My Word!, page three

Last Edited: 16-Feb-2019 A Global British Comedy Collaborative document. Edited by John Lucas
Major research provided by Keith Wickham and Martin Hood with assistance from Alexander Lucas and others. My thanks to all who contributed.

Broadcast source is the BBC Home Service and BBC Radio Four unless otherwise indicated. Recording quality is considered good unless otherwise indicated.

Table of Contents

Pilot and Series 1-8 (1956, 1957-1961) The Robertson-Spain Era
Series 9-11 (1962-1964) The Powell-Spain Era
Series 12-28 (1964-1977) The Powell-James-Longland Era (next page)
Series 29-32 (1978-1982) John Julius Norwich and Series 33 (1982-1983) Antonia Fraser
 
Series 34-38 (1983-1988) Michael O'Donnell
Documentaries and Collateral Material

Notes:

Panellists:

  • Alfred Marks
  • Antonia Fraser
  • Anne Scott-James
  • Barry Took
  • Denis Norden
  • Dilys Powell (1901-1995)
  • E. Arnot Robertson
  • Edward Blishen
  • Frank Muir (1920-1998)
  • Gay Search
  • Isobel Barnett
  • Irene Thomas
  • Joan Bakewell
  • John Wells
  • Katherine Whitehorn
  • Libby Purves
  • Lionel Hale
  • Nancy Spain
  • P D James
  • Pamela Frankau
  • Ted Kavanagh
  • Victoria Glendenning

Chairpersons:

  • John Arlott [1956-1957 only]
  • Jack Longland (b.1905-d.1993) [1957-1977]
  • John Julius Norwich [1978-1981]
  • Antonia Fraser [1982]
  • Michael O’Donnell [1983-1990]

Compilers:

  • Edward J. Mason (not credited) (1957-1971)
  • Jack Longland (1971-1977)
  • Peter Moore (1971-1990)

Producers:

  • Tony Shryane
  • Bobby Jaye
  • Pete Atkin
  • Neil Cargill

Series 29-32 (1978-1982) John Julius Norwich and Series 33 (1982-1983) Antonia Fraser

Anne Scott-James left the panel after series 29.

This is the interregnum between the Jack Longland years and the Michael O'Donnell years. Relatively few of these have been broadcast overseas as TS releases. There are two tables

  1. The known series and broadcast dates and episode details for precisely dated shows
  2. The known recordings which cannot be precisely dated.

Thanks to Sandy Finlayson for the BBC WS SW recordings and to Charles Rooke and Ralph Erkelenz for assistance in cataloging them!

Broadcast
Date
Series-
Episode
TS
number
Contents Cast Parameters
27-Sep-1978 29-1 no TS
TS337c
  • Vocabularies: susurrus, cremains, machismo, encomium
  • Verbal interpolation: between brief and bristle, between grief and gristle
  • Poetical pairings: counterfeited glee, rude forefathers, promethean heat, fantastic toe
  • Homophones: symbol/cymbal, gait/gate, gamble/gambol, quire/choir
  • I have no pain dear Mother now / Speak of one who loved not wisely but too well

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

NO TS
BBC WS SW
27:10, 25474, m
04-Oct-1978 29-2    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
11-Oct-1978 29-3    

Powell, Muir, Jackie Gillot, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
18-Oct-1978 29-4    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
25-Oct-1978 29-5    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
01-Nov-1978 29-6    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
06-Nov-1978 29-7    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
15-Nov-1978 29-8    

Powell, Took, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
22-Nov-1978 29-9    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
29-Nov-1978 29-10    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
06-Dec-1978 29-11    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
13-Dec-1978 29-12    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
20-Dec-1978 29-13 No TS
  • Vocabularies: Eldritch, flummery, simulacrum,
    peccable
  • Poetical triplets: proper study of mankind, mills of
    God, the sounds of Spring, sounds of music
  • ...
  • The workers have nothing to lose but their chains /
    Baubles, bangles and beads

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

NO TS
BBC WS SW
27:05, 25405, m
26-Sep-1979 30-1    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
03-Oct-1979 30-2    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
10-Oct-1979 30-3    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
17-Oct-1979 30-4    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
24-Oct-1979 30-5    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
31-Oct-1979 30-6    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
07-Nov-1979 30-7    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
14-Nov-1979 30-8    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
21-Nov-1979 30-9    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
28-Nov-1979 30-10    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
05-Dec-1979 30-11    

Powell, Took, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
12-Dec-1979 30-12    

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

 
rec
29-Nov-1979
broadcast
19-Dec-1979
30-13  
  • Vocabularies: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, ingastrition, carapace, wegotist
  • Literary corpses: chewing string, spontaneous
    combustion, death in shower, empty bath
  • Three of a kind: left-hand side, mushrooms,
    O'Hara sisters, packing cigarettes
  • Contradictory proverbs: two's company/three's a
    crowd, absence makes the heart grow fonder,
    a change is good as a rest, in for a penny
  • Words beginning with "p": phantasmagoria, psaltery,
    pfennig, pterodactyl
  • There is nothing half as worth as messing around
    in boats/ I left my heart in San Francisco

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:22, 25593, S
28-Sep-1980 31-1    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
05-Oct-1980 31-2  TS345
  • Vocabularies: Arachidic, plakophobia, penelopised, matutolipia
  • Things in common: dogs in Dickens, unfinished books, objects named after people, programming languages
  • Hyphenated adjectives: dragon-green, green-robed, ever-rolling, well-conducted
  • Unfavourable reviews: Gettysburg Address, Paradise Lost, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ulysses
  • Leave no stone unturned / My sweet little Alice blue gown

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane


27:27, 25677, S
27:24, 25694, S
a BBC R7 rebroadcast, a 'hybrid' as longer than the TS version:
27:10, 27475, S

12-Oct-1980 31-3    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
19-Oct-1980 31-4    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
26-Oct-1980 31-5    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
rec
09-Sep-1980
broadcast
02-Nov-1980
31-6

TS347

  • Preposterous words: zonasthesia, misodoctyleclidist, insecable, discalceate
  • Words in common: drunkeness, kept a diary, do them all backwards, yoyo throws
  • Three word quotations: the moving finger writes, showery flowery bowery, an empty dream, a cannon ball
  • Original titles: the sea cook, mag’s diversions, first impressions, tenderness
  • Half a loaf is better than no bread / I’m dancing with tears in my eyes

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

TS version
27:04, 25389, S
09-Nov-1980 31-7    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
16-Nov-1980 31-8    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
23-Nov-1980 31-9 no TS
"TS348a"
  • Victorian Vulgarisms: Fly a flag of distress, a horse with devotional habits, a monkey’s allowance, use a louse trap
  • Two out of three: Shakespeare’s children, the more you beat them the better they be, triangles, Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour trilogy
  • 30 seconds: parts of human body, clothing, farm animals, tools in one hand
  • Poetical pairings: starry skies, unfathomed caves, innumerable bees, mazy motion
  • A Sadder and a wiser man / Nothing succeeds like success

Powell, Muir, Reynolds, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

Not TS
BBC R7
27:29, 25769, S
30-Nov-1980 31-10    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
07-Dec-1980 31-11 no TS
TS349a"
  • Vocabularies: dromophobia, iatrophobia, amaxophobia, belonephobia
  • Bits and Pieces: spinning wheel, ear, violin, lacrosse
  • Literary Fashions: Gunga Din, the Devil, Miss Havesham, Pied Piper
  • Juvenile Conundrums: Frisbee/Prince of Wales, cat/comma, hurt child/thundercloud, angry impresario/Julius Caesar’s barber
  • Verbal Ingenuity: procrastinate/reinforced concrete, abracadabra/ women’s liberation, idiosyncratic/cooking with garlic, ICBM/Brigitte Bardot
  • Identifications: Sir Walter Raleigh, Dr. Johnson, Winston Churchill, Benjamin Franklin
  • Homophones: sucker/succor, meddle/metal, canvas/canvass, crick/creek

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Took
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

Not TS
BBC R7
27:19, 25616, S
14-Dec-1980 31-12    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
21-Dec-1980 31-13    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye-Shryane

 
unknown
original date
BBCWS
09-Apr-1981
31-nn

Excerpt only
  • The better part of valour / Am I my brother's keeper
Muir, Norden
Norwich
10:17, 14460, S
30-Dec-1981 32-1 no TS
TS350a
  • Impromptu Remarks: good morning gentleman both, you will always be fools, thank you madam the agony is abated, alright you have it your way you heard a seal bark
  • Paraphrased Poetry: Walrus and the Carpenter, Old King Cole, Gray’s Elegy, What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?
  • Mandatory Monosyllables: smile on the Mona Lisa, rules of croquet, attack of cramp, breakfast in bed
  • Double definitions: concert, pore, desert, entrance
  • The Rite of Spring / The Agony and the Ecstasy

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

Not TS
BBC R7
27:16, 25568, S
06-Jan-1982 32-2    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye


13-Jan-1982 32-3    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

 
20-Jan-1982 32-4    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

 
27-Jan-1982 32-5    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

 
03-Feb-1982 32-6    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

 
10-Feb-1982 32-7    

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

 
17-Feb-1982 32-8   Excerpt only
  •  I'm glad I'm not young / Nicholas Nickleby

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

9:24, 13217, S
24-Feb-1982 32-9   Excerpt only
  • brandnames: garlic-flavoured chewing gum, ...
  • If they asked me / I'll be seeing you

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

8:30, 11944, S
03-Mar-1982 32-10   Excerpt only
  • Differences: amiable/amicable, monologue/
    soliloquy, between/among, sick/sickly
  • Forsyte Saga / Nice work if you can get it

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

15:25, 21655, S
10-Mar-1982 32-11   Excerpt only
  • Let's call the whole thing off / There are fairies
    at the bottom of our yard

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

9:39, 13559, S
17-Mar-1982 32-12   Excerpt only
  • Verbal contradictions: deduction, trip, cleave,
    imposing

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

1:41, 2381, S
24-Mar-1982 32-13   Excerpt only
  • Verbal vagaries: anagram, palindrome, typewriter, ...
  • mandatory monosyllables
  • Home, sweet home / Tender is the night

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Jaye

16:31, 23203, S
      End of JJN era -- Start of AF era    
08-Dec-1982 33-1 No TS
TS350b
  • Vocabularies: palimpsest, salmagundi, miasma, stridulation
  • Mandatory monosyllables: curtsey, how to give a noble salute, the scent of …, … nought and cross …
  • Nature in poetry: “the glimmering landscape” (Gray’s Elegy), “the winnowing wind” (Keats, To Autumn), “the nodding violet” (Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), “an unweeded garden” (Shakespeare, Hamlet)
  • Assorted sisters: Olivia and Sophia Primrose (The Vicar of Wakefield), Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March (Little Women), Abby and Martha Brewster (Arsenic and Old Lace), Louisa, Linda, Jassy and Victoria Radlett (The Pursuit of Love)
  • Comeinto the garden, Maude / It never rains but it pours

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

NO TS
BBC WS SW
27:12, 25517, m
15-Dec-1982 33-2 no TS
TS350c
  • Vocabularies: macaronic, numbles, pragmatic, discobolus
  • Four of a kind: beggars or vagabonds, cycle of a four-stroke engine, four horses of Apocalypse, table tennis paddle surfaces
  • Second Lines: Oft in the stilly night, gather ye rosebuds while ye may, destruction of Sennacharib, Wordsworth
  • Miscellaneous divinations: sciomancy, astragalomancy, capnomancy, omphalomancy
  • Henry the fourth, part one / For whom the bell tolls

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

Not TS
BBC R7
27:24, 25703, S
22-Dec-1982 33-3 no TS
TS350c2
  • Vocabularies: maulstick, picaroon, recherche, atangled
  • Four of a kind: ...
  • For he's a jolly good fellow / make thee my ...

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

NO TS
BBC WS SW
27:38, 25914, m
29-Dec-1982 33-4    

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

 
05-Jan-1983 33-5    

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

 
12-Jan-1983 33-6    

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

 
19-Jan-1983 33-7 no TS
TS350d
  • Vocabularies: Baldric, proselytise, fustian, rebus
  • Derivations: mad as a hatter, the lion's share, paraphenalia, thug
  • First come, first served: no "e's"
  • Impromptu interpolations: nouns between bargain and barnacle, between monastery and monk
  • Unusual Christian names: Zulaika, Godolphin, Wackford, Tinkleberry
  • I left my heart in San Francisco / The biggest aspidistra

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

Not TS
BBC R7
27:15, 25559, S
26-Jan-1983 33-8    

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

 
02-Feb-1983 33-9    

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

 
09-Feb-1983 33-10    

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

 
16-Feb-1983 33-11 no TS
TS350e
  • Vocabularies: Fumarole, turbary, turgiversation, contango
  • Mandatory monosyllables: Christopher Columbus, jealousy, how to make a ham sandwich, a sneeze
  • Three word quotations: dead of night, the craggy mountains, no birds sing, light fantastic toe
  • First come, first served: water
  • Victorian vernacular: all mops and brooms, a government signpost, unwhisperables, Colonel Chesterton's everlasting staircase
  • Don't cry for me Argentina / Honesty is the best policy

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

Not TS
BBC R7
27:10, 25486, S
23-Feb-1983 33-12 no TS
TS350f
  • Vocabularies: Quincunx, burlap, erg, odalisque
  • Something in common: wigs, Shakespeare's siblings, napkin folds, dogs noises in languages
  • First come, first served: letters in the alphabet
  • Second lines: proper stiudy of mankind is man, Till earth and sky..., I galloped Dirk galloped, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
  • Homophones: queue/cue, current/currant, earn/urn, gilt/guilt
  • Somewhere over the rainbow / More in sorrow than in anger

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

Not TS
BBC R7
27:10, 25484, S
02-Mar-1983 33-13    

Powell, Muir, Thomas, Norden
Fraser/Moore/Shryane-Atkin

 

Transcription Service episodes Believed to be from Series 29-33 but usually not assignable to a particular date:

Broadcast
Date
Series-
Episode
TS
number
Contents Cast Parameters
1978 29-n TS338
  • Vocabularies: Ptisan, sciamachy, homuncle, empirical
  • Poems: Nominative case, sunny Palestine, strange device, woodbine spices
  • Something in common: literary ladies married twice, four each, finches, people using pseudonyms
  • Double definitions: junket, swallow, sulky, sultana
  • Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new / A source of innocent merriment

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:01, 25339, S
1978 29-n TS339
  • Vocabularies: sparable, barbola, catenary, eclectic
  • Origins and Derivations: a nine-days wonder, abominable, as sure as eggs is eggs, a purple patch
  • Onygobhagist: a nail biter
  • Missed quotations:
  • Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner / Thanks for the memory

Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:13, 25519, S
c.1978 after
series 29
no TS
TS337d

00m02.38s

00m45.54s

Opening theme and introduction of contestants DP FM ASJ DN by JJL

May be from the same episode or may have been spliced on from a different recording.

Splice – missing content - JJL commences “… and our next round …”

00m47.92s

2m24.86s

Double Definitions: (DN) Mint, (DP) Hamper, (FM) Fudge, (ASJ) Prune

From one episode, but a different episode from the rest of this compilation.

03m12.78s

10m19.81s

Quotations: (DN) Carry Me Back to Old Virginny / (FM) Way down upon the Swanee River

End of an episode  – no overall winners, credits or music.

Splice  – no opening theme or intro

13m32.59s

2m54.78s

Vocabularies: (FM) Phagocyte, (Jackie) Atavistic, (DN) Gentrification, (DP) Draconian

Jackie Gilliott is mentioned by DN during his story so all from the same episode. Her presence means it is from s29e03.

Splice – missing content

16m27.37s

11m33.43s

Quotations: (FM) Two Heads Are Better Than One / (DN) Beware The Ides Of March

Splice – content missing – no overall winners or panellists announced

28m00.80s

0m31.68s

Closing theme and credits [Questions compiled by Peter Moore]

May be from the same episode or may have been spliced on from a different recording.

NO TS
BBC WS SW
28:32, 26764, m
c.1978 after
series 29
no TS
TS337e

0m02.56s

0m29.59s

Theme tune and introduction of JJL by announcer

May be from the same episode or may have been spliced on from a different recording.

Splice – no panellist introduction by JJL - missing content - JJL introduces a Quotations round

0m32.15s

11m39.41s

Quotations: (DN) Try A Little Tenderness / (FM) Out Of The Frying Pan Into The Fire

 

End of an episode  – no overall winners, credits or music.

Splice  – no opening theme or intro – missing content – JLL introduces a new round

12m11.56s

6m26.42s

Something In Common: (FM) Children’s nursery rhyme for the thumb and fingers, (ASJ) Roman numerals, (DP) Things that were never actually said but fabricated by posterity, (DN) Schoolmasters in fiction

May be from the same episode or may be from different recordings.  The words seem to flow seamlessly but the tone and background hum/whistle changes markedly.

There may or may not be a splice between these two rounds

18m37.98s

9m52.67s

Quotations: (FM) We Are In Love With You, My Heart And I / (DN) Raindrops Are Falling On My Head

28m30.65s

0m36.79s

Closing by JJL (including overall winners and panellists), theme tune and credits [Questions compiled by Peter Moore]

NO TS
BBC WS SW
29:07, 27306, m
c.1978 after
series 29
no TS
TS337f

0m00.40s

0m48.06s

Opening theme and introduction of contestants DP FM ASJ DN by JJL

Spliced on from a different recording.

Splice – albeit JJL then commences “… and so in we go straight into the first round …

0m48.46s

5m52.44s

Vocabularies: (DN) Mullygrub, (DP) Apport, (ASJ) Verruca, (FM) Supposititious

May be from the same episode or may be from different recordings.

Splice – missing content

6m40.90s

9m07.77s

Quotations: (DN) If You Have Tears Prepare To Shed Them Now / (FM) Shall I Compare Thee To A Summers Day

End of an episode  – no overall winners, credits or music.

Splice  – no opening theme or intro – JJL commences“… and so we go straight into the first round …”

15m48.67s

3m43.27s

Vocabularies: (FM) Exungulate, (ASJ) Lucubration, (DP) Plantigrade, (DN) Scrimshaw

This is a complete episode (running time 25m40.58s) except for the missing intro and outro.

19m31.94s

0m18.33s

JJL announces the quotations for the last round

19m50.77s

4m03.22s

Unmitigated Cads and Bounders: (FM) Squire Thornhill, (ASJ) Mr Gerald Scales, (DP) Mr James Steerforth, (DN) Captain George Osborne

23m53.99s

2m06.29s

Half Proverbs: (FM) If a man deceives me once, shame on him …, (ASJ) He who would the daughter win …, (DP) Women must have their wills while they live …, (DN) If you can kiss the mistress …

26m00.28s

2m23.89s

One Word Quotations: (FM) Ignoble, (ASJ) Fruitfulness, (DP) Undiscovered, (DN) Meandering

28m24.17s

13m05.05s

Quotations: (FM) The Female Of The Species Is More Deadly Than The Male / (DN) I Wouldn’t Leave My little Wooden Hut For You

Splice – content missing – no overall winners announced

41m29.22s

0m36.76s

Closing by JJL (panellists only), theme tune and credits [Questions compiled by Peter Moore]

Spliced on from a different recording.

NO TS
BBC WS SW
42:05, 30470, m
1979 30-n TS340
  • Vocabularies: allopath, supererogation, nepenthic, blunge
  • Odd Man Out: monthly namesakes, moustaches, blues, things in Ireland
  • Literary Addition: 6+5+3=14, 5+12+20,000=20,017, 24+3+50,000,000=50,000,027, 15+9+15=39
  • What Comes Before (in Shakespeare)
  • Double definitions: carp, smack, kindle, consonant
  • Oh for the touch of a vanished hand / You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:35, 25811, S
1979 30-n TS341
  • Vocabularies: charleyhorse, somniloquy, beeswing, Godwottery
  • Bertie’s Aunt Agatha, Queen Victoria, La Belle Dame sans merci, Saki on Mrs. Packletides
  • Derivations: It’s not on, bogey in golf, deuce in tennis, spinnaker
  • Dramatic Dialogues: Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Gregory in “The Silver Blaze”, Major Pollock and Sybil Railton-Bell in “Separate Tables”
  • As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool / Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:28, 25689, S
1979 30-n TS342
  • Vocabularies: cinerarium, bingle, antigropulos, infundibula
  • Unlikelyconnections: Major Wingfield/Wimbledon, Enoch Arden/William Crichton, a newt/an orange, Oliver Cromwell/Tom Sawyer
  • Differences: rare/scarce, perturb/disturb, to loose/to loosen, to bring/to fetch
  • One line at a time: Jonson’s “To Celia” (Drink to me only with thine eyes, …)
  • I am monarch of all I survey / The stars and stripes forever

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:31, 25737, S
1979
30-13
TS343a
  • Vocabularies: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
series as 30-13
1979 30-n TS343b
  • Vocabularies: Boustrophedon, lacuna, fustinella,
    quidnunc
  • Odd Man Out: Tripping Go, crow, argosy,
    comprehensive
  • Collector's Corner: veteran motorcars, postcards,
    old bottles, barbed wire
  • Poetical pairings: untrodden ways, bosom friend,
    horrid shapes, sweet disorder
  • Beware of Greeks bearing gifts / Pickwick Papers
Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
27:25, 25645, S
1979 30-n TS343c
  • Vocabularies: furfur, colophon, hobohemian,
    gustation
  • What were they talking about: poverty,
    schadenfreude, money, humor
  • Progressive recitation: Grey's Elegy
  • Holophones: feint/faint, brooch/broach, wait/weight,
    vein/vain
  • Our love is here to stay / Yesterday all my troubles
    seemed so far away
Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
27:27, 25682, S
1979 30-n TS343d
  • Vocabularies: pantisocracy, interdigitate, plethora,
    woodoo
  • Literary addition: 1933+53+99, 4+965+1 million,
    6+3+4, 8+15+98
  • Progressive recitation: Hamlet's Soliloquy
  • Part words: phaz, dhp, esch, xop
  • I'm glad I'm not young anymore / Nicholas Nickleby
Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
27:33, 25772, S
1979 30-n TS343e
  • Vocabularies: clone, gamut, nanosecond, holophane
  • Something in common: misnomers, places and names,
    left-handed, WW2 airplane names
  • Titled men: The Man who never was, The third man,
    the man with the twisted lip, the man who could
    work miracles
  • Dramatic dialogue: Private Lives, Pride and Predjudice
  • Where are the snows of yesteryear / My love is like
    a red, red rose
Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
27:33, 25763, S
1979 30-n
30-11?
TS343f
Probably 30-11 based on Barry Took as a panelist.
  • Vocabularies: Infanticipate, gloriole, moodle, gropsing
  • Differences: rumpus/ruction, fortunate/fortuitous,
    odium/opprobrium, sewage/sewerage
  • Something in common: second in commands,
    detective inspectors, doctors, butlers
  • Dramatic dialogue: The Seagull, Sword of Honor
  • Family words
  • Homophones: genes/jeans, humerous/humerus,
    stationary/stationery, currant/current
Powell, Took, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
27:34, 25781, S
1979 30-n
30-10
or
30-12
TS343g
  • Vocabularies: De-Boswelise, prestidigitator,
    manumission, holophrase
  • Of ... and ...: Prince and the Pauper, The Old Man
    and the Sea, Cloister and the Hearth, Power and
    the Glory
  • Burns' Dictionary: omphalloscepsis, pteronophobia,
    ombrosalgia, hieromachy
  • Christian names: Dickens, Shelley, Wilde, Gilbert
  • Watchman, what of the night / I'm dreaming of a
    white Christmas
Powell, Muir, Scott-James, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
27:29, 25714, S
1979
TS343h
  • Vocabularies: Peccability, nixie, formitugy, panopticon
  • Odd Man Out: pudding, chocks away, canter, fraught
  • Eponymous: Murphy's Law, Bailey's Beads, Beaufort
    scale, McBurnie's Point
  • Three word quotations: life is earnest, hand or eye,
    Sir Christopher Wren, a lovely light
  • The better part of valor is discretion / Am I my
    brother's keeper
Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
27:36, 25814, s
1979
TS343i
  • Vocabularies: catatonic, gromwell, paean, nuncupate
  • What were they talking about: dying, a cigarette,
    a nickname, doublethink
  • Progressive recitation (1st occurrence): If
  • Brothers: Service, Karamazov, PC Wren, Swiss
    Family Robinson
  • A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma /
    He hesitates is lost
Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane
27:31, 25735, S
1979 30-n TS343
  • Vocabularies: Pseudoscope, serinette, vilipend, pasquinade
  • But who were they: the Cambridge people, the Ancient Mariner’s shipmates, daffodils, lips
  • Something in common: fevers, wedding anniversaries, Dutch words, knots
  • Derivations: Iron Curtain, caricature, meringue, hooch
  • Why so pale and wan, fond lover / Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:27, 25684, S
1979 30-n TS344
  • Verbal vagaries: month silver spirit chimney, United States of America attaineth its cause Freedom (anagram), are we not drawn onward to new era (palindrome), uncomplimentary (all vowels backwards)
  • Origins: In cahoots with, swashbuckling, at one fell swoop, barmy
  • What Happened Next: Dickens, O. Henry, Shakespeare, Jane Eyre
  • Suffix: -oon, -wise, -ship, -age
  • It’s a long way to Tipperary / You can’t have your cake and eat it too

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:16, 25572, S

31-2
TS345


see series 31

Oct-1980

31-n

TS346

  • Personal announcements, 20th century people: Sir Robert Pelpman, Dorothy Parker, Tallulah Bankhead, Beverly Nichols
  • “ough”:  thorough, chough, furlough, cough
  • Dyspeptic diagnoses by Carlisle: Disraeli, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge
  • Who art thou? Tennyson, Milton, Wordsworth, Shakespeare / Romeo
  • Aliases: The Godfather, Georges Sand, Tarzan, Charlie’s Aunt
  • Somewhere over the rainbow /  People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:42, 25976, S
a BBC R7 rebroadcast, a 'hybrid' as longer than the TS version:
27:06, 27408, S



TS347


see series 31

1980

31-n

TS348

  • Odd Man Out: sugar, Alice in Wonderland, starboard, Great Expectations
  • Hidden Places: baby’s nappy, crop of a Christmas goose, arms in the statue of the Virgin, corridor side of a hotel room door
  • Poetical Requests: tell me the old old story, If I should die think only this of me, And all I ask is a merry yarn, shall I compare thee to a summer’s day
  • Double definitions: intimate, invalid, refuse, continent
  • All things bright and beautiful / Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga choo-choo

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:12, 25511, S

1980

31-n TS349
  • Caustic Comments: Mark Twain, John Florio, William Gilbert, Bevan
  • Derivations: to go to pot, inoculation, ostracize, aftermath
  • Post Mortems: Dr. No, Mr. Krook, Madame Marguerite Gauthier, Mr. Bartholomew Shalter
  • Part words: gamuf, tchphr, hyth, kesh
  • Parlez moi d’amour / Anchors aweigh

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:10, 25472, S

1980

31-3? TS350
  • Incomplete Proverbs: a dog’s nose and a maid’s knee…, the mother-in-law remembereth not…, the first year let your house to an enemy…, a runaway monk never…
  • Composite words: gorgon zola, balder dash, butter fly, ram shackle
  • Origins and derivations: skeleton at the feast, all my eye and Betty Monkit, paraphenalia, win hands down
  • Poetical pairings: cool kindliness, twilight sings, the unforgiving minute, petty pace
  • Names beginning with Z: Zephilinda, Zulaika, Zeus, Zola
  • Noel / Mary Had a little lamb

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

27:05, 25392, S
c.1980 after
series 31
no TS
TS346a

0m00.00s

0m37.48s

Opening theme and introduction of contestants DP AF FM DN by JJL   

Spliced on from a different recording.

Splice –  missing content

0m37.48s

2m03.55s

Prefixes (UM): (FM) Umbrage, (AF) Umpire, (DP) Umpteen, (DN) Umbilical

May be from the same episode or may be from different recordings.

Splice

2m41.03s

10m33.28s

Quotations: (FM) These Are The Times That Try Men’s Souls / (DN) Tell Me, Where Is Fancy Bred?

End of an episode  – no overall winners, credits or music.

Splice  – no opening theme or intro- missing content

13m40.30s

4m39.72s

What’s The Time: (FM) The raven quoth never more – Midnight, (AF) Bearing a banner with a strange device - Dusk, (DP) Cape St Vincent nobly die away - Sunset, (DN) Sewing as long as her eyes could see - Bedtime

May be from the same episode or may be from different recordings.

17m54.02s

1m11.46s

Homophones: (FM) Signet / Cygnet, (AF) Him / Hymn, (DP) Profit / Prophet, (DN) Awe / Or

There may or may not be a splice between these two rounds

19m05.48s

5m21.95s

Quotations: (FM) Lambs Tales From Shakespeare

24m27.43s

0m03.06s

         Splice and garbled speech – query if from same episode

24m30.49s

5m21.52s

(DN) Cast Thy Bread Upon The waters

Splice – content missing – no overall winners announced

29m52.01s

0m45.36s

Closing by JJL (panellists only), theme tune and credits [Questions compiled by Peter Moore]

Spliced on from a different recording.

NO TS
BBC WS SW
30:37, 28754, m
c.1980 after
series 31
no TS
TS346b

0m00.00s

0m37.69s

Opening theme and introduction of contestants DP AF FM DN by JJL   

Spliced on from a different recording.

Splice –  missing content

0m37.69s

0m33.59s

Four-letter Words Ending With The Letter ‘O’: (FM) Hobo, (AF) Halo, (DP) Trio, (DN) Dodo

May be from the same episode or may be from different recordings.

There may or may not be a splice between these two rounds

1m11.28s

11m06.86s

Quotations: (FM) My Heart Belongs To Daddy / (DN) Tom, Tom, The Piper’s Son, Stole A Pig And Away He Run
A separate and better recording of this part from BBC R4 exists, dated 14-Dec-1980, recorded in
Germany, 11:04, 15541, S

End of an episode  – no overall winners, credits or music.

Splice  – no opening theme or intro- missing content

12m18.79s

3m59.33s

Identifications: (FM) Uncle Matthew (The Pursuit Of Love), (AF) Clementine, (DN) Professor Moriarty, (DP) James Bond

May be from the same episode or may be from different recordings.

There may or may not be a splice between these two rounds

16m18.12s

10m20.96s

Quotations: (FM) A Tale Of two Cities, (DN) Everything’s Coming Up Roses

26m39.08s

0m57.96s

Closing by JJL (including overall winners and panellists), theme tune and credits [Questions compiled by Peter Moore]

NO TS
BBC WS SW
27:37, 25937, m

1981

32-n No TS
TS350b
  • Vocabularies: muddlefubbles, gongoozler, straddlebob, horbgorble
  • Origins and Derivations: Do good by stealth, fascinating, like a giant refreshed, propaganda
  • Misprinted poetry
  • Food and drink: lukewarm water, broth without any bread, pomegranate seeds, toasted cheese
  • Double definitions: cupid, sage, swallow, jam
  • One good turn deserves another / Little brown jug, how I love thee

Powell, Muir, Fraser, Norden
Norwich/Moore/Shryane

Not TS
BBC R7
27:21, 25645, S
      End of JJN era -- Start of AF era