December 1967

At school…

Members of the school’s rugby teams were invited to watch the annual varsity match between Oxford and Cambridge, screened by the BBC on the afternoon of Tuesday 12^th December.  A television was set up in Mister Carroll’s science lab for this special occasion. Cambridge won the game six points to nil. And bloody boring it was too.

I did okay in the Christmas exams, nothing special, just okay, finishing comfortably mid class.

At home…

On Christmas Day I finally got the real football I’d craved, all shiny and new and made of real leather. I was thrilled. Then I noticed the big ugly bump where the lace was. Never mind.

On the telly…

Christmas Eve Sunday 24th December 1967 

BBC 1

9.00   Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye: for viewers from Pakistan and India
9:25   News
9:35   The Christmas People
10.00  Jackanory
10:15  Little Dog Lost
11:00  Seeing and Believing
11:30  The Monroes: Western series
12:20  John Gilpin Rides Again
12:30  The Golden Age of Comedy
1:45    News
1:50    The Sooty Show
2:00    David Copperfield (film)
4:05    Hansel and Gretal: opera
5:40    Les Miserables
6:05    News
6:15    Meeting Point: The House by the Stable
6:50    Carols from King's College, Cambridge
7:25    Steptoe and Son: Pilgrim's Progress
7:55    Dr. Finlay's Casebook: Unfit to Marry
8:45    News
8:55    The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (film)
11:25  Sir Malcolm's Carols from Stamford
11:50  Midnight Mass from the Roman Catholic Church of St. Alban and St. Stephen, St Albans

BBC 2

3:00    Bird's Eye View of Great Britain: a film by helicopter (colour)
4:00    Villa Mon Reve: cartoon (colour)
4:30    Jack and the Beanstalk (colour)
5:20    Professor in Toyland: questions on toys of all descriptions (colour)
5:50    How the Grinch Stole Christmas: cartoon (colour)
7:25    Mr. Topaz: film (colour)
8:55    The Charlie Drake Show (colour)
9:40    Call My Bluff (colour)
10:10  New Faces: film revue (colour)
11:45  News
11:50  Late Night Line-Up: film Someone in the Lift (Colour)

ITV

11:00  Morning service from the Central Hall, Manchester
12:15  The New Three Stooges
1:15    The Royal Palaces of Britain
2:15    The Pride of the Yankees (film) starring Gary Cooper
4:30    Kelvin Hall Circus
5:30    Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
6:00    News
6:15    Village of Peace: Tree House Family In Pestalozzi
6:35    How on Earth, from Liverpool Anglican Church
7:25    Beau Brummel (film) starring Stewart Granger, Elizabeth Taylor.
9:35    News
9:45    Secombe and Friends, with Alfred Marks, Nina and Frederick,
           Joan Turner, Norman Vaughan, with Special Guest Tom Jones.
11:05  The Eamonn Andrews Show, followed by Weather
11:55  Manchester Cathedral Christmas Eucharist
 

Christmas Day 1967 Monday 25th December 1967

BBC 1

9:00   We Wish You A Merry Christmas: Children sing carols
9:30   News
9:40   Jackanory
9:55   The Sooty Show
10:05 Charlie Chaplin Comedy Theatre: The Cure
10:30 Nina and Frederik
11:00 Service from St. George's Parish Church, Stockport
11:45 Leslie Crowther invites you to Meet the Kids in hospital
12:30 Z Cars
12:55 News
1:05   A Spoonful of Sugar
1:35   Three-way Christmas Quiz
2:05   Top of the Pops 1967 (part 1)
3:00   The Queen.
3:10   Billy Smart's Circus
4:15   Disney Time with Dick Van Dyke
5:00   Cinderella: pantomime
6:30   The News
6:35   War on Want: Christmas Appeal
6:40   Christmas Night with the Stars
8:40   The Ken Dodd Christmas Show
9:40   The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (film)
11:35 The News
11:40  Suliotis Sings: British debut
12:40 An Astronomer's Christmas: reflections
12:47 Weather

BBC 2

11-11:25   Play School
3:00   The Queen
3:10   The Royal Palaces of Britain (colour)
4:10   Amahl and the Night Visitors (opera)
5:00   Doctor in Love (film) (colour)
6:30   Red Skelton: Clown Alley - fun in the circus (colour)
7:20   The Flute and the Arrow (film) (colour)
8:30   The Rumanian National Dance Company and Orchestra (colour)
9:15   Coral Caverns: The John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park (film)
9:40   The Black and White Minstrel Show (colour)
10:25 The News
10:30 Bach's Christmas Oratorio: Parts 1,2 & 3 from Suffolk (colour)
12:05 Late Night Line-Up (colour)

ITV

9:00   I Saw Three Ships
9:30   Comedy Time
10:00 David and the Donkey
10:45 The Archbishop of Canterbury.
11:00 A Christmas service from the Church of St. James', Bierton, Bucks
11:45 A Christmas Stocking. Wilfred Pickles visits St Vincent's Orthopaedic Hospital, Pinner
12:30 The Beverly Hillbillies
1:00   News
1:20   The World of Roy Castle
2:00   All Kinds of Music
3:00  The Queen.
3:10  Fancy Pants (film) starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball
4:43  Mary Monons, a James Thurber fairy story
5:05  Sexton Blake: The Vanishing Snowman (Christmas Special)
5:55  News. Weather
6:00  Alice in Wonderland. Cartoon featuring the voices of Sammy Davis Jr and Zsa Zsa Gabor
7:00  Coronation Street
7:30  Aladdin. Pantomime with Cliff Richard, The Shadows, Arthur Askey and Vanessa Howard.
9:05   The Singer Not The Song (film) starring Dirk Bogarde, John Mills.
10:00 News at Ten
10:15 The Singer Not The Song (film continued)
11:35 A Tale of Canterbury (repeat)
12:15 Songs of East and West - The Spirit of Christmas.

Boxing Day Tuesday 26th December 1967
BBC 1

9:15   Jackanory
9:30   News
9:35   Belle and Sebastian
10:00 Last of the Mohicans (film)
11:30 Green Acres (comedy series)
11:55 The Lions of Longleat
12:30  Z Cars.
12:55 Grandstand: Motor Racing, Golf, Racing, Rugby League
3:40   News
3:45   The Road to Morocco (film)
5:05   Tom and Jerry: Neapolitan Mouse
5:15   Today's Sport
5:25   Top of the Pops 1967 (part 2)
6:10   News
6:15   Brigadoon: a Scottish fantasy materialises
7:30   Frost Over Christmas: a wry look at the festive season
8:10   This is Petula Clark
8:35   The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour (film)
9:25   News
9:35   Norman Wisdom (film): The Square Peg
11:00 Peter Ustinov in A Christmas Conversation

BBC 2
11-11:25. Play School
3:00   Smiley: (film) adventures of a young boy in Australia (colour)
4:35   Spike Milligan (colour)
5:05   The Andy Williams Ice Show (colour)
5:55   Face the Music: quiz
6:40   The Danny Kaye Christmas Show
7:30   Titipu: The Mikado brought up to date (colour)
9:00   Life in the animal world (colour)
9:45   This is the Life: two international stars (colour)
10:35 Leningrad: its history and art treasures (colour)
11:25 News
11:30 Late Night Line-up (colour)


ITV

10:00  Batman
10:50  The Compliments of the Season
11:30  Scrooge (film) starring Alastair Sim
1:00    The Legend of Custer
1:55    News
2:00    World of Sport: Motor Racing, Ice Dancing, Tennis, Wrestling.
4:45    The Playtime Christmas Box
4:52    The Hunting of the Snark
5:20    Zoo Time
5:50    Sports Results
5:55    News. Weather
6:05    Crossroads
6:35    Do Not Adjust Your Set
7:00    The Benny Hill Show
8:00    Waltz of the Toreadors (film) starring Peter Sellers
10:00  News at Ten
10:30  Down at the Old Bull and Bush, among the customers: The Bachelors, Bud Flanagan, Kenneth McKellar, Scott Walker, Kim Cordell and Aimi MacDonald.
11:30  Dragnet: Harry Morgan and Jack Webb in The Shooting Board
Midnight: Songs of East and West: The Spirit of Christmas with Donald Swann.