June 24th
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: white suited, self-referencing Jon Pertwee takes over as host of cross-examination game show Whodunnit? Patrick Mower, Anthony Valentine, Robin Nedwell and, remarkably unless you’re aware the first lady of 1930s British film was starring in ITV’s Justice at the time, Margaret Lockwood have to determine who might have been responsible for a poisoning.
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: A second hour-long Micro Live, and this time nobody gets hacked, apart you count the victims of the hackers who are interviewed as a follow-up to what happened last time. Among Ian McNaught-Davis' other concerns are coding, transatlantic transmissions and "a graphic lady from New York".
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Richard O'Brien, newly escaped from The Crystal Maze, joins Judi Spiers on Pebble Mill to discuss Mumsie, harmonica technique and learning guitar from Maoris; the first live coverage of Glastonbury was on Channel 4, who overdid the presenter roster so Mark Radcliffe, Marc Riley, Katie Puckrick, Johnnie Walker and Keith Allen all pitch up between the likes of John Peel, Saint Etienne, the Levellers, the Beastie Boys and Margi Clarke.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: England exit the Euros, so it must be an emotive BBC montage backed by... *checks notes* Natasha Bedingfield.
ALSO... five years after his ignominious MTV exit Ray Cokes returned to the building, if just for one day and along the corridor at VH-1, for Still Wanted? today in 2001, reunited with former producer and now famous through TFI Will MacDonald.
June 25th
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: another round of Pop Quiz in which Chris Tarrant and his actively unpleasant cardigan marshals Roger Taylor, D:Ream's Peter Cunnah, Bad Boys Inc's Matthew Pateman, Cathy Dennis, Les McKeown and Jocelyn Brown.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: ten years later Glastonbury has long since been established on BBC2 but Mark Radcliffe is still there along with Jo Whiley and a visiting John Peel, who comments scars from previous years will "go with me to my grave, in the next year or so". Four months.
June 26th
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: The Family come to the end of their excursion in the beta version of reality TV by folding in on themselves, Margaret Wilkins and Paul Watson discussing what they've learned about the experience and reaction on the go (with unexpected Savile cameo)
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: back to 4 Goes To Glastonbury, wherein Scrawn and Lard introduce Johnny Cash. The backstage interview is fortunately left to Johnnie Walker.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: The Elgin Marbles sadly has no input from William G Stewart, merely Andrew Graham-Dixon helming a drama-documentary on their history and fate.
June 27th
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: a Play For Today directed by Mike Newell (Four Weddings, Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire), The Childhood Friend stars Anthony Hopkins considering a holiday affair while his wife is gravely ill and his son is being Peter Duncan.
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: ITN News at 5:45 leads with the miners and ends with a tiny foal, followed by Fred Dinenage promising "the hat that'll be turning heads at this year's Henley regatta" on Coast To Coast.
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Blue Peter says farewell to Anthea Turner, who they absolutely will not let forget Tracey Island, and hello to GMTV's Stuart Miles. Meanwhile Zoe Ball takes a rare seat in the broom cupboard; HTV West News looks on in wonder at events at Glastonbury over the weekend just gone, with such hippie dropout notions as wind power, veganism and mobile phone charging.
ALSO… Russ Abbot's Saturday Madhouse today in 1981, Dustin Gee is the main sidekick at this early stage, and when the first three sketches are CU Jimmy, Cooperman and the teddy boys you know where you are. Why wasn't this closing song the big hit?
June 28th
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: Dr Mike Thorne may look and dress like a trad jazzer but his expertise on Thames making the most of the micro show Database is computer graphics, or at least the limitations of them at the time; Phil Oakey of the Human League had stopped shaving properly and having haircuts by the time he returned to Top Of The Pops. Frustrated with such lackadascial behaviour from our glamorous electro-pop stars, someone scores a direct hit at 1:37.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY: in a feature that might have made Janet Ellis chew the inside of her mouth right up, twelve weeks pregnant Liz Barker has a live ultrasound scan on Blue Peter.
June 29th
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: Brian Cant and Elizabeth Millbank are in charge of Play School with the theme of 'change', which involves some muted photos of cars and buildings as a hauntological introduction. Conversely the square window reveals a copper on the beat; Channel 4 give over five hours for a second year to A Midsummer Night's Tube. It seems that in the lead-up to his introduction Nigel Planer has realised there's a plot hole. Among the performers is Howard Jones and his in-keeping band, and he's brought Jed back for the occasion, whilst Jools for his part follows Culture Club around Japan.
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: Charles: The Private Man, The Public Role was an ITV Jonathan Dimbleby two and a half hour (!) hagiography - don't worry, this is just ten minutes - watched by around 13 million in which the Prince of Wales spoke about his adultery for the first time, supposedly inspiring Diana to do likewise a year later.
June 30th
40 YEARS AGO TODAY: we've wondered in awe at No.73's band booking policy before, and maybe none were so out-there as goths Specimen, especially given what Olli Wisdom turned up in. Yes, we're quite aware of who one of the other guests is; four different but all too similar takes on nostalgia in Hank Marvin, Shakin' Stevens, Lulu and Dave Edmunds join another, Mike Reid, on Pop Quiz. What must Thomas Dolby and Ian McNabb make of it all?; the second series of the grandest game show of all Ultra Quiz begins, with David Frost in charge of a thousand contestants and Willie Rushton as sidekick. The big prize for such star-studded, world-travelled extremity? £10,000. £31,366 adjusted for inflation. You could win double that on The Chase.
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: 'NEW UK TALENT' Oasis make their Top Of The Pops debut in the time honoured drummer-at-the-front formation; with live World Cup games going deep into the night BBC Sport reach for Frank Skinner and David Baddiel to provide a sideshow worth staying up for, commenting on Maradona's drugs bust. Then they came back in disguise on July 10th.
ALSO... Johnny and Denise were mere weeks away but stand-ins Richard Orford and Mel B's sister Danielle are in charge of an odd halfway house Big Breakfast today in 1997, featuring Carol Vorderman with Zig & Zag and Vanessa Feltz finding common ground on the bed with Richard Fairbass.
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