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Ready
Steady Go!
Associated
Rediffusion 1963-1966
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Pop presenter Keith Fordyce was being kept busy! This Friday
pop show with its slogan 'The Weekend Starts Here!' was co-hosted
by the demure 'Queen of the Mods' Cathy McGowan with additional
presenters David Gell, Michael Aldred and (twice) Dusty Springfield.
Cathy McGowan (right) was an office worker at the tv company
when she answered an advertisement for a 'typical teenager'
to act as advisor to the show and was thrust, without any
previous experience, in front of the cameras as one of the
main presenters.
Produced by Elkan Allen and directed by Daphne Shadwell, Robert
Fleming, Rollo Gamble, Michael Lindsay Hogg and Peter Croft,
it was first broadcast on 9th August 1963 from TV House, Kingsway,
London in a 30 min slot beginning at 7pm (some regions transmitted
it in a late evening slot at 10:40pm) and the first live acts
were Billy Fury and Brian Poole and The Tremeloes, performing
in front of about 200 teenagers.
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The original theme tune was 'Wipe Out' by the Surfaris which was soon
replaced by Manfred Mann's classic '5-4-3-2-1'. In 1964 it moved to
a 50 minute slot at 6:08 p.m. The
studio disco set allowed the
general public onto the studio floor for dancing and mingling with
the appearing stars.
Cathy
McGowan
Keith
Fordyce
Gay
Singleton |
The
show
featured both new releases and existing hits plus off-the-cuff
interviews with the artists, usually carried out by Michael
Aldred or Gay Singleton. The
Kingsway studio proved to be an inappropriate venue to cater
for the hundreds of fans who always crowded around outside the
building and it was eventually moved to Wembley ( now Fountain
) studios. This facility was not always available at the same
time every Friday and so the show was pre-recorded, usually
on Tuesdays. Direction of the show was shared by Peter Croft,
Rollo Gamble, Daphne Shadwell and Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Resident
full-time dancers
on the show were Theresa Confrey and Patrick Kerr who demonstrated
new dances alongside 'members of the public' ( whom they chose
specially from their visits to the 'Sabre' club ), with a certain
Paul Raven, better known in later decades as Gary Glitter, as
warm-up man for the dancing 'public'.
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In
1964 the RSG magazine was launched, costing 2 shillings.
Also in 64, a spin-off series featured the RSG team in
a show called 'READY STEADY GO + WIN', searching for new
pop talent. The panel included Brian Epstein, Bill Haley
and Brian Matthew plus guest judges each week including
Ringo Starr, Brian Jones and Mick Jagger. |
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SixtiesCity 2008