Crackerjack it in

The BBC says it is bringing back the children’s variety show Crackerjack. That can’t quite be right, for Crackerjack can no more be brought back than embalmed Lenin can return from Red Square. In its early years Crackerjack was weird. Eamonn Andrews, almost in dinner jacket, loaded children with cabbages for getting quiz questions wrong, and Peter Glaze raised his eyebrows humorously. The audience shouted with delight, for there was nothing else to watch, apart from something on the other channel that was no better. At the height of its fame, Gary Glitter was asked to perform. Nothing like this is to be resuscitated or would be watched if it were. The BBC might hanker after its lost world but youngsters, to whom Crackerjack means nothing, now make their own choices from smart TV apps.