Double Your Money

Revision as of 21:32, 11 February 2023

Synopsis

Monday night quiz, based on Green's popular Radio Luxembourg format. Contestants were given a free choice from different categories of questions which were the same for each series but evolved in variety and number (anything from 42 to 92) over time. For the first correct answer they won £1, and thereafter the could double their money with further correct answers up to a maximum of £32. A wrong answer would mean they lose everything. The most successful contestants came back to play for the Treasure Trail of up to £1000.

As Max Bygraves would say, biiiig monnnney!

The first contestant to enter the Treasure Trail was a Mr Plantagenet Somerset Fry, who became an overnight celebrity. He was a post-grad from Oxford, and had even asked a fellow student to act as "press officer", such was the media interest. However, he quit at £512, not wishing to risk it all for the £1000 jackpot. In today's money, £512 would be approximately £7,680. During his lifetime (he died in 1996), Mr Fry was a successful author of over 50 history books, the first of which was published while he was still an undergraduate. He traced his own family back to Edward III, one of the Plantagenet kings. He was also the first Editor of Books at the HMSO (Her Majesty's Stationery Office).

In 1963, a 15-year-old accounts clerk called Monica Rose appeared on the show. At the time she was working as a junior accounts clerk, and she won £8 answering questions on "Famous Women". Hughie Green took to the girl so much she was invited back as a hostess on the show the following year and his sequel show The Sky's the Limit. Another contestant, 77-year-old tea lady Alice Earrey, also became a regular.

The show was still hugely popular when it was taken off air in 1968 as a result of Associated-Rediffusion losing their franchise.

Key moments

In the first show, a rather enigmatic finance clerk working for Arsenal FC, won £32 based on his knowledge of the provinces of Canada.

Inventor

John Beard

Theme music

The original theme was We're in the Money by Ted Lewis.

Later series had a specially-composed theme which went:

Double Your Money and try to get rich,

Double Your Money, without any hitch,

Double Your Money, it's your lucky day,

Double Your Money and take it away!

Trivia

Like Michael Miles, Green brought his quiz to ITV from Radio Luxembourg.

In the early days, Hughie Green would be introduced by the hostess thus: "We'd like you to meet the man with the biggest head in television, the man with the greenest hue... Hughie Green!"

One of the hostesses was the future Dame Maggie Smith, then 20 years old and still plying her trade as plain Margaret Smith. She wasn't on the show for long as her acting career was starting to take off at the same time and she got a role on Broadway only a few months into the programme's run.

At least one episode was filmed but never aired - the makers had allowed a child, 9-year-old Mary Munro, to take the stage, and she won £64. It was only afterwards that they discovered this appearance by a "child performer" wasn't allowed under the Children and Young Persons Act of 1933. Ironically, she would have been allowed to appear on a BBC programme since the Act specifically excluded the BBC from its provisions. ITV, of course, had no such exclusion as it hadn't even been thought of in 1933.

The first £1000 winner was a young student from Pakistan called Robin Burke. She reached the jackpot by answering questions on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Bobby Charlton won £1,000 on the programme, answering questions on Pop Music.

In 1962, a special one-off edition of the programme re-titled Double Your Yen took Hughie Green to Tokyo to put questions to Japanese contestants.

Another foreign edition took the show to the Soviet Union. Contestants played for points which were turned into prizes - the top prize was a television set, an average worker would need about ten years to save up for it.

Here are 48 subjects displayed on a board at the start of one show. We believe this to be a full list, but there may be errors in transcription: Astronomy, Architecture, Athletics, Army, Ballet, Bridge, Business, Biology, Chemistry, Cricket, Cooking, Dogs, English history, Fashion, Films, Farming, Football, General knowledge, Geography, Gardening, Good housekeeping, Gramophone records, History, Horse racing, Law (Criminal), Literature, London, Motoring, Music, Music hall, Meteorology, Navy, Opera, Painting, RAF, Shakespeare, Theatre, Tennis, Vocabulary, World religions, Zoology.

In 2008, press reports suggested that the show could be revived, with Richard Madeley named as a potential host.

Merchandise

A board game was produced.

The DYM board game

Web links

Jez Rogers' site contains a short video clip of the very first edition.

YouTube video clip - Phillip Schofield interviews Hughie Green about DYM, including clips from the show.

Pictures

Host, Hughie Green.

Hughie in front of an early categories board.

Green, hostess and contestant stand in front of a later categories board. "Bullfighting"?

See also

Weaver's Week review

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