Fact #96972

EYE WITNESS - THE FIRST-EVER TOP OF THE POPS by Johnny Black

Bill Cotton (Head of Variety, BBC TV) : At that time, Ready Steady Go was doing amazing things. It was enjoying great success, and a lot of TV people and members of the public were being affected by it.

Johnnie Stewart (producer) : I'd long been associated with various pop shows of the day. When it was the time of The Twist, I did a programme called 'The Twist', and when Trad was the order of the day, I did a programme called 'The Trad Fad'. The point is that these were fads by definition - trends that come and go. The formula for Top Of The Pops was such that, if it caught on, there would be no reason why it shouldn't run
and run.

Although the BBC had a variety of popular shows, like Juke Box Jury, which I had been strongly involved with, there was nothing with the regularity of ITV's Ready Steady Go. So we kicked various ideas around and had seemingly countless meetings. We decided that it was time we had a pop show to reflect the most popular records of the day.

Bill Cotton : It seemed simple and right, but there were, to say the least, trepidations within the organisation as to the potential of a show such as Top Of The Pops. The feeling was, either it would be a total failure or a completely overwhelming success.

Johnnie Stewart : When Bill Cotton okayed the show, he called me in and told me that all was well, but added as an afterthought, 'Oh, by the way, you're doing it in Manchester.' The BBC always had studios everywhere - Glasgow, Birmingham, all over the place - and, at that time, Manchester was not exactly overflowing with work so that is where we went.

Frances Line (production secretary) : I was the relief secretary in Light Entertainment, so I was allocated to this new pop music show about a month before it went on the air. Johnnie was absolutely the driving force. He was a man with tremendous nervous energy. It was really his baby.

Jimmy Savile : I got a phone call from BBC TV. 'My name is Johnnie Stewart and I'm starting a programme called Top Of The Pops. Will you be the first disc jockey on the show?'

Frances Line : The whole team moved up from London about 48 hours before the first rehearsal. The run-up period was frantic, because the show had no format, no history, and everything had to be devised as we went along.

Dave Clark : Glad All Over hadn't even been released when Johnnie rang me up. He'd heard a promo copy of the song, and he was so sure it would be a huge hit that he asked us to go on the show.

Bobby Elliott (drummer, The Hollies) : They wanted us on because our third single, Stay, was looking like our biggest hit yet, but when our office in London told us the name, Top Of The Pops, we just laughed. It sounded so naff, the kind of name someone who knew nothing about pop music would come up with.

Ray Ennis (Swinging Blue Jeans) : Hippy Hippy Shake had just come out and our manager Jimmy Ireland came to a gig in The Midlands to tell us there was a new tv show starting called Top Of The Pops, and they wanted us on. Our bass player Les Braid immediately said, 'Oh God, not another kids' show!' because that was what you had to do in those days, all those Children's Hour things like Crackerjack.

Then Jimmy told us the format, and it was amazing. There was just nothing like it on tv at the time, it was such an original idea.

Jim Moir : I was a producer in Light Entertainment and I was invited by Johnnie to voice an opening announcement which he'd devised. So during one lunch time I recorded the legendary phrase, "Yes, it's number one ... it's Top Of The Pops' and it was used for years after.

Frances Line : We were all still up in the production office as midnight approached on New Year's Eve. On the stroke of twelve we all stopped for a minute, had a swig of champagne from a BBC cardboard cup, wished each other happy new year and went straight back to work again.

Johnnie Stewart (producer) : I put the first show on the air, on New Year's Day, 1964, from a studio which was, in fact, a converted church.

Dave Clark : We went up on the train from London, and the gear went separately in the van. That first show was recorded on a Monday, which was the day the new chart came out. Glad All Over had been No2 the week before and, on that Monday, it went to No1. So we should have been the first ever No1 on Top Of The Pops, but they were still using the previous week's chart, so The Beatles got that honour.

Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) : We were on the road the night before that first Top Of The Pops. Our road manager shoved us in the back of our little pink, windowless Volkswagen van. Somehow, we arrived at this complex in Manchester and nobody knew what was happening.

Ray Ennis : We drove from the Midlands to Dickinson Road in the car, with the roadies bringing the gear along in the van, and it was a bit disappointing when we got there, because you'd arrived at this very dull, drab old church with scrubby bushes outside it.

Frances Line : They'd taken all the pews out, but you could still clearly see that it was a church. It was very odd to see camera one moving up and down what had very obviously been the aisle.

Bobby Elliott : We got there about noon. It was very atmospheric, because you'd go through this ancient church door and suddenly you were in a tv studio. It was very small though, but that just added to the atmosphere. When they moved to London, they used bigger studios, but rock works best in small places, which is why we always thought it was much better in Manchester.

Ray Ennis : All the bands met up in the canteen, and that day The Stones came in at the same time as us. We didn't really know them then, and they had this kind of attitude that we knew nothing because we were from North of Watford. The old North-South rivalry thing. The dinner ladies wanted autographs, and we had some pictures we could sign except that we didn't have a Biro. So our rhythm guitarist Ralph Ellis, went over to Keith Richards and sort of jokingly grabbed a pen out of his hand.

Keith followed him back to our table and demanded his pen back. 'You fuckin' Northern Ernies,' he was shouting, 'Give me that bloody pen back!' So they started grappling over this little plastic Biro, and in the scuffle Ralph's chair goes over and they end up throwing punches on the floor. At this point, Jagger comes in, sees what's going on and wades in to help Keith, so it became a real free-for-all. In a way, though, it sort of broke the ice. Once it was all sorted out, we became good friends.

Bobby Elliott : For the chart run-down, Johnnie Stewart wanted photographs of all the artists, so he paid Harry Goodwin about