Mediatheque - Ready Steady Go

I met an old NHS colleague at the Festival Hall after my meeting today and enjoyed a nice catch-up over coffee and cake in the Southbank Members' Lounge. Afterwards I popped into the British Film Institute just along from the Festival Hall. They have a fantastically rich TV and film archive that visitors can access in their 'Mediatheque' booths. I like to pop in there occasionally for a quick trip down memory lane - in this case a 1964 recording of Ready Steady Go (RSG).  RSG went out on ITV early on Friday evenings with the strap line, 'The Weekend Starts Here'. It was shown live from a studio at the Aldwych and many years later I discovered that my dear Uncle Arthur, who was a film editor with ITN, had worked in the same building and could have got me in. The Rolling Stones appeared on this edition and as the extra photo shows there was no separation to speak of between performers and audience - it was all pretty chaotic. RSG was eclectic and did a lot to popularise Motown and other black American artists  - Marvin Gaye was on this particular edition.