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It was ten past five in the morning, and Tony Brandon was ten minutes into his radio show on Radios 1 and 2; the only person to be broadcasting in the United Kingdom at that time. I obviously have no memory of it, but it was to be a special personal moment in my life which was to stay with me always. A few hours later, some 400 miles north, in Dundee, Scotland, a baby girl was born who had eventually the most successful, if not famous, British person to have been born on that day. Some 25 to 30 years later, she had became a successful figure skater, representing Great Britain, teaming up with her younger brother in 2000 before professionally retiring in 2011. She had eventually become the figure skater Sinead Kerr; and it was quite ironic that someone like myself who comes from Torvill and Dean territory of Nottingham would share their date of birth with someone like Kerr. In August 2021 I had managed to get in contact with her courtesy of the British Ice Skating organisation in Sheffield, and she signed autographs for me, on the same day as "our" 43rd birthdays on the same day.
It wasn't until November 1994 when I looked at the Nottingham Evening Post's microfilm editions at the Local Studies department of the Nottingham Central Library, and saw what was on television on the day I was born. It was indeed £21 for a colour television licence, although I was certainly not watching much television, preferring to sleep for I was bit too tired after what had happened a few hours before. Two days after the August Bank Holiday, the schedules were still in summer mode with the autumn schedules not quite kicking in for a week or two. It had inspired me to go to Wigtownshire-based Historic Newspapers to get a birthday copy of the Daily Express and have a closer look on what had happened on my special day., and it more or less kicked off from there. Doing GCSE History was a help, but I feel that it is our own personal history that matter more.
I wrote about television that had been transmitted my 18th birthday, just over a couple of months ago, and so I thought that I would follow this up with looking back on Day One itself; the day when almost everyone on the planet was older than myself. Wednesdays are, what I would call, ordinary days in which Christmas and birthdays feel a lot more special when they fall on that day of the week. Downing Street had Jim C; the White House had Jimmy C; (still with us as I write this in March 2023); and the Vatican had Pope John Paul - not II, but I! I was one of few few people to arrive during his papacy. And Lionel Richie was representing the Commodores at the top of the chart with Three Times a Lady.
Both BBC 1 and BBC 2 had educational breakfast television in the shape of Open University. Mainstream television commenced with Michael Bond's Paddington Bear at 9.55 am. A repeat of the (obviously) first series of Grange Hill at 10.15 am. In the penultimate episode of that series, Tucker and Trisha are in full flow as our heroes; a valuable antique pistol is stolen and suspicion falls on Form One Alpha. The headmaster (Mr Starling, played by Denys Hawthorne) threatens to call in the police and cancel the School Festival unless the pistol is returned. After Grange Hill, Science teacher John Martin was the John in Big John, Little John, finding the affects of drink in the "Fountain of Youth" an advantage. After closing down for two and a half hours (why don't they do that now?), we return for Fingerbobs and the so-called Midday News at 1.45 pm. Pre CBBC, Fred Harris and Chloe Ashcroft oversee the afternoon repeat of Play School with (tongue twister alert): the traditional tale of Talkative Turtle being told. Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines.
A new drama series from the United States, The Winged Colt, was in the Blue Peter / Grange Hill slot - based on the book by Betsy Byars. A young boy travels out west and encounters a magical winged-horse, according to the IMDB synopsis. That five minute animation slot before the News happened to be Captain Pugwash, thankfully before those rude names was concocted many years later. The Evening News and a shortened-for-summer version of Nationwide is on after that. Evening programmes start earlier with trapeze artist Freddy Osler defying danger twice a day, every day in Taste For Adventure. The European Athletics Championships was on after that (no figure skating, sadly). Z Cars (during its final few weeks before being axed) was on the series' episode ten of 13 - Rummage. The episode was on YouTube a couple of years ago, and it had starred original Coronation Street cast member Ivan Beavis, along with Nicholas Ferguson and Judy Matheson. Margaret Thatcher was just nine months away from becoming Britain's first female Prime Minister (something that even Thatcher said would never happen in her lifetime); her own party's broadcast was on all three mainstream channels at 9.00 pm; pushing the Nine O'clock News back ten minutes. A continuation of a six-part drama Loose Change, was on after the News, starring Christine Raines; the story of three girlfriends who come of age in the 1960s. Terry Wogan hosts Come Dancing (no "Strictly" in those days) where the Midlands opposes the West. We finish off the Pilgrimage of Ti-Jean for Omnibus before closing down just before Midnight.
BBC 2 has Open University; the Asian magazine Gharbar; the first showing of Play School, and more OU after that, including the early evening. Programmes recommence with Erica on Embroidery (episode seven: Thinking Bigger). The ABC of Music (P is for Percussion); followed by News on 2 at 7.30 pm, and more music in Rhythm on 2. Eric Robson invites people to talk about issues directly concerning them in Brass Tracks. The Conservatives have their broadcast at Nine, followed by LP Hartley's Eustace and Hilda; it had won the award for Best Direction at the International TV Festival in Monte Carlo in 1977. Graham Parker (not the weather forecaster) was in concert, and the Newsnight of 1978 was on just before Closedown at 11.25 pm.
I have an Anglia edition of the TV Times, and so ITV programmes might seem difficult to what I would have seen. Starting with a Southern double bill of Elusive Butterflies and Talking Bikes, imported programmes take us to midday. Cloppa Castle at Noon was Sent to Coventry; the Rainbow gang talk about grandparents; and we have a rare Ulster Television production in the shape of Sounds of Britain (in which Ulster isn't "Britain" as such) and A Drop in Your hand. Some regions have Whicker's World in the afternoon. By 4.20 pm, we reach the children's television, and I don't think that it was even called Watch it! never mind Children's ITV at this point. (Danielle Nicholls who was a CITV presenter in the late 1990s and early 2000s was born in this particular year). A double bill of The Great Climb and Salamis make up Michael Bentine's Potty Time. That was followed by HTV's Search and Rescue - The Egg. The days when the BBC and ITV used to share sporting events like this seem to be in the past, save for World Cup finals and the like. In the Regional News slot at 6.00 pm, the European Athletics Championships were live from Prague in the then Czechoslovakia. Don't Ask Me, presented by Austin Mitchell, (who by 1978, had curiously been elected as an MP by then, so did he really have time to present TV programmes?) Dr Robert Buckman (who went onto its indirect successor Where There's Life), and Magnus Pike with his windmill arms, asked whether time went backwards - no doubt that it would have helped me this if it did! It was also the very last edition of that series as well.
Episode 1,839 of Coronation Street was on after Don't Ask Me; it had been shown on Granada Plus in September 1997, but that was its only post-1978 transmission on TV as far as I know, apart from various clips seen. In order to get their money's worth on their water rates, Stan Ogden was urged by Hilda to take baths more often; Stan leaves the taps on and falls asleep to the strain of the then Granada Reports theme in the background at the end of the previous episode, and lo and behold, the water cascades through the floorboards and downstairs ceiling and ruins "Muriel" number one (the one that looked either Swiss or Austrian). Cue the Oggies ripping the paper on the mural before having to go for the more remembered one that lasted until Hilda's departure in 1987. Stan goes next door to the Corner Shop to get a brush to borrow and overhears Renee talking to Alf about a damp patch on the living room wall. "I forgot I come in for", said a sheepish Stan before leaving the shop to go back home. "I said the ceiling's wet", Stan exclaimed to Hilda. Over at number one, Ken's son Peter (who has developed a Scottish accent despite being English) is being pep-talked to about his education and his future. At this point, Peter looked rather like Wee Jimmy Krankie and looked a bit like a girl, but one blames that on late 1970s looks and fashions. Albert Tatlock goes to the Corner Shop to get some marmalade for Peter. In the Rovers Return, Ena Sharples and Albert row about who's been drinking in the pub the longest; she swears she came in during the First World War and he only started in 1919. Cue Lizzie Hinchliffe, a character unique to this episode, played by Daphne Heard, and tries to tell Annie that she took her one and only strong drink in the Rovers on Christmas Eve in 1918.
(Continued...)
It wasn't until November 1994 when I looked at the Nottingham Evening Post's microfilm editions at the Local Studies department of the Nottingham Central Library, and saw what was on television on the day I was born. It was indeed £21 for a colour television licence, although I was certainly not watching much television, preferring to sleep for I was bit too tired after what had happened a few hours before. Two days after the August Bank Holiday, the schedules were still in summer mode with the autumn schedules not quite kicking in for a week or two. It had inspired me to go to Wigtownshire-based Historic Newspapers to get a birthday copy of the Daily Express and have a closer look on what had happened on my special day., and it more or less kicked off from there. Doing GCSE History was a help, but I feel that it is our own personal history that matter more.
I wrote about television that had been transmitted my 18th birthday, just over a couple of months ago, and so I thought that I would follow this up with looking back on Day One itself; the day when almost everyone on the planet was older than myself. Wednesdays are, what I would call, ordinary days in which Christmas and birthdays feel a lot more special when they fall on that day of the week. Downing Street had Jim C; the White House had Jimmy C; (still with us as I write this in March 2023); and the Vatican had Pope John Paul - not II, but I! I was one of few few people to arrive during his papacy. And Lionel Richie was representing the Commodores at the top of the chart with Three Times a Lady.
Both BBC 1 and BBC 2 had educational breakfast television in the shape of Open University. Mainstream television commenced with Michael Bond's Paddington Bear at 9.55 am. A repeat of the (obviously) first series of Grange Hill at 10.15 am. In the penultimate episode of that series, Tucker and Trisha are in full flow as our heroes; a valuable antique pistol is stolen and suspicion falls on Form One Alpha. The headmaster (Mr Starling, played by Denys Hawthorne) threatens to call in the police and cancel the School Festival unless the pistol is returned. After Grange Hill, Science teacher John Martin was the John in Big John, Little John, finding the affects of drink in the "Fountain of Youth" an advantage. After closing down for two and a half hours (why don't they do that now?), we return for Fingerbobs and the so-called Midday News at 1.45 pm. Pre CBBC, Fred Harris and Chloe Ashcroft oversee the afternoon repeat of Play School with (tongue twister alert): the traditional tale of Talkative Turtle being told. Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines.
A new drama series from the United States, The Winged Colt, was in the Blue Peter / Grange Hill slot - based on the book by Betsy Byars. A young boy travels out west and encounters a magical winged-horse, according to the IMDB synopsis. That five minute animation slot before the News happened to be Captain Pugwash, thankfully before those rude names was concocted many years later. The Evening News and a shortened-for-summer version of Nationwide is on after that. Evening programmes start earlier with trapeze artist Freddy Osler defying danger twice a day, every day in Taste For Adventure. The European Athletics Championships was on after that (no figure skating, sadly). Z Cars (during its final few weeks before being axed) was on the series' episode ten of 13 - Rummage. The episode was on YouTube a couple of years ago, and it had starred original Coronation Street cast member Ivan Beavis, along with Nicholas Ferguson and Judy Matheson. Margaret Thatcher was just nine months away from becoming Britain's first female Prime Minister (something that even Thatcher said would never happen in her lifetime); her own party's broadcast was on all three mainstream channels at 9.00 pm; pushing the Nine O'clock News back ten minutes. A continuation of a six-part drama Loose Change, was on after the News, starring Christine Raines; the story of three girlfriends who come of age in the 1960s. Terry Wogan hosts Come Dancing (no "Strictly" in those days) where the Midlands opposes the West. We finish off the Pilgrimage of Ti-Jean for Omnibus before closing down just before Midnight.
BBC 2 has Open University; the Asian magazine Gharbar; the first showing of Play School, and more OU after that, including the early evening. Programmes recommence with Erica on Embroidery (episode seven: Thinking Bigger). The ABC of Music (P is for Percussion); followed by News on 2 at 7.30 pm, and more music in Rhythm on 2. Eric Robson invites people to talk about issues directly concerning them in Brass Tracks. The Conservatives have their broadcast at Nine, followed by LP Hartley's Eustace and Hilda; it had won the award for Best Direction at the International TV Festival in Monte Carlo in 1977. Graham Parker (not the weather forecaster) was in concert, and the Newsnight of 1978 was on just before Closedown at 11.25 pm.
I have an Anglia edition of the TV Times, and so ITV programmes might seem difficult to what I would have seen. Starting with a Southern double bill of Elusive Butterflies and Talking Bikes, imported programmes take us to midday. Cloppa Castle at Noon was Sent to Coventry; the Rainbow gang talk about grandparents; and we have a rare Ulster Television production in the shape of Sounds of Britain (in which Ulster isn't "Britain" as such) and A Drop in Your hand. Some regions have Whicker's World in the afternoon. By 4.20 pm, we reach the children's television, and I don't think that it was even called Watch it! never mind Children's ITV at this point. (Danielle Nicholls who was a CITV presenter in the late 1990s and early 2000s was born in this particular year). A double bill of The Great Climb and Salamis make up Michael Bentine's Potty Time. That was followed by HTV's Search and Rescue - The Egg. The days when the BBC and ITV used to share sporting events like this seem to be in the past, save for World Cup finals and the like. In the Regional News slot at 6.00 pm, the European Athletics Championships were live from Prague in the then Czechoslovakia. Don't Ask Me, presented by Austin Mitchell, (who by 1978, had curiously been elected as an MP by then, so did he really have time to present TV programmes?) Dr Robert Buckman (who went onto its indirect successor Where There's Life), and Magnus Pike with his windmill arms, asked whether time went backwards - no doubt that it would have helped me this if it did! It was also the very last edition of that series as well.
Episode 1,839 of Coronation Street was on after Don't Ask Me; it had been shown on Granada Plus in September 1997, but that was its only post-1978 transmission on TV as far as I know, apart from various clips seen. In order to get their money's worth on their water rates, Stan Ogden was urged by Hilda to take baths more often; Stan leaves the taps on and falls asleep to the strain of the then Granada Reports theme in the background at the end of the previous episode, and lo and behold, the water cascades through the floorboards and downstairs ceiling and ruins "Muriel" number one (the one that looked either Swiss or Austrian). Cue the Oggies ripping the paper on the mural before having to go for the more remembered one that lasted until Hilda's departure in 1987. Stan goes next door to the Corner Shop to get a brush to borrow and overhears Renee talking to Alf about a damp patch on the living room wall. "I forgot I come in for", said a sheepish Stan before leaving the shop to go back home. "I said the ceiling's wet", Stan exclaimed to Hilda. Over at number one, Ken's son Peter (who has developed a Scottish accent despite being English) is being pep-talked to about his education and his future. At this point, Peter looked rather like Wee Jimmy Krankie and looked a bit like a girl, but one blames that on late 1970s looks and fashions. Albert Tatlock goes to the Corner Shop to get some marmalade for Peter. In the Rovers Return, Ena Sharples and Albert row about who's been drinking in the pub the longest; she swears she came in during the First World War and he only started in 1919. Cue Lizzie Hinchliffe, a character unique to this episode, played by Daphne Heard, and tries to tell Annie that she took her one and only strong drink in the Rovers on Christmas Eve in 1918.
(Continued...)
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