Web Page No 2672

The Express

27^th March 2020

1st Picture.  Early Junior Express

 2nd Picture. Later Junior Express

3rd Picture. Lone Ranger

4th Picture. TV Comic

A Most Superior Comic

There was an assumption in the 1950s that as children grew out of comics (by the age of 11 or 12) they would graduate to story papers and eventually newspapers. To this end, a number of daily publications launched their own junior versions, combining news items aimed at young teenagers (but not necessarily current affairs) and comic strip stories. The intention being, of course, that the newspapers would build a loyalty among the young readers who would then stick with them as they progressed to adulthood.

A children's newspaper was nothing new. Subtitled "The Story of the World Today for the Men and Women of Tomorrow," The Children's Newspaper was one of the twentieth century's most successful magazines for children, starting in the aftermath of the First World War and running for 46 years. It was an offshoot of The Children's Encyclopaedia. The debut issue, dated 22 March 1919, was priced at 1½d and was deliberately designed to look like an adult newspaper, enlivened by the addition of a photograph on the cover. Issues covered included a report on the British coal industry to how the railway system had been damaged by the war. It reflected the editor's twin faiths of Christian ethics and the British Empire he believed that children could be guided to better, more creative lives through education. At its peak The Children's Newspaper sold 500,000 copies a week. But by the 1950s sales began to drop and although the paper was still very popular amongst 8 to 10-year-olds interest waned rapidly with older readers. It was at this point that Junior Mirror, Junior Express and Junior Sketch appeared-each published by Britain's popular national newspapers. While the Mirror and the Sketch quickly fell by the wayside, Junior Express had more success by virtue of the fact that it kept reinventing itself in different formats.

The first issue of Junior Express was on 4th September 1954, and cost 2d. Launching in its first issue was a British science fiction comic strip created by former R.A.F. aircraft enginer Sydney Jordan, called Jeffe Hawke - Space Rider, whose adventures were also continued in the Daily Express newspaper (from February 1955)- with the obvious intention of attracting loyalty readership from younger readers.

Over time, the news content of Junior Express was reduced as it proved less popular and was then dropped almost entirely when the Mirror and Sketch versions ceased publication - in favour of the comic strips, and as of issue 39 the title changed to Junior Express Weekly, and then simply Express Super Colour Weekly, which was clearly designed as a rival to the hugely popular Eagle comic.

In April 1956, the News of the World, launched Rocket (allegedly edited by Douglas Bader), however, by 1956 Rocket merged with Express which was now called Express Super Colour Weekly and Rocket. Before the end of the year Rocket had disappeared from the title on the front page but was still credited in the printer notes at the bottom of the back page (right up until the final issue).

Express now became known as Express Weekly. Notable strips included Wulf the Briton, Rex Keene Texas Ranger and Jet Morgan, a character from the BBC radio series Journey into Space. Gun Law with Matt Dillon U.S. Marshall later replaced Rex Keene and issue 205 saw the introduction of another popular TV Western, The Lone Ranger and Tonto. 

The comic changed its name again to TV Express Weekly with a new strip of the popular ITV series No Hiding Place added. In July 1960, the publication began the first of a number of biographical comic strips; Green for Go! The Amazing Life Story of Hughie Green, told the story of the gameshow host and particularly his escapades as a pilot during World War Two. A few weeks later Biggles appeared as the featured comic strip and three American animated series; Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and Mr Jinks with Pixie and Dixie also appeared, ideally to appeal to younger readers.

In January 1961 there was another change to the comic's title, TV Express Weekly with the sub-heading Companion to TV Comic and TV Land but by the summer of 1961 this sub-heading was dropped and the publication became simply TV Express (THE Weekly Magazine for Boys) and become less broadsheet and more tabloid to cut printing costs. By this time Biggles had been relegated to a single inside page and the cover feature was the wartime stories of Colonel Pinto. Danger Man joined the growing line-up of TV related articles, although this was purely a text story and not a comic strip. Another comic strip, Life's A Laugh With Alfie and Bill, appeared - based on the escapades Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser - from the series Bootsie and Snudge.

Issue 376 dated 13th January 1962, saw the finale for TV Express - comic strips stories featuring Col. Pinto, Revs Ransome, Biggles, No Hiding Place and Wulf The Briton were all bought to conclusion, and Danger Man's adventures were also bought to an end. Readers were informed that they could continue reading Bootsie and Snudge in TV Comic from the following week, and they would be joined by 'a host of other TV favourites including..." Popeye, The  Range  Rider and Supercar. And with that one of Britain's superior TV related comic publications of the 1950s and early 60s came to an end.

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Peter

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On this day 27^th  March 1960-1965

On 27/03/1960 the number one single was Running Bear - Johnny Preston and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 27/03/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Dickie Henderson Show (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 27/03/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was French Algerian War ends

On 27/03/1964 the number one single was Little Children - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was 10 found guilty of Great Train Robbery.

On 27/03/1965 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music.

A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page No 2670

The first TV Spin Offs or Tie-Ins

20^th March 2020

1st Picture.  Hank the Cowboy

 2nd Picture. Muffin the Mule

 3rd Picture. Andy Pandy models

4th Picture. Models from the Cornflakes Packets

Television toy merchandise, which didn't exist in the UK until the 1950’s, now makes a considerable contribution to the children's toy industry. The rapid rise of TV-tie-in toys showed how the industry responded to a change in the cultural landscape once television became established. As the new medium grew in popularity, so did the manufacturing of toys based on popular TV shows and characters.

In 1930, Charlotte Clark was commissioned by Walt Disney to create the first stuffed Mickey Mouse doll which instantly became the must-have toy for children across the U.S. And so, began the mass market appeal for the tie-in toy. Other studios began to release toys based on movies or popular movie stars when they discovered that consumers were willing to pay up to 50 percent more for a toy linked to a movie, than a toy with no popular entertainment association.

It wasn't until after the war that the British toy purchasing public caught the TV tie-in bug. The market had already been very well tested. As with The Lone Ranger series in the USA, the children of Great Britain had their own radio hero. Dick Barton - Special Agent (1946 - 51) was the star of the BBC's first radio serial. With over 15 million listeners tuning in to hear his adventures every week, it wasn't long before toy companies jumped on the bandwagon to produce related comics and toys. The same year as Dick Barton debuted on radio, television, after a break between the war years (1939-46) returned. For the Children was the show that introduced youngsters, at least those few fortunate enough to have a television in 1946, to a mule named Muffin. The puppet had originally been made in 1933 by Ann Hogarth, a leading British puppeteer who, with her husband, founded Hogarth Puppets. Muffin the Mule appeared on television with scripts by Ann Hogarth and was presented by Annette Mills. It became an instant hit. As a result, a number of companies approached Hogarth and Mills seeking the opportunity to market a variety of goods to tie-in with the puppet, but, as inconceivable as it seems now, asked the two ladies to pay them for the privilege. Fortunately, Hogarth and Mills had the foresight to refuse these offers and formed "The Muffin Syndicate Ltd" which would take care of all commercial products. The first item produced, copyrighted in 1948, but not released until late 1950 ("Just in time for Christmas" according to an advert in Television Weekly), was by E.V.B. Plastics of Surrey and was a small plastic television in which 'film strips' could be displayed a frame at a time in a back-lit screen using a special key. Presumably, the child or their parent would then make up their own story as they turned the pictures. Other popular toys were a diecast figure of Muffin made by Moko, a company that eventually changed its name to Lesney and later still to Matchbox, and a wooden version made by Pelham Puppets.

In November 1950, the BBC launched a Saturday afternoon children's show called Whirligig, the very first children's programme to be broadcast live from the BBC studios in Lime Grove. Although the series didn't appear each week (it alternated with another children's programme: Telescope), it introduced a number of characters that soon became popular with young children, such as Hank the Cowboy and Mr. Turnip. Both Hank and Mr. Turnip figures were soon produced. Andy Pandy, who appeared in Watch with Mother, became another children's toy which was established in 1951.

By now television was gaining ground then in 1953 that all changed. With the transmission of The Coronation .

Two days after ITV was launched in 1955, The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene was broadcast and very quickly established Richard Greene as a household name. The series was aimed at older children and was full of adventure, intrigue, sword play and derring-do. Toy producers were quick to capitalize on the show's popularity, especially those manufacturers who specialised in figures of soldiers. Benbros Ltd was one of the first to release an ITV tie-in toy with its ten miniature hollow-cast figures of Robin Hood characters. Another set of figures also became available through Kellogg's which was a set of plastic self-coloured figures that were found in boxes of their Robin Hood promotion breakfast cereals.

As other television programmes became popular, more and more TV tie-in toys were manufactured. Whilst British television-related toys such as a pair of Pinky and Perky stringed puppets were big sellers, so too were toys related to a number of American television shows. Not all these shows were made for children. ITV were at that time broadcasting a number of successful prime-time Western series such as Wagon Train and Bonanza with a strong appeal for children. And this too was reflected in the TV tie-in toy market. But in 1957 a new television series aimed squarely at children appeared on the ITV network. And although nobody realised it in those early days, The Adventures of Twizzle would be the catalyst for perhaps the most successful range of TV tie-in toys of the next decade.

Twizzle was a 'living' boy doll who had the ability to extend his arms and legs to amazing lengths. He drove a red breakdown truck and set about rescuing broken toys. Roberta Leigh was the creator of Twizzle, but it was Gerry Anderson who bought the doll to life in a ground-breaking puppet series. The Adventures of Twizzle was first broadcast on November 13^th 1957 at 4.30pm and soon toy manufacturers wanted to produce toys. Cautiously there were records, annuals and card sets but only one stringed puppet. With Torchy the Battery Boy, merchandising began to pick up and the cowboy puppet series called Four Feather Falls proved to be the turning point. Then came Supercar in 1961 and captured the imagination of its young audience like no other series before it. Now, instead of wanting to be a cowboy, every child wanted to be a spaceman so came Fireball XL5 set in the year 2063, so not long to go now.

But when Doctor Who began in 1963 nobody expected it to capture the imagination of the television watching public quite the way it did. No one quite expected the popularity of the Daleks.

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Peter

You Write:

Steve Timms asks:-

Hi Peter, I am looking for the above chap from my past, possibly lived in Central Road, had a couple of brothers. He came away with us in '67 for a week on the Norfolk Broads. He the lad in the white shirt.

Terry Writes:-

Leonard Martin was born on Thursday April 17th 1919 in Australia and he came to Britain since 1953 for a holiday also the following year when he joined BBC Sport in Sportsview Introduced by Peter Dimmock and the famous voice of British Pathe Newsreels alongside Bob Danvers Walker. Saturday October 11th 1958 BBC Television Sports Programme Grandstand & Today's Sport Len's famous voice for the classified football results and the sport news service & horse racing,rugby results read by John Langham at Lime Grove Studios in London when Tim Gudgin arrived since 1965. His nightmare score is East Fife 4 Forfar 5 during 1963-64 season. Len made his final broadcast on Saturday July 29th 1995 for Grandstand. Sadly on Monday August 21st 1995 when he passed away after a short illness in London at the age of 76 years. The Great Memories of The Famous Voice of The Classified Football Results on BBC Television Sports Programme Grandstand icon from October 1958 to July 1995 for the last 37 years is the late Leonard Martin

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On this day 20^th March 1960-1965

On 20/03/1960 the number one single was Running Bear - Johnny Preston and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 20/03/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Dickie Henderson Show (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 20/03/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was French Algerian War ends

On 20/03/1964 the number one single was Little Children - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was 10 found guilty of Great Train Robbery.

On 20/03/1965 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Because of the advice re the Coronavirus the meeting on 1st April has been cancelled. I will arrange another one as soon as I can.

Peter






Web Page No 2668

13^th March 2020

1st Picture.  Ted Moult

 2nd Picture. Still from The Archers

 3rd Picture. Ted Moults Life Story

 4th Picture. Ted Moult’s grave.

‘Farmer Ted Moult’

For younger readers or those who do not remember him, I should explain that Ted Moult looked like what he was – a working farmer. He had a wife, Marie, and a large family on his farm, Scaddows Farm, near Ticknall in Derbyshire. But Ted was more than a farmer. He had an amazing brain and was one of the best-informed people made the more remarkable by his photographic memory. He never forgot anything.

It was this, together with his rural humour and charm, that earned him invitations to appear on BBC TV quiz programmes where his comprehensive knowledge confirmed him as a regular for many years. He occasionally appeared on farming programmes and later became even more famous on ITV for double glazing commercials.

At a Royal Show at Stoneleigh. He was on good form, cracking jokes and enjoying the show. We then had several weeks of wet weather and it was a worry to arable farmers trying to gather harvest. But it got to Ted, who persuaded himself he was never going to get his grain into the barn and one morning he locked himself in his office and took his life. After a private funeral, his life was celebrated at a public ceremony in Derby Cathedral. He is buried in St. George’s churchyard, Ticknall . He was survived by his wife Marie Rose (Maria) (1933–2014), and children.

He was born in Derby and left Derby School at 17 in 1944 but, by 22, had his first dairy farm in Sinfin, on the outskirts of the city. He has been credited with the concept of "pick-your-own" strawberries at his farm; he began in 1961, and always made a point of greeting his customers.

He first came to public attention in the 1950s on BBC Radio's general knowledge quiz Brain of Britain, although he was knocked out in the first round. He consolidated his fame with appearances on discussion programmes such as Any Questions? and panel games such as Ask Me Another, and was a household name by the mid-1960s.  He played the part of Bill Insley in  The Archers from 1983 to 1986.

In December 1959, he was the week's castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in February 1964 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre.

He was perhaps best known latterly for his series of adverts for Everest Double Glazing in the 1980s, featuring the selling line: "You only fit double glazing once, so fit the best: Everest". He appeared in the opening edition of Channel 4's first show Countdown and had a number of small cameo roles in films and television, playing the love interest of the housekeeper Mrs Hall in a 1980 episode of the TV series All Creatures Great and Small.

In 1983, Ted Moult appeared on the third series of Bullseye as a celebrity guest throwing darts for charity. He threw 9 darts scoring a total of 180 and therefore winning £180 for the contestants' chosen charity.

In 1976 he appeared on the advert for Jacob's Cream Crackers .

The manner of his death was a dreadful shock to all who knew him, especially his family. Unfortunately, suicide is not uncommon in the farming world even today.

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Peter

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On this day 13^th March 1960-1965

On 13/03/1360 the number one single was Running Bear - Johnny Preston and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was The Larkins (ATV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 13/03/1361 the number one single was Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes - Everly Brothers and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 13/03/1362 the number one single was Rock-a-Hula Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was Skull found buried in Downing Street.

On 13/03/1363 the number one single was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champion.

On 13/03/1364 the number one single was Little Children - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 13/03/1365 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page No 2666

6^th March 2020

1st Picture.  Franklin Engleman

3rd Picture. David Jacobs

4th Picture. Paul Gambaccini

Pick of the Pops

What did you listen to during the 1960’s? For most of us it was Pick of the Pops  a BBC Radio programme, originally based on the Top 20 UK Singles Chart and first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1955. It transferred to BBC Radio 1 (simulcast on BBC Radio 2) from 1967 to 1972. It was revived for six years in the 1980s. Its current production run started in 1997.

Initially the show did not feature the charts, but in September 1957 Alan Dell introduced the format of running through the charts of the week, playing the top tens from various music papers plus entries to top 20s.

David Jacobs brought the first averaged BBC Top 20 to the show on Saturday, 29^th March 1958. Alan Freeman took over in September 1961, taking the show to a regular Sunday slot in January 1962. The programme ended in September 1972, while the Top 20 continued as part of "Solid Gold Sixty".

Alan (Fluff) Freeman, who presented the longest and whose name is probably most closely associated with Pick of the Pops, had been a radio announcer in Melbourne, Australia. He arrived in Britain in 1957 and joined the Light Programme in 1961 to present Records Around Five. That same year he replaced David Jacobs for Pick of the Pops, which was then part of a Saturday-evening programme called Trad Tavern, after traditional jazz which had a following at the time. Pick of the Pops became a separate programme in January 1962. It was produced by Derek Chinnery.

Denys Jones (producer 1961–1972) and Alan Freeman split the programme into four: chart newcomers, new releases, LPs and the Top 10. The programme attracted large audiences as the BBC had restrictions on "needle time" and could play relatively few commercially available recordings each week. Alan Freeman continued with the show when it moved to Radio 1 and stayed until the programme ended in September 1972.

Fluff revived Pick of the Pops on the local London station, Capital Radio, from 1982 to the end of 1988 as Pick of the Pops – Take Two, combining the new chart (Top 15s compiled successively by Record Business, the NME and MRIB) with a chart from the past. In 1989, He returned to Radio 1 where the show featured three past charts each week through March 1992, and for the rest of 1992 by Sue Foster. Alan Freeman's final programme, at the end of 1992, stated that he would never present it again, and signed off with the Beatles' "The End".

From April 1994 to January 1997 Fluff revived the show once more on Capital Gold as Pick Of The Pops – Take Three, featuring two vintage top 12s, and the "Battle Of The Giants", and on other occasions featuring three vintage top 10s, two vintage top 20s and a rock request, along with competitions on Saturday mornings.

Pick of the Pops returned to the BBC as an independent production by Unique Broadcasting on BBC Radio 2 on 5^th  April 1997, with Alan Freeman now counting down two archive charts each week featuring the top 10s and what was number one in Canada & other parts of the world., interspersing trivia about the records,

On 1st April 2000, Fluff presented his last show and retired for health reasons, and the show was taken over by Dale Winton, who first presented the show on 8 April 2000. The regular weekly edition ended in August 2004, with limited broadcast of special editions. Pick of the Pops then returned on a weekly basis in September 2005 with Dale Winton at the helm. The BBC moved Pick of the Pops to a Saturday slot in April 2009 and Dale Winton bowed out of Pick of the Pops on 30 October 2010 owing to other work.

Tony Blackburn took over on 24^th  September 2010. Although the show was pre-recorded during the Dale Winton era, from January 2011 the show was mostly broadcast live, which allowed Tony Blackburn to interact with his listeners.

Tony Blackburn was dismissed by the BBC on 25^th February 2016. Mark Goodier took over and was the youngest presenter on Pick of the Pops to feature charts before he was born, he featured 1957, 1960 & 1962. He was also the last presenter to feature texts & emails which began during Tony Blackburn's reign of host of Pick of the Pops. Mark Goodier hosted the show between 27 February to 2 July 2016 when  Paul Gambaccini took over on 9^th  July 2016and the show now features the Billboard charts along with the UK 20 twenty normally in the first hour then the Billboard chart in the second hour. On 6 January and 24 February 2018, Paul missed Pick of the Pops for the first time in the show's history since 1992 due to snow or ill health, Mark Goodier covered on both occasions. In May 2018 Paul presented a special Pick Of The Pops to celebrate the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and featured their birth years in celebration: 1981 and 1984. On 25 August 2018, Paul presented another special on Prince & Madonna to celebrate their 60th birthdays and counted down their best selling singles.

So who have been the presenters?

Franklin Engelmann (1955)

Alan Dell (1956 and 1957–58)

David Jacobs (September 1956 – September 1957, March 1958 – September 1961, September–December 1962)

Don Moss (September–December 1963)

Alan Freeman (1961 – April 2000)

Dale Winton (April 2000– October 2010)

Tony Blackburn (November 2010 – February 2016)

Mark Goodier (February–July 2016, plus occasional Cover for Gambaccini)

Paul Gambaccini (July 2016–present)

Finally the theme tune (1961–1966) was "At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal" written and performed by Brian Fahey and his Orchestra. It was later replaced (1966–1970) with "Quite Beside The Point" by the Harry Roberts Sound. Since April 1970 the show has used a new version of "At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal" by Brass Incorporated.

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Peter

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On this day 6^th March 1960-1965

On 06/03/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was The Larkins (ATV) and the box office smash was Some Like It Hot. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 06/03/1961 the number one single was Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 06/03/1962 the number one single was Rock-a-Hula Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 06/03/1963 the number one single was The Wayward Wind - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was 2 journalists jailed in London for protecting sources.

On 06/03/1964 the number one single was Anyone Who Had a Heart -Cilla Black and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 06/03/1965 the number one single was I'll Never Find Another You - Seekers and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.