My earliest recollections of this programme were of stuffy, square Eamon Andrews attempting to be 'good with kids'. Somehow it never seemed quite right.
I didn't like him and I didn't really like the show, but I watched it anyway, because everyone did. It was a really good show after all. Players like Leslie Crowther seemed just too funny for their own good. The whole thing had a typically patronising BBC flavour to it. 'We know best what kids want' seemed to be the by-line.
The bit I enjoyed the most was a game sequence called (I think) 'Double or Drop'. Here, three kids played off against each other, answering questions and winning prizes. If they got a question wrong, they got a cabbage. As the questions mounted so did the number of prizes, until they could scarcely hold them all. And if they dropped anything - they got a cabbage. It was a knockout contest. When you got 3 cabbages you were out. The one who survived got some special prize, though I can't remember what that was.
It's a measure of the ephemeral nature of modern culture that what was once a television institution, is now scarcely even remembered.
'Crackerjack' pencil, 'Blue Peter' badge; how the world has moved on. Later, we had 'Multi-Coloured Swap-Shop, and 'TisWas'. Both were equally popular in their time. And both have likewise passed into history.
I didn't like him and I didn't really like the show, but I watched it anyway, because everyone did. It was a really good show after all. Players like Leslie Crowther seemed just too funny for their own good. The whole thing had a typically patronising BBC flavour to it. 'We know best what kids want' seemed to be the by-line.
The bit I enjoyed the most was a game sequence called (I think) 'Double or Drop'. Here, three kids played off against each other, answering questions and winning prizes. If they got a question wrong, they got a cabbage. As the questions mounted so did the number of prizes, until they could scarcely hold them all. And if they dropped anything - they got a cabbage. It was a knockout contest. When you got 3 cabbages you were out. The one who survived got some special prize, though I can't remember what that was.
It's a measure of the ephemeral nature of modern culture that what was once a television institution, is now scarcely even remembered.
'Crackerjack' pencil, 'Blue Peter' badge; how the world has moved on. Later, we had 'Multi-Coloured Swap-Shop, and 'TisWas'. Both were equally popular in their time. And both have likewise passed into history.