'Mission to the Moon - News from 1969'

[steereomono]

New ITV series 'Mission to the Moon - News from 1969'.

First show goes out Wednesday July 15 at 10.35pm.



At the time ITV seemed to go for the entertainment value of the first moon landing.

I remember there was a marathon David Frost show ITV broadcast on the eve Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I seem to remember Ken Dodd being on it. (...the show not the moon.)



Maybe Cornershop has a TV Times page or two.



Johnny Harris provided the beautiful theme to ITV's coverage with 'Footprints on the Moon'.



They had an item asking kids what they thought the astronauts would find on the moon. 'Monsters' was the popular answer.

I was nine at the time. I wanted to stay up to see the landing but fell asleep. I think it was maybe 4.30am GMT when Armstrong walked. I was disappointed to discover in the morning that no monsters existed and the moon just looked like a bit of waste-ground!

[cornershop15]

You're in luck, steereo. When I saw that 15th July date in your post I was a bit anxious as I don't have that

week's issue, so nothing on the debut of Mission to the Moon, unfortunately, but I'm very pleased to say

that I have the listing for that "marathon David Frost show", which looks as if it lasted from 6.15 in the eve-

ning to 4.30 the following afternoon. The Romper Room - back to haunt me again - was the first show

broadcast when ITV's schedule returned to normal (in the Anglia region anyway).



No mention of Ken Dodd but I wouldn't be at all surprised if HE surprised David Frost with his tickling stick!





I'm glad I've had the opportunity to include that advertisement with the cat as it regularly appears in TVTimes

from that period. I always enjoyed Peter Fairley's Science reports for ITN but am just too young to remember

this, as usual. Prior to this lengthy broadcast the film Fort Apache was shown, preceded by Nice Time, which

I knew was hosted by Kenny Everett and Germaine Greer, but the other presenters are credited as actress

Sandra Gough, Irma in Coronation Street, and Jonathan Routh from Candid Camera. I learned somewhere

that future BBC Director General John Birt was involved. IMDB reminds me he was the producer.



There were six pages devoted to the Moon landings, which I can post (in installments!) between others' replies, if they can tear themselves away from the Katie Price and James Blunt threads that is.

[steereomono]

This is great Cornershop. Turned up trumps again! Thanks.



What's surprising about three of the stars of this show Cilla, Lulu and Cliff, is they were all mainstays of the BBC light entertainment roster around that time. Maybe because it was a special occasion the Beeb let them defect for a night.



I see Spike Milligan's mate Neil Shand is down as 'Programme Adviser'.



The word 'lunarnauts' never really caught on, did it?.

But it's a great word.



'Magpie' used to do a lot of items on the Apollo missions and Peter Fairley would be a frequent guest.



The BBC space coverage was good but it was a lot drier in presentation. The closest they maybe got to entertainment was when Patrick Moore got his xylophone out!



Reports from NASA always used to be represented by a still picture and someone babbling inaudibly down the phone. As for the Russians efforts I don't recall much coverage about them at all, and they were favourites to get there first.



I tried to find Johnny Harris' 'Footprints on the Moon' somewhere to embed but it's not anywhere on the interweb.



Tibs?- I knew Bob Martin did dog tablets but I wasn't aware of this feline addition to cat shopping.

[cornershop15]

Hello again, steereo. That is a bit odd about those BBC stars turning up on ITV's coverage. Maybe

you gave the answer when you said the former's was "drier" and probably more 'po-faced'. I can

imagine David Frost presentation being more fun, though I would have wanted to watch both chan-

nels - Patrick Moore with his xylophone and Rolf Harris and his stylophone.



I vaguely remember Neil Shand playing the piano, accompanying Spike Milligan. He had fair hair and

a moustache (at the time) I think. Bob Martin's name is familiar - was he the Blue Peter vet?



These are the first three pages of TVTimes coverage of the historic event, 40 years ago today:

[steereomono]

What, the first man on the moon had a beer belly?

I wonder if Maurice Woodruff made a few quid on the Space Race like this bloke did.



This Was One Small Bet For Me And One Giant Leap For My Bank Balance (from Evening Times)



Thanks again for top scans CS.

[trotter54]

name='cornershop15']I vaguely remember Neil Shand playing the piano, accompanying Spike Milligan. He had fair hair and

a moustache (at the time)

Hi Cornershop,



I may be wrong, but I think the guy who accompanied Spike in the Q series was Ed Welch. IIRC, Neil Shand had dark hair and may have worn shades (although not 100% sure about that). You're doing terrific stuff on this site, by the way .

[cornershop15]

name='trotter54']Hi Cornershop,



I may be wrong, but I think the guy who accompanied Spike in the Q series was Ed Welch. IIRC, Neil Shand had dark hair and may have worn shades (although not 100% sure about that). You're doing terrific stuff on this site, by the way .

Thanks very much, Trotter. You're right, you know - it WAS Ed Welch. I can remember Spike Milligan introducing him before singing a song each week. Neil Shand's name did pop up in the credits though. To add to the confusion, there is a Neil Brand who composes music for silent films and was seen playing piano in Paul Merton's BBC series on early screen comedians. Well done on remembering Ed Welch!.



I will have to put up the remaining pages tomorrow as they are on a different computer (this is an old laptop I use for screencapping). Sorry steereo!

[steereomono]

The caps are fine Cornershop. I'm just getting to grips with that myself.

Only just discovered the other day that Windows Media Player does it for DVD.



Still amused to read in Paul Haney's article that Neil Armstrong liked to party and enjoyed his beer. With it being man's greatest achievement, in these health conscious days it's heartening to discover that. Seems The Simpson space episode wasn't too far off the mark.



Ed Welch's musical interludes used to annoy me on the Q shows.

I always thought it was interruption to the comedy not unlike those extended musical numbers in Marx Brothers movies and Barbara Dickson on The Two Ronnies but I suppose geniuses need a break. Although years later hearing Welch's song with Spike 'I've got that photograph of you' on the 'Legends of the 20th Century' CD - it's actually quite good.

[cornershop15]

Elaine Paige also appeared on The Two Ronnies and I think she used to alternate that singing spot with Barbara Dickson each week. Ironically, they both duetted together for I Know Him So Well, a Number 1 hit!



I'm not sure if you want me to post the rest of that TVTimes special on the Moon Landings. The other three pages feature Peter Fairley and photographs and illustrations of the Moon. Let me know if you want to put them up.

[steereomono]

Trying to remember who did the Paige/Dickson spoof....?

It couldn't have been the Ronnies themselves would it?



That'd be great if you could post the rest of the pages.

Seems like a great TVTimes archive you have. I've run out of space at home and I had to jettison massive collections of music magazines like MOJO, Record Collector and the like recently. Sad to see them go but I did cut out the best bits.



Looking forward to the show tonight.

[Marky B]

Explore the Apollo 11 Landing Site



Ta Ta

Marky B

[Marky B]

The Greatest Space Movies Of All Time - Red Carpet Photos, Hollywood Pictures, Movie Stills, Actor Photos, Film Shots | MSN Movies UK | MSN Entertainment UK | MSN UK



Ta Ta

Marky B

[SirOllyBolly]

name='Marky B']Explore the Apollo 11 Landing Site



Ta Ta

Marky B

Great post!



Looking inside the Eagle Lunar Module - it just looks so primitive. Big switches and chunky knobs - not what I was expecting at all.



Those guys had guts.

[steereomono]

I managed to upload Johnny Harris's 'Footprints On The Moon' theme to Treemo.

Illustrated with cornershop's TV Times cover.



Footprints On The Moon by portableanimation - Treemo: Media Sharing on a Mission

[cornershop15]

Sorry to read about your collection of magazines, steereo. I've mentioned, a couple of times at

least, my own distress at losing Radio and TVTimes originals over the years. If only we'd had PDF

technology around in those days. We could have preserved so much more on personal computers

without having to worry about space (space at home, I mean, not the Space we're on about here!).

Like these remaining pages of TVTimes' Moon special. Note the original ITN logo below:









Thanks for uploading that great theme. I've never heard of Treemo - are they a rival to YouTube?

[David Brent]

I was surprised to hear today that a lot of the footage filmed on the moon in 1969 was later erased by NASA.



How and why anyone would decide to do such a thing is beyond belief.



Reminds me of the same short sighted decisions that led to a lot of classic Brit television shows being lost in the past due to tapes being erased just to save a few bob.



Dave.

[Steve Crook]

name='David Brent']I was surprised to hear today that a lot of the footage filmed on the moon in 1969 was later erased by NASA.



How and why anyone would decide to do such a thing is beyond belief.



Reminds me of the same short sighted decisions that led to a lot of classic Brit television shows being lost in the past due to tapes being erased just to save a few bob.



Dave.

What if you were told that home video tapes (or recordable DVDs) would cost £1,000 each? Wouldn't you be tempted to re-use them and over-write some of the things you'd recorded?



How would you know what could be safely over-written and which things you would want in 10 or 40 years time?



Steve

[steereomono]

name='cornershop15']Sorry to read about your collection of magazines, steereo. I've mentioned, a couple of times at

least, my own distress at losing Radio and TVTimes originals over the years. If only we'd had PDF

technology around in those days. We could have preserved so much more on personal computers

without having to worry about space (space at home, I mean, not the Space we're on about here!).

Like these remaining pages of TVTimes' Moon special. Note the original ITN logo below:









Thanks for uploading that great theme. I've never heard of Treemo - are they a rival to YouTube?

Thanks Cornershop for posting the rest of the pages. The illustrations are very accurate and similar to those great Look & Learn type educational comic strips from around that time.



Treemo is similar to YouTube but it's not as massively popular.

Over that though, it has the additional options of uploading still images as well as audio files.



The Mission to The Moon shows are OK, I was expecting more period ITN footage with the likes of Alistair Burnett and Reggie Bosanquet. Good to see Patrick Moore defecting as well and the old ITN logo making a return.

[charliekane]

name='David Brent']I was surprised to hear today that a lot of the footage filmed on the moon in 1969 was later erased by NASA.



How and why anyone would decide to do such a thing is beyond belief.



Dave.

Obviously a conspiracy, seeing that they never went there in the first place........................................

[Sgt Sunshine]

name='charliekane']Obviously a conspiracy, seeing that they never went there in the first place........................................

Yes that conspiracy theory is very interesting............

I've always been concerned, how they could actually film the lunar Module blasting off from the moons surface to rendezvous with the Command Module orbiting above......

If it was done from a remote camera? how did they get the film back to Earth...

The answer is probably very obvious.....its just I'm to "thick" to realise....

Sgt S