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Probably
the least well-remembered of the four 'classic' television pop
shows of the Sixties, TYLS first hit our screens in April 1961.
Produced by ABC Television, it was intended as a rival show
to the already well-established 'Juke Box Jury'.
The original producer was Philip Jones (below
left) who had previously been Programme Controller at
Radio Luxembourg before coming into television by way of Granada
and Tyne Tees where he had notably produced TV 'specials' for
Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee.
Jones
also produced a number of popular music shows for Tyne Tees
including 'At The Golden Disc' and 'Request Time'. His ATV shows
included 'Big Night Out' and 'Blackpool Night Out' and he was
the main driving force behind the creation and success of the
show that boasted at least three major 'scoops' - The Shadows,
the first British group to be awarded a Gold Disc ( for 'Apache'
), had it presented on the show of 13th April 1962.
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January 19th 1963 saw the first networked TV performance by
The Beatles ( recorded on January 13th ) miming their second
single, 'From Me To You'. He realised early on the impact that
the 'Mersey Beat' sound was to have on Britain's youth, inspiring
him to put on a 'special' show in June 1963 featuring Liverpool's
finest groups and artists. That show alone attracted over 6
million viewers, prompting his comment "The ratings achieved
by that show proved the Liverpool sound was not limited in its
appeal to a local audience -obviously it had a national following." |
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The original presenter of the show was
Keith Fordyce (R), who went on to greater
fame as compere of Ready Steady Go! Other presenters over the
show's five-year life included Jimmy Saville, Pete Murray, Barry
Alldis, Kent Walton ( the well-known wrestling commentator who
had previously compered 'Cool For Cats' ), Alan Dell, Sam Costa,
Jimmy Young, Don Moss and Brian Matthew who also DJ'd the extremely
popular radio show 'Saturday Club'. 'Five O'Clock Club' presenter
Muriel Young also co-hosted the programme on occasion. Other
producers of the show were Helen Standage, Keith Beckett, Milo
Lewis and Alan Freeman ( not the D.J. ) |
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Although
Brian Matthew is the presenter most associated with the programme,
it was Don Moss who was responsible for introducing 'Spin a
Disc' to the show.This was the now-famous segment where a panel
of typical teenagers listened to the latest releasesand awarded
each ofthem 'marks out of five' in an obvious copy of the Juke
Box Jury format. Herein lies everyone's strongest memory of
the show.
Early in 1962 a 16 year-old girl from Wednesbury in the Black
Country ( then Staffordshire ) was successful in her application
to be on the teenage jury and proved to be such a hit personality
that she remained as a permanent feature on the jury for three
years. The girl was Janice Nicholls (pictured left with Pete
Murray), and her 'Oi'll give it foive' spoken with a strong
Black Country accent has since become a national catchphrase,
even though comparatively few people now know or remember exactly
where it came from. |
Janice Nicholls eventually married Brian
Meacham ( of Brian Gulliver and The Travellers ), who now have
their own web site called
'Oi'll
Give It Foive' ( what else! ) where you'll find some
great pictures and Sixties recollections. It is with Janice
and Brian's kind permission that the picture of them with The
Beatles appears below right. There are lots more with other
artists on theirs, and some great sixties memorabilia.
Janice
enjoyed considerable fame as a personality in her own right
during this period with appearances on chat shows, in magazine
articles and adverts, even making a novelty record called 'I'll
Give It Five' on Decca.At that time, the show was recorded live
on a Sunday night at the ABC Alpha Studios in Aston, Birmingham,
for transmission the following Saturday.
Some recorded material was also used which was produced at the
Teddington Studios in London.
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The programme introduced an all-Liverpool
'special' on June 29th 1963 called 'Summer Spin Liverpool
Special', featuring The Beatles, Lee Curtis, The Big Three,
Kenneth Cope and The Breakaways ( 'Marty' from 'Randall
& Hopkirk - Deceased'! ), Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas,
The Vernon Girls and Gerry and The Pacemakers. |
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This one programme alone pulled in six
million viewers, which persuaded ABC to introduce a regular
additional seasonal replacement programme called 'Lucky Stars
Summer Spin' on which the highly popular Billy Fury was a regular
performer. It also led to a second 'Merseybeat Special' on December
21st 1963 - 'Lucky Stars On Merseyside' - which featured The
Beatles (above left), Gerry and The Pacemakers,
Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, Cilla Black, Tommy Quickly,
The Fourmost and The Breakaways. The 'Spin-a-Disc' segment of
this show featured the Cavern Club's D.J. Bob Wooler as guest
compere and Billy Butler as a mop-top teenage jury member. |
Appearing
on the show of July 7th 1963, The Rolling Stones made their
very first UK television appearance, miming 'Come On'.
For this performance, they were paid the grand sum of £143!
The
Dave Clark Five also made their TV debut on the show, on 20th
April 1963 with 'Mulberry Bush'. Gene Vincent had already
become the first American artist to appear on the show, followed
by many others who included Brenda Lee, The Supremes and The
Ronettes.
Thank Your Lucky Stars had more than one theme tune over the
years but the best and most well-known of them was the second,
a high-powered organ and big-band instrumental called 'Lunar
Walk' which was written by Johnny Hawksworth ( who also
composed Thames Television's ident and theme tune ).
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Barry Harper:
"Thank Your Lucky Stars, May 1966** - I was there, in the audience
at the Alpha TV studios! I remember the Koobas... very flowery trousers.
The young girl on the swing was Deano and I'm sure that Tom Jones
sang a couple of songs. The stuff about the 'Stones' is just as I
remember it. In the break, Jim Dale was very entertaining.... " Have
you got some questions for the Rolling Stones ?.... " Yes... very
good... but I can't ask Mick about that....."
"Jim's warm-up before the cameras rolled was equally entertaining.....
"Keep your hands on your lap.... your lap... not the person sitting
next to you.... and don't pick your nose...." And then he said....
" We have to do this all in one take... so if it goes wrong we'll
have to start all over again. If we're still here at 10 o'clock the
Salvation Army will be here with some soup and bread rolls. If we're
still here at midnight.... b***** it.... we'll just have a party..."
That's how I remember it... "
**The Saturday 14th May 1966 episode
still exists. Hosted by Jim Dale, guests were: The Rolling Stones
(Lady Jane, Paint It Black) Tom Jones (Responsible, Once There Was
A Time) The Koobas (You’d Better Make Up Your Mind) Deano (Starlight)
The Morgan-James Duo (Put Your Tears Away) The Kentuckians (She Still
Thinks) Lorne Lesley (Somebody) Ronnie Carroll (Wait For Me) and The
Londonaires (Dearest Emma).
The final episode of the programme, 'Goodbye
Lucky Stars', was presented by Jim Dale and broadcast on Saturday
25th June 1966 between 5:50 and 6:35 p.m.
There had been about 2600 different sets and over 3000 artists on
the show during it's all too brief existence.
See Also 'Thank
Your Lucky Stars 2'
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Thank
Your Lucky Stars 
SixtiesCity 2008