Guest Post: Refinding Rod ‘the Mod’ Stewart documentary after 48 years

ROD STEWART’S film archive has survived remarkably well compared to other artists, mostly thanks to infrequent television appearances.  In fact with the exception of seven Top Of The Pops performances, everything of note broadcast in the UK from mid-1973 onwards survives intact.

As for the sixties, all that has ever come to light has been poor quality footage of Steampacket at the 1965 Richmond Jazz Festival and what appears to be home movie footage of the Jeff Beck Group at the Fillmore East in New York dubbed with ‘Shapes Of Things’. Around a decade ago a short Swedish film of the Jeff Beck Group in the recording studio with Mickie Most and featuring great footage of ‘Plynth’ was discovered. And that’s it!

Rod Stewart’s most significant sixties television appearance was a 30-minute documentary titled ‘An Easter With Rod’ (otherwise known as ‘Rod The Mod’), produced by Francis Megahy and Fred Burnley. This was sold as “a portrait of a typical mod” and screened on 2 November 1965.

There has never been any serious hope of finding this film which had been assumed to have been wiped.  Last week that assumption changed when the BBC announced they had found this documentary at the British Film Institute (BFI) in “bits and pieces”.

I had always suspected ‘An Easter With Rod’ still existed due to a quote from Geoff Wright (one of Rod’s early managers) in George Tremlett’s 1976 paperback The Rod Stewart Story:

“He would turn down any idea that he thought was ‘pop’ rather than ‘blues’. That was something he repeated again when he was interviewed in that film ‘Rod The Mod’, which is an interesting film to see now because many of the opinions he expressed then he has flatly contradicted in his later career.”

But when Long John Baldry spoke to Smiler magazine in 1993 hopes faded when in response to a question about concerts being filmed, he said:

“There was a documentary, but maybe Rod has put pressure on for it to be destroyed. It was a show called ‘Rod The Mod’. It showed us travelling round all these places in a vile van we had which was a Bovril cattle van. I’d bought it for £40 and had it converted. Our heating device was actually a Kerosene Stove secured with ropes!

“Lord knows what would have happened if we had collided with anything, we’d have all gone up in smoke! The film was a history of us going hither and hither, going up to Stoke on Trent and places like that. The crew were there all the time. It was a black and white thing and I know that when it was broadcast it was called ‘Rod The Mod’ because it was built around Rod. It was very interesting but it’s never seen the light of day since.”

‘An Easter With Rod’ has been sought many times over the years by numerous writers of books and producers of television documentaries but no one ever managed to locate it. The most recent search was three years ago by Andy Neill, author of the excellent Faces biography ‘Had Me A Real Good Time’. Andy is a thorough and meticulous researcher and it was fair to assume that if he could not locate it, then it did not exist.

The discovery of ‘An Easter With Rod’ is one of the most significant musical finds ever of swinging sixties London – not just for Rod Stewart fans, but as a visual documentation of the R&B scene that was emerging, the fashions and attitudes and for unique footage of London architecture that has long disappeared – most notably the newsagent’s run by Rod’s parents that he grew up above.

David Bowie’s lost Top Of The Pops clip made the national news and was the subject of newspaper articles and huge interest on internet forums – and quite rightly too.  Whereas, so far, the reaction to this equally significant find has been luke warm at best.

On 9 July a BBC Rod Stewart documentary used around 10 minutes of footage out of the 30-minutes that was originally broadcast in 1965. The film deserves to be lovingly re-assembled and broadcast in full. This is musical history in the making featuring one of the biggest singers the World has ever seen.

If, like me, you believe this important piece of musical and cultural social history deserves to be re-assembled and broadcast in full please join our campaign to make it happen.

Please email the BBC in your own words telling them how much you enjoyed Tuesday’s documentary and how much you would like to see the full Rod The Mod sixties documentary in its entirety. And don’t settle for a standard reply!

You can also join our forthcoming ‘Rod The Mod’ Facebook campaign to be announced shortly at www.rodstewartfanclub.com

JOHN GRAY
Smiler Retro

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Kaleidoscope uncover treasure trove of lost Pan’s People performances

A ‘treasure trove’ of steamy Top of the Pops performances by TV dance troupe Pan’s People is set to get men’s pulses racing once more — after being lost for over 40 years.

In an era before pop videos, the all-female group’s sultry routines to chart toppers of the day gave millions of dads a reason to tune in to the BBC’s flagship music show every week.

Yet despite being a staple of the programme for nearly a decade, the majority of Pans People appearances no longer exist — wiped by the BBC, along with hundreds of vintage editions of Tops of the Pops, in the late 1970s.

But now a dozen “sorely missed” Pans People performances — to hits by pop stars including T.Rex, Barry White, Elton John, The Jackson 5 and Diana Ross — can be seen again, after being uncovered in a music producer’s private collection.

The long-lost clips — choreographed by Felicity “Flick” Colby and featuring well-remembered Pan’s People dancers including Patricia “Dee Dee” Wilde, Louise Clarke, Ruth Pearson and Barbara “Babs” Lord — will be screened by Midlands-based TV research organisation Kaleidoscope at a special event in June.

Wilde, who hopes to be attending the one-day event on June 1, says it will be an “exciting if poignant experience” watching the clips since co-founders Colby and Clarke have both died in the last two years.

She said: “Considering that Pan’s People danced on Top of the Pops week in, week out, for so many years, it’s such a pity that most of our routines have been lost, wiped by the BBC back in the 70s.

“To hear that some of them have now been recovered thanks to a collector recording them himself and keeping the tapes all these years really is wonderful. Often we never even saw them go out as we were so busy.

“I can’t wait to see them again and it’s just so sad that neither Flick nor Louise are with us to enjoy their rediscovery too.”

The rare clips, dating from between 1973 and ’75 and featuring Pan’s People dancing to hits such as Truck On Tyke by T.Rex, (For You) I’ll Do Anything You Want Me To by Barry White, Island Girl by Elton John, I Want You Back by Jackson 5 and All Of My Life by Diana Ross, were tracked down in the collection of record producer and songwriter Ian Levine.

Other “significant” finds include dance routines to Dance With The Devil by legendary rock drummer Cozy Powell, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman Turner Overdrive and Rhythm And Blue Jean Baby by Lynsey De Paul.

Kaleidoscope spokesperson Chris Perry said: “This is a major find of missing Pan’s People performances in great condition not held by the BBC, Pan’s People or anyone else.

“Ian recorded the clips off the TV back in the 1970s using an early video recorder, and the tapes had sat unused on his shelf until donated to Kaleidoscope last year.

“We’ve received a huge haul of 20,000 tapes from Ian which we are currently cataloguing. We’ve also recently come across an almost complete Top of the Pops missing from the archives from 1976 so who knows what else is waiting to be found!”

Pan’s People expert Mike Morton, who will be releasing a biography of the dance troupe next year, added: “All in all this is a remarkable collection that manages to capture all the excitement and energy that made Top Of The Pops the greatest music show on television.

“Watching Pan’s People dance to the T.Rex hit ‘Truck On Tyke’, for example, is such a treat as no footage exists anywhere in the world of that particular Marc Bolan song, while they look like five sexy dream-catchers with feathers hanging from their waists in an electric performance alongside Cozy Powell.”

Pan’s People first appeared on Top of the Pops in 1968, four years after the programme was first aired, dancing to US Male by Elvis Presley.

They also appeared on other TV shows of the era including Lulu, The John Denver Show and The Two Ronnies.

Their last Top of the Pops appearance was in April 1976, dancing to Silver Star by The Four Seasons, but the troupe remained popular after leaving. During this period Sarah Brightman, who later married composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, was briefly a member.

For more information on Kaleidoscope’s The Ballroom! event on June 1, visit www.kaleidoscope.org.uk

ENDS

Lost Rolling Stones Top of the Pops footage discovered

PRECIOUS CLIPS of The Rolling Stones perfoming 19th Nervous Breakdown on Top of the Pops has been unearthed by Wiped News’s resident columnist Ray Langstone.

Ray – who writes the Raider of the Lost Archive column – found the footage from the wiped performance in a 1966 BBC documentary on women’s mental health, “WOMEN,WOMEN,WOMEN: COMING TO TERMS”, which still resides in the BBC archives.

The rediscovered footage consists of two short clips from the lost Top of the Pops appearance, broadcast 03/02/66, totalling 33 seconds in total.

It features in new BBC Two programme The Rolling Stones at the BBC, which “celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Rolling Stones by delving into the vaults of archive material for a decade by decade retrospective of the band’s greatest hits”.

You can also see the clips of 19th Nervous Breakdown below.

Pick of the Pops appeal – can you help?

THE MAKERS of a new TV documentary on the UK singles chart are asking for help in locating lost episodes of Pick of the Pops.

David Maguire, a researcher working on BBC Four television documentary ’60 Years of the UK Singles Chart’, which is due to be broadcast in November to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the chart, says he is very keen to hear from anyone who might have recordings of the BBC Radio chart show.

He said: “I am a researcher working on a BBC Four television documentary ’60 Years of the UK Singles Chart’, which is due to be broadcast in November to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the chart.

“A major focus of our programme is on how the charts were disseminated, and BBC radio programmes such as ‘Pick of the Pops’ played a very significant role in this.

“I am trying to locate a copy of the first ever ‘Pick of the Pops’ programme broadcast by Alan Freeman in September 1961. I am also trying to locate a copy of Alan Freeman’s ‘Pick of the Pops’ broadcast in the first week of March 1967 when Englebert Humperdink’s ‘Release Me’ beat The Beatles ‘Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields’  to the number 1 spot.

“Neither of these episodes remain in the BBC archive. Has anyone heard these recordings before, or  know where I might be able to obtain a copy? I would be very interested to talk to anyone who could help with this, or anyone who could potentially supply other early recordings of Pick of the Pops from 1961 / 1962.”

If you can assist David, contact him at david.maguire@bbc.co.uk

John Henshall to appear at Kaleidoscope music-themed summer event

CLASSIC TV organisation Kaleidoscope has announces the schedule for its summer event, which will be focusing around music on television.

The special guest at the event, taking place on Saturday, June 9, in Stourbridge, will be John Henshall – a pioneering cameraman and director of photography who had a long association with many top musical acts.

Henshall is an avid collector of archive television material – the recently recovered Top of the Pops clip of David Bowie performing The Jean Genie came from him – and Kaleidoscope have been busy cataloguing the missing TV treasures within his collection, some of which will be screened at the forthcoming event.

The full schedule for the free event is below.

LIFT OFF AT THE TALBOT!

Saturday 9th June 2012, 12:00 – 7:00 pm
Function Suite, The Talbot Hotel,
High Street, Stourbridge,
West Midlands DY8 1DW, UK
Free Admission

THE MAIN STAGE

* 12:00 pm The opening of Channel Four. Following months of test transmissions, the opening moments of Britain’s fourth terrestrial television channel.
* 12:05 pm Russell Harty Plus Pop. The popular presenter is joined by top musical acts of the day. Featuring Gary Glitter, Alan Price, Wizzard, Elton John, The Who, Mary Wilde, Cliff Richard, Albert Hammond, Chris Jagger, Ronnie Laine and Slim Chance, David Essex, Rod Stewart and David Bowie (TX: 19/01/1974).
* 1:00 pm Top of the Pops – 22/11/1973. Jimmy Savile introduces the edition from 22nd November 1973 with Alvin Stardust – My Coo Ca Choo, Barry Blue – Do You Wanna Dance, Cliff Richard – Take Me High, Donny Osmond – When I Fall In Love, Mud – Dynamite, Roxy Music – Street Life, New Seekers – You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me, Gary Glitter – I Love You Love Me Love live in the studio and recordings of Eddie Kendricks – Keep On Truckin’, Mott The Hoople – Roll Away The Stone and Wings – Helen Wheels. This 16mm telerecording was found at the National Film Archive in 2011 (TX: 22/11/1973).
* 1:30 pm Today. Recovered from a Philips 1500 cassette held by David Hamilton. Tommy Vance, Jonathan King and David Hamilton discuss the music business frankly in this extract from 1975 (TX: 18/06/1975).
* 1:45 pm Break
* 2:00 pm Guest Panel – John Henshall: Life Through a Lens. The pioneering cameraman and director of photography who invented many of the leading optical effects used in musical performances on television talks about his career and extensive personal collection of classic appearances.
* 3.00 pm Afternoon Tea
* 3:30 pm The John Henshall Years – volume one – John’s collection is packed with rare pop material, missing programmes and fascinating television trivia. John didn’t just collect music, he also kept variety shows, drama, adverts and continuity. This compilation contains the first dip into John’s personal vault.
* 4:30 pm Galaxy. An untransmitted music show made by John Henshall and Mike Mansfield, with Kenny Everett as the DJ and appearances by Average White Band, E.L.O., Hot Chocolate, Catherine Howe, Grace Jones, Peter Straker and Sweet plus ABBA and David Bowie on video (TX: 19/08/1980).
* 5:30 pm Lift Off with Ayshea. A rare treat as we are pleased to present this 1972 edition missing from official archives. Ayshea Brough is joined by The Feet, John Pontry, Christie and The Tremeloes. Fred Barker is voiced by Ivan Owen, Mr Basil Brush himself (TX: 13/12/1972).
* 6:00 pm Top of the Pops – 18/11/1971. Jimmy Savile introduces the edition from 18th November 1971 with Cliff Richard – Sing A Song Of Freedom, Gilbert O’Sullivan – No Matter How I Try, Jason & Jerome – Santa Monica Sunshine, Labi Siffre – It Must Be Love, Olivia Newton-John – Banks Of The Ohio and Slade – Coz I Luv You live in the studio and Pan’s People dancing to The Who – Let’s See Action. Also featuring recordings of Cher – Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves, John Kongos – Tokoloshe Man, T.Rex – Jeepster, and Piglets – Johnny Reggae. This recording now held by the BBC originated on the Philips 1500 format (TX: 18/11/1971).
* 6:35 pm The Bonzos on Bob Pratt. Two performances (of Noises for the Leg) from Ten Years of What? (TX: 28/12/1969).
* 6:50 pm Closedown – Dudley Moore plays us out in a 1976 Parkinson appearance.

THE DANCE FLOOR

* 12:00 pm Oscar Peterson Words and Music. Oscar Peterson appears with Niels Henning Pedersen, Martin Drew, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Richard Rodney Bennett, Louie Bellson, Laurie Holloway, Alan Walley and Alan Ganley in this BBC2 programme (TX: 13/11/1980).
* 1:00 pm It’s Little Richard. The legendary entertainer appears with The Shirelles and Sounds Incorporated in this Granada programme from 1964 (TX: 08/01/1964).
* 1:45 pm One In Ten. Sandy Denny appears in this BBC2 programme from 1971 (TX: 15/09/1971).
* 2:00 pm Good Evening, Salford. BBC2 music and entertainment show featuring Vincent Kane, Tony Warren, Freddie Davies, Arlene Phillips, Wayne Chuck Allen, St Winifred’s School Choir, Bryan And Michael, Hot Gossip and Northern Radio Orchestra (TX: 30/07/1979).
* 2:40 pm Ed and Zed – Ed Stewart and Zed The Robot are joined by Peter Noone, Herman’s Hermits and Roger Spear’s Giant Kenetic Wardrobe in this BBC children’s show from 1970 (TX: 19/12/197).
* 3:00 pm Top of the Pops. A real rarity, an untransmitted and re-versioned pilot from 1980. Peter Powell and B.A. Robertson were the DJs on this edition where Paul McCartney, Darts and Olivia Newton-John appeared only on pop videos. Other bands were identified as being live on the show, but crew stood in their places pretending to be the real musicians. Legs & Co. appeared live, performing a proper dance routine in groovy legwarmers!
* 3:30 pm Johnnie Ray Sings – An ATV show with Johnnie Ray, missing from official archives (TX: 29/06/1959).
* 4:00 pm Price to Play – The Alan Price Set and Chris Barber feature in this BBC1 production from 1968, held on 625-line black and white videotape (TX: 29/07/1968).
* 4:30 pm Look! Hear! Well remembered music show from BBC Birmingham featuring Black Sabbath, Patrick Murphy, John Holmes, Chris Phipps, Roy Palmer, Martin Briggs and The Coventry Mummers (TX: 06/01/1978).
* 5:00 pm The Great British Pop Machine. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders present Bros, Kim Wilde, Erasure, Bananarama, Eurythmics, Wet Wet Wet, Joe Elliott, Brother Beyond and Yazz in this Granada show from Christmas 1988 (TX: 25/12/1988).
* 6:00 pm Rock Around The Docks – Episode 1. Gary Davies introduces Ruby Turner, Spandau Ballet, Feargal Sharkey, Run DMC, The Damned, Five Star, Cameo, Chaka Khan, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, UB40, Status Quo, Dee C. Lee, Dan Hatman, The Style Council and The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in this Granada production from New Year’s Day 1986 (TX: 01/01/1986)
* 7:00 pm Closedown

All material at Kaleidoscope events is screened with the permission of the copyright holders. Programmes and timings may be subject to change before the day. Guests appear subject to professional and personal commitments.

In 2012 Kaleidoscope is supporting the Royal National Lifeboat Institution once again.

The Talbot Hotel is offering a special room rate for anyone coming to Kaleidoscope events, so if you wish to stay the night before or after the event, please mention Kaleidoscope when booking. Telephone 01384 394350  or visit  www.thetalbot-hotel.co.uk.

Full details of this event and Kaleidoscope’s other activities can always be found on their website: www.kaleidoscope.org.uk.

WHAT TO BUY THE MUSIC LOVER WHO HAS EVERYTHING: A COMPILATION OF PREVIOUSLY MISSING RECORDINGS

CHRISTMAS is just around the corner, and if you are stuck for a gift to buy – and the intended recipient enjoys rare pop gems from the golden era of British music – then the latest release from Top Sounds is highly recommended.

Following on from three previous “excavations” of 1960s and early ’70s BBC radio session performances with the Shapes And Sounds anthologies, specialist label Top Sounds has released its most ambitious collection of previously lost or hard-to-find tracks yet with Radio Tymes.

Nigel Lees has once again searched high and low to source missing gems from private collections and BBC transcription discs, delivering a treasure trove of very rare and desirable recordings from the likes of Deep Purple, The Move, The Yardbirds and none other than The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The compilation gets off to an impressive start with a highly charged rendition of “The Painter” by Deep Purple, taped for Chris Grant’s Tasty Pop Sundae in July 1969 and then lost in the ether for more than 40 years. It is notable for a great performance by lead singer Rod Evans and is well worth a listen. The other Purple track on the album, first single “Hush”, is even more impressive, and historic, coming from the only known recording of the rock band’s very first British radio appearance – aired on John Peel’s Top Gear on June 30, 1968.

While Radio Tymes captures Deep Purple right at the beginning of their career, it presents pioneering guitar band The Yardbirds at the close of theirs with three shining recordings from the legendary group’s final BBC session (on Top Gear) in 1968, including arguably the best take of stable cover “Dazed and Confused”. Though an off-air recording of the wiped Top Gear session was previously known to exist, it was lo-fi to say the least. Thankfully, Top Sounds has now managed to uncover a second recording of much better quality.

Other big names to enjoy on the release are The Move – with two tracks featuring Birmingham’s  finest, “Cherry Blossom Clinic” and “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”, from the very first Top Gear, in October 1967 – and, in what could possibly be Top Sounds’ biggest scoop to date, The Jimi Hendrix Experience on Dee Time, performing “Burning of the Midnight Lamp”.

Unheard anywhere since its broadcast in 1967, the live version of Experience’s fourth single Midnight Lamp marked the band’s second and final appearance on Dee Time. As Nigel writes in the comprehensive accompanying booklet to Radio Tymes, hardly any material from the popular sixties BBC chat show – presented by DJ Simon Dee – remains, so this recently unearthed recording is of double importance.

Rounding out the compilation are Top Gear session tracks from important psychedelic band Tomorrow with Keith West, playing their underground anthem “My White Bicycle”, Welsh blues-rock band Love Sculpture with a live version of “Sabre Dance” and two colourful covers, and Barclay James Harvest belting out upbeat rocker “Night”.

As with previous Top Sounds releases, all the music has been professionally restored and the album is accompanied by an attractive booklet packed with photos, illustrations and detailed information.

Radio Tymes is a legitimate collection licensed from the BBC and the relevant record companies, and has been a costly labour of love for Nigel. The only way Top Sounds is going to be able to continue delivering such treats is if music lovers show their support through their wallets so I highly recommend the album, available both on CD (£12.99) and vinyl (£14.99), to you all.

• To buy a copy or for more information visit the Top Sounds website.

Pete Murray joins Kaleidoscope for music-themed TV event

VETERAN DISC jockey and TV presenter Pete Murray is to make his final public appearance this June, at a celebration of vintage TV and music.

Pete Murray

BBC Radio 1 original Murray, 85, will be joined by fellow DJs Mike Read, Ed Stewart and ‘Diddy’ David Hamilton at the one-day event, organised by classic TV research organisation Kaleidoscope.

Junior Campbell of sixties Scottish pop rockers Marmalade will also be there to introduce some vintage appearances by the Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da chart-toppers.

TV highlights at the event, taking place on Saturday, June 4, will include screenings of a previously-missing edition of Top of the Pops from 1976, a long-lost performance by Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, and the sole surviving episode of 1968’s Discs A Go Go.

The full line-up is as follows:

THE MAIN ROOM

* 12:00 pm Thames television start up film.

* 12:10 pm Music Peter – a special compilation of musical highlights from fifty years of Blue Peter. Acts include the Merseybeats, Girls Aloud, ABBA, Musical Youth, Slade and The Goodies.

* 1:00 pm Top of the Pops – this recovered 1976 edition is presented by Noel Edmonds and also features performances by Billy Ocean, Marmalade, Guys ‘N’ Dolls, The Walker Brothers and Electric Light Orchestra. A domestic Philips N1500 video recording of the show was purchased from an internet auction site by a consortium including classic TV organisation Kaleidoscope in December 2010 (TX: 12/02/1976).

* 1:30 pm Junior Campbell introduces highlights from performances he did with Marmalade. Guest Junior Campbell looks back on a couple of editions of Anatomy of Pop and an edition of Television Club called “Making a Record”. He was also in Jock and Roll from 1982 which includes some of the Anatomy of Pop material of Marmalade. Marmalade appearances include Julie Felix (TX: 03/05/1970) and It’s Lulu (TX: 25/07/1970). The presentation will be followed by a short question and answer session with the audience.

* 2:00 pm Break

* 2:15 pm Guest Panel – DJ Heaven. Kaleidoscope are delighted to welcome old friends and new to today’s panel celebrating the art of the disc jockey. Mike Read, Ed Stewart and Pete Murray are interviewed by David Hamilton. This is Pete Murray’s last ever public appearance and it will be filmed by ITV local news. The panel will be illustrated by clips including Crackerjack, Saturday Superstore, Six Five Special and Pete Murray appearing in Maigret as an actor.

* 3:45 pm Afternoon Tea accompanied by a Quantel demo tape from 1979. This remarkable technology became a staple of pop shows in the eighties and makes for fascinating background wallpaper.

* 4:15 pm Sing Me a Fantasy – A one off musical film from TWW, believed wiped until it was found at Ulster Television in 2010. Featuring Tony Crane, Kenny Lynch, Joan Savage, The Jay Gee Dancers and The Millerman Orchestra (TX: 03/03/1968).

* 4:45 pm Top of the Pops – material from 1967-68 recovered by the National Film and Television Archive. Acts appearing including Pink Floyd.

* 5:00 pm Discs A Go Go – the only recorded edition of TWW’s pop show. This one-off Bristol Special is hosted by Tony Blackburn and features The Symbols, Paul and Barry Ryan, Tomorrow, Keith West, Steve Howe, Solomon King, The Gojos, Samantha Lee, Engelbert Humperdinck and Bob Miller and the Millermen (TX: 02/03/1968).

* 6:00 pm See You Sunday – a selection of musical performances from the 1974 BBC religious show that featured many well known contemporary pop groups.

* 6:30 pm Time for Blackburn – join compere Tony Blackburn for this Southern Television show featuring The Who. Produced and directed by Mike Mansfield with Johnny Pearson as musical director. The programme includes original off-air continuity (TX: 26/10/1968).

* 7:00 pm Closedown – from Thames Television, featuring Barbara Dickson.

THE BAR

* 12:00 pm The Bacharach Sound – this Granada programme survives as uncut studio sequences only. Composer Burt Bacharach is joined by Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, The Searchers, The Merseybeats, Chuck Jackson and Hal David (TX: 14/04/1965).

* 1:00 pm Doing Their Thing – Labi Siffre.

* 1:30 pm Pop Quiz – Episode 6. Mike Read hosts the show where teams of musicians test their knowledge of the music scene. Featuring Phil Lynott, Paul Nicholas, Gary Tibbs, Chas Chandler, Hazel O’Connor and Nicky Tesco. This 1-inch videotape was written off by the BBC Archives and scrapped before transfer, but Kaleidoscope have paid for an outside contractor to restore it and make a new Digibeta copy (TX: 08/08/1981).

* 2:00 pm Cliff! – Cliff Richard and The Shadows are joined by The Vernon Girls, Jack Parnell and His Orchestra and Petula Clark in this ATV production (TX: 16/02/1961).

* 2:30 pm Pop Goes Guy Fawkes – Granada special from 1983 featuring Roman Holliday, Spandau Ballet, The Flying Pickets, Culture Club, Carmel and Dave Edmunds. Presented by Gary Byrd and Bob Carolgees (TX: 05/11/1983).

* 3:30 pm D’Abo – an untransmitted BBC pilot presented by Michael D’Abo with Derek Griffiths. Recorded on 30/07/1971.

* 4:00 pm The Old Grey Whistle Test – an edition from Christmas Eve 1980 featuring Ian Dury and the Blockheads (TX: 24/12/1980).

* 5:00 pm Jazz Scene… at the Ronnie Scott Club. The Clarke-Boland Big Band, Guitar Workshop, The Miles Davis Quintet, The Stéphane Grapelli-Teddy Wilson Quartet, Sarah Vaughan and Her Trio, The Charlie Shavers Quartet, The Oscar Peterson Trio, The Gary Burton Quartet, The Stars Of Faith and Buddy Rich and His Orchestra are introduced by Ronnie Scott himself for this BBC show (TX: 26/12/1969).

* 6:00 pm On The Road – an untransmitted edition from the 1979 Granada series devoted to singer-songwriter Kate Bush.

* 7:00 pm Closedown

• The Kaleidoscope summer event takes place at The Talbot Hotel, High Street, Stourbridge, on Saturday, June 4, 2011, from 12-7pm. Admission is free and all proceeds from the day will be going to Kaleidoscope’s chosen charity for 2011, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. For more information, visit www.kaleidoscope.org.uk.

Lost Top Of The Pops Featuring Lesley Judd Found

A MISSING episode of Top of the Pops featuring Blue Peter presenter Lesley Judd dancing with Pan’s People has been recovered from eBay.

TOP OF THE POPS (tx 12/02/76) Presented by Noel Edmonds	CHART POSITION
MARMALADE ‘Falling Apart At The Seams’	New
BARBARA DICKSON ‘Answer Me’	#9
THE WALKER BROTHERS ‘No Regrets’	#7
BILLY OCEAN ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’	New
THE O’JAYS ‘I Love Music’ (danced to by Pan’s People)	#30
ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA ‘Evil Woman’	New
GUYS ‘N’ DOLLS‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’	New
THE SURPRISE SISTERS ‘La Booga Rooga’	New
DAVID RUFFIN ‘Walk Away From Love’ (video)	#10
MANUEL & THE MUSIC OF THE MOUNTAINS ‘Rodrigo’s Guitar Concerto De Aranjuez (Theme From 2nd Movement)’ (Pan’s People)	#8
SLIK ‘Forever And Ever’	#1

The recovered 1976 edition is presented by Noel Edmonds and also features performances by Billy Ocean, Marmalade, Guys ‘N’ Dolls, The Walker Brothers and Electric Light Orchestra.

A domestic Philips N1500 video recording of the show was purchased from the internet auction site by a consortium including classic TV organisation Kaleidoscope in December.

Despite being 34 years old, the tape is said to “play perfectly”.

The episode, broadcast on February 12, 1976, is particularly notable for the only appearance of then Blue Peter presenter Lesley Judd with Pan’s People.

Judd, a former dancer, performed a routine to top 10 single ‘Rodrigo’s Guitar Concerto De Aranjuez (Theme From 2nd Movement)’ with the regular TOTP troupe.

A recording of the rehearsal for the song – which reached number 3 in the charts and proved to be the biggest hit for orchestra Manuel & The Music Of The Mountains – appeared on the next edition of Blue Peter, transmitted February 16, 1976.

Though the children’s show was retained in the BBC archives, the corporation wiped the TOTP episode. Prior to the recovery, all that survived were clips of ELO and Guys ‘N’ Dolls.

Chris Perry of volunteer group Kaleidoscope described the find as “one in a million”.

He said: “Nine times out of ten when old tapes turn up for sale on eBay they are just junk and a waste of money.

“But in a rare case of it actually being correctly labelled, we recovered a 1500 cassette containing the missing TOTP advertised. That’s a one in a million chance.”

The episode will now feature in a forthcoming Kaleidoscope music-themed event set to take place in June, when it will officially be handed to the BBC.

Below are some stills from the recovered episode:
 
 
 

Marmalade

Billy Ocean

Guys ‘N’ Dolls

Pan’s People featuring Lesley Judd

Slik

Top of the Pop end credits

Noel Edmonds

New Raymond Of The Lost Archive Column

WIPED NEW’S resident columnist Ray gets the New Year off to a great start with news of a number of clips from missing shows featuring Georgie Fame, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Gerry Rafferty and… Bill Oddie – Raymond of the Lost Archive 8#.

A Search For Colour Me Pop’s Steve Turner

A MUSIC enthusiast on the hunt for lost episodes of Colour Me Pop is appealing for help in tracking down the show’s director.

Despite several leads, A. J. Smith says he has been unable to locate and get in touch with Steve Turner about the programme, which aired on BBC2 between 1968 and ’69 and showcased half-hour sets by contemporary pop and rock groups.

In total, five episodes out of 53 remain intact within the BBC archive – The Small Faces, The Moody Blues, The Move, Trapeze, and an unscreened programme showcasing The Chambers Brothers.

But Mr Smith, who is writing an article on Colour Me Pop, has been able to uncover soundtracks to episodes featuring Barry Nobel, The Hollies and David Ackles.

He is now keen to speak to Mr Turner in the chance that he may have recordings of otherwise-lost editions of the show.

Mr Smith said: “The CMP hunt goes slowly. The hunt really still hinges on locating Steve Turner, and I’m still none the wise on that front… I wish he didn’t have such a bloody common name!

“Other than that, there’s not many other people to speak to, as the bandmembers (Peter Giles excepted, who was really enthusiastic and even wrote a letter to a BBC interior magazine to help me!) understandably don’t remember much, and CMP was a pretty one-man show, creatively.

“I’ve tried tracing Steve Turner’s career post-CMP, but the trail runs dry at Central television on the mid-’80s. I have tried contacting people he would’ve worked with at Central, but heard nothing back.

“The Beatles writer Mark Lewishom did interview him in 1991, and gave me the address Steve lived at then, but on phoning it I got a woman claiming ‘No-one called that has ever lived here’.”

But it’s not all bad news. Since last speaking with Wiped News, Mr Smith has made a further discovery – most of the soundtrack to the David Ackles show (tx 28/09/68)

It was supplied by BBC sound engineer Michael Cotton, who worked on CMP and had also saved soundtracks to the Hollies and Barry Noble editions.

Mr Smith added: “The soundtracks of quite a few editions (as listed on Wikipedia) are known to be at large somewhere.

“I notice the Fleetwood Mac one has turned up on YouTube. The one I’m really after (as they’re my favourite group) is The Kinks audio.

“ I’ve spoken to a few people who’ve heard it but no one seems at liberty to supply a copy.”

If you can assist A. J. Smith in contacting Steve Turner or finding missing episodes of Colour Me Pop, contact him at: khakishorts@gmail.com.

READ ON: Wiped News speaks to pop star Barry Noble about the recovery on audio of his edition of Colour Me Pop. For more information on episode holdings for Colour Me Pop, plus links to soundtracks and clips, visit Wiped News’ Lost? page here.