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Did some of the old ITV compamies have two much spare time?

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    RichardcoulterRichardcoulter Posts: 30,357
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    steveh31 wrote: »
    This may answer why they didn't.

    Britain's first tv breakfast programme 6 years before the BBC
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T572HSW47wY

    That takes me back, I will have watched this when it was originally transmitted!

    I got it wrong, it must have been the news at 8:30 and then cartoons from 8:45 to 9:00.
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    Captain StableCaptain Stable Posts: 2,243
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    I used to see 'Gus Honeybuns Birthdays' in the TV guide (never saw it as we could only get Yorkshire Television).

    What was it? I assumed it was a presenter reading out messages for kids birthdays.

    Was there more to Gus Honeybun than reading out dedications :confused:

    Almost. Gus Honeybun was a badly made, yet totally lovable puppet who used to bounce around as his "human helper" read out the birthday greetings to the viewers.
    Gus never spoke; being Sootyish in his communication.

    If the birthday boy or girl was lucky, Gus would hit his "magic mushroom" (no, seriously) which simply changed the background photo!

    There was something else he used to do which involved him jumping upside down....

    This video link explains it so much better than I can...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSx_CoTuFtw
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    steveh31steveh31 Posts: 13,516
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    Almost. Gus Honeybun was a badly made, yet totally lovable puppet who used to bounce around as his "human helper" read out the birthday greetings to the viewers.
    Gus never spoke; being Sootyish in his communication.

    If the birthday boy or girl was lucky, Gus would hit his "magic mushroom" (no, seriously) which simply changed the background photo!

    There was something else he used to do which involved him jumping upside down....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc67aOERYSA

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzHYUcPpvWE
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    RichardcoulterRichardcoulter Posts: 30,357
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    Thanks. As a child I often wondered what Gus Honeybun was all about!

    Did it go down well with viewers, or was it derided?
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    markimarki Posts: 150
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    steveh31 wrote: »
    This may answer why they didn't.

    Britain's first tv breakfast programme 6 years before the BBC
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T572HSW47wY

    Considering this was the 1970s I am sure the broadcasting unions at Yorkshire were only to happy for their members to get out of bed and do some work at this time of the morning.
    It was an experiment and by the looks of it had no to little budget.
    Didn’t a lot of the original staff at TVAM come from Yorkshire Television?
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    Tony RichardsTony Richards Posts: 5,744
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    steveh31 wrote: »
    It's amazing to think YTV just called everything they could Calendar?

    Could anyone in Yorkshire explain the use of this word - why "Calendar"? I can understand using words like "Today" in news programmes but why "Calendar"? I thought Calendar was in Scotland :confused:
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    ftvftv Posts: 31,668
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    One of the original presenters of Calendar was Jonathan Aitken who went on to be an MP (as indeed did another presenter Austin Mitchell). Aitken eventually ended up in prison:o
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    steveh31steveh31 Posts: 13,516
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    Could anyone in Yorkshire explain the use of this word - why "Calendar"? I can understand using words like "Today" in news programmes but why "Calendar"? I thought Calendar was in Scotland :confused:

    I believe and I am sure I will be corrected that it was called "Calendar" because it was on 365 days a year and also because of the station being broadcast to Lincolnshire they couldn't use "Yorkshire" which no doubt they would have if they had not had Lincolnshire to cover.
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    ftvftv Posts: 31,668
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    steveh31 wrote: »
    I believe and I am sure I will be corrected that it was called "Calendar" because it was on 365 days a year and also because of the station being broadcast to Lincolnshire they couldn't use "Yorkshire" which no doubt they would have if they had not had Lincolnshire to cover.

    But it wasn't broadcast to Lincolnshire until 1974 when YTV replaced Anglia on the Belmont transmitter - prior to that Calendar had not covered stories in Lincolnshire as it was not part of their editorial area - and the company was called ''Yorkshire Television'' !
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    steveh31steveh31 Posts: 13,516
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    ftv wrote: »
    But it wasn't broadcast to Lincolnshire until 1974 when YTV replaced Anglia on the Belmont transmitter - prior to that Calendar had not covered stories in Lincolnshire as it was not part of their editorial area - and the company was called ''Yorkshire Television'' !

    I know it was called Yorkshire Television! jees but I am sure Richard Whiteley said in an interview they called it Calendar because it was on 365 days a year.
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    RichardcoulterRichardcoulter Posts: 30,357
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    steveh31 wrote: »
    I know it was called Yorkshire Television! jees but I am sure Richard Whiteley said in an interview they called it Calendar because it was on 365 days a year.

    As a child in the 70's I can only remember Calendar being on Mon-Fri; but I could be wrong!
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    steveh31steveh31 Posts: 13,516
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    As a child in the 70's I can only remember Calendar being on Mon-Fri; but I could be wrong!

    I'm sure it was said on either the itv 50 show or the Yorkshire Television 40th birthday show.
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    tedjrrtedjrr Posts: 2,935
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    ftv wrote: »
    But it wasn't broadcast to Lincolnshire until 1974 when YTV replaced Anglia on the Belmont transmitter - prior to that Calendar had not covered stories in Lincolnshire as it was not part of their editorial area - and the company was called ''Yorkshire Television'' !



    Prior to Belmont being built, the nothern half of Lincolnshire which included LIncoln and South Humberside could readily receive Emley Moor VHF which carried Granada/ABC. The whole area was therefore a Yorkshire/Anglia VHF overlap, but with migration to UHF and the mast collapse, Emley Moor's service are became smaller and with it Yorkshire's overlap.

    Prior to taking over Belmont Yorkshire still had an interest in Humberside, they even had a bureau in Hull and carriage on the cable system.

    When Yorkshire took over Belmont Anglia's bureau in Hull closed, the Lincoln and Grimsby offices transferred to Yorkshire. The Hull cable system adopted Tyne-tees as its alternative ITV.
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    ftvftv Posts: 31,668
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    steveh31 wrote: »
    I know it was called Yorkshire Television! jees but I am sure Richard Whiteley said in an interview they called it Calendar because it was on 365 days a year.

    As it was (and still is) called Calendar and not ''Yorkshire Calendar'' what difference would it have made whether it was broadcast to Lincolnshire or not ? The BBC simply use Look North from Leeds, Hull and Newcastle which is suitably vague.
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    mavreelamavreela Posts: 4,749
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    ftv wrote: »
    The BBC simply use Look North from Leeds, Hull and Newcastle which is suitably vague.

    There was a public vote on what to call the Hull version shortly after it spun off from Leeds. Options included East Coast Today/Tonight and Points East that I remember, but retaining Look North had an outright majority.
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    Guest82722Guest82722 Posts: 10,019
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    mavreela wrote: »
    There was a public vote on what to call the Hull version shortly after it spun off from Leeds. Options included East Coast Today/Tonight and Points East that I remember, but retaining Look North had an outright majority.

    I would have named it BBC Hull on earth.
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    tedjrrtedjrr Posts: 2,935
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    ftv wrote: »
    As it was (and still is) called Calendar and not ''Yorkshire Calendar'' what difference would it have made whether it was broadcast to Lincolnshire or not ? The BBC simply use Look North from Leeds, Hull and Newcastle which is suitably vague.

    Dont forget. The Manchester edition was Look North too, way back when.
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    the-masterthe-master Posts: 795
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    To be honest, what with less money going around these days, I would revert back to start up for BBC/ITV not commencing until ealy afternoon/tea time on weekdays. Save the money and reinvest it in quality drama and the like rather than soap after mindless soap most nights. Double bonus of giving the unemployed/students/retired something more productive to do than just TV. Fact that quality drama costs a bomb.
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    ftvftv Posts: 31,668
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    tedjrr wrote: »
    Dont forget. The Manchester edition was Look North too, way back when.

    News from the North as it was originally called began in 1957 from Manchester and covered the whole of the north of England; a separate programme from Newcastle began in 1959.
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    BramptonBrampton Posts: 417
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    Not only were Yorkshire the first with breakfast telly, weren't they the first to trial 24hr tv courtesy of Music Box. This was the days before MTV and to see a pop video on telly was pretty rare at this point, I was hooked and equally gutted when Music Box ended...to be replaced by the teletext service Jobfinder!
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    Glenn AGlenn A Posts: 23,877
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    the-master wrote: »
    To be honest, what with less money going around these days, I would revert back to start up for BBC/ITV not commencing until ealy afternoon/tea time on weekdays. Save the money and reinvest it in quality drama and the like rather than soap after mindless soap most nights. Double bonus of giving the unemployed/students/retired something more productive to do than just TV. Fact that quality drama costs a bomb.
    There was a rumour in 2008 with big cost cutting at ITV due to the recession and falling ratings that ITV 1 would close down between GMTV and the afternoon quizzes. However, daytime is cheap, some people would object to seeing their favourite daytime shows cancelled and ITV would want to maintain a presence for revenue reasons during the day.
    What I can see happening in years to come as ratings for the soaps are steadily falling is them becoming afternoon programmes, like in America.
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    RijowhiRijowhi Posts: 1,062
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    ftv wrote: »
    As it was (and still is) called Calendar and not ''Yorkshire Calendar'' what difference would it have made whether it was broadcast to Lincolnshire or not ? The BBC simply use Look North from Leeds, Hull and Newcastle which is suitably vague.

    To be honest I'm surprised the actual ITV Yorkshire franchise hasn't been renamed ITV Calendar at some point considering it also covers Lincolnshire and has done for a long time. It's not as if the famous name 'Yorkshire Television' is on screen these days these days.
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    Thames/LWTThames/LWT Posts: 336
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    ATV were keen on using the word ‘Today’ in programme titles in the seventies- probably to complement the daily news magazine ATV Today. There was Women Today in the afternoons, Angling Today, Platform for Today (politics) and even Today is Saturday (kids programme on Saturday mornings that became TISwas).
    Don't forget Gardening Today!
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    seiko456seiko456 Posts: 1,442
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    Thames/LWT wrote: »
    Don't forget Gardening Today!

    Was that a local programme just picked up other areas?
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    g-bhxug-bhxu Posts: 2,594
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    Brampton wrote: »
    Not only were Yorkshire the first with breakfast telly, weren't they the first to trial 24hr tv courtesy of Music Box. This was the days before MTV and to see a pop video on telly was pretty rare at this point, I was hooked and equally gutted when Music Box ended...to be replaced by the teletext service Jobfinder!

    I remember Yorkshire showing Music Box through the night. Amanda Reddington, Simon Potter and Nino Firetto (where are they now?) presenting the videos through the night.

    As for Jobfinder, it was obvious that the engineers wern't really bothered about it, They often used to put a library CD on and play it all the way through. You used to get a long version of a tune and then all the shorter versions of the same tunes!
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