Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees) 1975

"Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees)" is a popular song written by Fred Fisher and his daughter Doris Fisher. The song was first recorded by Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra in 1940. The Ink Spots also recorded it the same year.

"Whispering Grass" was a 1975 UK number-one single by Windsor Davies and Don Estelle. Davies and Estelle were actors in the successful sitcom, It Ain't half hot Mum. It was number one in the British singles chart for three weeks from 7 June 1975. The record is a comic version of The Ink Spots' 1940 recording, and was sung in character.

The song has also been recorded by Ringo Starr for his 1970 album Sentimental Journey and Sandy Denny for her 1973 album Like an Old Fashioned Waltz.

Preceded by "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette

UK Number One Single 7 June 1975 for three weeks

Succeeded by "I'm Not In Love" by 10cc

Stranger than Fiction: Department S (1969-1970)

I remember when I was a kid I loved Department S, because basically, it was just weird!

Department S was created by Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman, although neither wrote any of the episodes. Episodes were instead written by ITC veterans such as Terry Nation and Philip Broadley. Many of the directors on the show had also worked on several other ITC shows – The Saint, Danger Man, The Protectors and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Like many ITC shows Department S gained cult status. Department S consisted of 28 episodes which originally aired in 1969–1970. It starred Peter Wyngarde as author Jason King (later featured in spin-off series Jason King), Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan, and Rosemary Nicols as computer expert Annabelle Hurst. The trio were agents for a fictional special department (the "S" of the title) of Interpol. The head of Department S was Sir Curtis Seretse (Dennis Alaba Peters).

Department S was a section of Interpol with an office in the Paris headquarters that investigated international cases other crime agencies were unable to solve. Sir Curtis Seretse, an international bureaucrat, was in charge of the team.

Stewart Sullivan was the head of Department S, taking instruction from Seretse. Sullivan did much of the leg work, confronting the criminals. Jason King was the ideas man, but also helped in the field. King was often seen with beautiful women before being called in on an assignment but had no permanent love interest in the series. King's sideline was as an adventure novelist. He managed to use details from their cases to write his novels. A playboy with a woman in every city, he had once been married to a woman named Marion who had died in a plane crash (A Fish Out Of Water episode).

Annabelle Hurst was a computer expert taking an analytical role in investigations. However she also went on assignment as a conventional investigator, sometimes appearing in many seductive, glamorous disguises. There were hints of romantic interest between Sullivan and Hurst. Oh, and not forgetting, the theme music to Department S is probably the best theme music ever written for a TV programme of any kind!

It's A Knockout Annual (1977)

Published by World Distributors (Manchester) Limited in the Autumn of 1976, the It's A Knockout Annual 1977 is one of the few books published about the series. World Distributors were a big name in the publishing of annuals, particularly of those linked to television series. No self-respecting cult TV collector will find their shelves entirely free of World Distributors' fare. Among countless others, they issued annuals for Doctor Who, Dad's Army, The Goodies, Catweazle, The Saint, Tom and Jerry and even James Bond.

In many ways, It's A Knockout was a strange choice for an annual, as these publications normally contained stories, both in prose and comic strip forms. Not something that It's A Knockout naturally lends itself to. This meant that the content was largely factual, although World Distributors did manage to squeeze in one comic strip story!

Normally, annuals are not really that useful to the collector or fan. They have stories that are written by hack writers who often are completely unfamiliar with the series the annual is about. The illustrations are usually laughable. And this is where the It's A Knockout Annual 1977 differs from the vast majority of World Distributors' output in that it actually tells you one hell of a lot about the series it is based upon. In fact, it's invaluable. It introduces the reader to the important people behind IAK, including Barney Colehan, Stuart Hall, Eddie Waring, Arthur Ellis and Cecil Korer. It focuses on individual competitors, goes briefly behind the scenes and has a feature on the scoregirls in the series. It's packed with anecdotes, useful information and photographs (albeit not always very well reproduced, it has to be said) and is a treasured part of an IAK fan's collection - even if it does fall occasionally into the traditional World Distributors traps by featuring articles that are linked to the series by the slenderest of threads. For instance, there is an article which tests the family's abilities to get out of desperate situations - being caught in a landslide, being in a lorry that stalls on a railway crossing, being stuck in a car that has careered into an icy river. Fortunately, this content is kept to a minimum, though of course there is the familiar annual fare - crosswords, games and the like. But all this is easy to overlook, as the major part of the content is fascinating.