In a 1970 episode of Not Only... But Also, Dud (Dudley Moore) and Pete (Peter Cook) discuss eternal verities - lovely girl Verity...
And what a year it was… Anyway, as Millicent Martin would sing, it’s over, let it go!
To celebrate the New Year, we’re taking a quick look back at the year just gone, in the form of a quiz – because I know you were all paying attention – based on some of the things I’ve talked about in the Genome Sunday Post through 2016. The relevant blog appeared in the month named above each question.
Pens at the ready – no cheating now…
JANUARY
Which future star of New Tricks had an early role as the title character, Terry, in a schools broadcast in 1969? Even earlier in his career, he played the lead in which BBC children’s series?
FEBRUARY
1960s comedy giants Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, stars of Not Only… But Also, first came to fame in which revue, originally presented at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival and televised in 1964? Who were their famous co-stars in that revue?
MARCH
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop provided electronic music and special sound for BBC programmes from 1958 to 1998. Which female composer was the last person to be employed at the Workshop? And where in London was the Workshop based?
Early Top Gear presenter Brendan Coogan prepares to blow up a car - but he wasn't the first host of the show...
APRIL
Our guest blogger Greg Bakun talked about his love for British television – one series he has been able to enjoy on DVD (albeit in truncated form as it is not complete in the archives) is A for Andromeda. Which famous film star’s career was launched by the series, and who replaced her in the follow up, The Andromeda Breakthrough?
MAY
Top Gear was one of the motoring programmes discussed in our blog on all things automotive. But who was the original lead presenter, and in what English region was the programme first shown, before it was networked?
JUNE
Jessie Matthews took over the lead of which radio soap in 1963 – and what was the name of the new soap, set in North London, that replaced it six years later?
The cast of Are You Being Served? have probably served themselves this time, in the staff canteen of Grace Brothers' department store
JULY
Tommy Handley starred from 1939 to 1949 in ITMA, the great wartime comedy – but what did the initials stand for? And who were the two comic stars of rival show Band Waggon?
AUGUST
Are You Being Served? was one of the most popular comedy series of the 1970s, but who co-wrote it with producer David Croft? What was the 1990s sequel that reunited many of the cast?
SEPTEMBER
I, Claudius featured Brian Blessed, George Baker, John Hurt and Derek Jacobi as successive Roman emperors – what were their names, and in which other drama series have all four actors appeared at different times?
Lord Reith, formerly Sir John, late of the BBC - seen here while being interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge in 1967 for Lord Reith Looks Back
OCTOBER
Sir John Reith was the first Director General of the BBC. In which year did he leave the Corporation? He was interviewed on BBC television’s Face to Face in 1960 but who was the unseen questioner in that series?
NOVEMBER
VentriloquistRayAlan's best-known character was the aristocratic Lord Charles. But who was his earlier extra-terrestrial dummy who often appeared in children’s television? And which other ventriloquist’s show, Pops and Lenny, once featured the Beatles?
DECEMBER
Writer Nigel Kneale was celebrated as a pioneer of television writing, and of the genre of science fiction. What is the first name of his recurring hero, Professor Quatermass? And a final, trickier question – what is the connection between Quatermass and Muffin the Mule – apart from their both appearing on BBC television in the 1950s?
No prize for the first set of correct answers I’m afraid – BBC Genome has an even lower budget than Blankety Blank! Back to the usual style of blog next week, when we celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Forsyte Saga.
