Grand Prix del Verano 1998

Spanish Domestic Series

Presenter / Commentator:
Ramón García

Co-Presenter:
Miriam Domínguez

Referees:
Almudena Fernández
Roberto Gil
Raúl Rubio

Music:
Eduardo Leiva

Dancers:
Susana Cores
Mónica Corrales
Susana Costales
Gema González
Elena de Miguel
Ana Isabel Peralta
Noemí Ramal

Production Credits:

Creator: Francesco Boserman

Produced by: Europroducciones TV for Televisión Española (TVE - E)

E

Grand Prix del Verano 1998

Heat 1

Event Staged: Summer 1998
Venue: Estudios de Prado del Rey (Prado del Rey Studios),
Avenida de Radio Televisión, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
TVE La 1 (E): Wednesday 1st July 1998

Audience Figures:
TVE La 1 (E): 4,026,000 viewers / 24.1% share

Teams: Istán (Málaga) v. Salas (Asturias)

Team Members included:
Istán (Málaga) - Chiquito de la Calzada (Team Patron);
Salas (Asturias) - Mar Saura (Team Patron).

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 Salas (Asturias) ●
 Istán (Málaga)

18
12

The Host Town

Madrid, Spain

Madrid is the capital city of Spain with a permanent population of around 3.3 million inhabitants, which makes it the second most populous city in the European Union, surpassed only by Berlin in Germany, and the largest in Spain. It is both the capital city of the Comunidad de Madrid (Community of Madrid) and of the country of Spain, and is the seat of government, the residence of the Spanish monarch, and is recognised as the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. It is located 302.4km (187.9 miles) north-west of Valencia, 391.3km (243.1 miles) north east of Sevilla, 274.2km (170.3 miles) south west of Zaragoza and 176.1km (109.4 miles) south east of Salamanca. Madrid is situated on the southern Meseta Central plateau, 60km south of the Guadarrama mountain range and straddles the Jarama and Manzanares river sub-drainage basins, in the wider Tagus River catchment area.

The Madrid area has been settled since the Stone Age and signs remains of Lower Paleolithic  human habitation, as well as Roman, Visigoth and Muslim civilisations. Numerous ancient objects have been uncovered in excavations along the banks of the River Manzanares, such as axes and the remains of large mammals.

Originally named Mayrit, the city of Madrid was founded by the emir Muhammad I of Córdoba towards the end of the ninth century and came to prominence during the Arab occupation of the Iberian peninsula. The Emir built a fortress on a headland near the river Manzanares, one of many built on the border between Al-Andalus and the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, his objectives being to protect the Toledo region from Christian invasion and also to establish a base for Muslim offensives.

After the defeat of Toledo to Alfonso VI of Leon, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085 during the Reconquista (Reconquest of Spain), becoming a Crown property of the kingdom of Castile. Following the conquest, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs and all prevalent symbols of Muslim influence and rule were removed. However, the events of this period produced a cultural melting pot which still characterises the city today.

The 1123 Charter of Otorgamiento established the first explicit limits between Madrid and Segovia, namely the Puerto de El Berrueco and the Puerto de Lozoya, and in 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile. In 1329, King Fernando V assembled the famed Court of Madrid for the first time. This augured in one of the darker periods in Spanish history, namely the Spanish Inquisition. In the 14th and 15th centuries, in the wake of the Reconquista, Moors and Jews banded together and formed a concentrated population in Madrid – named Moreria to this day. In 1494 they were all denounced as “unbelievers” and expelled from Spain. Mosques and other Muslim imagery once again disappeared from the area.

However it was not until the 16th century that Madrid became Spain's capital city. King Felipe II moved the Imperial Court to Madrid in 1561, and from this time Madrid was now the kingdom's capital, apart from the brief years between 1601 and 1606 when Felipe III installed his court in Valladolid.

Madrid enjoyed significant changes during the 18th century, when city gates, bridges and new buildings gave it a new appearance. The Royal Palace (also called the Eastern Palace - Palacio de Oriente, standing next to the large Plaza de Oriente square) was constructed on the site of the ruins of the Alcazar or old Moorish Castle which had been destroyed by fire in 1734. After 1738 Juan B. Sachetti directed the construction work on the Palace, helped out to some extent by Ventura Rodríguez and developing on original plans made by Juavera. The work on the Royal Palace was completed during the reign of Carlos III (1759-1788), as was the construction of the city gates, the Royal Theatre, the building that now houses the Ministry of Finance (Hacienda), the Natural Science Museum, the Botanical Gardens and the temple of San Francisco El Grande, amongst others. Also, the Retiro Park was significantly improved and several new buildings built: Casa de Cisneros, the General Hospital, the College of San Carlos, the Royal Mint, Casa de los Geranios and the fountains of Cibeles, Neptune and Apollo.

On 27th October 1807, Charles IV and Napoleon I signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which permitted French troops to pass through Spanish territory to join the Spanish troops and invade Portugal, which had defied an international blockade against England. As this was happening, there was the Mutiny of Aranjuez (17th March 1808), by which the crown prince, Ferdinand VII, replaced his father as king. However, Joachim-Napoléon Murat, a Marshal of the French Empire, took advantage of the weakness of the Spanish Bourbons, and forced both father and son, to join him in Bayonne in late April. In the absence of the two kings, the situation became more and more tense in Madrid. On 2nd May, a crowd gathered at the Royal Palace and set upon the French soldiers there. The fight lasted for many hours and spread throughout Madrid. The subsequent repression by the French was brutal. In the Paseo del Prado and in the fields of La Moncloa hundreds of patriots were shot due to Murat's order against "All Spaniards carrying arms". Paintings such as The Third of May 1808 by Goya reflect the repression that ended the popular uprising on 2nd May. This proved to be the beginning of the War of Independence, a large-scale war in which the Spanish fought against Napoleon and their former allies in France, which has given rise to a number of patriotic memorials in the city of Madrid. The Plaza Dos de Mayo is the most famous of these. In 1835, the world-famous University of Alcala de Henares was transferred to Madrid. The Faculty of Science was added to it, and the academy became the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM).

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Madrid was held by forces loyal to the Spanish Republic. Following the advance towards Madrid of rebel land troops, the first air bombings on the city started on the night of the 27th-28th August 1936, leaving it with the dubious honour of being the first major European city to be bombed by aviation. The summer and autumn of 1936 saw the Republican Madrid witness heavy-handed repression by Communist and Socialist groups, symbolised by the horrific Paracuellos massacres during a major rebel offensive against the city, which was halted by early December. Even towards the end of the war, Madrid witnessed great suffering and even a minor civil war that accounted for roughly 2,000 lives between 5th and 10th March 1939. The city fell to the nationalists on 28th March 1939 and, following the onset of the Françoist dictatorship in the city, the absence of freedoms and the brutal repression of those linked to a republican past greatly affected life in the city. There was a climate of general shortage, with ration coupons rampant and a lingering autocratic economy which lasted until the mid-1950s.

After centuries of historical tumult, Madrid has made tremendous urban progress in recent years. It is considered one of Europe’s most progressive, modern and beautiful cities. It has a vibrant local arts culture and boisterous nightlife, along with constant reminders of the city’s rich history. It is deservedly renowned as one of the continent’s most favoured tourist destinations.

The Venue

Estudios de Prado del Rey (Prado del Rey Studios)

The games were played in a giant, specially-erected tent in the grounds of the Estudios de Prado del Rey in Madrid. It was put up to house major productions that required a large space for sets and audience seating. Several programmes were recorded there, such as the Spanish version of the game show ¿Qué Apostamos? (What Do You Bet?). The studio complex is the main headquarters of the public service broadcaster Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (Spanish Radio and Television Corporation, RTVE). It was built in 1964 to replace the previous headquarters of the TVE television service which had been located on Paseo de la Habana in the Chamartín district of Madrid. At the time of construction, Studio 1 - the main studio at Prado del Rey - was one of the largest televisions studios in the world with a floor space of 1,200 square metres.

From November 1966, the Estudios de Prado del Rey became the site of all production for the second channel of TVE, which quickly became known colloquially as UHF due to its method of transmission via Ultra High Frequency technology. The channel has gone by many names over the years - Cadena II, Segunda Cadena, Segundo Programa and TVE-2 - until in the 1990s, when, with the advent of commercial television, it was rebranded as La 2 and this name persists today.

The headquarters of Radio Nacional de España (RNE) was moved in 1971 to the site where it was installed in a unit attached to the main building which became known as Casa de la Radio (Radio House).

In 1972, with the official premiere of the color broadcasts in Spain after two years of test transmissions, a specific building was constructed at Prado del Rey for the production of colour programming. The older studios on site were gradually upgraded to be made colour-capable, but as this project was carried out, much of the output of Estudios de Prado del Rey remained in monochrome. As the decade progressed, the ratio of colour programming to black-and-white increased, with monochrome productions finally phased out completely from 1977.

In common with many television studios around the world, the Prado del Rey complex has been affected by changes in the way in which television is produced and also by the passing of time. In 1995, it was discovered that some of the studio buildings were affected by aluminosis (the progressive deterioration of concrete which was made from alumina cement, leading to structural degradation of joists and supports) and some studios had to be closed, including Studio 1. Following repairs, normal activity resumed. Later, in October 2011, following complaints from workers' unions, it was decided to demolish all the buildings that had employed asbestos in their construction, as this posed a significant health risk for RTVE workers. This measure led to the destruction of the old colour studios, as well as the dressing rooms, the set and prop store, the air conditioning plant and the crane warehouse.

However, unlike many other famous television productions centres around the world which have either been completely demolished or turned into luxury apartment complexes, the Estudios del Prado del Rey remain operational today. Partly this is down to the financial crash of 2008, which brought to an end the plans to build a giant RTVE headquarters elsewhere in the capital city, which would replace Prado del Rey and two other RTVE studios - Buñuel and Torrespaña - and bring all their productions under one roof. It was decided instead to modernise and restructure the existing facilities. The Estudios Buñuel were finally closed in 2014 and sold in 2015, with their productions moved to Prado del Rey. This coincided with further studio demolitions at Prado del Rey and the construction of new, more modern production spaces.

Made in Colour • This programme may exist in Spanish Archives

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