For TOTP buffs like myself, it was great to see the reappearance of a few seconds (plus stills) of Cockney Rebel’s performance of ‘Judy Teen‘ from 1974.
This had been known to exist previously, but only in the collectors’ market, and had not been seen on YouTube before to my knowledge.
It had been discovered by a Harley fan group called Blue Orange, who by all accounts are no longer active as such.
The interesting thing about this particular TOTP (tx 23/05/1974) was that it was subject to industrial action, and Cockney Rebel were not allowed to have keyboards or drums or amplifiers on their set – so the majority of the band mimed guitars! The set, it was allegedly, was a set of Morecambe and Wise that had not been taken down!
I have found some more missing clips on YouTube including a small segment of Pebble Mill from 1976. News programmes and magazine shows, even the more popular ones, were actually hit harder by wiping than many other genres, such as music television and situation comedy.
I have also found a Come Dancing clip from 1974, and I have also located an audio clip of Melanie’s performance on Disco 2 from 12/09/70. I also have found out about 16 minutes’ of film of Sonny Boy Williamson being discovered from 1942 and 1952.
I haven’t heard from the posters yet. Waiting to hear back from anyone who you think may have missing footage is the most annoying thing. Some people don’t reply for a number of reasons, and some won’t or can’t help.
There are many dead ends and twists-and-turns. Nonetheless, there is still a lot of footage out there, from many different genres and time periods, on many different formats, that is just waiting to be discovered.
Also – and confidentiality forbids me from telling you who the latest archive find is about at the moment – there is an audio of a collectible group from the ’60s performing their first single.
Admittedly, to find the footage would have been fantastic, but what is great about this is that I have put the owner of the tapes in touch with representatives of the band, with a view to having the audio released on CD!
Wiped News 