Does anybody remember ‘It’s A Knockout’ on the good old BBC in the 70’s? What a treat that was for the whole family. It’s A Knockout was compulsive viewing in our house. The whole family would get real comfy around telly and delight at the stupid games, water fights and of course those hilarious Giant characters nodding about with stupid expressions on their faces.
The interest and great laughter came from the cleverly inventive Knockout games such as: Elastic Bungee runs, Greasy Poles, Water Fights, Water Slides, Slippery Turntables, Giants in Costumes and more. All of course with some good old BBC Gunge thrown in. Loved it!
Of course we had the local regional heats first, traipsing across merry old UK in the winter weather in some forsaken farmer’s field maybe! It’s a knockout would then go on to the European version for summer viewing (a much better idea), which I think as called “Jeux Sans Frontières”, which if my French serves me well means something like “Games Without Borders”… all in the interests of better Euro-relations. But we still wanted to stuff the rest didn’t we !!
A friend told me that It’s A Knockout actually started in the late 1960s in black & white but became a top show in the early 70’s. The main compere I remember was Stuart ‘Mad as a Hatter’ Hall, running around like a demented pixie and laughing hysterically at the contestants antics. He would ‘interview’ contestants before and after a silly game; confirm the ‘Joker’ had been played; try to hold the show together with commentary and of course check the scores with the dolly bird scorer, whom usually wore very tight hot-pants, the must have 70s fashion item for any self respecting dumb-blond.
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