| Welcome to the Unofficial BFBS
Nostalgia Archive. Featured here are rare clips
from BFBS Germany radio broadcasts of 1979-1982, plus a couple of BFBS
Television audio clips. All of these come from my
own tape collection, which I am still searching for more clips. The sound
quality is extremely variable, but they're all I have and so I thought I'd share
them anyway. |
| Includes clips of Richard
Nankivell and Uncle Bill, Stephen Withers and
Marie-Louise Thomas, Dave Raven, Tony Davis, and the Internet's only
on-line celebration of the work of Alan Clough! Also includes some episodes of
Say It In German. |
If you can help to correct
any errors, or contribute further information, please contact me at: poglad@bigfoot.com
|
Established: 02-Oct-2001
Last Update: 11-Oct-2001 |
| Alan Clough |
| Even in 1980, Alan Clough was something of a BFBS veteran
having been involved since the 1960s. I've heard him read the news on
occasion, but presented here is some of his more light-hearted work. |
| The introduction to Round The Twist, a competition
that featured in (I believe) the Marie-Go-Round show presented by
Marie-Louise Thomas. |
| An absolutely classic advert from 1979, regarding a performance
of that play with the knights in it (Sir Digby Bane-Trompington, Squire
Blackheart, and Sir Percival Smoothly-Smooth). Anyone know who was the
voice of the rather excitable little boy? |
| "News of two May fairs," announces Alan in the Spring of 1980.
Very crazy background music! |
| From 1980, an advert for a bowling championship in Krefeld. |
| If you fancy winning all these amazing raffle prizes, you
should have been at the 1980 Rheindahlen Church Fête! The draw was made
by none other than Tony Davis himself! |
| An advert from 1980, voiced by Marie-Louise
Thomas, is followed by another from Alan advertising an air show. |
| These adverts date from 1981. The first, featuring
Charles Foster, concerns the NAAFI motor show in
Rheindahlen. The second, voiced by Alan Clough, advertises a play called
The Physicists. |
| Alan tells us the latest Folk News, recorded in 1980. |
| Want to get that 1968 VW Beetle sold to a good home? You need
Schnell Sell. A classic of its time, and a really catchy tune!
Introduced by Tony Davis and again dating from
1980. |
| A seasonal warning against festive thievery, this was
recorded during the Christmas of 1981. |
| Marie-Louise Thomas |
|
This is not what Marie-Louise looks
like!
When I was young, I would listen to
Marie-Louise's voice on my radio, and wonder what she looked like. I
imagined a Dorothy Gale type girl, with long dark flowing hair and
ribbons... Well, in 1980
she was the celebrity guest at our Blue Peter Bring & Buy Sale at St.
Patrick's School, Rheindahlen, so I was finally able to put a face to the
voice. As it happened she had shortish blonde curly hair, and signed an
autograph for me: "This is for my cheque book, so you can get lots of
money off me!" |
| Marie-Louise doing announcing duties on a Saturday morning
in 1980, followed by the intro to London Sportsdesk. |
| The end of London Sportsdesk is followed by an
impressive style change on the part of Marie-Louise, who transforms herself
in an instant from continuity announcer to children's entertainer.
Junior Spin from 1980, a Saturday morning show also hosted
by Tony Davis. The show was later replaced
by Marie-Go-Round, which as Merry-Go-Round was then taken
over by Mike Allen. |
| The end of one of the Marie-Go-Round shows, from late
1980 or early 1981. |
| A defining moment in British broadcasting, this amazing
performance from 1980 became permanently lodged in my childhood memories.
Having rediscovered an old recording of it some twenty years later, I
cannot resist posting it here! Introduced by Tony Davis. |
| A golf competition in Bielefeld, 1980 gets the Marie-Louise
treatment, but alas it's not the classic performance that the previous
soundclip achieved. |
| "It's not exactly Pot Black", apologizes Marie-Louise in 1980.
Never mind, at least there are no silly voices on this one. Followed by an
advert for an air show from Alan Clough and some more
from Tony Davis. |
| Marie-Louise reads the weather in 1980. |
| From 1980, some marvellous banter between Stephen Withers and Marie-Louise! |
| From late 1980 or early 1981, Marie-Louise presents an
adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince performed by
class J3K of St. Patrick's School, Rheindahlen. |
| Stephen Withers |
| The presenter of Sounds Like Sunday and the Roadshow,
Stephen Withers was famous for his live link-ups with Radio 2 DJ Pete Murray
and various other radio stations. "Pilot of the airwaves, here
is my request. You don't have to play it, but I hope you'll do your best.
I've been listening to your show on the radio, and you seem like a friend
to me..." |
| Stephen Withers and one of his jingles in 1980. |
| Some marvellous banter between Stephen Withers
and Marie-Louise Thomas, followed by the intro to
Stephen's show Sounds Like Sunday in 1980. Stephen also namechecks
Dave Raven in this sequence. |
| An example of a link, in this case between BFBS and
Radio Clyde in 1981. In this example, Radio Clyde appear to be broadcasting
to Germany via a domestic telephone line. |
| In another example of a link, Pete Murray's Radio 2 show is
heard over the BFBS airwaves in 1981. Immediately before this is heard a
nice Stephen Withers jingle. |
| The news on the hour is followed, in classic Withers style,
by the famous Charlie Dore intro, which he used as a jingle during this
era. |
| Charles Foster |
|
"It's Charles FFFFFoster!" Back in my young day, Charles Foster was
often to be heard presenting the Breakfast Show or reading the news.
Today, Charles is still with BFBS; in fact he is Controller of BFBS Radio!
|
| Somewhere, I have a recording of Charles presenting the
breakfast show, featuring a certain jingle. However, until I manage to
find that tape, here is a brief clip from the end of a news bulletin
in 1980. (For more on that jingle, try the Nankers
section.) |
| These adverts date from 1981. The first features Charles and
invites you to visit the NAAFI motor show in Rheindahlen. The second,
voiced by Alan Clough, advertises a play called
The Physicists. |
| Richard Nankivell |
|
This photo is taken from the official BBC website, and their
copyright is acknowledged.
Richard Nankivell, or Nankers as he was better known, presented a
hilarious show, a two-minute segment of which is preserved here. Nankers is
legendary, I think that's fair comment. These days, he's at BBC Radio
Cumbria, but I can't receive that in Aberdeen, sadly.
You can visit his website at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/radiocumbria/nanks2.shtml
|
| Say it in German, followed by some classic Nankers
from Christmas 1981. A permanent and cherished memory of my last Christmas
in Germany, and, at age 11, the end of my childhood. Check out the Salsoul
Orchestra in the background! Who'd have guessed that the Salsoul sound
would have made a comeback two decades later? Also notice the Nankers
imitation of the "It's Charles FFFFFoster!" jingle,
the original of which I hope to upload here once I've found it. |
| One of the features of his show was that you could send in your
all-time personal Top 10, and he would play it as though it were the real
top ten. This short montage will give you a flavour of what it was like.
|
| Tommy Vance |
|
Surely Tommy Vance needs no introduction. A heavyweight
of broadcasting and voice over work, Tommy presented the weekday afternoon
show BFBS UK for many years. He also showcased two great jingles sung by
the late Kenny Everett, both of which are presented here. Read more about
Tommy at:
http://uproar.fortunecity.com/galaxy/399/tommyv.htm
|
| Tommy Vances's BFBS UK jingle, 1980. |
| Jingle, 1980: "BFBS UK with Vance!" Followed by the start of
the BFBS UK show. |
| A typical start of the BFBS UK show, 1980. |
| Another typical start of the BFBS UK show, 1980. |
| The fantastic BFBS UK ditty sung by Kenny Everett. I recorded
this in 1980. |
| Other presenters, in Tommy's absence, included Richard Vaughan
and Adrian Love. This is Richard Vaughan in a 1980 trailer for the show,
featuring a shorter Kenny Everett jingle at the start. |
| Don't you wish you could listen to the rest of this show again?
The BFBS Top 20 Show from 1980. My, how times have changed. |
| Top 20 Plus from 1981. |
| Tony Davis |
| I'm afraid I know nothing about Tony Davis except that
he also worked at BFBS Gibraltar for a time. |
| Tony Davis's jingle, 1980. |
| The end of one of Tony Davis's shows from 1980, leading up to
the one o'clock news, apparently read by Charles
Foster though we don't get to hear him on this clip. |
| The highly impressive news jingle used in the late 1970s
(listen to the previous sound clip) was replaced in 1981 with this
more conventional piece, albeit dramatically introduced by Tony. |
| Jingle, 1980: "All the hits and more here with Tony Davis, oh yeah!" |
| Tony Davis in action in 1980, followed by an advert voiced by
Marie-Louise Thomas that defies description. |
| Like Marie-Louise Thomas, Tony Davis also had a spin at
Junior Spin. From 1980. |
| A news/weather sequence from 1980 followed by Tony's
jingle. |
| A very scarey public information broadcast about looking
after children's teeth. Recorded in 1980, and followed by a time check from
Tony Davis. |
| Miscellaneous |
| Here's all the other stuff that I haven't sorted out yet! |
| The BFBS Radio theme tune from 1981. |
| Some very rare fragments of Uncle Bill and Badger
from 1980! |
| The opening news jingle used until 1981. This is taken from
Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" album. |
| The closing news jingle from that era. Again taken from
Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" album. |
| The news jingle that was used starting in 1981. From the end of
one of Tony Davis's shows. |
| Jingle, 1980: "Today's the day". |
| Jingle, 1980: "BFBS, keeping you in touch". |
| Jingle, 1980: "BFBS". |
| Jingle, 1989: I visited Rheindahlen on holiday in 1989, some
7 years after I had last lived there. Tuning in to BFBS, I was happy to find
that that some things had changed very little! (In particular,
Alan Clough was still to be heard, though not in this
clip). |
| A very scarey public information broadcast about looking
after children's teeth. Recorded in 1980. Followed by a time check from
Tony Davis. |