Transworld Top Team
Contents |
Host
Geoffrey Wheeler (UK quizmaster, all episodes except 5 in 1968)
Bill Salmon (Australia quizmaster, 1967-68)
Alex Trebek (Canada quizmaster, 5 episodes in 1968)
Andrew Harwood (Australia quizmaster, 1973)
Co-hosts
Scorers: Bob Holness (1967-68), Mary Craig (1971?-3)
Broadcast
BBC1, 17 April 1967 - 5 September 1973
Synopsis
An international version of Television Top of the Form, featuring teams from the UK playing against international schools teams. The series took the form of a league format.
The first series were UK vs Australia, shown in spring 1967 and spring 1968.
In autumn 1968, the first UK/Canada play-off featured four-person 6th form teenage teams representing London, Glasgow and Belfast playing against Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. Five matches were staged in the UK, with return fixtures in Canada. Host for these was Alex Trebek, a young CBC announcer later to find fame on Jeopardy!.
The 1970 series was UK vs The Netherlands, with Dutch sides representing Eindhoven, Deventer and The Hague competing against Edinburgh, Salisbury and Inverness.
In 1971, British teams representing Luton, Kenilworth and Oban played against US teams from Baltimore, Minneapolis and New Orleans. We believe Baltimore were champions here.
The 1972 series included teams from Winnipeg, Edmonton and Halifax (for the Canadians) and Llanelli, Manchester and Banbury (for the UK). Llanelli won.
In 1973 the series went to Hong Kong and included a team of the children of British servicemen overseas.
Trivia
The 1967 series was billed as Top of the Form: Transworld Edition.
Most of the series were co-productions: with the ABC in Australia, CBC in Canada, and NCRV in the Netherlands. We don't know which network co-produced the USA series.
See also
Its radio forerunner, Top Team.
