British TV in the 1950s Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tommy Trinder

September 1955 saw Tommy Trinder hosting the first Sunday Night at the London Palladium. The guests on this first show were Gracie Fields and Guy Mitchell.
Tommy hosted the show until 1958.

Answer: David Attenborough

The 1954 programe "Zoo Quest" was produced and presented by David Attenborough. The programme ran until 1968. Each programme featured a team travelling to different parts of the world capturing animals for the London Zoo. The programme finished with the animal being shown in the studio whilst a team of experts discussed the animal's life and habits.
However the program began to fall from grace in the 1960s when the practice of capturing animals to show in zoos began to become less popular.
After the programme finished, David returned to work as an administrator until 1979 when the now famous "Life on Earth" was made.

Answer: Dragnet

One of the first American police shows to be imported into Great Britain was "Dragnet" starring Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday. Many of the stories were taken from actual cases that had been dealt with by the Los Angeles Police Department, hence the statement at the beginning of each show.

The series were so realistic for that time, many of the episodes were used by the LAPD as training films.

Answer: Filming of the Queen's Coronation

June 2nd 1953 was the Queen's Coronation and the whole event was filmed by the BBC. This programme was notable for a few things- It was the longest and most extensive outside broadcast for its time, starting at 10.15 and ending at 17.20. It had a total of eight presenters and finally but not least it was the first time that cameras were allowed into Westminster Abbey.

The cabinet had advised the Queen not to allow the cameras into the Abbey as they thought the strain of a live broadcast would be too much for her.

However she stated that she was the one being crowned and therefore wished that the nation should share the moment with her.

Answer: Tony Hancock

Tony Hancock lived at the Railway Cuttings. His programme "Hancock's Half Hour" made an easy transition from radio to television. Hancock's co-stars were Sid James and Patricia Hayes, supported by many famous guest stars. Sadly marriage problems and a continous fight with alcohol saw Tony committing suicide in Sydney in 1968.

Answer: Grandstand

"Grandstand" was started in 1958 and after the first two weeks was presented by David Coleman until 1968. It was the longest running sports programme lasting for 48 years and during this time it only had four full time presenters.

Answer: The Adventures of Superman

George Reeves starred in 104 episodes of "The Adventures of Superman". Although the last half of the shows were made in colour they were originally transmitted in black and white.
In 1959, after drinking with some friends at his house, he left the party and went upstairs. He was later found naked on the bed, dead from a gunshot wound. The official verdict was suicide although his mother never believed that he would have killed himself. To this day some people still believe that he was murdered.

Answer: Opportunity Knocks

In 1956 Hughie Green presented a talent show called "Opportunity Knocks". Six acts, of varying quality, performed live and the studio audiences' applause for each act was measured on the "Clapometer". Although this device gave some clue as to how popular a particular act was, the final decision was left to the viewers who voted by sending in postcards with their choice of winning act. Although a lot of the performers were novelty acts many famous stars like Les Dawson, Freddie Starr and Tom O'Connor found fame after winning on the show. One interesting fact was that Sue Pollard came second to a dog act.

Answer: The Grove Family

In 1954 the BBC launched "The Grove Family" named after the BBC's Lime Grove Studios. It ran for three years and quite often in excess of 9 million people watched the programme
The youngest member of the Grove Family was Christopher Beeney who, in later years, went on to star in "Upstairs, Downstairs."

Answer: Jimmy Edwards

Written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, Jimmy Edwards starred as Professor Jimmy Edwards, Headmaster of Chiselbury School in the series "Whacko"
"Whacko" would probably be considered non PC today with Jimmy constantly looking at ways to take beer money from the students, and to "whack" boys on the backside. One particular student by the name of Wendover lent himself to the catch phrase "Bend Over Wendover."

Answer: 77 Sunset Strip

Gerald Lord Kookson III (Kookie) played by Edd Byrnes featured in "77 Sunset Strip". The series about a company of private investigators, was first shown on British TV in 1958 and ran for 6 years with Efrem Zimbalist Junior playing the lead part of Stu Bailey.
Because, in every episode, Kookie was constantly combing his hair, Edward Byrnes and Connie Stevens made the record "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb."

Answer: Eamonn Andrews

Eamonn Andrews was signed up to present "This is Your Life" in 1955. The first victim was supposed to have been Stanley Matthews, however a paper leaked his identity and it was decided to find another star. Eamonn thought that the next victim was to be Freddie Mills, but Ralph Edwards, who had created the show in the USA, decided that the the victim would be Eamonn himself.
So while Eamonn had been getting ready to present the red book to Freddie he found out, on the night, it was his life that was being presented.

Answer: Perry Mason

Raymond Burr starred as Perry Mason from 1957 to 1966. Based on the stories by Erle Stanley Gardner there were 271 episodes, each lasting one hour. In the final episode Gardner appeared as himself as the judge.

Answer: The Third Man

From 1959 to 1960 Michael Rennie portrayed Harry Lime, based on the Oscar winning film "The Third Man". The series did not take off and only lasted for one year.

Answer: Look

Beginning in 1955 and presented by Peter Scott, "Look" was the first wild life series to be presented on British TV. It ran right up until 1969 and firmly established the BBC as one of the world's greatest producers of wild life programmes.