Play Your Cards Right

[George 1978]

Re: Play Your Cards Right

News reader Reginald Bosenquet was another wig wearer, not because of baldness as such, but apparently had problems with an inflamed scalp which meant he had to shave his hair very short. Being a middle aged skinhead wouldn't have done his chances of appearing on TV much good!

We could also add Frankie Howerd to the list.

Gordon Honeycombe hardly had any hair and he had success working for ITN and then TV-am - ironic for someone with "comb" in their name.

[Disco_Puppy]

Re: Play Your Cards Right

There is no such phrase as "play your cards correctly", is there? - I have always associated that phrase with the game show.

I think that nearly everything on TV in the 1980s was magical to someone who was young at the time such as myself - as I mentioned in the 1980s Celebrities thread, it was a magical, community spirited world where all celebrities seem to know each other and would appear on each other's shows and so on. And Christmases were even more magical - perhaps it did so for me as a 1980s child?

That's actually a very good point - it really did feel like a 'family' of sorts. I remember, for some reason, watching the celebrity golf back in the 1980s, with Brucie, Tarby and the like on the green, and it all seemed natural and not feigned for the cameras. And Christmas was also a blast, as well. The Christmas specials were often where the good old boys would crop up on each others' specials, and part of the appeal of it all was seeing (and trying to guess) which familiar face you would see next.

[George 1978]

Re: Play Your Cards Right

Yes, Pro-Celebrity Golf - Forsyth v Faldo or Tarby v Trevino or someone like that. It never occurred to me until recently that Brucie used to wear a baseball cap because of his hair wasn't quite ready to be seen by the public if you know what I mean.

I am certain that Brucie made an appearance on Lionel Blair's team on Give us a Clue circa 1982-1983 which I think was a Christmas special - I thought that he was too famous for that show.

Nevertheless, it has been exactly two years to this day since Brucie died - a very sad day.

[Disco_Puppy]

Re: Play Your Cards Right

I am certain that Brucie made an appearance on Lionel Blair's team on Give us a Clue circa 1982-1983 which I think was a Christmas special - I thought that he was too famous for that show.

That's true - from my memories, Give us a Clue is where the 'has been' celebrities washed up, when they were not doing the seasonal panto circuit. I can remember seeing the likes of Keith Baron, Su Pollard, Christopher Biggins, Bonnie Langford and Kenneth Williams. Williams especially must have felt like he had hit bottom at that point, what with Give us a Clue and Willo the Wisp.

I wonder if they were only able to get the 'big' names due to contracts that Thames and LWT offered? Lucrative, but a big name also had to do X number of game shows and other appearances a year?

Give us a Clue. Another great game show concept that we will never see again these days...

[Richard1978]

Re: Play Your Cards Right

Ronnie Corbett was another of the celebrity golfing set, even if he was mostly on BBC shows from the mid 1970s onwards.

[George 1978]

Re: Play Your Cards Right

That's true - from my memories, Give us a Clue is where the 'has been' celebrities washed up, when they were not doing the seasonal panto circuit. I can remember seeing the likes of Keith Baron, Su Pollard, Christopher Biggins, Bonnie Langford and Kenneth Williams. Williams especially must have felt like he had hit bottom at that point, what with Give us a Clue and Willo the Wisp.

I wonder if they were only able to get the 'big' names due to contracts that Thames and LWT offered? Lucrative, but a big name also had to do X number of game shows and other appearances a year?

Give us a Clue. Another great game show concept that we will never see again these days...

Stubbs would probably have Felicity Kendal, Tracey Ullman and Maggie Moone on her team, while Blair would have Bernard Cribbins, Willie Rushton and Nicholas Parsons on his. I tell you, Brucie made at least one appearance on there.

As I mentioned on the Drama Lessons thread, we did Give us a Clue in Drama and we took turns to be "Lionel Blair" without the "sitting in other people's seats" thing that goes on.

Even if you look at the panto list each year - it's almost the same as 30 years ago - the same names such as Chris Biggins, Bonnie Langford, Wayne Sleep, etc. I nearly got all the autographs of Blue in 2015 because they were scattered around the country in panto - cue my autograph book making a whistle-stop tour of the theatres around the country courtesy of Royal Mail.

[George 1978]

Re: Play Your Cards Right

Ronnie Corbett was another of the celebrity golfing set, even if he was mostly on BBC shows from the mid 1970s onwards.

And Corbett would always wear those "Rupert Bear" trousers when out on the golf course, making him look like an Open University presenter from 1973.

[Richard1978]

Re: Play Your Cards Right

And Corbett would always wear those "Rupert Bear" trousers when out on the golf course, making him look like an Open University presenter from 1973.

Probably with a Pringle pullover, like the ones he would often wear for his chair monologues in the 2 Ronnies.