dave robinson wrote:I had seen Bert Weedon on 5-O- Clock Club which eventually transversed into Blue Peter, but he never interested me one iota, in fact I thought he was boring. He reminded me of an aging uncle, very 'grey' and uninspiring.
Agree about Duane Eddy though who I forgot to mention in my previous post, Peter Gunn being the tune everybody seemed to want to play.
Hmmm...
"5 O'Clock Club" was the final version of what was essentially the same ITV (Rediffusion) weekly childrens' magazine programme. It started as "Lucky Dip" sometime around 1959, with hosts Muriel Young and Neville Whiting* and regular appearances by Bert Weedon, who not only played, but also explained, the pieces he was performing. In 1961, the format changed slightly and its title was changed to "Tuesday Rendezvous". Bert composed and played a new theme tune for this format. He played it on air and asked for suggestions from viewers for a title. The winning entry was for
China Doll and there was some prize for the successful correspondent. That programme carried on into the mid-1960s, when the format was changed into a twice-weekly show by the title "5 O'Clock Club". There was a new theme song, which had the not-quite Larry Hart-standard lyrics (sung by children on the session):
5 O'Clock Club - Da dah da da
5 O'Clock Club - Da dah da da
5 O'Clock Club - Da dah da da
Tuesday, Friday, 5 O'Clock Club.
I can't remember exactly whether Bert was retained for the start of this new version, but even if he was, he didn't last long. For its final year (or so), the guitar-playing hosts were Wally Whyton (now seen on screen, instead of only doing the voice for Ollie Beak) and - believe it or not - the late Alexis Korner, who played a blues song every week with a live band in the studio. Alexis played a Guild Starfire (original single-cutaway model). This variant of the programme definitely survived into late 1965 or very early 1966, but was dropped in favour of a revamped Rediffusion programme called "Action", hosted by Pete Murray. It was notable for two things:
(a) the theme tune was The Shadows'
Stars fell On Stockton, and
(b) though the intro sequence and trailers for the show described it as "where the action is", it was as about as exciting as cold rice pudding (nowhere near as good as its immediate predecessor). The lack of a studio audience of invited children absolutely didn't help, and neither did Pete's decidely wooden and hesitant on-screen presentation skills.
It didn't last long. I can't remember what replaced it, but am sure that it didn't survive until the end of the Rediffusion franchise in the summer of 1968.
"Blue Peter", of course, was a BBC programme. Its success probably sparked the ITV network (meaning Rediffusion in this case) into formulating "Lucky Dip".
But I'm pretty sure that Bert never appeared on "Blue Peter".
Now... just
where did I put my coat...?
[
* I almost forgot: Neville Whiting had his biggest TV success in Granada TV's 1960-ish adaptation of the Capt. W. E. Johns character "Biggles". He played the title role and John Leyton played sidekick Ginger. I can't remember who played Algy or the trio's arch-nemesis Von Stahlheim. Neville also performed as a singer / host on an ATV programme, but I can't remember the title. It'll all be on http://www.imdb.com.]