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The
popularity of It's A Knockout was definitely on the rise through the
late 1960s. Ratings were healthy - a Jeux Sans Frontières edition
being the highest rated BBC programme for the whole of September 1969 with 5
million viewers - and this trend continued into the new decade, with the
series regularly appearing in the Top Twenty programmes. By the end of the
1971 series though, there was trouble brewing, potentially at least. Regular
number one presenter, David Vine had decided to move on after five series to
present a new TV quiz game, A Question of Sport. This, along with his
sporting commentary commitments left no space in his schedule for Knockout.
Could the series survive a change of personnel? And who should they pick? Obviously,
the choice of presenter would most certainly influence the longevity of the
series.
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After much head-scratching, Barney Colehan and the BBC plumped for
Stuart Hall, a young and respected reporter working on Look North, a
regional news programme. It proved an
absolute masterstroke of casting: Stuart Hall and It's A Knockout were
simply made for each other. Initially, Hall approached the commission with some trepidation, fearing that an association
with the series would affect his standing as a newsman. He shouldn't have
worried for not only did he live up to David Vine's standard - he completely eclipsed him in
television memory. Put simply, Stuart Hall became Mr. Knockout. His approach was inspired. "It's my
function to get hold of the programme and put it over to 15 million viewers as
a piece of television," he commented in 1976. "I've got to generate excitement, atmosphere and
response in the stadium as well, which makes me a bit like a Wembley
referee who simultaneously has to feed commentary to the live spectators. I
know [the] characters [among the competitors] in advance, who's going to do something for me, and I
actually talk to them while they're at it. I make it 3-D."
Practically overnight, Stuart Hall had changed a commentating job into that of
a ringmaster. And he was supremely good at his job.
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Stuart
Hall, pre-Knockout, compèring a TV beauty contest
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Stuart
Hall was joined by Eddie Waring, now well-established in his role as
co-presenter, and Arthur Ellis continued as principal referee. It was
these three who would see It's A Knockout through its most popular
phase, with the ratings for the series peaking at 15.6 million in November
1979. Hall, Waring and Ellis grew close as a team and the result was
magic. Each was a character in their own right: Hall, the effervescent,
slick and lovable ringmaster, reknowned for regularly collapsing in fits
uncontrolled laughter at the ludicrous games (and this patently added to the
man's appeal); Waring, the gruff Northerner with a dry sense of humour and the
God-given ability to mangle the English language quite gloriously; Ellis, the
former World Cup referee, who brought an air of amused authority to 'the zany
Olympics', a twinkle of good humour never far from his eyes. To It's A
Knockout, these three were, without a shadow of doubt, 'the dream team' in
a league of their own.
The
teams themselves were on the up, too. Ely became the second team to lift the
Eurovision Trophy in 1973, after winning just about everything they possibly
could in the 1973 tournament. They ripped into Hertford in the domestic heat,
recording one of the highest winning margins ever achieved in It's A
Knockout - 19-1. Hertford didn't win a single game, their single point
coming from a drawn event. Ely's high score gave them the 1973 Knockout
Trophy and they were similarly successful in their heat in Arnhem, Netherlands.
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This heat was a potentially awkward one for the team from Cambridgeshire. Ely
team member, Ian Rodger remembers it very clearly. "The Arnhem
heat was a very emotional event. Initially, Dutch TV were not sure that we would want to compete there as it was the site of so many British deaths in
the Second World War. However, the BBC said it would be alright and the Dutch people probably gave us more support
on the night than
they did to their own team."
Producer, Barney Colehan was
even approached
after Ely's victory by a member of the Dutch TV crew, who told him: "We
wanted the British to win, you know, even more than the Dutch. Can you
understand that?"
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 The
Ely team arrive in Arnhem, Netherlands in August 1973
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Sadly, the BBC have not preserved the edition, and it
remains missing from their archives today. "It was a very troubled occasion, very sad,
knowing that thousands of families at home would still be feeling the loss of
their husbands and sons," Stuart Hall noted in Radio Times
magazine. "Luckily, our team from Ely was a nice extrovert one
and I think that night It's A Knockout laid the ghost of Arnhem." And
to top it all, Ely were unbeatable in the International Final, too.
As the Seventies got into their stride, the series started
to err towards the spectacular over the slapstick, utilising impressive
costumes and locations, such as Roman amphitheatres, castles and even a
galleon, particularly in the European events. The cultural differences
between the competing nations could however make life a little difficult
for those devising the games. "What's interesting is that we have to be
careful not to offend the other countries with certain games," said Stuart
Hall in a mid-70s interview. "The Germans dislike games which show girls
fighting. Although the Italians are very hot blooded, they have a very
Victorian attitude to what they'll show on television. One game had to be
abandoned on the day of transmission because they objected to a game that
finished with a man and a woman climbing into a four-poster bed together."
With a wry comment for every situation, Stuart Hall made a
wonderful statement when asked to comment on the competing nations in
Jeux Sans Frontières: "The Swiss are very polite about the whole
business, the French can be volatile, the Dutch emphasise physical prowess
and the Germans take it all very seriously, which is probably why they win
so regularly. And the British are good sports who dream up elaborate
events... and then forget to bring their plimsolls along."
by
Alan Hayes
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