► Twist and shouting
16 October 2017 tbs.pm/13994
It’s 22 September 1975 and ITV is celebrating 20 years of broadcasting. Eamonn Andrews devotes the second half of the Today local news programme to a debate about whether ITV was a good idea in the first place and whether it still has places to go – an ITV-2, for instance.
Taking part in this bad-tempered debate that descends into a near shouting match are:
- Leslie Mitchell (1905-1985), television announcer
- Hughie Green (1920-1997), television host
- Robin Day (1923-2000), television journalist
- Leslie Welch (1907-1980), “Memory Man” variety artist
- Christopher Mayhew (1915-1997), Labour MP 1945-1974
- John Hanson (1922-1998), singer
- and Eamonn Andrews himself (1922-1987)
Before that, we’ve left in some continuity caught on the audio recording: the end of the ITN news, a promo for World In Action and Philip Elsmore with the local weather forecast.
You Say
3 responses to this article
David Rhodes wrote 17 October 2017 at 7:19 pm
So, did the producer want a nostalgic chat about the early days of ITV or a serious discussion of its impact and future? Bits of both emerge here.
Might have been a good idea to get Mayhew on ‘Something to Say’ – if it was still going in 75 – and expand on his ideas, while having a smaller panel discuss the early days on ‘Today’
Still, a great historical find – I’ve only ever seen stills of Eamonn on ‘Today’ before. Interesting, too, to briefly hear John Hanson, who seems to have been a fairly big name for a while – in a time when there still a large ‘popular’ (as distinct from ‘pop’) music audience.
Thames opting for announcer-read weather here – presumably Francis Wilson emerged when the programme became Thames at 6?
And you’ve inadvertently answered a question that’s been in the back of my mind – did ITN use Non-Stop for the evening bulletin before it became News at 5.45? Yes, they did!
Aidan Lunn wrote 21 October 2017 at 12:13 pm
I ask this question in the spirit of the mood in the studio during this programme:
Is Christopher Mayhew talking out of his arse?
Russ J Graham wrote 21 October 2017 at 1:40 pm
Yes.
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