 |
Johnnie Hamp (sometimes referred to as John Hamp, or Johnny Hamp) is a British television producer, now retired. He is responsible for the early British television appearances of such acts as the Beatles, Burt Bacharach, Cannon and Ball, Paul Daniels, comedian Woody Allen and singer Lisa Stansfield as Head of Light Entertainment with Granada Television. [1]
As a small boy he toured variety theatres as a stooge to his father, a magician known as the Great Hampo. In 1949 he won several talent contests with his own act, a Danny Kaye Tribute, and then toured with The Brian Michie Discoveries Show. In 1950 he was conscripted for two years service in the Royal Air Force. During the 1950s he trained as a Granada cinema manager in Kingston, moving to the group's flagship venue at Tooting to handle a 1953 Frank Sinatra concert. He presented many more, firstly with Johnnie Ray, Guy Mitchell and Frankie Laine, and later with Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard and Gene Vincent. During this period he arranged personal appearances at Granada Theatres of many Hollywood stars including Jayne Mansfield, Bob Hope, Victor Mature etc.
In 1961 Hamp joined Granada's television division, retaining his responsibilities for stage show management, and booking acts for television productions such as Chelsea at Nine. Granada boss Sidney Bernstein soon noticed Hamp's potential as a producer, and put him in charge of several television quiz shows including Spot the Tune, Criss Cross Quiz and Take A Letter.
By the mid 1960s Hamp was based at the new company headquarters in Manchester, where he was making the regional news magazine programme Scene at 6.30. This was followed by a successful series of television specials featuring blues based American artists. The shows included Sarah Sings and Basie Swings (1963), with Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie; I Hear the Blues (1963), featuring Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and Willie Dixon; The Blues and Gospel Train (1964), with Sister Rosetta Tharpe; Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (1964), with Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent; and It's Little Richard (1963). In addition, he championed the Beatles by giving the band television exposure in 1962, at a time when they were little known outside Liverpool. [2] [3]
Hamp made three notable television specials during 1965: Woody Allen, The Bacharach Sound and The Music of Lennon & McCartney . [4]
In 1969 he took over as producer of the film programme Cinema, fronted by the young Michael Parkinson. [5]
1971 saw Hamp's peak of success with the series The Comedians (intermittently 1971–1985), which introduced innumerable new faces to the British public and kickstarted a number of solo comedy careers. These included Mike Reid, Charlie Williams, Colin Crompton, Mick Miller, George Roper, Stan Boardman and Bernard Manning. The series featured mainly Northern stand-up comedians drawn from the club circuit. It was a ratings success for Granada. In 1972/3 Hamp produced spectacular stage versions of 'The Comedians' which played weekly at major theatres and for long summer seasons at The London Palladium, Blackpool, Great Yarmouth and Clacton.
Continuing in the Northern club tradition, The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club (1974–1976), a variety series set in a makeshift working men's club, was another success, often featuring many cast members from The Comedians. [6] Other notable programmes and series include The International PopProms (1975), Paul Daniels Blackpool Bonanza (1978), Bernard Manning in Las Vegas (1978) and The Video Entertainers (1981). [7]
Hamp left Granada Television in 1987, to form his own independent production company, Johnnie Hamp Enterprises. He became the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at Manchester's Victoria & Albert Hotel.[ citation needed ] In 2008, Hamp published his anecdotal autobiography It Beats Working for a Living. In December 2012, Hamp received 'The City of Manchester and Lord Mayor's Lifetime Achievement Award'. Now retired and still living in Manchester, Hamp concentrates on his love of oil painting, charity work and after-dinner speaking. [8]
ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one of the "Big Four" companies that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes during this period.
The Comedians is a British television show of the 1970s produced by Johnnie Hamp of Granada Television. The show gave TV exposure to nightclub and working men's club comedians of the era, including Russ Abbot, Jim Bowen and Bernard Manning, many of whom went on to enjoy mainstream success in the 1980s. Filmed before a live audience in Manchester, comics each performed 20-minute sets, which were then edited together into half-hour shows featuring up to thirteen stand-up comics.
Newton Edward Daniels, known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.
Caroline Mary Aherne was an English actress, comedian, writer, producer and director. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host Mrs Merton, in various roles in The Fast Show, and as Denise in The Royle Family (1998–2012), a series which she co-wrote. She won BAFTA awards for her work on The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family.
Bernard John Manning was an English comedian and nightclub owner.
Jack Morris Rosenthal was an English playwright. He wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations.
The Wednesday Play is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen.
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968.
Hugh Francis Carson KSG was a Northern Irish comedian and actor from Belfast. He was best known for being a regular face on television for many years from the 1970s onwards, appearing in series such as The Comedians and Tiswas. His trademark line was "It's the way I tell them!". Carson was a member of the entertainment charity the Grand Order of Water Rats.
Mancunian Films was a British film production company first organised in 1933. From 1947 it was based in Rusholme, a suburb of Manchester, and produced a number of comedy films, mostly aimed at audiences in the North of England.
Trevor Griffiths is an English dramatist.
The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club was a British television variety show produced by Granada Television from 1974 to 1977. It was set in a fictional working men's club in the North of England and was hosted by comedian Colin Crompton as the club's chairman. The show's compere was usually Bernard Manning, who as well as telling jokes and introducing acts often started and often finished the show with a song. Crompton was frequently the butt of his jokes, acting as Manning's stooge.
George Francis Roper was an English comedian, best known for his appearances in the long-running UK television series The Comedians.
George Colin Crompton was an English stand-up comedian.
Duggie Brown was an English comedian and actor. He was the younger brother of actress and singer Lynne Perrie.
The Music of Lennon & McCartney is a 1965 British television special honouring the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the English rock band the Beatles. It was produced by Granada Television and aired on that station on 16 December 1965 before receiving a national broadcast across the entire ITV network, of which Granada was a part, the following evening. The programme mainly consisted of other artists miming to their recordings of Lennon–McCartney songs, interspersed with scripted commentary from Lennon and McCartney. In addition, the Beatles performed both sides of their current single, "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out". Peter Sellers performed a comedic interpretation of "A Hard Day's Night", in the style of stage actor Laurence Olivier's portrayal of Richard III.
This is a list of British television related events from 1962.
Granada Studios is a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester, England, with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programmes. The studios were the headquarters of Granada Television from 1956 to 2013. After a period of closure, five of the six studio spaces reopened in 2018. The studios are the oldest operating purpose-built television studios in the United Kingdom pre-dating BBC Television Centre by five years.
Derek Redvers Hilton was an English musician and composer who worked for most of his professional career as musical director at Granada Television. He is mostly remembered for his television themes and is credited as writing a total of 241. He also composed under the pseudonym John Snow.
Dukes and Lee were a cabaret duo of Ronnie Duke who was an English musician, dancer and comedian and Ricki Lee who was an English singer. They originated from Yorkshire and were popular on the cabaret circuit in the 1960s and 1970s.