Tried and tested
Play it again, Bob. MARION McMULLEN looks at 50 years of The Old Grey Whistle Test
TOP Of The Pops played the biggest chart hits of the day, but The Old Grey Whistle Test was the showcase for bands and performers keen to introduce new styles of music to viewers.
The music show, commissioned by BBC2 director, David Attenborough, launched 50 years ago on September 21, 1971.
The first presenter was rock journalist Richard Williams and he explained the title of the show to the Radio Times, saying “before a new record is released a rough mix is played to the grey-haired doorman. If they can whistle the tune after hearing it once, it passes the ‘old grey whistle test’ and is released”.
Long-haired Bob Harris took over the reins the following year and ended up presenting nearly 250 episodes. He got the “Whispering” nickname because of his quiet, laidback style and he became the face of the music show in the 1970s.
He was just 20 when he left his Northampton home for London in 1966 to become a DJ like his idol John Peel.
Within four years, he was standing in for John Peel on air and was then given his own Radio 1 show, before he joined The Old Grey Whistle Test.
He befriended superstars such as Marc Bolan and Robert Plant and partied with Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper.
The series – with its famous opening of the outline of a male figure kicking the stars – provided many musical highlights over the years, with performances from artists as diverse as The Police, Bob Marley and Billy Joel, to Siouxsie and the Banshees, Elton John, Van Morrison and Dire Straits. Bruce Springsteen appeared six times.
Annie Nightingale, BBC Radio 1’s first female DJ, became the music show’s presenter in 1978, following Bob’s departure, and other hosts over the years have included Mark Ellen and Andy Kershaw.
The show’s title was shortened to just Whistle Test in 1983 before the music finally came to an end in 1988.