Fact #63464
When:
Short story:
An all-star edition of UK tv show Ready, Steady, Go! is aired featuring The Kinks, The Hollies, The Animals, Herman's Hermits and The Who.
Full article:
Keith Altham (journalist, NME) : It was to be a pop panto, with the stars miming to appropriate pop records. Cilla Black was the storyteller. Presenter Cathy McGowan was Cinderella, Ray Davies of The Kinks and Hilton Valentine of The Animals were the Ugly Sisters, Herman was the Prince, and two of The Hollies, Graham Nash and Bobby Elliott, were the pantomime horse.
Peter Noone (Herman of Herman's Hermits) : There was always a kind of us and them thing about Ready, Steady, Go! We got on brilliantly with the London bands but the production staff of the show were pseudo-intellectual, theatrical types. Us and The Animals and The Kinks, we'd be looking for pints of beer, and the producers would be sipping vodka and tonic. They thought rock music was about fashion but, as far as I was concerned, nobody bought The Who or The Kinks' records because of what they wore.
They were very nice to the in-crowd, which was basically acts from South of Watford, but they regarded us as 'pop chappies from the North.' I was feeling quite pleased though, because they'd dismissed me as a one-hit-wonder and, that very month, I'd overtaken The Beatles record sales in America.
There were drinks beforehand in the Green Room, and we'd been to the pub down the road with The Hollies as well. When we got into the tv studio, it was obvious they had everything scripted and planned to the last detail, and that didn't go down well with us.
Pete Quaife (bassist, The Kinks] : My only memory of that day is that I had cystitis. I really needed to pee very badly all the way though the show.
Peter Noone : At one point, Keith Moon of The Who was supposed to walk on from stage left and, instead he decided to barge straight through the scenery. He just ripped right through the fake door. It was chaos.
Keith Altham : Pete Townshend of The Who brought the house down as the Wicked Stepmother, mugging hysterically to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Goodbyee.
And when the pantomime horse came on Mick Avory of The Kinks put his foot in front of Graham Nash, so the whole horse went charging into a kitchen unit and brought half the set down around their ears.
Peter Noone : At one point, I was miming to The Supremes' Stop! In The Name Of Love, trying to be all three Supremes at once, when the lens from an arc lamp crashed down from the studio ceiling and showered us all with glass. But the highlight for me was seeing tough little Newcastle lad Eric Burdon as the Fairy Godmother, complete with fairy costume and wings, demanding, 'Where's me money?' I was in tears laughing.
Keith Altham : While all this was going on, The Who's John Entwistle was in one corner of the studio playing the William Tell Overture on his French Horn, which was not at all appreciated by the studio manager.
Peter Noone : The whole day was like a lunatic party, and it carried on after we'd finished filming, but even then it was like two separate worlds. I went off with Burdon and the others to the Ad lib club in search of further refreshment, and I think the tv people had another round of tea and cucumber sandwiches.
(Source : not known)
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Peter Noone (Herman of Herman's Hermits) : There was always a kind of us and them thing about Ready, Steady, Go! We got on brilliantly with the London bands but the production staff of the show were pseudo-intellectual, theatrical types. Us and The Animals and The Kinks, we'd be looking for pints of beer, and the producers would be sipping vodka and tonic. They thought rock music was about fashion but, as far as I was concerned, nobody bought The Who or The Kinks' records because of what they wore.
They were very nice to the in-crowd, which was basically acts from South of Watford, but they regarded us as 'pop chappies from the North.' I was feeling quite pleased though, because they'd dismissed me as a one-hit-wonder and, that very month, I'd overtaken The Beatles record sales in America.
There were drinks beforehand in the Green Room, and we'd been to the pub down the road with The Hollies as well. When we got into the tv studio, it was obvious they had everything scripted and planned to the last detail, and that didn't go down well with us.
Pete Quaife (bassist, The Kinks] : My only memory of that day is that I had cystitis. I really needed to pee very badly all the way though the show.
Peter Noone : At one point, Keith Moon of The Who was supposed to walk on from stage left and, instead he decided to barge straight through the scenery. He just ripped right through the fake door. It was chaos.
Keith Altham : Pete Townshend of The Who brought the house down as the Wicked Stepmother, mugging hysterically to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Goodbyee.
And when the pantomime horse came on Mick Avory of The Kinks put his foot in front of Graham Nash, so the whole horse went charging into a kitchen unit and brought half the set down around their ears.
Peter Noone : At one point, I was miming to The Supremes' Stop! In The Name Of Love, trying to be all three Supremes at once, when the lens from an arc lamp crashed down from the studio ceiling and showered us all with glass. But the highlight for me was seeing tough little Newcastle lad Eric Burdon as the Fairy Godmother, complete with fairy costume and wings, demanding, 'Where's me money?' I was in tears laughing.
Keith Altham : While all this was going on, The Who's John Entwistle was in one corner of the studio playing the William Tell Overture on his French Horn, which was not at all appreciated by the studio manager.
Peter Noone : The whole day was like a lunatic party, and it carried on after we'd finished filming, but even then it was like two separate worlds. I went off with Burdon and the others to the Ad lib club in search of further refreshment, and I think the tv people had another round of tea and cucumber sandwiches.
(Source : not known)