My favourite Marx Brother was Groucho, false mustache and funny walk.
This is genius.
Nothing more needs to be said.
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash
There was a time, and it wasn’t that long ago, when Christmas television was every bit as exciting as the presents under the tree. It was a family highlight of the year — something to look forward to.
And all of that excitement began with the two sacred texts of television: the Radio Times and the TV Times. As Christmas approached, they arrived at the newsagent's, heavy with festive promise, you could smell the ink on the pages when you opened them.
They were the unofficial start of Christmas in many British households.
What’s In A Name?
The Radio Times was the original British Christmas radio and television listing magazine — how could it not be? Until commercial television and radio came along, there was only the BBC.
And for a while, it was only radio.
That history and tradition lives on in the name of the magazine, Radio Times. Although, today, and for some time now, the radio has taken a backseat to the world of visual media in the magazine. ‘Television’, in whatever way it is broadcast now — over the air waves, digital, satellite, cable, online or by smartphone, rules the day.
But it began with radio. The 1940 Radio Times (image above) was all about the radio listings. In those dark, early days of the Second World War, it was the only radio entertainment that people had.
Then television arrived, slowly at first, but by the 1970s, when Christmas arrived, it gave us everything that the entertainment industry had to offer.
The 1970s Experience—Three Channels, Several Generations, One Living Room.
Christmas telly back then was different.
With only three channels — BBC1, BBC2 and a regional commercial channel (I think we had ATV) — choice was limited, but the listings had real weight. We did have our own version of ‘doom-scrolling’ the listings magazines to see what was on. You also had to buy both magazines, as each only listed their own TV schedule.
When it came to how we watched, there was no streaming, no catch-up, no play later. Until video came along, if you missed it, you missed it. Forever, or until it was repeated — probably the next Christmas. And television closed down for the evening around midnight, starting up again in the morning.
The fear of missing a favourite show was as real as running out of Quality Street or Cadbury’s Roses on Christmas Day.
Most homes only had the one television — that one source of home entertainment. There was no TV in every room, or parents saying, “Go and watch it on the internet.” There was no, “I’ll watch it on my phone in my room.”
Christmas became a battleground of television rights, and it could get ugly. There would be ongoing living-room negotiations about what would be watched. The disagreements could rival anything at the United Nations.
“There’s a good film on ATV at the same time. Let’s watch that.”
“BBC1’s got the big Christmas special. We can’t miss it.”
“We have to watch Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em and Blankety Blank.”
“Can we watch Top of the Pops?”
Amazingly, this is my most viewed tweet on Twitter X in 2023 and for a brief period, a few weeks after posting, it was trending.
It has 7200 views. Go figure.
Andy Pandy. pic.twitter.com/xeZTauSFc6
— Lost In Words (@LostInWords2023) November 9, 2023
Each episode began:
Andy Pandy is coming to play, la, la-la, la, la-la,
Andy Pandy’s here today, la, la-la, la-la.
And ended:
Time to stop play, just for today,
Andy and Teddy must now go away.
Time to stop play, just for today
Andy is waving goodbye …, goodbye …, goodbye.
If you grew up in the 1950s or 1960s, this was most likely part of your childhood. Not that there was much to watch on television.
Andy Pandy is coming to play. Don't have nightmares.
Well, this will be ambitious. I came up with this idea, a blog variation on the twelve days of Christmas, ambitiously called the twelve posts of Christmas. Ambitious because so far I think the most number of posts that I have done in any month is five. I will have to see how it goes.
So, here's the first one.
The Christmas Radio Times seems to be a tradition for many households. It gets bought even if no one reads it. Here is a selection over the years.
1940.
With Hitler planning his invasion of Britain, which thankfully never happened, The BBC offered its Christmas Radio Times for two old pence.
1957.
Seventeen years later, and the price had increased by a penny.
