Top of the Form was a BBC radio and television quiz show for teams from secondary schools in the United Kingdom which ran for 38 years, from 1948 to 1986.
The programme began on Saturday 1 May 1948, as a radio series, at 7.30pm on the Light Programme. It progressed to become a TV series from 1962 to 1975. A decision to stop the programme was announced on 28 September 1986 and the last broadcast was on Tuesday 2 December. The producer, Graham Frost, was reported to have said it had been cancelled because the competitive nature of the show jarred with modern educational philosophy.
Robert MacDermot (died on Saturday 21 November 1964 at Central Middlesex Hospital aged 54, after tripping and falling at London Airport, fracturing bones)
Joan Clark had produced a weekly radio quiz from 1945 called Quiz Team, with two teams of four, with question master Roy Rich. On Sunday 23 May 1948, this transformed into Ask Me, Another! on the Home Service, with teams of four, with question master Lionel Gamlin. Via What Do You Know from 2 August 1953, this became Brain of Britain in 1967.
The programme was largely invented by Joan Clark;[1] she had mostly worked as a reporter on In Town Tonight. When aged 41, she married 47 year old John Peter Wynn, at Caxton Hall Register Office on Tuesday 22 December 1953.[2][3][4] Wynn was half-Welsh and half-Danish, could speak seven languages. He would fly each week to Munich or Lausanne for competitions.[5]
The May 1948 radio series began as a knock-out competition for London schools only, where the winning team that of each transmission would appear in the next week's edition.
The radio national competition (but for boys' schools only) began on Sunday 3 October 1948 at 7.30pm on the Light Programme, with London against Birmingham, and with question master Lionel Gamlin,[6] which was won by Owen's School of Islington, who were later beaten by Liverpool Collegiate School in the second round.
After a request from a Northern Ireland listener, girls teams were added, as an experiment.[7] The first girls' schools appeared on Monday 3 October 1949, with the independent Church High School for Girls in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the girls' team won that first round, with two girls' schools later topping the England section.[8] Girls' teams would always play boys' teams in the first rounds of the radio competition. The radio editions would be repeated on a Saturday at 12pm from this year, also this was continued in all subsequent years. In the two semi-finals for this first year of girls' teams, three of the four teams were from girls' schools, but only one girls' team reached the final - Grove Park Grammar School for Girls (from north Wales), and the boys' team won the final.
The series first appeared on the Home Service when the first international series was repeated on Monday 29 May 1950 at 11am; this international series had originally begun on 18 April 1950 on the Light Programme. From October 1950, the radio national competition was first broadcast on Tuesdays on the Light Programme, then repeated on Saturday at 9.30am on the Home Service, starting from Saturday 7 October 1950.[9]
The first coeducational schools appeared on Saturday 12 May 1951 in the international Scandinavian Top of the Form, which was for coeducational schools only.[10] This international series was repeated much later in July 1951, on the Home Service; later international and national series would not be for coeducational schools only.
A possible precursor of University Challenge began on the Light Programme on Tuesday 24 April 1956 at 7.30pm entitled Commonwealth Quiz, where teams of four, from universities in Australia and the UK competed, which was produced by Joan Clark.[11]Creighton Burns presented in Australia, with production by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), and was carried by the General Overseas Service (BBC World Service.
Another similar radio quiz of Joan Clark was called Namesake Towns, on the Home Service on Saturday afternoons, from Saturday 15 November 1958, where teams from towns of the same name in Australia and Britain would compete, again made with ABC of Australia.[12][13]
Television
The programme was first aired on TV in two special experiments. The first was on 25 April 1953, featuring Sheffield High School (girls) v. Marylebone Grammar School (boys).[14] A second TV broadcast was performed in 1954 featuring Lady Margaret High School for Girls (Cardiff) v Solihull School for Boys. The programme fully migrated to TV later. It ran from 1962 to 1975, and was called Television Top of the Form. It began on Monday 12 November 1962, when the Controller of BBC1 was Stuart Hood (Scottish).
The questions were set by polymath and author Boswell Taylor on behalf of BBC TV and he was assisted by the BBC's Mary Craig who doubled as the scorer and electronic score board operator. In order to set appropriate questions the selected contestants from each school filled in a questionnaire listing their interests, books recently read and favourite music. The teams from co-ed schools usually included two girls and two boys.
Compared to many television quiz shows in recent years, Top of the Form had a resolutely grandiose outlook; nothing would ever be dumbed down. Consequently, on Monday 18 June 1973 it had its first bilingual competition, with Paris v London. The competition on Monday 25 March 1974 was all in the Welsh language.
In 1967 UK schools took on Australian schools in Top of the Form: Transworld Edition. The following year this was renamed Transworld Top Team, under which title it ran until 1973. Each series involved teams from the UK taking on teams from another country. Countries participating over the course of the run included Canada, The Netherlands, the US and Hong Kong.[15]
In 1975 the TV version moved to 4.10–4.35pm on Sundays, then from 3.55 to 4.20, with the last final on 9 August 1975. One of the producers of the TV version was Bill Wright, who would later devise Mastermind in the early 1970s.
Marching Strings had been featured in the popular 1956 British film It's Great to be Young! where a music teacher's job was saved by the efforts of his students.
The series tended to feature grammar schools; in later years, as these schools became less numerous, comprehensive schools sometimes featured, but less often, and there was an increasing dominance by independent schools.
However, as comprehensive schools were becoming more commonplace under the Harold Wilson government, the autumn 1967 TV series of Top of the Form featured only comprehensive schools.[17]
Grove Park Grammar School for Girls, Wrexham, Denbighshire
Captain – Donald McDonald aged 18 – studied English from 1952–55 at University of Aberdeen and President from 1955 to 1956 of the Scottish Union of Students – NUS Scotland and General Secretary for three years,[19] John Nash aged 13, Alisdair MacLean aged 13, and Clifford Hance aged 15.[20]
Captain: Bruce McConnach aged 18, the son of Chief Constable James McConnach of Aberdeen City Police, played in the school orchestra; William Innes aged 16, sang in school choir, from Ballater, joined the RAF, flying Canberras at RAF Coningsby; George Tait; and Jonathan Foster aged 12, his father taught English at the school, who studied classics at Aberdeen, then at Balliol College, Oxford);[21]
Recorded on 14 December 1950; both team captains went to Britannic House (not BP) in London on Monday 22 January 1951, which was filmed for Children's Newsreel;[22] Manchester lost 28-29[23]
Derek Ruxton aged 13, Ewan Wilson aged 16, and Atholl Hill captain aged 16);[24][25][26][27][28]
Belfast were beaten 25–17; Morgan Academy then played Hamburg Johanneum Gymnasium on Monday 21 January 1952, whom they beat 23-18[29] A chairman of a London ice-cream company was so delighted with the exemplary standard of the Dundee team, that he wanted to give everyone at the school free ice-creams. He underestimated the generous offer, when he found out that the school roll was around 1700.[30] Atholl Hill was presented with a prize by Sir James Henderson-Stewart at the BBC in Piccadilly in London, and would appear on In Town Tonight, the next day[31][32]
Alisdair Maclean aged 14, son of a teacher, he wanted to study industrial chemistry, from Aird, Lewis, he later studied Technical Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh; Billy McTaggart aged 12, son of Stornoway cinema manager, he wanted to study law, and was originally from Paisley; and Ian Mackay aged 13; all three were patrol leaders in the Stornaway scouts; and captain Ronald Urquhart aged 16, his father was deputy headmaster, and he wanted to be a doctor)[35][36][37]
Stornoway beat Belfast 30–28; it was the first year that islands off the coast of the United Kingdom were entered, and one of those teams reached the final.[38]
Elizabeth Lewis aged 12, Ann Humphreys aged 13, Noelyne Hopkins aged 15, and captain Isabel Stoner aged 16.
Armagh were beaten by one point; Newtown played the girls of Falkonergårdens Gymnasium of Copenhagen, and Armagh later played the boys of the Prince Rupert School from Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony in Germany; Newtown also appeared on the TV version of In Town Tonight at Lime Grove Studios on Saturday 16 January 1956 with their Physical Culture teacher Mrs Kathleen Arthur.[43] Noelyne Hopkins in the mid-1960s ran a local senior scout unit, and a folk club, and taught at Montgomeryshire College of Further Education; her father, William Hopkins, was the vicar of Abermule, and a Forden Rural District councillor[44][45]
Brenda Emery captain and head girl aged 17, Angela Clifton aged 14, Diana Herd aged 13 of Wylde Green, and Margaret Scaife aged 12 of Little Sutton[46]
The first victory for an English team since the radio competition had begun;[47] the finalists played teams from Denmark, Holland and Germany, as would happen the following year; Sutton Coldfield v of Netherlands on Monday 14 January 1957,[48] Sutton Coldfield were beaten 37–36;[49] Glanmor played of Antwerp on Monday 21 January 1957;[50][51] the team were awarded the prize on Wednesday 13 March 1957[52]
Shirley Sandifer aged 16 of South Heath (Great Missenden), Gillian Davies aged 16, Nichola Adams aged 14, and Susan Rapp aged 12 (The Lee)[53] v (girls: Olwen Davies aged 12 of Leominster).
Captain Ian Campbell aged 17 of Inverbervie, Gordon Shanks aged 13 of Stonehaven, James Freeman aged 15 from Kirkside at St Cyrus, and David Stoney aged 12 of Stonehaven; won 41–35.
John Bone aged 14 of Glenbervie was replaced in an earlier round as he was rushed to hospital for an appendix operation; they were taken on a night out around London by the show producer on 7 January 1960, with their teacher Mr Watt; after the final, Mackie played the Lycée Français de Londres and Rotherham played the London Central Elementary High School[58][59][60]
Josephine Boenisch, Gwenillian Aubrey, Caroline Griffiths (now Beasley-Murray), and captain Veronica Lloyd. Presented with the prize on Thursday 23 February 1961,[61] and given a visit to London
Morag Cuthbert, Frances Wilkinson, Helen Brett, and Patricia Mandeville)[65]
The trophy was presented on 20 January 1965 by Denis Morris, the head of the Light Programme; Stafford High were beaten 46–34, and the programme was recorded at Montrose Town Hall on Tuesday 15 December 1964.
Alan Ronald (captain) aged 16, Michael Todd aged 12, John Morris aged 13, and Brian McNeill aged 15.[68]
Scotland had won nine times, England five, Wales four; The Scotsman featured the result in its editorial on Friday 31 December 1965, implying that the success must be largely due to the obvious proficiency of the nation's grammar schools, but noting that for 'less-gifted children', schools often had a shortage of teachers and places.[69]
Shuna Lindsay aged 12, Mhairi Lepick aged 13, Jane Freer aged 15, Joan Hoggan aged 16.[71][72]
22 December 1968
Grove Park School, Wrexham (boys)
Leyton Senior High School for Girls
The 21st anniversary series, broadcast from 15 September 1968. The Grove boys were presented at the school Wednesday 22 January 1969 by John Rowley, Controller of BBC Wales, with Aneirin Talfan Davies, head of programmes BBC Wales, and John Ellison, and Joan Clark[73]
Judith Palmer, captain, aged 17 from Goostrey, Ruth Lewis aged 12 from Bramhall, Matthew Cobb aged 15 from Cheadle Hulme, and David Rhodes aged 13 from Cheadle
The prize was presented at school on Thursday 3 February by John Grist (1924-2017), Controller of English Regions. Ruth and Matthew were part of a team of three in the Trans World team.[76] with Andrew Barker aged 17, the Captain of a Scottish team[77] Judith was the daughter of Henry Proctor Palmer (16 September 1926 - 28 April 1990) and had a mathematician mother, and studied Chemistry at Oxford,[78] and was in the local Ranger Guide group, with her older sister Alice.
Ian Wallace aged 17, Margaret Hepburn aged 15, Wendy McGibbon aged 13, and David Anderson aged 12
The trophy was presented at the school on Thursday 7 February 1974 by Robert Coulter, a presenter of BBC Radio Scotland. It was the 11th Scottish school to win.[80]
Brackley were Captain Michael Ipgrave, aged 16, Marni Burfitt, aged 15, Alison de Verteuil, aged 13, and David Seaman, aged 12, being coached by teachers Clive Waind and Rosemary Davies[81]
Captain Elaine Scragg later competed in the 1978 Supermind, she studied music at Durham, where she played the bassoon, and is now Elaine Crook; Susan Boon aged 12, Beth Leach aged 14, and Jill Barnes aged 15[84][85][86]
The final was recorded on 9 February, with Macclesfield winning 44-43; the trophy was presented by Prime Minister Jim Callaghan, with ninety minutes at his home on Monday 7 March 1977, with boys from Newark, and their headmistress Beryl Footman, after having lunch at the House of Commons with their local MP; teacher Margaret Biddle, who organised the team, also went;[87][88][89][90][91] the Newark team was captain Michael Furness aged 18, Andrew Collins aged 12, Julian Spicer aged 14, and Martin Yates aged 16; Terry White was their teacher who organised, and he went there, with local their local Labour MP[92][93]
All boarders except Peter Thompson, 14, of Taunton, others were Stephen Connor, 12, father in the Army in Germany, Nicholas Neale, 16, from Twyford, and Andrew Cullum, 17, of London; the school was direct grant, and went independent from September 1978[94]
The final was recorded on Friday 10 February 1978[95] Collingwood were James Oates aged 12, Ian Ashurst aged 14, and Nicholas Hird aged 15, Graham Osgood aged 18, captain.
Fiona Hanley, aged 12, Sean Hanley, aged 14 of Steyne Rd, Neal Dench aged 16 of East St, and captain Philip Barden, aged 17 of Downs Rd.[104] Recorded on Wednesday 8 December. Coached by English teacher John Mockler.[105] Philip Barden studied Maths at Cambridge.[106]
The trophy was awarded by Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Education.[107] Exeter were Tim Buckley, Will Clapp and Matthew Rosseinsky
Sarah Lowe, Katherine James aged 12, sixth formers Jameson Wooders and David Bryant.
The trophy was awarded by Sebastian Coe;[108][109][110] in one of the earlier rounds, Emmbrook scored the highest points total ever for the competition; Emmbrook had been coached by teacher Mrs Merise Corbett, and the programme was recorded on Wednesday 7 December, being a cliffhanging final.
Scottish viewers warned the Scottish team to 'watch the little fair-haired fella' of other team, as 'he's dynamite', the smallest of the Barnsley team.[116] The Scottish team lost
Dumfries won on the last question. 17 year old Adrian Ribolla answered Jean-Paul Sartre to 'Who recently turned down the Nobel Prize for Literature'[119]
Alison Mercer captain from Castle Bromwich, aged 17 deputy head girl, studied English, Janet Brown age 14, Mary Nolan aged 13, Marilyn Black aged 12)[120]
Sutton won 43 to 37;[121][122][123][124] 16 year old Marilyn Black would join with 12 year old Christine Agg, 13 year old Helen Tyrell, and 15 year old Judith Blomeley on the radio 21st anniversary series on Tuesday 15 October 1968 on Radio 2 against Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, later losing to Leyton Senior High School for Girls in the second round on Tuesday 26 November 1968[125][126]
Graham Williamson, Dugald Mackie, Douglas McLachlan, and Eric Prentice (captain)[129]
Watched by 8m, on the same day, Peter Dimmock and Bill Wright visited the school to present the trophy. First time that trophy was presented. Fairfield were David Warwick aged 17, captain, Russell Wagerfield aged 15, Richard Gair aged 14, and Roger Allen aged 12
Marie Bishop age 17 - she wanted to be a doctor, and played the flute in the Warwickshire Youth Orchestra, Elizabeth Wilson aged 15 from Bishop's Tachbrook, Janet Vaughan aged 14, and Vanessa Webb aged 12), Leamington Spa[130][131][132]
The Leamington team were presented with the prize on Thursday 12 January 1967 at the school, from Peter Dimmock of the BBC. Dimmock said that it was the first time that two girls teams were in the final. He said that in the autumn, the show would go international against three Australian cities, and later hoped to compete against US and Canada. Marie Bishop and Elizabeth Wilson both studied medicine at the Royal Free Hospital, and Janet Vaughan studied Law at Leicester Polytechnic[133]
The finalists competed with teams from the Netherlands in Transworld; on 3 August 1970 it was recorded at Inverness Royal Academy with other teams from Aberdeen Academy and Salisbury; later competed on 5 August 1970 in Hilversum, Netherlands; the Dutch teams from The Hague, Eindhoven and Deventer; it was broadcast from 15 September 1970 with Salisbury v Eindhoven and continued until October 1970; Hazlehead Academy featured Morag Ogilvie, Raymond Berry, Christine Cook, and James Treasurer;[137] Hazlehead Academy would be opened by the Queen on Wednesday 7 October 1970; Inverness beat Eindhoven 38–27,[138] Inverness beat Deventer 42 to 30;[139] a Birmingham Post review on 30 September 1970 said – 'very few programmes can boast the education quality and mental stimulus that distinguishes Transworld Top Team'.
Jane Broughton, Alison Love, Ross Beadle, and Martin Clarke.[140]
Won 53–43. This was the 10th anniversary series, so the week afterwards, Kenilworth challenged a 'representative team' from the first series; Kenilworth played a team from Minneapolis on Transworld Top Team on 23 November 1971[141] Transworld would be recorded between August 14 and 1 September 1971,[142] Kenilworth beat New Orleans 52–42,[143] Kenilworth beat Minneapolis,[144] Kenilworth lost to Baltimore 47–34;[145] In the Transworld competition, Oban High School featured Mary Nicol, Anne Hay, Stuart Ross, and Kenneth MacIntyre.[146]
Wilma Grant studied ecology at Edinburgh University, David Knight of Duffus studied medicine at Aberdeen University, Lynn Scott, and Kenneth Lindsay, studied History and English at Aberdeen University, who was also the son of the Director of Education of County of Nairn, and later a BBC radio newsreader.
Filmed at Elgin on 16 May 1973, it ended in a draw 41-41, the tie breaker was won by Elgin).[148] The Derby team were all sixth formers - Anthony Kelk and Paul McCrea from Derby School, and Gillian Duckworth and Jane Sutton from Homelands School; Derby School had become comprehensive in September 1972; Derby School became Derby Moor Academy in 1989; Homelands School also closed in 1989);[149] Elgin went to Hong Kong for Trans World, with St George's School, Hong Kong at Kowloon (servicemens children) against three Australian teams[150][151][152] An assistant producer on Mastermind, Mary Craig, who kept the scoring total, worked on Top of the Form for ten years and met her husband, an RAF officer, in Hong Kong, on a Transworld episode, marrying in 1975.[153]
Gower team: Susan Raad, Michael Isaac, Alison Maull, and David Smith. Leeds team: Francis Bruynseels – head boy of his school in 1975, Jane Dougherty, Stephen Moriarty from St Michael's College.
Other television competitions
Monday 3 May 1965 BBC1 multilingual (German) Latymer Upper School v Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums of Hamburg, recorded mid-April 65, it was recorded as two versions, one English one German; Latymer won 38-31 in the English version (John Barton aged 16, Peter Bennington aged 17 of Putney, Stephen Ankers aged 15 of Teddington, Mark Woodland aged 14 of Wandsworth); the German presenter was Hans Friedrichs of ZDF[155][156]
Film star Hugh Grant, who represented Latymer Upper School;[159] (v Westminster City School on Tuesday 16 November 1976, first round in the series; v Kingswood School, Bath on Tuesday 11 January 1977, second round; v Macclesfield County High School for Girls on Tuesday 8 February 1977, semi-final; Latymer lost this round)
Darien Angadi, whose story was told during a BBC Four documentary about the quiz programme
Robbie Fields, identical twin of Randolph and now owner of Posh Boy Records, was also a member of the 1969 Holland Park School team. Fields was asked the three-point question: "I was born in Valencia in 1867, who am I?" and answered "Blasco Ibáñez", prompting presenter Geoffrey Wheeler to take a deep breath and pronounce the answer correct and leaving viewers baffled.
15 year old Derek Reeh of Newbury, who was in the school cricket team, and appeared on Wednesday 28 September 1966[161] on BBC1 for Newbury Grammar School, with captain 17 year old Harvey Mitchell of Tadley, who wanted to study history; 14 year old Philip Kinns of Speen, who liked stamp collecting; and 12 year old Neil Readmond of Newbury who wanted to be a teacher. Derek Reeh (born 17 January 1951), of Newbury Badminton Club, would study Aeronautical Engineering at Queen Mary College from 1969 to 1972 and would later be an RAF Jaguar pilot, and the chief test pilot for British Aerospace from 1995, flying the first British two-seat Eurofighter TyphoonZH590 on Friday 14 March 1997 over Lancashire. Dr Philip Kinns (born 4 April 1952) joined Stanley Gibbons in 1970, and has worked with the Royal Numismatic Society.[162][163][164]
13 year old Richard Littlejohn, of Peterborough, was in a team of four boys against Kings Norton Grammar School for Girls, broadcast on Sunday 22 October 1967 on the new BBC Radio 2, which was recorded on Tuesday 19 September 1967. Also in the team were Michael Conning aged 12, Martin Bradshaw aged 15 of Walton, and the captain Martin Chambers. It was recorded in the school hall with John Ellison; Tim Gudgin was at Kings Norton.[165][166]
The APT, seen at Crewe, designed by Dundee's Atholl Hill, captain of the 1952 winning team
Helene Hayman, Baroness Hayman, Labour MP from October 1974 to May 1979 for Welwyn Hatfield - as Helene Middleweek she competed for Wolverhampton Girls' High School[167] on Thursday 19 November 1964[168] on BBC One; later aged 19, she would be the second female president of the Cambridge Union in March 1969;[169] aged 22 she tried to be selected for Hitchin against the 26 year old Ann Mallalieu, Baroness Mallalieu, the first female president of the Cambridge Union, and also a law graduate from Newnham College, Cambridge[170] but as a 24 year old social worker was selected to fight Enoch Powell on Saturday 25 November 1972,[171] until Enoch Powell stood down as candidate on Thursday 7 February 1974,[172] and despite Enoch Powell casting a postal vote for her, she came second by 6,901 votes[173]
Bishop Ipgrave was captain of his team in the January 1975 radio final
Michael Ipgrave, captain of Magdalen College School, Brackley, in January 1975, who reached the radio final in January 1975, losing to Cheltenham Grammar School; since 2016 he has been the Bishop of Lichfield
Top of The Form was satirised in the 1960s pre-Python television series At Last the 1948 Show.
"Natural Born Quizzers", an episode of Steve Coogan's comedy series Coogan's Run, involved a thinly-disguised version of the show.
In 2008, Dave Gorman traced the history of the show on BBC Four.
A similar quiz for British schools in Germany called Top Marks was broadcast by BFBS Germany.[177]
See also
Round Britain Quiz, BBC Radio 4's general knowledge quiz from the same era, but mainly for adults, and still broadcast regularly
University Challenge, a similar Granada Television series for British universities, which was (likewise) taken off the air in 1987, but was brought back (now broadcast on BBC 2) in 1994
