• 189

    Saturday 16 March 1963


    Panel: Catherine Boyle, Angela Douglas, David Gell, Sid James


    Producer: Neville Wortman


    Records played:
    Punish Her – Mike Preston (Decca) HIT
    Walk Like A Man – Four Seasons (Stateside) HIT
    Tomorrow Is Another Day – Maureen Evans (Oriole) MISS
    Cigarettes And Coffee Blues – Marty Robbins (Fontana) HIT
    Them Terrible Boots – Orlons (Cameo Parkway) HIT
    Follow The Boys – Connie Francis (MGM) MISS
    Misery – Kenny Lynch (HMV) HIT
    Say I Won’t Be There – Springfields (Philips) MISS
    Can You Forgive Me – Karl Denver (Decca) MISS


     

  • 206

    Saturday 13 July 1963, 6-6.35pm


    Panel: Esma Cannon, Albert Finney, Pip Hinton, Bunny Lewis


    Producer: Richard Evans


    Records played:
    Come On Home – Springfields (Philips) HIT
    Don’t Do That – Shane Fenton & the Fentones (Parlophone) HIT
    He’s So Near – Maureen Scott (HMV) HIT
    Too Late To Worry – Richard Anthony (Columbia) HIT
    Not Too Young To Get Married – Bob B Soxx & the Blue Jeans (London) HIT
    If I Ruled The World – Terry Lightfoot & his Jazzmen (Columbia) HIT
    Busy Doing Nothing – Don Spencer (HMV) MISS
    Easier Said Than Done – Essex (Columbia) MISS
    Ring Of Fire – Johnny Cash (CBS) MISS
    A Fool In Love – Jan Burnette (Oriole) MISS
    Wipe Out – Surfaris (London) HIT
    Summer Skies And Golden Sands – Overlanders (Pye) HIT


    Maureen Scott was a London folk singer spotted by a Disney executive Jimmy Johnson and signed for Buena Vista, released here on HMV.

    Albert Finney amateurish alongside Bunny Lewis on Juke Box Jury.
    NME 19 July 1963

  • 132

    Saturday 3 February 1962


    Panel: Carole Carr, Denis Norden, Barbara Shelley, Steve Race


    Producer: Harry Carlisle


    Records played:
    Twistin’ The Night Away – Sam Cooke (RCA) HIT
    Tell Me What He Said – Helen Shapiro (Columbia) HIT
    I’ll See You In My Dreams – Pat Boone (London) MISS
    Goodnight Irene – Springfields (Philips) MISS
    Let’s Start All Over Again – Shirley Bassey (Columbia) HIT
    March Of The Siamese Children – Kenny Ball (Pye) HIT
    Love Me Warm And Tender – Paul Anka (RCA) MISS
    Don’t Cry On My Shoulder – Connie Francis (MGM) MISS


    Spin-A-Disc with Alan Dell: Chip Chip, Baby It’s You, Blue Skies (Johnny Rivers)

     

  • 143

    Saturday 21 April 1962


    Panel: Alma Cogan, Neil Sedaka, Nina and Frederik


    Producer: Johnnie Stewart


    Records played:
    What’d I Say – Bobby Darin (London) HIT
    Twist Twist Senora – Gary US Bonds (Top Rank) HIT
    Silver Threads And Golden Needles – Springfields (Philips) HIT
    Tavern In The Town – Terry Lightfoot (Columbia) HIT
    Let’s Talk About Love – Helen Shapiro (Columbia) HIT
    Time Beat – Ray Cathode (Parlophone) MISS
    Tears Broke Out On Me – Eddy Arnold (RCA) HIT
    Cowboy Jock From Skye – Andy Stewart (Top Rank) MISS
    Shake The Hand Of A Fool – Johnny Hallyday (Philips) HIT
    In a Persian Market – Cy Laurie HIT


    Ray Cathode aka George Martin. Press report headlined Electronic Sounds as it made use of the Radiophonic Workshop

    Spin-A-Disc with Alvin Twist (Chipmunks), Tears Broke Out On Me (Eddy Arnold) and Shake The Hand Of A Fool (Johnny Hallyday, Philips)

    Listening to Helen Shapiro on Juke Box Jury, Alma Cogan thought it was a boy.
    Alley Cat, 4 May 1962

  • 158

    Saturday 4 August 1962


    Panel: Rose Brennan, Brian Rix, Jimmy Young, Susan Hampshire


    Producer: Johnnie Stewart


    Records played:
    Yesterday (check title) – Polka Dots (Philips) MISS
    Seven Day Weekend – U S Bonds (Stateside) HIT
    Steptoe And Son – Geoff Love (Columbia) HIT
    Goody Goody – Frank Sinatra (Reprise) MISS
    The Cure – Smitty Williams (MGM) MISS
    I Sat Back And Let It Happen – Leroy Van Dyke (Mercury) HIT
    Swahili Papa – Springfields (Philips) HIT
    Sealed With A Kiss – Brian Hyland (HMV) HIT
    Little Sue – Dowlands (Oriole) MISS


    Producer Neville Wortman had joined the BBC after a spell as a cartoonist for ITV and time on Cool For Cats: “I was hoping to ease my way into the BBC. Twist had become one of the rages and I was going to direct a programme on that with Barry Lupino whose sister was Ida Lupino, the American film star. He got smashed up in a car accident and Johnnie Stewart was brought in. He had been doing Juke Box Jury and so he came out of that. The twist didn’t last very long and nor did the show. It was nicely shot though, a good show.”

    Producer Neville Wortman: “I was asked to pick it up as it had got very staid. It had become more of a family show than something for teenagers. Bill Cotton Jr and I were the two youngest producers at the BBC – I was just under 30.”

    Producer Neville Wortman: “I was determined to get more interesting panellists on Juke Box Jury, some people who had a real interest in popular music. I tried to build up really good panels and I filmed it in a different way too as I placed the cameras in unusual positions. I featured a lot more of the audience and got their expressions. We used to look for characters and I would get people out looking for characters whom we could invite to the show. We would walk to someone in the street and say, “Please come”. We were fighting head on with Thank Your Lucky Stars. They had a great style of programming for teenagers and I knew Philip Jones very well. They had a very stylish programme and Juke Box Jury wasn’t that. We were fighting for our lives with that programme. The BBC wanted to grab an audience at six and they thought that if you had them then, you should have them through the evening.”

  • 174

    Saturday 24 November 1962


    Panel: Arther Askey, Dora Bryan, Kenneth Mars, Jean Metcalfe, Bobby Vee


    Producer: Neville Wortman (Actually, Presented by…)


    Records played:
    Return To Sender – Elvis Presley (RCA) HIT
    Island Of Dreams – Springfields (Philips) MISS
    The Next Time – Cliff Richard (Columbia) HIT
    Fly Me To The Moon – Joe Harnell & his Orchestra (London) MISS
    All Through The Night – Lynne Adams (Ember) MISS
    Baby Take A Bow – Adam Faith (Parlophone) HIT
    Where Have All The Flowers Gone – George Mitchell Singers (HMV) MISS
    Don’t Light The Fire ’Til After Santa’s Gone – Terry Scott (Parlophone) MISS
    Happiness Tree – Norman Vaughan (Pye) MISS
    If You Were A Rock’n’Roll Record – Freddy Cannon (Stateside) HIT


    Scott’s record was a B-side: A-side was My Brother.

    Askey paid 30g, date given is 23.11.62

    DailyMirror, 271162
    The BBC dropped plans to replace JBJ with a big teenage show. The intention was to have a 45 minute show on the 6.5 Special formula with a 15 minute “disc verdict”. After looking a try out with guest star Bobby Vee, and The John Barry Orchestra, Tom Sloan decided to keep JBJ as it was.

    JBJ used to be from the Television Theatre but it is now produced from a studio at the Television Centre with only 100 seats. The waiting list for tickets closed in January and people have been waiting about a year for tickets.

  • 116

    Saturday 21 October 1961


    Panel: Adam Faith, Alan Freeman, Helen Shapiro, Jane Asher


    Producer: Johnnie Stewart


    Records played:
    His Latest Flame – Elvis Presley (RCA)
    Heartaches – Marcels (Pye)
    Fool No 1 – Brenda Lee (Brunswick)
    Sewers Of The Strand – Spike Milligan (Parlophone)
    Bambino – Springfields (Philips)
    Tomorrow’s Clown – Marty Wilde (Philips)
    My Friend The Sea – Petula Clark (Pye)
    Bridge Of Love – Joe Dowell ()
    Time Has Come – Adam Faith (Parlophone)
    Do It Yourself – Josh MacRae (Pye)


    Spin-A-Disc: Take Good Care Of My Baby, Fool No.1, His Latest Flame

    From 1961 there was the innovation of the Hot Seat, where one of the artists whose records had been reviewed would be interviewed, one the first of these being Spike Milligan.  His record was Sideways Through the Sewers of the Strand, though it is hard to imagine that the discussion stayed on the subject in hand for long, given Milligan’s propensity for anarchy.  Both Helen and Jane were 15.

    “If my home is anything to judge by, everything stops for Juke Box Jury and every schoolboy can name 20 pop singers, even if he remains lamentably ignorant of the name of the Prime Minister, or the advantages and disadvantages of joining the Common Market.”
    The Times, “From a correspondent”

    Helen Shapiro: “You had no idea what they were going to play and you heard the tracks for the first time live on air. I loved doing that. It was great fun. It was not like now when everybody slags off everybody else. We were much nicer in those days and if you didn’t care for something you said it in a nice way, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.”

    Mike McCartney: “We watched Juke Box Jury religiously, especially when Jane Asher was. She was young, beautiful, had a well-cultured, Dad-admired accent and when she smiled, the set lit up. Paul and I both fancied her.”

    Jane’s agent, Neil Landor: “She is vivacious, articulate, and really enjoys pop music and has very definite views on what she likes and dislikes plus the ability to express them intelligently.”