Golden Age of Children's T.V.


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Though I preferred adult viewing.

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Any one remember Tingha and Tucker, with Auntie Jean....I was a member, and my photo was shown on one episode...   

I think the rot set in with that awful BBC program "Grange Hill" absolute & utter garbage, this is when kids started to become brats, not children anymore.

I remember on Tingha and Tucker there was a sign made by members, you put your fore finger along your nose towards your forehead, and bowed your head. I am a mine of useless information!

Merthyr imp, you mentioned Sylvia Peters.... I remember her and Mary Malcolm being the 'announcers' on very early TV. They were very formal - not like the presenters nowadays.

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Merthyr Imp. # 73. It also says it was originally narrated by it's male creator, so I'm not completely senile... yet ;)

Col

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Speaking of Blue Peter, Shep and John Noakes.

When I was an active caver back in the 70s, one of my friends somehow got roped into a caving trip Noaksy filmed for Blue Peter. They were descending Alum Pot, which is a massive open pot several hundred feet deep. I've been to the bottom a couple of times and it can be pretty hairy. Anyway, they were descending via an underground shaft which sits a little away from the main pot and is called 'Diccan Pot'. It is basically a single vertical drop and comes out in a large cave leading from the bottom of Alum Pot.

So Noaksy (on film) says " OK then.. I'd best leave Shep with Ian.." (My mate) Whereupon and out of shot, the BBC crew take Shep from Ian and chuck the dog in the back of a van.

Ian then proceeds to lead the descent of Diccan Pot, which is being done by abseiling on a single rope. When Noaksy gets part way down he's heard to say . "Eeeehhh, ah can smell buurrrrning"

Whereupon Ian shouts "Turn your head!! Now!!!

Noaksy replies. 'Why's that Ian?"

Ian replies. "Because you're burning through your own rope with the flame from your f*&^ing Carbide Lamp!!!!"

Needless to say, the film was edited. :)

Col

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Another name that just came back to me. Ross Salmon. Pretended to be a Cowboy.

From the internet:

Ross Salmon - A "real" cowboy informing us about what being a cowboy is all about, things like how to recognise different animal footprints, or how to whittle, the art of horse management, how to make and use a lasso ....etc.... Ross Salmon, originally appeared on Shirley Abicair's programmes before launching his own series.
He was in fact English and had retired from the Navy. He set up an American Western style ranch called the "Lazy S" at Longdown
in Devon and introduced a breed of hardy cattle. There were a series of Ross Salmon books and annuals, printed in the 50's.

In 1957, at the age of 34, he was thrown from his horse 'Faithful' and vowed to quit 'riding the range'. "Posing as a super-fit
cowboy to children has been rather a fraud", he said after the accident. "I'm the victim of an old man's disease - osteo-arthritis
- following a plane crash in the South American jungle, and have to wear a spinal jacket"

Col

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Bubblewrap, I was surprised to see that Ivor the Engine came out first in 1959, but I suppose that as I was 16 by then, I wouldn't have been watching children's TV - too busy going out enjoying myself!!

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Oh I'll have to look into that. I think I remember the song for Four Feather Falls was sung by Michael Holliday?

http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/tv/children/whirligig/whirligig.htmlliday?

I've just remembered. Tex Tucker was in Four Feather Falls. Intit gud to ave stimulaytin conversachion with like mindud peepul.

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Regarding Ross Salmon, I remember in the earlier days of Test match cricket on the BBC (the days of Peter West) they'd mention 'our secretary and scorer Ross Salmon' and I wondered if it was the same person. Turns out it was - he seems to have been quite a character:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2004/ross_salmon.shtml

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Merthyr Imp #89

Your link gives the lie to my idea that Ross was 'pretending'. It seems he was an all round action man and something of a hero.

Col

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New Basford Lad #90.

I think we've all singed a few things. :)

The good thing about carbide lamps is that they are very lightweight and a tin of carbide will give light for much longer than a single charge of a miner's battery lamp.

Those continental style ones with a belt mounted carbide reservoir always appealed to me.

The downside....

I once struggled to re-light my carbide lamp after descending a wet pitch in P8 cave in Derbys. My companion at the time decided to open the lamp body at the very moment I flicked on my emergency BIC cig lighter. Result, we were enveloped in a sheet of flame as the lamp and contents ignited. Mercifully it was only a second or so.

The common lamp lighting method of cupping a hand over the lamp reflector to cause a build up of gas before whipping the hand to one side over the flintwheel, could cause a quite loud bang. Doing this in the big sloping rift at the bottom of Tatum Wife Hole brought down a couple of stray rocks, which mercifully missed us by a mile.

I've read of 'ammo boxes' containing carbide actually exploding on people's belts due to accidental mixing of carbide and water.

As if caving didn't have enough objective hazards!

Col

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I was with Eldon PC mid to late 60's had some great times with that crowd but I have to be honest I much preferred rock climbing to caving, there at least you only got wet when it rained. Still the caving hostel in Buxton provided a roof over my head for very little cash.

Some of the lads went over to France and came back with the large reservoir lamps had the extra big reflectors too, would burn for hours.

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  • 1 year later...
On March 13, 2016 at 4:11 PM, MargieH said:

Merthyr imp, you mentioned Sylvia Peters.... I remember her and Mary Malcolm being the 'announcers' on very early TV. They were very formal - not like the presenters nowadays.

 

Always had a bit of a crush on Sylvia Peters, but she was a bit old for a ten year old lad. :rolleyes:

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  • 3 months later...

I came across this link at the end of last year

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/

For those who haven't seen it I thoroughly recommend it. It's packed with information from actual listings in The Radio Times.

It's helped me with lots of names and dates that have been swimming around in my ageing brain for a long long time.

I've tracked down a couple of Sunday teatime children's dramas from the 50s The Black Tulip and The Silver Sword and I've also established that Patricia Driscol presented Picture Book (Monday's Watch with Mother episode) from it's inception in 1955 right up to April 1963 when Vera McKechnie took over. 

Strange I know but some of this stuff has been driving me mad for a good few years.

I'm also desperate to track down the original theme tune to Picture Book. I can only find the later music they used when Ms McKechnie took over.

I heard it again a year or two back but it wasn't named so I'm none the wiser.

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9 hours ago, Mess said:

Patricia Driscol

 

A name that beings back happy memories of Watch With Mother.

 

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9 hours ago, Mess said:

I'm also desperate to track down the original theme tune to Picture Book. I can only find the later music they used when Ms McKechnie took over.

Is this it? If so it is Badinerie from Johan Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No2 in B minor

Here is a complete episode

 

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Watch with mother, my order of preference:

 

1. Bill and Ben (Wednesday)

2. Wooden Tops (Friday)

3. Rag, Tag & Bobtail (Thursday)

4. Picture Book (Monday)

5. Andy Pandy (Tuesday)

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