimmy Savile. The Rolling Stones were the first artists to appear on that first show, miming to their latest hit, I Wanna Be Your Man (written by Lennon & McCartney). Other artists that appeared on the show were Dusty Springfield, the Dave Clark Five, the Hollies and the Swinging Blue Jeans. Pre-filmed clips were also shown of Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Freddie and the Dreamers and The Beatles, who played the week’s number one, I Want To Hold Your Hand. For the first two years, the presenters were Jimmy Savile, Alan Freeman, Pete Murray and David Jacobs, who each took turns. There was also the regular ‘disc-girl’ presenter, Samantha Juste. Other 1960s presenters (1966–70) included Simon Dee and Tony Blackburn. Initially, artists mimed to their records, but in July 1966 miming was banned. That only lasted for a few weeks because some artists’ live performances were found to be of poor quality, and so specially recorded backing-tracks were permitted in order to produce a good ‘live sound’.
Wagon Train (1958–64): ITV. Very popular hour-long western series starring Ward Bond as wagon master Major Seth Adams and Robert Horton as Flint McCullough. You will probably also remember old Charlie Wooster, the comical cook, played by Frank McGrath. Each week, the wagon train team managed to save some pioneering settlers from the Indians as they made their way through the endless deserts and Rocky Mountain passes in covered wagons. Lots of exciting horseback chases and loads of guest stars.
Watch with Mother (1952–73): BBC TV and BBC1. Created by Freda Lingstrom as television’s answer to radio’s Listen with Mother. Originally known as For the Children, which had been on television since before the war and first introduced us to Muffin the Mule in 1946, Watch with Mother brought together a daily sequence of programmes aimed at pre-school children, including Picture Book, Andy Pandy, The Flowerpot Men, Rag, Tag and Bobtail, The Woodentops and Camberwick Green.
The Worker (1965 and 1969–70): ATV for ITV. A comedy series starring Charlie Drake as ‘The Worker’, a hopeless unemployed labourer who is sent to a new job in every episode by Mr Pugh (played by Henry McGee), the Labour Exchange clerk. But Charlie never lasted more than a day before being sacked and having to return to the Labour Exchange, and the exasperated Mr Pugh.
The Val Doonican Show (1965–86): BBC1. This variety entertainment show featured Val Doonican singing songs and introducing guest artists. Who could ever forget his trademark woollen jumpers, rocking chair and acoustic guitar? And there were all those comical Irish songs, like Paddy McGinty’s Goat, Delaney’s Donkey and O’Rafferty’s Motor Car. Doonican was a very popular entertainer and achieved five UK top-ten hit singles in the 1960s: Walk Tall (1964), The Special Years (1965), Elusive Butterfly (1966), What Would I Be (1966) and If the Whole World Stopped Loving Me (1967).
The Virginian (1962–70): BBC TV and BBC1. A 90-minute weekly television western series featuring ‘The Virginian’ (his real name was never revealed), played by James Drury, who was a foreman on the fictional Shiloh Ranch in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. It also starred Doug McClure who played the Virginian’s sidekick, Trampas. Many famous stars appeared as guests in the series, including Charles Bronson, Joan Crawford, Harrison Ford, Lee Marvin, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Redford and William Shatner.
Zoo Time (1956–68): ITV. Featured Desmond Morris, with the help of various animal experts and zoo staff from Regent’s Park Zoo in London. Lots of information about animals, using pictures taken from around the zoo. The early shows always featured Congo, the chimpanzee, who learned how to draw and paint.
Eight
SCHOOLDAYS AND HOLIDAYS
When you were a child, the classroom in your infants school seemed huge, but in reality it was just an average-sized room filled with lots of very small desks. It used to take you absolutely ages to run from one side of the school playground to the other, but now you can walk its full length in a matter of seconds. It’s so hard to believe that you were ever that small. Mind you, in the 1960s, kids were smaller than children of a similar age today. Even so, until recently, school furniture was still being made to roughly the same size as it was then, resulting in many of today’s kids having to squeeze into ill-fitting desks and chairs. But, even though the size of the furniture wasn’t an issue in the 1960s, the chairs were just as hard and so you did have a good excuse for all that fidgeting.
It’s amazing how much you learnt in those seven young years at primary school. Looking back, many people can attribute a great deal of what they learnt to the efforts of just one teacher. As in every generation, teachers had varying levels of knowledge and teaching skills. Some were lazy and boring, limiting themselves to teaching the basic three ‘Rs’, whereas others were true vocational teachers that involved themselves in every aspect of teaching; attending after-school courses to learn additional subjects like drama, painting, crafts and music. These were more often than not the inspirational teachers that made everything interesting and could enthuse you to learn. If you were lucky enough to have had one of those enterprising primary school teachers then you will appreciate the contribution that he or she made to your childhood development.
