Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

European International Series

Entrants 1975: Belgium (B) • Switzerland (CH) • West Germany (D) •
France (F) • Great Britain (GB) • Italy (I) • Netherlands (NL) 

Presenters / Commentators of International Competitions:
Paule Herreman (RTB - B)
Mike Verdrengh, Marc van Poucke and Regine Clauwaert (BRT - B)
Georges Kleinmann (SSR - CH)
Ezio Guidi and Elisabeth Brindisi (TSI - CH)
Jan Hiermeyer and Heidi Abel (SRG - CH)
Erhard Keller, Karl-Heinz Wocker, Manfred Erdenberger
and Marie-Louise Steinbauer (ARD-WDR - D)
Guy Lux, Simone Garnier and Claude Savarit (A2 - F)
Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring (BBC - GB)
Giulio Marchetti and Rosanna Vaudetti (RAI - I)
Dick Passchier and Barend Barendse (NCRV - NL)

International Referees:
Gennaro Olivieri
Guido Pancaldi

National Referees:
Mike Swann (GB)

Collaborator / Assistant Referee:
André Lange

Production Credits:

National Games Designers: Stuart Furber (GB); National Producers: Diane Lange and Nicolas Résimont (RTB - B), Lode Hendrickx, Jef Savenberg and Herman Verelst (BRT - B), Jean Niedermann (SSR - CH), Marius Berger (SRG - CH), Sergio Cavaglieri (TSI - CH), Marita Theile (D), Guy Lux and Claude Savarit (F), Barney Colehan (GB), Luciano Vecchi (I), Bernard Prins and Dick Van’t Sant (NL); National Directors: Lode Hendrickx (BRT - B), Jean Bovon and Jean-Marie Schorderet (SRG - CH), Günther Hassert (D), Pierre Badel and Jean Cohen (F), Geoff Wilson (BBC), Gian Maria Tabarelli (I), Matthias Meuser (NL)

Produced by the European Broadcasting Union and
RTB-BRT (B), SSR-SRG-TSI (CH), ARD-WDR (D), 
ANTENNE 2 (F), BBC Manchester (GB), RAI (I), NCRV (NL)

Key: International Heats ● = Qualified for International Final / ● = Heat Winner (Silver Trophy) International Final ● = Gold Trophy / ● = Silver Trophy / ● = Bronze Trophy Trophy   ▲ = Promoted to Position / ▼ = Demoted to Position DST = Daylight Saving Time (ONLY Great Britain and Italy observed DST)

B

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 1

Event Staged: Tuesday 20th May 1975
Venue: Alfred Verweeplein, Knokke, Belgium

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.10pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)

Nederland 1 (NL): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 21st May 1975, 8.15-9.35pm
TSI (CH): Wednesday 21st May 1975, 9.00-10.15pm

BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 27th August 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 31st August 1975, 1.55-3.10pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Mike Verdrengh

Theme: The Village Fair

Teams: Knokke-Heist (B) v. Riva San Vitale (CH) v. Oppenheim (D) v.
Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) v. St. Ives (GB) v. Cosenza (I) v. Hoogvliet (NL)

Team Members included:
Knokke-Heist (B) - Paul van der Kochkerholm;
Riva San Vitale (CH) - Rita Bricholla, Oriallo Catalani and Thierre Luigi Valconi;
Oppenheim (D) - Bernt Borsnerf, Molly Copriva and Helmut Ring;
Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) - Jacques Boutain;
St. Ives (GB) - Jack Aitkin, Monroe Broad, Billy Chappel, Charles Eddy, Joanna Eddy, Malcolm Furneaux, Brian Hannibal, Maureen Hopley, Sarah Kinwell, Tommy Meredith, Keith Naylor, Margaret Paynter, Ivor Phillips, Dudley Richards, Jane Schwab, Jeanette Trevorrow, Derek White, Hilary Wilson Reserves: Leslie Angove, Sandra Burgess;
Cosenza (I) - Fausto Brullio;
Hoogvliet (NL) - Ben Paasman (Team Captain).

Games: The Tassel Grab, The Flying Aeroplanes, The Jousting Horse, The Performing Bears, The Carousel Boxes, The Flying Fritters, The Moving Chair and The Glued Ramp;
Fil Rouge: The Bumper Cars;
Jokers: Carousel Horses

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th

 D • Oppenheim ●
 B • Knokke-Heist ●
 NL • Hoogvliet
 F • Neuilly-sur-Seine
 CH • Riva San Vitale
 GB • St. Ives
 I • Cosenza

43
40
39
38
37
29
23

The Venue

Knokke, Belgium

This heat was held in Alfred Verwee Square, located in front of the Town Hall in the centre of Knokke. The square was named after Alfred Jacques Verwee, a Belgian painter and etcher. Born in St.-Joost-ten-Node in Brussels in 1838, he was known for his depictions of animals and landscapes. At the time of staging the square was used for the weekly market, but today the square stands on top of an underground car park, and is surrounded by shops and open-air cafés.

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

Following last year’s beige suit attire, the main referees’ outfits were changed once again this year to beige jackets, light-blue trousers and white floral shirts.

Throughout the history of Jeux Sans Frontières, the final placings of each event were announced at the end of the programme by the local presenter. This heat is unique in that respect, because rather than handing back to presenter Mike Verdrengh, referee Gennaro Olivieri announced the scores of the last game and then announced the placings himself: “The final results are - Oppenheim with 43pts from Germany is the winner, Knokke-Heist from Belgium is second with 40pts and third place is Hoogvliet from Holland with 39pts”. This had never happened prior to this heat and has never been repeated since!

Additional Information

Game 2 - ‘The Aeroplanes’ - and Game 5 - ‘The Carousel’ - as well as the Fil Rouge - ‘The Bumper Cars’ - all featured actual fairground rides. The Fil Rouge involved a girl in a bumper car which had twenty balloons attached to its rubber bumper, and three opposing team members had to drive against her car and burst the balloons in the quickest time. One of the three team members was the commentator from the country competing, who also had to commentate whilst driving the bumper car! The competing commentators were: Ezio Guidi (Switzerland), Erhard Keller (West Germany), Claude Savarit (France), Eddie Waring (Great Britain), Giulio Marchetti (Italy), Barend Barendse (Netherlands) and Marc van Poucke (Belgium). An interesting point to note was that when Gennaro gave the score for Great Britain he referred to Eddie Waring as ‘Uncle Eddie’ - a term which had been more commonly used by Stuart Hall to describe his fellow commentator since 1972!

Throughout the programme, music from an authentic barrel-organ was played whilst the games were played out, which clearly added to the fairground theme and atmosphere.

This was the first time that an International Heat was staged before all the British Domestic Heats had been recorded. A similar happening occurred in 1979, when the first two Internationals were held before completion of the British Domestic series!

As from this heat onwards, BBC1 Wales began broadcasting the majority of future International programmes on the following Sunday (or later), as opposed to the rest of Great Britain.

The Belgian team of Knokke-Heist comprised of members from the towns and villages of Albertstrand, Duinbergen, Heist-aan-Zee, Het Zoute and Knokke.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

NL

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 2

Event Staged: Tuesday 3rd June 1975
Venue: Vrijthof van de Sint-Servaaskerk (St. Servatius Church Courtyard),
Maastricht, Netherlands

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.10pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 1 (NL): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 4th June 1975, 8.15-9.35pm
TSI (CH): Wednesday 4th June 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RAI Due (I): Wednesday 4th June 1975
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 8th July 1975, 9.00-10.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 3rd September 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 7th September 1975, 1.55-3.10pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Fons Baeton, Mayor of Maastricht

Theme: The Secret Service

Teams: Rochefort (B) v. Zermatt (CH) v. Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) v.
Narbonne (F) v. Swansea (GB) v. Bracciano (I) v. Maastricht (NL)

Team Members included:
Rochefort (B) - Madeleine DeSoux;
Zermatt (CH) - Madeleine Calbert-Martin, Stefan Groenisch;
Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) - Rolf Schube (Team Coach), Hannelore Grimm (Team Coach), Klaus Britsch, Inge Gleich, Günter Heinle, Karl-Heinz Jablinski, Wolfgang Jogwer, Frieder Kling, Markus Kling, Bärbel Mack, Gerhard Müller, Jürgen Ruof, Wolfgang Sinn, Ellen Tiedtke, Edeltraud Wachtler, Christian Walter;

Narbonne (F) - Serge Denovak, Danielle Moganere, René Ray, Danielle Roguemarrer;
Swansea (GB) - Alan Major (Team Trainer), Robert Sullivan (Team Captain), J Alksanas, Jeff Buller, D Davies, Christine Griffiths, J Griffiths, S Hayler, Susan Isaac, J Jones, Lee Jones, R Luke, A Mages, Chris Moore, Paul Preedy, P Ronan, Robert Shaddick, Steve Seaman, William Sterio, G Sullivan, Peter Thomas, Wendy Watson, Rose Williams, Mandy Wood, S Yeandle;
Bracciano (I) - Giovanni Bellini, Bruna Fronilli, Roberto Irabetti;
Maastricht (NL) - Ad Daalmans (Team Coach), Gerard van der Hayden (Team Captain), Jennifer Andersson, Nico Giunessen, Correy Hermans.

Games: The Prison Break, The Plutonium Rod, The Private Island, Sherlock Holmes’ Dog, Batman’s Outfit, The Brain-Washing Machine, James Bond and Crocodiles and The Aston Martin Race;
Fil Rouge: The Scientist's Robot;
Jokers: Country Maps overlaid with Flashing Sniper Targets.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
6th

 D • Bietigheim-Bissingen ● ●
 GB • Swansea ●
 CH • Zermatt
 I • Bracciano
 B • Rochefort
 F • Narbonne
 NL • Maastricht

46
40
37
33
29
26
26

The Venue

Maastricht, Netherlands

This heat was held in the historic vrijthof (courtyard) of St. Servatius Church in Maastricht. The current courtyard square was built on the area belonging to the St. Servatius Chapter, and served as a cemetery dating back as far as the 5th century. During the Middle Ages, the cemetery was covered over and was surrounded by houses which were occupied by canons in attendance at the church. In 1972, the square began to subside and after excavation a new car park was built underneath it. Nowadays, it is dominated by the twin towers of St. Servatius Church and St. John, and is used for festivals, fairs and outdoor concerts.

The Games in Detail

Game 6 - The Brain-Washing Machine

The Dutch television service NCRV once again provided a colourful and costumed heat, and included a game which was hilarious to watch. Game 6 - ‘The Brain-Washing Machine’ - required a female member of each team to have her ears checked before competing to ensure that they were clear of any plugs or blockages so that there was no untoward cheating. She was then seated in a large chair and a pair of large ear-shaped headphones was placed over her head, and then had to recite (in one of three languages - French, German or Dutch) the famous French nursery song Frère Jacques:

“Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don.”

After she had completed this, Guido blew the whistle and Gennaro pulled a handle next to the chair. She then had to recite the song twice more, whilst at the same time having her original recital replayed back through her ears at different speeds and at a greater volume. Some of the girls concentrated hard and were able to complete their recitals in fewer than 15 seconds. The Dutch competitor completed the game in just 9 seconds, but loud jeers of disapproval rang out around the square when Gennaro stated that she had missed out three words from her recital and were penalised with a 15 second penalty (5 seconds for each word). Anyone watching the heat would be asking the question “How could you tell that they missed the words?”

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

At the start of the programme, a space rocket was shown hanging in the sky which then began to descend to earth, complete with landing flares ablaze. Inside were referees Gennaro Olivieri and Guido Pancaldi. However, as the rocket reached the arena floor and the referees were about to alight, presenter Dick Passchier beckoned the two referees to remain in the rocket because the introduction of the teams had not yet begun. After the teams had been introduced, the camera once again panned to the rocket, which had now returned to its original position in the sky. The rocket once again began to descend, but this time without the landing flares, and the illusion was completed shattered when arena lighting lit up the area and showed the hydraulic hoist which was being used to lower the rocket!

Returning Teams and Competitors

Italian competitor Giovanni Bellini made the last of his nine appearances in Jeux Sans Frontières at this heat. He had previously participated for both of the Montecatini Terme teams in 1966 and 1967, Terracina in 1968, Frascati in 1969 and Ancona in 1970. He made his final appearance as a member of the Bracciano team in 1975. During his nine appearances, he assisted in chalking up three victories (1966, 1967 and 1968) which also saw him competing in the Semi-Finals (1966) and two International Finals (1967 and 1968), a 2nd place (1969), an unfortunate 7th place (1970) and a 4th place at this heat.

Additional Information

This International Heat cost an estimated 250,000 Dutch guilders to stage. Included in the cost was the construction of grandstands which had a 3,500 spectator capacity and reinforcement works to the underground parking lot beneath the Maastricht Vrijthof square. This endeavour was considered necessary in order to avoid possible collapse due to the weight of the games and the water pools sited in the square above.

The games were all based on fictional characters from spy novels and movies. The Fil Rouge set included a large computer with dozens of dials and switches (which were common in films featuring mad scientists), and the scoreboard was built into this as the screen of the computer. The Jokers were cleverly thought out and were some of the best seen over the programme’s history. Maps of each individual country embossed with the national flags were overlaid with a sniper’s target of four rings with a horizontal and vertical line through the centre, together with a flashing central light.

The scoreboard operators got a little ahead of themselves after Game 2. West Germany and Great Britain took the first two positions on the game and were awarded 6pts and 5pts, respectively, bringing both teams’ scores to 9pts. The names of both teams began to flash to indicate that both teams were in first place. However, the point’s score of the Italian team had not yet been awarded and with them already having 6pts from the first game, Gennaro awarded them 4pts for finishing in third place bringing their total to 10pts. The British team’s name immediately stopped flashing whilst the West German’s continued. The Italian team’s name then began flashing and the West German’s finally stopped!

During the West German team’s participation in the third Fil Rouge, two Italian protesters invaded the game but were quickly removed by the Dutch stagehands. Fortunately, the competitor was blind-folded and was unaware or unable to see what had happened and was therefore judged not to have been impeded by their actions. This was clearly obvious because the West German team went on to win the Fil Rouge by a clear margin.

Although the West German team of Bietigheim-Bissingen won this heat by six clear points, their performance was in complete contrast to the British and Italian teams. Whilst Swansea and Bracciano had accumulated the majority of their points in the first four games and then faltered at the end, Bietigheim-Bissingen accumulated 26 pts of their 46 pts from the last two games (Game 7 was with the Joker) and the Fil Rouge!

Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal - RTP - appear to have commenced screening Jeux Sans Frontières on their RTP 2 channel from this heat. There is a possibility that the channel screened the first 1975 International Heat, but this is not recorded in television listings records. The screenings would eventually lead to Portuguese participation in the programme from 1979.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives
Exists in European archives

I

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 3

Event Staged: Tuesday 17th June 1975
Venue: Piazzale Roma Spiaggia (Rome Square Beach),
Lungomare Repubblica (Republic Waterfront), Riccione, Italy

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.10pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 1 (NL): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 18th June 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 22nd July 1975, 9.00-10.30pm

BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 10th September 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 14th September 1975, 1.55-3.10pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Rosanna Vaudetti

Theme: A Beach Party

Teams: Mol (B) v. Le Mouret (CH) v. Attendorn (D) v.
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) v. Onchan (GB) v.
Riccione (I) v. Zwijndrecht (NL)

Team Members included:
Mol (B) - Paul Mavisse, Peter Toger, Renée van Grieken;
Le Mouret (CH) - Anne Deglise, Angel Endeckis;
Attendorn (D) - Yutte Baettig, Michael Droste, Helga Emmiss, Hieke Enginge, Josef Hessel, Gertha Huntermann, Tagabert Schneider;
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) - Maurice Bressaint, Marie-Claire Segoine;
Onchan (GB) - Eddie Smith (Team Captain), William Christian, Linda Corkhill, Linda Court, Helen Foster, Clifford Hamilton, John Horshouse, Brian Kane, Philip Kermode, Karen Lees, Brian Mellor, Anne Moffatt, Helen Procter, Peter Quayle, Janice Stubbs, Brian Wasley;
Riccione (I) - Leopoldo Carlini (Co-Team Coach), Tiziano Mulazzoni (Co-Team Coach), Franco Geminiani (Team Captain), Giuliana Amici, Maria Luisa Balzelli, Giovanni Bezzi, Cecilia Bindelli, Luciano Caimi, Stefano Carlini, Katya Cerri, Stefania Conti, Walter Corbelli, Daniela de Nittis, Dario Dradi, Margherita Gasparini, Roberto Giannini, Federico Guardagli, Fernanda Lanci, Dario Lorenzini, Renzo Magnani, Ugo Montevecchi, Davide Monti, Gabriella Moretto, Giorgi Mulazzoni, Riccardo Mulazzoni, Monica Mussoni, Pierluigi Pellizzola, Riccardo Proti, Leda Ricci, Santo Rossi, Vittorio Servadio, Maurizio Sorci, Roberto Tontini, Maria Ugolini and Patrizia Vandi;
Zwijndrecht (NL) - Tom Bishop, Jan Cricifix, Carla Hawkins, Geert Zijlmans.

Games: The Champagne Dance, Stamping the Invitations, Ringing the Chimes, The Party Food, The Limboing Waiters, Mice Hockey, Beach Beauty Queens and The Cocktail Cherries;
Fil Rouge: The Descending Orchestra;
Jokers: Seafaring Pleasure Craft.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th

 I • Riccione ● ●
 CH • Le Mouret
 F • Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre
 NL • Zwijndrecht
 B • Mol
 D • Attendorn
 GB • Onchan

42
41
36
35
32
31
25

The Host Town

Riccione, Italy

Riccione is a town and holiday resort with a permanent population of around 36,000 inhabitants. It is located 115km (71½ miles) east of Firenze, 163km (101¼ miles) south of Venezia, 234km (145½ miles) north of Roma and 319km (198¼ miles) south-east of Milano. Riccione is on the Adriatic coast in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, famous for exporting food all over the world e.g. Parmesan cheese, Parma ham and Ragu Bolognese.

The area around Riccione dates back to the 2nd century BC, although it was most likely that settlements had appeared earlier. At the time of the Roman Republic, it was known as Vicus Popilius and after a period of obscurity, it was acquired by the Agolanti family in 1260, which was connected to the lords of Rimini, the Malatesta. During the 17th century, watchtowers were built along the coast in order to prevent attack from pirates.

Origins of the tourist fame of Riccione date to the late 19th century, mostly spurred by the construction of residences by rich Bolognese people. In the 1930s, the resort attracted around 30,000 tourists a year and had around 80 existing hotels. It gained the status of a main destination of summer tourism on the Adriatic Riviera of Romagna. After World War II (1939-1945), tourism was further increased after it became a chosen vacation resort of numerous famous people, such as Brazilian footballer Pelè (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) and a variety of Italian celebrities including singer Mina Mazzini, film director Vittorio de Sica (1901-1974), film actor and director Ugo Tognazzi (1922-1990) and Maria Scicolone (younger sister of actress Sophia Loren).

Today, tourism in Riccione is massive and, together with Rimini, it is one of the best known and largest seaside resorts in Northern Italy. The Adriatic coast of Emilia-Romagna is called Riviera Romagnola and has plenty of night clubs and is therefore very attractive to young adults. However, Riccione is also family-friendly, thanks to its hotels that offer baby-sitting facilities all day in the hotel and on the beach and the nearby theme parks. The main streets of Riccione, Viale Dante and Viale Ceccarini, although having numerous hotels, nightclubs and bars, are also the best places for shopping and eating during the day. The seafront is a long boulevard comprised of a wide cycle lane with a pedestrian only walkway on either side and is decked out with numerous flower beds, green areas, plants and wooden benches for resting. Along parts of the promenade, there is no longer any road between the hotels and the beach and cars are subjected to going underground to car parks which are open 24 hours a day.

Along with the miles of golden sands and the nightlife, the main sights on offer include the ancient Roman Ponte di Tiberio (Tiberio Bridge) dating to AD 20 and Villa Mussolini (originally called Villa Margherita when it was constructed in 1890), the holiday home of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) which he purchased in 1934. Used as a summer retreat by his family, the Villa Mussolini is now used by the town of Riccione for exhibitions and other events.

The Venue

Piazzale Roma Spiaggia

The games were played on the beautiful golden sands and seafront of Riccione’s Piazzala Roma beach which form part of a 66km (41 miles) long, unbroken stretch of beach running from Lido di Savio in the north to Cattolica in the south, taking in the resorts of Cesenatico, Bellaria, Rimini, Misano Adriatico and Riccione. At the height of the summer vacation season, the beaches are teeming with sunseekers and tourists. As is such, for safety and security measures, the colossal stretch of sands are split in 151 bathing-stations or sections and individually numbered with Riccione’s Roma Beach starting at 66 and running through to 85. There are a total of 41 lifeguard towers, all highly visible, with an intercom system connected to all the bathing-stations and there are special pet-friendly beaches at numbers 32, 122 and 138. The whole coastline from the waterline up to the hotels is mapped out with military precision. Closest to the water’s edge are nine rows of deck-chairs, sun-loungers and umbrellas. Moving backwards and towards the town are the chalets / lockers, relaxation areas and small children’s pools. These are followed by a row which includes lifeguard lookouts (known as casa bagninos), bicycles parking areas and public showers. After this come the beach sports areas entertaining beach volleyball and football etc. After these comes the lungomare (or promenade) and finally the hotels.

Every two years, the most recent being in 2014, the town plays host to the Festival del Sole, the largest international ‘gymnastics for all’ exhibition in the Mediterranean area. For a whole week, the seafront is turned into a huge stage where more than 4,000 athletes from around the world perform at their best. Floor exercises and aerobics, acrogym and acrobatics, rhythmic and artistic gymnastic, classical and modern dance, hip-hop and funky are a few of the forms of gymnastics and dances taking place at the festival. There are no limits regarding age or ability and anyone with the desire to perform in front of a large audience in one of the four arenas on the seafront can join the festival. There are no judges or points awarded and the only winner is the pleasure of being together and practicing sport.

This same beach-side venue had been used previously for the Italian International heat in 1971. In addition to these two visits to Riccione, the only other on-beach locations in the programme’s history were Senigallia in 1973 (again on Italy's Adriatic coast), and Grömitz in West Germany in 1978.

The Games in Detail

Game 2 - Stamping the Invitations

The second game in this heat - ‘Stamping the Invitations’ - was very funny although it was not designed as such. It involved seven members of each team standing at 90° to the movement of travel on a conveyor belt which moved at a set speed. On the whistle, the conveyor belt began to move and six of the team members had to stamp invitation cards whilst stepping in the opposite direction to that of the belt. In order to slow the conveyor belt, the seventh team member, a female, had to sing anything she wanted at a very loud volume which was indicated on a lighted column next to her. If her voice quietened, the lights decreased and the belt’s speed increased. This game was clearly meant for the Italians with their love of singing and opera, and the team finished the game with 6 pts after stamping eighteen invitation cards correctly. The West German team of Attendorn and the British team from Onchan had both decided to play their Jokers on this game, and both ended up becoming a cropper. Whilst the Attendorn team stamped eleven invitations and scored just 6 pts on their Joker, the Onchan team finished bottom of the pile, stamping just four correctly and scoring just 2 pts!

Fil Rouge - The Descending Orchestra

The Fil Rouge - ‘The Descending Orchestra’ - involved six members of each team with life-size musical instruments on a platform which protruded over a pool and which had three large cone-shaped upright bollards atop it. On the whistle, the rear of the platform gradually ascended resulting in the front descending, but the teams had to remain in their original positions whilst opposing team members fired large water-filled balloons on to the platform from a giant catapult to displace them. After 30 seconds, a second whistle was sounded, and this signalled that any remaining players could then move and best position themselves to cling to the platform as it continued to be lowered to its maximum 90° angle. Obviously, it was better for the players to get to the protruding bollards because they were now at an advantageous angle to sit behind or cling on to, but they had to be careful as the bollards had revolving outside covers. Dutch team Zwijndrecht went first and two of their members managed to stay on the platform for 90 seconds (maximum time limit), by cleverly sitting behind one of the bollards at a complete 90° angle to it and then holding firm. All the times of the six members were individually taken as they fell off and then added together to ascertain a total time, with the maximum score being a total of 540 seconds (6 x 90).

Thirty-two seconds into the Swiss participation on the Fil Rouge, Gennaro Olivieri blew the whistle to stop the game and the platform stopped descending. He then told the Swiss competitor holding the cello that he should have been standing further forward onto the mark at the front of the platform. At that point, one of the Swiss competitors slid off the platform and into the pool below. The platform was then lifted back into its original position and there was a slight pause whilst the Swiss competitor climbed back up to the platform and re-positioned himself.

Team Personnel

One of the Riccione team members was former Italian basketball player Santo Rossi, who was born in nearby Fruili on 7th March 1940. He had arrived at Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro (known locally as Vuelle or VL) in 1969, after having played at Virtus Bologna and later in Forlì. On his arrival at Pesaro, he was trained for the next four seasons by coach Boris Sinkovic.

Rossi continued to play at Pesaro until his retirement from the game after the 1973-74 season and along the way was chosen to wear the national team shirt on seventeen occasions. He had also won a gold medal at the Mediterranean games staged at Naples in 1963.

Rossi, standing at 2.12m (6ft 11½in) tall, had a real passion for basketball, which he also passed on to his children - Giulio grew up in the youth of Victoria Libertas and then Francesca who had a brilliant career in the top women's championship.

On 31st March 2020, it was announced in local newspaper Il Resto del Carlino (Pesaro) that Rossi had succumbed to Coronavirus and had died, 24 days after celebrating his 80th birthday.

Returning Teams and Competitors

Italian team members Franco Geminiani, Gabriella Moretto, Santo Rossi, Maurizio Sorci and co-team coach Tiziano Mulazzoni had all participated previously for Riccione in 1971, whilst Maria Luisa Balzelli and Vittorio Servadio had been members of the Città di Castello team in 1972. Co-team coach Leopoldo Carlini had also participated as a team member for Riccione in 1971, and also returned to the team coach role for the Rimini e Adriatico team in 1988. Margherita Gasparini, Franco Geminiani and Ugo Montevecchi all returned as team members for Rimini e Adriatico in 1988.

Additional Information

The West German transmission for this programme was hit with a total loss of communication from the two presenters for the first 25 minutes of the broadcast. Although the programme was broadcast with a subdued live Italian commentary, it was not until after 10 minutes that the ARD-WDR continuity announcer apologised for the loss of sound, due to the audio link from Riccione being lost. After a further 5 minutes, a second apology was broadcast followed by a visual on-screen message three minutes later. The message simply stated ‘Die Deutsche Kommentarleitung ist Leider Unterbrochen’. This was then followed about two minutes later with another verbal apology and with the message ‘Die Deutsche Kommentarleitung von Italien ist Leider Unterbrochen. Wir Bitten um Geduld’. (The German commentary from Italy is unfortunately interrupted. Please be patient). The programme then continued with the actual live Italian commentary until the West German commentators Erhard Keller and Karl-Heinz Wocker finally introduced themselves to the viewing audience during the closing heats of the second game.

It was a totally different story for British team Onchan on the Fil Rouge compared to every other team. The team had been highly fancied to win this heat, but it had been a night of one disaster after another and even on the Fil Rouge, things did not improve. Even before the second whistle had sounded, the team had lost four of their members to the pool below and with the worst total combined time of 258 seconds for all six players, the team ended up in seventh position on the Fil Rouge as well as on the night as a whole. However on a lighter note, each of the Fils Rouge was played out against a tune representative of the country competing by the local jazz band. The Netherlands tune was appropriately ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’ whilst Great Britain played the Fil Rouge to the strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne’! Incidentally, this game was copied for the Italian International Final in 1982 and re-copied for the International heat held at Villa Manin in Passariano di Codroipo, Italy in 1993, although the incline on that occasion was less severe.

The Swiss team of Le Mouret lost this heat rather than the Italians winning it. Riccione had not led the competition once the whole night, and the team could only manage to score 6pts on their Joker. Trailing the Swiss team by 4pts before the last game, the team won it in fine style, as they had Game 6 and the Fil Rouge. The Swiss team however only needed 3pts to secure the win but unfortunately could only muster 2pts on the game and handed the heat to the Italians.

Onchan became the first team from the Isle of Man to represent Great Britain in Jeux Sans Frontières.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives
Exists in European archives

CH

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 4

Event Staged: Tuesday 1st July 1975
Venue: Klosterhof (Monastery Square), Engelberg, Switzerland

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.10pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 2nd July 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 5th August 1975, 10.00-11.30pm

BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 17th September 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 21st September 1975, 1.55-3.10pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Jan Hiermeyer

Theme: Holidays in the Mountains

Teams: Pepinster (B) v. Giswil (CH) v. Leonberg (D) v. Chartres (F) v.
Darlington (GB) v. Aosta (I) v. Veldhoven (NL)

Team Members included:
Pepinster (B) - Christian Marquette;
Leonberg (D) - Franz Evets, Annette Negen;
Darlington (GB) - Malcolm Stringer (Team Captain), Douglas Beddelson, James Branchorne, John Brockbanks, Margaret Davison, Helen Drew, Stanley Garside, Jeffrey Graham, Frank Johnson, Janet McKean, Kay Metcalfe, Eddie Stock, David Stott, Nancy Warwick;
Aosta (I) - Nadina Catriana.

Games: Dressing the Snowmen, Bales of Hay and Tourists, Cow and Mushroom, Catching Butterflies, Milk Churns, Collecting Edelweiss, The Boxes in Haystack and The Skiing Tourists;
Fil Rouge: The Hungry Bears;
Jokers: Alpine Horns, which had to be played.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
3rd
5th
6th
7th

 D • Leonberg ●
 F • Chartres
 CH • Giswil
 I • Aosta
 GB  • Darlington
 NL • Veldhoven
 B • Pepinster

41
38
33
33
31
30
24

The Venue

Engelberg, Switzerland

This heat in Engelberg was held in the Monastery Square which is surrounded on the western side by the Gemeindehaus (Community House) and is overlooked on the eastern side by the beautiful Engelberg Abbey, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1120 by Blessed Conrad, Count of Seldenburen. Although the location was picturesque, the weather dampened things somewhat, and for the second year in succession, the Swiss heat was witness to heavy rain throughout, hampering the competitors on the games.

Returning Teams and Competitors

The Italian town of Aosta made its first of seven appearances in this heat. The town returned with a team in 1978 and 1979 and also made four other appearances when it combined forces with the ski resort of Pila, the town of Cogne and a team from the ski resorts in the Val di Gressoney for the Winter International series’ of 1977, 1979 and 1980, respectively. It again combined forces with Pila to make a seventh and final appearance in 1988. However, the town was somewhat involved again in 1998 and 1999 when the Valle d’Aosta participated in the programme.

Additional Information

It was a night of mixed fortunes for Swiss team Giswil. Under Swiss rules at the time, teams could not participate on more than one occasion (this was changed in 1977) and as Engelberg had participated in 1973 they could not take part in this heat, so Giswil appeared as the Swiss representative. Despite winning two games (one of which was their Joker), they were leading West German team Leonberg by 2 pts before Game 7 (which they had to miss). Leonberg failed to make any headway on them because they finished last on the game (see separate note below). This resulted in the Swiss still leading the West Germans by 1 pt before the Fil Rouge (Leonberg had tackled this first and were still in the lead), but the Swiss made a complete mess of the Fil Rouge and finished in 6th place. This resulted in Leonberg leading French team Chartres and the Swiss by 4 pts going into the last game, which saw the French finish in 2nd place followed closely by the West Germans. But where were the Swiss? Again, a disastrous game for the team ending in a 7th place finish!

The day of recording was Great Britain team member David Stott’s 21st birthday, and before the start of Game 7, Swiss commentator Jan Hiermeyer encouraged the crowd to sing ‘Happy Birthday to You’ to him, and they obliged.The game itself comprised the classic ‘finding a needle in a haystack’ scenario. Six boxes had been hidden in the most enormous haystack, and it was a clear case of diving in to find one of the six boxes. Time limit on the game was 2 minutes 30 seconds and after 1 minute 8 seconds the Belgian team member (who was 42 years old!) emerged victorious, whilst the others frantically searched high and low. Time was ticking away for the remaining teams. After 2 minutes and 25 seconds, David Stott emerged with a box, but he still had to run to the start of the course and place it on a marked podium. Just as he did so, Guido Pancaldi blew the whistle and Great Britain was given a time of 2 minutes 30 seconds! Incidentally, all the other four teams were each awarded 1pt, as they had all failed to find a box. Eagle-eyed timekeepers however, would have noticed that the game was in fact lengthened by an extra three seconds to allow the British competitor to finish the game on his birthday. If the referees had applied a strict timekeeping rule, the British team would have finished the competition with a total of just 27pts, which would have ‘demoted’ them to 6th place overall and ‘promoted’ the Dutch team of Veldhoven to 5th place!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

D

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 5

Event Staged: Tuesday 15th July 1975
Venue: Stadion Rhein-Neckar (Rhine-Neckar Stadium),
Mannheim, West Germany

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.30pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.25pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.35pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 10.10-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 16th July 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 19th August 1975, 9.55-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 24th September 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 28th September 1975, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Marie-Louise Steinbauer

Theme: International Post Office

Teams: Temse (B) v. Faido (CH) v. Füssen im Allgäu (D) v. Aix-les-Bains (F) v.
Kilmarnock (GB) v. Bosa (Sardegna) (I) v. Montfoort (NL)

Team Members included:
Temse (B) - Paul van Heuven;
Faido (CH) - Renata Gobi;
Füssen im Allgäu (D) - Klaus Escholler, Karolina Hefeller, Barbara Hoffner, Sacha Pfeiffer, Karline Schallis,
Franz Schwettinger;
Aix-les-Bains (F) - Christian Maniere;
Kilmarnock (GB) - Sean Anderson, Gordon Black, Philip Brown, Michael Crane, Derek Guthrie, James Harvey, Lesley Martin, Ann Mattison, Joanne Miller, Robert Old;
Bosa (Sardegna) (I) - Silvano Ferdoni, Luigi Malallazi;
Montfoort (NL) - Gert Sluys (Team Coach), Wim van Jaarsveld (Team Captain), Ton Admiraal, Nel van Beesd, Wim van Beesd, Cobie Bontje, Piet Bos, Ruud Consen, Josien van Doesburg, Elly Dunnewold, Addie Klijs, Bep Kraan, Joke Oostrom, Ria Out, Tineke Peek, Theo Vergeer, Jan Verkleij, Hanneke van Vianen, Cor Vlooswijk, Gerard Vlooswijk, Jan Vlooswijk, Ted de Wit.

Games: The Air Mail, The Mail Train, The Stamp Frankers, The Blindfold Postmen, The Telegraph Poles, Bureau de Change, The Sorting Office and The Parcel Post;
Fil Rouge: Beware of the Dog!;
Jokers: Postmen with Letters.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
3rd
5th
6th
7th

 CH • Faido ● ●
 NL • Montfoort
 D • Füssen im Allgäu
 F • Aix-les-Bains
 B • Temse
 GB • Kilmarnock
 I • Bosa (Sardegna)

46
41
34
34
31
30
18

The Venue

Mannheim, West Germany

This heat was held in the Rhein-Neckar Stadion in Mannheim, located next to Luisenpark. The stadium, which was opened in 1971, is the home of VfR Mannheim 1896 e.V. (Verein für Rasenspiele Mannheim 1896 eingetragener Verein), translated into English as ‘The Mannheim Association for Lawn Games 1896, Registered Association’. Today the stadium is dwarfed by the multi-purpose Karl-Benz Stadion built in 1994, which stands directly next of it.

The Games in Detail

Game 4 - The Blindfolded Postmen

In Game 4 - ‘The Blindfold Postmen’ - six boys were dressed as German postmen who had been blindfold and had to negotiate an obstacle course which had a number of turnstiles on it. Some of these turnstiles had to be entered and some were just for scenery purposes. At the end of the course the teams had to open a small door in a wall marked Schleißfächer (loosely translated into English as ‘safety deposit box’) which contained a parcel. After collecting the parcels, the postmen had to make their way back to the start of the course and into a holding area to finish the game. Swiss team Faido seemed to have no problem negotiating the course and won the game, followed by the Belgian team of Temse. Although British competitor Gordon Black had negotiated the first part of the course as quickly as the Swiss player, he got lost in the maze of turnstiles on the return leg and finished in fifth place. The West German competitor in the meantime made a complete shambles of the game and found himself going back and forth through the same turnstile. Despite the fact that his antics proved amusing to the assembled spectators, the stadium was filled with boos and hisses when he finished in last place on the game!

Game 5 - The Telegraph Poles

Game 5 - ‘The Telegraph Poles’ - involved the participation from the six competing countries’ commentators. The idea of the game was to make a landline connection from each of the female competitors on the ground at the start of the game, to the commentators high in their commentary boxes. On the whistle, a male competitor from each team climbed one of the telegraph poles and made the first connection to the ground. He then had to make a second connection to the same pole and throw the wire to a team-mate on the second pole. This was repeated until all four poles were connected. Once completed, the commentator then had to shout out (this was audible to all in the stadium) one of four place names that had been placed on a board at the start of the game. The female competitor then had to place this name on a telegram envelope and hand it to her team-mate at the top of the first pole. British commentator Stuart Hall can clearly be heard shouting out “Leeds! Leeds!” to the British competitor.

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

After Game 3 - ‘The Stamp Frankers’ - Erhard Keller approached the British competitor Ann Mattison and asked her “Are you a stamp collector”. She replied, “I do not get enough letters to do that”. Erhard Keller then inadvertently said to her, “I am sure that there are plenty of young men who would like to show you theirs!” Realising his error, he laughed and quickly added, “their stamps!”

Additional Information

The theme for this heat was inspired by the huge telecommunications tower that stands in Luisenpark next to Kutzerweiher (Kutzer’s pond).

The West German television service once again staged a fully-costumed International Heat which was not only entertaining, but at times was very funny. Following the opening credits and short introductory film of Mannheim, the camera panned down the visiting countries’ commentary boxes into the arena. A stagehand dressed in a large foam-rubber postman’s costumed entered the arena pushing a trolley which was loaded with seven large packages. These boxes were to be used in a unique piece of Jeux Sans Frontières television ‘magic’. The trolley was deposited with presenters Erhard Keller and Marie-Louise Steinbauer and Erhard turned to the cameras and said he wondered what the packages were for. He stated that the first one was addressed to the Rhein-Neckar Stadium in Mannheim and he tossed it to the ground. The next six were individually addressed to the other six towns and these were also tossed to the ground. The camera then panned to the discarded packages on the stadium floor and as a loud fanfare was played, the seven teams burst forth from the ‘packages’. Although the assembled crowd would not have witnessed the real effect of the trick, it certainly worked well for the viewers at home!

After the fourth heat of the Fil Rouge there was another comical moment. The Dutch team of Montfoort had just completed a 10-second restart as a result of the equipment being used stopping before the game had been completed. The opposing team from Temse in Belgium were dressed as large dogs, and after the final whistle was blown, one of their competitors walked on all fours to the bench which had been separating his team from the girl from Montfoort, lifted his right back leg and pretended to relieve himself. Well, you would if you were a dog, wouldn’t you? Classic!

After three games, Swiss team Faido had already played their Joker and were lying in third place on the master scoreboard with just 14pts. The team then made one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of the programme by winning their next four games as well as the Fil Rouge - a total of 32pts from five games! Today this still remains a record in Jeux Sans Frontières and has only ever been equalled once. On that occasion, it was in International Heat 1 in 1977, when the Italian team of Marina di Carrara also won their last four games as well as the Fil Rouge. However their amassed total for the five games was 38 pts, the difference being that one of those games was on the Joker.

The Swiss TV broadcasters breathed a huge sigh of relief after Faido won this heat. This was the first win for Switzerland in an International Heat since Locarno tied jointly with Belgian team Genk in International Heat 5 in 1970 - an incredible record unbroken run of 34 International Heats without a victory! However, during this ‘lean period’ Switzerland managed to win two International Finals - one in 1972 and another in 1974.

The team from this heat’s host town Mannheim were beaten by Füssen im Algäu in the West German Domestic series Spiel Ohne Grenzen and therefore failed to earn the right to participate in the event staged in their home town!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

F

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 6

Event Staged: Tuesday 29th July 1975
Venue: Place Stanislas, Nancy, France

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.35pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.10-10.20pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 30th July 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 2nd September 1975, 10.00-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 1st October 1975, 6.45-8.00pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 5th October 1975, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: M. Marcel Martin, Mayor of Nancy

Theme: The Feasts of Stanislas Leszczynski

Teams: Houdeng-Aimeries (B) v. Adliswil (CH) v. Simmern (D) v. Nancy (F) v.
Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) v. Bordighera (I) v. Bedum (NL)

Team Members included:
Nancy (F) - André Laurain (General Captain), Jean Pierre Desquatre (Team Captain), Anne Marie Blot, Joëlle Carpentier, Thierry Dabrowski, Jacques Dechoux, Marie France Gauge, André Leblanc, François Lombard, Josette Lombard, Alain Macchia, Jean Novena, Maurice Rejwerski, Christian Ries and Nadine Thirion;
Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) - Michael Horrocks (Team Captain), Bob Atkinson, Ian Chivers, Terri Hadey, Alan Hallam, Steve Knutt, Bill Leng, Anne Smart, Debbie Walters;
Bedum (NL) - Ko Panneman (Team Manager), Poppe Jellema (Team Coach), Tjeerd Hoekstra (Team Physio), Piet Lanting (Team Captain), Henk Übels (Superzeskamper), Lineke Arends, Bart Diephuis, Ebel Drenth, Tineke Groenewolt, Tineke Hersevoort, Annet Kleersnijder, Fred Kruizinga, Wicher Nieborg, Johan Reining, Anja Rutgers, Grietha Übels, Ubellenus Übels, Zwannie Übels, Joke Schuitema, Erik van de Vries, Trijnie de Vries, Ankie Witsenboer, Bert Zwerver.

Games: The Beer Festival, The Pearl Robbers, The Building of Nancy, Pirates of the Meurthe, The Prince’s Artillery, Sedan Chair Race, Carts and Barrels and The Prince’s Jailers;
Fil Rouge: The Dinner of Stanislas;
Jokers: Thistles.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th

 F • Nancy ● ●
 NL • Bedum
 CH • Adliswil
 D • Simmern
 GB • Portsmouth and Southsea
 I • Bordighera
 B • Houdeng-Aimeries

48
41
38
36
28
25
19

The Venue

Nancy, France

This heat was held in Place Stanislas in the heart of Nancy, named after the former Duke of Lorraine, Stanisław Leszczyński. The theme of this heat was centred on Stanisław who was actually born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1677, but became Duke of Lorraine in 1737 after losing the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After his death in 1766 at Lunéville, France (a near neighbour town to Nancy which had competed in the programme in 1974), his body was interred in Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours in Nancy, before finally being exhumed and moved to Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland.

The square, with an area of over 100m², was a major project in urban planning of the time and was dreamt up by Stanisław to link the old town of Nancy to the newer city which had been built during the reign of Charles III in the early 17th century. It was built in honour of his son-in-law, Louis XV, and construction work began in March 1752 and took a little over three years to complete, with work finally finishing in November 1755. It is home to the Hôtel de Ville, also known as Palais de Stanislas, which is the largest building in the square measuring 98m long and occupying the whole south side of the square. At the time of recording, the square was a busy traffic thoroughfare and in order for the programme to be staged there, the local gendarmerie had all the roads leading into the square closed from late afternoon to the early hours the next morning. However, since 2004 the square has been pedestrianised and is now traffic-free.

The Rehearsals

French team Nancy had won the rehearsal the previous night with a score of 51pts, which would have been a record at this point (in the then current format) if repeated on the actual night of recording. However, on the night the team still won four games outright (one of which was their Joker game) and won the Fil Rouge as well. In fact, Nancy had already won the contest before the final game, being 11pts clear of their nearest rivals Netherlands, and it even looked like the team were heading for a record score in the current seven team format, but failed to build on their success and only finished in fifth place in the final game.

Additional Information

Although it would not have affected the outcome of the heat or any positional changes, the British team of Portsmouth and Southsea were robbed of a point and a game win in the Fil Rouge. The team had successfully carried 26 dishes onto the table at the top of the course, but as the touch-judge was counting them, he inadvertently knocked one of the dishes off the back of the table. The television camera just manages to catch the shot of this, but it went unnoticed by everyone. If it had been noticed then the British team would have won the Fil Rouge along with the French team, and the correct result would have been 29pts for the British team!

The motto of Nancy is the Latin phrase ‘Non inultus premor’ ('No one touches me with impunity'), being a reference to the thistle plant that is a symbol of Lorraine. It was fitting therefore that thistles were presented as the Jokers in this heat, as one also appears on the city’s flag.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

GB

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 7

Event Staged: Tuesday 12th August 1975
Venue: Open-Air Sea Bathing Lake, Princes Park, Southport, Great Britain

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.10-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 13th August 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 16th September 1975, 10.00-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 8th October 1975, 6.50-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 12th October 1975, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Barney Colehan, BBC Producer

Theme: The Pirates

Teams: Waterloo (B) v. Sainte-Croix (CH) v. Baesweiler (D) v. Saint-Gaudens (F) v.
Cambridge (GB) v. Valmadrera (I) v. Steenwijk (NL)

Games Demonstration Team: Southport (GB)

Team Members included:
Waterloo (B) - Jacques Loquieres;
Sainte Croix (CH) - Denise Blanché, Bernard Weiter;
Baesweiler (D) - Beatrix Coischon, Angelica Lehric, Gerd Norimann, Eva Simmermans, Norbert Schwantrinck, Kornelia Spielberg, Margret Vornrat;
Saint-Gaudens (F) - Robert Croux (Team Coach), Brigitte Ousset (Team Captain), Marianne Baillant, Michele Narbone, Patrick Rive;
Cambridge (GB)  - Mike Boardman (Team Manager), Eddie Sharp (Co-Team Coach), Terry Welham (Co-Team Coach), Derek Allinson, Robert Baldwin, Jane Barber, Anthea Beauchamp, Tony Bevan, Chandrasekhar Bodapati, Phillip Bramford, Patricia Buck, Caroline Cannon, Julie Dias, Hallam Doyle, Ann Ekin, Helen Ford, Jane Freeman, Claire Goodwin, Christopher Heron, Glenn Horridgee, Shelagh James, Lesley Kemp, Michael Lamb, Maria Mastella, Colin Mathieson, Angela Maxted, Maureen Parnell, Michael Rayson, Linda Roberts, Susan Sanford, Roger Sanford, John Saxton, Derek Smiley, Roger Steedman, Alison Stevens, David Stevens, Diane Stevens, Nicola Stevens, Melvyn Stewart, Paul Stewart, Steven Tennant, Ian Thompson, Stuart Weston;
Steenwijk (NL) - Eska Bolk, Claudine van Heuten, Joop Jansen, Anita de Jong.

Games: ‘All Aboard!’, Raising the Sails, The Stranded Sailors, The Supply Boats, Raising the Anchor, What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?, Walking the Plank and Evacuating the Ship;
Fil Rouge: Rescuing the Damsel;
Jokers: Pirates with Parrots.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
4th
6th
7th

 NL • Steenwijk ● ●
 B • Waterloo
 I • Valmadrera
 CH • Sainte-Croix
 D • Baesweiler
 GB • Cambridge
 F • Saint-Gaudens

38
36
35
30
30
29
24

The Venue

Southport, Great Britain

This heat was held in the Open-Air Sea Bathing Lake located in Southport’s Princes Park. The aim of the lake, opened in 1926, was to provide a large open-air sea bathing lake for mixed bathing. The lake was situated in the Princes Park and cost £60,000 to construct. It was built in the form of an oval measuring 330ft in length and 212ft in width and was surrounded by a grass border and gardens. The lake provided room for around 650 bathers. Today, the pool no longer exists as it was demolished in the late 1980s, and is now a large retail park, comprising mainly of restaurants such as McDonald’s, Nando’s and Chiquito’s and a Sports and Fitness Centre.

The impressive galleon which was the centrepiece of the event was not a true seafaring vessel and had been constructed by the BBC especially for this International Heat. David Ashurst of Southport takes up the story: "I remember as a child swimming in the outdoor pool in the summer of 1975, whilst the big galleon was being built in the deep end of the pool, which was cordoned off from the regular bathers for the sake of safety. The pool was only closed to the public a couple of days before the competition was staged, so we enjoyed watching all the preparations take place around us. As many people who watched the show knew, the competitors trained hard physically in order to take part. However, in the case of the Southport event, the competitors were put through a tough ordeal even by JSF standards as much of the event was water based and the pool was filled with unheated sea water. To make matters worse, the Galleon was built over the deep end of the pool and the event was recorded in the evening once the warmth of the sun had gone - those waters were very cold indeed. For many years afterwards, there were rust marks on the sandstone steps in the shallow end of the pool, showing where the scaffold legs on the staging had been anchored. These acted as the only poignant reminders of a great fun day, which seems a memory of another lifetime. Sadly, the Sea Bathing Lake was demolished at the end of the Eighties, to make way for more modern amenities. It was a great loss to local people, young and old alike, and also the loss of an architectural gem of a lido. After the show, the local authority placed the great galleon into storage, with the intention of it being placed in the local Marine Lake for all to see. Unfortunately, this plan never became a reality, and I assume the galleon rotted away over time. It was a magnificent structure and a great credit to the BBC and local organisers. It was such a shame that it was not put to use in another way after the show."

The Rehearsals

The final rehearsal for this heat on the night of Monday 11th August 1975 was disrupted due to an overheating power generator which caught fire at the Southport location. After a short period during which Eddie Waring, Stuart Hall and Gennaro Olivieri lead the audience in a rather tuneless rendition of Down by the Old Mill Stream to keep everyone entertained, the rehearsal concluded in low light conditions. The lead-in to the recording had already been set back due to heavy rain, which had made construction of the set difficult and had fused the spotlights at the Open-Air Sea Bathing Lake.

The Southport team of 1974 (who had qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières in Bouillon and were in training to compete in It's A Christmas Knockout) were brought in by the BBC to demonstrate the games to the competitors. During the lead-in to the Southport Jeux Sans Frontières, members of the Southport team participated in a charity cricket match at Birkdale Cricket Club. This was staged to entertain (and frankly bemuse) some of the visiting team members and a local audience. The cricket teams included BBC presenters Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring, International referee Gennaro Olivieri and comedians George Roper, Les Dawson and Tom O'Connor. O'Connor would go on to be a guest presenter on It's A Knockout in 1982 and Dawson likewise in The Grand Knockout Tournament of 1987. Footage from this cricket match was included in the BBC's Behind the Scenes: Four Days in Southport with Jeux Sans Frontières documentary which filmed the work behind the scenes on the Southport It's A Knockout. The documentary was eventually transmitted by the BBC a year later on Sunday 19th September 1976!

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

After the Italian team had participated in the third game, presenter Stuart Hall greeted them, speaking in his broken Italian language. Before announcing the result, Gennaro Olivieri somewhat sarcastically said to Stuart Hall, “What lovely Italian language you speak”. This caused some hilarity not only with Hall but also from the West German commentary box.

Throughout the competition, both Stuart Hall and co-presenter Eddie Waring repeatedly referred to the Italian team as Valdamera. On introducing the Italian competitor at the beginning of the sixth game as coming from Valdamera, she pointed out to him that the name of the town was Valmadrera and not Valdamera!

Eddie Waring made a blooper in this heat by stating that this was the 100th International Heat that Gennaro Olivieri had refereed. However on counting back (excluding the annual Christmas programmes which were played purely for fun) this was in fact the 108th International he had refereed! And if the Winter series of 1965-68 were not included in the total, then this would have only have been his 89th one!

Looks Familiar?

Game 3 - 'Raising the Sails' - would later reappear in JSF 1999 Heat 6 at La Castella, Italy, as 'La Vela' (The Sail), the third game of that programme.

Additional Information

When the teams arrived in the arena on the night of recording, each team captain presented gifts to each of the other teams: Waterloo (B) presented T-shirts; Sainte Croix (CH) presented musical boxes; Saint-Gaudens (F) presented French loaves; Cambridge (GB) presented scarves; Valmadrera (I) presented chocolates and Steenwijk (NL) presented toiletries. The Baesweiler (D) team stated that they had misplaced their gifts but hoped that they would be presented before the team departed. The Southport team from 1974 which demonstrated the games also presented gifts of T-shirts, sticks of Southport rock, town guides and plaques to each of the competing teams.

Usually in Jeux Sans Frontières, teams participated in games in random order. However in this heat (with the exception of Games 1 and 8, where all teams participated together), the order of play in each game was strictly alphabetical based upon the teams' country codes (i.e. B, then CH, followed by D, and so on). If a game was played over three heats, those heats would also be populated alphabetically, with B paired with CH, D with F, etc. Although the games were played in alphabetical order, they rotated the starting team so that each team would have at least one game where they started first (the exception being the Netherlands. The easiest way to demonstrate the running order is to reproduce the team orders for the games affected:

For no clear reason, the name of Dutch team Steenwijk was written as ‘Steenwyk’ on the scoreboard at this heat as well as the International Final. This may sound stranger than it seemed because when the names of the qualifying teams for the International Final were displayed at the end of the programme, the name was displayed correctly as Steenwijk!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

B

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

International Final

Event Staged: Tuesday 26th August 1975
Venue: Grote Markt, Ieper / Ypres, Belgium

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.45pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 30th September 1975, 10.00-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 15th October 1975, 6.50-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 19th October 1975, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners’ Trophies presented by: Paul Boule, Controller of BRT Television

Theme: Love and Marriage

Teams: Knokke-Heist (B) v. Faido (CH) v. Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) v.
Nancy (F) v. Swansea (GB) v. Riccione (I) v. Steenwijk (NL)

Team Members included:
Faido (CH) - Renata Gobi;
Knokke-Heist (B) - Paul van der Kochkerholm;
Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) - Rolf Schube (Team Coach), Hannelore Grimm (Team Coach), Klaus Britsch, Inge Gleich, Günter Heinle, Karl-Heinz Jablinski, Wolfgang Jogwer, Frieder Kling, Markus Kling, Bärbel Mack, Gerhard Müller, Jürgen Ruof, Wolfgang Sinn, Ellen Tiedtke, Edeltraud Wachtler, Christian Walter;
Nancy (F) - André Laurain (General Captain), Jean Pierre Desquatre (Team Captain), Anne Marie Blot, Joëlle Carpentier, Thierry Dabrowski, Jacques Dechoux, Marie France Gauge, André Leblanc, François Lombard, Josette Lombard, Alain Macchia, Jean Novena, Maurice Rejwerski, Christian Ries and Nadine Thirion;
Swansea (GB) - Alan Major (Team Trainer), Robert Sullivan (Team Captain), J Alksanas, Jeff Buller, D Davies, Christine Griffiths, J Griffiths, S Hayler, Susan Isaac, J Jones, Lee Jones, R Luke, A Mages, Chris Moore, Paul Preedy, P Ronan, Robert Shaddick, Steve Seaman, William Sterio, G Sullivan, Peter Thomas, Wendy Watson, Rose Williams, Mandy Wood, S Yeandle;
Riccione (I) - Leopoldo Carlini (Co-Team Coach), Tiziano Mulazzoni (Co-Team Coach), Franco Geminiani (Team Captain), Giuliana Amici, Maria Luisa Balzelli, Giovanni Bezzi, Cecilia Bindelli, Luciano Caimi, Stefano Carlini, Katya Cerri, Stefania Conti, Walter Corbelli, Daniela de Nittis, Dario Dradi, Margherita Gasparini, Roberto Giannini, Federico Guardagli, Fernanda Lanci, Dario Lorenzini, Renzo Magnani, Ugo Montevecchi, Davide Monti, Gabriella Moretto, Giorgi Mulazzoni, Riccardo Mulazzoni, Monica Mussoni, Pierluigi Pellizzola, Riccardo Proti, Leda Ricci, Santo Rossi, Vittorio Servadio, Maurizio Sorci, Roberto Tontini, Maria Ugolini and Patrizia Vandi;
Steenwijk (NL) - Eska Bolk, Claudine van Heuten, Joop Jansen, Anita de Jong.

Games: The Cave Men, The Wedding Presents, The Honeymoon Cars, Hanging Out The Washing, Arrival of The Storks, Paying the Taxes, The Drunken Husbands and Posting the Bills;
Fil Rouge: The Bride and Groom;
Jokers: Cats.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
4th
6th
7th

 F • Nancy ●
 I • Riccione ●
 B • Knokke-Heist ●
 D • Bietigheim-Bissingen
 NL • Steenwijk
 GB • Swansea
 CH • Faido

45
40
34
32
32
30
23

The Venue

Ieper, Belgium

This heat was held in the beautiful Market Square in Ieper (also known by its French name Ypres) in front of the Cloth and City Halls. The two buildings have had a chequered history with both being heavily damaged during World War I. After the war with money paid by Germany in reparations under the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the main square including the two buildings were built as close to the original designs as possible. 

The Games in Detail

Game 7 - The Drunken Husbands

IThe seventh game - ‘The Drunken Husbands’ - provided some hilarity not only during the game but also whilst the referees conferred times. The idea of the game was that a ‘drunken husband’ dressed in top hat and tails would arrive home late from the local bar, only to be met by an angry wife. On the way from the bar, the husband had to traverse a moving conveyor belt avoiding large sacks being swung by opposing competitors, and changing from his evening wear into his pyjamas. On completion of this, he then dismounted the conveyor belt and had to greet his wife with a ‘peck’ on the nose. This was actually done by pulling down on the wife’s nose which released a spring and her arms were raised complete with a wooden rolling pin in her hand.The first competitor pulled down so hard on the nose that the nose was pulled from its mounting and fell to the floor. Whilst replacing it the wife’s bra fell to the floor also, exposing her bare chest behind. Presenter Mike Verdrengh quickly jumped in and picked up the bra and replaced it back in place, much to the amusement of the crowd, referees Gennaro and Guido and Mike himself. The Swiss team of Faido played in the last heat of the game and failed to come out of the bar after Gennaro had blown the whistle. After about five seconds he realised his mistake and came out of the bar and began to play the game. Gennaro blew the whistle and stopped the game and permitted him to restart the game. However, despite the restart he made a complete shambles of the game and finished in last place, and the team had trusted their Joker on him!.

Returning Teams and Competitors

French team Nancy became the second team (joining Dutch team Alphen aan den Rijn) to reach consecutive International Finals. Having being placed 3rd in the previous year’s final, the team were determined not to be outdone a second year running. They were so determined, in fact, that the Nancy team were celebrating before the final game, because they were 7pts clear of their nearest rivals Riccione, meaning victory was already theirs.

Additional Information

The Jokers in this International Final were represented by cats. The reason for this was that in the Middle Ages, cats were believed to have been an animal of the Devil, and people used to throw live cats from the rooftops of the buildings. Today, the tradition is still preserved but not with live cats. The Cat Parade or Kattenstoet takes place every three years on the second Sunday in May. It involves the throwing of toy cats from the belfry and a colourful parade of cats and witches.

Swiss team Faido’s performance in the International Final was in total contrast to their success earlier in Mannheim. Whereas the team had finished in first place on five of the eight games they played in West Germany, the team finished in last place on five of the eight games they played here in Belgium!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

JSFnetGB Series Guide pages researched by
Neil Storer and Alan Hayes
with Ischa Bijl, Julien Dessy, Sébastien Dias, David Hamilton, Denis Kirsanov, Paul Leaver, Philippe Minet,
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