It’s Children in Need night in the UK, a night when almost the entire BBC1 content is given over to a fund raising live event, usually hosted by Terry Wogan, but I see that tonight Dermot O’Leary has stepped in at the nth hour as Terry is unwell. (Wig malfunction, perhaps..?)
That decision not to host The X Factor this year is looking smarter by the second, isn’t it, Dermot?
Ok, I’ve mentioned Terry Wogan, so I cannot resist sharing this, the most defiantly, knowingly awkward appearance on Top of the Pops ever. And this, just in case you want to hear/download the studio recorded version of the same.
Terry used to host the Radio 2 Breakfast show, and after he quit Chris Evans, who I think it’s fair to say is a very different kind of DJ, took over. I listened once, and heard him play this, proclaiming it an excellent record to wake up to (which it is). But the cynic in me can’t help but wonder if he was taking the piss a little given that he’d just replaced Sir Terry.
Anyhoo, I have a lot of time for Dermot (and for Sir Terry, of course. Evans? Not so much…have you seen the reboot of TFI Friday…?), probably from his days of hosting Big Brother’s Little Brother, but his Saturday afternoon show on Radio 2 is often worth a listen, even if he does every now and then give the impression of someone who doesn’t really know much about music. I swear I once heard him announce that he had never heard of The Velvet Underground.
Anyway, you know what Children in Need is all about: various BBC related personalities perform an amusing skit on their usual personas, generally culminating in the BBC newsreaders dressing up and doing a song, in an effort to raise funds for a very worthy cause.
Here’s some examples of their awfulness: BBC Newsreaders do “Weapon of Choice”
And just so there’s some semblance of order round these parts, the video they were taking off. Yeh, you totally nailed it guys.
And here, perhaps the very nadir of this kind of thing: The Time Warp.
They could’ve saved a few quid on suspenders and high heels if Frank Bough had still been a newsreader then.
The only thing worse than watching that was witnessing my parents trying to do The Time Warp at a wedding a few years ago. I’m so mentally scarred as a result, I have no idea whose wedding it was.
(NB. Is it just me, or is it ironic that the BBC should have a “Children in Need” night every year, when they housed so many of our now discredited/imprisoned/dead and discredited TV celebrities in the 1970s…? I’ll ask Alanis. Or Ed.)
If you’re anything like me, at some point while watching Children in Need, you will undoubtedly feel a rush of shame as you reach for the remote and search for something a little less…well, shit.
Fear not, for the next five songs in the Friday Night Music Club are here to save you.
(NB. There seems to be an issue with my usual download provider, so I’ve switched to a new one for now. Let me know if there are any issues…? Or if you prefer one over the other? Or just don’t give a flying shit?)
Oh and of course, you can donate to Children in Need here. Please do.
More soon.
A History of Dubious Taste 