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The broadcast journey to Total Football

2018-06-13T16:30:20+00:00

Kenneth Wolstenholme presenting coverage of West Ham United v Sheffield United in 1966

More than 20 million UK viewers tuned in to watch the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. In stark contrast there is barely a trace of the early World Cups in �� Genome's television and radio listings.

The first football World Cup was held in 1930. It was a humble affair, which didn’t get an outing on radio or TV in the UK. Scotland and England were invited but did not accept; a Radio Times article previewing the 1954 tournament suggested this was because they did not believe the opposition sides were good enough. After follow-up tournaments in 1934 and 1938, the contest was abandoned during World War Two.

The 1950 World Cup was held in Brazil and England participated for the first time. It was still a fairly amateur operation. Italy travelled to the tournament by boat, but the two-week voyage wasn’t particularly conducive to maintaining athletic fitness. Out of condition, they immediately lost their first game to Sweden and were effectively out of the tournament.

Coverage was very limited and the front page of Radio Times that week focused on tennis, with no mention of the tournament. Sporadic five-minute reports from games was all that was available on radio. Competing in their first World Cup, England had the nickname “Kings of Football” and were one of the favourites, having beaten Portugal 10–0 in Lisbon two weeks before the tournament. However, they were knocked out in the first round group stage, thanks to a 1-0 loss against a semi-professional US side, in one of the biggest shocks in the tournament's history.

Kenneth Wolstenholme's Radio Times article ahead of the 1962 World Cup

Held in Switzerland, the 1954 tournament saw live World Cup television coverage on the �� for the first time via the recently installed Eurovision network, which allowed television signals to be relayed across Europe. This only worked for tournaments held in Europe, however, and ahead of the 1962 tournament �� reporter Kenneth Wolstenholme wrote a Radio Times article about the difficulties of broadcasting matches from Chile and the aspiration to get them to air within 48 hours of the match concluding.

Four years later, Wolstenholme and fellow commentator Brian Moore wrote a seven-page preview of the major sides before the 1966 tournament hosted in England. Later on in the edition, an article previewing the comprehensive �� reporting of the upcoming tournament stated: “A feast of soccer on television is offered to ��-1 viewers during the World Cup,” and promised more than 50 hours of coverage. England went on to win the tournament, with Wolstenholme providing one of the most famous moments in the history of sports broadcasting with his commentary on the final England goal.

England’s World Cup win earlier in the day dominated the news report that evening but it was a good day to bury bad news with the script showing that the second story on the �� Service 6.00pm bulletin that evening was a report about the government freezing wages.

Although many people were still watching in black and white, the 1970 World Cup was the first to be broadcast on colour television and you can watch Carlos Alberto’s famous goal as Brazil beat Italy in the final here. It was also the last World Cup to feature Pele, celebrated as one of the greatest players of all time. The Brazilian features in numerous �� Genome listings and his “extraordinary life” was the subject of a �� Two programme in 2002.

Scotland have played in eight World Cups and, although they have never progressed beyond the first round, one of their greatest World Cup moments was captured on �� television in 1978 when they beat Holland with a superb goal from Archie Gemmill, described by commentator David Coleman here.

Coverage of the World Cup is on the government mandated "protected" list, meaning it must be shown on free-to-air terrestrial television. Throughout most of the competition’s history, �� and ITV have jointly covered the tournament on UK television but the unpredictable nature of the competition means the allocation of matches happens at short notice. This can be a problem for Radio Times, which has to print the broadcasters’ alternative TV schedules for match days.

The �� didn’t show England’s 1998 second-round match against Argentina, so instead broadcast their back-up schedule including Celebrity Ready, Steady, Cook and One Foot in the Grave. The football fans were more likely than Victor Meldrew to be exclaiming disbelief that night. A red card for David Beckham and a missed penalty from David Batty saw England get knocked out and a certain eight-year-old boy cry himself to sleep.

World Cup coverage in the 21st Century has seen more technological breakthroughs, with the 2006 tournament shown in high-definition for the first time, a decision Ofcom credited with giving a significant boost to the sales of HD-ready TV sets. There has also been an increase in the coverage of women’s football on television; in 2007 the �� broadcast the Women’s World Cup with Gabby Logan presenting all England games live.

Gabby Logan presented �� coverage of the 2007 Women's World Cup

Coverage continues to evolve. The 2018 tournament sees fans able to watch in Ultra HD and virtual reality for the first time, through the �� Sport's VR 2018 World Cup app - an even more interactive way for viewers to enjoy the euphoria or heartbreak of a penalty shoot-out. There's a lot to look forward to over the next month.

Broadcasting darts: How TV and radio hit the bullseye

2018-01-12T12:00:42+00:00

Jasmine Bligh and Leslie Mitchell at rehearsal for the Indoor Games test transmission in 1936

Darts was first broadcast on radio before becoming a regular in the television schedules, enjoying its heyday in the 1980s. Here are some of the 180 reasons for the success of darts programming.

Traditionally seen as a working-class pub sport, darts has at times appealed to the upper echelons - King George VI and Queen Elizabeth enjoyed a darts demonstration in 1937. The sport was occasionally covered on radio - this listing from 1937 shows a tournament from Belfast was the first darts match to be broadcast in Northern Ireland, while a match involving Joe Hitchcock was covered on The Light Programme in 1946. Darts was even used for a 1936 test television transmission of a match between Jasmine Bligh and Leslie Mitchell, who would both go on to be prominent presenters in the early days of �� Television. Listings weren’t printed for those early television test transmissions, but televised darts did make it into the billings for a 1938 match-up featuring a team of �� employees.

J. T. Sutthery provided the commentary for this 1937 match

One of the driving forces in darts was Sid Waddell. The son of a Northumberland miner, Waddell had an intellect that saw him read modern history at St John’s College Cambridge, before going on to become a television producer for ITV local news. Following the success of the News of the World Darts Championship on television, Waddell launched ITV's The Indoor League in 1972, which featured various pub games including darts and was presented by ex-cricketer Fred Trueman. Fiery Fred had been described by Leslie Kettley as “a blunt Yorkshireman who speaks his mind” in a 1964 Radio Times article. He reinvented himself as a television presenter following his retirement from cricket and memorably fronted the programme while holding a pint of bitter.

Waddell later moved to the �� and was chosen to commentate on the first World Professional Darts Championships in 1978. Alongside Tony Green, Waddell was the ��’s main darts commentator for the next 16 years. He was famed for his colourful and creative one-liners. After Eric Bristow won one of his numerous world titles Waddell exclaimed, “When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer... Bristow's only 27.”

Radio Times put darts on their front cover ahead of the 1980 World Championship

It wasn’t just Waddell’s rich and vibrant commentary that helped darts explode in popularity and turn players like Jocky Wilson, Cliff Lazarenko and John Lowe into household names. For the first World Championships �� producer Nick Hunter introduced split-screen technology to the sport. This allowed the viewer to watch the drama of where the darts landed as well as the tension or ecstasy on the players face as they reacted to their throw. Two players who were able to capitalise most on this were Bobby George and Eric Bristow. The two showmen clashed in the 1980 World Championship final in front of an atmospheric audience at Jollees nightclub in Stoke, broadcast on �� Two. Bristow won the tournament and controlled the event for the next few years. Bristow was so dominant that when he lost the 1983 final to then unknown Keith Deller it was seen as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport and became the inspiration for a Martin Amis novel. Always outspoken and opinionated, following his retirement from the playing the sport Bristow went into punditry but lost his role with Sky Sports in 2016 after heavily criticised posts on Twitter about football abuse victims.

With darts now in the mainstream, there were plenty of opportunities for top players with big personalities. No-one exemplified this more than losing 1980 finalist, the charismatic Bobby George. George was one of the first to combine darting prowess with entertainment. To get the crowd on-side he dressed up to walk on stage and played bedecked in jewellery. He continued to be one of the biggest personalities in darts long after he retired and, wearing a necklace made of wedding rings, he was a crucial part of �� commentary throughout the 00s.

Bobby George returned to the stage to partake in Let's Play Darts For Sport Relief in 2016

At the start of the 90s the �� scaled back its own coverage and was only showing one tournament a year. It was this lack of coverage that eventually led to the sport splitting in two but before that there was a crossroads match in the 1990 final as Phil Taylor beat his mentor Eric Bristow. Taylor went on to dominate the sport for the next two decades with that year’s tournament also notable for Paul Lim becoming the first player to hit a perfect 9-dart finish during the World Darts Championship. You can watch the iconic moment here.

With the �� only covering one tournament a year the lack of television coverage led to less prize money and decreased exposure for players. The players blamed the British Darts Organisation (BDO) for this and a breakaway group of 16 formed what is now known as the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), whose tournaments were broadcast on Sky Sports. The breakaway group of players included all former world champions, bar one.

The �� continued to show the BDO version of the World Championships and in 2005 viewers were able to see every dart thrown live at the BDO World Championship for the first time. This was the first year that the �� introduced interactive coverage on its red button service. Prior to this, coverage had to fit within the schedules and when matches overran viewers waited for the nightly highlights programme to see the winning arrow. In January 2016 the BDO World Championships was shown on the �� for the final time with Channel 4 and BT Sport taking over the rights for subsequent tournaments.

Deta Hedman is a three time runner-up in the Women's World Championship

Women's darts has made the occasional appearance in the listings over the years. You can view these late 1930s listings, in which Nellie Foxwell represented darts in a radio special about female sport a year after the Ladies Individual Darts Championship was broadcast. Maureen Flowers was the leading player of her generation and appears in six listings from the 70s and 80s. Female darts has received greatly increasing coverage in recent times with Anastasia Dobromyslova and 10x world champion Trina Gulliver appearing in the listings. Deta Hedman also appeared in pro-celebrity charity darts programme Let’s Play Darts for Sport Relief partnering Richard Osman in the first series and Jon Richardson in the second.

In recent years the �� has shown the PDC’s Champions League of Darts, broadcast on the channel since the summer of 2016. The sport is thriving and still enjoyed by a broad range of people. Stephen Fry is known to be a fan and the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips was spotted attending a tournament in 2012. Darts also made a return to the radio a couple of years ago with �� 5 Live broadcasting the PDC World Darts Championship final on New Year’s Day 2014.

�� TV's Summer Holiday

2017-07-25T16:16:06+00:00

The cover of the last Radio Times Television Supplement, from July 1937. The final programme before TV's three week 'holiday' was Review of Revues, which included Valerie Hobson, later the wife of John Profumo MP...

Starting eighty years ago today, in the summer of 1937, television took a holiday for three weeks. The service was still in its infancy, and engineers at Alexandra Palace needed to carry out maintenance on equipment which they were still working out how to use.

Radio Times had given fair warning to the handful of television viewers then tuning in. The issue published on 10 July announced: "INTERIM: In order that an overhaul and certain internal adjustments may be carried out at Alexandra Palace, transmissions will be suspended for three weeks, beginning on Monday, July 26. There will, however, be television transmissions from Wimbledon of the Davis Cup on July 26 and Tuesday, July 27, between 3pm and 4pm, with an extension until 4.30pm if necessary.” The tennis was transmitted as promised, but in fact transmissions continued for the whole period, albeit only of test programmes.

Television had been going for just under a year by summer 1937. Though the official launch was in November 1936, there was a special transmission to the annual RadiOlympia exhibition in August that year, followed by a few weeks of test programmes. All of these alternated the Baird and Marconi-EMI television systems, which the government’s Television Advisory Committee had decided should be trialled for up to six months before the final system was chosen.

By the end of January 1937 however, it was clear to the �� and the Advisory Committee that although it had some good features, the Baird system, involving separate Spotlight studio (for close-ups) and Intermediate Film (for long shots), was too impractical to take any further. Marconi-EMI, with its higher resolution picture of 405 lines, and more flexible working method, became the sole television format.

That said, there were still issues to be resolved, and so it was decided to take the single studio (Studio A) then in use out of service for a few weeks. The break also saw the end of the Radio Times Television Supplement, which was glossy, lavishly illustrated and expensive to produce; indeed there were no television listings at all in the magazine during the three weeks.

Jasmine Bligh, one of the original trio of television announcers, seen in an off-screen still from August 1937. She was distantly related to Captain Bligh of 'Mutiny on the Bounty' fame

In terms of content and viewing hours, television at this time was still very limited in scope: there was only an hour’s transmission in the afternoon and the same in the evening. During the ‘holiday’ period, films started to be shown in the morning, initially cinema newsreels, and something called Ace Magazine. These gave electrical retailers something to show when demonstrating sets in the morning, even if only during a one-hour window.

This period also saw the debut of the �� Demonstration Film, which would endure until the mid-1950s in a constantly-changing form. As the recording of electronic pictures, even onto film, had not yet been satisfactorily achieved, demonstration films were made as conventional films, recreating selected items with the original performers. Apart from still photographs and a couple of short excerpts from actual transmissions which have survived, demonstration films are about the only idea we have of what the earliest television looked like.

There was no television transmitted on Saturday 31 July, or Bank Holiday Monday, 2 August. There was also no transmission on Sunday 1 August - or any other Sunday (until April 1938). Sundays in the 1920s and 1930s were regarded as being very special by the ��, under the influence of the strictly religious Director General, Sir John Reith. As Reith was no fan of television generally, it is perhaps not surprising that Sunday was television’s regular day off, and this only changed a couple of months before Reith left the ��.

Adagio dancers the Bega Four performing on an edition of Cabaret Cartoons in 1937, while being drawn by cartoonist Harry Rutherford (right), who had studied alongside L.S. Lowry

There were occasional technical breakdowns, though it is not recorded whether these were spontaneous or the result of the maintenance work. There were no evening transmissions during this period, and the afternoon programmes were transmitted earlier than normal. On the last day of the ‘holiday’ period, Saturday 14 August, the service closed down at midday.

Television returned to normal at 3pm the following Monday, August 16. Jasmine Bligh was the announcer, and the first show, after a newsreel, was a ‘mixed programme’ consisting of Indian dances by Mayura Vincent, songs by John Thompson, and an adapted Tolstoy story “Capital Punishment”, starring Charles Lefeaux. After an ‘interest’ film, Bugle from Blue Grass, there was more drama, starring Jean Forbes-Robertson in Scenes from Romeo and Juliet, with Michael Redgrave as Romeo, although he was not credited in Radio Times. (Unfortunately for technical reasons these listings are not presently on the Genome database.)

Evening programmes included veteran actor Bransby Williams in his celebrated monologues, a talk on commercial art, and another newsreel. The transmission concluded with Cabaret Cartoons, with Harry Rutherford doing lightning sketches of the performers, including singer Ingrid Linck, ‘upside-down dancers’ the Topsy-Turvey Two, and adagio dancers the Bega Four. (Two scheduled acts, Trudi Binar and The Grip Four, did not appear.) The programme was directed by the television programme organiser, Cecil Madden.

And so television carried on. It never again took a ‘holiday’ – unless you count the Second World War, the 1947 Fuel Crisis, and the occasional strike…

Wimbledon: Players, pundits and personalities

2017-06-30T13:50:52+00:00

John Barrett (prepared for all weather conditions in shorts and a jumper), Virginia Wade, Dan Maskell and Gerald Williams in 1989

It is a year of anniversaries for the �� and Wimbledon this year. 2017 marks 80 years of TV and 90 years of radio coverage by the ��. It is also 50 years since the first time the championships were shown in colour.

As the tournament begins, the Genome blog looks at some radio and TV commentators who have brought the action into our homes over many decades and some of the players who have figured heavily in the �� Genome listings.

Dan Maskell outside the Centre Court commentary box, 1958

Early radio commentaries were delivered by the extravagantly named Captain Henry Blythe Thornhill (Teddy) Wakelam. Wakelam was a rugby player and had commentated on the first Rugby Union match on the �� earlier that year. But the man who went on to be the voice of tennis had a much stronger association with the sport: tennis coach Dan Maskell made his debut commentating on Wimbledon in 1949. In an interview he gave for Radio Times ahead of the 1956 championships Maskell spoke of the need to know players personally to cover the sport. Maskell covered the tournament until 1991 and is reported never to have missed a single day's play at the championships from 1929 until his retirement.

While Maskell specialised in and was considered the voice of the sport, another stalwart - who has provided Wimbledon coverage for more than 30 years - is legendary commentator Barry Davies. Davies’ early �� listings are predominately for football and hockey and there are hundreds of listings for Davies on Match of The Day. However, �� Genome also shows a long association with Wimbledon, on which he has provided commentary since 1983. Davies is still going strong and is at Wimbledon for the �� again this year.

As well as Wimbledon Barry Davies also commentated on 12 Summer Olympics

Early Radio Times magazines showed a keen interest in the tournament, despite there only being a handful of broadcasts for the first years of coverage. As Wimbledon grew to dominate the schedules it was nearly always given a front cover. From the 1970s onwards, the tennis stars of the day were increasingly featured.

One of the best players of her generation - and having won the French Open in 1976 - Sue Barker was on the Radio Times front cover ahead of Wimbledon 1977. The 1977 event, won by Virginia Wade, saw the centenary of the championships and the listings show that there was a special programme to look back at the “Action, anecdotes, delight, despair, fashion, fun” from the preceding 100 years.

Sue Barker moved into broadcasting following her retirement from playing and after spending some time fronting Sky’s coverage she presented Wimbledon on the �� from 1993 onwards. From this starting point Barker has become a mainstay of �� listings - presenting a wide range of programmes including A Question of Sport, Olympics and even a Royal Wedding.

Serve up a blog about Wimbledon and not mention John McEnroe? You Cannot be Serious! McEnroe is another personality who has made the move from player to broadcaster. Magnificent play and a volatile on-court temperament brought him much attention during his playing career. He was on the Radio Times cover in 1979 and in reaching five consecutive Wimbledon finals at the start of the 80s McEnroe featured in many �� billings just like this. After McEnroe retired from the sport (later to become a regular feature of �� tennis coverage), players such as Steffi Graf and Pete Sampras took centre stage on Centre Court in the late 1980s and the 1990s.

Steffi Graf at the 1993 Wimbledon Championships

With schedules coming out a week in advance, Radio Times listings have focused on the famous players of the day. �� Genome shows the preeminent players of the 21st Century have been Roger Federer and the Williams sisters. Venus and Serena have won 12 times since the turn of the century, competing against each other in four of those finals. The second day of the championship is traditionally referred to as Ladies Day with the defending female champion playing her first round match. Last year’s champion will not be able to do that this year however with 2016 winner Serena heavily pregnant and therefore missing the tournament.

Serena (left) celebrating beating sister Venus (right) in the 2003 singles final

Ninety years after first broadcasting from Wimbledon the partnership continues: last year the �� and the All England Club announced an extension to their broadcast agreement until 2024. Who knows who'll be bringing us the coverage then - perhaps some of the players of today will be tomorrow's radio and TV commentators.

A History of Snooker on TV: How the baize got on the box

2017-04-27T13:01:30+00:00

Dennis Taylor became the World Snooker Champion, beating Steve Davis in the now famous marathon "Black Ball Final" of 1985

The World Snooker Championship comes to a conclusion this weekend at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. So it seems a fitting moment to take a look at the history of how snooker has been covered on television.

Snooker was covered a handful of times in the early days of �� radio, and later gained a foothold in black and white TV in the 1950s and 60s. But it wasn't until the late-1960s that snooker got its big break. Then-controller of �� Two, Sir David Attenborough, was eager to find a format to showcase the ground-breaking invention of colour TV. After calling a meeting of �� executives, they decided on snooker, and broadcaster “whispering” Ted Lowe came up with an idea for a new show - Pot Black.

Pot Black's format changed over time (it ran annually from 1969 till 1986 with sporadic tournaments thereafter) but the original series consisted of eight players, playing in a one-frame knockout tournament. The debut episode was broadcast on 23 July 1969, a couple of days after Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon. One small step for man and a giant leap in the history of snooker.

Alongside commentator Clive Everton, Ted Lowe went on to become the voice of the sport. However, it was Jack Karnehm who, in 1983, produced the most famous moment in snooker commentary history, by uttering the immortal line “good luck mate” as Canada's Cliff “The Grinder” Thorburn lined up the final black before sinking to his knees, having completed the first maximum 147 at the World Championship.

Ken Dodd uses a cue instead of a tickling stick to play six-time World Champion Ray Reardon

Nicknames have longed played a big role in the marketing of snooker. Winner of the first Pot Black final, Ray Reardon (he went on to win six world titles), was known affectionately as “Dracula” due to his sharp-toothed grin. While many nicknames reflected a player’s style of play (Jimmy “The Whirlwind” White and Ronnie “The Rocket” O'Sullivan are famed for their fast approach to the sport) Steve Davis acquired the ironic title of “interesting”. Davis dominated snooker for much of the 80s, playing in a methodical style that many considered boring in comparison to the risk-taking Alex “The Hurricane” Higgins. In later years Davis reclaimed the nickname “interesting” (it is the title of his autobiography), showing he was a man of many parts with his move from sport to broadcasting - even DJ-ing at Glastonbury Festival in 2016.

While Davis was undeniably the champion player of the 80s, the people’s champion was Alex Higgins. A complex character with a volatile personality, Higgins was a key player in the snooker revolution, as it moved from smoke-filled rooms at the back of pubs to prime-time �� television. When Higgins won the World title for the first time in 1972 it wasn’t televised and the prize money for winning was reportedly just £400. Ten years later when he won his second title, the winner’s cheque had rocketed to £25,000.

In 1982 Higgins won his second world title, his clearance when trailing 15 frames to 14 in a first to 16 frame semi-final match against Jimmy White is widely regarded as one of the finest in history. Higgins beat Ray Reardon in the final. With tears of joy rolling down his face he beckoned his wife and baby daughter from the crowd to celebrate with him. Although now ubiquitous across all sports, Higgins was the first sportsman to do such a thing – another indication of his unconventional style. It was the last time that the popular but troubled snooker-player won a World Title.

It was Dennis Taylor who was involved in quite possibly the greatest World Snooker Championship moment, in the 1985 black ball final. The schedule from 28 April 1985 shows that a dramatisation of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House should have gone out at 22:10 that night, but it wasn’t to be. The snooker continued until 12:30am (18.5 million viewers watched - still a record audience for �� Two and for any UK programme broadcast after midnight), and the genial Taylor with his upside-down glasses eventually potted the final black to beat Steve Davis and bring the marathon to a close.

The precocious Stephen Hendry became the sport's youngest World Champion in 1990 at 21

The following year Taylor, Davis and a number of other players converted success on the table to success in the charts, and although the likes of Willie Thorne and Terry Griffiths seemed unlikely pop stars (more associated with break building than break dancing), such was snooker’s appeal at the time that for a few weeks in May 1986 (including an appearance on Top of the Pops). The Matchroom Mob (Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor, Willie Thorne, Terry Griffiths and Tony Meo) provided backing vocals to Chaz and Dave’s hit Snooker Loopy (hitting a chart high of six, and coming above Marvin Gaye with I heard it through the Grapevine and The Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry in the charts). Perhaps the players involved were right to stick to their day jobs, but they were probably better at singing than the average 1980s pop-star was at long-potting...

Stephen Hendry, who won seven world titles in 10 years, including four consecutively, dominated snooker in the 1990s. Hendry’s ruthless dedication to winning often saw him come up against Jimmy White in finals. White is a six-time world champion finalist and widely considered to be the best player never to win the tournament. Four of White’s world final losses were at the hands of Hendry with the closest and final one coming in 1994 when Hendry won a final frame decider. Immediately after the match when David Vine handed White the microphone a few feet from the trophy that had eluded him once more “The Whirlwind” uttered possibly the biggest understatement in the history of snooker on television “He’s beginning to annoy me”. White has never reached another final but did beat Hendry in the first round of the 1998 tournament.

David Vine presented �� snooker coverage for over 20 years

A change of century saw a new generation of players rising to the top of the sport. John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan have both enjoyed considerable success, with O’Sullivan taking over the crowd-favourite tag from Alex Higgins and Jimmy White before him. In recent years the game has grown massively in China and across Asia.

In China, 250 million people watched the 2016 final featuring Ding Junhui (making the 18.5 million staying up to watch Denis Taylor’s 1985 win look insignificant in comparison). Who knows what Ted Lowe would have to whisper about that?

Face to Faith (...Moss, Waugh, Sitwell, Russell and Jung)

2017-03-22T13:24:13+00:00

Pop star Adam Faith was a controversial choice for the interview series, as he was only 20 when questioned by John Freeman in December 1960

The �� has released six more interviews from the classic Face to Face series as part of the ��4 Talks collection on iPlayer.

Face to Face was first transmitted between 1959 and 1962. John Freeman's encounters with Adam Faith, Stirling Moss, Evelyn Waugh, Dame Edith Sitwell, Bertrand Russell and Carl Jung are now available online on iPlayer.

�� Genome has listings for all the Face to Face interviews, and links through to the episodes of the programme that are available to watch - you can also read the billings for those that have not yet been released. There is something for everyone in this newly released collection, which includes subjects from the worlds of pop, poetry and literature, science and sport.

John Freeman was a master of the incisive interview, cross-examining leading personalities of the day. He had been an MP, and joined the Panorama team when it was relaunched in 1955. During his stint as interviewer on Face to Face he became editor of The New Statesman, and was later appointed an ambassador.

Adam Faith’s Face to Face interview was recorded in 1960, when he was a heartthrob teen idol in the first flush of fame. Faith became a pop sensation overnight, when his song 'What Do You Want?' reached number one in the charts the year before. He was the only pop singer to be interviewed by John Freeman for the series.

John Freeman interviewed the racing car driver Stirling Moss earlier in 1960. Nearly 30 years later, Freeman revealed to the broadcaster Anthony Clare that this was virtually the only interview that pleased him. Freeman had considered Moss a playboy but their encounter showed the racing driver to possess a "cold, precise, clinical judgement... a man who could live so close to the edge of death and danger, and trust entirely to his own judgement."

Freeman faced a difficult subject in Evelyn Waugh. Interviewed the week after Moss, Waugh, the author of Brideshead Revisited and Decline and Fall, was in a characteristically obstructive frame of mind. The result is a rare glimpse into the life and temperament of one of the greatest novelists of the 20th Century.

Poetic grande dame, not to mention Dame, Edith Sitwell prepares for her interview with John Freeman and producer Hugh Burnett

Dame Edith Sitwell, the well-known eccentric poet and personality, was John Freeman's guest in May 1959. At 71, Dame Edith was true to form, answering his questions in a way only she could. And she dressed for the occasion - in a headdress she called her 'bird king's hat', an ermine jacket, and with huge rings on her fingers.

"The last survivor of a dead epoch" was how the distinguished philosopher Bertrand Russell described himself. He used his long life to challenge the accepted ideas and conventional attitudes of the day. Then in his 87th year, Lord Russell discussed with John Freeman his experiences, his achievements, and his unfulfilled ambitions.

Professor Carl Gustav Jung was viewed as the greatest living psychologist when he was filmed at his lakeside home near Zurich in 1959. Freeman found Jung - although an old man - as sharp and clear-thinking as ever. It proved to be a timely encounter; Jung died 18 months later. This was Freeman’s only interview in which he did not adopt his customary style of interviewing with his back to the camera, his face concealed from the viewer.

Among Freeman’s other subjects already available as part of this ��4 Talks collection are interviews with Henry Moore, Martin Luther King, Tony Hancock and Gilbert Harding.

Face to Face was revived (initially as part of the Late Show) from 1989 to 1998 with Jeremy Isaacs conducting the interviews with, among others, Jeanette Winterson, Maya Angelou, Lauren Bacall and Ken Dodd. These episodes are also available to watch on iPlayer.

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