Forty Six years ago on Christmas Day 1966 I was exactly 48 hours into being all of 6 years old. Father Christmas will have still been totally real to me and I'll have just started at Sacred Heart Primary School. On the only British commercial TV channel, ITV [or ATV], Thunderbirds graced the festive airwaves with the episode Give or Take A Million at 5.05pm! Looking at the complete ITV listings for that day, posted above, it would have been easilly the highlight of my TV day by a long chalk even comparing it with the two BBC channels on the day. Sadly I don't remember watching it but that's a memory thing. Thunderbirds, JR21 toys and Christmas, what could be better! Do you remember any great Christmas TV?
Blimey. That was ITV on Christmas day 1966? I would only have watched Thunderbirds! And to think we complain about the rubbish on TV at Christmas these days. ;D
ReplyDeleteI alwsys remember a movie shown over the Christmas school holidays in the mid to late 70s. A Sinbad type adventure where they look for a blue rose. I recall it vividly because of two scenes - the good guys get attacked by walking trees and then later on many of them get turned into stone by a Gorgon like character. Never seen it since but eventually found it on YouTube. It was actually an English dubbed 1960s Italian version of The Thief of Bagdad! Seeing it after all these years was fun, but my childhood rose tinted spectacles made me think it far better than it actually was.
One of my great Christmas memories was admiring and playing with my new things on Christmas day while a Sinbad film was on the TV.
ReplyDeleteI just tracked it down on that Christmas TV website and the film was "Captain Sinbad" starring Guy Williams of "Lost In Space" fame.
I have not seen the film since (but remember it pretty well which isn't bad as I was only 9 in 1971), but it lives in my memory and is forever associated with a wonderfully Merry Christmas.
For me, the highlight of the Christmas TV season was anxiously waiting for three movies to come on: Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas', Maureen O'Hara's 'Miracle On 34th St.', and Alastair Sim's 'A Christmas Carol'. In the mid '60s we started seeing more animated features and so shows like the animated 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas', and marionation shows like 'Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer' narrated by Burl Ives and 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' with fred Astaire and Mickey Rooney became new favorites. They all remain favorites to this day!
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