THE OLD GREY WHISTLE TEST IS BACK!

minder on each shoulder: “Then I noticed the two huge guys were literally supporting him, one under each arm, the toes of his black boots dragging across the floor as they dumped him into the chair beside me.”

Whistle Test was first aired in September 1971 and was the brainchild of BBC Two controller David Attenborough. It was originally presented by Melody Maker journalist Richard Williams, with the emphasis from the start on “serious” music. So there were no fancy sets, only the most basic stage and barely any studio audience.

Even the name reflected its muso intentions, being a nod to the days of Tin Pan Alley when pluggers would judge the merit of a new song by playing it to the “old greys”: the bouncers who worked the doors of Soho clubs. If they could whistle the tune after just one hearing, it would invariably prove to be a hit. The show also had a tight budget – ROCKERS: Annie Nightingale (above) joined in 1978 and, main picture, The Who’s Roger Daltrey NERDISH ENTHUSIASM: “Whispering” Bob Harris interviewing Van Morrison just £500 an episode, including rights, appearance money and set design (which may explain why there was no set design). Initially the presenters were paid £40 a week and the acts a measly £15... with the exception being John Lennon, who was paid in biscuits. When Harris explained to the former Beatle that, by a quirk of BBC regulations the £15 payment was mandatory, whether he wanted it or not, Lennon – by then living in New York – responded: “Bring me £15-worth of Chocolate Olivers, I can’t get them in America.”

Harris presented Whistle Test for only seven of its 17 years but thanks to his laid-back delivery, hippy geography teacher style and nerdish enthusiasm, he remains the man most associated with it. Under his tenure it attracted upwards of five million viewers per show but ultimately it was those qualities that forced him to leave.

As the music scene shifted in the mid-1970s, Whispering Bob’s love of a long guitar solo became seen as a sign that he was out of touch with the angrier music that was emerging from the underground. The final straw came when he described cross-dressing proto-punk outfit the New York Dolls as “mock rock” and then glam pioneers Roxy Music as “all arrogance and packaging and not a lot of substance”.

“Unfortunately a perception developed that we were against punk and new wave,” he said. “But the spotlight of aggression on me did wear me down.” That “spotlight of aggression” climaxed with Harris being assaulted in a nightclub by Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, who demanded to know why they hadn’t been invited on to the show. In an almost perfect metaphor for the changing musical landscape Harris was rescued by roadies from prog band Procol Harum.

In 1978 he was replaced as presenter by Annie Nightingale, who gave the show relevancy again, and although ratings declined through the 1980s under the tenure of presenters including Hepworth, fellow journalist Mark Ellen and DJ Andy Kershaw, it continued to showcase future stars such as The Smiths to the end. In 1988, under the orders of Janet Street-Porter in her role as head of BBC youth and entertainment, it was laid to rest.

Friday’s special is unlikely to spring any surprises – either musically or in the way of Damned-style anarchics – but for anyone of a certain age who grew up believing pop music is about more than mere chart positions, it should at least bring back some happy memories.

And as for its most famous former presenter… even at 71 he’s not ruling out a return for an older, greyer Whistle Test. “I’m not talking about it being a retro show,” he says. “I mean a magazine show where we discuss new bands.”

Stranger things have happened.