The Eurovision that nearly wasn't...

The Eurovision Song Contest of 1977 maybe be familiar to some because of the sight of Ronnie Hazelhurst dressed up in a suit and waistcoat conducting Lynsey De Paul and Mike Moran sung Rock Bottom or the talkback from the gallery of the late Stewart Morris which reveals how pressured a live event can be. 

The Brotherhood of Man had won the 1976 contest in The Netherlands meaning that the United Kingdom was to host the contest, 

Though the contest was a month later then it was originally planned to take place on the 2nd of April. Because of industrial action, the contest was postponed until the 7th of May. That is half the story though, involving Boadicea's Breastplate, lands afar, nudity and a tales of no 'nul points'. Now the evening got off to a somewhat bright start with host Angela Rippon who had been reporting on what was happening and contest was going to place during her day reading the news, came on wearing a dress which reflected more light then the whole of Wembley Stadium itself. Certainly giving a shock to the lighting depart when they saw this, but with Angela apparently looking like diva, looking to all parts of the auditorium at the Wembley Conference Centre, trying to find in the gloom which camera she was on. Though everything going on around them, revolves being set off instead of credit rollers plus when a cameraman tried to get a shot of the winner, he fell over backwards getting a black eye for his trouble and the people all around the world seeing a shot where from focussing on triumphant singer, got a shot rising above hear had and nearly of the ceiling before Stewart Morris cut to the stage. 

With Angela Rippon and other dignitaries to award the prize, trying to work out what was going on at this point. Marie Myriam of France, the winning singer was more concerned about the cameraman himself leading her to ask someone to get some ice for his bruised eye. Eventually she went to the stage to collect her prize and reperform her winning song and what happens in the following video reveals the talkback not normally heard by the public. But Morris ever the professional takes all of this in his stride and controls the situation to make it look normal to the viewer at home.

A masterclass from Stewart Morris

 Unlike this year's contest which has forty-two countries who will contest this year's edition, eighteen countries took part on the night. Until the final, there were going to be twenty but Tunsia who were going to perform fourth in the contest withdrew along with Yugoslavia, who next appeared again in 1981.

In the lead-up to the night, it was reported that the Belgium entry Dream Express were going to wear see-through tops on the night. But how much is this is true, can be down to the press reports of that time and newspaper trying to whip up a storm through this. But how much anything like that can be seen as a gimmick is down to the truth of the matter. 

On the actual night itself, the voting system seemed to go awry with the Greek jury awarding both 12 and 11 points instead of the 12 to 1 points system. The fact was that they had given four points to both Spain and Austria with the 3 to 1 points given to Finland, The Netherlands and United Kingdom. To sort this out Spain got four points and Austria got three and mean the other had one less and the United Kingdom did not even get one at all then. But the chaos continued though as France gave three points to both Greece and Israel, two to German and one to Austria and Belgium. Are you following this still? It is confusing and imagine having to deal with this lot, which they had to do.

So back to the scores, the Greek mark from the French remained as it did, Israel went down to two and Germany down to one meaning that Austria and Belgium now lost out because of this. To add to this, it all was done after the contest but three years later a more clearer system was set out so this could never happen again. 

France won the contest performing last on the night gaining 136 points, but only three maximum twelve points compared to Lynsey and Mike who got six maximums and finished second. Though overall sales of the record of Rock Bottom were really good and making the top ten in most European countries. Though the magical and legendary 'nul points' was not achieved this year with Sweden, the winners of course in 1974, three years on managed only to get two points just from Germany. Perennial high finishers Ireland took third place with The Swarbriggs who had represented Ireland in the 1975 contest, were joined by two lady singers to gain 133 points and four maximums including one from the United Kingdom. 

But if Ronnie Hazelhurst was conducting for the United Kingdom, then that Alyn Ainsworth who had resigned from the BBC in 1960 to go freelance was conducting for Belgium for the third year in a row ensuring on the big night, that although the United Kingdom did not win itself. It did  have a victory that two conductors were conducting on the big night itself, even thanks to a bit of friendly neighbourliness that Belgium got twelve point from The Nederland meaning both British  conductors could say that they had both got twelve points.

So after the roller had been run and the dust settled, it was off to France in 1978. The nezt British based contest would be in 1982 in Harrogate, but that's for another time... So if you watching the Eurovision Song Contest, enjoy it and I'll will be live tweeting along to the contest with observations and humour over at Twitter, just look up @boggenstrovia there and I'll be there...

What is a Musikantenstadl? Here's Andy Borg to explain...

So, it that time again once again when Germans, Austrians and the Swiss dress up and go for a night out at a Musikantenstadl. But I hear you say what is a Musikantenstadl? Well, that's what I first thought when I saw one New Year's Eve when flicking through the channel on the satellite system bored looking for something, anything to watch. As the time counted towards midnight in German, acts like Nana Mouskori and Roger Whittaker turned up to entertain the slowly inebriated audience. 

Compared to anything else I had seen this was like the Val Doonican shows of the past, but on a much bigger scale. Its so big that, the set is like one huge alpine lodge including bar serving drinks. Ok, that seemed like a one off thing but over time when ever it on, I have tuned in to see it.

With its genial host Andy Borg, a cross between Englebert Humperdinck and a yodeller, he holds the whole thing together in the face of all the acts and the audience who at any opportunity want to give the stars a bunch of flowers or chocolates to show their appreciation without even one security officer rushing in to stop them. A far cry from what would happen in this country if anyone was to do at any live programme or event.

Such is its appeal, that the show since 1981 has gone to China, Croatia, Dubai, Melbourne and Cape Town to entertain the people there. Its appeal itself is the total opposite to both The Voice and The X Factor in which performers love to perform for their audience and the range of people at such a show ranges from the very young to the very old.

But why can't this type of programme actually work even in a slimmed down version in Britain, when Val Doonican and Roger Whittaker could get large audiences at one time. Though a silent change has been happening with both Sir Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck being part of competions, especially with Englebert being announced as this year's entry for Eurovision. Who handedly produces Musikantenstadl for ARD, ORF and SF. Where they maybe seen as old fashioned by some, its interesting at one time they were leading pop music into light entertainment back in the late sixties.

So maybe its time to give the golden oldies another chance, besides its not how old you are, it wheither you can still entertain...

Switch on... Tune In... Cop out...

The 21st of March 2012 marks the day when analogue television finally said goodbye in Southern England after 58 years of service. Every television is set to the digital standard, meaning the biggest change since colour first came to the region. With this the Ceefax service and analogue only exists in the London area, but not for much longer as they are they last region to go fully digital. 


But in doing this, it has caused problems not only for viewers by not getting a full service that teletext could provide and some features have disappeared. In Germany, a teletext service was kept after their switchover. The short-sightedness seems to have been apparent by the BBC, meaning that services especially involving transport have been left out such as plane arrivals, train engineering works etc. This mean that people have to find the information out via websites, which may not be as accurate. 


Britain has been using the Freeview system now for what will be ten years in October for its free digital television services, in that time it has been a success especially in take up of digital services following the collapse of ITV Digital. Though now it faces a crossroads, with extra capacity being created in the system to allow for new channels to allowed to be broadcast. Where as the main base was the five main terrestrial channels at first, there are a whole plethora of channels on offer catering to a range of tastes. But this has allowed seemingly the service to be brought downmarket with adult chat channels being broadcast, so as such it has become like satellite television in a way with more and more obscure channels arriving. 


It maybe time for Ofcom to show their teeth in this matter to allow some channels, but also to regulate as them as well because before time, things can get out of control. Purpose needs to be used, but similar to the launch of Sky and BSB at the end of the 80's which dealt with more choice for the viewer, soon enough more channels were needed to be able to build the company up, though will Freeview end up having to sell itself to survive? Hopefully not, maybe the five main broadcasters will be its saviour after all.

Telly Selly Time...

So what do you know about where you live? In most cases, what you know yourself is kept to yourself. But sometimes there comes along an outsiders view, like most people would think about  Portsmouth as a naval city, which it is in a way. With the Baim films and the quotation quickies making films for other to see about different towns and cities. Now I'm not suggesting they were in anyway films to cheer up the masses away from the dreary lives they were used to at the time of their making during the 1970's and 80's, but they do have a feel of showing people that where they lived was OK.


Now I first saw Telly Savalas Looks Portsmouth on the now defunct Portsmouth Television and I was amazed this thing existed and they had got a copy to show to fill time of an afternoon.  When researching futher into the quotation quickies, I found out there had been several of these films voiced over by Telly Savalas, mainly to be shown alongside a main feature.  


First of all Telly talks about the streets being named about historical names, although most the streets themselves were modern streets in the Guildhall Square complex around the civic offices. It does seem that the irony in it, that he concentrates on a newer part which was only built after the war such as the Guildhall Walk. "The New Theatre Royal, well it was when it was built 130 years ago..." chirps Telly. Now over 30 years later, the development is changing again with brand new facilities being incorporated into the building. The Guildhall Walk is set against a background of clubs and pubs nowadays, meaning anyone wanting to go and see a big show there of an evening really can't because of the revellers there getting in everyone's way. Its a flaw which hasn't been resolved really, which bring me onto the next thing.


The Kings Theatre in Southsea, famous for it shows and performances of pantomimes each and every year. In different areas we see other places getting brand new state of the art theatres and here is a theatre from a Victorian age which still plods along gamely, now I am not saying get rid of it all together. But when the development of Gunwharf Quays was planned and built, surely it would have been wiser to build something there rather then struggle on. 


There is the building of the IBM complex which is in the North of the city, subsequently the new Lakeside 1000 development has sprung up with Port Solent in recent years. Like with other places, it has tried to tart the image up of the city. A main problem is Portsdown Hill always getting in the way, we can't build beyond it, it is like our very own Berlin Wall, that we are squeezed into the space we have. In other countries they would come up with a solution to solve this problem, short of blowing up the hill, this is a problem which will remain to fox most people. As a citizen, I am here for being here's sake. But I can see why people move away, say  
without any industry and a football club what are we? Another Detroit... 


I am not knocking the city as such, but it does make you think sometimes...

Boggenstrovia's 12th Bit of Christmas... Dribbled with Brandy Buttered Goodness...

So this is Christmas and what have we done? Another year older and fatter in the tum...


Here we are at the final bit of Christmas, as some of you might have realised there haven't been twelve of them, such as vol-le-vents left over from Christmas Day. You might think I have an idea of what to write about, well I don't. So this is a bit about bits, not necessary about Christmas more a strange experience about how exactly YouTube just changed the experience of viewing. The amount of uploads from VHS and Beta is amazing, where as any shared experiences of any event which may have happened. So hence there are a load of uploads of the Southern Ashtar Command experience and other incidents which may be remembered by people.


Let's take for example, 1981 for example, 30 years ago...

"She was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar..."

The year of the Don't You Want Me Baby, a royal wedding and riots with Manchester City in a Cup Final. Who said that 2011 was any different, but with the time of year came the listings magazines of the Radio and TV Times. Such it was so special, our family had a special folder to put them in. Its never found wanting as much, but even the junior cousin of the TV Times, Look-In made the effort to show itself to be in a festive party mood around this time of year. Though it seems with 1981 everything changed, from flares in New Romantics and with the introduction of the lime green and blue BBC1 globe in September, it was a shuddering halt to the 70's and on into the 80's with technology at the fore front.

Its not so much an innocent age had gone, but had changed with the times...

"Its for you-hooo!"

At that point when the GPO as was were still running telephones and delivering the post on time, there was something to be said about the way that they were promoted. Buzby was on the  telephones side and Postman Pat on the Mail side, they were as big as anyone can imagine now. Its not like that we didn't trust them, but they were a key part of how these things were sold to us as consumers. Their lives of their own made themselves popular, the strategy and the mindset of companies was different, of being friendly and on our side. But thanks to JR and Dallas, we discovered that meaness was a way to go. Through no fault of our own, we had been sucked into the business of business, yet now from think about dramas about business, we watch as real business is being portrayed by people trying to get to a point and hope situation. 

We look at YouTube and see so many different videos of the number of opinions and also thoughts as well, inbetween them there is the recording from Beta and VHS, things which might have been lost for ever but now in cyberspace, sure there are people who try and recreate stuff, badly... Though if it wasn't for that, we would have something to look at to be able to look at old adverts, junctions and bits of programmes. We have become the keepers of the archives, we create our own pasts and future.

So Merry Christmas from me, I'll be back in the New Year with more nonsense to waffle about. But until then, have yourselves a Happy Christmas and don't forget to leave the purple quality street alone...

Jack's Bean and gone...

So here we are, the first of my 12 bits leading up to Christmas. Taking the festive season and making it drink so much Egg Nog and Absinthe, that come Boxing Day it'll be wondering about a recipe for scrambled eggs...

Starting off with...

1. Pantomines...

"He's behind you!" The regular call heard at theatres up and down the country over December and Early January, usually when someone's drink is split... Either that the refrain of children excited by sweets and also a character searching for someone. The panto has developed over the years from the early Harlequinade to today's sophisticated lights and music shows, in modern times the attraction is the stars who are in the panto itself. Taking its lead from Music Hall, the great entertainers have always appeared. From Pop stars to comedians and sports stars, they have each done their turns. Each story in turn has been adapted for the major star to show off their talent, for instance Rolf Harris would do his Jake the Peg act in the middle of Cinderella. Which bears no relationship to the plot itself, but it gave the chance to for others to shine. 


The dame is a key role in any pantomine, acting as a foil for the comical turn such as Buttons but also entertaining the audience in themself. The role has been filled with performers with the magnitude of  Chris Harris famous in the South for his time presenting 'Hey Look That's Me!' but also the quality of Les Dawson, Dawson is the master of the dame. His style, the demeanour and also the way he sells the role to the audience.... A true pro...

In myself, my experiences of panto are sort of mixed really from the Kings Theatre in Portsmouth seeing the great stars performing and getting up on stage with Brian Cant to tell an awful joke. But in meeting the great man was enough, but in that same performance... Major embarassment... When Lorraine Chase was playing Aladdin and was at a crucial scene when she finds the lamp originally, guess who shouted at the top of his voice as the lone voice "Rub the Lamp!" Which she replied "Thanks..." I could have nearly died, thinking back on it... Not the best move at all... Thinking over all the stars I saw in panto, it encouraged my love of Light Entertainment...

"Its Bobby Davro... Who?"

This gem comes from 2009 when Bobby Davro, and Mickey Rooney starred in panto in Milton Keynes... Milton Keynes isn't funny in itself, but it comes from the tradition of the stars being put into the panto who maybe don't fit as such... When Frank Bruno went into panto, it was because he was famous for his boxing but with the trend for reality stars now it seems that panto has changed into a vehicle for people who may have been on the television soon enough. The nature of this has been shown in the previous year when Britt Ekland came out of the jungle and to the Kings Theatre, it might be good publicity for the show itself. But with the currency of this, it leads to more people coming to the theatre and also something as such with their effect. 

So what else is there? Maybe a bit of festive time ads, involving panto... This from 1987 with Children's ITV , in which it feels right to be involved with panto time...

More fun here on Saturday... Enjoy people!

A quizzical situation...

In these times of the credit crunch everyone is feeling the pinch, especially the television industry. So it comes down to what ideas are cost effective and usually the solution lies in mass producible programmes such as Deal or No Deal and Countdown leading to monster runs of each basically spanning the whole year.
The phenomenal success of Pointless shows that a stranded show in the schedule puts the channel into a position where they can control what they want to do.  In the re-runs of early Pointless on Challenge, the seed is sewed as far the game is so addictive and being able to play along at home, which any quiz is giving its back teeth for.

ITV have experimented somewhat more then the BBC by re-introducing The Price Is Right with Joe Pasquale some time ago. But everyone knows about Golden Balls and Weakest Links of this world, though if it gets worse what shows will be brought back?

Here we ponder at the lesser lights which could fill up a wet Wednesday afternoon against Dickinson’s Real Deal...


Takeover Bid (BBC 1)
The Brucie lead vehicle of the late 80’s and early 90’s when he came back to the BBC, encouraging players to steal prizes off their opponents. Quite right for these times when it seems like every other company is taking over everyone else, so why not have that business-like jolly uncle turned entertainment host Gerry Robinson takes over the role of quizmaster plus with the added bonus of Adam ‘Shaw’s Shares’ Shaw as the glamorous assistant. “Your prizes value may go up or down owing to market conditions….”


Talkabout (ITV 1)
Verbally adept game show once introduced by future Peep Show executive producer Andrew O’Connor is brought up by Simon Cowell’s Syco TV in which the self appointed entertainment guru ditches the game and makes up the rules as he goes along. Contestants are punished if they don’t talk about The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent or any show presented by Ant’n’Dec, the show is given a trillion week monster run by ITV as they see the potential to use a phone vote to get rid of the contestants one by one…

  Lucky Ladders (ITV 1)
Presented by the woman from the accident claim line adverts. As contestants come on and claim for such things as a loose fitting pen lid to a violent sneezing fit because the waitress in a Little Chef dropped the pepper. If their claim is suitable enough they are given thousands which they have to pay back eventually at double the rate of inflation…

"Gordon Bennett! No it's actually Lennie in fact..."

The Travel Quiz (BBC 1)
Contestants are giving the chance to win pictures of all the destinations that they cannot travel, all to due to the rising costs of air fuel. Due to copyright restriction, only pictures of British seaside resorts maybe used thanks to a dusty box of photos left over from Holiday ’78 found in a cupboard at the back of BBC canteen behind tins of semolina and prunes. (Andi “Ow, that’s rather hot isn’t it?” Peters not included…)




That’s My Dog (ITV 1)
Ironic twist gameshow, where half the staff of Heat Magazine are charged with
trying to control certain nightclub *ahem* beauties and keep them from getting
too merry before filming whilst Derek Hobson tries to reflect where his career has
gone and why they have turned the South-West’s number one produced gameshow
into a scene from Footballer’s Wives…



If that the case of being funny, by suggesting them its a serious business that people will tell you in the number of quiz shows have been piloted for BBC and ITV, with The Weakest Link leaving us soon, it brings into focus that when a format finishes, the next idea has to be ready to go....

So when they've started I'll finish and hopefully it'll be a starter for ten...

All aboard the Euro-visions express (Part Two)

So after a stop off in Spain we are ready to start our journey again in Germany, now you might think that Germany and light entertainment don't go together as bedfellows but strangely they do. With their love for Monty Python and associated shows which have been shown on various channels through out Germany, but more about trans-european shows later...
Though first of all when Robin Blamires tweeted me in response to Part One, he reminded that Noel's House Party made it to Germany for a short while. In 1994, a Germanic version broadcast on Sat. 1 presented by Thomas Gottschalk. Gottschalk himself had been on a similar career path to Noel Edmonds, radio presenter playing pop music but also he had done a entertainment show called 'Na Sowas!' which I referered to in part one. 'Na Sowas!' or roughly translated 'Well Something Like That!" was in style very like The Late Late Breakfast show. So the comparisons are there between Gottschalk and Edmonds, in which the love of live television has seen them both encompassing live stunts into their shows.
Since 1981 there has been one show which has maintained its place as Germany's number one entertainment show and that is 'Wetten Dass!' or as when it came to these shores 'You Bet!' Its format runs the same as the latter but it is live with the addition of music acts to allow the grand sets needed to be set up ready for each of the challenges. The original host and creator Frank Elsner presented the show up until 1987 when Gottschalk took over the show for five years, but took time out between late 1992 and the late 1993 and handing the show over to Wolfgang Lippert. Though Lippert only presented nine editions during this period, Gottschalk came back to present and he has stayed there ever since. But following an accident nearly one year ago which left a man a quadriplegic when one of the challenges went wrong and the show was pulled off air with Gottschalk unable to continue, he made the decision to leave the show at the end of the 2011 series on the 3rd of December because he felt he had to leave.

Gottschalk's place as Germany's number one entertainment host has been has been assured, so if you can get to see that final edition with Gottschalk of Wetten Dass on 3rd December it will be worth it for a man who has transcended his television career by even appearing in Sister Act 2, as part of Whoopi Goldberg losing a bet on the show.

Thomas Gottschalk not betting on the original host appearing...

As we move on from Germany, we enter Switzerland. Why Switzerland, what programme has come from Switzerland? Though a few have gone there... Switzerland, the home of the Golden Rose of Montreux... Through out television, the Golden Rose has been the standard for quality entertainment throughout Europe since 1961 and now takes places in Lucerne since 2004, but this was the prize all producers wanted to achieve whichever channel they were from. Over the years, Britain has had great success winning the Golden Rose and even in some years winning the silver one as well. 

From 1961 when The Black and White Minstrels won the Golden Rose through to 2003 when reality television had come into its element with Faking It winning for Channel 4. Its has been an honour to win the prize with performers of real quality taking the honour people such as Sir David Frost, Marty Feldman, Lenny Henry, The League of Gentlemen and also Kermit the Frog as well. The wide range of programming shows the depth of the British entertainment television industry between these dates with game shows, satirical shows and big entertainment spectaculars providing the winners. In 1972 when Marty Feldman's Comedy Machine won for ATV, the runner-up was The Goodies of which Tim Brook-Taylor found himself in the odd position of both writing for Feldman but also writing and performing with Bill Oddie and Graham Garden as well. Some of the shows which have won the prize have never been seen by British audiences, but in their special ways they show the best that each country has to offer for themselves. With even the prize going across the Atlantic with shows from the United States and Canada winning on many occasions, this shows that the Rose d'Or has the prestige to be able to break down barriers between American and European television.

"And now for something different... and rare.."

As such since 2004 with the categories being separated into component parts such as Arts and Specials, Music, Sitcom, Variety and even giving a prize to the best pilot programme in that year. There have been winners throughout the intervening years such as Peter Serafinowicz, The Inbetweeners, The Vicar of Dibley etc. It seems diluted as an award, though that maybe with the proliferation of some many channels out there. But if Benidorm Bastards or I Survived a Japanese Game Show makes it to air over which could be a possibility then who knows what might happen to the next generations of shows. 

From Switzerland via the medium of a huge rubber band, we are back here in the UK again. So thanks to our European cousins, shows have come over to us and we have sent shows to them. Showing surely the universal language is television and over borders come ideas, new thrills and the chance for performers to been seen in many countries as they can. But for the Gold Standard, they are all trying to achieve at the same time and that, that in itself is just special...

A trip on the Euro-visions express... Part One

Thanks to my brother whilst watching a programme  called 'Na Sowas!' presented by German's Noel Edmonds with him tonight, he wondered about the all the programme formats which have from foreign climbs to this country and what ones we have given to the Europeans. The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing are two nowadays as well as The Weakest Link, but there have been plenty more which have come over as friendly visitors to our shores.

"An ooh and a la-la as well.."

So we start out by going from the UK to France first of all for a programme which ventured forth in 1982 and has just announced a new presenter. Des chiffres et des lettres as it know in France came to Britain when Marcel Stellman, a Belgian record executive took the format to Yorkshire Television and thus 'Twice-Nightly Whiteley' was born. The show started in 1965, but the familar format came into being in 1972 . With the length of the round being 45 seconds rather then Countdown's 30 seconds and duels such as contestants having to complete mental arithmetic calculations in their heads plus rounds where contestants have to find nouns and proper nouns in ten letters. The appeal of the programme comes from it simplicity and the nature perusing the mental aspect of the game, being returned in over seven territories worldwide mainly in Europe.


With The Apprentice's Nick Hewer taking over from Jeff Stelling in January, its yet to be seen if the programme can stay at the peak of its popularity. But with Nick Hewer being the fourth host since Whiteley's untimely death, it has stayed the course since 2005 and with its 30th anniversary coming up in November next year, the loyal viewers will be there as usual.




From France, we move to The Nederlands now. Those who know me will know where we are going with this, Een van de acht or translated 'One out of the eight' started off on VARA Television in 1969 when Theo Uittenbogaard came up with the format, but Mies Bouwman came up the idea of a conveyor belt though this came from a German television show and wanted to incorporated into the show. Through this came the late Bill Cotton Jr. travelling to Holland seeing the format and with ITV's domination of the television ratings at the start of the early 70's thought that the format with tweaks would be good for Bruce Forsyth to present which he did until 1978 when Larry Grayson took over, but such is these formats it wasn't only the UK which took on the programme. Germany had Am laufenden Band presented by Rudi Carell which was also a direct decendent of the programme, similar to the South African, Swedish versions as well. Mainly bringing  on the members of the public and letting them compete in games to find out who would go through to the conveyor belt at the end of the programme. A simple format, maybe but always entertaining. There's something to be said, of the unique appeal to the public of seeing themselves on the screen and thinking that if the contestants can do it, so the people at home could do it better.

Dutch Courage...

Onto Spain as we find a pumpkin and a bin to put it in... Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez was the Spanish version of 3-2-1 and hence it came from there to Kirstall Road in 1978, but the original programme started in 1972 and ending in 2004 not before versions in Portugal, Germany and The Netherlands were broadcast.

Die Verflixte Sieben presented again by Rudi Carell was the German version of the show, taking on the variety aspect of the show theming very edition. As such the Dutch version incorporating the Dutch National Lottery within it meaning that it became more reason to watch the programme. Ruperta the Pumpkin in the Spanish version fills the role of Dusty Bin as such as being the show's own mascot but also as a red herring for the contestants to avoid, this is a device which serves as a role for being able to make the mascot seeming innocuous and innocent. But with its sting in the tale, causing the contestants to be cautious on their approach on what to reject as a clue. With each aspect testing the contestants with games, their knowledge being tested and also the ability to decifer the clues as well. Its puts something into the show which is seemingly lost, the element of surprise as well.

"One, Two, Three... Respond please..."

As we pull into the station for now, we have been through France to the UK, back to Holland and onto Spain... Next time, we move onto Deutschland betting on going through the place where shows go to where they are judged from across Europe with ultimate prize on show...