I’m sure many us of a certain age remember and used to watch Blue Peter growing up.
This little curio popped up on my YouTube the other day – a film from Blue Peter in 1979 showing Mike Oldfield recording the theme tune in all its multitrack glory, A pleasant way to waste 11 minutes of your day.
So, given the title of this thread, any other little music related antiques and curios that you would like to share?
Marvellous, thanks!
Brilliant! Thanks for posting.
Hmmm … I see that Mike Oldfield had a pair of those ubiquitous green 1970s Koss headphones.
I had a pair of those, too.
They were extremely uncomfortable and packed up after a few months.
As a non musician, I found it fascinating how the various parts came together to create the whole. I guess I’m more used to the guitar/bass/drum/vocals combination which is easier to understand. Especially liked how he used a clarinet at half speed to sound like a recorder at full speed.
I don’t remember watching Blue Peter
Just read about this in the 1975 book so I think it belongs here.
Then there’s this…from Play Away!
Through the power of YouTube, the time Peter Hammill was on Play Away
Snap!!
Woops, after you sir…
Hard to beat this one. It’s a lovely thing, and it doesn’t seem out of character. First time I’ve seen it.
Some golden oldies from kids’ telly on here…. The Five Star moment remains a high point from Going Live.
Given that this thread is 8 years old, hopefully I can be forgiven for re posting the Mike Oldfield clip.
Think if it as the 8th anniversary deluxe edition and drool in anticipation for the 10th anniversary super deluxe edition (complete with Steven Wilson Atmos comments)
Crackerjack was a rich source. Here is Peter Glaze tacking Bowie’s Golden Years.
https://youtu.be/r-ZtpYfNq74?si=f16MZADp3tZoJ3v9
And here’s Making Plans for Nigel.
I enjoyed Blue Peter when my kids were the right age for it, and continued to watch it for a while after they stopped.
They both submitted drawings in return for badges which saved us some dosh when entering visitor attractions.
I remember watching that on Blue Peter. But I came across this from a few years previously: a report on bootleg records, featuring a half comatose Peter Grant, a frank young man who was surely about to get sacked by Richard Branson, and an ex-Beatle in a sack …
Marvellous! Featuring The Led Zeppelin and The Pink Floyd 🙂
Frank* and a bicycle.
* Zappa not Sinatra ( though that I’d like to see)
Many years ago , on this very site I think I proposed the following.
Blue Peter = The Beatles
Magpie = The Rolling Stones.
I think it kinda stand up.
Fair, and a similar comparison could be made between the Saturday morning kids’ programmes (Swap Shop v Tiswas and so on). I was always on the goody-goody BBC side of things, which pains me now as I am very tenuously linked to Tiswas by marriage (my brother in law’s step-father created it).
I lived in an ITV region that didn’t show Tiswas until the final series.
Good lord, where was that? I had Grampian and even they showed it.
Tyne Tees. We got some of their own programmes, such as Lynn’s Look-In and Saturday Shake-Up, but they were only on for an hour or so. Most of the mornings were covered by feature films or imported shows, such as The Six Million Dollar Man, which Tyne Tees had neglected to show when the rest of the country got to see it.
My schoolfriends could pick up Yorkshire TV as they were high enough up to receive a signal from Emley Moor, and would have seen it earlier.
I’m also in the Tyne Tees area and remember when Tiswas finally arrived. I have no idea why it took so long, but it was a vast improvement on the regional stuff.
I think there’s an argument for Tiswas being The Beatles given their innovation, creativity and silly humour. Also John Gorman out of that there Scaffold group and therefore probably a mate of ol’ ThumbsAloft – was in the main cast of Tiswas.
Swap Shop was also a good programme but once you got used to it, you kind of knew what was going to happen.
Your witness.
See also Radio Times vs TV Times, Look and Learn vs Look In, The Beano vs Whizzer and Chips, Mayonnaise vs Salad Cream, etc.
I remember Susan Stranks’, ummm, t shirts. But then it was the 70s.
Big Stranks’ fan… she was married to Robin Ray – probably a nice bloke, but nevertheless a man who was a million miles away from the pop culture of the time.
Robin Ray … yeah, he seemed to be on most episodes of the Face the Music quiz on BBC.
I always felt incredibly stupid watching “Face the Music”, because I never knew any of the answers. It was all about classical music, and there was no David Bowie or Slade on it at all.
At one point, host Joseph Cooper used to play some piece of music on a ‘dummy keyboard’, i.e. a keyboard where you didn’t hear the notes, only the thumping noises of the keys. ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to know what he was playing. And then Robin Ray would pipe up and say something like “Oh yes, that’s a Chopin Étude, Opus 10, number 3. And he was inevitably correct. The entitled tosser.
Son of course of Ted Ray,
Ray’s a laugh…
I always thought that was a great pun.
Magpie and Blue Peter were on different days so you could have both like you can have both bands. Magpie had a better theme tune though that sounds like neither band
Was this mentioned here recently? I can’t remember but this was played by The Spencer Davis Group under an alias.
No alias, they were on the first show to describe and play it. Winwood long gone.
Good call re Swap Shop v Tiswas.
Mum didn’t like me watching ITV!
Napalm Death on Kids TV explaining their lyrics and performing for the delight of the young headbangers (and Craig Charles, who described their lyrics as “real poetry”)
I love that. Doubt they would use quite so much strobing on TV now, but the editing is superb – it makes Napalm Death look really exciting, and they take his questions, and the circumstances, in good grace. To be honest, Craig Charles’ interview is a lot better than the ones he currently conducts on 6 Music. But has he a picture in the attic? He’s barely changed in 40 years.
OK, not a video but this interview that Danny Baker did on the set of Tiswas is rather good. A brilliantly written piece and a band only 2 years into their career and the cracks are already appearing. It’s Madness, of course.
https://thequietus.com/interviews/rocks-backpages/madness-interview-by-danny-baker/
Thanks for the link to that piece, dkh. I enjoyed it.
One tonight it seems. Alan Tyler of the Rockingbirds guesting on Lee Anderson’s GB News show.
A friend texted me in glee. Haven’t seen it myself (nor am I likely to)
And then…there’s this!
Came across this recently most bizarre.
The Albion Band and Pam Ayres.
Tom Jones singing Long Time Coming with CSN and Y
The camera work is superb.
Millie Small on Ready Steady Go
There is a clip of her from Finnish TV which is also excellent
Frank Sinatra and Tom Jobim
Ella in 1965 singing a Cole Porter classic
And here’s a tribute to The Divine Ms F from France Gall which popped up on our drive from Öland to Stockholm this afternoon
As did this Gallic pop gem.
From Italian TV Tom Jobim, Vinicius De Moraes, Miucha and Toquino. Bliss!
What a very strange career Tom Jones has had.
Born in the same year as John Lennon, a teenager for Rock ‘n’ Roll, first record in 64, James Bond, swinging London, Elvis, Janis Joplin… and yet, and don’t let anyone kid you otherwise, the un-hippest guy to have ever lived. He makes Cliff look like Sly Stone.
Who cares? Great voice
That clip is bloody great. Tom jones and Neil Young: who’d have thought it?
But much as I love CSNY, you can’t imagine any of them doing this …
@deramdaze Why do you think Tom Jones is uncool? The guy obviously drank/drinks and probably did some drugs. He played with lots of people more obviously “cool” than him, but didn’t look out of place.
He may not be Joe Cocker but he’s certainly lived a life. Comparisons to Cliff? – you are kidding?
And talking of Brazil, here are Caetaano and Roberto Carlos….
And Caetano with a song from the soundtrack of Almodavar’s Hable con Ella
I think this clip of Leonard’s Lodgers on Tomorrow’s World fits the bill:
And Mike Leonard talks about his lodgers here:
It just occurred to me. The title of this post is the next Afterword bottom of the page strapline, surely?
Cool. Does that mean I get royalties every time someone visits the site ? (or do I have to pass them on to The Strawbs ?)
I don’t think you need to face that dilemma. The site admin are never going to change the strapline ever again.
Dusty in a fetching spotty skirt and a couple of guys banging bongos and singing over-loud harmonies…