Top of the Form
Encyclopedia
Top of the Form was a BBC
radio and television quiz show for teams from secondary schools in the United Kingdom which ran for 38 years, from 1948 to 1986.
. It progressed to become a TV series from 1962 to 1975, also the heyday of University Challenge. 1975 also coincided with the phasing out of many grammar school
s.
) was the theme for many years, though for the last few series, Emerson, Lake & Palmer
's recording of Aaron Copland
's Fanfare for the Common Man
was used.
s; in later years, as these schools became less numerous, comprehensive school
s sometimes featured, but less often, and there was an increasing dominance by independent schools
.
However, as comprehensive schools were becoming more commonplace under the Harold Wilson
government, the autumn 1967 TV series of Top of the Form featured only comprehensive schools.
.
The "Natural Born Quizzers" episode of Steve Coogan
’s comedy series Coogan's Run
involved a thinly-disguised version of the show.
In 2008, Dave Gorman
traced the history of the show on BBC Four
.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio and television quiz show for teams from secondary schools in the United Kingdom which ran for 38 years, from 1948 to 1986.
History
It began on Saturday 1 May 1948, as a radio series, at 7.30pm on the Light ProgrammeBBC Light Programme
The Light Programme was a BBC radio station which broadcast mainstream light entertainment and music from 1945 until 1967, when it was rebranded as BBC Radio 2...
. It progressed to become a TV series from 1962 to 1975, also the heyday of University Challenge. 1975 also coincided with the phasing out of many grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
s.
Demise
A decision was announced on 28 September 1986 to stop the programme. It finished on Tuesday 2 December 1986. The producer, Graham Frost, was reported to have said it was cancelled because the competitive nature of the show jarred with modern educational philosophy. The BBC was reported to have been preparing a non-competitive inter-schools show where pupils no longer had questions with a right and wrong answer. However the BBC said 'there are no programmes planned involving schools on the radio'.Hosts
- Wynford Vaughan-ThomasWynford Vaughan-ThomasLewis John Wynford Vaughan-Thomas CBE was a British newspaper journalist and radio and television broadcaster. In later life he took the name Vaughan-Thomas after his father....
- Lionel Gamlin
- Richard DimblebyRichard DimblebyRichard Dimbleby CBE was an English journalist and broadcaster widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in British broadcasting history.-Early life:...
- David DimblebyDavid DimblebyDavid Dimbleby is a British BBC TV commentator and a presenter of current affairs and political programmes, most notably the BBC's flagship political show Question Time, and more recently, art, architectural history and history series...
- John Ellison
- Robert MacDermot
- Kenneth HorneKenneth HorneKenneth Horne was an English comedian and businessman. The son of a clergyman and politician, he combined a successful business career with regular broadcasting for the BBC. His first hit series Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh written with his co-star Richard Murdoch arose out of his wartime service as...
- John EdmundsJohn Edmunds (presenter)Professor John Edmunds trained as an actor but is best known as an ABC TV and Associated Rediffusion continuity announcer who later presented BBC Children's TV's Top of the Form, 1966 - 1967. He was a BBC TV newsreader from September 1968 until September 1973, and then again in October 1974 and...
- John Dunn
- Tim GudginTim GudginTim Gudgin is a retired British radio presenter and voiceover artist. He was best known for announcing the football results on the BBC sports programmes Grandstand and Final Score between 1995 and 2011...
(1965-86) - Bob Holness (1974-76)
- Paddy FeenyPaddy FeenyPaddy Feeny was a presenter of the BBC World Service's Saturday Special programme from 1959 to 1995.-Biography:After working in theatre, Feeny's broadcasting career began at the age of 26, when he began working for BBC Radio Birmingham. He moved to the World Service in the late 1950s, and began...
(1965-86) - Geoffrey Wheeler (1962-75)
Radio
- BBC Light ProgrammeBBC Light ProgrammeThe Light Programme was a BBC radio station which broadcast mainstream light entertainment and music from 1945 until 1967, when it was rebranded as BBC Radio 2...
from 1948-67 - BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
(sometimes simulcast on BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
) 1967-70 - BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
from 1970-86.
Television
The programme migrated to TV, where it ran from 1962 to 1975, and was called Television Top of the Form.Theme
The tune Marching Strings (composition credited to "Marshall Ross", a pseudonym of Ray MartinRay Martin (orchestra leader)
Ray Martin was a British orchestra leader. He was noted for his light music compositions. Allmusic journalist, Bradley Torreano states "Ray Martin created a legacy for himself in British popular music through his work with his orchestra during the 1950s...
) was the theme for many years, though for the last few series, Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...
's recording of Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
's Fanfare for the Common Man
Fanfare for the Common Man
Fanfare for the Common Man is a 20th-century American classical music work by American composer Aaron Copland. The piece was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens. It was inspired in part by a famous speech made earlier in the same year where vice...
was used.
Contestants
The series tended to feature grammar schoolGrammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
s; in later years, as these schools became less numerous, comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
s sometimes featured, but less often, and there was an increasing dominance by independent schools
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
.
However, as comprehensive schools were becoming more commonplace under the Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
government, the autumn 1967 TV series of Top of the Form featured only comprehensive schools.
Notable contestants
- Film star Hugh GrantHugh GrantHugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
, who represented Latymer Upper SchoolLatymer Upper SchoolLatymer Upper School, founded by Edward Latymer in 1624, is a selective independent school in Hammersmith, West London, England, lying between King Street and the Thames. It is a day school for 1,130 pupils – boys and girls aged 11–18; there is also the Latymer Preparatory School for boys and girls...
; - Darien AngadiDarien AngadiDarien Angadi was an English actor.Darien was born in Stoke Newington, and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School where he was a prolific performer in school plays. In 1965 whilst at the school, he was a member of the school team for BBC Television's Television Top of the Form...
, whose story was told during a BBC Four documentary about the quiz programme - Vivien Stuart (1969), afterwards a weather presenter.
Popular culture
Top of The Form was satirised in the pre-Python series At Last The 1948 ShowAt Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...
.
The "Natural Born Quizzers" episode of Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
’s comedy series Coogan's Run
Coogan's Run
Coogan's Run was a 1995 UK TV series featuring Steve Coogan as a series of odd characters living in the fictional town of Ottle. It was written by various people including Coogan, Patrick Marber, David Tyler, Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews, Geoffrey Perkins and Henry Normal...
involved a thinly-disguised version of the show.
In 2008, Dave Gorman
Dave Gorman
David James Gorman is an English author, stand-up comedian and presenter. He has performed comedy shows on stage in which he tells stories of extreme adventures and presents the evidence to the audience in order to prove to them that they are true stories...
traced the history of the show on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
.
See also
- Round Britain QuizRound Britain QuizRound Britain Quiz is a panel game that has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since 1947, making it the oldest quiz still broadcast on British radio...
, Radio 4 general knowledge quiz from the same era, but for adults, and still broadcast regularly - University ChallengeUniversity ChallengeUniversity Challenge is a British quiz programme that has aired since 1962. The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC television from 1959 to 1970....
, Granada TVGranada TelevisionGranada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
similar series for British universities which also was taken off the air in the mid-1980s, although was brought back for a new audience in 1994 - Schools' ChallengeSchools' ChallengeSchools' Challenge is the national general knowledge competition for schools in the United Kingdom. It uses the same basic rules as University Challenge, although it is affiliated with neither the game nor the television show....
- continuing UK inter-schools quiz, non-televised, based on the rules of University ChallengeUniversity ChallengeUniversity Challenge is a British quiz programme that has aired since 1962. The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC television from 1959 to 1970....
. - Blockbusters (UK game show) - television school-age game show, with its heyday in the 1980s