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Lunch date with a true TV legend
If, like myself, you grew up in the late 70s or early 80s when Sunday night rolled around it was always time for a bath.
My mum assures me that I’m suffering from selective memory syndrome and I did in fact have more than one wash a week.
But once I’d been scrubbed, dried and talced it was back in front of the box to join the rest of the nation in enjoying ‘That’s Life’ before bedtime.
Back then Esther Rantzen and her team of intrepid journalists made for compulsive viewing.
The prime-time magazine style show of its time covered some hard-hitting investigations with the occasional bit of light entertainment thrown in for good measure.
But the most memorable feature of the show for me was Prince, the talking dog.
However, even more successful than a dog that could say “Esther” and “sausages” was Childline.
The charity was set up by Ms Rantzen to help desperate children and young people who had nowhere else to turn.
And Childline is the reason for me taking this trip down Memory Lane.
For it was a real privilege for me to host this year’s NSPCC Scotland ladies’ lunch in Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel on Sunday, which celebrated 30 years of Childline.
And it was a real treat to get the opportunity to meet Esther herself.
She spoke extremely fondly of her time on ‘That’s Life’ and how the show managed to pull in an incredible 22 million-plus viewers each week.
If you compare that to today’s ‘X Factor’, which is delighted with 6.8 million viewers, it gives you an idea of how much TV viewing has changed over the last three decades or so.
All this talk of Sunday night telly has made me all nostalgic: ‘BJ and The Bear’, ‘The Fall Guy’ and, of course, my favourite, ‘Hart to Hart’.
Who remembers the gravellyvoiced butler’s opening spiel?
“This is my boss, Jonathan Hart - a self-made millionaire. He’s quite a guy.
“This is Mrs. H. She’s gorgeous. She’s one lady who knows how to take care of herself.
“By the way, my name is Max. I take care of both of them, which ain’t easy ‘cause when they met it was moider.”