Original subtitles

Ready Steady Go! really was the most innovative

rock and roll show probably ever.

Ready Steady Go! defined the '60s.

Almost as much as, say, The Beatles did.

It wasn't just the music.

It was everything that affected youth,

including, sort of, clothes, hair and make-up

and all that sort of stuff as well.

And the attitude of it just had a bit more fun

and an edge to it than anything had had before.

Dusty, I want to ask you a straight question. Oh!

It broke all the rules of...

..television for young people.

I have fond memories of Ready Steady Go!

Martha & The Vandellas.

That was the big time.

Just to be on a hot new TV show...

The Supremes!

..was, like, "Hey, we made it."

Gerry And The Pacemakers!

It was great.

Felt like a star!

# Five, four, three, two, one. #

Ready Steady Go! came about through Elkan Allen,

who was head of the entertainment division at Rediffusion.

I was out of work.

I was broke.

I had come from BBC Radio and wanted to get into television.

A friend of mine was going out with Elkan Allen,

introduced me to Elkan,

and Elkan took a shot on myself and several young people

and gave us the show.

And Ready Steady Go! came from that.

I hadn't a clue. I mean, he said, "OK, book the first show.

"We need The Beatles, we need..."

OK, who the hell are The Beatles and how do I find them?

ANNOUNCER: The boys show the press their latest present.

They're a natural, these fabulous four, bubbling over with fun,

getting as much kick out of entertaining

as the fans get from them.

1963, which is just as The Beatles happen.

And so the whole wave of the youth revolution,

I mean, the timing was perfect.

The pill had come along in '61, I think.

So, you had birth control.

And so there was a new world which the rock and rollers

were writing about.

# Girl, you really got me now

# You got me so I can't sleep at night. #

And so that was also encouraging the kids to find for themselves

what might make them happy in the world, as opposed to getting stuck

like the generation behind them had because of war,

because of privation, because of lack of opportunity.

It was the big British R&B boom.

So, there was a lot of real cool, hit-making trendy bands

like The Who.

We had The Who, The Animals, The Kinks, who were just starting.

So, you know, they're probably on their first or second single,

at the most.

Vicki Wickham said, "You know, after you've done this,

"you're going to be number one next week."

I said, "Unbelievable." I couldn't believe that.

Next week, we were. It had that much power.

It was a stunning piece of TV.

Yeah, it was worth watching.

It was a whole, sort of, world that was exploding.

And it's great that that programme sort of managed to capture both

the artist and the atmosphere of the time.

In its early days,

Ready Steady Go! was in the basement

of some building at the bottom

of Kingsway, I think it was.

The Rediffusion building in Kingsway

was quite a substantial building.

A big television HQ, if you like.

We had no choice.

There was one studio available at Rediffusion, in the basement.

And, in the daytime, or other times,

it had Muriel Young, who did children's programmes.

# Five o'clock club Five o'clock club. #

Ollie, we know that! Let's see it work.

I fixed it! Right, Fred. Switch on.

Right!

And then there was Ready Steady Go!

So, we had no choice but to use the studio.

It was very small.

It could've been done anywhere.

It could've been done in an underground car park.

It felt a bit like that.

Well, hi there. This is Keith Fordyce welcoming you

to a very special edition of Ready Steady Go!

For those of you who don't know this show, I might say that each week,

we invite all sorts of pop singers along here to Studio Nine

in Kingsway, London, and the crowd who come in, get a chance

to meet their stars close to.

The atmosphere in the studio was so lively and so natural.

It was very, erm, buzzy. Very active.

And there was a gantry.

Dusty Springfield!

It was shot all over.

# Every day I have to cry some Every day I have to cry some

# Dry the water from my eyes some

# Every day I have to cry. #

And sometimes they would get people to come down the stairs.

# You know, you make me want to shout

# Look, my hand's jumping

# Look, my heart's thumping

# Throw my head back

# Come on, now

# Don't forget to say you will. #

I would say the studio...the whole studio was used.

# Baby, I need your loving

# I really need you

# Although you're never near

# I really need you

# Your voice I often hear. #

There were lots of music shows on TV before Ready Steady Go!,

but they grew out of light entertainment.

# Just in time

# You found me just in time. #

And they tended to be very acceptable for adults, as well.

There had been shows like Thank Your Lucky Stars...

# When the night is cold

# And my arms want someone to hold

# I think of you. #

..that felt like an old-fashioned variety show

being brought up-to-date.

Audiences in television before Ready Steady Go!

were often treated as, kind of, props, really.

# I love you # Yes, I do

# Yes, I do I love you

# Baby, I really love you

# If you break And if you break

# My heart My heart

# I'll die. #

They were there to make some noise and occasionally, for the cameras,

to turn round and take a shot of.

Ready Steady Go!, of course,

completely broke the mould when it came to that style of television.

# You pass me by

# Well, you made me sigh

# Oh, why? Oh, why? Oh, why? #

It felt very dangerous because the audience were all around.

They were part of the show.

An important part of the show, as well.

That's what frightened me when I first walked in.

I saw the place,

then the kids all started coming in

and I said, "Where do they go?"

They said, "There, in front of you."

I said, "Are they close?"

He said, "Why?"

I said, "Well, I don't want to be pulled off stage."

He said, "Oh, shut up!"

We could stand right next to the platforms.

We could go anywhere we wanted in the studio.

So, we tended to chase the platforms around as they were moving.

Our friends could see us.

Sometimes we'd do a little...you know.

A little wave.

Here I am on Ready Steady Go!

You could actually touch the pop stars,

so, for a 14-year-old girl,

that was the most exciting thing that could ever happen in your life.

# Every evening When my all day's work is through

# I call my baby and ask her What shall we do? #

I was sitting at the Hammond organ,

concentrating on playing and singing,

as were all the musicians in the band.

We were happy doing it and we were happy being part

of what was happening.

And the punters were happy being part of what was happening

with the music.

# ..We'll play a melody

# And turn the lights down low

# So that none can see

# We got to do that, we got to do that, yeah, yeah

# We got to do that We got to do that. #

It was all mimed, so you didn't have to worry

about singing properly. Just remember the words.

And it was just...it was great fun.

# So ferry across the Mersey

# Cos this land's the place I love

# And here I'll stay

# People, they rush everywhere

"Don't forget, don't look at the camera.

"Look at the kids, get on with the song, forget you're on telly."

We said, "OK."

All through the song, that's...

Everybody looking at the camera.

Fred, on drums, and me.

"Look! It's me!"

# So, ferry across the Mersey

# And always take me there

# The place I love

# People around every corner. #

It was something that you accepted and you thought,

"This is really the only way to do it."

If you want to get a perfect track, like the record,

that's the way to do it.

# Just a little rain Just a little rain

# What have they done to the rain?

# Just a little boy

# Standing in the rain. #

One of the things that was amazing about it was the fact

that the cameras were among the audience.

# Because my baby's got soul. #

Nobody said, "Let's put the cameras in the picture."

They just happened to be in the picture

because there was no way to avoid it.

Cameras come right past and they were big.

Big, big cameras. Quite scary.

They were like Daleks.

MUSIC: Doctor Who Opening Theme by Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire

There were times when one had to go, "Ooh!"

Because a camera came scudding past, you know?

But, again, it was great because it added a flavour to it.

Hi there!

This is Ready Steady Go! I'm sorry I wasn't with you last week.

I missed being with you. My thanks to Clive Goodwin for standing in.

At the very beginning, the presenter was Keith Fordyce,

who was solid, a professional.

Now, our amateur disc jockey this week is John Lennon.

JOHN BARKS

Now, Keith was a lovely man, but we always thought he was...

..he was kind of ancient.

He was from another generation, you know?

But, just before we talk about disc jockeying and records that you like,

John, what about books? What about them?

Well, you've just written one, haven't you?

Well, it just so happens I have. It's at nine and six, Keith,

and it'll be out on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Keith was kind of a seasoned presenter person,

who was very kind of shirt and tie.

He could have been reading the news.

Are you going to go on being an amiable goon

or are you going to be a star?

I don't know. A big, big star.

Probably be an amiable goon, I hope.

We had several presenters.

Somebody called Michael Aldred was excellent because he knew music.

Well, you certainly knock yourself out, don't you, Milly? Yes, I do.

Are you really only 15?

Yes, I'm only 15.

How long have you been singing?

Since I was three.

But he just wasn't neat.

He had no charisma in front of the camera.

And we advertised for a presenter and Cathy McGowan came in.

It's not just because our next group are really great friends of mine,

or because they're over there listening to what I'm saying,

but I really do think they're absolutely fantastic.

And here, with Off The Hook, are The Rolling Stones.

She came over as a real person.

And that's really what the show was about,

about real people and a way of life.

She was Ready, Steady, Go!

She loved music, too.

But I think, honestly, what her attraction was,

was she wasn't terribly good at being a compere.

I'm going to leave you in the tender care of Cathy. OK?

Have a chat. Hello, Paul.

What can I ask you? Erm...

Then, everything was, you know, speak proper English.

All your bulletins, all your news.

Everybody spoke the Queen's English.

This is London Calling.

Here is the news, read by Derek Baker.

She was your every day girl.

I remember looking at it and thinking that, you know,

Cathy McGowan was very beautiful and elegant and was the sort

of person that I'd like to be my friend.

Although I was only probably, sort of, six or something,

but I still could sort of see the point of that.

And Keith Fordyce was the sort of senior, more responsible figure,

that probably had a car.

And I rather identified with that, as well.

Which one have you picked? Number two.

Number two is the winner!

There we are. Give her the prize.

Well done, Susan. And a kiss, too! I ask you!

Right, you've got work to do, lad.

You move that way.

There's a real attraction to live shows.

And, in a way, each week, something went wrong.

But, of course, that was the attraction.

Somebody was introduced and they didn't come straight on

or someone fell off the chair.

I mean, there was always something and you couldn't redo

it because it was live.

Right, where's Ringo? I bet he's with Cathy. Where are you?

JOHN: Dirty Ringo!

Ringo, you can sign the record later on.

How's the new film going?

I do know one story, though.

Sandie Shaw.

She was in the dressing room and we'd put her name on the bottom,

"Sandie Shaw",

and then we tilted up from the...to her face...

..empty frame.

And there was Burt Bacharach doing this, looking round, thinking.

He just made the whole thing work musically.

They kept repeating it, repeating it...

But no sign. We did the entire number without Sandie Shaw.

And then everybody's saying, "Well, where was she?!"

And she was in the wait...

In her dressing room, watching the show live, going out...

and no Sandie Shaw.

She said, "Well, nobody called me."

Don't be late.

SHE GIGGLES

I'm afraid it was.

Yes, yes. There was so much happening backstage.

I got, kind of, involved in that.

Try singing it, Sandie!

The obvious effect of Ready Steady Go! on the culture of Britain

is the fashion, because you had Cathy.

# These boots are made for walking

# And that's just what they'll do

# One of these days these boots are going to walk all over you. #

Cathy was so perfect for the show.

First off, the look.

She was a mod.

She was the epitome of a mod girl.

And that was when the mod movement was coming to the fore.

Do you think you're a mod?

Do you know what a mod is, Ringo?

LAUGHTER

No, I'm not a mod or a rocker.

You're nothing? No. No. I'm a mocker.

The women were very straight-laced.

They weren't overtly sexy.

And they weren't, like, low necks or anything like that.

It'd be probably quite high neck but short skirts.

Very demure.

But Cathy always looked amazing.

# I can feel a new expression on my face

# I can feel a glowing sensation taking place

# I can hear the guitars playing

# The tu-u-unes

# Every time that you

# Walk in the room. #

She just had the fashion nailed down.

She wore a lot of Barbara Hulanicki clothes, Mary Quant.

Cathy McGowan, along with Twiggy...

..was one of THE faces of the '60s.

I mean, she looked like a supermodel.

She's got such a strong look in the same way that Twiggy has

but the opposite. You know, Twiggy was kind of short and blonde hair

and Cathy McGowan was this, you know, gorgeous,

kind of almost Cleopatra kind of look.

Cathy was the first name that I knew that had started,

like, a fashion line.

ANNOUNCER: Cathy McGowan, of Ready Steady Go! fame, has designed

her first collection for this show.

This attractive TV star is a girl of many talents.

The next creation was displayed by Cathy McGowan herself -

a check, woollen shirt dress.

Women were driving British street fashion in the way that, you know,

we'd always looked to Paris before that.

It was reflecting this big fashion revolution.

It meant that girls could buy high street clothes

and look like Cathy McGowan.

I always wanted to wear what she was wearing or try and find

a similar outfit which, for a 14-year-old girl, you know,

was something, to have those clothes.

# Five, four, three, two, one. #

Every television set seemed to be on in England.

Anybody who had a television set would watch Ready Steady Go!

Me included, I would rush home from work,

hoping that I wouldn't miss anything.

Life was, sort of, simpler

and people would go home to their tea to home and sit down

and have their tea at half past six,

so they'd all sit and watch our show.

That's what happened all over the country.

Because everybody used to watch it, especially the kids,

who bought the records.

We were all in love with the pop stars and music

and fashion and dancing.

It opened parents' eyes to, you know,

what their kids were all about

and music was all about.

Even my step-father used to say, "Bloody rubbish!

"Absolutely disgusting."

My mother said he'd sit there glued to the screen, shouting at it.

"Mick Jagger's dreadful!"

And so it was it was a national thing.

We didn't have a television.

But my neighbours did

and so we'd go in and watch that.

At the time, it seemed risque and daring because you were seeing

the cameras and you didn't quite know what was going to happen.

Well, don't forget our great big date...

Good evening, sir. We'll see you later, thank you very much.

# Five, four, three, two one. #

I think it was the first kind of television show from that era

that actually depicted what it was actually like playing in the clubs.

Which was all the go at the time.

You know, we were all playing live in clubs.

# My baby found a new place to go

# Hangs around town in the club called Go-Go. #

There was so many clubs.

You could go from one club to another.

If you didn't like what they were playing in one,

you'd just walk to another one.

I mean, it was absolutely brilliant.

It was kind of the first really massive,

home-grown British youth cult.

And the atmosphere was one of kind of hedonism,

of pleasure, of looking for a good time.

It was a time when youth was celebrated

and celebrating itself, in a way.

Vicki Wickham, the producer of the show,

she would come down and hear the bands

and say, "Oh, we must get this band on Ready Steady Go!"

Cos they were good, you know?

Vicki was like the gatekeeper.

And if Vicki didn't want something, it wasn't going to happen.

What was good, in those days

the business was really small.

So everybody knew everybody and we all, you know, knew to go

whichever the club was happening at the moment.

So, for us, it was like a great opportunity

for us to get our name known.

We didn't have any hit records at that time, you know,

but we were the in band.

# This is a man's world

# But it would've been nothing

# Nothing

# Without a woman or a girl. #

We did Ready Steady Go! and we built our name up

to become nationwide, you know?

# It's a man's world Yes, it is

# It's a man's, man's Man's world. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERS

Thank you very much! Thank you!

We did have a vision of what worked

and what Ready Steady Go! was in terms of the people we booked,

because we didn't necessarily book a band because it was in the charts.

We argued amongst ourselves sometimes,

particularly Michael and I.

He threw a clipboard at me once.

But, you know, we just, between us, would be able to book

who we wanted when we wanted.

VOICEOVER: Hundreds of the Whither Generation

flocked to the West End

on the opening night of a new kind of club.

It has music, but so have hundreds of other places, though,

here, it's provided by The Animals.

Let's listen. Explanation later.

Vicki was very open, very much a fan of all of the acts

that were there, you knew that.

It's called Baby, Let Me Take You Home.

And here are The Animals.

# Baby, can I take you home?

# Baby, let me take you home

# I'll love you all my life

# You can bet I'll treat you right

# If you just let me take you home... #

Visits to Ready Steady Go! to do a show was like going home

and the band that I was in,

we were such Tyneside scruffs, you know?

For instance, Hilton Valentine would look forward to doing

Ready Steady Go! because he could use the shower.

They had a shower there, man.

How come a name like The Animals? Where did you get that from?

Well, we look like animals, I think.

Vicki Wickham had a love of American music

and she was instrumental in bringing

all these acts on to Ready Steady Go!

Here they are with their big hit number, I Get Around,

The Beach Boys!

# Round, round, get around I get around, yeah

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# I get around... #

You know, so we had people on like The Beach Boys.

I thought, "Well, that's not our kind of music."

But, in fact, it was because it was another movement,

which she had spotted, who they should have on the show.

# I get around

# From town to town

# I'm a real cool head

# I'm making' real good bread

# Round, round, round I get around... #

The show was very savvy with having a lot of black acts

on for the first time on British TV.

And that's what the British R&B boom bands were copying.

# Baby, back Dressed in black

# Silver buttons all down her back

# High hose, tippy toes

# She broke the needle and she can't sew

# Walking the dog... #

They all had been influenced early on by American musicians

and artists, and so again, Ready Steady Go!,

we had a lot of the great American

and particularly the black American acts.

# If you don't know how to do it

# I'll tell you how to walk the dog. #

Ha-ha!

The music we were playing was American, you know?

And the clientele at the Flamingo

was basically black American GIs

stationed in the US Air Force in London,

so that was the culture that we were deeply involved in.

# ..We're gonna be happy like we used to be... #

That's where Ready Steady Go! flourished, really.

I started booking a lot of the black artists through Dusty

cos she would go to America, call me up.

In those days, it was expensive to make phone calls,

but she would call up and play me a record down the phone

and I'd go, "Oh, my God, that's brilliant!"

# Ah, listen, everybody

# Especially you girls

# Is it right to be left alone

# When the one you love is never home

# I love too hard Yeah, my friends... #

Obviously, Dusty had a big influence

because of her wonderful voice,

but also her world of soul music,

she brought that to Ready Steady Go! as well.

Everyone loved Dusty because she was a very wonderful, sweet girl.

But she also was a girl who spoke her mind

and she was very much into the black culture.

# ..Can I get a witness? #

Dusty was really, really important to the show.

Her stamp was on Ready Steady Go!

# ..Is it right to be treated so bad

# When you've given everything you had? #

She loved The Vandellas,

Martha & The Vandellas.

We became sisters.

She was the first person that I let hear Dancing In The Street

cos we carried around our own reel-to-reel tape recorders,

and I was able to take a demo

and actually see what she thought of it.

# All we need is music Sweet music

# There'll be music everywhere

# They'll be swinging, swaying And records playing

# Dancin' in the street... #

The recruiting of dancers for the show,

who were actually the audience,

that was the most incredible thing, really,

because we went into clubs,

like the Scene Club was the one where all the kids danced.

Cathy, myself, Michael Aldred,

various people would go around the clubs

and we would pick people that looked great.

They told me that the Ready Steady Go! people

were coming down,

so don't... You know, make sure you're here.

And I walked into the club, pushed the door open

and it was heaving, you...

It was just, the sweat was coming off the ceiling.

Somehow everybody had found out

that Ready Steady Go! were going to be there

and you couldn't move.

And I just thought, "Well, I haven't got a hope in hell."

Then if we liked what we saw, we'd tap them on the shoulder

and then they'd get the golden ticket to be on the show.

And the next thing, somebody tapped me on the shoulder

and it was somebody from Ready Steady Go!

and they gave me a little card.

# We're going to load it up Baby now... #

Now, it's my great pleasure to introduce to you

Britain's two top young dancers, Patrick Kerr and Theresa Confrey.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Patrick and Theresa would introduce a new dance every week.

# There is a boy I'm crazy about

# Won't even look my way... #

And they had names like the Mashed Potato

and the Block

and, obviously, the Hitchhiker.

# ..Gonna make him mine

# Gonna tell him that I love him... #

There was just so many of them.

I mean, they were five-minute wonders.

# ..Gonna make him mine... #

We learned all these dances.

They were very simple, really.

They were the sort of dances

that the audience could do.

To get onto the show, there was a huge competition.

Thousands of us lined up, queued up.

It was Kingsway in Holborn, all the way around the block.

I mean, God knows how many there were,

and then we were herded into the studio.

Sort of maybe 100 of us at a time.

And then there was another audition.

And so they narrowed it down after thousands of kids,

took probably about 50.

And we got passes to come every week to the show.

It's Mime Time. We've got four girls,

picked out and auditioned earlier in the week,

who are going to mime to a Brenda Lee disc.

I was then approached by somebody,

would I like to enter the mime competition?

And I said, "Oh, yes!"

Why wouldn't you?

And it'll be The Beatles, the week The Beatles are on,

which, oh, my God, how ex... Heaven.

And we have a judge to pick out

the best of the four when they've done it,

the judge being Mr Paul McCartney.

Good evening. You're keen on budding Brenda Lees, are you?

Oh, yes. I bet you are, yes.

Right.

I had thought that because the week before,

the girl that won the mime competition

got to go out with whoever the particular pop star was,

who I can't remember,

I thought I was going to go out with The Beatles after the show.

Ready, Paul? OK.

Off we go with Let's Jump The Broomstick.

It was very exciting to be on the show that week

because we got there at 8.30 in the morning.

It went live at six.

And so we spent the whole day with The Beatles.

# My mother don't like it My brother don't like it

# My sister don't like it My mother don't like it

# Come a little, baby Let's jump the broomstick

# Come and let's tie the knot... #

Number four. Number four? Melanie Cole.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

There's your prize, Melanie, the LP from Paul.

And all our congratulations.

Very well done.

I was like a star when I walked into school.

They all gathered round my desk,

girls that I knew hated me, previously,

and they wanted my autograph. SHE LAUGHS

So I was very happy to give them all my autograph, you know?

And a couple of them came in with photographs of The Beatles.

One girl, I remember, came in with the album

and wanted me to sign the album.

So, it was...

Yeah, it was... It was great.

We had to close down Kingsway, had to get a lot of police.

It was mob scene.

It was phenomenal.

And when the lads came, they jumped out of their car

and, again, the police had to get them in.

But what was lovely was, once they were in,

and, you know, we started working, etc,

they were just the same.

Went into the studio, which, and I looked from the gantry,

cos you could look down, and thought, "There are The Beatles."

And I said, "Oh, gosh, they're fantastic!"

George, can we hear your latest record now, please?

No. LAUGHTER

Yes, certainly. You can hear it and it's called Can't Buy Me Love.

And on Parlophone and it's 6/9.

Thank you very much. Very good value, George, thank you.

# Can't buy me love

# Love

# Can't buy me love

# I'll buy you a diamond ring My friend

# If it makes you feel all right

# I'll get you anything My friend

# If it makes you feel all right

# Cos I don't care too much for money

# For money can't buy me love... #

I particular remember The Beatles being on there

because they were somebody we listened to at home

and there was a chance to see them and identify with them.

It was exciting.

I mean, there was no way WE weren't excited too.

# ..Love

# Can't buy me love... #

Well, I mean, obviously, The Beatles

were not launched by Ready Steady Go!

but they... I mean, everyone wants to be on

and people would just turn up.

It was like a club.

Artists, managers, just people in the record business,

wanted to come, see the show

and we had this wonderful room called the Green Room.

# Come on, everybody, let's twist

# Hey! Hey!

# Come on, everybody Let's twist... #

The Green Room was as small as this area here.

You were supposed to have one drink...

Somebody called Isabel Davy ran it like a schoolmistress

and, so, at the beginning, she could control

people having one drink. She gave up.

Drinks started probably before the show

and this was much as you wanted to drink there,

so stars that had come off,

they'd come into the Green Room, they'd all drink more and more drinks.

I'd be there and everybody would be drinking heavily.

Terrific atmosphere in there. Peter Blake

and then I think Hockney was there, I'm pretty sure,

but almost everybody who was in the scene

in London would come to this show.

Everybody would just come, hang out, watch the show, chat, catch up.

The odd Rolling Stone would come. Maybe not all of them.

It was a scene.

It was a Friday night scene.

# Baby, please don't go

# Baby, please don't go

# Baby, please don't go Down to New Orleans

# You know I love you so Baby, please don't go... #

What you would get on Ready Steady Go!

were the people watching it and you're in the charts.

You wanted - pop! - to be number one.

# ..Well, your mind done gone Left the county farm

# You had the shackles on Baby, please don't go

# Before I be your dog... #

That's what you need, is to get your record heard,

because we had no Radio 1,

we had no real pop radio.

How else are you going to get records heard?

Ready Steady Go! really helped

the record in the charts

and you'd even get a few quid extra.

The BBC Entertainment Department, I'm told, at the time,

were very jealous of the audiences that Ready Steady Go! was getting.

So they sold Ready Steady Go!

and said, "Right. You know, we've got to have some of that."

This is BBC One.

When Top Of The Pops started, I was pissed

because they had the obvious formula.

Yes, it's number one. It's Top Of The Pops!

The only difference was that the BBC jumped on

the then embryonic singles chart

to make as a format for the show.

That's why I was pissed

because I knew that Top Of The Pops had a formula

that was going to knock us off at some point.

# You'd better tell what you see... #

Top Of The Pops was kind of much more staged.

I think they tried to make it a bit more hip,

a bit more like Ready Steady Go! but it was very different.

I preferred Ready Steady Go! to

every other music or similar programme

then and ever after.

We moved to Wembley because we needed more space

and we needed to be set up properly.

You know, in terms of the space and the studio -

fabulous, absolutely fabulous.

30 feet of clear height before you reach the lights.

Enough for a bird's-eye view of Baghdad

if you want to stage a story from Arabian Nights.

Ready Steady Go!

was a 99% mimed show for the first '63, '64.

And then when I came on it in '65, we were the first show to go live.

# Hubble, bubble Toil and trouble... #

We very much were designing it for the sound guys,

who were really going to the moon, as it were,

because they'd never done live rock and roll before.

Television shows usually were really bad sound,

especially for music.

And my memory goes back now that Michael Hogg,

in the control room,

and Vicki and the team of Ready Steady Go! made efforts

to actually make the sound of the music good.

# I'll buy you a Chevrolet

# Buy you a Chevrolet

# I'll buy you a Chevrolet

# Just gimme some of your love

# Just gimme some of your love... #

Michael came to it fresh, trying...

dying to try new things, not that he knew

what the old things were,

but did it, you know, very differently,

shot it in a very contemporary way.

A lot of the guys who were my cameramen

were from outside broadcasts

because some of the guys, the camera crews

who are used to working in the studio, were more rigid.

What I wanted was for the camera to be part of the music

more than just watching the music.

# I could go anyway The way I choose

# I could live anyhow Win or lose... #

For example, when The Who did Anyhow, Anytime, Anywhere,

there's a bit where Roger is smashing his mic

on to part of Keith's drum kit

and the camera shakes as violently

as what Roger is doing.

I had the idea, if the camera operator just shakes his camera,

you know, buh-buh-buh, like that.

It's a very interesting version of that song.

You don't forget it.

And, of course, the artists loved Michael.

I mean, they talked the same language.

I mean, nobody had ever talked to them before.

Mick Jagger totally fell in love with him

because nobody had said to him,

"Work to this camera, do this, turn round.

"I'm going to do this,"

you know, and I think it was great for the artist.

# The dogs begin to bark

# And hounds begin to howl... #

He's extraordinary at performing, he knows how to do it,

it's instinctive.

It's calculated, but instinctive at the same time.

I realised that he was... a...performing artist,

the equivalent of Laurence Olivier or Rudolph Nureyev

or anyone like that, an extraordinary kid.

# Oh, no I'm gonna stick right here, baby

# You know how much I care

# So don't worry about me, baby

# Cos I'm right here at home

# Oh, baby, oh, baby

# We got a good thing going. #

The audience, particularly the girls, of course,

wanted to get to Mick,

and the first time it happened, we all went, "Oh, my God."

And, luckily, we had a stage manager, Roy.

Roy Fewins, who was somewhat older than we were,

he probably was then in his forties.

He'd come from the theatre

and he knew what helped to make exciting television.

And so at the end of The Rolling Stones,

his arms, which were holding back the crowd,

maybe dropped just a little bit.

And so kids got onstage, got near Mick and Keith

and kissed them and hugged them and knocked them down on the ground.

But it made good television and no animals were hurt

in the making of this good television.

CHEERING

Michael's studio direction on Ready Steady Go! really did what

it had to do, and that is

dismantle the traditional form of television direction,

which is wide shot, isn't that nice?

And then maybe a close up and then go back to a mid-shot and back

to a wide shot.

Ready Steady Go! was close up, close up, close up

from all sorts of different angles.

Thank you. We'd like to do one...called Paint It, Black.

SCREAMING

When I heard Paint It, Black,

I knew what I could do.

# I see a red door and I want it painted black

# No colours any more I want them to turn black... #

I came up with this idea that what Mick should do is take

the lights out in the studio.

# ..I have to turn my head... #

So I called him up and I said, "Here's what I'm thinking.

"Think of it like you are Lucifer

"and every time you put your arms up at the end of a verse, we'll take

"out a bank of lights, and then it'll end up just with the spotlight

"on you, in the black." He liked that also

and so that's what happened.

# ..Like a newborn baby It just happens every day... #

I got a zoom extender put on one of the cameras.

The zoom extender was a little

device on, on the end of the zoom lens,

which, when it was flicked down,

the images of Mick were juddering,

and that was a really unusual effect.

And also the thing to remember is it was all done live.

I kept shouting from the control room, when the zoom was going,

"Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him," meaning, driving the cameraman

to get harder and harder in the shot.

HE HUMS

# ..Paint it... #

# Money, who needs it?

# Let me live my life free and easy

# Put my toothbrush in my hand

# And let me be a travellin' man... #

Dusty Springfield and I had gone to see Motown live at a theatre

and there was no audience,

nobody knew about them

and it was so sad because it was a great show.

For some reason, they weren't selling tickets

and I think Arthur Howes was the promoter and we were asked

if we could do the tour with him

to help sell the bloody tickets.

It's unbelievable because

The Supremes had already had a couple of hits.

Because the tour was so successful in the States and Motown wanted to,

sort of, as a record company

Motown wanted to open up the market for all the other artists.

The Motown organization called that tour the ghost tour

because the first houses were absolutely empty, but it was one

of the best tours I've ever done in my life. It was fantastic.

We all became great friends.

Dusty said to me, "You know, they should be on television.

"People need to see them. If they see and hear them,

"they're going to love them. Why don't you talk to Elkan?"

I said, "OK..." I said, "But would you be part of it?

"Would you host it? Because we're going to need somebody

"and obviously, you're a good bet." "Yes, I will."

And Vicki and Dusty really put together a show separate

to Ready Steady Go! called The Sound Of Motown.

Dusty Springfield and now, The Supremes!

CHEERING

# Ooh-ooh

# Baby love, my baby love I need you, oh, how I need you

# But all you do is treat me bad

# Break my heart and leave me sad

# Tell me what did I do wrong To make you stay away so long

# Cos baby love... #

To be on a programme like Ready Steady Go! was actually

very exciting because that was when we had our first number one record.

And Vicki getting people like that in - sensational.

We'd never seen anything like The Supremes

and they were amazing performers.

..and he's still only 15.

Here with his great new record, Kiss Me, Baby, it's Stevie Wonder!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Kiss me, baby!

Sugar kisses.

Stevie Wonder, or little Stevie Wonder as he was called,

we had never seen people like this before.

# Aw, kiss me, baby

# Gimme sugar kisses

# Ah, give me a little bit of heart

# Keep it like this

# You know you make me say Aah!

# I said, kiss me, baby... #

The song was so good, Stevie Wonder was perfect.

And having people like Stevie Wonder on was incredible.

You know, it's the first show that would have done that.

# Whenever I'm with him

# Something inside

# Starts to burning

# And I'm filled with desire

# Could it be a devil in me

# Or is this the way love's supposed to be?

# It's like a heat wave

# Burning in my heart... #

When Berry Gordy got a wind of us coming to England to do a wonderful

show like Ready Steady Go!,

he said, "The whole crew is going."

And that was my first occasion to play with the recording musicians.

He didn't let them travel,

they just stayed in the studio and recorded 24 hours a day.

He sent Earl Van Dyke's quintet with us and we got a chance to work

with the fabulous Funk Brothers.

And Dusty did Wishin' And Hopin' with Martha & The Vandellas,

which still is magic.

You can hear Martha and her laughing in the song.

I mean, they were enjoying it.

# And all you gotta do is hold him

# And kiss him and love him

# And show him that you care

# Just show him that you care Just for him

# And do the things he likes to do

# You gotta wear your hair Just for him, cos

# You won't get him

# Thinkin' and a-prayin'

# Wishin' and a-hopin'

# Cos wishin' and hopin' And thinkin' and prayin'

# Plannin' and dreamin' His kisses will start... #

We knew we could blend our voices,

cos we'd been singing together anyway.

And I think it was a very good blend.

It was a highlight of that show, I think,

and I'll always remember us strutting and singing that song.

I've got the video and I visit it often.

# ..You will be his. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And the show was, of course, magnificent.

Well, Berry Gordy to this day says, "Thank you."

You know, "You introduced Motown."

I mean, no thank you, we just wanted to, it was great.

You know, I love Motown music, but I hadn't realised that

the people were any different,

they might as well have been from Liverpool.

I didn't know that they were from

Detroit and that was a different place,

so I think that was a great thing, letting suburban Britain know

how great all this music was that was happening.

SCREAMING

# Please, please, please me

# Please me, don't go

# Please, please... #

I'd seen James Brown at the Apollo and his performance

was absolutely amazing.

# ..Now you're gone

# Hey!

# Come on!

# Please, please, please... #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So I was talking to Michael about this, and he said,

"We've got to have him."

So he was coming over. So we booked him.

We built him a really big set because of his dancing

and his movement, and he needed space.

Anyway, James Brown comes out at four o'clock and is surprised

because there's a 25ft stage for him.

He said, "You've done this, you've done this for me?"

I said, "Yeah, you know, we did our homework."

And already he felt that

there was respect for him as an artist.

And it was an incredible, incredible show.

# Whoa! I feel good

# I knew that I would now

# I feel good... #

A lot of the shows were wiped

because the television company then, Rediffusion,

thought that rock and roll was kind of like a fad,

like the hula hoop.

But James Brown was sensational.

That was a great show which got wiped.

SARCASTICALLY: Thank you, Rediffusion.

Afterwards, he came up in the bar and he said to me,

"You've got soul as a director."

# So nice

# So nice

# I got you. #

So, you know, that's my badge,

James Brown said I had soul.

But there was a downside.

We got a lot of phone calls saying, "Nooo!"

SHE CHUCKLES

And I could use much stronger language.

But, you know, a lot of people really didn't react well.

Half the television sets in the UK

had been turned off or turned over.

And there was some very unflattering comments in the press.

# ..I feel nice. #

That's how it was.

We often heard, "Oh, we don't have any racial problems here,"

which, you know, we could see was

not true because most people were white.

SHE LAUGHS

You didn't have a lot of people on TV, black people on TV.

So we said to ourselves, "Well, they don't think they have any problems,

"but they do."

# When I start losing interest in what's showing at the movies

# And I don't wanna go to a dance... #

I was singing in The Flamingo Club one night.

And I went back in my dressing room.

Somebody came in and just said to me,

"Did you see the black guy sitting in the front

"listening to you?" And I said, "Yeah."

He said, "Well, that was Otis Redding."

I said, "Oh, don't be silly.

"Otis Redding. What, he's sitting there, watching me?

"You've got to be joking."

Anyway, I went in the dressing room, a knock on the door,

and Otis Redding walked in, you know?

So I sort of looked up and went, "Bloody hell."

And he said, "I'm doing a TV show."

And he said, "I want you to be my special guest."

I said, "I've got to pinch myself here,

"I think I'm dreaming this," you know?

The great, the one and only Mr Otis Redding!

# I can't turn you loose now

# If I do I'm gonna lose my life

# Ooh, I can't ever turn you loose now

# If I do I'm gonna lose my life... #

He was a sweetheart.

He was like a teddy bear.

Just one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.

Mr Eric Burdon.

When they picked Chris Farlowe and myself to perform

with Otis Redding, I mean, it was like, it was just love, love,

love, you know?

# You put your hands on your hip

# All right!

# Girl, and let your backbone slip

# Baby, yeah!

# If you do it, do it right, yeah

# Love, we're gonna shake tonight Yeah

# Make your body loose and light

# Just shake... #

Chris Farlowe was always one of my favourite artists.

# Ow!

# Shake the shake with all your might now... #

To share the stage with Otis was such a thrill.

And it's fantastic.

Even now, I mean, you don't get tired of looking at it, you know?

# Everybody loop de lite

# Just shake... #

The show wasn't rehearsed at all.

We were just given bits of music where we knew

that we would be dancing, because obviously

it was about Otis and the band.

And I mean, what an amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing guy.

And he was so handsome and he had a voice like honey.

# I've got sunshine on a cloudy day

# But it's cold outside And I've got the month of May... #

I felt incredibly lucky, and I was incredibly lucky.

My star was shining above my head when, you know,

that whole thing happened.

I hadn't trained to dance, I just loved dancing.

And I was given an opportunity and I grabbed it with both hands.

# Hey, hey, hey!

# Ooh!

# Hey! #

# With your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue

# The only thing I ever get from you is sorrow, sorrow... #

Yeah, it was pretty sad, really.

Yeah. Yeah, I would've wanted it to go on.

I don't know why it closed down, I don't know why.

Ready Steady finished because our ratings were bad.

You know, we were losing out to other people.

I think Top Of The Pops probably helped to kill off

Ready Steady Go! because it was regular,

it was on BBC One,

it was prime time and it was based on the singles chart.

They took over from us. They had the ratings, they had the following.

Yes. I think eventually it knocked us off.

I think the other thing that added to the demise

of Ready Steady Go! was the fact that it had specialised

in those British early R&B bands.

They were less popular and people had moved on to, you know,

psychedelia and to West Coast Americana and all sorts

of different music.

# What did you do there?

# I got high

# What did you feel there?

# Well, I cried

# But why the tears there? #

We didn't rely on chart people.

You know, we relied on different people

coming over, from America, that nobody's seen before.

In retrospect, not a good formula.

I mean, we were really kind of self-indulgent,

which we didn't realise either.

I think insofar as

Ready Steady Go! has a legacy and has a life 50 years later,

it's to show people what a time

of exuberance and hope and passion,

of all kinds, was like.

MUSIC: Lonely by The Lovin' Spoonful

It was all just a wonderful experience.

It was almost like going to Disneyland.

It was wonderful!

Ready Steady Go! was one of those magical experiences

that only happens once in a lifetime, in a way.

To be involved with that,

I felt very fortunate, very fortunate to be included.

Disappointing, but we'd had a good run.

It was really like being part of a wonderfully kind

of rambunctious family.

So long!