Sixties City Pop Television - Thank Your Lucky Stars

Recording TYLS

Thank Your Lucky Stars

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 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, first British group to be awarded a Gold Disc ( for 'Apache' ), were presented with it on the show of 13th April 1962.

January 19th 1963 saw the first networked TV performance by The Beatles ( recorded Jan 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."

Philip Jones

Rolling Stones - larger image

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!
In between these 'events', in May of 1961, Gene Vincent became the first American artist to appear on the show, followed by many others who included Brenda Lee, The Supremes and The Ronettes.

The original presenter of the show was Keith Fordyce, 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. )

Keith Fordyce

Pete Murray with 'jury' girls

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 few people now 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. 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.

Janice, with husband Brian and The Beatles

The Beatles, Dec 21st

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 which featured The Beatles ( pictured 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.

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 ).

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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Petula Clark - click for full picture

Rolling Stones, July 7th 1963

The Searchers

Cilla Black - click for full picture