How times have changed. They have to censor a tiny Rolf Harris clip out of a fun Christmas song.
The BBC are worse. Inconsistency is their forte.

We can't show Gary Glitter, yes we can, no we can't.
Jonathan King's a 'no no'..oops, he complained so we have to show him, now we won't... but we WILL in a Genesis documentary because we'll lose a lot of dosh if it doesn't go ahead!

But a convicted murderer who starred in a BBC soap opera 1985-1989 (before making a short comeback)..No sweat!

I always wonder who's pulling whos strings.

If POTP were on Radio 1 now they would easily go back 2 years to 2012. I think the answer is for Radio 1 to have a classic chart show on Sundays. For example this week:

Hour 1 - 1999
Hour 2 - 2007

Could be presented by Scott Mills?

I just know they won't as they are so obsessed with a teen audience now more than ever. Radio 1 should target 16-34year olds not just 16-24 like it feels now. Radio 2 should at least be doing 1994/5 by now though as we are in 2014 regardless of weather Tony likes the music.

I'm sure there would be a place for a classic chart show on Radio 1. It would be perfect covering late 90's to present. Scott Mills is a great presenter.
I've been listening to the Radio 1 Top 40 almost constantly since around late 1980 (yep, there are still some of us oldies listening).
Perhaps back in the 80's I really liked 30 out of the 40, today, maybe 8-10.
But hey ho..we have Jameela! She has me in hysterics, so not all's bad!

You can't beat Brenda Lee's version.

I think Tony mentions the weather as a device on POTP so often just to prove he is live.

It seems very popular. I couldn't avoid being out during the show on Saturday but didn't expect to hear it playing 1971 in the High Street coffee shop while meeting somebody, and then going into another retailer nearby and also hearing 1983 a bit later.

It is being played Highlander Ian. I've heard it quite a few times despite avoiding music channels nowadays. But if I've seen some festive tunes on the Freeview available channels I've kept it on for a bit, and heard it 3 or 4 times. Last night it was also shown on Channel 5's countdown of 65 festive tracks. Interestingly I noticed what seemed to be a mute in the lyric which may have been the Rolf Harris namedrop. A bit pathetic really. The same Channel 5 show last night also played Gary Glitter's Rock 'n' Roll Christmas for a few moments before saying they had to include it because it had shifted about 137,000 singles and was around No37 on the festive sellers list. So they played 30 seconds of Glitter but dared not say a split second of Rolf's name. Perverse eh!

Which I agreed with you about when I said in the post that just because acts like Bay City Rollers from the 70's or Spice Girls from the 90's which are now dated is no reason not to play those hits or those era's.

Yep Rich. 'Britain's favourite Christmas songs'. I recorded it last Boxing Day and am planning on rewatching it in the next few days. It had some great song's on it. Alvin Stardust's 'So Near to Christmas' is a nice under rated Xmas song.
Out of interest did you notice if Dr Fox was on it or has he been deleted? He's in a bit of trouble at the mo. He contributed to the show originally

I've got that Britain's Favourite Christmas Songs on my PVR hard drive from when it was first shown, and was watching some of it the other day. I knew it was being repeated and wondered if they'd edit out Neil Fox, but they didn't from what I saw of Sunday's showing.

I've finally caught up with Saaturday's POTP. I could happily listen to the charts from December 1983 on a loop for enternity. Some fantastic songs, although I commented on a lot of them last year when POTP featured the chart from the previous week. So, here's my comments on the ones that weren't in that chart.

10 December 1983

19 THAT'S ALL - GENESIS - Probably the first Genesis record I was aware of, and nothing that's I've heard from them since has stopped this being my fave song of theirs. Love the lyrics - the fact that's it's a love song but not a conventional one.
15 ISLANDS IN THE STREAM - KENNY ROGERS AND DOLLY PARTON - Two country legends and a Bee Gees song = a total winner! While it did well in the charts at the time, its one of those songs that I think has become even more popular over the years.
14 RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE - EURYTHMICS - I think its one of their songs that gets overlooked and I can't say it's one my faves of theirs. The calypso sound is a bit gimmicky and irriting.
11 VICTIMS - CULTURE CLUB - Shame on Tony for talking right up to the vocal! I know I've mentioned before how much I love this song and bought it at the time and I've still poster sleeve 7" of this. Such a beautiful, underrated song, and I think it would definitely would've been a number one hadn't been released at Christmas. Shame about the terrible video!
08 MOVE OVER DARLING - TRACEY ULLMAN - I know none of Tracey's hits will ever be considered as 80s classics, and they don't get played on the radio today, but I did like all of them and she brought a bit of fun into the charts. I think this song was a good choice of cover for her. Cute song and video and great guitar intro from Hank Marvin.

Not played
18 CLUB FANTASTIC MEGAMIX - WHAM! - It was obvious this wouldn't be played as, as far as I know, it's only available on vinyl - certainly the version on my ipod is a vinyl rip. I know this was a cash in by their soon-to-be-ex record company, and disowned by the group, but it's still would have been good to hear. I love Ray Of Sunshine, and think it should've been a single, but Love Machine is pretty naff.

Thanks Clare. I was just curious about Fox.

I have the 7inch singles of Genesis and Eurythmics. Great tracks. Was never a knocked out Culture Club fan but 'Victims' is a fab song.

I'm 23 and I keep checking the listings to see if they're going to feature the late 90s! I wasn't aware of the times they featured 1999 or 2001. Did they feature the late 80s a decade ago? If so they should feature the late 90s now. 1997 is almost 18 years old!

As Clare has already mentioned and I can confirm also, there were numerous appearances by Fox on that Christmas songs show on Channel 5 the other night. I personally cannot stand the guy, who has always sounded so full of himself. I'd have no problem with him being erased like Savile or DLT for a moment.

Talking about Tracey Ullmann and her big hits in 1983 which were surprisingly good and memorable, they may not be heard much on radio but I was walking around an M&S back in the late summer when Breakaway came on across the sales floor. The tracks these retailers choose can often be quite unexpected, as I've previously mentioned hearing some, like Shang-A-Lang in our local Co-op not so long ago!

Completely agree Catherine, I would love to hear these years in particular:

1995
1999
2001
2005
2006
2010

I liked a lot of 90s and 00s but those years in particular bring back great memories.

I'd like to hear a lot more of
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962

I like a lot of the 40s, 50s and early 60s: they don't bring back any particular memories, as I wasn't born, but I'm able to appreciate this good music anyway.

1997-2008 were 'my years', lol. I think my favourites were 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2008.

1977-78 then 1984-89 would be fine every week for me

LOL.

I'd love something from 56 to 62, followed by something from 72 to 79. With the occasional 40 - 55 chart & 80s chart for variety.

Like I've said before I would like to hear the really old years like 50s 60s as much as I'd like to hear the 90s and 00s, the show is just too fixated on the 70s and 80s most weeks. Even the 40s charts would be interesting, I know there wasn't an official chart at this time but still.

I think the early 90s should be featured more often. Once you get beyond that I think you have to be fairly selective with which chart you pick but even then there's an interesting comparison with a year like 1969 which will come up often but which contained a few great records (e.g. Something In The Air) but, equally, a lot of dross. I think the last 20 years would work much better in a Golden Hour format rather than POTP because there's so much more to choose from over a whole year. So, come the glorious day that Simon Bates replaces Sunday Love Songs you could have a Golden Hour from any year since 1956 and be guaranteed of finding enough records of quality (UK hits, US hits, airplay hits) for a strong half hour segment. (Yes, I know Tony started The Golden Hour...)

The show could certainly do with stretching a bit. Incidentally, whilst I agree the 40s charts we now have are the least 'official' of all of them, The most 'official' charts from the 60s were the ones used by the BBC on POTP and TOTP: and POTP doesn't use them today. They use the Official charts, which are arguably the least official!

Today's Pick Of The Pops plays the hits from this week back in 1961 and 1979.

Radio 2 @ 1pm

I finally listened to last weeks '71 & '83 show purely by accident on the 3am midweek broadcast this week, during another bout of insomnia. Stuck the earphones on and head on the pillow not expecting to be awake by the time 1983 played, but somehow lasted the course all the way to the awful Flying Pickets at No1 in 1983 with Only You. I hated that song then and still do now. It rather spoilt the Christmas 1983 chart for me, as I dearly wanted Slade and the fabulous My Oh My to get to the top for that Christmas, rather than get stuck for 3 weeks behind the snorefest that was that Only You a cappella cover. Such a great chart with so many memorable songs.

Slade in both top fives.

1971 was quite interesting with a mix of great and poor tracks side by side. The standouts for me being Labi Siffre's It Must Be Love, Diana Ross's Surrender and T.Rex, Jeepster. I like a lot of what Olivia Newton-John has recorded later in her career but not a hint of the really cool singles she would record from 1977 onwards into the early 80's. I had no time for this faux country 1971 effort she scored a top ten hit with. 1971 still had echoes of the 60's and echoes of further into the 70's listening to it on this chart. A real mongrel of the two decades.

I noticed that the biggest seller of 2005 was rising to just a place outside the top twenty in mid December 1971....a certain Tony Christie, enough said. Not many would have "known the way" in 1971 but by 2005 I think nearly everyone in the country did.

Once again BBC 3CR doing exactly the same top ten as POTP!

The chart from 1979 now being played by Justin Deeley.

3CR never used to do this when their jukebox show had an earlier and longer slot. I hope BBC South's Dave Cash doesn't play 1979 later on as well

HI all - 1961 and 1979 today.
Hour 1 - http://www.officialcharts.com/archiv.../1/1961-12-23/

No TOTP

Re: 13 December 1971

Olivia Newton-John's 'Banks Of The Ohio' was indeed a dreary record, but I think her previous hit from earlier in the year, a cover of Bob Dylan's 'If Not For You' was a superior effort.

Diana Ross's 'Surrender' was written by Ashford and Simpson who had a hit in their own right in 1985 with 'Solid'.

At the time I didn't comprehend the meaning of certain lyrics in some of the songs.

For instance when Marc Bolan sang in Jeepster 'The wild winds blow upon your frozen cheeks, The way you flip your hip it always makes me weak' I thought it meant the wind was blowing on her face.

Johnny Reggae was probably skipped because it was written and produced by Jonathan King, but there is a line in that song which goes 'He's crazy about football and he looks me in the eye when he shoots'. At the age of ten I was too young to understand the double entendre and assumed 'when he shoots' referred to kicking the ball towards the goal.

In Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves, when Cher sang 'But every night all the men would come around and lay their money down' I had no idea this meant the local men were paying the gypsy women for sexual services, or that the song told the story of a 16 year old gypsy girl getting pregnant. I now appreciate the clever twist in the final verse which is the same as the first verse but with 'She' (i.e. Cher's illegitimate daughter) in place of 'I was born in the wagon of a travelling show'; 'Her Mama' (i.e. Cher) in place of 'My Mama had to dance for the money they'd throw' and 'Grandpa (i.e. Cher's 'Papa' from the first verse who now has a grand-daughter) would do whatever he could'.

Fave St, I challenge you to find any double entendre's in the lyrics of the singles played in this 1961 chart. Good luck, I guess you'll need it?

This Big Bad John song simply reminds me of bleach. Domestos to be precise - "Big Bad Dom". Remember?