It's A Knockout 1967
British Domestic Series

Presenters:
MacDonald Hobley
David Vine

Referee:
Eddie Waring

Scoregirls:
Glen Macvean
Rita Morris

Production Credits:

Producer: Barney Colehan; Assistant Producer: Cecil Korer; Directors: Derek Burrell-Davis (Heats 4-6), Philip S. Gilbert (Heats 1-3)

A BBC Manchester Production

Key: ● = Qualified for International Series / ● = Heat Winner  ▲ = Promoted to Position / ▼ = Demoted to Position

GB

It's A Knockout 1967

Heat 1

Event Staged: Sunday 14th May 1967 from 4.40pm
Venue: Fairhaven Lake, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, England

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB): Sunday 14th May 1967, 4.40-5.25pm (Live)

Weather Conditions: Raining

Teams: Lytham St. Annes v. Southport

Team Members included:
Lytham St. Annes - Robert A. Blackshaw;
Southport - Penny Bridge, Pauline Hurst, Susan Parkinson, Pat Switzer

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 L • Lytham St. Annes ● ●
 S • Southport

15
2

Lytham St. Annes qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Bruxelles/Brussel, Belgium:
staged on Wednesday 28th June 1967

The Host Town

Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire

Lytham St. Annes is classed as a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire. The neighbouring towns of Lytham and St-Anne's-on-the-Sea (nearly always abbreviated to St Annes) have grown together and now form a seaside resort. St Annes is situated on the northern side of the turning and overlooks the Irish Sea, whereas Lytham is on the eastern side and overlooks the Ribble estuary.

Lytham and St. Anne’s each had their own town council who were responsible for everything; the roads, paving, public transport, all the public parks and their theatres, the open air baths on the front at St. Anne’s and the public baths at Lytham, electricity and gas supplies and the local fire brigade. It was considered more practical to combine the two and so on 1st May 1922 with some reluctance on both parts they became a single borough to create Lytham St. Annes.

The Visiting Town

Southport is a town and seaside resort with a population of around 94,000 inhabitants in the county of Merseyside and is located on the Irish Sea coast, 7 miles (11km) south of Lytham St. Annes.

The Venue

Fairhaven Lake

The games at this heat were staged on Fairhaven Lake, located on the banks of the River Ribble in Lancashire in north-west England. 

The original development of the area known as Fairhaven was started in 1892 by Thomas Riley who intended building a new resort on the salt marsh and sand dunes on the north bank of the Ribble estuary. In 1895 however, the Fairhaven Estate Company took over this development, and by the following year, 43 residences, shops and a hotel had been established. Boats began to appear on the lake and a golf course complete with clubhouse was opened on the north side of the lake. The original intention was to extend the sea wall and the gardens as far as St. Anne’s, however this was abandoned after heavy seas flooded the lake in 1896. Over the next two decades, the sea wall was reinforced with sandstone rocks and the lake became more popular as Fairhaven itself began to develop. A landing stage and pagoda-shaped boathouse were constructed, the former as an area where boats could be built, the latter doubling as living-quarters for the manager. During this period, a portion of the lake was utilised as an open-air swimming baths complete with diving boards, slide and changing huts. After the end of World War I, a private tennis club, bowling green and public tennis courts were created to the north of the lake and flowerbeds were nurtured.

A plan for the redesign of the park, which covers an area of 19.5 hectares (including the lake), was submitted in 1923 by Thomas Hayton Mawson & Sons, but only a few elements of this design were adopted. In 1926, at a cost of £34,000, the lake and surrounding park were bought from the Fairhaven Estates Company and presented to the Corporation of Lytham St Annes by linoleum magnate Lord Ashton of Lancaster, and was named Ashton Marine Park in his honour. The name reverted back to Fairhaven Lake in 1963.

Measuring 3937ft x 1312ft (1200m x 400m) and just 4ft (1.2m) at its deepest point, the lake is well-maintained and is predominantly used for leisure. It had proved to be very popular with regatta, water skiing displays and hydroplane racing, attracting crowds of up to fifteen thousand in the 1950s and 60s, with the last of the regattas being staged in 1972 when the Borough of Lytham St. Annes was formed. Along with the pleasure and rowing boats, the lake is also home to ducks and swans, and is also a haven for wildlife and somewhere for the migrant birds to take shelter from any rough prevailing weather. Despite recent activity on the lake declining, a new pleasure craft Jubilee was launched in 2002 to provide lake cruises during the summer months. On Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings from April through to October, the north-west end of the lake is used by the Blackpool & Fylde Boat Club, and the café, which was originally built as the clubhouse for the Fairhaven Golf Club (they retreated inland after the huge flood in 1896!) predates all the other buildings in the area. In 2008 the former pagoda-shaped boathouse and manager's living quarters has been converted into the RSPB Ribble Discovery Centre.

Returning Teams and Competitors

Despite losing this Domestic heat, four female members of the Southport team participated later in the year as part of the Cheltenham Spa team at the British International Heat held at Blackpool and the International Final held at Kohlscheid, West Germany!

Additional Information

At the time of this transmission, the planned venue for the French heat was given as Bayonne. However, this had been changed to Vincennes in Paris before the transmission of the second heat.

Made in B/W • This programme does not exist in the BBC Archives

GB

It's A Knockout 1967

Heat 2

Event Staged: Sunday 21st May 1967
Venue: Boating Lake, Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay / Bae Colwyn, Denbighshire, Wales

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB): Sunday 21st May 1967, 4.40-5.25pm (Live)

Weather Conditions: Raining

Teams: Colwyn Bay / Bae Colwyn v. Llandudno

Team Members included:
Llandudno - Vernon Moore (Team Captain)

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 L • Llandudno ● ●
 C • Colwyn Bay / Bae Colwyn

9
8

Llandudno qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Locarno, Switzerland:
staged on Wednesday 12th July 1967

The Host Town

Colwyn Bay / Bae Colwyn, Denbighshire

Colwyn Bay (Bae Colwyn in Welsh) is a town and seaside resort with a population of around 30,000 inhabitants in the county of Denbighshire. It overlooks the Irish Sea and is located 25 miles (40km) east of Caernarfon, 30 miles (48km) west of Birkenhead and 116 miles (187km) north of Swansea.

The town is predominantly dependant on the tourist trade, due mainly in fact to its famous beaches, and parks and gardens such as Eirias Park. The Welsh Mountain Zoo, opened in 1963 by wildlife enthusiast and nauralist Robert Jackson and covering an area of 37 acres (15ha), is located nearby.

The town once had a thriving pier which was first opened in 1900, but since 2009, the 227m (750ft) long structure has been closed to the public due to its owner, Steve Hunt, being declared bankrupt. In its heyday, the Dixieland Showbar sited on the pier hosted many live concerts and featured acts asdiverse as Motorhead, The Damned, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Elvis Costello, Slade, Madness, The Specials and the Cockney Rejects. In 2011, Conwy County Borough Council attempted to buy the pier from the official receivers, but this was denied. A National Lottery grant to save the pier was also denied in March 2012.

Today, the structure still lies in a bad state, with fencing blocking people from being able to pass under the pier for Health and Safety reasons.

At the time of transmission, Colwyn Bay was located in the county of Denbighshire. However, following the Local Government Act 1972, the town became part of the newly-formed county of Gwynedd on 1st April 1974. Following the Local Government (Wales) Act of 1994 when most of the original historic counties of Wales were re-established, the town returned to the reinstated enlarged county of Denbighshire on 1st April 1996!

The Visiting Town

Llandudno is a town and seaside resort with a population of around 22,000 inhabitants in the county of Gwynedd and is located on the Creuddyn peninsula, 5 miles (8km) north-west of Colwyn Bay.

The Venue

Eirias Park

The games were played in and around the boating lake in Eirias Park (Parc Eirias in Welsh), a 50-acre (20 hectares) public park in Colwyn Bay. Whilst the park never had any fairground rides, during the 1960s it was home to a Guinness Clock. These timepieces were originally created for the Festival of Britain (1951) by the well-known Irish brewery and were larger-than-life clocks. Every fifteen minutes, a whole host of figures and cartoon animals would appear on parade from behind the clock’s doors. In the 1970s, the park made the most of the latest craze by installing a Space Hopper arena. Visitors could choose from the standard orange hopper or the larger blue ones and bounce around to their hearts’ content.

During the summer months, tourists were encouraged to ride the Miniature Steam Railway along from Colwyn Bay Pier to the Eirias Park Arches, where they could take the Welsh Ffargo (a pun on Wells Fargo) Land Train (registration number YCA 977) up into the park itself. This train would travel around the boating lake and then stop outside the Pavilion, amusements and exhibitions. Sadly, the Welsh Ffargo disappeared from service in 1988 as did the Miniature Steam Railway towards the end of the 1990s.

The Pavilion along with the bandstand and boathouse with 40 boats inside were all destroyed by a fire set by arsonists in August 1984, with only the latter building being replaced. Today, the boating lake is an overgrown mess and used as a dumping ground for plastic bottles, wooden planks etc... A very sad end all around.

Situated within the park today is the Colwyn Leisure Centre, whose facilities include a six-lane 82ft (25m) swimming / leisure pool with various water features and a separate water slide. There is also a fitness suite, health suite, sauna, steam room and warm spa pool. Outdoor facilities include a sports stadium with grandstand and floodlit synthetic hockey / football playing area. Additional facilities include indoor and outdoor tennis courts, bowling greens, boating lake, children's playground and picnic area. Local football team, Colwyn Bay F.C. have played on three different grounds at Eirias Park during their history. The Arena was a temporary home during the early 1980s prior to the club's move to their present Llanelian Road home ground.

This venue was used again when the programme returned to Colwyn Bay in 1971. The inaugural It's A Cup Final Knockout was also recorded in tandem with the 1971 domestic heat at the same location.

Made in B/W • This programme does not exist in the BBC Archives

GB

It's A Knockout 1967

Heat 3

Event Staged: Sunday 28th May 1967
Venue: Scott Park, Galashiels, Selkirkshire, Scotland

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB): Sunday 28th May 1967, 4.40-5.25pm (Live)

Weather Conditions: Sunny and Cold

Teams: Galashiels v. Hawick

Team Members included:
Galashiels - Christine Hardy, Alex Gilchrist, Henry Turnbull, John Pheasant, Peter Fairburn;
Hawick - Mrs. McPherson, Martin Scott.

Games included: Game 1 (Title Unknown), Posting the Box, The Mini Jelly Rally, Anchors A-Weigh, Up and Under Together, Celtic Chivalry;
Marathon: Distance Cycling.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd

 H • Hawick ● ●
 G • Galashiels

13
8

Hawick qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Pisa, Italy:
staged on Wednesday 26th July 1967

The Host Town

Galashiels, Selkirkshire

Galashiels (known locally as Gala) is a town of around 13,000 inhabitants in southern Scotland, located on the Gala Water river, from which it takes its name. At the time of recording, the town was in the county of Selkirkshire, but since 1974 following the redistribution of county boundaries under the Local Government Act of 1972, it has been in the Scottish Borders region.

Known for its textile-making industry, it is the location of the Heriot-Watt University’s School of Textiles and Design, named after philanthropist and goldsmith, George Heriot (1563-1624) and inventor and mechanical engineer, James Watt (1736-1819). The town's coat of arms shows two foxes reaching up to eat plums from a tree, and the motto is Sour Plums pronounced in Scots as soor plooms. It is a reference to an incident in 1337 when a raiding party of English soldiers were picking wild plums close to the town and were caught by Scots who came across them by chance and slaughtered them all.

The Visiting Town

Hawick is a town with a population of around 15,000 inhabitants in the council area of Scottish Borders and is located 13 miles (21km) south of Galashiels.

The Venue

Scott Park

The games at this heat were staged in Scott Park located in the south-west corner of the town. The park is named after the Scott family who gifted the land to the town in 1939. The lodge house just inside the ornate cast iron main gates and railings was built in 1881 as the entrance lodge for New Gala House. This was quite grand with its crow-stepped gables, tall chimneys and entrance porch. During his life, Sir Walter Scott was a frequent visitor to Old Gala House as he was friendly with Captain Scott of Gala.

New Gala House was constructed from 1872 and was inhabited by the Scott family in 1876 as a replacement for Old Gala House. However, it is ironic that Old Gala House has outlasted its newer namesake, which was demolished in 1985. The ground around the site is well wooded and within minutes, you feel as if you are in the countryside, even although the town is just a short distance away.

The Games in Detail

Marathon - Distance Cycling

The Marathon - ‘Distance Cycling’ - was competed in unison, and featured two bicycles (one from each team) mounted on podiums in which were set roller test brakers. Each player, assisted by a team-mate that held the bicycle steady, had to cycle as fast as possible in order to notch up the greatest distance travelled throughout the programme. Each team could change cyclists as often as they wanted from a pool of five players.

Image © BBC, 1967

When the programme joined the game, it had been in play for around 10-11 minutes and after a short viewing it could be seen that Hawick were leading.

Running Marathon Standings: 1st Hawick (9 miles / 14.4km) 2nd Galashiels (8 miles / 12.8km)

Comments: During the game, presenter MacDonald Hobley stated that the bicycles being used were those akin to ones utilised by professional cyclists and costing in the region of around £60. A comparable model today could cost anything from £900 to more than £2000!

Game 1

The title of the first game is unknown as the game itself is missing from the surviving recording. However, the scoreboard appears before the Game 2 scores are added, revealing that Galashiels won the first game.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Galashiels (2pts awarded / 2pts total) 2nd Hawick (0pts / 0pts)

Game 2 - Posting the Box

The second game - ‘Posting the Box’ - witnessed the Hawick team presenting their Joker for play. The game involved a large wooden packing case which had to be smashed to pieces and then posted through a letter box. Hawick were successful in their Joker game, coming out the winners.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Hawick (4pts awarded / Joker / 4pts total) ▲ 2nd Galashiels (0pts / 2pts) ▼

Game 3 - The Mini Jelly Rally

The third game - The Mini Jelly Rally’ - was introduced by David Vine from the tarmacked area outside the park’s buildings. On the whistle, eight girls had to each grab a plate with a jelly on it from a table and then all clamber into the small Mini car. The driver then had to carry out a number of manoeuvres up an obstacle course, and then return back to the start in the quickest time, reversing into a parking slot. However, on reaching the end of the course, the girls had to alight from the car and then place the jellies back onto the table in order for the time to be taken. There were 5-second penalties for any jellies that had been damaged and any of the obstacles that had been hit by the car.

The Hawick team went first in a white Mini (registration number BLS 673E) and achieved their target without penalty in 1 minute 7 seconds.

Image © BBC, 1967

Galashiels played second using the same vehicle for parity, and akin with their rivals also picked up no penalties. However, when the time was announced they had completed the course in 1 minute 4 seconds. Galashiels were awarded the win.

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Galashiels (2pts awarded / 4pts total) ▲ =1st Hawick (0pts / 4pts)

Marathon - Distance Cycling

Returning for a short visit to the on-going Marathon, Hawick had slightly increased their lead over the Galashiels team.

Running Marathon Standings: 1st Hawick (13 miles / 20.9km) 2nd Galashiels (11 miles / 17.7km)

Game 4 - Anchors A-Weigh

The fourth game - 'Anchors A-Weigh' - was played inside a large circular water tank which had been specially constructed and filled by the Galashiels Fire Brigade. In the middle of the tank was an unanchored 6ft (1.82m) circular diameter raft which was attached to 12 ropes each of which had a hoop (in reality cycle tyres) attached to its end, and were hanging over the edge of the pool. Located around the pool and adjacent to each of the hoops were 12 iron posts. On the whistle, two female competitors had to jump into the pool and make their way to the raft and then climb aboard. It was then a matter of pulling on individual ropes to retrieve the hoops and then attempting to throw the hoops over the posts outside the pool. The team scoring the greater number of successful throws would be deemed the winners. The Galashiels competitors participated first but had difficulty in keeping afloat as they threw the hoops to the posts. It was suggested by presenter David Vine that as the raft was unanchored, it might be easier if they paddled the raft closer to the pool’s edge before attempting to throw the hoop (something that was actually permitted in the rules). However, this advice appeared to be missed by the competitors who continued to play the game from the centre of the pool. After 3 minutes play, the Galashiels competitors had failed to score anything.

Whilst the game was being played long camera shots could see that the scores on the Marathon had moved on and were standing at Hawick 14 miles (22.5km) and Galashiels 13 miles (20.9km).

The Hawick team participated second and they had listened to the advice from David Vine and paddled the raft closer to the edge. This proved beneficial when, after 1 minute 13 seconds, the team successfully hooked one of the posts with a hoop. In essence, the game was over and would be awarded to Hawick, but it was played to its conclusion and ended with Hawick scoring another 2 hoops. However, the third one had been disallowed as it had been hooked over the same post as the second one. The game ended 2-1 in Hawick’s favour and they were declared the game winners.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Hawick (2pts awarded / 6pts total) 2nd Galashiels (0pts / 4pts) ▼

Marathon - Distance Cycling

The cameras briefly returned to the Marathon, and revealed that the Hawick team had increased their lead over Galashiels.

Running Marathon Standings: 1st Hawick (20 miles / 32.2km) 2nd Galashiels (17 miles / 27.4km)

Game 5 - Up and Under Together

The fifth game - 'Up and Under Together' - witnessed the Galashiels team presenting their Joker for play. The game involved competitors tied together and participating in a three-legged rugby match. The Galashiels team met with success on their Joker game and jumped into the lead of the competition.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Galashiels (4pts awarded / Joker / 8pts total) ▲ 2nd Hawick (0pts / 6pts) ▼

Game 6 - Celtic Chivalry

The sixth game - ‘Celtic Chivalry’ - was one that has been highlighted over the years in the many retrospective programmes packaged as The Best of Knockout. The game featured horses and initially involved four players from each team battering down two castle gates. Once completed, a mounted knight with a flagged lance from each team passed through the castle entrance and then galloped a short distance in order to reach the end of the course. On reaching the end, the knight had to dismount and tether his horse to some scaffolding (which was part of the scenery) and then remove the flag from his lance and climb a long ladder in order to reach his damsel waiting aloft. After climbing the ladder, the flag had to be flown from a flagpole and then the damsel had to be carried down the ladder to the waiting horse. It was then just a simple case of the knight leading the horse with the mounted girl to the start of the course.

Image © BBC, 1967

On the whistle, both teams set off together and it was the Hawick team that reached and climbed to the top of the ladder first. Whilst trying to make up some ground on his rival, the Galashiels knight failed to tether his horse correctly and this resulted in the horse breaking free and running halfway back up the course. Having said this, the Hawick team were faster on all aspects of the game and would clearly have won the game even if he had completed his task in the correct manner. With the win secured, the Hawick team had drawn the game level.

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Galashiels (0pts awarded / 8pts total) =1st Hawick (2pts / 8pts) ▲

Comments: Interestingly, none of the competitors in this potentially dangerous game had safety harnesses attached and there was nothing in place on the ground should any of the competitors have fallen from the ladder. This shows that Health and Safety considerations were clearly not as important back in 1967 as they are in the 21st century.

Marathon - Distance Cycling

With the scores all level at 8-8, the competition would be decided by the outcome of the Marathon. Hawick had been leading throughout the event and things did not change in the closing minutes - in fact they increased their lead even further. Hawick were declared the winners and were awarded the 5pts, meaning that they had won the competition overall.

Final Marathon Standings: 1st Hawick (30 miles / 48.2km) 2nd Galashiels (26 miles / 41.8km)

Final Scores and Positions: 1st Hawick (5pts / 13pts) 2nd Galashiels (0pts awarded / 8pts total) ▼

Comments: Although presenter MacDonald Hobley had correctly stated moments earlier that the winners of this programme would be travelling to Pisa in Italy, co-presenter David Vine made a massive gaffe when he stated that the winning team would be going to play in Switzerland!

Additional Information

After two consecutive weeks wherein the games had been played in torrential rain throughout, it appeared that the same was going to be true about this heat. During rehearsals earlier in the afternoon, rain had once more played havoc with the games, but fortunately shortly before the actual competition, the sun finally broke through to brighten up proceedings.

The BBC Archives film-recording of this broadcast is the earliest surviving video footage from any It's A Knockout programme, but it is unfortunately incomplete at just 23 minutes 15 seconds long. From the information contained in the footage it is clear that each heat began with the Marathon and this was played continually throughout the programme, only being visited by the cameras in between the main games.

Made in B/W • This programme exists incomplete in the BBC Archives

GB

It's A Knockout 1967

Heat 4

Event Staged: Sunday 4th June 1967
Venue: Black Rock Lido, Brighton, East Sussex, England

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB): Sunday 4th June 1967, 4.40-5.25pm (Live)

Teams: Brighton v. Worthing

Team Members included:
Worthing - Richard Blaydon, Martin Diplock, Peter English, Keith Hammond and Bob Rogers.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 W • Worthing ● ●
 B • Brighton

9
6

Worthing qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Straubing, West Germany:
staged on Wednesday 9th August 1967

The Host Town

Brighton, East Sussex

Brighton and Hove is a city with a population of around 277,000 inhabitants in the county of East Sussex and is located on the English Channel coast, 31 miles (50km) west of Hastings, 41 miles (67km) east of Portsmouth, 48 miles (77km) south of London and 92 miles (148km) north of the French port of Le Havre.

First mentioned as Brighthelmstone in 1086, it emerged as a health resort in the mid-18th century after Lewes-based general practitioner, Dr Richard Russell (1687-1759) began prescribing the use of sea water for drinking and bathing. From 1780 onwards, the development of the Georgian terraces grew at an astounding rate, and the fishing village became the fashionable resort of Brighton. Growth of the town was further encouraged by the patronage of King George IV (1762-1830) after his first visit in 1783, then as the Prince of Wales - he would later become Prince Regent in 1811 and King in 1820. He spent much of his leisure time in the town and in 1787 commissioned architect Henry Holland (1745-1806) to design and build the Indo-Saracenic influenced Royal Pavilion, enlarging an existing farmhouse building near the seafront which faced the Steine area. The building was constructed in three stages, with the current appearance of the Pavilion, with its domes and minarets, being the work of architect John Nash (1752-1835), who extended the building from 1815. Subsequent monarchs William IV (1765-1837) and Victoria (1819-1901) also used the Pavilion, but Queen Victoria preferred Osborne House on the Isle of Wight as her royal seaside retreat, and sold the Pavilion to the town of Brighton in 1850.

After the arrival of the railway in 1841, the resort became a playground destination for London day-trippers, and is in fact known by many as London-by-the-Sea. For almost a century Brighton was quite unique on the south coast as it had two piers. The West Pier built in 1866 was classified as a Grade I listed building and was joined by the Palace Pier in 1899. However, after decades of neglect as a result of financial difficulties, the West Pier was declared unsafe and was closed to the public in 1975. For some time the pier was under consideration for restoration, but following a violent storm on 29th December 2002, which caused the dramatic collapse of the south east corner of the Concert Hall, and two fires set by arsonists in 2003, finances were withdrawn and the restoration plans being abandoned. The Volk’s Electric Railway runs along the inland edge of the beach from the existing pier to Black Rock (site of the town’s open-air lido until 1978 when it was demolished) and the Marina at the eastern end of Brighton's seafront. Created in 1883, it is the world’s oldest operating electric railway.

The Grand Hotel on the western promenade was built in 1864 and was the scene of the 1984 Brighton bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s attempt to assassinate the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013).

Brighton has featured in a number of hit movies including Brighton Rock (1947), Genevieve (1953), Half a Sixpence (1967), Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), Carry On Girls (1973), Quadrophenia (1979), Mirror Mask (2005), The Boat That Rocked (2009) and Brighton Rock (remake) (2010). A great many television series have also visited the seaside town including the fondly remembered Public Eye, The Persuaders! and Doctor Who, shows which filmed there in 1969, 1971 and 1980 respectively.

At the time of transmission, Brighton was a stand-alone town. In 1997, the towns of Brighton and Hove were merged to form the unitary authority with the same name. This followed years of apprehension from the inhabitants of Hove that such a move would benefit them. Following unification, Brighton and Hove applied for city status again, having been unsuccessful in its original candidacy as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) in 1977 (eventually losing out to Derby). On this second occasion, this time as part of the Millennium City Status Competition in 2000, the town was successful and was subsequently granted city status on 31st January 2001.

The Visiting Town

Worthing is a town and seaside resort with a population of around 110,000 inhabitants in the county of West Sussex and is located on the English Channel coast, 10 miles (16km) west of Brighton.

The Venue

Black Rock Lido

The games at this heat were played at the Black Rock Lido, an outdoor swimming pool located in the Kemp Town district of Brighton at the eastern end of Madeira Drive. The pool was built in 1936 at beach level on the site of an ornamental garden and was designed in art-deco style. It measured 165ft x 60ft (50.29m x 18.29m) and held a maximum capacity of 334,000 gallons (1,518,394 litres) of ionised water.

Black Rock marks the point where the white chalk of the South Downs meets the sea. The name is believed by many to be derived from the fact that if coal was brought through the town, they had to pay a tax on it. Black Rock, at the time, was out of town and the boats delivering the coal used to dump it here. However, the official version is that it derives from a large rock or cave that once laid at the foot of the cliff.

The people of Brighton were very proud of their beautiful pool with its prominent seashore position which led to an under-cliff walk. Gazing over the pool from the top of the cliff, many a passer-by would have been entertained by the happy, carefree spectacle below them. In 1971, a new yachting marina began to be constructed adjacent to the pool and coupled with the unpredictable British summer weather and cheap foreign package holidays, the seeds of doom were beginning to be sewn. Heavy deposits of dirt and cement dust discouraged patrons, with numbers dropping from 80,000 per year to 21,000. Cracks also appeared in the brickwork and the pool began to tilt to one side with many claiming this was the result of the marina’s construction. The pool was eventually closed in 1978 and demolished the following year - a fun-filled little paradise which has been missed ever since.

Returning Teams and Competitors

The Worthing team participated again in the programme at Cheltenham Spa in 1968 and the team was again victorious.

Made in B/W • This programme does not exist in the BBC Archives

GB

It's A Knockout 1967

Heat 5

Event Staged: Sunday 11th June 1967
Venue: Pittville Gardens, Cheltenham Spa, Gloucestershire, England

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB): Sunday 11th June 1967, 4.40-5.25pm (Live)

Teams: Cheltenham Spa v. Leamington Spa

Team Members included:
Cheltenham Spa - Barrie Lewis (Team Captain), Norman Allen, Susan Arkell, Penny Bridge, Maureen Christie, Lynn Davies, Tony Davies, Mary Eggleton, Pauline Hurst, Heather Newman, Susan Parkinson, Pat Switzer, Peter Tapsell, Ron Tapsell, Peter Wootton.

Games: Unknown;
Marathon: Linking the Chains.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 C • Cheltenham Spa ● ●
 L • Leamington Spa

15
2

Cheltenham Spa qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Blackpool, Great Britain:
staged on Wednesday 23rd August 1967

The Host Town

Cheltenham Spa, Gloucestershire

Cheltenham Spa (more commonly known as Cheltenham) is a large spa town with a population of around 115,000 inhabitants in the county of Gloucestershire. It is located on the edge of the the Cotswold Hills, 41 miles (66km) south of Birmingham, 56 miles (90km) north-east of Cardiff, 71 miles (114km) west of Luton and 74 miles (119km) north-west of Southampton. The town is famous for its Regency architecture and is said to be ‘the most complete Regency town in England’. Many of the buildings are listed, including the Cheltenham Synagogue, judged to be one of the best architecturally non-Anglican ecclesiastical buildings in Britain.

Cheltenham stands on the small River Chelt, which rises at nearby Dowdeswell and runs through the town on its way to the Severn. It was first recorded in 803 AD, as ‘Celtan hom’ which is believed to derive from a pre-British noun 'cilta' (steep hill), referring to the Cotswold scarp, and hom (settlement or water-meadow). As a royal manor, it features in the earliest pages of the Gloucestershire section of Domesday Book where it is named Chintenha. The town was awarded a market charter in 1226.

Though little remains of its pre-spa history, Cheltenham has been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs there in 1716. Captain Henry Skillicorne (1678-1763) is credited with being the first entrepreneur to recognise the opportunity to exploit the mineral springs. The retired master mariner became co-owner of the property containing Cheltenham's first mineral spring upon his marriage to Elizabeth Mason in 1732. Her father, William Mason, had done little in his lifetime to promote the healing properties of the water apart from limited advertising and building a small enclosure over the spring. Skillicorne's wide travels as a merchant had prepared him to see the potential lying dormant on this inherited property. After moving to Cheltenham in 1738, he immediately began improvements intended to attract visitors to his spa. He built a pump to regulate the flow of water and erected an elaborate well-house complete with a ballroom and upstairs billiard room to entertain customers.

The beginnings of Cheltenham's famous tree-lined promenades and gardens surrounding its spas were first designed by Captain Skillicorne with the help of ‘wealthy and travelled’ friends who understood the value of relaxing avenues. The beautiful walks and gardens were naturally adorned with sweeping vistas of the countryside. Soon the gentry and nobility from across the county were enticed to come and investigate the beneficial waters of Cheltenham's market town spa. The visit of King George III (1738-1820) with Queen Charlotte (1761-1818) in 1788 set a stamp of fashion on the spa. The spa waters can still be sampled at the Pittville Pump Room (see ‘The Venue’ section below). Cheltenham's success as a spa town is reflected in the railway station, which is still called Cheltenham Spa, and spa facilities in other towns that were inspired by or named after it.

Author Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) and Alice Liddell (1852-1934), the inspiration for his Alice in Wonderland stories, were regular visitors to a house in Cudnall Street, Charlton Kings - a suburb of Cheltenham. This house was owned by Alice Liddell's grandparents, and still contains the mirror, or looking glass, that was purportedly the inspiration for Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1871.

The town is home to the flagship of British steeplechase (National Hunt) horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival which has been staged each year in March since 1902. Although racing began in Cheltenham in 1815, it became a major national attraction after the establishment of the Festival. Whilst the volume of tourists visiting the spa has declined, the racecourse attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each day of the festival each year, with such large numbers of visitors having a significant impact on the town. Also in the town is the head office of the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). It is affectionately known locally as 'The Doughnut', due to its appearance when viewed from above.

As with many other large towns in Great Britain, Cheltenham has played host to and featured in a number of film and TV series and in particular those featured on the BBC. The situation comedy series Butterflies (1978-1983) starring Wendy Craig and Geoffrey Palmer was predominantly filmed in Cheltenham at Hatherley Park, Montpellier and a house in Bournside Road. The House of Eliott (1991-1994) which starred Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard was partly filmed in Cheltenham as was its 1998 serialised adaptation of Vanity Fair written by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) in 1848.

The Visiting Town

Royal Leamington Spa is a town and resort with a population of around 56,000 inhabitants in the county of Warwickshire and is located 36 miles (58km) north-east of Cheltenham Spa.

The Venue

Pittville Gardens

The games were played in Pittville Gardens, located in the small suburb of Pittville in the north-east corner of the town. Joseph Pitt (1759-1842), the developer of Pittville, wanted to create a 100-acre (0.40km²) estate, with its own Pump Room, with imposing houses for the rich and famous who came to live in Cheltenham. The estate would also include beautiful landscaped gardens and various walks and rides. He envisaged Pittville as a new spa town, one which would rival Cheltenham. Development began in 1824 with the first stone being laid by Pitt on 4th May 1825.

Pitt employed local architect John Forbes, who not only designed the basic layout of the estate but was also the creator of the magnificent Pump Room situated at the northern end of the park, which opened on 20th July 1830, at a cost of over £40,000. Pittville's spa water was recommended for treating skin complaints and patients would take the waters then promenade around the pleasure gardens.

The Gardens were formally opened to the public four years after Cheltenham Borough Council had bought the Pittville Estate on 25th April 1894. In 1924, the Gardens were renamed Pittville Park, although locals refuse to recognise this and today still refer to them as Pittville Gardens. The park now provides 33 hectares of parkland, including an ornamental lake with elegant bridges dating from 1827 and a boating lake, formerly known as Capper's Fish Pond. It was named after Robert Capper (1768-1851), owner of Marle Hill House, the grounds of which now constitute the western part of the Pittville Park.

The lakes were created by damming a stream known as Wyman's Brook. Like most of Cheltenham's historic parks and gardens, Pittville Park was originally enclosed by railings and was private to the residents and subscribers to the spa. A refreshment kiosk, dating from 1903, with unusual terracotta dragons on its roof, is open in the summer months in the Long Garden, a stretch of parkland to the south of Pittville Park facing Pittville Lawn. On its place originally stood a small spa called Essex Lodge, erected in the 1820s.

The Games in Detail

Marathon - Linking the Chains

The marathon this week was a chain-linking competition. Cheltenham won by 63 links to 57, despite Leamington having a genuine blacksmith on their team!

Team Personnel

The Cheltenham Spa team comprised of nineteen men and fifteen women. These included Ron Tapsell, a muscle man who stood at six-foot four inches and weighed in at sixteen-stone, Tony Davies, a lecturer in ceramics at Gloucestershire Art College and Norman Allan, a local golf professional.

Made in B/W • This programme does not exist in the BBC Archives

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