RADIO APPEARANCES

Petula and Mr. Piano - 1959
All listings broadcast in the UK, except as noted.
Maroon colored titles indicate shows in which Petula was a series regular.

THE FIFTIES

1950

HELLO PARIS
Light Programme

6/1/50

A Variety exchange presented in collaboration with Radiodiffusion Française
With Petula, Ted Heath and his Music, The Stargazers in London and French performers in Paris.
(Perhaps Petula's first broadcast to Paris??)

BAND PARADE
BBC

8/1/50

FRENCH VARIETY
BBC

5/3/50

Series regular.

VARIETY BANDBOX
Light Programme

12/3/50

Petula with Reg Dixon, Max Wall

FIRST HOUSE
BB CHome Service

31/3/50

GALA NIGHT AT THE RHUBARB
BBC

7/4/50

Petula with Reg Dixon, Max Wall

STUDY IN A FLAT
BBC

8/6/50
15/6/50
22/6/50
29/6/50
6/7/50
13/7/50
20/7/50
27/7/50

Sitcom with songs for teen Petula Clark.

HOME SERVICE
BBC

12/7/50

STARLIGHT
BBC

4/8/50

THE RADIO SHOW
BBC

9/8/50

HULLO THERE
Light Programme

2/9/50

Petula, Billy Mayerl, and the Rhythm Players

VARIETY BANDBOX
Light Programme

8/10/50

Petula starring with Arthur English (Who also appeared with Petula in Candida in 1983) and a very early appearance of Benny Hill
Billy Ternent and his Orchestra

NATIONAL RADIO & TV AWARDS OF 1950
BBC

7/12/50

A gala programme introducing the Daily Mail National Radio and Television Award winners followed by the presentation of the Awards. Petula was named Outstanding Television Woman Personality of 1950. This program was also televised.

CALLING ALL FORCES
BBC

9/12/50 until 21/7/51

Series regular with her own 15 minute request spot.
Series designed for men and women in service overseas. Broadcast each Sunday, repeated on Saturday. (29 weeks) Petula was billed as the singing sweetheart and she is introduced each week with vocal chorus singing Let Me Call You Sweetheart "Petula Clark brings greetings and sings the most requested songs Or "Petula Clark sings songs of the Servicemen's choice."

1951

CALLING ALL FORCES
BBC

9/12/50 until 21/7/51

Series regular with her own 15 minute request spot.
11/2/51 - Good Luck, Good Health, God Bless You
25/2/51 - Harbour Lights
4/3/51 - While the Angelus Was Ringing
18/3/51 - With a Song in My Heart
8/4/51 - Till Then
15/4/51 - Down in the Glen
27/4/51 - I'll Make Up for Everything
6/5/51 - My Choice
10/6/51 - Far Away Places
17/6/51 - My Happiness
17/6/51 - Someone Like You, Autumn Leaves, Always

26 January, 1951

RADIO TIMES

A band to watch--Peggy Evans, Ted Ray, Kitty Bluett and Michael Howard take a back seat to see and hear the orchestra rehearse
A note to watch--Petula Clark runs through a song with her accompanist Joe Henderson.
Leslie Welch



For the past eight Sundays the Light Programme and General Overseas Services of the BBC have been "Calling All Forces." Here in text and pictures we offer a glimpse of the show in its final stages--just before and just after the red light has flickered in the studio and recording is underway.

Calling
All
Forces


Geraldo
A man to watch--the George Mitchell Choir checks a point with its conductor.
Everything to watch--Leslie Bridgmont and Frank Hooper (standing) with the programme engineer.

A beat to watch--the Stargazers cluster around the microphone for another close-harmony number.

To the artist a rehearsal is either a necessary evil or a protracted bore. To the layman there are few things more fascinating. First there is the simple pleasure of actually seeing people whose names, in less austere times, are spelt in lights. Yes, Petula Clark is as pretty as her pictures, and Ted Ray considerably more suavely sleek than most of his. . .
      And when that artless star-gazing is over there is the controlled chaos to watch. This is what always astounds the layman. George Crow waves his baton (he deputises for Geraldo on occasions) and the double bass has one eye on him and one on the score--taking no notice at all as Bob Sharples, who arranges the music, elbows past to correct a note for the cellos. The girls of the George Mitchell choir lay down their knitting and take their places on the rostrum at some invisible signal, catch their note and their entry from the band and pay no attention whatsoever to the different tune the Stargazers are rehearsing loudly in the corridor. These in turn are careless of people pushing past them with cups of tea, impervious to the inevitable comings and goings. And yet, on time, they are on the rostrum, ready for the beat.
      It is this alert concentration which marks the professional. One moment Ted Ray is in the aisle telling a story; the next he is before the microphone telling one of those in the script. One moment Petula Clark is sipping coffeee in the back row of the stalls; the next she too is before the microphone with one eye on her accompanist Joe Henderson who has materialised seemingly from nowhere.
      And behind it all--in the control room, on the platform, round the piano or in the aisle--are Leslie Bridgmont and Frank Hooper the producers. For them this final rehearsal is merely an episode; most of the work has been done earlier. They have checked the script with Denis Goodwin and Bob Monkhouse several days before hand. They have arranged with the BBC Regions to provide the vast variety of sounds which make up 'You've Asked for It' (these range from the sound of a cow being milked to that of the Town Hall bells at Bradford). They have waded through the long lists of sporting questions submitted to test the phenomenal memory of Leslie Welch (his act, incidentally, is never rehearsed: after greeting him, Ted Ray has only a list of questions and answers before him while the script reads firmly, 'Ad lib from here.') They have gone over the requests for songs (240 titles have so far ben submitted, most of them several times.)
      After a day of cuttting and tailoring, Bridgmont and Hooper have the audience to greet (Bridmont does this in grand style with 'There may be a joke or two so you are welcome to laugh') and the show to record. By the time they have checked with the recording engineers they have almost forgotten it. They know that in seven days time--and their thoughts are already there--they will once more be Calling All Forces.
-ELWYN JONES

DESERT ISLAND DISCS
BBC Home Service

2/5/51

Popular series whereby guest artists select the ten recordings they would take with them if they were marooned on a desert island. Petula is interviewd by Roy Plomley.

VARIETY MATINEE
Light Programme

26/5/51

Flanagan and Allen, Teddy Johnson, Tommy Reilly, Petula Clark and Jimmy Young

FILM TIME
BBC Home Service Basic

12/7/51

Introduced by David Jacobs
Includes excerpts from the soundtrack of the film White Corridors, starring Googie Withers, James Donald, Godfrey Tearle. and Petula Clark

GUEST NIGHT

25/11/51

VARIETY BANDBOX
Light Programme

17/12/51

Introduced by Jimmy Hanley with Al Read
Petula Clark. (Jimmy had co-starred with Petula in the 1949 film Don't Ever Leave Me.)

UP-AND-COMING
BBC Home Service

19/12/51

A midday menu of radio artists known, well known, and unknown with the BBC Variety Orchestra.
Introduced this week by Petula.

1952

WORKER'S PLAYTIME
BBC Home Service

30/1/52

Petula makes an appearance at a canteen in Enfield, Middlesex.

FILM TIME
BBC Home Service

21/2/52

This week's edition includes the following recorded items: Picture Panel - Guest artist Petula Clark and the resident team answer listeners' questions put to them by the public.

FROM A SEAT IN THE CIRCLE
Light Programme,

1/3//52

David Southwood describes a continuous excerpt from the world premiere of the J. Arthur Rank presentation The Card
Recorded at the Odeon Theatre, Leicester Square, London
Contributers include: Petula Clark

THE CHILDREN'S COUNTRY HOLIDAYS FUND
BBC Home Service Basic

12/3//52

Talk by Petula Clark on the Children's Country Holidays Fund and the need for summer holiday homes for the less fortunate London children who have no other chance of a holiday.

RICHARD ATENBOROUGH INVITES YOU HOME AT EIGHT
BBC Home Service Basic

5/5//52

Recording celebrity of the week: Petula Clark.

FILM GARDEN PARTY
Light Programme

14/6//52

A visit to The Stage of Fame , at Morden Hall Park, Surrey
Presented by Leslie Mitchell
Film stars who are heard include Petula, Dirk Bogarde, Diana Dors, John Mills.

THESE RADIO TIMES
BBC Home Service

11/7//52

A happy history of Everyman's entertainment with Dame Sybil Thorndike and Petula.

FILM TIME
BBC Home Service

4/9/52

A visit to the film set of Made in Heaven at Pinewood Studios, including interviews with Petula Clark and David Tomlinson

FILM TIME
BBC Home Service

25/9/52

Introduced by Leslie Mitchell
This week's edition includes the following recorded items: Plans for Playtime: the last in the series introduced by Jeanne Heal in which stars discuss their holidays. This week: Petula Clark

THE FORCES SHOW
Light Programme

7/10/52

Introduced by Richard Murdoch Kenneth Horne and Sam Costa  Includes Petula Clark and David Tomlinson in excerpts from the film Made in Heaven.

THE GOOD COMPANIONS
Radio Luxemberg

12/1/52

Star studded series based on J.B. Priestley's popular novel.

VARIETY MATINEE
BBC Home Service

26/12/52

Petula, Jimmy Young, Max Bygraves.

1953

NSA - FIRST HOUSE VARIETY AHOY!
BBC Home Service

1/1/53

With Derek Roy, Petula Clark, Dick Emery
Recorded before the ship's company of H.M.S. Vanguard in the Royal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth (Petula Clark broadcasts by permission of the J. Arthur Rank Organisation Ltd.)

FILM TIME
BBC Home Service

22/1/53

Introduced by Leslie Mitchell.
> This week includes "The film part I would most like to play" - Petula Clark. together with Dirk Bogarde, enacts a scene of her choosing.

FILM TIME
BBC Home Service

28/5/53

Introduced by Leslie Mitchell.
This week's hostess: Petula Clark.

CLOSE-UP OF SID FIELD
Light Programme

22/6/53

Petula talks about working with Sid in the film London Town.

PETULA CLARK
Light Programme

2/7/53

On gramophone records.

JACK JACKSON IN "HI NEIGHBOURS"
Light Programme

12/7/53

With Petula.

JACK JACKSON IN "HI NEIGHBOURS"
Light Programme

12/7/53

With Petula.

FILM TIME"
BBC Home Service Basic

30/7/53

Introduced by Leslie Mitchell
This week's ediition includes Picture Puzzle: a not-too-serious quiz in which Wilfrid Thomas poses some questions for the residential team and the guests, Petula Clark and Frankie Howerd.

VARIETY PLAYHOUSE
BBC Home Service Basic

17/8/53

With Vic Oliver as host and Master of Ceremonies who each week invites stars from all branches of the entertainment world. With Petula and Percy Edwards.

MIDDAY MUSIC-HALL
BBC Home Service Basic

24/8/53

Petula (Top of the bill).

FILM TIME
BBC Home Service Basic

27/8/53

A visit to the film set of Scream in the Night, at Southall Studios, including interviews with Margaret Rutherford, Frankie Howerd, and Petula Clark. (What was to be the American title of Runaway Bus.)

Alfred Marks in STAR BILL
Light Programme

30/8/53

Petula, Jimmy Edwards, David Hughes, The Stanley Black Concert Orchestra.

PETULA CLARK
BBC Home Service Basic

10/9/53

"On gramophones"
(Not clear if this is her records or she is playing other records.)

PETULA CLARK
BBC Home Service Basic

10/11/53

"On gramophones."

1954

FILM TIME
BBC Home Service Basic

5/3/543

Introduced by Leslie Mitchell
This week's edition includes On the Track: a game in which the panel, Petula Clark, John Fitzgerald, and Donald Zec, are invited to follow the clues on soundtrack.

FLOTSAM (B. C. Hilliam)
BBC Home Service Basic

3/5/54
merging memories of yesterday with friendships of today featuring Petula Clark, Max Miller, The George Mitchell Choir.

CLUB CAVENDISH
BBC Home Service Basic

19/4/54
With Petula, Edmundo Ros, Billy Ternent and his Orchestra

PETULA CLARK
Light Programme

10/7/54
On gramophone records.

SHOW BAND SHOW
Light Programme

2/8/54
Cyril Stapleton directs the BBC Show Band, Charlie Chester, Petula Clark.

TERNENT'S IN TOWN
Light Programme

15/8/54
29/8/54
5/9/54
12/9/54
19/9/54
Billy Ternent and his Orchestra.
Petula guested on each show.
We're a Couple of Swells (from Easter Parade)

STARLIGHT AT SEVEN
BBC Home Service Basic

24/9/54
From Wales with Petula Clark and the BBC Welsh Orchestra.

A LIFE OF BLISS
BBC Light Programme

20/10/54

FINDING A GIRLFRIEND
Life of Bliss is the story of a shy, awkward, absent-minded young bachelor David Bliss as he lives the sweet single life. Produced in the United Kingdom, George Cole plays the lead character David Bliss, Petula Clark plays girlfriend Penny Gay. Famed bird imitator, Percy Edwards, filled the role of Psyche the dog. The show was written to be a light-hearted and simple comedy, but the response was strong and the show became a hit around the world. Percy Edwards (the "bark" of 'Psyche' - the dog in the series) entertained the studio audience with his animal impressions. This series ran for 118 episodes--although Petula appeared in only a handful--before it moved (in the early 60s) to television.

RECORD VARIETY
BBC BBC Home Service Basic

13/12/54

Petula with Joe 'Mr. Piano' Henderson, Max Jaffa, Bert Weedon, Eve Boswell.

1955

RECORD VARIETY
BBC Home Service Basic

13/12/54

Petula with Joe 'Mr. Piano' Henderson, Max Jaffa, Bert Weedon, Eve Boswell.

CHILDREN'S HOUR
BBC Home Service Basic

1/1/55

Petula Clark in Out to Play!

MIDDAY MUSIC-HALL
BBC Home Service Basic

10/1/55

MORNING STAR
BBC Home Service Basic

18/1/55

Petula Clark "on gramophone records"

PET'S SONG PARTY
Radio Luxemberg

11/2/55

Each week Petula visited the Dr. Barnardo's Village Homes at Barkingside for a sing-song with the children there.

Terry-Thomas in TOP OF THE TOWN
Light Programme

27/2/55

With Petula, Miriam Karlin, Jimmy James.

STAR BILL
BBC

6/3/55

Introduced by Nicholas Parsons. Star guests include Petula, Tony Fayne, David Evans and Kenny Baker. The stars pay tribute to Judy Garland.

THE SHOW GOES ON
Light Programme

14/4/55
6/3/55

Introduced by Morecambe and Wise.

PETULA CLARK and RONNIE HILTON
BBC Home Service Basic

4/5/55

on gramophone records.

YOUTH AT THE TURNTABLE
Light Programme

7/7/55

A series of gramophone record programmes introduced by young stars of stage, screen, and radio.
This week: Petula Clark.

Richard Murdoch rings up the curtain on VARIETY PLAYHOUSE
BBC Home Service

16/7/55

Petula with Jon Pertwee, Tommy Reilly, The Peter Knight Singers, Ron Goodwin and his Concert Orchestra.

Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin are STARSTRUCK
BBC Home Service Basic

13/9/55

Petula, Max Wall, Stanley Black and his Orchestra.

YOU AND I

6/10/55

Series starring Petula and Joe 'Mr. Piano' Henderson.

CHILDREN'S TELEVISION
BBC Television

11/10/55

Petula and guests

Jack Payne introduces SAY IT WITH MUSIC
Light Programme

10/12/55

Petula, Edmund Hockridge, Max Wall, Sid Phillips and his Band.

ATHE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
Light Programme

24/12/55

Petula and the George Mitchell Choir sing seasonable music with the BBC Revue Orchestra.

Arthur Askey in HELLO, CHRISTMAS PLAYMATES!
BBC Home Service Basic

26/12/55

A Yuletide feast prepared by and containing: Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin,
MENU: Conducted by Paul Fenoulhet
Contributors:
The Melon: David Nixon
The Mince Pie: Petula Clark - Relax-Ay-Voo, Suddenly There's a Valley
The Turkey: Irene Handl
The Lemon: Pat Coombs

VARIETY AHOY!
BBC Home Service Basic

29/12/55

from H.M.S. Siskin at Gosport with The Keynotes, Ivy Benson, Petula, Derek Roy, Bert Weedon (guitar).

1956

Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin are STARSTRUCK
BBC Home Service Basic

16/1/56

Peter Sellers, Petula Clark.
Ohh Bang, Jiggilly Jang

THE SONG'S THE THING
Light Programme

20/1/56
23/1/56
24/1/56
26/1/56
27/1/56

With her own hit records of popular song.

P.M. WORKERS' PLAYTIME
BBC Home Service Basic

14/2/56

From a factory at Dagenham Dock, Essex with The Londonairs. Kitty Bluett Petula Clark, Derek Roy.

VARIETY MATINEE
BBC Home Service Basic

25/2/56

Winifred Atwell. Petula Clark, Johnny Ray, Les Paul and Mary Ford, George Shearing Quintet, Kay Starr, Slim Whitman, (Possibly all on records.)

Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin are STARSTRUCK
BBC Home Service Basic

5/3/56

Cardew Robinson, Petula Clark, Nat Temple and his Orchestra.

Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin are STARSTRUCK
BBC Home Service Basic

7/5/56

Petula with Max Wall.

Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin are STARSTRUCK
BBC Home Service Basic

9/5/56

Petula with Max Wall.

PETULA CLARK
BBC Home Service Basic

1/6/56

With Tony Osborne and his Orchestra on gramophone records.

Jack Buchanan rings up the curtain on VARIETY PLAYHOUSE
BBC Home Service Basic

7/7/56

Presenting Cicely Courtneidge and Jack Hulbert with Petula and the Peter Knight Singers. (Petula would work many times with Peter Knight on recordings and BBC TV through to the mid 1970's)

Jimmy Clitheroe as the CALL BOY
BBC Home Service

23/10/56

Petula with Joe 'Mr Piano' Henderson, Morecambe and Wise.

MIDDAY MUSIC-HALL
BBC Home Service Basic

14/12/56

Petula and the BBC Variety Orchestra.

1957

A LIFE OF BLISS
Light Programme

28/5/57

Petula played series star's girlfriend, Penny Gay, until she left him at the altar. Only in a handful of episodes.

with George Cole and A Life of Bliss


The story of the first five yars of the popular radio show is chronicled here by its producer, LESLIE BRIDGMONT

     The hundredth edition of A Life of Bliss takes the air in the Home Service on satisfaction to at least one man--that is the author, Godfrey Harrison, for it is all his own work; he has had no collaborator.
      'Bliss' has been a surprise to all of us who brought it into the world. In the first place we never expected it to be a big laughter-maker. We anticipated gentle chuckles, perhaps, at a light ingenuous comedy, but not the seat-rocking roars of hearty laughter that have in fact marked the halting progress of this shy young bachelor.
      Surprise number two came with the hold the sentiment took on the public. David's love affairs assumed an importance that was quite extraordinary, and when at the end of one series, Penny Gay (Petula Clark) left him at the altar we were deluged with indignant letters from romantic listeners, not only from Great Britain but from South Africa and Australia. What they didn't realise, of course, was that had we allowed him to live happily ever after it would have been the end of Bachelor Bliss.
      The series nearly came unstuck right at the beginning, for it was tailor-made for David Tomlinson, in the role of Bliss. Tomlinson was playing in The Little Hut at the time, and when the show ended its London run, six weeks after we started, he was under contract to go on tour with it, which made it impossible for him to do the Sunday recordings. We were in a dilemma, for the programme was obviously a success. Either it had to be taken off or we had to change horses in mid-stream. We realised that to find another David Bliss was not going to be an easy task; but fortune smiled, and we hit on the absolutely right person in George Cole, who has been with us ever since; that is for ninety-four episodes.
      The only member of the cast who has been with us for the complete series is Psyche the dog. Psyche presented quite a problem as we didn't know any dog impersonators. Then we thought of contacting Percy Edwards the famous bird imitator, who agreed to tackle the part of the espressive and almost talking dog. Some listeners didn't take kindly to the canine influence in the Bliss household at first, but now Psyche seems to have won all hearts and has quite an impressive fan-mail.
      Diana Churchill and Colin Gordon, who play the roles of married sister and brother-in-law respectively make up the permanent basic cast. Or perhaps I should say 'team' for undobtedly it is a well-knit and happy team. There has been a succession of girl friends. But whether wedding bells will ever ring for David will be determined not so much by the Goddess of Love as the steely heart of Godfrey Harrison's typewriter.
RADIO TIMES
6 March, 1959

TOP OF THE POPS
Light Programme

20/5/57

Songs and stories from the stars.
This week: Petula Clark with the BBC Variety Orchestra.
(Not the iconic Top of the Pops TV chart show which did not start until 1964!)

Alfred Marks invites you to get ON YOUR MARKS
BBC Home Service Basic

29/5/57

Petula, Jimmy Hanley, Nat Temple and his Orchestra.

VAL PARNELL'S SATURDAY SPECTACULAR-THE GEORGE FORMBY SHOW
ATV

15/6/57

Stardust, Ordinary People

THE RUNNABLE STAG
BBC Home Service/Scotland

3/10/57
10/10/57
17/10/57
24/10,57
31/10,57
7/11/57
14/11,57
21/11/57.

Teddy Johnson and Petula Clark star in 'The Runnable Stag': serial thriller by Edward Boyd.



Petula with co-star Teddy Johnson and his wife, Pearl Carr, the two of which were a singing duo and Eurovision song contestants in the 1950s.

FOLLOW THE STARS
Light Programme

29/12/57

This week's stars include: Petula, Peggy Mount, Joan Sims, Jon Pertwee, Ian Wallace (regular)

1958

FOLLOW THE STARS
Light Programme

23/2/58

Radio's shining hour of entertainment. With Ian Wallace.
This week's stars include: Petula Clark, The Radio Revellers

WAY OF LIFE
BBC Home Service Basic

20/4/58

A series of programmes in which Christians think about their faith with people in show business. Including Petula, Dickie Henderson.

THE THREE STAR SHOW
Light Programme

19/6/58

A weekly series featuring, on records, some of the world's top popular entertainers. Tonight's stars are:
The Blue Stars, Frank Sinatra, Petula Clark. Presented by Brian Matthew

THE SONG'S THE THING
Light Programme

15/7/58

Petula Clark (in a recorded programme) says "The Song's the Thing" and plays records of popular songs past and present. (Petula Clark is in 'Music for the Millions' at the South Parade Pier, Southsea)

Tommy Trinder introduces LONDON LIGHTS
Light Programme

19/10/58

with Petula, Edric Connor.

Archie Andrews assisted by Peter Brough presents CHILDREN'S FAVOURITES
Light Programme

20/12/58

Some more of the records you have asked to hear with guest star, Petula Clark.

1959

LONDON LIGHTS
Light Programme

18/1/58

Petula Clark, George Meaton, Edward O'Connor, Russ conway, Max Wall.

MIDDAY MUSIC-HALL
Light Programme

17/7/58

Guest: Polka Dots, Jack Emblow.

PETULA CLARK
Light Programme

3/9/58

On gramophone records.

PET AND MR. PIANO

6/10/59
13/10/59
20/10/59
27/10/59
3/11/59
10/11/59
17/11/59
24/11/59
1/12/59
15/12/59
22/12/59

A series of fast-paced shows in which Petula and Joe Henderson (accompanied by the Ralph Dollimore Quartet) sang and played their way through no less than 26 songs in half an hour.

PET AND MR. PIANO

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