Television Top of the Form
Contents |
Host
Geoffrey Wheeler (1962-75 and 2006) with David Dimbleby (1962), Paddy Feeny (1963-6)
Broadcast
BBC1, 1962-75
BBC Four, 2006 (one-off)
Synopsis
This was the TV version of Top of the Form, the popular radio quiz for secondary schools. The contest was between two teams of four, with a requirement that the team members must be of different ages. The show initially had a rather unusual setup, involving a link-up between two separate schools with two questionmasters, one for each team.
Trivia
Although a regular series didn't emerge until 1962, Top of the Form was first broadcast on TV as a one-off special on 25 April 1953. An all-boys team from Marylebone Grammar School played an all-girls team from Sheffield High School.
Judith Chalmers was originally lined up to co-present, but was vetoed by The Powers That Be on the grounds that a woman wouldn't have the authority required of a questionmaster.
Theme music
"Marching Strings" by Marshall Ross, performed by Ray Martin and His Concert Orchestra.
Web links
Whirligig Snippet - partial script from a 1964 edition.
Memories of a 1972 match between Manchester and Stranraer
