It's A Knockout 1969
British Domestic Series

Presenters:
David Vine
Eddie Waring

Referee:
Arthur Ellis

Scoregirls:
Jennifer Craven
Diane Hecht
Pat Taylor

Production Credits:

Designer and Games Deviser: Stuart Furber; Producer: Barney Colehan; Director: Philip S. Gilbert

A BBC Manchester Production

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

GB

It's A Knockout 1969

Heat 1

Event Staged: Sunday 11th May 1969
Venue: Western Lawns, King Edward's Parade, Eastbourne, East Sussex, England

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 14th May 1969, 7.30-8.20pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Not transmitted

Weather Conditions: Overcast

Teams: Eastbourne v. Hastings

Team Members included:
Eastbourne - Len Fuller (Team Coach), Peter Bedford (Team Captain), Linda Delaney, Richard Groombridge, Ray Hill, Marilyn Jepson-Hearn, Barry Matthews;
Hastings - Tom Hogarth (Team Manager), Roger Dennett (Deputy Team Manager), Ken Nesh (Team Coach), Paul Adams, Stephanie Dale, William Farnfield.

Games included: Basket Balance Climb, Madame Guillotine, The Sleeping Waiter, Bobbin’ Dip, The Rocking Bed;
Marathon: The Woodcutters.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
1st

 H • Hastings ● ●
 E • Eastbourne

10 *
10

* Result decided by a toss of a coin. See ‘The Games in Detail’ section below

Hastings qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Brugge, Belgium:
staged on Wednesday 25th June 1969

The Host Town

Eastbourne, East Sussex

Eastbourne is a town and seaside resort with a population of around 102,000 inhabitants in East Sussex immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain. It is located in the South Downs National Park, 14 miles (22km) west of Hastings, 19 miles (30km) east of Brighton, 25 miles (40km) south of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 31 miles (50km) south-east of Crawley.

Eastbourne's earliest claim as a seaside resort came about following a summer holiday visit by four children of King George III (1738-1820) in 1780 - Prince Edward (1767-1820), Prince Octavius (1779-1783), Princess Elizabeth (1770-1840) and Princess Sophia (1777-1848). In 1793, following a survey of coastal defences in the southeast, approval was given for the positioning of infantry and artillery to defend the bay between Beachy Head and Hastings from attack by the French. Fourteen Martello Towers were constructed along the western shore of Pevensey Bay, continuing as far as Tower 73 (the Wish Tower) at Eastbourne. Several of these towers still survive with the Wish Tower being an important feature of the town's seafront, and part of Tower 68 forming the basement of a house on St. Antony's Hill.

Eastbourne remained an area of small rural settlements until the 19th century. Four villages or hamlets occupied the site of the modern town: Bourne (or, to distinguish it from others of the same name, East Bourne), is now known as the Old Town, and this surrounded the bourne (stream) which rises in the present Motcombe Park; Meads, where the Downs meet the coast; South Bourne (near the town hall); and the fishing settlement known simply as Sea Houses, which was situated to the east of the present pier. By the mid-19th century, most of the area had fallen into the hands of two landowners: John Davies Gilbert (1811-1854) and William Cavendish (1808-1891), Earl of Burlington.

On 14th May 1849, the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway arrived to scenes of great jubilation. With the coming of the railway, the town's growth accelerated. William Cavendish, now the 7th Duke of Devonshire, hired architect Henry Currey (1820-1900) in 1859 to lay out a plan for what was essentially an entire new town - a resort built ‘for gentlemen by gentlemen’. The town grew rapidly from a population of less than 4,000 in 1851 to nearly 35,000 by 1891. Today with a population of 100,000 people, Eastbourne is the second fastest growing seaside town in the United Kingdom, and is the economic driver of one of the fastest growing counties in the country. Eastbourne has a broad economic base and is home to companies in a wide range of industries and also home to Gardners Books, the largest book wholesaler in the country.

The seafront at Eastbourne consists almost entirely of Victorian hotels. Along with its pier and bandstand, this serves to preserve the front in a somewhat timeless manner. The Duke of Devonshire retains the rights to the seafront buildings and does not allow them to be developed into shops. A stretch of 4 miles (6.4km) of shingle beach stretches from Sovereign Harbour in the east to Beachy Head in the west. The seafront and the iconic cliff at Beachy Head has been used for many scenes in feature films, and the local council has set up a film liaison unit to encourage and facilitate the shooting of film sequences in and around the town. The 2006 Academy Award-nominated film Notes on a Scandal starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett includes scenes filmed at Beachy Head, Cavendish Hotel and 117 Royal Parade. Scenes from Half a Sixpence (1967) starring Tommy Steele and Julia Foster were filmed on the pier and near to the bandstand. The seafront area was also used for the 2008 film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging directed by Gurinder Chadha. A sequence of a rainy day at the seaside for the Doel family has as its backdrop the Wish Tower, the bandstand, the Cavendish Hotel and the pier in the 1987 drama film 84 Charing Cross Road directed by David Jones (1934-2008) and starring Anne Bancroft (1931-2005) and Anthony Hopkins.

Television too has used Eastbourne as a backdrop. The series Little Britain had the character Emily Howard (portrayed by David Walliams) strolling along the promenade. Other brief appearances were made in the television series Agatha Christie's Marple, French and Saunders and Foyle's War. One scene in Bang Bang, It’s Reeves and Mortimer, was shot in and based around what is now known as ‘D2L’ on Seaside Road. The town was also used as a location for the BBC series Psychoville in 2009.

The Visiting Town

Hastings is a town with a population of around 100,000 inhabitants in the county of East Sussex and is located 14 miles (22km) north-east of Eastbourne.

The Venue

Western Lawns

The games were played on Western Lawns, a grassed area situated on the seafront just in front of the Victorian Grand Hotel, known as the White Palace, which boasts 152 rooms - comprised of 23 suites, 30 junior suites and 99 rooms. Built and paid for by local resident William Earp, the hotel cost £50,000 and was finally completed in 1875. Located on the Lawns is the Wish Tower, built in 1804 as part of the coastal defences to defend England against the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).

Today, the Tower has been restored and is open to the public as a museum. From the top of the Tower there are magnificent views along the seafront of Eastbourne. The Western Lawns are the venue for many events in Eastbourne including the 999 Emergency Services Display and Airbourne.

The Rehearsals

The morning rehearsals gave the hint that the event proper would be a closely fought battle, ending in a tight 9-8 finish in Eastbourne's favour.

The Games in Detail

Game 1

The title of the first game is unknown but it was won by Hastings, who had extracted first blood on Eastbourne's home turf.

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

Marathon, Round 1 - The Woodcutters

The next game - ‘The Woodcutters’ - was the Marathon, the six rounds of which would either be played alternately by each team on three occasions or played in unison on six occasions throughout the programme.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Eastbourne (---) --- Hastings (---)

Game 2 - Basket Balance Climb

The second game - ‘Basket Balance Climb' - was played in unison by female competitors. It witnessed Eastbourne presenting their Joker for play and the contest ended in a draw.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Hastings (1pt awarded / 3pts total) 2nd Eastbourne (2pts / Joker / 2pts)

Marathon, Round 2 - The Woodcutters

The second round of the Marathon either saw the team that had not participated in the first round trying to emulate the target set by their rivals or saw both teams trying to improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved in the previous round.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Eastbourne (---) --- Hastings (---)

Game 3 - Madame Guillotine

The third game - ‘Madame Guillotine’ - was the first game in the competition to be won by Eastbourne. The victory saw them take the lead for the first time.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Eastbourne (2pts awarded / 4pts total) ▲ 2nd Hastings (0pts / 3pts) ▼

Marathon, Round 3 - The Woodcutters

The third round of the Marathon either saw the team that had participated in the first round trying to improve on their score or adding to their total achieved earlier or saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous two rounds.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Eastbourne (---) --- Hastings (---)

Game 4 - The Sleeping Waiter

The fourth game - ‘The Sleeping Waiter’ - involved competitors having to negotiate an obstacle course whilst balancing items of crockery. While doing this, they also had to carrying a balloon between their legs, making the task that bit more difficult.

This proved to be the the second successive game to be won by Eastbourne. The home team appeared to be getting up a head of steam...

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Eastbourne (2pts awarded / 6pts total) 2nd Hastings (0pts / 3pts)

Marathon, Round 4 - The Woodcutters

The fourth round of the Marathon either saw the team that had participated in the second round trying to improve on their score or adding to their total achieved earlier or saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous three rounds.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Eastbourne (---) --- Hastings (---)

Game 5 - Bobbin' Dip

The fifth game - ‘Bobbin’ Dip’ - was won by Eastbourne, who had now opened up what appeared to be a commanding 5pts lead over their rivals.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Eastbourne (2pts awarded / 8pts total) 2nd Hastings (0pts / 3pts)

Marathon, Round 5 - The Woodcutters

The fifth and penultimate round of the Marathon either saw the team that had participated in the first and third rounds making one last effort to improve on their score or adding to their total or saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous four rounds.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Eastbourne (---) --- Hastings (---)

Game 6 - The Rocking Beds

The sixth and penultimate game - 'The Rocking Beds' - witnessed Hastings presenting their Joker for play. The game was played over two heats, with both teams involved in each. The object of the game was for competitors to transport buckets of water down the course, crossing a series of moving mats which had handling bars at either end. Opposing team members held onto these bars and worked in tandem to move the mats violently back and forth, thus making progress for the competing team highly awkward. Once over the mats, the competitors had to deposit what water remained in the buckets into a container. The team transporting the greater volume of water within limit time would win the game.

The Hastings team were successful on the game and, having played their Joker, were rewarded with a double points haul for their victory. They had closed the deficit to a narrow 1pt margin.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Eastbourne (0pts awarded / 8pts total) 2nd Hastings (4pts / Joker / 7pts)

Marathon, Round 6 - The Woodcutters

The The sixth and final round of the Marathon either saw the team that had participated in the second and fourth rounds making one last effort to improve on their score or adding to their total or saw both teams making one last effort to improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous five rounds.

At the end of this round, Hastings had achieved a greater score or total than Eastbourne and were awarded the 3pts. This put them in the lead and in a very strong position to win this Domestic Heat.

Final Marathon Standings: 1st Hastings (---) 2nd Eastbourne (---)

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Hastings (3pts awarded / 10pts total) ▲ 2nd Eastbourne (0pts / 8pts) ▼

Game 7

The title of the seventh and final game is unknown but it was won by Eastbourne, who had levelled the scores at the end of the competition. But the question was, how to determine the winning team and whether Eastbourne or Hastings would go forward to the International Series... It would be decided on the toss of a coin!

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Eastbourne (2pts awarded / 10pts total) ▲ =1st Hastings (0pts / 10pts) With the scores level, Hastings won qualification for Europe on the toss of a coin, which had simply been marked 'H' on one side and 'E' on the other! Final Scores and Positions: =1st Hastings (0pts awarded / Coin Toss Won / 10pts total) ▲ =1st Eastbourne (0pts / 10pts)

Additional Information

Maurice Kanarek of the BBC Presentation department produced an 'early warning' trailer for the 1969 series of It's A Knockout. This was specially filmed in the 'Western town' on the backlot at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. Taking a Western theme, it witnessed presenters David Vine and Eddie Waring dressed in cowboy gear and becoming involved in a gunfight (at the KO Corral?). Scoregirl Jennifer Craven scored the gunfight between the two presenters as a draw and the trailer moved on to presenting brief highlights from the previous summer's domestic games. Back in the Western town, David Vine invited viewers to submit their ideas for new games. This appears to have been screened around a month prior to the 1969 series' May launch. The filming location was a standing set constructed at MGM-British Studios for the film Eye of the Devil (filmed: January 1966) and later used for The Prisoner: Living in Harmony (September 1967) and UFO: A Question of Priorities (April/May 1969). Following the closure of MGM-British Studios in late 1970, the standing sets on the backlot fell into disrepair and were demolished in 1973.

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

GB

It's A Knockout 1969

Heat 3

Event Staged: Sunday 25th May 1969, 3.00pm
Venue: Cardiff Castle Green, Cardiff, Glamorgan, England

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 28th May 1969, 7.30-8.20pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Friday 30th May 1969, 7.05-7.45pm

Teams: Barry v. Cardiff

Team Members included:
Cardiff - J.W. Colley, W. Payne.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 C • Cardiff ● ●
 B • Barry

-
-

Cardiff qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Caserta, Italy:
staged on Wednesday 23rd July 1969

The Host Town

Cardiff, Glamorgan

Cardiff (Caerdydd in Welsh) is the capital and largest city in Wales with a population of around 350,000 inhabitants and is ranked the ninth largest city in the United Kingdom. The city straddles the Rivers Taff and Ely and is located 16 miles (26km) south of Pontypool, 26 miles (42km) west of Bristol, 26 miles (42km) north of Bridgwater and 34 miles (55km) east of Swansea, the principality’s second largest city.

It is the chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular visitor destination in Wales with around 18 million visitors per year. It is also the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan (and later of South Glamorgan) and has the motto ‘Y ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn’ (The red dragon will lead the way).

In 1081, King William I (1028-1087) began work on the castle keep within the walls of the old Roman fort. This resulted in a small town growing up in the shadow of the castle, made up primarily of settlers from England. In the early 12th century, a wooden palisade was erected around the city to protect it. By this time it had a population of between 1,500 and 2,000 inhabitants, a relatively normal size for a Welsh town in this period. By the end of the 13th century, Cardiff was the only town in Wales with a population exceeding 2,000, but it was relatively small compared with most notable towns in the Kingdom of England.

During the Middle Ages, Cardiff was a busy port and in 1327 was declared a ‘staple port’ (one that required merchant barges or ships to unload their goods at the port, and display them for sale for a certain period, often three days). In 1404, Owain Glyndŵr (c.1349-c.1415) burned Cardiff and took Cardiff Castle. As the town was still very small, most of the buildings were made of wood and the town was destroyed. However, the town was soon rebuilt and began to flourish once again and by 1542, Cardiff had become a Free Borough.

In 1573, it was made a head port for collection of customs duties, and in 1581, Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) granted Cardiff its first royal charter. Cardiff was finally granted city status on 28th October 1905 by King Edward VII (1841-1910), and was proclaimed the first official capital of Wales on 20th December 1955 by the then Home Secretary, Gwilym Lloyd George (1894-1967), 1st Viscount Tenby.

Since the 1990s, Cardiff has seen significant development. A new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building, home to the Welsh Assembly and the Wales Millennium Centre arts complex. Current developments include the continuation of the redevelopment of the Cardiff Bay and city centre areas with projects such as the Cardiff International Sports Village, a BBC drama village, and a new business district in the city centre.

The city is rich in sporting history and as such has numerous sporting venues in the city’s confines which include the Millennium Stadium (the national stadium for the Wales national rugby union team and the Welsh national football team), SWALEC Stadium (the home of Glamorgan County Cricket Club), Cardiff City Stadium (the home of Cardiff City football team), Cardiff International Sports Stadium (the home of Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club) and Cardiff Arms Park (the home of Cardiff Blues and Cardiff RFC rugby union teams). The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, including the games' opening event and the men's bronze medal match.

Although now located in the City and County of Cardiff, at the time of this recording Cardiff was actually in the county of Glamorgan. However, following the complete redistribution of county boundaries under the Local Government Act 1972 (which took effect on 1st April 1974), Cardiff then became part of the newly-formed county of South Glamorgan, which then in turn was abolished in 1996 (under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994) when the city received its current status.

The Visiting Town

Barry is a town with a population of around 52,000 inhabitants in the county of Vale of Glamorgan and is located 7 miles (11km) south-west of Cardiff.

The Venue

Cardiff Castle

The games were played within the confines of Cardiff Castle, which owes its existence to the Romans. In their 300 years of occupation, the Romans built four forts on the site of the present castle, on what was hitherto marshland. The square perimeter wall of Cardiff Castle today was once the outer stone wall of the Roman fort, outside of which a small settlement of traders and suppliers began to grow.

When the Romans suddenly left in 400 AD, the fort was abandoned and in the six centuries which followed, it gradually disappeared through decay and (no doubt) plunder. When the Norman conquerors arrived in Wales in 1089, all they probably found was a large eight acre square (32,374 m²) plot bordered by grass embankments, surrounded by a small trading settlement and port on the river. The remains of the actual Roman walls were not to be rediscovered for another 800 years. The Normans quickly built a classic motte and bailey keep, recognising - like the Romans - that this was a good spot to guard the river and the sea (both of which were then much closer to the castle than they are today).

In the 12th century, the castle became the stronghold of Robert Fitzroy (c.1100-1147), 1st Earl of Gloucester and 2nd Lord of Glamorgan, the illegitimate son of King Henry I of England (c.1068-1135) and grandson of William the Conqueror. Hailed as one of Europe’s greatest warriors and statesmen of his day, he played a huge role in English history, even minting his own coins. One of his most famous acts was imprisoning his uncle, Robert Duke of Normandy (1051-1134), the eldest son of William the Conqueror (1028-1087), in Cardiff Castle in order to stop him claiming the throne. The Duke later died a prisoner in the stone keep.

For successive centuries, Cardiff Castle, which slowly expanded along the western wall, came under the possession of leading nobles and statesmen, often as a Royal reward. It also passed through many generations of Kings in waiting, including King John (1166-1216), Richard III (1452-1485), Henry VII (1457-1509) and Henry VIII (1491-1547).

However, Cardiff Castle’s greatest moment came in the 19th century, when it was inherited by ‘the richest baby in the British Empire’. John Patrick Crichton-Stuart (1847-1900), 3rd Marquess of Bute, was only six months old when his father, Baron Cardiff (1793-1848), died suddenly after having amassed a fortune through his successful gamble of building the docks at Cardiff for exporting Welsh coal. That single act was to cause Cardiff to grow almost one hundred times in size in just one century to become the largest city in Wales and, in 1955, Capital City of Wales.

By the time the 3rd Marquess himself died in 1900, he was one of the richest men in the entire world. John devoted vast sums to creating in Cardiff Castle the perfect medieval fantasy castle, with no expense spared. The Bute family left in 1947 and sold the Castle to Cardiff City Council for just £1!

Today, the castle and its four hundred acres of adjoining parkland belong to the city and are open to the public, giving Cardiff more parkland per head of population than any other city in Europe. To step inside the castle is not only a journey through two thousand years of Roman, Norman, Plantagenet, Tudor, Georgian and Victorian history, but a breathtaking fantasy journey through rooms decorated lavishly with gold, wood, stone and marble, lined with painstakingly detailed wall murals. Every room has a theme, concerning medieval history, time, space and astrology and, especially, religion.

Media Attention

Very little coverage was given to this event in the local press. This was quite possibly due to the focus on the Lord Mayor’s Parade taking place in Cardiff the day before. The Parade launched the countdown to the Investiture of the Prince of Wales scheduled for July that year - a major international event for Wales (and which was, incidentally, destined to be the world’s first live outside broadcast in colour).

A letter in the South Wales Echo from Mr J.V. Butler of Rhiwbina, Cardiff, on Thursday 29th May 1969, suggests that all was not well at the It's A Knockout event. Mr Butler stated that he, his wife, and three children had queued for half an hour to pay 12/6d (62½p) to get into Cardiff Castle to see the event, only to find that no seating had been provided for spectators. He went on to comment that it was impossible for their children to see the games through the crowds. Consequently he left early, along with many other families. A response by Alderman Ronald Watkiss, Chair of Cardiff City Council Organising Committee, pointed to the assumption that the spectators would sit on the steep sided banks surrounding the castle grounds which make a natural grandstand. It was this decision that had helped keep the cost of the event down to within £10k. Unfortunately, on the day, this option was ruled out for many by heavy rainfall, which made sitting on the ground too uncomfortable!

Additional Information

Following research by Paul Leaver, two Cardiff team members - J W Colley and W Payne - have been identified in Cardiff City council minutes as having been granted leave with pay in order to compete in the It's A Knockout event. Colley was noted as being a bricklayer and Payne as a higher clerical assistant.

Welsh viewers had a choice of three BBC channels as early as 1969 - BBC1 Wales (Channel 5 on the dial), BBC1 West of England (Channel 13) and BBC2. Despite televising this competition from Cardiff, interestingly, none of the other Domestic Heats were shown on BBC1 Wales. Welsh viewers had to tune to Channel 13 to pick up the programme from the West of England!

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

GB

It's A Knockout 1969

Heat 4

Event Staged: Sunday 1st June 1969 at 5.30pm
Venue: Open-Air Swimming Pool, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 4th June 1969, 7.30-8.20pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Not transmitted

Weather Conditions: Warm and Sunny

Audience Figures:
BBC1 (GB): 9,000,000 viewers

Teams: Burntisland v. Dunbar

Team Members included:
Burntisland - Neil Cameron, Robert Cameron;
Dunbar - Robin Forrest (Team Manager and Team Coach), William Johnson (Assistant Team Coach), Robert Bisset, Betty Darling, Brian Dickson, Reg Dyer, Lex Horsburgh, Brian Houliston, John Hutchinson, Dick James, Sheila Laird, Alistair Lister, Caroline Pott, Catherine Regan, Douglas Robertson, Stuart Robertson, Patricia Rogerson, Glenda Sanderson, Vera Sembie, Anna Stewart, Jaci Waite, Billy Wilson.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 D • Dunbar ● ●
 B • Burntisland

12 *
12

* Result decided by a toss of a coin. See ‘The Games in Detail’ section below

Dunbar qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Martigny, Switzerland:
staged on Wednesday 6th August 1969

The Host Town

Dunbar, East Lothian

Dunbar is a small town with a population of around 10,000 inhabitants in the council area of East Lothian. It is located on the south-east coast of Scotland, 27 miles (44km) east of Edinburgh, 29 miles (47km) north-east of Galashiels, 37 miles (60km) south-east of Dundee and 26 miles (42km) north-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the English border. Its strategic position gave rise to a history full of incident and strife but Dunbar has become a quiet dormitory town popular with workers in nearby Edinburgh, who find it an affordable alternative to the capital itself.

The town became successively a baronial burgh and then a Royal Burgh in 1370, growing slowly under the shadow of the great Castle of the Earls. Scotland and England often contended for possession of the castle and town. Although the former was 'impregnable' and withstood many sieges, the town was frequently burned. The castle had been slighted (deliberately ruined) in 1568, but the town flourished as an agricultural centre and fishing port despite tempestuous times in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Major battles were fought nearby in 1296 and 1650.

Dunbar gained a reputation as a seaside and golfing resort in the 19th century, and was known as the 'bright and breezy burgh' famous for its 'bracing air'. Since 1983, the town has played host to the first outdoor Pipe Band competition of the season in Scotland. The competition, now held at Hallhill Healthy Living Centre on the second Saturday in May, attracts in the region of 70-80 entries from bands across Scotland and over 2000 visitors for the day. The local band, Dunbar Royal British Legion Pipe Band, has competed and met with mixed success over the years.

On Saturday 3rd January 1987, a devastating fire destroyed much of the town's historic parish church. The church was opened in 1821 and contained a monument to George Home (1556-1611), 1st Earl of Dunbar, which was said to be unequalled throughout Scotland for its Italian craftsmanship in marble. Though the fire practically destroyed the monument and left only the outer walls remaining, the church has since been rebuilt with a modern interior.

Dunbar is noted as the birthplace of the explorer, naturalist and conservationist John Muir (1838-1914). The house in which Muir was born is located on the High Street, and has been converted into a museum. There is also a commemorative statue beside the town clock, and John Muir Country Park is located to the north-west of the town.

At the time of transmission, Dunbar was located in the county of East Lothian. However, following the complete redistribution of county boundaries under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the town became part of the newly-formed region of Lothian on 16th May 1975. Further changes followed and under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act of 1994, the regions were abolished and were replaced with 32 unitary authorities on 1st April 1995 and Dunbar became part of the newly-formed council area of East Lothian!

The Visiting Town

Burntisland is a town with a population of around 6,500 inhabitants in the council area of Fife and is located 28 miles (45km) west of Dunbar.

The Venue

Open-Air Swimming Pool

The games were played in the open-air swimming pool - generally referred to locally as the Dunbar Swimming Pool - which was located on the sea-front to west of the town’s harbour. During the summer months it was visited by Scots and other holiday-makers and it was also used for the local Miss Dunbar beauty contests.

However, as with many of the country’s open-air swimming pools, it fell out of favour with the British public when foreign package holidays became popular in the early 1970s offering guaranteed sunshine.

Sadly, the pool is long gone as it was demolished in 1980 and today no sign of its location exists.

The Games in Detail

Game 1

The title of the first game is unknown, but it saw home team Dunbar get off to the perfect start as they took the win.

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

Marathon, Round 1

The next game was the Marathon, the six rounds of which would either be played alternately by each team on three occasions or played in unison on six occasions throughout the programme.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Burntisland (---) --- Dunbar (---)

Game 2

The title of the second game is unknown but it was also won by Dunbar. The team had established a healthy early lead of 4pts difference to their opponents Burntisland.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Dunbar (2pts awarded / 4pts total) 2nd Burntisland (0pts / 0pts)

Marathon, Round 2

The second round of the Marathon either saw the team that had not participated in the first round trying to emulate the target set by their rivals or saw both teams trying to improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved in the previous round.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Burntisland (---) --- Dunbar (---)

Game 3

The title of the third game is unknown, but it proved to be the start of Burntisland's comeback. They took the win and halved the deficit to Dunbar.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Dunbar (0pts awarded / 4pts total) 2nd Burntisland (2pts / 2pts)

Marathon, Round 3

The third round of the Marathon either saw the team that had participated in the first round trying to improve on their score or adding to their total achieved earlier or saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous two rounds.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Burntisland (---) --- Dunbar (---)

Game 4

The title of the fourth game is unknown, but it witnessed Dunbar presenting their Joker for play. The game was won by the Dunbar team and their prospects were looking excellent - they had now carved out a 6pts lead.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Dunbar (4pts awarded / Joker / 8pts total) 2nd Burntisland (0pts / 2pts)

Marathon, Round 4

The fourth round of the Marathon either saw the team that had participated in the second round trying to improve on their score or adding to their total achieved earlier or saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous three rounds.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Burntisland (---) --- Dunbar (---)

Game 5

The title of the fifth game is unknown, but it proved to be a turning point in the competition, with Burntisland turning the tide and winning the game.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Dunbar (0pts awarded / 8pts total) 2nd Burntisland (2pts / 4pts)

Game 6

The title of the sixth game is unknown, but it witnessed Burntisland presenting their Joker for play. The game team followed up their win in the previous game with another win on their Joker game. They had amazingly drawn level with Dunbar having been 6pts behind just two games previously!

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Burntisland (4pts awarded / Joker / 8pts total) ▲ =1st Dunbar (0pts / 8pts)

Marathon, Round 5

The fifth and penultimate round of the Marathon either saw the team that had participated in the first and third rounds making one last effort to improve on their score or adding to their total or saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous four rounds.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Burntisland (---) --- Dunbar (---)

Game 7

The title of the seventh and penultimate game is unknown. It saw Burntisland win and stride confidently into the lead of the competition.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Burntisland (2pts awarded / 10pts total) 2nd Dunbar (0pts / 8pts) ▼

Marathon, Round 6

The sixth and final round of the Marathon either saw the team that had participated in the second and fourth rounds making one last effort to improve on their score or adding to their total or saw both teams making one last effort to improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous five rounds.

At the end of this round, both teams had achieved the same score or total and the game ended in a draw. With both teams being awarded 2pts each, it meant that the competition would go down to the last game, with two possibilities - either Burntisland could win or Dunbar could draw themselves level on points.

Final Marathon Standings: =1st Burntisland (---) =1st Dunbar (---)

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Burntisland (2pts awarded / 12pts total) 2nd Dunbar (2pts / 10pts)

Game 8

The title of the eighth and final game is unknown. The game was won by Dunbar, which brought them to level pegging with their visitors from Burntisland. But the question was, how to determine the winning team and whether Burntisland or Dunbar would go forward to the International Series... It would be decided on the toss of a coin!

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Dunbar (2pts awarded / 12pts total) ▲ =1st Burntisland (0pts / 12pts) With the scores level, Dunbar won qualification for Europe on the toss of a coin. Final Scores and Positions: =1st Dunbar (0pts awarded / Coin Toss Won / 12pts total) ▲ =1st Burntisland (0pts / 12pts)

Media Attention

Jim Herring reported on the event for the Haddingtonshire Courier. He noted that the crowd on the day was unprecedent - 4,500 around the pool, allegedly the largest-ever crowd at the venue, with many more watching from the clifftops opposite and the slopes of The Glebe. The Dunbar team manager Robin Forrest remarked that it was "a perfect, warm, sunny evening in Dunbar and the BBC could not have chosen a more perfect location. The pool was in picture postcard mode." Team member Bett Darling - formerly Pond Mistress at the pool - was similarly impressed by the event's success: "As you came to The Glebe, all you could see was people - the slopes of The Glebe were crowded as was the walkway next to the pool and on the far side. The beauty contests used to be very busy, but this was something else – far busier."

The Haddingtonshire Courier also remarked upon the way that the event had ended in a draw and was decided on the toss of a coin: "The Provosts of both towns watched the toss of the disc which had 'Dunbar' on one side and 'Burntisland' on the other – and when the 'Dunbar' side was turned up, the home supporters' cheers were deafening."

Additional Information

A range of tickets were available for this It's A Knockout event: adult seats at three shillings and sixpence (equivalent in decimal: 17½ pence), and two shillings and sixpence (12½p), standing at two shillings (10p) and one shilling and sixpence (7½p), and a one shilling (5p) charge for children, who were in their own enclosure. These tickets could be purchased from the Town Chamberlain’s Office in Dunbar.

Photo © Rob Bissett / Dunbar & District History Society, 1969

The Haddingtonshire Courier reported that the crowd that day was 4,500 – the largest ever seen at the pool – and that people watched from the clifftops opposite. If you enlarge this (rather blurred) photo, you can see the people on the cliffs in front of what is now the indoor swimming pool. Interviews (by Jim Herring) with Dunbar team members reveal that it was ” A perfect, warm, sunny evening in Dunbar and the BBC could not have chosen a more perfect location. The pool was in picture postcard mode.” (Robin Forrest, team manager). The crowds were not confined to the pool itself or the clifftops. “As you came to The Glebe, all you could see was people – the slopes of the Glebe were crowded as was the walkway next to the pool and on the far side. The beauty contests used to be very busy, but this was something else – far busier”. (Bett Morrison (nee Darling), team member and one-time Pond Mistress.

The reason for the unusually high scoring in this heat was because there were eight games (plus the Marathon) in total instead of the normal seven. This occurred because some of the games were designed to have shorter running times. The extra game was added to enable the timing to be right for the BBC’s transmission slot.

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

GB

It's A Knockout 1969

Heat 5

Event Staged: Saturday 7th June 1969
Venue: Castle Park, Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 11th June 1969, 7.30-8.20pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Not transmitted

Teams: Coleraine v. County Fermanagh

Team Members included:
Coleraine - Ray Rankin (Team Manager), Betty McWhirter (Women's Team Captain), Ronnie Cameron, Rosemary Lagan, Richard Lyons, Philip McGarvey;
County Fermanagh - Billy Simpson (Team Captain), Rosalind Avery, Gabriel Brock, Barry Flanagan, Jeanette Forbes, Richard Heap, Carol Kennedy, John Latimer, Dermot Lunney, Heather Lyons, Wendy McChesney, Shirley McLeer, John Maxwell, Elizabeth Montgomery, John Nevin, Jean Paget, Mary-Rose Riddell, Maura Ryan, Gordon Thompson, Pat Timmons, Helen Woodhouse.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 CO • Coleraine ● ●
 F • County Fermanagh

11
9

Coleraine qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières at Wolfsburg, West Germany:
staged on Wednesday 20th August 1969

The Host Town

Bangor, County Down

Bangor is a large town and seaside resort with a population of around 60,000 inhabitants in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is located on the southern side of Belfast Lough, 5 miles (8km) north of Newtownards, 8 miles (13km) south-east of Carrickfergus, 11 miles (17km) north-east of Belfast and 22 miles (35km) east of Antrim. Although it is a separate town, it lies within the Belfast Metropolitan Area, not far from George Best Belfast City Airport.

The town was originally called Inver Beg after the now culverted (covered over) stream which ran past the abbey. The name Bangor is derived from the Irish word Beannchar, meaning a horned or peaked curve or perhaps a staked enclosure, as the shape of Bangor Bay resembles the horns of a bull. It may also be linked to Beanna, the Irish word for cliffs.

The modern town has its origins in the early 17th century, when James Hamilton (1560-1644), 1st Viscount Claneboye, arrived in Bangor, having been granted lands in North Down by King James I (1566-1625) in 1605. The Old Custom House, which was completed by Hamilton in 1637 after James I granted Bangor the status of a port in 1620, is a visible reminder of the new order introduced by Hamilton and his Scots settlers, and is one of the oldest buildings in Ireland to have been in continual use.

By the middle of the 19th century, the cotton mills had declined and the town changed in character once again. The laying of the railway in 1865 meant that inexpensive travel from Belfast was possible, and working-class people could, for the first time, afford to holiday in the town. Bangor soon became a fashionable resort for Victorian holidaymakers, as well as a desirable home to the wealthy, with many of the beautiful houses overlooking Bangor Bay (some of which have now been demolished to make way for modern flats) dating from this period. In 2007, the town was voted by UTV (Ulster Television) viewers as the most desirable place to live in Northern Ireland.

With the growing popularity of inexpensive foreign holidays from the 1960s onwards, Bangor declined as a tourist resort and was forced to rethink its future. Currently, the former seafront of the town is awaiting redevelopment and has been for over a decade, with a large part of the frontage already demolished, leaving a patch of derelict ground facing onto the marina. Because of this, a great deal of local controversy surrounds this process and the many plans put forward by the council and developers for the land, and in November 2009, it was voted by UTV viewers as Ulster's Biggest Eyesore.

Despite escaping much of the sectarian violence during The Troubles (1968-1998), Bangor was the site of some major incidents. During this time there were eight murders in the town including that of the first RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) woman to be murdered on duty. Mildred Harrison (1949-1975), a 26-year old, was killed by an explosion from a UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) bomb while on foot patrol in the High Street. On 23rd March 1972, the IRA (Irish Republican Army) detonated two large car bombs on the town's main street and on 30th March 1974, paramilitaries carried out a major incendiary bomb attack on the main shopping centre in Bangor. On 21st October 1992, the IRA exploded a 200lbs (91kg) bomb in Main Street, causing large amounts of damage to nearby buildings. Main Street sustained more damage on 7th March 1993, when the IRA exploded a 500lbs (230kg) car bomb. Four RUC officers were injured in the explosion with the cost of the damage later estimated at around £2 million.

The Visiting Towns

Coleraine is a town with a population of around 26,000 inhabitants in County Londonderry (Derry) and is located 51 miles (82km) north-west of Bangor.

Enniskillen is a town with a population of around 14,000 inhabitants in County Fermanagh and is located 81 miles (131 km) south-west of Bangor.

The Venue

Castle Park

The games were played in Castle Park in front of Bangor Castle, an elegant mansion in the Elizabethan-Jacobean revival style, with 35 bedrooms and incorporating a huge salon for musical recitals. It is attached to a previous abbey building which had been occupied by Franciscan monks until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1542.

The house was designed by Scottish architect William Burn (1789-1870) and completed in 1852 for The Hon Robert Edward Ward, brother of the 3rd Viscount Bangor and High Sheriff of Down for 1842. The associated estate covered some 6000 acres (24,281,138m²) and included half of the town of Bangor. Robert's only daughter and heiress, Matilda Catherine Maude, had married the soldier John Bingham (1852-1960), 5th Baron Clanmorris. After his death in 1916, Lady Clanmorris retained possession of the house until her own death in 1941.

When, the then municipal authority, Bangor Borough Council bought the Castle and grounds, the music saloon became the Council Chamber. The first Council meeting was held there almost exactly 100 years after the building, now known as the Town Hall, was first completed. The successor to Bangor Borough Council, North Down Borough Council, now sits at the Castle.

The gardens, designed by the Ward family in the 1840s, have won many awards for their outstanding blooms and are open to the public. The building also hosts a museum dedicated to the Ward and Bingham families, which includes the Victoria Cross awarded to Commander Edward Bingham (1881-1939), son of the 5th Lord Clanmorris.

The Games in Detail

Game 1

The title of the first game is unknown, but it saw County Fermanagh draw first blood in the competition as they won the game.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st County Fermanagh (2pts awarded / 2pts total) 2nd Coleraine (0pts / 0pts)

Marathon, Round 1

The next game was the Marathon whose title is unknown but would be played in unison on five occasions throughout the programme.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Coleraine (---) --- County Fermanagh (---)

Game 2

The title of the second game is unknown but it witnessed County Fermanagh presenting their Joker for play. The game was won by the County Fermanagh team and they couldn't possibly have made a better start - they had now carved out a 6pts lead in the space of two games!

Running Scores and Positions: 1st County Fermanagh (4pts awarded / Joker / 6pts total) 2nd Coleraine (0pts / 0pts)

Marathon, Round 2

The second round of the Marathon saw both teams trying to improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved in the previous round.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Coleraine (---) --- County Fermanagh (---)

Game 3

The title of the third game is unknown, but it was won County Fermanagh - their third consecutive victory since the start of the contest. It appeared at this stage that the home team could well be heading for a whitewash defeat.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st County Fermanagh (2pts awarded / 8pts total) 2nd Coleraine (0pts / 0pts)

Marathon, Round 3

The third round of the Marathon saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous two rounds.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Coleraine (---) --- County Fermanagh (---)

Game 4

The title of the fourth game is unknown, but it witnessed Coleraine presenting their Joker for play. Fortunately for them, they recorded their first win of the contest and they had begun what they hoped was their big comeback...

Running Scores and Positions: 1st County Fermanagh (2pts awarded / 8pts total) 2nd Coleraine (4pts / Joker / 4pts)

Marathon, Round 4

The fourth and penultimate round of the Marathon saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous three rounds.

Running Marathon Standings: --- Coleraine (---) --- County Fermanagh (---)

Game 5

The title of the fifth and penultimate game is unknown. It ended in a draw and the teams shared the points on offer, meaning that County Fermanagh had preserved their 4pts advantage over Coleraine.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st County Fermanagh (1pt awarded / 9pts total) 2nd Coleraine (1pt / 5pts)

Marathon, Round 5

The fifth and final round of the Marathon saw both teams continuing to try and improve on their scores or adding to their totals achieved over the previous four rounds.

At the end of this round, Coleraine had achieved a better score or greater total than County Fermanagh and were awarded the 4pts. This win was vital to them as it drew them level on points with their opponents and gave them a chance to pull off a remarkable comeback, having at one point been 8pts adrift.

Final Marathon Standings: 1st Coleraine (---) 2nd County Fermanagh (---)

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Coleraine (4pts awarded / 9pts total) ▲ =1st County Fermanagh (0pts / 9pts)

Game 6

The title of the sixth and final game is unknown. The game was won by Coleraine, who had proved themselves the comeback kings of 1969, having made up a deficit of 8pts after three games and gone on to win by two clear points!

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Coleraine (2pts awarded / 11pts total) 2nd County Fermanagh (0pts / 9pts) ▼

Additional Information

Two qualifying competitions to decide the teams to contest this inaugural Northern Ireland It's A Knockout were held the previous Saturday and comprised a total of eleven teams, representing the province’s six counties.

Although the team of Enniskillen had won the first of those two heats, they were the only team from the county of Fermanagh and, as a consequence, it was decided that the team would represent the whole county in the actual BBC TV show and were renamed for this event. For further details, please see 1969 NI Qualifying Heats.

There were only six games (plus the Marathon) in this heat as opposed to the normal seven. To compensate for this and to give the Marathon a more exciting edge, an extra point was allotted for the winner. The reason for this was that some of the games were designed to have extended running times to those of the norm and this number enabled the timing to be right for the BBC’s transmission slot.

Teams competing in the 1969 series of It's A Knockout were shown on the scoreboard from the first Domestic Heat onwards, with the exception of the teams contesting this competition. This was due to the decision to select teams for the Northern Ireland heat via a qualifying competition. Coleraine and County Fermanagh were added to the scoreboard from the Dunbar heat onwards.

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

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