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.

The New Look of Coke!.....

The lovely Raquel Welch appeared in this advertisement back in 1970 modelling Coke's new line of Coca Cola jewelry which included, Coke Wave Rings, Bracelet Watch, Ray Strauss Scarf, Chain Belt & Clasp Bracelet.

Radio Times: 30May-5th June 1970

The late, great Bobby Moore graces this cover of the Radio Times from 1970 as the BBC prepares its coverage of the World Cup.

Countdown: UFO (1971) Part One

It is curious to think, in hindsight, that the first mention of UFO in a comic was as far back as the Summer of 1969 when filming was just getting under way. The prize for a competition run in issues 17 & 18 of Joe 90 Top Secret included a visit to the MGM Studios at Borehamwood and some lucky youngster would have been given a glimpse of what would not be seen on television for well over a year.

By now, Century 21 no longer had an independent publishing concern but was still in the thick of film-making with their first ever live action series. Interest in Science Fiction was still high and the regeneration of Doctor Who into Jon Pertwee in a more realistic earthbound setting had given the series a new lease of life. Its TV Comic incarnation had remained in a juvenile rut despite some better scripts by Alan Fennell and it subsequently disappeared at the end of 1970 with issue 999. Likewise UFO was a far more adult series and, with that much in common the seeds of a new comic were sown at the beginning of 1971.

The publishers were the same, Polystyle, and they had acquired the rights to UFO some months earlier and published an annual in the Autumn of 1970. Some aspects of the publication betray the long period involved in appearing in print, as reference is made to Skydiver Captain Peter (in one caption 'Jon') Karlin, who would become Peter Carlin, Space Tracker Paula Harris, who disappeared early on in production to be renamed Gay Ellis. Paul Foster is also referred to as being a Major, actually, his rank in the Air Force before being promoted to Colonel upon joining SHADO. It can be inferred that the annual became the 'Bible' for the writers involved with the strip, as some of these errors were occasionally carried over.

The Editor of Countdown was Dennis Hooper, previously the Art Editor for TV21. By accounts, Polystyle had also negotiated the rights to use the other Gerry Anderson series for a new comic and Hooper was approached to produce a dummy. Unfortunately, unlike TV21, the Anderson content could only represent a proportion of each issue so other strips and features would have to be found. Hooper persuaded the then Editor of TV Comic, Dick Millington, that Doctor Who would be better served in the new comic too. Whilst the new colour Doctor Who strip, drawn by Harry Lindfield, would take some liberties with the format to stand up in its own right (cost dictated the rights to use UNIT would not be used) It was fair reflection of the more serious tone of the television series. The recent Apollo missions to the moon garnered a high interest in the space race and a lot of related features appeared in early issues. As TV21 had always implied a superficial reality regarding the Anderson 'universe' features on the actual making of the series were non-existent, an exception being the Thunderbirds are go special released to publicise the 1966 film. So the occasion feature appeared here too, notably in issue 5 with behind the scenes shots of the Thunderbirds film & series.

The first issue was dated 20th February 1971 and bears the hallmarks of having been revamped from the pilot dummy with typeset captions and speech for all bar two of the strips and differences to the layout. UFO was well presented with a double page introductory feature called, 'The Secrets of SHADO' and a 5 page strip. Along with Doctor Who, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet also joined the line-up and another feature explained that other Gerry Anderson stories such as Stingray, Lady Penelope and Fireball XL5 would appear in future editions. Filling out the strips would be Countdown, a wholly new space opera that used the designs from the feature film, 2001: A Space Odyssey ( a TV21 merchandising tie-in that seemed to hark back to Project Sword) drawn in full colour by John M. Burns and which would run for well over a year.

No 1 UK Hit Singles (1973)

W/E	Artist	Song	Weeks at No.1	Comments
27th Jan	Sweet	Blockbuster	5	Only ever UK No 1 for this very successful glam rock band who went on to have many other chart hits during the early seventies.
3rd Mar	Slade	Cum On Feel the Noise	4	Slade's 4th UK No 1 and their first to enter the charts straight in at No 1.
31st Mar	Donny Osmond	The Twelfth Of Never	1	A 2nd UK No 1 for Donny with this typical tear jerker.
7th Apr	Gilbert O'Sullivan	Get Down	2	A 2nd and final UK No 1 for the Irishman with a song about his dog.
21st Apr	Dawn featuring Tony Orlando	Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree	4	A 2nd and final UK No 1 with this heart warming classic about a prisoner returning home to see if his true love's still waiting for him.
19th May	Wizzard	See My Baby Jive	4	1st UK No 1 for the group that history remembers as Roy Wood's most successful chart act.
16th Jun	Suzi Quatro	Can The Can	1	1st UK No 1 for this American girl rocker and bassist who found fame in the UK easier than at home.
23rd Jun	10 CC	Rubber Bullets	1	1st UK No 1 for 10 CC with a more upbeat song than they are often remembered for.
30th Jun	Slade	Skweeze Me Pleeze Me	3	Slade's 5th No 1 continued their assault on the English language.
21st Jul	Peters & Lee	Welcome Home	1	Only ever UK No 1 for this club duo who surprisingly found fame.
28th Jul	Gary Glitter	I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am)	4	1st UK No 1 for this long-time struggling musician. He was nearly 30 by the time he became a glam-rock star.
25th Aug	Donny Osmond	Young Love	4	A 3rd and final UK No 1 for Donny as a solo artist although he would later hit the top again as part of The Osmonds.
22nd Sep	Wizzard	Angel Fingers	1	A 2nd and final UK No 1 for Wizzard. The song they're most remembered for, "I wish it could be Christmas every day" was beaten into the No 4 slot in this year.
29th Sep	Simon Park Orchestra	Eye Level	4	The instrumental theme from tv series "Van Der Valk" was first tv theme to reach the top of the charts.
27th Oct	David Cassidy	Daydreamer / The Puppy Song	3	A 2nd and final UK No 1 for this teenage heartthrob who returned to acting shortly after.
17th Nov	Gary Glitter	I Love You Love Me Love	4	A 2nd UK No 1 for Glitter with a song which sold over a million copies world-wide.
15th Dec	Slade	Merry Xmas Everybody	5	This perennial Xmas classic was Slade's 6th and final UK No 1, and has been in the charts many times since.

Time Magazine (1951)

This edition of Time Magazine dates back to 1951 and gracing the front cover is the great Groucho Marx.

This edition also from 1951 features as its cover, Barbara Bel Geddes, later to become Miss Ellie in Dallas.

Also from 1951 is Boxing legend, Sugar Ray Robinson.

Classic Corrie: The Wages Snatch (1978)

Back in January 1978 an ill wind blew along Coronation Street. Ernest Bishop was working as Wages Clerk for Mike Baldwin's Denim empire, 'Baldwin's Casuals.' Before Mike came to his salvation Ernest had owned his own photography business complete with own shop. Spiralling costs and lack of customers had forced Ernest to give up his business and having no money or work had begun to send Ernest into a downward spiral. Denim Tycoon Mike Baldwin arrived on the Street from South London in 1976. Mike had bought the old warehouse and subsequently offered Ernest a job as his Wages Clerk. In 1978 the Denim factory girls earn a huge bonus and one sunny morning Mike & Ernest take a trip to the Bank to collect the girls wages, unaware that two young guys, Dave & Tommo have been tipped off about the money and are sitting outside the factory intent on intercepting Mike & Ernest.

Having collected the money from the Bank and now back at the factory Mike leaves Ernest to his own devices in calculating the wages and bonus. Dave & Tommo find their way to the office and with shotgun in hand threaten Ernest and demand that he hand over the money! Ernest tries to be reasonable with the guys but to no avail. Wandering what the delay is Mike enters the office and in doing so startles the guys and subsequently the shotgun goes off wounding Ernest. Ernest falls to the ground and the guys make a run for it.

The Street is awash with emergency vehicles. Emily dashes over to the warehouse and is told that Ernest has been shot and she then faints.

At the Hospital and accompanied by Betty Turpin, Emily is informed that Ernest had died on the operating table.

Rona Barrett's Hollywood

Rona Barrett is one of the best known pioneers and innovators in entertainment reporting and publishing in the USA. Rona developed the first in-depth personal TV specials about the celebrities of film, television, music, sports and politics and published a series of magazines on the entertainment industry for consumers and for industry insiders, including Rona Barrett's Hollywood. Below are covers from three of Rona's Hollywood magazines.

James Brolin and Chad Everett grace the cover from this magazine that dates back to April 1972.

Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul (aka) Starsky and Hutch grace the cover of this magazine that dates back to April 1977.

Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge on the front cover of this magazine that dates back to March 1978.

TV Action - The Protectors (Part Four)

TV Action - Holiday Special: 1973

The Hunter:

Harry & Paul overcome to armed guards and a Secret Police Chief to free Nadia Holstein and bring her back from behind the Iron Curtain. Picking them up in a helicopter, the Contessa takes them back to her Roman Villa, where Nadia is reunited with her Husband, Professor Franz Holstein, an electronics expert who has defected. Some months later,a lone man also escapes over the border and makes his way to the Contessa's villa, where he request asylum! He claims to be Rubowski, Holstein's one time assistant, Harry, however, is suspicious and sets up a public rendezvouz at a pavement cafe in Vienna. It is Holstein who reacts, almost throttling the man, who subsequently pulls a gun and takes the Professor & Contessa hostage. Wounding Paul & Chino, he makes the Contessa drive her Rolls as a getaway vehicle. As Harry borrows a Police bike and pursues, Rubowski is revealed as Zutler, the former head of Secret Police, disgraced since Frau Holstein's escape. As the Police pursue both, Harry makes a desperate bid to stop the car, hurling it over a hill into its path. His escape blocked, Zutler is overpowered by Harry and handed over to the Italian Police.

Who Dares Wins - 1982

Who Dares Wins (U.S. title: The Final Option) was a 1982 British film that starred Lewis Collins fresh from his success as Bodie in The Professionals, Richard Widmark and Edward Woodward, directed by Ian Sharp. The title is the Motto of the elite Special Air Service (SAS).

The plot is largely inspired by the Iranian Embassy Siege of 1980, during which the SAS stormed the building to rescue those being held hostage inside. Euan Lloyd, the movie's producer, got the idea for the film after watching live television coverage of the event, but he had to move quickly to prevent the idea being scooped by somebody else. An initial synopsis was created by George Markstein. This was then turned into a novel by James Follett as The Tiptoe Boys, in thirty days flat. Meanwhile, chapter-by-chapter as the novel was completed, it was shipped to Reginald Rose in Los Angeles, who wrote the final screenplay.

The British security forces learn that a militant group attached to the anti-nuclear movement plans a significant act of terrorism, however their plant is unmasked and publicly killed during a protest march. To find out what is being planned, the security services recruit the services of the SAS. SAS officer, Capt Peter Skellen (Lewis Collins) is picked for the mission. After faking his dismissal from the SAS for beating two visiting counter-terrorist officers in a mountain training exercise, he goes undercover to infiltrate the militant group by seducing its leader. Despite his efforts, he is tailed during meetings with his contact and his wife. Knowing this, the terrorists decide they can use Skellen as a part of their plan and do not let him know that he has been found out.

The group kills the secret service go-between after tailing Skellen to a meeting, and later takes his wife and child hostage. Before he can report what he has learned to his superiors, the group executes its operation by hijacking a coach carrying a military band and uses their uniforms to gain access to the American ambassador's residence. They take over the building and demand that a nuclear weapon be fired at the Holy Loch submarine base in Scotland. When it becomes clear that negotiations will not work, the SAS is sent in to deal with the terrorists. Once informed that his family had been taken hostage, Skellen was forced to accompany the group on their hostage-taking operation, but was unarmed as he was no longer trusted by the group. During the siege he manages to communicate with those outside using a Morse code light signals through a bathroom window. The SAS leader signals back that a raid will begin at 10 a.m., so Skellen can be prepared when the power is cut.

At the appointed time, Skellen disarms a terrorist and uses his weapon to engage the terrorists. He kills several before linking up with his SAS colleagues who have now entered the house by abseiling from helicopters, and forced entry via the front door. At the end, he comes face to face with the group's leader. As he hesitates, she goes to kill him, but is killed by SAS soldiers.

Skellen's family is rescued by an SAS operation entering his house through a wall from the neighbouring flat, ending in the deaths of the terrorists and his family safe.

Who Dares Wins was also panned by some critics as being apparently right-winged. But, reportedly, it earned praise from notable filmmakers. Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, for example, told Ian Sharp they loved Who Dares Wins, and therefore they chose Sharp to work as the 2nd Unit director in their 1988 film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In a letter to producer Euan Lloyd dated 25th February, 1983, now in the collection of film director Malcolm Taylor, Stanley Kubrick wrote: "I must also take this opportunity to tell you how much I enjoyed "Who Dares Wins." Casting Judy Davis was a brilliant idea. I think she is the best young actress around and she brought instant credibility and dramatic interest to all her scenes."