As the chorus of "He's coming home, he's coming home, he's coming...Rooney's coming home" gets loud enough to drown out the Uwe Seelers, as, thanks to Danny Baker, vuvuzelas are now properly known (and if you're the twat who was blowing one in Norwich market place yesterday, a pox on you), we at the Idents World Cup alone give hope. Yes, like the old Home Internationals, it's a contest where the trophy's guaranteed to stay in the British Isles. And so we move swiftly to the Tony Curriedrome in Glesga for the Group C results.
Southern star 2 LWT river 11
LWT river 12 BBC1 COW 1
BBC1 COW 4 TSW tree of bras 9
TSW tree of bras 4 LWT river 9
Southern star 3 TSW tree of bras 10
BBC1 COW 8 Southern star 4
An unsurprising clean sweep for the LWT river, but a sharp intake of breath for number 2. I was quietly expecting the bucolic lilt of Steve Race's jingle to bring home the locally-produced, farm-assured bacon for Jack Hargreaves' Out of Towners, but the sheer barking majesty of TSW's tree of bras nabbed it 2nd place. Sadly, the BBC1 COW (computer-originated world) didn't induce the same "HOLY FUCK IT'S COMPUTERS!" frenzy in everyone that it generated in Mr Nesmith, but BBC1 has another bite at the cherry with the 1981-1985 mirror globe. And shame on you Kecske Bak for suggesting that the BBC COW is now known as Jana Bennett, although the utterly true story of her having to ask directions to TC4 after God knows how many years with the Corporation makes me sympathetic to your cause. And so to Group D. Pick the winners from these stand-offs:
BBC2 stripey vs BBC tv map
BBC tv map vs Channel 4 original
Channel 4 original vs Rediffusion London
Rediffusion London vs BBC tv map
BBC2 stripey vs Channel 4 original
Rediffusion London vs BBC2 stripey
As I have been unable to find a decent copy of the Rediffusion London ident on YouTube, most of them being from multi-multi-gen VHS or terrible mocks by 12-year-old windowlickers, I've taken the liberty of encoding and uploading a recreation of a full Rediffusion startup, made by Kecske Bak and Rory Clark of Farcical Films, who are the Morecambe and Wise, nay the Rolls and Royce, to say nothing of the Dandelion and Burdock of archive TV graphics research. Get your votes in by 6pm, Sunday 20 June.
9 comments:
BBC2 stripey 3 BBC tv map 0
BBC tv map 0 Channel 4 original 2
Channel 4 original 1 Rediffusion London 0
Rediffusion London 1 BBC tv map 0
BBC2 stripey 1 Channel 4 original 2
Rediffusion London 0 BBC2 stripey 2
I've always disliked the BBC tv map. So I'm glad to see it's just had the pants beaten off it in this set of results. BBC2 stripey was so far ahead of its time, but in the head-to-head against C4 original it just gets edged out (though the "top-up" batch of C4 originals let the side down a bit, as they were animated at lower cost and it shows (I read about that at the time in some IBA paper at college, so can't provide proof, alas, but it's true, I tellsya).
Bloody nora, this doesn't get any easier, does it? Oh, and just a note on mocks; I could tell that the Rediffusion one was a mock rather than a genuine recording, because it didn't have the famous CWilliams1976 as continuity announcer. Man, that guy got around the ITV network a bit in the 70s, didn't he? He was *everywhere*!
BBC2 stripey 0-1 BBC tv map
It's one for the map, and I feel really bad about it because the stripey BBC2 was *MY* BBC2. But the map gets a heritage point.
BBC tv map 0-1 Channel 4 original
I'm showing my age again with this one; even though the map undoubtedly had more impact as the symbol of the beginning of telly proper in the UK, for a young tike such as myself, the Channel 4 logo (or Lego?) held even more promise - not least of them being red triangle films and "Naked Yoga".
Channel 4 original 0-1 Rediffusion London
As an inner-city youth gone wild once put it to me when I visited him in jail, serving his third sentence for aggravated burglary, "Channel Four ain't never started up no muthafuckin' broadcast days with no Redvers fuckin' Kyle, man." I award that point in his honour.
Rediffusion London 1-0 BBC tv map
Red-Lo, as it's known (now), gets a point here purely for ALT1948S and being taken over by Victor Lewis Smith.
BBC2 stripey 0-1 Channel 4 original
Channel 4 almost lost because of the Pail Coia connection (they didn't pick up his hills-based quiz show when BBC Scotland canceled it) but wins because BBC2 weren't brave enough to keep their 'ELP knocked this up in 5 minutes in their shed' electro-fanfare, whereas Channel 4 had PAAAM! PAAAAM! PA-PAAMMMM! (burra-bum-bum-bum) for years.
Rediffusion London 1-0 BBC2 stripey
I want to visit Professional Wrestling! Is that near Basingstoke?
BBC2 1 BBCTV 0
BBCTV 1 C4 0
C4 0 Rediffusion 1
Rediffusion 1 BBCTV 0
BBC2 1 C4 0
Rediffusion 0 BBC2 1
BBC2 stripey 0 BBC tv map 3
BBC tv map 1 Channel 4 original 3
Channel 4 original 1 Rediffusion London 0
Rediffusion London 1 BBC tv map 0
BBC2 stripey 1 Channel 4 original 4
Rediffusion London 2 BBC2 stripey 0
Incidentally, the Rediffusion ident and endcap can be seen in a highly improbable 16:9 configuration here.
BBC2 1 BBCtv 0
BBCtv 0 Channel 4 1
Channel 4 0 vs Rediffusion 1
Rediffusion 1 BBCtv 0
BBC2 1 Channel 4 0
Rediffusion 0 BBC2 1
BBC2 stripey 1-0 BBC tv map
BBC tv map 0-1 Channel 4 original
Channel 4 original 1-0 Rediffusion London
Rediffusion London 1-0 BBC tv map
BBC2 stripey 0-1 Channel 4 original
Rediffusion London 0-1 BBC2 stripey
Some of those zeroes pained me, but the Channel 4 original is such a design classic. A strong group, I thought.
BBC2 stripey 1 - 0 BBC tv map
BBC tv map 0 - 1 C4 original
C4 original 1 - 0 Rediffusion London
Rediffusion London 1 - 0 BBC tv map
BBC2 stripey 0 - 1 C4 original
Rediffusion London 0 - 1 BBC2 stripey
The public service idents consistently do well in their domestic league, but lose out to the different flair and innovation in the commercial world. Or something.
BBC2 stripey 1 BBC tv map 0
BBC tv map 0 Channel 4 original 1
Channel 4 original 0 Rediffusion London 1
Rediffusion London 1 BBC tv map 0
BBC2 stripey 0 Channel 4 original 1
Rediffusion London 0 BBC2 stripey
1
BBC2 stripey 1-0 BBC tv map
BBC tv map 0-1 Channel 4 original
Channel 4 original 1-0 Rediffusion London
Rediffusion London 1-0 BBC tv map
BBC2 stripey 1-0 Channel 4 original (against the run of play)
Rediffusion London 0-1 BBC2 stripey
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