Top of the Pops

The first edition of Top of the Pops was broadcast on this date in 1964. Here are ten things you might not know about this programme.

1. The first song ever played was I Only Want to be With You by Dusty Springfield. The Rolling Stones were the first band to perform, with I Wanna Be Your Man. The Hollies, the Swinging Blue Jeans and The Dave Clark Five were among the other acts who appeared.
2. The show, originally intended to run for just a few weeks, lasted 42 years and 2,166 regular episodes, plus specials. The final show was broadcast on 11 July 2005, although there was a special “swan song” which went out on 30 July 2006.
3. There have been more than 150 presenters, including guests, 13 different opening sequences and nine theme tunes. These include Top of the Pops, by the Dave Davani Four; An instrumental version of the Led Zeppelin-Willie Dixon composition Whole Lotta Love, Yellow Pearl, The Wizard, by Paul Hardcastle, Red Hot Pop by Vince Clarke of Erasure and Now Get Out of That by Tony Gibber.
4. The record for the most number of appearances on the show is held by Cliff Richard, who featured 160 times. Status Quo were the most frequent group with 106 performances, and Kylie Minogue is the female singer who has appeared the most times on the show, with 50 appearances.
5. Old episodes are repeated on other BBC channels, but there’s no way you’ll ever get to see all 2,166 episodes, for two reasons. Firstly, the BBC had a policy of re-using tapes and as with many classic shows of the 1960s, many episodes were simply lost. There are no surviving episodes with live appearances by The Beatles. Secondly, various presenters and artists have been disgraced, for example, Jimmy Saville, who presented the first show and was a regular presenter for many years, so no episode featuring him will ever be shown. Likewise any show featuring Dave Lee Travis, Rolf Harris or Gary Glitter is also banned.
6. The longest song ever performed on the show was Jesus of Suburbia by Green Day, which lasted 9 minutes and 10 seconds.
7. The record for the number of people on stage during a performance was Fat Les singing Jerusalem with 70 people on stage.
8. There were a series of dance troupes which would perform when a band was unavailable and/or there was no music video. The first of these was called the Go-Jos, which also performed on the Val Doonican Show. They were replaced in 1968 by Pan’s People who were regulars until 1976, when several members of the group retired. For a few months after that, there was Ruby Flipper, which had both male and female dancers. However, it seems the world wasn’t quite ready for that yet, with one dancer commenting "It's a big mistake. Men rush home to watch sexy ladies. They do not want to see other men," before resigning. Ruby Flipper was replaced with Legs and Co, another all female troupe. In 1981, they were replaced by Zoo, a twenty-member dance troupe (ten male, ten female). By the early 1980s, record companies were offering the BBC free promotional videos, so dancers were no longer needed.
9. It was 20 years before Top of the Pops got a full time female presenter, Janice Long.
10. The final episode featured no live acts in the studio, so the last act to perform live were Snow Patrol with Chasing Cars.

Fire in Her Blood

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

Character birthdays

In 2023 I will feature one or more of the characters from my novels or short stories with a brief description and which books (if any) they appear in, on their birthdays.

Today there are two:

Tri Bot

Professor Power’s robot. This is an activation date, rather than a birthday. Tri Bot has various functions which include hacking computer and security systems, drilling, repairing electronic gadgets and as a weapon. It can get into places too hazardous for humans as it can withstand extreme temperatures and explosions.

Chain II

Real name Timothy Winchcombe, the son of the original Chain, Gary Winchcombe and Amanda Somerset-Liquorish. When Gary moves on to intelligence work, Timmy gets Gary’s superhero suit and begins training as the next “supercop”.