Foot-tapping memories of Saturday night show T
EENAGERS had a date in front of the television set every Saturday evening in 1957 for the Six-Five Special, Britain’s first live pop music show on TV.
It opened with film of a steam train heading down a railway line while Don Lang and the Frantic Five sang the theme song at a predictably frantic pace.
The show was produced by Jack Good, who broke new ground by having the audience milling around in an open studio without formal sets.
It was a formula used by Top of the Pops for decades afterwards. Reader Bill Place recalled the show which, he says, he watched quietly while his father checked his football coupon.
“Whilst reminiscing with my wife the other day, I mentioned Six-Five Special and asked her, as a former resident of Halifax, whether Don Lang came from Halifax. She didn’t know.”
Don Lang, a singer and trombonist (but not at the same time) was, indeed, from Halifax.
His style of music filled the gap between pop music’s crooners, skiffle and the burgeoning rock scene that was infiltrating from America.
Probably the highlight of his career was playing trombone on the song Revolution 1 for The Beatles on The White Album.
Josephine Douglas was another local connection with Six-Five Special. She was born in Huddersfield and was a film actress before becoming co-presenter of the show with disc jockey Pete Murray, with occasional help from Jim Dale and boxer Freddie Mills.
Jack Good left the show in 1958 to join ITV and produce the first live rock and roll show, Oh Boy!
Jo Douglas took over as producer and went on to have a highly successful career behind the camera producing such shows as Emergency Ward 10.
Six-Five Special ended its run in December 1958.
The ITV show Cool For Cats was actually the first rock/pop programme on television but the music was not live.
Hosted by Kent Walton, and named after a Radio Luxembourg show he also presented, it played records while the Dougie Squires Dancers, who included Una Stubbs, performed routines to the music.
I’ll bet those memories have set a few feet tapping.