HELLO ME OL' MATEYS

Spencer Leigh returns to the BBC Written Archives for an appraisal of ‘Saturday Club'

This feature appeared in the March 2006 edition of Now Dig This. Please send any comments toSpencer Leigh.

Thank you for your kind reactions to the features I wrote on ‘Six-Five Special’ and on Billy Fury at the BBC. I have returned to the BBC Written Archives at Caversham and looked at the files for ‘Saturday Club’, the key radio programme for teenagers in the late 50s and 60s. Despite the pruning over the years, there is plenty to read and the files divulge what happened behind the scenes at this historic programme. On behalf of ‘Now Dig This’, I thank the BBC Written Archives for allowing me to quote from this unique correspondence.

On 8 January 1957, a young producer and former schoolteacher from Plymouth, Jimmy Grant proposed a modest series called ‘Skiffle Session’. It would feature two or three singers with a skiffle group and would last 15 to 20 minutes. Grant’s note deals with the popularity of skiffle - “In London, the skiffle movement provides entertainment at several dozen coffee-houses” and furthermore, the skiffle repertoire includes “blues, ballads, shanties, work songs, country songs, cowboy songs, railway ditties and even evergreen popular tunes.” He calculated that the cost of mounting the show would be £51.10.0d.

At first the management was unsure that there should be a show for teenagers because the parents bought the TV licences, but half an hour wasn’t much to airtime. Hence, the BBC held auditions for appropriate skifflers in March 1957. Several groups were considered and the panel notes:

Dickie Bishop – quite good, two part singing and well organised
Cy Laurie – harmony singing way off, but otherwise not bad
Chas McDevitt – much better organised, more in time and a better beat
Johnny Duncan – hillbilly, yodelling blues. Too polite to use: could he be jogged up?

I was amused by the comment on Cy Laurie, hardly the UK’s best musician but arguably the oddest as he believed himself to be the reincarnation of Louis Armstrong’s clarinet player, Johnny Dodds. Didn’t anyone ever point out that he was born in 1926 and Dodds died in 1940? Whatever, this unusual man took himself off to India and combined eastern and western sounds long, long before the Beatles.

The programme ‘Saturday Skiffle Club’ was allocated a weekly budget of £55 and it started its run on 1 June 1957 between 10 and 10.30am, replacing a half an hour of music from theatre organists: they needn’t have worried as ‘The Organist Entertains’ continues to this day. The presenter was a 26-year-old announcer and news-reader, Brian Matthew, who regarded the show as an experiment as there had been nothing like it before. In other words, Chas McDevitt and his mates were providing cutting-edge radio.

‘Saturday Skiffle Club’ was popular but the BBC’s management disliked the American bias. “Too many American work songs,” said one BBC executive, “Doesn’t anybody know any British work songs?” Jimmy Grant and his boss, Don MacLean were asked to address the issue. On 25 June, Don MacLean’s told the Assistant Head of Variety (General):

“A very great deal of thought and effort has been expended here to seek British material for these programmes. For example, I obtained several rare books of Scottish ‘work songs’ and Jimmy Grant and I and several skifflers went through them all – seeking appropriate songs that could be performed with the strong off-beat of skiffle without producing the charge of sacrilege from those who have the originals.

“The plain fact is that British folk songs do not normally have an accented 2nd and 4th beat – many are in 6/8 – and have to be adapted – American folk songs mostly do, and therefore are a more natural choice.

“In spite of this, in the four programmes to date, approximately one in three songs has been British. We had regarded this as something of an achievement – and are disappointed that this seems not to have been appreciated.”

Still, ‘Saturday Skiffle Club’ was coming from Glasgow on 6 July and the intention was to include some rhythmic Scottish folk music into the programme, but “this is definitely an experiment.” It must have worked as the programme was extended by four weeks, with the series ending now on 28 September. It was then extended further and became a regular part of Saturday morning listening. Another criticism was levelled at the show’s compère, Brian Matthew. The BBC management thought he was good but instructed Jimmy Grant “not to turn him into a comic”.

The next counterblast was the charge that there were too many spirituals in the programme – this, after all, was the province of Religious Broadcasting. Jimmy Grant rose to the defence: “Spirituals are a very important ingredient of the skiffle repertoire and it would unnecessarily lower the standard of the programme to exclude them. In the case of pop numbers with a religious slant which have been submitted by publishers, these will of course be avoided where directed by the Head of Religious Broadcasting. Nearly all the numbers in ‘Skiffle Club’ are traditional, extensive research often being required to trace their origins.”

This is a reference to the fact that quasi-religious pop ballads such as ‘St. Therese Of The Roses’ or ‘Answer Me My Lord’ were either banned or given restricted airplay on ‘general’ programmes.

And from the King of Peace to the King of Skiffle. Most of the groups were being paid a flat fee of £30.10.0d. Not so Lonnie Donegan. If he was to appear on the programme, he wanted 40 guineas. The BBC paid up for his appearance on 12 October 1957, but his relationship with the BBC and indeed everyone who employed him was always fraught with difficulty. Lonnie knew his worth as the show’s listening figures were boosted in October 1957.

The programme came under internal criticism for going over budget. For the first quarter in 1958, the show was £31.10.0d over budget and for the second, horror of horrors, £43.16.0d. No more Lonnie Donegan, that’s for sure. You save money by hiring a solo instrumentalist such as Johnny Parker or Dill Jones for 7 guineas.

The files also contain the guests for the first nine months of 1958: there were appearances by the Vipers (5), Chas McDevitt with Shirley Douglas (5), Johnny Duncan and his Bluegrass Boys (3), George Melly and his Bubbling Over Four (3), Russell Quaye’s City Ramblers (3), Dickie Bishop and his Sidekicks (2), the Bob Cort Skiffle Group (2), and the Nancy Whiskey Skiffle Group (1). They could have had Cliff Richard (then Harry Webb) but he was turned down at the audition.

George Melly normally sang jazz with the Mick Mulligan Band but he formed the Bubbling Over Four for these broadcasts. He featured Bill Bramwell on guitar and they would duet on ‘Up Above My Head’ – I wonder how the Head of Religious Broadcasting viewed that.

Perhaps a greater concern to the BBC should have been Russell Quaye’s City Ramblers as they were active in the Workers Music Association, which was an offshoot of Communist Party. The BBC was constantly being accused by Tory MPs of fostering Communist sympathies and had they known of this group, ‘Saturday Skiffle Club’ might have been off the air. As Russell Quaye was an art teacher with a red beard, it’s surprising that they weren’t rumbled!

In April 1958 the BBC had discovered new buzz words - ‘hootenany’ and ‘folkbeat’. Effectively this was skiffle rebranded and Charles Parker made a sample programme of “ballads, blues, skiffle and calypso, linked in a semi-professional but intensely exciting, free-for-all jam session.” It wasn’t a studio recording but simply a case of taking a tape recorder to the folk club featuring Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger at the Princess Louise, a Victorian pub in High Holborn, London.

Don MacLean, now Music Organiser, Light Entertainment (Sound) – I do love these job titles - heard the programme and commented, “The artists on that particular session at the Princess Louise have been on the go for many years and have made very little impact on the public. I’ve always regarded Ewan MacColl and his comrades as the Ken Colyers of folk music in Britain: they intentionally sing 14-bar choruses because some infirm old Negro used to do so unintentionally. In jazz broadcasting we give Colyer his share, but we’ve done a great deal more to foster the creative boys as opposed to the re-creative. So with ‘folkbeat’: the appropriate share for the copyists should be small – and there should certainly not be a weekly transmission of such contrived entertainment as this tape contains.

“‘Saturday Club’, ‘Guitar Club’ (if it returns), ‘Music In The Modern Manner’ and ‘Jazz Club’ will all reflect the growing demand for ‘folkbeat’ – and, in my view, should foster any young singers we can find who are making contemporary folk music for contemporary entertainment – rather than trying to preserve a cult.”

I find this memo surprising as I thought that Ewan MacColl’s scholarly approach was loved and appreciated by all at the BBC. His famed and award winning ‘Radio Ballads’ found their place on the Third Progamme.

On 5 July 1958 the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group with Shirley Douglas and the Avon City Skiffle Group were the guests in ‘Saturday Skiffle Club’. Around 20 minutes of the broadcast (the bits with Chas!) are featured on his Rollercoaster CD, ‘Freight Train’. The show incorporates world music (‘Tom Hark’), pop ballads (‘Real Love’), rock’n’roll (‘I Dig You Baby’) and jazz (‘Ace In The Hole’) but not much skiffle. Brian Matthew has a BBC accent: he is about to go on holiday and he introduces the relief compère, Michael Brooke and they play upper-class twits for a couple of minutes. “Look here,” says Michael, “this skiffle thing, I’ve not heard it before.” Oh dear.

Some comprehensive audience research was undertaken for the half-hour ‘Saturday Skiffle Club’ broadcast of 2 August 1958. The researchers requested the written opinions of 112 listeners: here is the summary.

“Those who usually enjoyed skiffle found the programme generally to their liking. The music was bright and tuneful, they thought, and the performances (by both the Pete Curtis Folk and Blues Quintet and the Bill Bailey Skiffle Group) well up to standard. A retired Works Manager was very enthusiastic: ‘It was very lively and full of the joy of the very young at their happiest. A very enjoyable programme.’ The wife of a refrigeration engineer wrote, ‘I thought most of the music had a nice swing to it. I turned my eleveneses into tenses so that I could sit down and listen and I was glad I did.’”

Others commented on the monotony of the music and that “These broadcasts have at least proved one thing – skiffle is not here to stay.” Several complained that the music was noisy and tuneless and the performances – especially by the vocalists - were poor: “It seems that any amateur thinks he can play skiffle.” Brian Matthew was still on holiday and his replacement, Michael Brooke, was generally liked, although some were irritated by “his silly and facetious comments”. Someone asked, “Surely it is possible to do the programme without the second-rate humour and the artificial laughter?”

Brian Matthew returned to present the bank holiday edition of ‘Skiffle Club’ on 4 August 1958 and fortunately (or perhaps not) a full studio recording of the show exists – Radio 2 should broadcast it someday! The show features Russell Quaye’s City Ramblers and the Terry Renn Skiffle Group. Disappointly, there is nothing subversive about the City Ramblers’ performance but they have an eclectic repertoire featuring ‘When You Wore A Tulip’, ‘The Derby Ram’, ‘When You And I Were Young, Maggie’, ‘Billykins And The Diner’, ‘The Sheik Of Araby’ and ‘Rothsay-o’. The Terry Renn Skiffle Group performs ‘Y’All Come’, ‘Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho’, ‘No More Booze’ (his girl has a face ‘like a horse and buggy’ – why the buggy?), ‘Who’s Sorry Now?’ (a recent hit!) and ‘She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain’. You hear plenty of acoustic guitars as well as washboard, cowbell, spoons, saucepans and tin whistles. Brian Matthew, speaking in BBC tones, pretends that the show is filled with guest artists: for example, Jimmie McGregor (of Robin Hall and…) sings ‘Rothsay-O’ but he was part of the City Ramblers at the time.

During 1958, a stalwart of the BBC’s live music programmes, Clinton Ford, makes his first appearance on the files. Before he auditions, Jimmy Grant judges from his Oriole recordings that he will be a “rockabilly merchant”, though I don’t know how he works that out. Clint delights the panel with his voice and guitar versions of ‘Lovesick Blues’ and ‘Nellie Dean’. The conclusion is that he is “a country and western singer of great value to us in this day and age. Use at next possible opportunity.”

In view of falling popularity of skiffle, the programme was changed to ‘Saturday Club’ and extended to two hours to cover all forms of teenage music. An Audience Research Report was commissioned for the first show on 4 October 1958 and whilst ‘Saturday Skiffle Club’ had audiences averaging 7% of the population, ‘Saturday Club’ only managed 6% in the first hour and 5% in the second. The BBC’s Appreciation Index of 57 was marginally higher than that for ‘Saturday Skiffle Club’. However, the sample of 105 listeners only included 12 under-twenties.

The programme featured live music from Terry Dene and the Aces, Johnny Duncan and his Blue Grass Boys and, in the Jazz Cellar, Humphrey Lyttelton and his Band. Humph’s ‘Saturday Jump’, wirtten by Jimmy Grant, was the programme’s signature tune. Both Johnny Duncan and Humph scored well, but Terry Dene was chastised – “He tries to imitate other rock’n’roll performers.” The wife of an overseer commented, “I tried hard to like this type of music but just couldn’t stand it anymore. I think it absolutely ridiculous that two hours should be given to this trash. The BBC panders too much to teenagers’ likes. I cannot imagine it ever giving two hours for records of popular operatic arias.” Er, yes, but what about the Third Programme?

At the same time, a note from a BBC review panel praises Brian Matthew: “The commendation of his work was made in much warmer tones than it is possible to record in a brief minute.” However, Brian’d voice was undergoing radical changes. He realised that his posh accent were not right for the programme and over the years he begame “a regular geezer”, often starting the show with “Hello my ole mateys.”

The new look show had a larger budget – around £300 a show - and so Lonnie Donegan came back on board on 25 October 1958, no doubt grumbling as he was paid his 60 guineas.

Another survey was commissioned for ‘Saturday Club’ on 29 November 1958 and by then the audience had increased to 8% in the first hour and 6% in the second. The Appreciation Index was 56, this time based on a sample of 171 listeners. There was very little criticism from those who usually liked this kind of music, “most agreeing that it was grand entertainment for a Saturday morning.” Brian Matthew was regarded as a very pleasant and relaxed compère and there was much praise for the live acts – Chris Barber’s Jazz Band, Michael Holliday and Gerard Campbell’s folk music from Belfast. A schoolgirl commented, “I think this is the best programme on the BBC, and it is on at exactly the right time. For months I spent Saturday mornings tuning to foreign stations in the hope of finding something like this, but I was never very successful, so you can see how very pleased I was when this wonderful show was broadcast by the BBC.”

And it was one housewife’s choice: “I would never sit down and listen to this music during an evening. But as a background to Saturday morning chores, I find it quite entertaining and cheery.”

The BBC’s management was unsure whether the programme was too long and an audience report was also commissioned for the following week, where the listening was now 9% in the first hour and 7% in the second. Even among the fans of the programmes, there were divisions - the trad jazz fans, the rock’n’rollers and the folkies - but the balance was well maintained and the programme went at a good speed. Brian Matthew was regarded by all as a superb compère with “an undoubted ability to keep things running smoothly”. This time the most popular act was Joe Gordon and his Folk Four. An elderly listener commented that the programme was “mainly tripe. I think it unfair to give two hours to this kind of stuff. The Stargazers sang tunefully – the rest of what I heard is not worth listening to. As for that song, ‘I Love My Man’, it was just beastly.” ‘I Love My Man’ might have been a Dixieland jazz record from Albert Nicholas and Beryl Bryden.

The audience report for 31 January 1959 has the Appreciation Index up to 61 and Brian Matthew receiving more accolades – “He sounds as if he personally enjoys all the items he introduces.” Some of the older listeners decried the programme –“I can’t stand this caterwauling stuff.”

In April 1959, one of those caterwaulers, Vince Taylor was booked with his Playboys for £25.18.0d but as “he is not deemed to be normally resident in this country”, he wanted to be paid in dollars. I thought that Vince Taylor was an American who lived in Hounslow and what about the rest of his band, who were English? Making a payment in dollars created some difficulty for the BBC but they managed it. Further difficulties came from Johnny Kidd who was paid 35 guineas for his seven piece band. The cheque was sent in error to Kidd rather than his management. This created problems because Kidd “has no bank account and has been unable to cash this cheque.”

It should be stressed that the BBC was under some compulsion to do live sessions. There were limits as to the amount of needletime (that is, gramophone records) which they could play each week, and so this was a way of presenting music without playing many records. Most programmes had four live acts and only contained around six requests and three new releases.

Another audience report for 8 August 1959 shows that the listening percentages were up to 10% in the first hour and 9.2% in the second. That’s five million listeners. A lot of this is attributed to Brian Matthew. “He makes the items sound so interesting, that you just have to wait to hear the next item, even though the weekend shopping is waiting to be done.” The main criticism was that there was “too much rock’n’roll”, although this would have been its main strength as well.

The BBC was so proud of the success of ‘Saturday Club’ that they held a party to celebrate its first birthday. Jim Dale, Adam Faith and Johnny Duncan were among the celebrity guests. Tito Burns, then managing Cliff Richard, commented, “It is the only show outside television that can really make a hit record. Jimmy Grant should be proud of his success.”

On 9 November 1959, Brian Matthew interviewed Pat Boone in New York and was amazed by the size of his organisation. I am too as he had TV rehearsal rooms, a music publishing company, and offices for his manager, scriptwriters and fan club secretaries. In all, they took up the entire floor of a large office block. Boone says, “The only other performer that I know of who has this kind of set-up is our landlord, Sid Caesar – he has the whole floor above us and he rents us this floor and he has the same kind of operation.”

Commenting on cover versions, Pat says, “When I first came in, a rock’n’roll song came out in its original rhythm and blues version. A pop artist would then record that song with his own treatment and it would become the big pop hit. Now the original version becomes the big pop hit as well as the rhythm and blues hit in its own field. As a result about 8 out of 10 songs in the Top 10 are rock’roll songs and they are performed by people who have never had a hit record before and who knows, may never have again.”

Pat isn’t bothered as he moving over to albums, saying that they were 20% of the market when he started and were now 80%: got to pay for that office space somehow. He has recorded an album of hymns, ‘He Leadeth Me’, with brass arrangements because “Gabriel blew his horn” and he reveals that his next single will be ‘Faithful Heart’ from the film ‘Journey To The Centre Of The Earth’. (It wasn’t.) He is writing a series of monthly articles about teenage problems for Ladies Home Journal and he reveals he can play the ukulele. How about a duet with Clinton Ford, Pat?

On 26 November 1959 Gene Vincent was interviewed for ‘Saturday Club’ and received the standard interview fee for celebrities of 5 guineas. When Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent appeared on ‘Saturday Club’ on March 1960, they were paid £25 each for each appearance - £100 in total – with the payments being made in dollars. This is because they were managed by the American Norm Riley, who was with them for part of the time. Larry Parnes simply had them contracted for the tour dates.

In December 1959 EMI asked if they could issue an album called ‘Saturday Club’. One BBC manager compared the project to the ‘Drumbeat’ LP but wrote, “‘Drumbeat’ was a television programme which was much publicised and followed ‘Six-Five Special’ where we had a similar arrangement with EMI over the issue of an LP record. Television, however, have different views on the value of their programmes than have Sound. For a recent LP entitled ‘Sing It Again’, we insisted on a payment of 20 guineas and have succeeded in getting away with this figure on two occasions.” EMI had paid the BBC five guineas for use of ‘Drumbeat’. In January 1960, EMI offered to pay the BBC 10 guineas for the use of the title, ‘Saturday Club’. This was rejected by the BBC as “‘Saturday Club’ is a much more valuable property than either ‘Drumbeat’ or ‘Sing It Again’.” They wanted 25 guineas. EMI paid up subject to a five year exclusivity clause which prevented Decca from issuing ‘Saturday Club’ LP a couple of years later.

Jim Davidson, the Assistant Head of Light Entertainment (Sound), adds: “The only resident aspect of ‘Saturday Club’ is Brian Matthew, the presenter. All the other features, including recordings, are of an ad hoc nature. Therefore, what artists do EMI propose to use in the suggested LP?” When the record was issued there was criticism that Tony Osborne, Ricky Valance and Danny Davis had never been on ‘Saturday Club’.

In view of its popularity, the BBC agreed to a special ‘Saturday Club Jazz And Rock Night’ from the Royal Albert Hall on 30 January 1960, although it was not broadcast. It featured Adam Faith, Craig Douglas, Bert Weedon and Acker Bilk. Clinton Ford was paid five guineas to appear, together with £3.9.0d for his train fare from Manchester and £2.10.0d subsistence for one night. At this concert he picked up a tulip from the front of the stage and ate it. He told the audience that it was quite nice, rather like mustard and cress. Clinton was barracked while he was singing ‘Old Shep’ with fans shouting “We want Elvis!” “I’ll finish this song if it kills me,” gasped Clinton. Some wag shouted, “It’s already killing us.”

Clinton’s measly payment contrasts with Lonnie Donegan. A file note on Lonnie Donegan from May 1960 says, “Present fee is 60 guineas. I would point out that he has only done a ‘Saturday Club’ at this fee in 1958 and is a little bit tiresome about fees.” This would rebound on Lonnie as when his popularity fell, he wanted to do a radio series for the BBC. They turned him down for his intransigence, saying, “At the height of his popularity he was never anxious to broadcast nor was he particularly cooperative.” And here’s a useful little shopping list from 1960: Tommy Trinder 70 guineas, Charlie Drake 50, Tessie O’Shea 40, the Mudlarks 35 and Lenny the Lion 30. In 1963, Patrick Newman, the Light Entertainment Booking Manager, states that “practically every producer in the Corporation is clamouring to book Clinton Ford.” Clint was never going to stretch the budget, but he certainly widened the boundaries. I have tapes of Clint singing the nonsense song, ‘Michael Finnegan’ and George Formby’s ‘Fanlight Fanny’ on ‘Saturday Club’.

On 30 March 1960, Jimmy Grant wrote an apologetic memo to the Assistant Head, Light Entertainment and said, “I regret that I have spent £30.11.0d in excess of the allocation for ‘Saturday Club’ in the first quarter of 1960. This is due to my using Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent in two programmes and their fees were rather high.” He adds, “I find I am unable to use artists such as Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde and Adam Faith in ‘Saturday Club’ as the allocation of £215 does not cover their fees without cheese-paring on the rest of the bill. Can you help please?” Clinton, can you manage these dates?

In 1960, Eddie, Gene, Duane Eddy and Bobby Darin had been among the first American performers to record for ‘Saturday Club’ as a Musicians’ Union directive on such activities by non-British musicians had been cancelled. Many other American performers followed including the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Chris Montez and Tommy Roe. Jerry Lee was so happy with the session that he wanted to cut a whole album there and then at the BBC but that certainly would have created union problems.

A few weeks later, the Assistant Head, Light Entertainment had to deal with the most controversial item yet, at least as far as BBC politics was concerned. Brian Matthew had impersonated the veteran broadcaster John Snagge in ‘Saturday Club’ and Snagge demanded an apology: Jimmy and Brian wrote:

“We were distressed to learn that the opening to last week’s ‘Saturday Club’ caused you acute embarrassment. This was in no way intended as a personal dig at you, sir, but was born from enthusiasm for your programme. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that we have given offence to anyone, for which we are deeply sorry, and we respectfully ask you to accept our sincere apologies.”

John Snagge was a superb broadcaster but with little sense of humour. Indeed, the Goons would threaten to report each other to John Snagge. So it was unlikely that the apology would placate him:

“You are obviously unaware that this particular announcement is one which always heralds some special occasion, and is notably concerned with bad news. You were also probably unaware that the news at 9.30 had contained a reference to the illness of the Queen. The ‘take-off’ of my own voice making the announcement ‘This is London’ did affect a very large number of listeners. There were 22 calls in the Duty Room alone, and I personally have been attacked by a large number of people for being concerned in an incident of bad taste. I hope you will not consider me too pompous for saying this, but what is much more important than myself is the general feeling that the BBC, as a body, should allow this sort of thing to happen.”

He ended with a personal admonishment to Brian Matthew: “To you personally, I would say this – I am surprised that after all the time you have spent in this department, you should have fallen for a gag line of such very doubtful taste.”

When the BBC did its audience research, it reflected the views of adults. However, they also undertook children’s surveys. Here are some surprising figures for the percentage of age-groups listening on Saturday mornings:

5 to 7 year olds 8 to 11 12 to 14
Children’s Favourites 39.5% 35.4% 33.6%
Saturday Club, first hour 13.7% 15.9% 29.6%
Saturday Club, second hour 9.7% 10.8% 17.9%

It is often said that the Beatles created a pre-teen audience for pop, but in 1960, large numbers of children kept listening to the radio after ‘Children’s Favourites’.

The next Audience Research Report is for 24 September 1960 and the audience has now risen to 14.3% in the first hour and 12.6% thereafter. The sample of 151 listeners praised Brian Matthew (John Snagge presumably not being among them) and the most popular item was George Melly with Mick Mulligan’s Band: “Marty Wilde and his Wildcats were also well received and so too, in some quarters, was Rosemary Squires, although almost as many said that they did not care for her singing.” The keener fans wanted more of the new releases (three a week not being good enough) and less of the bland cover versions “by jumped-up second-rate performers.”

The Audience Research Report for 5 November 1960 sees the audience rising to 15% in the first hour and 12.9% afterwards. Ian Menzies and his Clyde Valley Stompers proved to be more popular than the Shadows, Bert Weedon’s Sextet and Rabin Rock, presumably the hipper members of Oscar Rabin’s band. Lots of listeners found it useful while doing household chores – and this raises one intriguing point: didn’t anybody stay in bed to listen to it? I suspect they did, but none of the listening panel wanted to admit it.

Adam Faith is working almost as strenuously for the BBC as Clinton Ford, but with a far greater range of programmes. He appeared 26 times on ‘Saturday Club’, getting a fee of 50 guineas in 1963, but his other appearances are far more interesting. In 1961 he was interviewed in ‘Face To Face’ and held his own amidst a barrage of hostile questioning from John Freeman, which was a much harder way of earning 50 guineas. The Head of TV Drama wrote to congratulate Adam on his performance and offer him a play. In 1962 he talked to the Archbishop of York, and the Assistant Head of Religious Broadcasting, Television said that he had “put just the sort of questions which ought to put to an Archbishop”, adding that “I’m only sorry we didn’t get in ‘Lonesome’.” In 1963 Adam turned up with the Roulettes for ‘Parade Of The Pops’, but it was intended that the studio orchestra should back him. The BBC refused to pay: “We did not book them for this programme. I may add that in this particular instance, we actively did not want them.”

My favourite though is in February 1961 when Adam Faith is the mystery guest in ‘What’s My Line?’ and the instruction is, “Please be careful to see that all is clear before you enter the theatre in case any of the pannellists are around.” If Adam was seen by a panellist, would he have to forfeit his 10 guinea fee?

Because this is a rock’n’roll magazine, I am not writing about ‘Saturday Club’ in the beat group era. However, I will finish with a few points for comparison:

The fifth anniversary show in October 1963 starred the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, Tommy Roe, Frank Ifield, Kathy Kirby, Clinton Ford (of course), Joe Brown and his Bruvvers, Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen and Arthur Greenslade’s group with strings. Instead of the usual £310, the show’s then producer, Bernie Andrews, spent £483.12.6d on the performers. The Beatles received 50 guineas.

The Audience Research Report for 6 February 1965 shows that the audience was still high at 15.1% in the first hour and 12.7% afterwards. The audience appreciation had fallen to 44 and I wonder if this was because Brian Matthew had been replaced by Ray Orchard. He talked too much and he was said to be Americanising the programme with his ‘glossy pseudo-accent’, which was a mite unfair as he was Canadian. Again there were complaints that the show was ‘endless noise’ but the New Christy Minstrels, being managed briefly by Brian Epstein, were well received.

On 26 April 1965 P.J. Proby recorded a session for ‘Saturday Club’ at the Madia Vale studios and there were complaints about his behaviour and the condition of the studio after he left. Brian Willey, who produced the session, wrote, “Drinking certainly took place during the recording session, but with the temperament and reputation of such an artist as P.J. Proby, I was certainly not going to interfere unless conditions out of hand.” In other words, I didn’t want a fist in my mush.

When ‘Saturday Club’ was also broadcast on the programme on the World Service, they were told to be careful about their choice of music and, for example, they were not to play Lee Dorsey’s ‘Holy Cow’ as it might offend some listeners.

The advent of Radio 1 effectively killed off ‘Saturday Club’, although the BBC did keep it going for a year with Keith Skues. This was to retain some continuity with the Light Programme and the first Radio 1 ‘Saturday Club’ on 30 September 1967 featured the Bee Gees. By keeping it going, the show completed 500 editions on 4 May 1968 but it was axed on 18 January 1969.

Although not many ‘Saturday Club’ programmes have been kept in their entirety, many of the performances have been preserved. In many cases, the performers had their own copies and Bernie Andrews, the producer of many live sessions, kept copies as well. Just as well, as the acts often performed songs which they didn’t record. For example, Billy Fury did an excellent version of Ray Charles’ ‘Get On The Right Track, Baby’.

The discoveries have led to entire albums of the Beatles, the Searchers, Jimi Hendrix, Manfred Mann and the Who at the BBC, all with excellent sound quality. The discography includes ‘Saturday Club’ performances and related releases which have been issued for the pre-Beatle performers:

Singles:

Saturday Jump / The Bear Steps Out – Humphrey Lyttelton and his Band (Parlophone R 4519, 1959)
What’s It All About, Eh? / Gee, Ma, I Wanna Go Home – Brian Matthew and Pete Murray (Decca 45F 11305, 1960)

Albums:

Saturday Club (Parlophone PMC 1130, 1960)
This LP featured 13 performers including Tommy Bruce, Ricky Valance, Bert Weedon and the King Brothers with, I suspect, outtakes from recording sessions. Apart from Johnny Kidd’s ‘Big Blon’ Baby’ and ‘Weep No More My Baby’, there is nothing to get excited about. 23 tracks but substituting quantity for quality didn’t work.

Freight Train – Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group (Rollercoaster RCCD 3007, 1993)
This 32 track CD includes much of ‘Saturday Skiffle Club from 5 July 1958.

Live At The BBC – Everly Brothers (US, Mastertone 8226, 1998)
A peculiar album with nine ‘Saturday Club’ tracks from 1963 and 1968 and some Albert Hall reunion concert outtakes. Why not have the full ‘Saturday Club’ sessions instead?

Rock’n’Roll Memories – Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent (Rockstar RSRCD 018, 2000)
The complete ‘Saturday Club’ recordings for 5 and 12 March 1960. The best £100 that the BBC ever spent.

Unreleased BBC Sessions, 1959-1961 – Johnny Kidd and the Pirates (Blakey BLCD 518, 2004)
The track listing is not as inviting as it sounds as Mike West and Tom Brown take some of the vocals. Good to hear Johnny doing ‘My Babe’ and ‘That’s All You Gotta Do’.

Blue Gene Bop – Gene Vincent (Rockstar RSRCD, 2005)
Seven ‘Saturday Club’ appearances from 1960 to 1965: fantastic version of his voodoo song, ‘I’m Gonna Catch Me A Rat’, and ‘Mr Loneliness’ is better without the strings. I love the interviews because you can sense that Gene doesn’t want to be doing this.