The Beatles and Folk Group

Subject: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 07 May 04 - 04:21 AM

Someone was telling me recently that when The Beatles appeared on Granada TV ( Manchester, UK ) in 1962, there was a local folk group playing on the same programme. Who were they?

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 07 May 04 - 04:40 AM

Possibly the ' Foggy Duo ' who used to get on TV about that time.
eric

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: el ted
Date: 07 May 04 - 04:45 AM

Pinky and Perky would be more likely eric.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 07 May 04 - 07:05 AM

Yeh el ted, they started out singing folk songs but had aspirations to be pop stars.
eric

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 07 May 04 - 07:09 AM

Saw them at the Gainsborough Folk Club after they'd dropped the 'Duo' and were just 'Foggy'. They were very good too. :0)

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: el ted
Date: 07 May 04 - 08:08 AM

I think pinky and perky went on to be bacon.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 07 May 04 - 11:04 AM

It wasn't Foggy because I now recall that the group had the number "4" as part of their name. Talking about Foggy, I remember seeing then in the late 60s and it was the first time that I heard " Streets of London". The song's reputation had preceded it, and I was very impressed. Infact, I was so impressed, that I asked Foggy to sing it again in their second spot. My request seemed to throw them totally, and their said that they couldn't possibly repeat a song!

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: alanabit
Date: 07 May 04 - 11:38 AM

Robin Hall and Jimmy McGregor used to appear regularly on Granada at the time. I used to see them often, so I wonder if it was them.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: RobinL
Date: 07 May 04 - 12:35 PM

If my memory serves me right, around that time I think Hall and McGregor's regular TV gig was BBC's "Tonight", hosted by Cliff Michelmore. Cy Grant and Noel Harrison also appeared regularly. Or maybe it was a year or two earlier.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: alanabit
Date: 07 May 04 - 03:49 PM

That sounds right to me Robin. Maybe we can jog the memory of one of the more senior Mudcatters.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Don Firth
Date: 07 May 04 - 03:53 PM

If it's the same Pinky and Perky who led "The Good Life." (Don't tell Barbara or Margo.)

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 07 May 04 - 04:12 PM

Could it have been Unit 4 + 2? Hardly folk though ...

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Ed.
Date: 07 May 04 - 04:22 PM

Tunesmith,

The Beatles never appeared on Granada TV in 1962.

As Mark Lewisohn (pre-eminent Beatles reseacher) comments:

"As a direct result of Beatles fans' letters, producers from the Manchester based Granada Television had watched the group in action at Cambridge Hall in Southport on 26 July [1962] and again in the Cavern Club on 1 August. Impressed by what they had seen, a crew was dispatched this lunchtime [22 August] to film them in live performance for a programme entilted Know The North

The murky Cavern Club conditions were scarcely conducive to good filming, and the end result was largely umsatisfactory; the footage was shelved, deemed unfit for use, and was only exhumed for broadcast much later on, when the Beatles were famous. The first transmission was on Wednesday 6 November 1963, on Granda's evening magazine programme Scene At 6.30 "

From: 'The Complete Beatles Chronicle'

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 07 May 04 - 05:40 PM

It's funny how time can play tricks with your memory. I would swear that I saw The Beatles on Granada TV before November 1963. That's over a year after " Love Me Do" ! They were very famous in Britain by then, with Beatlemania in full stride. Anyway, there is someone out there saying that, when they appeared on Granada TV, there was a folk group on the show as well - with "4" as part of their name.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Ed.
Date: 07 May 04 - 06:07 PM

The someone out there either has the the same 'memory trick' problem, or is lying. I'd suspect the former.

I'm curious to know as to why this is important?

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 08 May 04 - 02:50 AM

Well, it's not important, really. But I was just interested to know who this group could be.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: fat B****rd
Date: 08 May 04 - 04:26 AM

Hello again , Ed. Still dictating degrees of importance then ??

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 08 May 04 - 04:27 AM

Most Beatles history web sites list their TV appearances on Granada during 1962, 4 in all I think. But none seem mention who else was on the shows with them. Not surprising as they are Beatles history sites and only appearances with "major" icons of the time would probably be of interest.

Jusi to add a bit of TV historical information, AIUI, at that time Granada held the ITV franchise for the whole of the North of England, not just the North West, Mon-Fri only. They took on the 7 day a week franchise for the NW only in 1968. Only mentioned since, in 1962, their coverage area would have included Yorkshire and Lakes/Northumbria (if ITV transmissions went that far at the time) which would extend the potential local folk group possibilities.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 08 May 04 - 04:55 AM

The first time I saw the Beatles on TV (Granada - Scene At 6.30) they did 'Love Me Do' which was just released and wasn't in the charts. I can't remember when Love Me Do charted, but it sets the time-frame?
Johnny :0)

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: fat B****rd
Date: 08 May 04 - 10:51 AM

They performed "Some Other Guy" and "Love Me Do" on Granada. I have a strange feeling Bill Grundy introduced them. That's Bill Grundy of Sex Pistols interview fame. But it was definitely late 1962.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 08 May 04 - 11:50 AM

Reckon you're right FB. Bill Grundy it was. Don't remember them doing 'Some Other Guy', maybe because I was blown away by 'Love Me Do' (or maybe I was out of the room/on the bog/whatever). A life-changing moment.
Johnny :0)

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Sir Roger de Beverley
Date: 08 May 04 - 11:54 AM

Found this with a Google search

17 October 1962
'People and Places'
TV Show The first Beatles studio TV appearance was on another Granada regional programme, 'People and Places'. They sang two songs live - 'Some Other Guy' and 'Love Me Do'.
No record of this performance is thought to remain.

29 October 1962
'People and Places'
TV Show The band's second TV appearance was again for 'People and Places' on Granada Television and was recorded on 29 October for transmission on Friday, 2 November (by which time the group were in Hamburg). The songs were 'Love Me Do' and 'A Taste of Honey'.
No record of this performance is thought to remain.


4 December 1962
'Tuesday Rendezvous'
TV Show The Beatles first London TV appearance, on Rediffusion's 'Tuesday Rendezvous'. The show was broadcast live from studios in Wembley, with the boys miming to 'Love Me Do' and the opening of 'PS I Love You'.
No record of this performance is thought to remain.

17 December 1962
'People and Places'
TV Show For their third appearance on Granada's 'People and Places' the Beatles performed live, singing 'Love Me Do' and 'Twist and Shout'.
No record of this performance is thought to remain.

R

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Ed.
Date: 08 May 04 - 02:19 PM

*blush*

Don't know what I was thinking last night... Please scrub my earlier posts from your memory. Of course the Beatles appeared on TV in 1962.

Sir Roger de Beverley's list is pretty accurate, I think, but it misses a TWW (Television Wales and the West) performance on December 3rd.

I apologise for being stupid.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 08 May 04 - 03:23 PM

Sir Roger, I think 'People And Places' was the predecessor of 'Scene At 6.30' as the early evening Post-National-News local-news-magazine programme? Still, not a bad memory forty-two years on, I got the year right at least!! :0)
Johnny :0:

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 09 May 04 - 02:45 PM

Tunesmith. Could it have been the "Southern folk 4"? They played a mixture of Ewan McColl songs etc. They were quite good, but disappeared from the folk scene.I have an EP of theirs.

Subject: RE: The Beatles and Folk Group
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 09 May 04 - 05:24 PM

Thanks Eric. I was making this query on behalf of a friend of mine. He was in a record shop in Chorley, Lancs, UK, recently when this guy walks in and tells the Granada/Beatles story. He was in the folk group that I'm trying to identify. My friend wasn't sure if he was on the level i.e. telling the truth. I said that I'd make enquires for him. The only memory I have of The Beatles Granada appearances was the amazingly - for the time - cheeky and irreverent manner they adopted during interviews. Apart from Bill Grundy, Irish presented Gay Byrne also interviewed ( more of a casual chat, really )The Beatles on the show.