Hi Whirligigers! You registered to be informed of updates to the WHIRLIGIG 1950's BRITISH TV AND RADIO NOSTALGIA site. February 2003 Newsletter. Unfortunately I have to report the passing of two stalwarts of '50s TV this month: Barry Bucknell, TV's original DIY expert in the 1950s and 1960s has died, aged 91. Barry passed on his tips in a programme called "Do It Yourself", which later became "Bucknell's House". The half-hour programme was broadcast on BBC TV and was a forerunner to the wide range of homes and interiors shows which fill the schedules today. The programme was initially transmitted live. In an article in the Daily Mail, Barry said that he used to rehearse a lot at home with his wife timing him with a stopwatch. He'd build something like a new kitchen cupboard but, of course, it then had to be taken down again and moved to the studio for the programme. Even with all the rehearsing, there were still often disasters, such as the time he oversoaked the paper for a ceiling and it dropped down on him. He had to say, "This is how not to do it!", but the viewers loved it! He later went on to design the immensely popular Mirror dinghy. http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml? &xml=/news/2003/02/22/db2202.xml Also, Dick Simmons, star of "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" has died aged 89. Dick Simmons was most closely identified with the role of Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, which ran on television from 1955 to 1958. Aided only by his black horse Rex and his malamute dog Yukon King, Preston single-handedly enforced law and order each week on the Canadian frontier, ending each show with the words, "Well King, this case is closed." Simmons also directed several of the 30-minute episodes. http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/story.jsp? story=379586 On a lighter note, this month's new video clips are again a fair old mixture: First there is a clip from "Beat the Clock", the parlour game which featured as a regular spot in "Sunday Night at The London Palladium" - ("You'll have the time of your life, beating time for big time prizes"). Members of the audience were invited to complete odd tasks, like catching table tennis balls in a butterfly net, within a short period of time measured by a large clock at the backdrop. Bruce Forsyth made the most of this game-piece, indeed it was the forerunner of "The Generation Game", a highly popular BBC programme of later years. The clip features the word game board in which a contestant had to unscramble "a well known phrase or saying" against the clock. http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/adults/other/snatlp.htm In 1953, our new Elizabethan era brought with it a revived interest in Good Queen Bess, of Tudor times. So it was not surprising that the BBC allocated a whole evening's viewing to that far-flung era, when they whisked us back in time, to the castles and kitchens, of Elizabeth I's reign. Even the announcers, Malcolm, Peters and Hobley, were attired in Tudor costumes. Mary Malcolm read 'Ye News', which had been heralded by a dozen or so, appropriately costumed, village lasses, seen, clinging to floral garlands, and prancing around a decorated maypole, to the strains of the BBC TV Newsreel theme. The clip features an Elizabethan scientific rocket experiment and Philip Harben, wearing cross-gartered tights and knickerbockers, in the Tudor kitchen: http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/adults/other/british.htm#An Evening's Diversion Arthur Dungate's website has a lot more information about the BBC's Elizabethan evening and a lot more pictures too: http://www.bbctv-ap.freeserve.co.uk/liztv.htm The next new clip features the Larkins who were a rumbustious cockney family headed by the henpecked, but cunning husband, Alf, played by David Kossoff, and his burly, battleaxe, bossy wife, Ada, payed by Peggy Mount. They lived at 66 Sycamore Street somewhere in the London suburbs and Alf worked in the canteen at a plastics factory. http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/adults/other/larkins.htm The final clip features Circus Boy. After his parents were killed in a high-wire accident, ten year-old Corky Wallace was adopted by the circus' owner, Big Tim Champion. Corky rode his baby elephant Bimbo, dealt with his adolescent problems, and helped the adults keep the circus in the black as the show moved from town to town each week. Corky shared screen time on the live-action Circus Boy with clown Uncle Joey and the always energetic Pete. http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/circusboy/circusboy.htm Just as I was about to run out of new video material, I received a batch of new video clips from Jimmy Keary, a visitor to Whirligig from Ireland, and these will be released over the next few months including Billy Bunter, Sir Lancelot, The Grove Family and another Circus Boy clip. Thanks Jimmy! So keep a lookout on the website and I'll be back with more news next month. =================================================================== As usual, if you think of anything that is missing or incorrect, have any more information about the programmes featured or just want to share your memories, do drop me a line to terry@whirligig-tv.co.uk Alternatively place them on the Message Board which I monitor daily at: http://go.ezboard.com/bwhirligigtv That's about it for now. Bye! Terry Guntrip (aka Mr. Turnip) http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk http://www.TurnipNet.com -------------------------------------------------------- See the "What's New" Pages at: http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/whatsnew.htm http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/whatsnew.htm with links to all new major updates or use the A TO Z SITE INDEX at: http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/siteindex.htm http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/siteindex.htm --------------------------------------------------------