Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

European International Series

Entrants 1976: Belgium (B) • Switzerland (CH) • West Germany (D) •
France (F) • Great Britain (GB) • Italy (I) • Netherlands (NL) 

Presenters / Commentators of International Competitions:
Paule Herreman and Michel Lemaire (RTB - B)
Mike Verdrengh (BRT - B)
Georges Kleinmann and Jacques Huwyer (SSR - CH)
Jan Hiermeyer and Heidi Abel (SRG - CH)
Ezio Guidi (TSI - CH)
Erhard Keller, Hartmut Brühl, Karl-Heinz Wocker and Manfred Erdenberger (ARD-WDR - D)
Guy Lux and Simone Garnier (A2 - F)
Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring (BBC - GB)
Giulio Marchetti and Rosanna Vaudetti (RAI - I)
Dick Passchier and Barend Barendse (NCRV - NL)
José Fialho Gouveia (RTP - P)

International Referees:
Gennaro Olivieri
Guido Pancaldi

National Referees:
Arthur Ellis (Heats 1, 4 and Final) and Mike Swann (Heat 2 onwards) (GB)

Collaborator / Assistant Referee:
André Lange

Production Credits:

National Games Designers: Paul Trerise and Paul Montague (GB); National Producers: André Lange, Diane Lange and Nicholas Résimont (RTB - B), Jan Geysen and Guy Wouters (BRT - B), Jean-Luc Balmer (SSR - CH), Marius Berger (SRG - CH), Sergio Cavaglieri (TSI - CH), Marita Theile (D), Michel Collignon, Guy Lux and Claude Savarit (F), Cecil Korer (GB), Luciano Vecchi (I), Bernard Prins and Dick van 't Sant (NL), National Directors: Albert Deguelle (RTB - B), Marco Blaser and Sandro Briner (TSI - CH), Günther Hassert (D), Lucien Billard (F), Geoff Wilson (GB), Luigi Turolla (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 France, Great Britain and Italy observed DST)

F

Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

Heat 1

Event Staged: Wednesday 2nd June 1976
Venue: Les Arènes de Nîmes (The Arena of Nîmes), Nîmes, France

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Wednesday 2nd June 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 2nd June 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Wednesday 2nd June 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 2nd June 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Wednesday 2nd June 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Wednesday 2nd June 1976, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
Nederland 1 (NL): Friday 4th June 1976, 7.05-8.40pm
RTB (B): Sunday 6th June 1976, 8.30-9.45pm
RTP (P): Saturday 19th June 1976, 9.50-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB): Wednesday 11th August 1976, 7.15-8.30pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Simone Garnier

Theme: Ancient Circus Games

Teams: Blankenberge (B) v. Huttwil (CH) v. Trostberg (D) v. Nîmes (F) v.
Blackpool (GB) v. Jesolo (I) v. Pijnacker (NL)

Team Members included:
Blackpool (GB) - Bob Battersby (Team Captain), Brian Bottomley, Bill Brown, Clive Burbank, Sharon Hull, Caroline Jenkins, Mike Lomas, Pete Manning, James Merridew, Deborah Riley, Julian Salanki, Janina Slusarski, Stuart Thompson, Cheryl Whitham, Ian Witton;
Jesolo (I) - Paulo Scagnetto (Team Captain), Giorgio Crema (Vice Team Captain), Daniela Alzani, Paolo Bastianutto, Antonella Bedei, Roberto Cedrelli, Patrizia Cicola, Mauro Finotto, Wilma Fontana, Egle Maran, Gianni Marchesin, Rodolfo Marigonda, Manfredo Oliveti, Mauro Pasquali, Erminio Pieretto, Daniela Scagnetto and Pierantonio Turchetto.

Games: The Javelin Throwers, The House in Nîmes, The Gladiators (abandoned), Into the Lions' Den, Return to Egypt, Hannibal’s Elephants, Releasing the Tigers, The Chariot Race and Discus Throw (replacement for abandoned Game 3);
Fil Rouge: The Obelisks.
Jokers: Roman Standards.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

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

 I • Jesolo ● ●
 CH • Huttwil
 D • Trostberg
 NL • Pijnacker
 F • Nîmes
 GB • Blackpool
 B • Blankenberge

41
40
40
40
37
34
26

The Venue

Nîmes, France

This heat in Nîmes was held in the spectacular Roman Amphitheatre known as Les Arènes de Nîmes. The building was constructed around 70 AD, and originally a small neighbourhood developed within its confines, complete with one hundred landholders and two chapels. At its apex, around 700 denizens (landholders) lived within the amphitheatre as an enclosed community. The buildings remained until the eighteenth century and around 1863 it was re-modelled to serve as a bullring and today is the setting for two annual bullfights. The arena is elliptical in shape and the central space covers an area of about 130m long by 100m wide. The arena has a capacity of around 16,000 spectators and is ringed by 34 rows of seating supported by a vaulting construction. Since 1989, it has been modernised and now has a movable covered roof and heating system, and is also used to host other public events such as music concerts.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - The Javelin Throwers

The opening game - ‘The Javelin Throwers’ - involved two members from each team throwing javelins at four small blocks above a columned terrace. When the blocks were hit, letters dropped down and when completed, spelled out JEUX SANS FRONTIÈRES 1976 - a total of 22 letters. To allow for the six teams to hit four blocks each, a circle () was placed before and after the word FRONTIÈRES. Just for the record, Belgium had to hit ‘JEUX’, the Netherlands had ‘SANS’, West Germany had ‘FRO’, France had ‘NTIÈ’, Switzerland had ‘RES’ and Italy had ‘1976’.

Game 7 - Releasing the Tigers

On Game 7 - ‘Releasing the Tigers’ - four teams played their Jokers and finished it tied in 1st place, each scoring 12 points. On announcing the results/scores, referee Gennaro Olivieri stated that it was “truly extraordinary for Jeux Sans Frontières that four teams play their Jokers on the same game and all get 12 pts. This is a first for Jeux Sans Frontières”. Fortunately, one of those was the British team of Blackpool!

Fil Rouge - The Obelisks

The Fil Rouge - 'The Obelisks' - featured team players descending a large slide over a pool whilst attempting to knock down large Egyptian obelisks by means of throwing balls. An opposing team member dressed as a crocodile hindered their progress whilst balancing on a beam over the pool. Although the crocodile served very little purpose it was used to highlight the fact that the crocodile not only appears on the flag of Nîmes, but also on its coat of arms.

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

This year’s attire for the two main referees, Gennaro Olivieri and Guido Pancaldi was again a mix and match affair. Shirts and trousers were dark blue in colour, whilst their jackets were now the more familiar white with dark blue wide pinstripes.

Returning Teams and Competitors

Italian team members, brother and sister Paolo and Daniela Scagnetto had participated in the programme on several other occasions. They were both members of the Adria team in 1969 as well as the Bassano del Grappo team in 1970. They joined fellow team-mate Giorgio Crema and participated as members of the Jesolo team in 1971 (including the festive It’s A Christmas Knockout contest), and Paolo participated along with team-mate Daniela Alzini, as team coaches for the Rosolina Mare squad in 1993. He returned for a final time as team coach for the Porte Tolle (Donzella) team in 1994. Daniela (after four attempts in seven years) is finally seen being presented with the winning trophy at the end of the programme by French presenter Simone Garnier.

Blackpool player James Merridew had previously featured for the Lancashire town during their Gold Trophy-winning year of 1971, when he featured in the domestic heats, the heat in Blackpool and the International Final.

Looks Familiar?

The elephant costumes used on the fifth game had previously been used at the Thyon 2000 ski resort in the Winter Series earlier in 1976. Although that heat was staged in Switzerland and this one in France, the Winter series had been a co-production between both the Swiss and French television services, and all equipment had been purchased in collaboration.

Additional Information

At the beginning of the programme, presenter Guy Lux reminded the audience (both in the arena and at home) that France were very proud to be the reigning Jeux Sans Frontières champions, after French team Nancy’s walkover victory in 1975.

Due to the excessive high winds, there was some equipment malfunction on Game 3 - ‘The Gladiators’ - which had to be abandoned after the second heat of three. A replacement game - ‘Discus Throw’ - was added and took place after the scheduled final game. Dutch team Pijnacker, who were meant to miss Game 3, were not permitted to compete in the additional game. After the scheduled final game, they were leading by 2pts, and team members had to watch from the sidelines as the Italians scored 3pts to snatch the victory.

When the Jokers were presented for play, they were in the form of Roman Standards and bore the names of the teams playing them. However, when the Swiss team presented their Joker, the standard had their name written as ‘Huttwill’. This was rather strange because all tracksuits worn by the team and the main scoreboard itself had it spelt correctly as Huttwil!

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

I

Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

Heat 2

Event Staged: Wednesday 16th June 1976
Venue: Palazzo dello Sport (Sports Palace), San Siro, Milano, Italy

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Wednesday 16th June 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 16th June 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Wednesday 16th June 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 16th June 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)

WDR 1 (D): Wednesday 16th June 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Wednesday 16th June 1976, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
Nederland 1 (NL): Friday 18th June 1976, 7.05-8.40pm
RTB (B): Sunday 20th June 1976, 8.30-9.45pm
RTP (P): Saturday 3rd July 1976, 9.05-10.30pm
BBC1 (GB): Wednesday 18th August 1976, 7.15-8.30pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Giulio Marchetti

Theme: The Animal Olympiad

Teams: Schaerbeek (B) v. Roche (CH) v. Lippstadt (D) v. Toulon (F) v.
Tamworth (GB) v. Bollate (I) v. Weert (NL)

Team Members included:
Schaerbeek (B) - Rogen Boyard, Daniel Drispian, Dick van Croutuer;
Roche (CH) - Edouard Monot (Team Captain), Gianbert Lanbant, Patrizia Louisse, Enrico Tolbolgeri;
Lippstadt (D) - Siegfried Behr, Peter Huyer, Peter Müllerin, Monica Schönbach, Dieter Sobühl, Torpeters Varmhuver, Gunther Werner, Peter Zogel;
Toulon (F) - Marius Bouillabaisse, Dominique Colle, Yves Corden, Patrick Mattiole, Daniel Pue;
Tamworth (GB) - Geoff Beales (Men’s Team Captain), Barbara ‘Bunny’ Culclough (Women's Team Captain), Stanley Ashmore, Martin Barker, Denise Battersby, Keith Bowater, Nathalie Bullows, Susan Chappell, Wendy Chappell, Helen Dale, John Davis, Ralph Graham, Martin Heafield, Teresa Jones, Ann Lyth, Brian Mandry, Petra Morgan, Stephanie O'Neal, Michael Pointon, John Sedgwick, Dawn Sewell, Chris Shilton, Jenny Smale, Steven Walters, Robert Wesley, Sue Wileman;
Bollate (I) - Giovanni ‘The Spaghetti Kid’ Ortolani delle Nave (Co-Team Coach), Adriano Zasso (Co-Team Coach), Gianluca Azario, Pietro Bassi, Fabio Bolognesi, Claudio Brazzarola, Patrizio Donati, Cosetta Galletti, Orianna Girardi, Maria Grazia Piccirillo, Marco Strada, Maria Grazia Taveggia, Milena Volpi;
Weert (NL) - Mary de Cotte, Tom Danse, Margaret Fröhe, Matthew Gerres, Jan Reimacher.

Games: Giant Chickens and Eggs, Butterflies and Pollen, The Battering Ram, Giant Octopus and Oysters, The Performing Walrus, The Boxing Gorillas, The Stilted Storks and The Punted Turtles;
Fil Rouge: Kangaroos and Medals;
Jokers: National Animals.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

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

 CH • Roche ●
 D • Lippstadt
 NL • Weert
 B • Schaerbeek
 F • Toulon
 I • Bollate
 GB • Tamworth

37
36
36
34
33
31
29

The Venue

Palazzo dello Sport

The venue for this heat, the Palazzo dello Sport (Sports Palace), San Siro, Milano was constructed at a cost of 8.2 billion Italian lire (about £5.15 million in 1976). Building began in 1970 and its inauguration was on 31st January 1976, less than five months before Jeux Sans Frontières visited. With a capacity for 18,000 spectators, the multi-purpose arena was the largest of its type in the world and became the home of Olimpia Milano, the city's historic basketball team.

Unfortunately, the building was only in use for nine years as it suffered a roof collapse in heavy snow on Thursday 17th January 1985. The high tensile steel cables holding the roof in place suddenly failed under the weight of laying snow, causing the roof to drop by several metres. Despite attempts to melt the snow (which unfortunately exacerbated the problems), the roof reportedly buckled and collapsed under an estimated 800 tonnes of snow. In the following three years, the structure was inexplicably left to rot with no reparatory work undertaken.

Exposed to the elements, the building deteriorated to the point that there was no alternative but demolition. The area is now covered by a small forest and is cordoned off from public access.

The Games in Detail

Game 6 - The Boxing Gorillas

The sixth game - 'The Boxing Gorillas' - featured the giant gorillas and was played out over three one-minute rounds. The idea of the game was that each gorilla had to swing their arms to make contact with his adversary’s mouth. After the three rounds, the lowest-scoring teams fought it out together in a three-way boxing match for the bottom three places in the game. This saw Italy being matched against Belgium and Switzerland, and from the whistle of the two-minute match, it was clear that the Belgians and Swiss had a tactical plan to attack the Italian gorilla and to leave each other alone. When it became apparent to the home crowd as to what was occurring, a hail of boos and whistles rang out around the whole arena for the entire bout!

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

British commentator Eddie Waring was always renowned in the programme for his spoonerisms of reversing letters when announcing the names of other European teams. Throughout this heat it seemed that West German commentator Manfred Erdenberger had the same problem, when he continuously referred to the Italian team of Bollate as Bottale instead!

Returning Teams and Competitors

The Swiss team of Roche, a town with a population of just 800 people, is the smallest town ever to win a Jeux Sans Frontières heat. Roche would later play host to 1978's non-televised Jeux Sans Frontières de Souvenir, which was a special event reuniting three of the teams from this event (Roche, Schaerbeek and Toulon) along with other JSF teams from West Germany, Italy and the Netherlands that had previously competed on Swiss soil.

Additional Information

This was the third and final indoor summer Jeux Sans Frontières heat ever staged - the first two being at the Ahoy Stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1971 and the Allmend Ice Stadium in Bern, Switzerland in 1972.

With games designed by Adolfo 'Popi' Perani, this was one of the most spectacular heats in the history of Jeux Sans Frontières. With fantastically lifelike costumes, this heat had a Fil Rouge which involved catching kangaroos and games featuring rams, octopuses and tortoises. The most memorable game of the heat was that featuring giant gorillas in a boxing match. Of course, British commentator Stuart Hall could not contain himself, and was in hysterics.

After the fourth game, Belgian team Schaerbeek were leading the competition with 22pts, followed by British team Tamworth with 20 pts. However, following on from the previous game when the British team had themselves been leading the contest, the scoreboard operators completely overlooked the fact that the Belgian team had overtaken them after the fourth game and they continued to ‘flash’ the name of the British team, even though the scoreboard showed the Belgian team’s positional number as 1st and the British team’s as 2nd!

As was the case with their national rivals Pijnacker in the previous heat, the Dutch team of Weert were leading on the scoreboard before the final game. Ahead of West German team Lippstadt by 4pts and the Swiss team of Roche by 5pts, the team really blew their chances of winning the heat simply because a female competitor was unable to judge directing a balloon into a cage above her head. The Swiss competitor scored a hit on her first attempt and took the 7pts, closely followed by the Italians. The leading two teams came in sixth and seventh place on the game and quite literally handed the trophy to the Roche team.

This heat was the closest ever finish between all seven teams in the history of Jeux Sans Frontières. With only eight points separating all the teams, the Swiss team from Roche scored the lowest ever points win (37) in this current formula, and jointly hold the record (with La Clusaz - 1998 JSF Heat 4) for winning with the lowest percentage of available points - barely 66% (37 out of a possible 56). The competition was also unusual in that 6 of the 7 teams at one point held the lead on the night (the exception being the French team from Toulon).

Italian co-team coach Giovanni Ortolani delle Nave earned himself the nicknamed of The Spaghetti Kid by the commentators because of his apparent love of spaghetti. At each of the meal times during the four days in Milano, all he would eat was spaghetti (even at breakfast)!

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

CH

Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

Heat 3

Event Staged: Wednesday 23rd June 1976
Venue: Piazza Lago e Riva del Lago Lugano (Lakeside Square and Shore of Lake Lugano),
Caslano Malcantone, Switzerland

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Wednesday 23rd June 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RTB (B): Sunday 27th June 1976, 8.30-9.45pm
SSR (CH): Wednesday 30th June 1976, 9.05-10.20pm
SRG (CH): Wednesday 30th June 1976, 9.05-10.20pm
TSI (CH): Wednesday 30th June 1976, 9.05-10.20pm
WDR 1 (D): Wednesday 30th June 1976, 9.05-10.30pm
RAI Due (I): Thursday 1st July 1976
Nederland 1 (NL): Saturday 3rd July 1976, 7.05-8.40pm
RTP (P): Saturday 24th July 1976, 10.10-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB): Wednesday 25th August 1976, 7.15-8.30pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Mayor of Caslano

Theme: Holidays

Teams: Wezembeek-Oppem (B) v. Caslano Malcantone (CH) v. Birkenfeld (D) v.
Arbois (F) v. Newbury (GB) v. Amalfi (I) v. Zutphen (NL)

Games Demonstration Team: Riva San Vitale (CH)

Team Members included:
Wezembeek-Oppem (B) - Eddy Suderiks;
Caslano Malcantone (CH) - Sergio Antonietti (Team Captain), Renzo Antonietti, Mirko Ballinari, Kristina Brandt, Brooky Brown, Maria Caraluggia, Daniela Cleis, Heinrich Eimark, Renato Giobelli, Angelo Monti, Roberto Monti, Elde Robiani, Maria Chiara Ruggia, Mauro Trezzini;
Birkenfeld (D) - Wolfgang Beiren, Else Boitler, Werner Deser, Heike Füchs, Arnaud Glückner, Annalena Hartmann, Arnaud Leonardt, Marianna Schneider, Werner Schneider, Karl-Heinz Schrammer, Karen Schultz, Reinholt Selle;
Arbois (F) - Françoise Joerli;
Newbury (GB) - John Norgate (Team Manager), Mike Hart (Team Coach and Men’s Team Captain), Sue Robertson (Women's Team Captain), John Bauer, Hilary Bowden, Timothy Cornish, Susan Grantham, Paul Heggis, Julian Hendy, Melvin Kastelnik, Rachel King, Mark Morris, Louise O’Neill, John Rice, Wenda Rice, Alisdair Ross, Douglas Smith, Richard Smith, Colin Street, Moyna Turner;
Amalfi (I) - Livio Amandolla, Giorgio Fimandola, Annamaria Ristolli, Patrizia Torra;
Zutphen (NL) - Paul Jannsen, Hans Kuyper, Barbara Pieters, Ann Smarks.

Games: The Hotel Waiters, Moles on the Golf Course, Caravan and Minestrone, Harpooning the Fish, The Surrey Bike Race, Crazy Cow Carpet Caper, The Ice-Cream Collectors and Amphibious Skiing Slalom;
Fil Rouge: Holiday on the Island;
Jokers: Jolly 'Ticino' Jokers.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

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

 GB • Newbury ● ●
 CH • Caslano Malcantone
 F • Arbois ●
 I • Amalfi
 D • Birkenfeld
 B • Wezembeek-Oppem
 NL • Zutphen

46
43
36
33
32
31
24

The Venue

Caslano Malcantone, Switzerland

This heat was held on a small piazza on the waterfront of Lake Lugano, with a stunning backdrop of snow-capped mountains. Although only a town with a population of about 2,000 inhabitants at the time, its numbers swelled by roughly 50% at the height of the summer season with tourists being lured globally to admire the beautiful alpine scenery and lakeside views.

The Games in Detail

Game 3 - Caravan and Minestrone

Game 3 - 'Caravan and Minestrone' - involved two members in a caravan, which contained a huge cooking pot. The idea of the game was to add a list of ingredients - 8kg flour, 10 litres of water, 2 watermelons, potatoes, carrots, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers and peppers - to the pot to make the minestrone soup. The only problem was that the caravan was severely rocked up and down from end to end by opposing team members. This game was the most hilarious of the night and the teams really struggled to keep their footholds. However, Italian team Amalfi were confident enough to play their Joker on this game and got 12 points. That’s what you call confidence! Incidentally, if you are wondering how the game could be seen from the outside - Swiss TV had purchased a real caravan and literally cut one of the sides completely off and mounted the wheels on to a podium!

Additional Information

Swiss broadcasters staged this event the week after the previous event, breaking from the usual fortnightly schedule. All the broadcasters who would ordinarily show the programme live (those in Switzerland and West Germany) elected to delay broadcast by one week to keep to their established fortnightly transmission pattern.

The competition proved to be a battle-royale between Newbury and Caslano Malcantone. The Swiss team won four of the eight games they competed in, whilst Newbury only managed to win one - their Joker game featuring 18-year old Susan Grantham, who really was the heroine of the night. In addition to winning their Joker game, Newbury registered five 2nd places, a 4th and a 3rd place in the final game. This was Great Britain's first win in two years. The country's last victory was recorded by Farnham in Avenches, Switzerland on 24th July 1974.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

GB

Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

Heat 4

Event Staged: Wednesday 14th July 1976 from 9.00pm
Venue: Roundhay Park, Leeds, Great Britain

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Wednesday 14th July 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 14th July 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Wednesday 14th July 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 14th July 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Wednesday 14th July 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Thursday 15th July 1976
Nederland 1 (NL): Friday 16th July 1976, 7.05-8.40pm
RTB (B): Sunday 18th July 1976, 8.25-9.45pm
RTP (P): Saturday 7th August 1976, 9.05-10.30pm
BBC1 (GB): Wednesday 1st September 1976, 7.15-8.30pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Robin Scott CBE, Senior Controller of BBC TV

Theme: Farm Animals

Teams: Tournai (B) v. Füllinsdorf (CH) v. Traunstein (D) v. Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) v.
Kirklees (GB) v. Riva del Garda (I) v. Oldekerk (NL)

Team Members included:
Tournai (B) - Katerine Arland, Michel Cordone, Guy Devaler, Marie-France Mattante, Thierry Vissenaekens;
Füllinsdorf (CH) - Prudence Ravatti, Willi Shuchbach, Milly Wistrich;
Traunstein (D) - Paula Beckenbauer, Gunther Brückstelle, Peter Klein, Eve Langweier, Suzy Meyer, Kips Olden, Helmut Ortillinger, Peter Purkop, Heribert Stern, Dagmar Sternhard, Stefan Walleslager, Maximillian Wittebisler ;
Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) - Joëlle Michant, Carole Montura, Jean Moront, Patric Pembele, Clair Unziole;
Kirklees (GB) - Max Jones (Team Manager), Robert A. Blackshaw (Team Captain and Team Coach), Janet Fidler (Women's Team Captain), Julie Athey, Karen Athey, Eddie Berry, Kim Booth, Alan Conroy, Jonathan Crossland, Paul Dallas, Gillian Gaskin, Brian Hayhurst, Barry Hodgson, Ian Jowett, Barry Kenny, David Laverick, Tony Lees, Julie Mallalieu, Eileen Marchant, Dave Millman, Graham Overend, Lesley Rowell, Lynette Thompson, Janet Williams;
Riva del Garda (I) - Marco Coratta, Patrizia Pollo;
Oldekerk (NL) - Henk Bos (Team Manager), Evert Bronda, Zitsey Drenten, Ally de Fries, Cristi Kulver, Derek Ottema.

Games (Official Titles): Tomatoes, Turkey Time, Churn It Up, In for a Duck, In A Sheepish Mood, Donkey Work, Speedy and Sheepdogs;
Fil Rouge: Flower Power;
Reserve Game: Bale Away (not used);
Jokers: Farmers with Pitchforks.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

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

 GB • Kirklees ●
 D • Traunstein
 NL • Oldekerk
 CH • Füllinsdorf
 F  • Villefranche-sur-Saône
 B • Tournai
 I • Riva del Garda

45
41
38
32
25
24
23

The Host Town

Leeds, Great Britain

The BBC chose Leeds as the venue for this year’s International Heat as the city was celebrating the 350th anniversary of the borough charter granted to it by King Charles I in 1626.

The Venue

Roundhay Park

The games were played in Rounday Park, one of the biggest city parks in Europe. It has more than 700 acres (2.8 km²) of parkland, lakes, woodland and gardens and is owned by Leeds City Council. The park is one of the most popular attractions in Leeds, visited by close to a million people each year. It is situated on the north-east edge of the city, bordered by the suburb of Roundhay to the west, Oakwood to the south and the A6120 outer ring road to the north.

There is no mention of Roundhay in the Domesday Book, but it is understood that the land was granted to Ilbert De Lacy by William the Conqueror for his loyalty to the monarch and for his support in the subjugation campaigns of the winter 1069–70 in the North of England. In the reign of King Henry II, a charter had been granted by Robert de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, giving rights to timber and pasturage at 'Rundehaia' to the monks at Kirkstall Abbey, where he was buried after his death in 1193. It is stated that King John visited Roundhay in 1212 and spent three days in hunting.

Ownership of Roundhay passed through succession to John of Gaunt and then to his son, Henry IV. In the 16th century, Henry VIII gave the park (though not the manor) to Thomas Darcy. Through succession and marriage, it was acquired by Charles Stourton, XV Baron Stourton (1702–1753) in the 18th century.

In more recent years, the estate, part of the ancient Manor of Roundhay, was bought in 1804 by Thomas Nicholson of Chapel Allerton, a London banker, and was laid out as a park. When Nicholson died in 1821, the estate passed to his half-brother Stephen. In 1858, William Nicholson inherited the land on the death of his uncle. He was destined to be the last private owner of the park as, when William Nicholson died in 1868, the estate fell into Chancery and was put up for sale in 1871.

Roundhay Park was purchased for £139,000 by a group including the Mayor of Leeds, Sir John Barran (1821-1905), with a view to selling it on to the local council. Leeds City Council was unable to buy such a large tract of land without an Act of Parliament, which was obtained on 21st June 1871. The local authority agreed to pay the same price and gave the estate to the people of Leeds as a public park.

Leeds architect, George Corson, won the competition for landscaping Roundhay Park. Some parts of the estate were then sold for building plots to offset the cost to the council and Barran. HRH Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, officially re-opened the park in 1872, a ceremony attended by 100,000 people who were not dissuaded by the poor public transport links between the centre of Leeds and the park. In 1891, this shortcoming was addressed when a public electric tram with overhead power (trolley system) was inaugurated, linking Roundhay Park with Leeds city centre 3 miles (4.8 km) away. It was the first transport system of its type in Britain. The tram terminus is now a car park but some of the trolley poles remain.

In the eastern part of the park is Waterloo Lake. At its south end is a dam, and in 1907 an open-air swimming pool was constructed below it. It was known as a lido and was particularly popular during the 1950s but was closed and filled in during the 1980s. The area is now a car park, still signposted 'Lido'.

The park has staged many events. In 1896, Charles Blondin (1824-1897), the famed French tightrope walker and acrobat, then 72, crossed several times on a wire suspended over the upper lake. Since then there have been music concerts, festivals, firework displays, balloon ascents, parachute jumps and many other events, including some of a sporting nature. For instance, an enthusiastic crowd of 80,000 watched a rugby league sevens match between England and Australia in the park in 1933, won 29–11 by Australia.

Recent times have witnessed tragedy. In June 2005, two teenagers drowned in Waterloo Lake: a memorial stone on the lakeside footpath recalls their memory. Later, in January 2007, the Lakeside Café was extensively damaged by fire. Following complete renovation, including a new roof, it has reopened.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - Tomatoes

The first game - 'Tomatoes' - was played in unison by six of the seven teams (with the Italians sitting it out). Each team fielded four competitors (2 male, 2 female). One man was required to drive an electric tractor, towing a trailer. Two girls each had to collect two tomatoes and stand on the trailer. They were assisted in this by another man. The girls were then pulled down the course by the tractor, the driver carefully avoiding various hazards. If someone dropped their tomato, the man who was tasked with assisting the girls was allowed to run down the course to collect it and return it to his team. The first team to complete the course with all their tomatoes was to be declared the winner.

Image © BBC, 1976

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Tournai (B) (6pts awarded / Joker / 6pts total) =1st Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (6pts / 6pts) 3rd Oldekerk (NL) (5pts / 5pts) 4th Füllinsdorf (CH) (4pts / 4pts) 5th Traunstein (D) (2pts / 2pts) 6th Kirklees (GB) (1pt / 1pt) 7th Riva del Garda (I) (--- / 0pts)

Game 2 - Turkey Time

The second game - 'Turkey Time' - was played by six of the seven teams (with the Dutch taking a breather) over the course of three heats which featured two teams each. Each team fielded two male competitors (one to throw, one to push) and one female competitor (to catch). Two men, one per country per heat, positioned on a disc or outside a circled area, had to throw balls (eggs) in their country's colour into an opening on top of a giant turkey. The egg would then drop through and be shot out in an uncontrollable direction as the turkey is rotated by two men from opposing neutral teams. Two girls, one per country per heat, had to try to catch their country's eggs individually in a basket and deposit them into a container outside the circled area. The team which had caught the greater number of their country's eggs within the time limit would be declared the winner.

Image © BBC, 1976

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Tournai (B) (3pts awarded / 9pts total) =1st Füllinsdorf (CH) (5pts / 9pts) ▲ 3rd Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (2pts / 8pts) ▼ 4th Kirklees (GB) (6pts / 7pts) ▲ 5th Traunstein (D) (4pts / 6pts) 6th Oldekerk (NL) (--- / 5pts) ▼ 7th Riva del Garda (I) (1pt / 1pt)

Game 3 - Churn It Up

The third game - 'Churn It Up' - was played by six of the seven teams (with the Belgians missing out) over the course of two heats which featured three teams each. Each team fielded one female and two male competitors on this game. One girl had to sit on a stool, milking a cow via a simple tap into four buckets which are filled and then carried by two male farmhands wearing yokes. After walking down the slippery farmyard, the two farmhands, still carrying the milk, had to climb over a stile, up a seesaw and empty the milk from their buckets into the churn marked with their country's letters. They then had to return over the same route to exchange their empty buckets for full ones, enabling them to repeat the course. The team with the most milk emptied into their country's churn with the time limit would win the game.

Image © BBC, 1976

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Traunstein (D) (6pts awarded / 12pts total) ▲ =2nd Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (3pts / 11pts) ▲ =2nd Kirklees (GB) (4pts / 11pts) ▲ =4th Füllinsdorf (CH) (1pt / 10pts) ▼ =4th Oldekerk (NL) (5pts / 10pts) ▲ 6th Tournai (B) (--- / 9pts) ▼ 7th Riva del Garda (I) (2pts / 3pts)

Game 4 - In for a Duck

The fourth game - 'In for a Duck' - was played by six of the seven teams (with the Swiss taking time out) over the course of two heats which featured three teams each. Each team fielded one male and two female competitors on this game. One girl had to find balls in her country's colour hidden in the straw and then pass them to a man in a duck costume, to carry in his arms. He had to race across a little bridge en route to the finish area where another girl was required to take the eggs from him and unload them. The man returns to collect further eggs. The team which collects the most eggs within the allowed time would win the game.

Image © BBC, 1976

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Kirklees (GB) (12pts awarded / Joker / 23pts total) ▲ =2nd Traunstein (D) (3pts / 15pts) ▼ =2nd Oldekerk (NL) (5pts / 15pts) ▲ 4th Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (2pts / 13pts) ▼ =5th Füllinsdorf (CH) (--- / 10pts) ▼ =5th Tournai (B) (1pt / 10pts) ▲ 7th Riva del Garda (I) (4pts / 7pts)

Game 5 - In a Sheepish Mood

The fifth game - 'In a Sheepish Mood' - was played by six of the seven teams (with the Germans enjoying a break) over the course of two heats which featured three teams each. Each team fielded one male competitor on this game. One man from each team had to pick up a sheep from the pen and take it through a hole in the hedge, up the ramp to the pool. They had to pull in the suspended rope with their crook, swing over and down the ramp on the opposite side. They then had to negotiate obstacles on the path and climb the ramp to deposit the sheep on top of the mountain. This done, the competitors had to return to collect further sheep. The team with the most sheep collected within the time limit would be declared the winner.

Image © BBC, 1976

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Kirklees (GB) (5pts awarded / 28pts total) 2nd Oldekerk (NL) (8pts / Joker / 23pts) ▲ 3rd Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (6pts / 19pts) ▲ 4th Traunstein (D) (--- / 15pts) ▼ 5th Füllinsdorf (CH) (4pts / Joker / 14pts) 6th Tournai (B) (3pts / 13pts) ▼ 7th Riva del Garda (I) (2pts / Joker / 9pts)

Game 6 - Donkey Work

The sixth game - 'Donkey Work' - was played by six of the seven teams (with the French not taking part) over the course of two heats which featured three teams each. Each team fielded two male competitors and one female competitor (with the added possibility of Women's Captains filling buckets on top of the ramp) on this game. A female competitor had to empty three buckets of water into pannier tanks strapped over the back of a donkey on wheels. A line attached to the front of the donkey ran up the ramp through a pulley, finishing fixed to a cross bar held by two male farmhands. Three fresh buckets of water were hanging from this bar which the girl at the base of the ramp needed to fill the donkey's pannoier tanks once she had emptied her first three buckets. So, the two men had to walk down the ramp pulling the donkey up, deliver their buckets of fresh water to the girl, then walk up the ramp, letting the donkey down for refilling - with the weight of the water in the pannier gradually increasing. The team with most water in their donkey's pannier tanks within the time limit would win the game.

Image © BBC, 1976

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Kirklees (GB) (6pts awarded / 34pts total) 2nd Oldekerk (NL) (2pts / 25pts) =3rd Traunstein (D) (4pts / 19pts) ▲ =3rd Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (--- / 19pts) 5th Füllinsdorf (CH) (3pts / 17pts) =6th Tournai (B) (1pt / 14pts) =6th Riva del Garda (I) (5pts / 14pts) ▲

Game 7 - Speedy

The seventh and penultimate game - 'Speedy' - as played by six of the seven teams (with the British taking their turn to sit on the sidelines) over the course of six heats which featured one team each. Each team fielded three male and three female competitors on this game. Three men and three girls were inside a caterpillar costume but only the man at the back could see. He had to shout information to his team inside the costume, directing them over a course of items to be correctly negotiated, such as croquet hoops, flowers, toadstools, ladybirds and the like, finally finishing by climbing into a cocoon. The team completing the course correctly in the quickest time would win the game.

Image © BBC, 1976

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Kirklees (GB) (--- / 34pts total) 2nd Traunstein (D) (12pts awarded / Joker / 31pts) ▲ 3rd Oldekerk (NL) (3pts / 28pts) ▼ 4th Füllinsdorf (CH) (5pts / 22pts) ▲ 5th Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (2pts / Joker / 21pts) ▼ 6th Tournai (B) (4pts / 18pts) 7th Riva del Garda (I) (2pts / 16pts) ▼

Fil Rouge - Flower Power

The Fil Rouge in this event - 'Flower Power' - was played individually over seven heats, with each country fielding one female and two male competitors. There would also be six men playing in opposition - one from each country - in each heat. Two men in a pantomime horse costume had to progress along a course, with a girl on the back of the horse (she sat on the shoulders of the man in the back of the costume). The girl had to collect flowers en route, dismounting to pick them. Having done so, she had to remount the horse before proceeding to the next bunch of flowers, carrying all flowers collected at all times. The opposing team, comprising of one man from each country, had to place or build various obstacles along the course to impede the speed of progress of horse and rider. The team picking the most flowers in the allowed time would be declared the winner.

Image © BBC, 1976

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Kirklees (GB) (6pts awarded / 40pts total) 2nd Traunstein (D) (7pts / 38pts) 3rd Oldekerk (NL) (6pts / 34pts) 4th Füllinsdorf (CH) (3pts / 25pts) 5th Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (3pts / 24pts) 6th Tournai (B) (4pts / 22pts) 7th Riva del Garda (I) (1pt / 17pts)

Game 8 - Sheepdogs

The eighth and final game - 'Sheepdogs' - was played in unison by all seven teams. Each team fielded two competitors (one female, one male) on this game. At the whistle, one man - in sheepdog costume - from each country had to run out on all fours from a pen to pick up sheep from a number covering all teams in a collective group. The sheepdogs could only pick up their sheep with their teeth, gripping a small flap on the sheep's back covering their country's identification. When all his sheep had been collected and placed in the pen, a girl from his team had to raise their country's flag to signify finishing the game. The first team with all, or the greater number of its sheep collected within the time limit would win the game.

Image © BBC, 1976

Final Scores and Positions: 1st Kirklees (GB) (5pts awarded / 45pts total) 2nd Traunstein (D) (3pts / 41pts) 3rd Oldekerk (NL) (4pts / 38pts) 4th Füllinsdorf (CH) (7pts / 32pts) 5th Villefranche-sur-Saône (F) (1pt / 25pts) 6th Tournai (B) (2pts / 24pts) 7th Riva del Garda (I) (6pts / 23pts)

Reserve Game - Bale Away

It was not necessarily to use the reserve game - 'Bale Away' - on the night. It was flexible in that it could be played in one heat by six or seven competitors (one man from each country), depending on what game it was called to replace. If the game had been played, it would have proceeded as follows: at the whistle, one man would have to run to stand on a straw bale. He would have been carrying a second bale, which he was to place on the ground in front of him, so that he could step on to it. The idea was that he would then pick up the first bale from the ground behind him and place that in front of him to step on to, and so on, until the full length of the course had been covered. The team which was first to cross the finish line, complete with both bales, would have been declared the winner of this reserve game.

Image © BBC, 1976

Memories of Jeux Sans Frontières

Following interviews with British team members in 2010 with the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, it emerged that the Italian team had won the rehearsal. Kirklees team member Eddie Berry recalled: "One incident I remember during the European round was when I was going into lunch after the rehearsal. The Italian team had won the rehearsal and were showing off making a human pyramid. I was walking past with Brian Hayhurst who suddenly, in mid-stride, did a somersault with twist and carried on walking. The Italians, on seeing this, collapsed into a heap. They went on to come last in the real competition."

Dave Millman recalled how one of the games had him dressed in tights, flippers and a huge duck costume. “The competitors had to dive into this huge pile of straw and pull out a rugby ball. I got to the final against the German and, as we were running towards the straw, he hit me in the side. When I got to within four metres of the straw I dived in and the next thing I knew this guy landed on top of me. We couldn’t even see the ball, but eventually I found it. It was a fantastic experience”. However, it seems that Dave’s memories were slightly faded after 34 years, as in fact they were actually footballs and it was the Dutch team member that contested the final round with him. It would seem that Dave’s memory of the game had suddenly returned during the reunion programme on BBC’s Inside Out, because he clearly states that it was him and the Dutch player that competed for last egg. This was more likely to be that he was shown the game during the recording of that programme and the commentary by Stuart Hall clearly jogged his memory!

David Laverick, 51, was the baby of the team. He was a 16-year old schoolboy at Newsome High School and a Longwood Harrier runner when he won his place in the team. He recalled that at Roundhay Park, he was the back end of a pantomime horse. "I can’t remember who was at the front end, but the pair of us had to run round and climb a ladder at the end. I think we finished second. It was good entertainment and it was a really popular programme back then”.

Jonathan Crosland, 57, was a Physical Education teacher at Earlsheaton High School in Dewsbury back in 1976. He remembers the continental teams bringing gifts with them. “I still have the snuff kit which the West Germans brought us and the Dutch team gave us tankards. The French team brought cases and cases of Beaujolais with them, but they weren't allowed to take them all through Customs, so we only got one bottle each. I can’t remember what we gave them”.

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

The winning team’s trophy was presented to them by BBC executive Robin Scott. Robin had been the producer of the very first It’s A Knockout held in Great Britain in 1966, and it was he that had given the show its British title.

Additional Information

The game titles given above are official titles, with the exception of 'Finding the Eggs' (official title - 'In for a Duck') and 'Ride A Pantomime Horse' (original title - 'Flower Power'). We have elected to use our own titles for these games as they were changed significantly between original planning and the games as played on the night. The Fil Rouge was originally to have featured the girl on the pantomime horse dismounting to pick up flowers, then remounting. This idea was dropped. Likewise, 'Finding the Eggs' was originally to have featured male team members dressed in duck costumes, who would carry the eggs found amongst the hay, and this feature was also discarded. Game 7 - 'Speedy' - was also changed to feature two teams in three heats, rather than it being run in six individual heats.

The teams were asked to give names to the pantomime horses for the Fil Rouge, which presenter Eddie Waring referred as the Leeds Grand National. Although the Italian and British teams’ horses names were not revealed, the other five countries’ names ranged from Old Hoppa-Poppa (Netherlands), Lightning (B), Olly (CH), Beauty (D) and Trigger (F).

Finishing in last place on the very first game ultimately lost Kirklees the opportunity to represent Great Britain in the International Final in Blackpool later on in the year. Finishing in the top two positions on all the other games (except for two when the team finished in third place), they would have easily have beaten Newbury’s positioning on games should they have equalled their points score. Having had scored 40pts before the final game, the team needed to finish in second place on the game to qualify for the International Final. If they had succeeded, the team would have qualified with more first placings (3:1) than Newbury from the previous heat, but unfortunately could only manage to finish in third place.

As was the norm with the BBC version of the programme, information was shielded from the home crowd as to previous performances of British teams that year. No mention of Newbury’s victory was revealed by either presenter, although referee Gennaro Olivieri mentioned to Stuart Hall after allocating the final game’s score, “Just one point from the Final”. Stuart Hall acknowledged his words but elaborated no further, and unless you listened very carefully that statement by Gennaro would have gone unnoticed by most people on-site. However, in the West German broadcast, Manfred Erdenberger could not wait to explain that Newbury had resisted the Kirklees challenge by just one point and that Traunstein were the current qualifiers for West Germany by scoring one point more than the previous incumbents, Trostberg who had scored 40pts!

Kirklees team member Brian Hayhurst was celebrating more than just the win on the night of the Roundhay Park recording - it was also his 35th birthday!

Although the Kirklees team won this heat, they missed out on representing Great Britain in the International Final in Blackpool. Jonathan explained that “Newbury won their International Heat by one more point than us, so they got to represent Britain in the Final”.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

B

Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

Heat 5

Event Staged: Wednesday 11th August 1976
Venue: La Plaine de Cointe (Play Area of Cointe), Cointe, Liège, Belgium

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Wednesday 11th August 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 11th August 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Wednesday 11th August 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 11th August 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Wednesday 11th August 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Thursday 12th August 1976
Nederland 1 (NL): Friday 13th August 1976, 7.05-8.40pm
RTB (B): Sunday 15th August 1976, 8.35-9.45pm
RTP (P): Saturday 21st August 1976, 9.05-10.40pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Friday 10th September 1976, 7.10-8.30pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 12th September 1976, 2.00-3.20pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Michel Lemaire

Theme: Cycling and Tour de France

Teams: Liège (B) v. La Neuveville (CH) v. Bad Füssing (D) v. Agen (F) v.
Thurrock (GB) v. Perugia (I) v. Hilvarenbeek (NL)

Team Members included:
Liège (B) - Simeon Rutter, Marilyn Woolf;
La Neuveville (CH) - Sylvia Constantes, Denise Mattie, Marcel Weber;
Bad Füssing (D) - Suzy Graham, Albert Vimmer;
Agen (F) - Phillipe Lacompais;
Thurrock (GB) - Malcolm Gow (Team Manager), Terry Lax (Team Captain), Julie Bannister, Jack Benton, Michael Brightwell, Costa Buller, Trevor Burge, Malcolm Burton, Geoffrey Cave, John Chapman, Colin Elsden, Andrea Eustace, Geraldine Gray, David Groom, Tony Hills, Alan Jousiffe, Susan Jousiffe, Susan Kane, Gloria Kemp, Michael ‘Doc’ Leckenby, Valerie McCormack, Kay Meiklejohn, Erica Morris, Ray ‘The Star’ Page, Jack Palmer, Colin Paxman, Ray Smallcombe, William Smith, Gary Telfer, Bob Williams;
Perugia (I) - Danni Artentano, Emilie Beccolotti, Vincenzo Ciotti, Antonella Duchini;
Hilvarenbeek (NL) - Arve Harper, Ine Hoorsman, Nancy Pikker.

Games: The Sticky Slopes, Collecting the Wheels, Water Tandem Ride, Slow Cycle Race, The Support Cars, Suspended Unicycles, Circular Pursuit and The Cyclists' Maze;
Fil Rouge: Presents Over the Pool;
Jokers: Bicycle Wheels.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

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

 CH • La Neuveville ● ●
 NL • Hilvarenbeek ●
 B • Liège
 D • Bad Füssing
 F • Agen
 GB • Thurrock
 I • Perugia

45
40
36
33
31
30
22

The Venue

Liège, Belgium

This heat was held in Cointe, a western suburb of the city of Liège. The games arena was located in a multi-functional leisure complex known as Le Plaine - loosely translated as The Play Area. The facilities in the complex include basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, a rifle range and a full-size football pitch surrounded by an athletics track. Each of the sports has its own particular area and is cordoned off from each other by small hand barriers. However, when the programme was held there, many of these barriers had to be removed and special flooring was laid over the courts’ bases to protect the surfaces.

Returning Teams and Competitors

Swiss team La Neuveville were a very strong team and had, in fact won the competition after Game 7, even before the last Fil Rouge had been played! The team participated again when they joined forces with neighbouring town Nods in 1992.

Additional Information

The programme opened with the teams being led into the arena by Le Royal Guidon Hesbignon Fanfare Cycliste de Haneffe. Comprising 50 members on bicycles (some of them on tandems), the band is located in Haneffe in the heart of the province of Liège and is one of the most active companies in the community. The band has played the role of ambassador for the city for well over 100 years, with invitations to play from not only towns in Belgium but also in France, Germany, Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Entering the arena to some typical Belgian speciality tunes, they segued into Knees Up! Mother Brown halfway through!

British team Thurrock was very unfortunate in this heat with malfunctioning equipment. On Game 3 - ‘Water Tandem Ride’ - a broken bicycle saddle hindered the team in completing the course - which had also hampered the Netherlands team - but a re-run was granted by referee Gennaro Olivieri for both teams. On Game 6 - ‘Suspended Unicycles’ - some ‘faulty’ equipment caused the British team to be unable to complete the course, after the suspended unicycle had come off its wire causing the equipment to jam. However, on this occasion Gennaro Olivieri refused a re-run stating that, “We won’t give another start because the material is quite okay. It is up to the competitors not to put out the bike”.

With the Dutch team Hilvarenbeek finishing in 2nd place with 40 points, they were tied with their countrymen from Pijnacker (Heat 1) in terms of qualification for the International Final. As both teams had won three games and come second in one each, qualification was ultimately decided on a countback of third place finishes, with Hilvarenbeek having achieved two to Pijnacker's one. This was the first time that an International Final competitor had been decided in this way, although a similar happening had occurred in 1975, again with the Dutch teams!

There was a summer break of four weeks between the staging and recording of International Heats 4 and 5 of Jeux Sans Frontières. This was due to the XXIst Summer Olympic Games being held in Montreal, Canada between Saturday 17th July and Sunday 1st August 1976. This break allowed broadcasters to carry live coverage of the events and free up technical, administrative and presentation staff and resources for the sporting tournament.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

D

Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

Heat 6

Event Staged: Wednesday 25th August 1976
Venue: Innerer Schloßhof (Inner Castle Courtyard), Deutschordenschloß
(Castle of the Teutonic Order), Bad Mergentheim, West Germany

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Wednesday 25th August 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 25th August 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Wednesday 25th August 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 25th August 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Wednesday 25th August 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Thursday 26th August 1976
Nederland 1 (NL): Saturday 28th August 1976, 7.05-8.40pm
RTB (B): Sunday 29th August 1976, 8.25-9.45pm
RTP (P): Saturday 4th September 1976, 9.00-10.45pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Friday 17th September 1976, 7.10-8.30pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 19th September 1976, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Erhard Keller

Theme: The Nine Ages of Man

Teams: Geel (B) v. Brissago (CH) v. Alsfeld (D) v. Douai (F) v.
Redcar (GB) v. Milazzo (Sicilia) (I) v. Valkenisse (Walcheren) (NL)

Team Members included:
Geel (B) - Jan Deleur;
Brissago (CH) - Claudio Baretta, Roberto Ciappini and Cristina Palmieri;
Alsfeld (D) - Elke Schüßler (Co-Team Coach), Hans Georg Schüßler (Co-Team Coach), Bernd Muhl (Team Captain), Irma Eichenauer, Ulrich Faulhaber (Reserve), Bettina Karl, Klaus Krug, Stephan Mathies, Conny Mengel, Rüdiger Mildner, Dagmar Rüdiger (Reserve), Herbert Rühl, Doris Scheithauer, Albert Scheuer, Hans-Erich Vogel, Manfred Zink;
Redcar (GB) - Fred Procter (Men’s Team Captain), Denise Appleby (Women's Team Captain), Corinne Appleton, David Bennett, Clive Birkbeck, Marion Calvert, Jack Foster, Julie Frown, Ian Hayton, Edward Holder, Peter Howe, Alexandra Miller, David Monroe, Alan Russell, Frank Towning, Anne Vickers, Jeff Wright; Reserves: Linda Hirst and Ian Scott;
Valkenisse (Walcheren) (NL) - Johan Vos.

Games: Baby and Pram, Playtime on Scooters, School Time, First Loves, Marriage Ceremony, Furnishing the Home, The Family Day Out and Finding a New Husband;
Fil Rouge: A Housewarming Party;
Jokers: Family Trees.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

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

 B • Geel ● ●
 D • Alsfeld
 GB • Redcar
 CH • Brissago
 F • Douai
 I • Milazzo (Sicilia)
 NL • Valkenisse (Walcheren)

46
45
34
31
29
25
24

The Venue

Bad Mergentheim, West Germany

This heat was held in front of the entrance to the main fortification of the Deutschordenschloß at Bad Mergentheim. When originally built in the 12th century, the area where the games took place would have been a moat which surrounded the castle. The castle itself was extended in the 16th century and was used to serve as headquarters of the Teutonic Order of Knights from 1525 until the forced abolition of the order in 1809. It is a complex of buildings built over a period of 800 years. The first buildings of the castle were expanded in the late 16th century under Grand Master Walter von Cronberg. Over the course of time, a representative Renaissance complex was built by connecting the individual buildings in the inner palace courtyard to create a closed ring of buildings. In 1574, the main architect, Blasius Berwart, also constructed the spiral staircase between the west and north wing still famous today. Today, the castle not only serves as the town’s main tourist attraction, but is used to house the Deutschordensmuseum, a museum dedicated to the Teutonic Order.

The Games in Detail

Game 7 - The Family Day Out

Game 7 - ‘The Family Day Out’ - featured the hilarious Russian dolls on which four teams chanced their Jokers, and which has been seen since on various retrospective programmes. With four team members handcuffed together and going head to head with two other teams through a narrow gap at the end of the course, it was pure Jeux Sans Frontières. British commentator Stuart Hall was once again in hysterics and could hardly speak. Although the British team of Redcar were almost out of contention at this point, they pulled off the biggest surprise of the night by winning this game, forcing the four teams playing their Jokers - Belgium, Switzerland, France and Italy - to score only 10pts, 8pts, 6pts and 2pts respectively, the result of which certainly helped their overall score.

Game 8 - Finding a New Husband

Before the last game - 'Finding a New Husband' - Belgian team Geel and West German team Alsfeld were level on 39pts each. The final game involved a female team member having to find a new ‘husband’. The West German girl started off quite well, but the small Belgian girl made up ground and it came down to a very close finish. The West German crowd believed that Alsfeld had clearly won, and were cheering and singing. However in the background, Belgian team members could also be seen celebrating. Then referee Gennaro Olivieri came to deliver the results with the immortal words, “Die plätze - Belgian erste” ("The placings - Belgium is first"), and the West German crowd fell silent and then booed loudly, whilst the small Belgian contingency celebrated. Incidentally, this was the first Belgian win since Ieper in 1973.

Reunions

Alsfeld (D)

On Saturday 5th May 2018, forty-two years after they had participated in Spiel Ohne Grenzen and Jeux Sans Frontières, the team of Alsfeld met up for a reunion organised by captain Bernd Muhl. The reunion took place in the Marktplatz, where the team had been victorious over Bad Mergentheim in the West German Domestic series all those years earlier. Sadly, not every team member could attend as Hans Georg Schüßler and Cornelia Mengel had already passed away and both Hansi Vogel and Elke Schüßler were living abroad. But making a special appearance on the day was Hans Ulrich Lipphardt, Mayor of Alsfeld (1973 to 1987). Bernd Muhl had a special surprise for everyone, when he turned up with the Joker that he had stored in his home since 1976.

Muhl (65), then the oldest member of the team at the age of 23, remembered: “The town of Alsfeld received over 60 applications for the team line-up. It had to be sorted out. There was a spirit of optimism in Alsfeld when it became known that the town could actually take part in the Spiel Ohne Grenzen competition - and at the same time be the venue for the elimination competition against Bad Mergentheim. A double task for the town.” It was decided in the Town Hall to hand over the actual sports competition to sports instructors Elke and Hans-Georg Schüßler. The organisation was carried out in the sports hall of the Gerhart-Hauptmann school with their main task being to put the team together. "I'll never forget that. It was almost exactly 42 years ago. There was DM 350 for everyone," said Muhl. “So everyone had to be fit and skilful at the same time,” he recalled.

Additional Information

Once again, the transmission was hit by technical difficulties with the scoreboard - which resolutely showed Geel (B) as finishing with just 6pts instead of their winning score of 46. Before the final credits rolled, referee Gennaro Olivieri pointed out to presenter Manfred Erdenberger that the score for Belgium should be 46pts. Perhaps it was a bit of local sabotage... We have corrected this anomaly on the scoreboard shown above.

The team from host town Bad Mergentheim were beaten by Alsfeld in the West German Domestic series Spiel Ohne Grenzen and failed to earn the right to participate in its own home heat!

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

NL

Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

Heat 7

Event Staged: Wednesday 8th September 1976
Venue: Stadspark, Groningen, Netherlands

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Wednesday 8th September 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 8th September 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Wednesday 8th September 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 8th September 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Wednesday 8th September 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Thursday 9th September 1976
Nederland 1 (NL): Friday 10th September 1976, 7.05-8.40pm
RTB (B): Sunday 12th September 1976, 8.30-9.45pm
RTP (P): Saturday 18th September 1976, 9.05-10.45pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Friday 24th September 1976, 7.10-8.30pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 26th September 1976, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Barend Barendse

Theme: Customs and Excise

Teams: Aalter (B) v. Ettlingen (D) v. Saint-Gaudens (F) v. Liechtenstein (FL) v.
Edinburgh (GB) v. Silvi Marina (I) v. Groningen (NL)

Games Demonstration Team: Bedum (NL)

Team Members included:
Aalter (B) - Robert Bellinder, Marc Bottebeek, Caroline de Dünke and Rafaella Rechewelt;
Liechtenstein (FL) - Werner Frick, Andreas Kaufman, George Nikine and Eric Wurstler;
Ettlingen (D) - Arnold Hubig (Team Captain), Dieter Behr, Elisabeth Bohnenstengel, Karl Bohnenstengel, Barbara Krieg, Siegfried Ockse, Manfred Reuter, Peter Schneider and Rune Vögel;
Saint-Gaudens (F) - Michel Burreau;
Edinburgh (GB) - John Brittain, Richie Dixon, Norman Donkey, Richard Dunn, Christine Fowler, Andy Irvine, Charlie Jackson, Ronnie Jefferies, Susan Mackenzie, Gerry McManus, Anna Munroe, Ray Pointing, Jenny Smith, Ronnie Smith, Ruth Watt;
Silvi Marina (I) - Annamarie Ciupissi, Gianfranco Collini and Berrado Nicolucci.

Games: Stamping the Visas, Gold Bars for Cash, Dutch Dairy Butter, The Rum Smugglers, The Jewel Thieves, Smuggling Cigarettes, Fierljeppen (Dyke Vaulting) and The Custom Officers;
Fil Rouge: The Baggage Inspector;
Jokers: Dutch Customs Officers.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

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

 D • Ettlingen ● ●
 GB • Edinburgh
 NL • Groningen
 FL • Liechtenstein
 F • Saint-Gaudens
 B • Aalter
 I • Silvi Marina

42
37
36
34
32
28
21

The Host Town

Groningen, Netherlands

Groningen is the capital and largest city of its eponymous province in the north-east of the Netherlands. It has a population of just under 200,000 inhabitants and is located 51km (31½ miles) east of Leeuwarden, 85km (52¾ miles) north of Zwolle, 147km (91¼ miles) north-east of Amsterdam and 35km (21¾ miles) west of the German border.

The city was founded on the northernmost point of the Hondsrug area (a large ridge of sand on which much of the province and neighbouring Drenthe is built). Groningen was founded around AD 950 at the site of a Roman camp and has a rich history, which can clearly be seen from the old medieval buildings in the downtown area. However, the oldest document referring to Groningen's existence only dates from 1040. In the 13th century, when the city was an important trade centre, its inhabitants built a city wall to underline its authority. The city had a strong influence on the surrounding lands and made its dialect a common tongue. The most influential period of the city was the end of the 15th century, when the nearby province of Friesland was administered from Groningen. During this period (1492), the Martinitoren (Martini Tower) in the market square was built, which loomed over the city at a height of 97m (318ft 3in), making it the highest building in Europe at the time. The city's independence came to an end when it chose to join forces with the Spanish during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) in 1594. It later switched sides, joining the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.

In 1614, the University of Groningen was founded, initially only for religious education and in the same period, the city expanded rapidly and a new city wall was built. That same wall was tested during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674), when the city was attacked fiercely by the bishop of Münster, Christoph Bernhard von Galen (1606-1678). Fortunately, the city’s wall resisted and this event, known as Gronings Ontzet (Siege of Groningen), is celebrated with music and fireworks on 28th August each year.

Groningen has been called the ‘World Cycling City’ because 57% of all journeys made within the city are by bicycle and, as is the case with most Dutch cities, it is well adapted to the high number of cyclists. A large network of bike paths make it convenient to cycle to various destinations and, within the city, the bicycle is the most popular means of transportation. Groningen's nightlife depends largely on the population of students studying at Groningen University (28,000) and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (25,000). Its cultural scene is vibrant and remarkable for a city of its size with the Grote Markt, the Vismarkt, the Poelestraat and Peperstraat (the surrounding streets) crowded every night of the week, with most bars not closing until 5.00am!

An absolute must for any visitor to the region is an excursion to the village of Bourtange. Located in the province of Groningen, it is actually 48km (30 miles) south-east of the city centre near the German border. Although it only has a population of 430 inhabitants, thousand of tourists flock to the village each year to see the star-shaped Festung (Fort) Bourtange. It was built in 1593 during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) when William I of Orange (1533-1584) wanted to control the only road between Germany and the city of Groningen which at the time was controlled by the Spanish. The fort was used until 1851, after which it was given up and it became a normal village. However, around 1960, living conditions in the village deteriorated to such a state that it was decided that Bourtange would be rebuilt to its former glory and today it is used as an open-air museum.

The Venue

Stadspark

This heat in Groningen was held on playing fields which were an extension of the Stadspark sports facility. Although the Stadspark Stadium still stands, the playing fields no longer exist as they were covered over following the expansion of the Martinihal in early 2000. Today the Martinihal, as well as being the home of professional Dutch basketball club GasTerra Flames Groningen, is part of the massive Martiniplaza shopping and fitness complex. Interestingly the area where this heat was held is now an underground car park which itself is covered by the regional Kamer van Koophandel (Chamber of Commerce) building. Coincidentally, the original Martinihal was used as a staging venue for the Dutch Domestic Series Zeskamp.

The Games in Detail

Fil Rouge - The Baggage Inspector

The Fil Rouge in this heat was unusual in that it was a pure guessing game. The competing team player, dressed as a customs official, had to try and pick the three heaviest cases from a possible ten which were being carried by opposing team members as they alighted from an aircraft. However, the opposing team members were able to fake the weight of the two cases being carried by using facial expressions and by the tensing of their arm muscles to look as if the cases were heavier than they really were.

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

One of the games in this heat featured the Dutch sport of Fierljeppen (Dyke Jumping) which involved jumping a dyke by means of a large vaulting pole. On the game, the competitors had to run up to a pole already ‘planted’ in the dyke, jump onto it and climb it as the pole fell to the ground, the idea being for them to land on a sanded bank on the other side. Before the competition, BBC and NCRV commentators Stuart Hall and Dick Passchier had had a side bet and had a go at the game themselves, the results of which have been seen many times in the compilation programmes over the years.

Returning Teams and Competitors

For the second consecutive year, French team Saint-Gaudens attempted to slip-in and qualify for the International Final by competing in the seventh International Heat of the series. In 1975, they had a tall order to try and overcome national rival Nancy’s winning score of 48pts, and could only manage to finish in bottom place with 24pts. However before this heat this year, the highest scoring team for France was Arbois who had finished in third place with 36pts. But the team could not even beat this and eventually finished in 5th place with 32pts! The team had one more attempt in the competition when it hosted the French International Heat in 1979, but in front of their home crowd, the team once again finished at the bottom of the heap in 8th place with just 21pts!

Additional Information

In the early stages of planning for this Dutch International Heat, the cities of Lelystad, Raalte and Rotterdam were considered as possible locations in addition to the eventual choice, Groningen.

With no television broadcasting station of its own (TV transmissions were from Swiss television channels), a team from the principality of Liechtenstein was granted entry into Jeux Sans Frontières to represent itself and its neighbours, Switzerland. They were also permitted to use their own national registration letters of FL.

During the dress rehearsals for this Game 7 - 'Fierljeppen' (Dyke Vaulting) - several competitors were injured and after being hit in the face by the vaulting poles. First, an Italian team member was injured and returned to the team hotel by ambulance. Then the Belgian and West German competitors also sustained injuries which required the attentions of Dr Ab Rozijn and the Red Cross. The possibility of dropping the game and replacing it with the reserve game - a sack race - was discussed but ultimately it was decided that it would be retained. In the final programme, the positions of lights were changed and the poles were in different colours as it was felt that visibility was causing the problems.

The West German team of Ettlingen had qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières by being the highest-scoring losing team in their Domestic series, Spiel Ohne Grenzen. Incredibly, not only did they outdo all the opposition from the other six countries by winning this heat, but they also outdid all their national rivals by being the only West German team to win this year and so qualified for the International Final in Blackpool. To rub salt in the wounds of the other West German teams, they also went on to win the Final and lift the Golden Trophy for West Germany!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

GB

Jeux Sans Frontières 1976

International Final

Event Staged: Wednesday 22nd September 1976, 9.00pm
Venue: South Shore Swimming Pool, Blackpool, Great Britain

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Wednesday 22nd September 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Wednesday 22nd September 1976, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 22nd September 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Wednesday 22nd September 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 22nd September 1976, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)

WDR 1 (D): Wednesday 22nd September 1976, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Wednesday 22nd September, 10.05-11.30pm 1976 (Live - DST)
Nederland 1 (NL): Saturday 25th September 1976, 7.15-8.40pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Friday 1st October 1976, 7.05-8.30pm
RTP (P): Saturday 2nd October 1976, 9.15-10.55pm

BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 3rd October 1976, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophies presented by: Derek Burrell-Davies, Head of BBC North West

Theme: Fairy Tales and Legends

Teams: Geel (B) v. La Neuveville (CH) v. Ettlingen (D) v. Arbois (F) v.
Newbury (GB) v. Jesolo (I) v. Hilvarenbeek (NL)

Team Members included:
Geel (B) - Jan Deleur;
La Neuveville (CH) - Sylvia Constantes, Denise Mattie, Marcel Weber;
Ettlingen (D) - Arnold Hubig (Team Captain), Dieter Behr, Elisabeth Bohnenstengel, Karl Bohnenstengel, Barbara Krieg, Siegfried Ockse, Manfred Reuter, Peter Schneider and Rune Vögel;
Newbury (GB) - John Norgate (Team Manager), Mike Hart (Team Coach and Men’s Team Captain), Sue Robertson (Women's Team Captain), John Bauer, Hilary Bowden, Timothy Cornish, Susan Grantham, Paul Heggis, Julian Hendy, Melvin Kastelnik, Rachel King, Mark Morris, Louise O’Neill, John Rice, Wenda Rice, Alisdair Ross, Douglas Smith, Richard Smith, Colin Street, Moyna Turner;
Jesolo (I) - Paulo Scagnetto (Team Captain), Giorgio Crema (Vice Team Captain), Daniela Alzani, Paolo Bastianutto, Antonella Bedei, Roberto Cedrelli, Patrizia Cicola, Mauro Finotto, Wilma Fontana, Egle Maran, Gianni Marchesin, Rodolfo Marigonda, Manfredo Oliveti, Mauro Pasquali, Erminio Pieretto, Daniela Scagnetto and Pierantonio Turchetto;
Hilvarenbeek (NL) - Arve Harper, Ine Hoorsman, Nancy Pikker.

Games: The Castle's Giants, Giant Toadstools, The Magic Beans, Golden Eggs, Chopping the Beanstalk, Stealing the Treasure, Big Acorns and Rescuing the Damsels;
Fil Rouge: Flying Doves;
Jokers: Fairies with Magic Wands.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

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

 D • Ettlingen ●
 CH • La Neuveville ●
 B • Geel ●
 F • Arbois
 GB • Newbury
 NL • Hilvarenbeek
 I • Jesolo

52
41
40
33
27
21
18

The Host Town

Blackpool, Great Britain

Blackpool is a seaside town with 7 miles (11km) of sandy beach and a population of around 144,000 inhabitants in the county of Lancashire. It is located on the Irish Sea coast between the Ribble and Wyre river estuaries, 12 miles (19km) north of Southport, 14 miles (22km) north-west of Preston, 20 miles (32km) south-west of Morecambe and 61 miles (98km) west of Leeds.

In medieval times Blackpool emerged as a few farmsteads on the coast, the name coming from "le pull", a stream that drained Marton Mere and Marton Moss into the sea close to what is now Manchester Square. The stream ran through peat bogs that discoloured the water, so the name for the area became "Black Poole". The first house of any substance, Foxhall, was built toward the end of the 17th century by Edward Tyldesley (1635-1685), the Squire of Myerscough and son of royalist Sir Thomas Tyldesley (1612-1651).

Until the middle of the 18th century, Blackpool was simply a coastal hamlet, but the practice of sea bathing to cure diseases was becoming fashionable among the wealthier classes, and visitors began making the arduous trek to Blackpool for that purpose. In 1781, Thomas Clifton (1727-1783) and Sir Henry Hoghton (1728-1795) built a private road to Blackpool and a regular stagecoach service from Manchester and Halifax was established. A few amenities, including four hotels, an archery stall and bowling greens, were developed, and the town grew slowly. The 1801 census records the town's population at 473 inhabitants.

The most significant event in the early growth of the town occurred in 1846, with the completion of a branch line to Blackpool from Poulton on the main Preston and Wyre Joint Railway line from Preston to Fleetwood. Around this time, Fleetwood declined as a resort, as its founder and principal financial backer, Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood (1801-1866), went bankrupt. In contrast, Blackpool boomed. A sudden influx of visitors, arriving by rail, provided the motivation for entrepreneurs to build accommodation and create new attractions, leading to more visitors and a rapid cycle of growth throughout the 1850s and 1860s. By 1851, the town's population had risen to over 2,500.

The growth was intensified by the practice among the Lancashire cotton mill owners of closing the factories for a week every year to service and repair machinery. These became known as ‘wakes weeks’. Each town's mills would close for a different week, allowing Blackpool to manage a steady and reliable stream of visitors over a prolonged period in the summer.

In 1863, the North Pier was completed, rapidly becoming a centre of attraction for elite visitors. Central Pier was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large open-air dance floor. The town expanded southward beyond what is today known as the Golden Mile, towards South Shore, and South Pier was completed in 1893, making Blackpool the only town in the United Kingdom with three piers. In 1878, the Winter Gardens complex opened, incorporating ten years later the Opera House, said to be the largest in Britain outside London.

Much of Blackpool's growth and character from the 1870s was due to the town's pioneering use of electrical power. In 1879, it became the first municipality in the world to have electric street lighting, as large parts of the promenade were wired. The lighting and its accompanying pageants reinforced Blackpool's status as the North of England's most prominent holiday resort, and its specifically working class character. It was the forerunner of the present-day Blackpool Illuminations. In 1885, one of the world's first electric tramways was laid down as a conduit line running from Cocker Street to Dean Street on the Promenade. The line was operated by the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company until 1892 when their lease expired and Blackpool Corporation took over running the line. A further line was added in 1895, from Manchester Square along Lytham Road to South Shore, and the line was extended north to Fleetwood. In 1899, the conduit system was replaced by overhead wires. The tramway has remained in continuous service to this day and is the United Kingdom’s only surviving first generation tramway stretching 11 miles (18km) from the airport at Squires Gate all the way to Fleetwood.

By the 1890s, the town had a permanent population of 35,000 but could accommodate 250,000 holidaymakers. The number of annual visitors, many staying for a week, was estimated at three million. The decade also saw the opening of two of the town's most prominent buildings, the Grand Theatre on Church Street, and Blackpool Tower on the Promenade.

Documents have been found to suggest that the reason Blackpool escaped heavy damage in World War II (1939-1945) was that Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) had earmarked the town to remain a place of leisure after his planned invasion. Despite this, on 11th September 1940, German bombs fell near Blackpool North railway station and eight people were killed in nearby houses in Seed Street. This site today is occupied by the new Town Hall offices and a Sainsbury's supermarket. No plaque has ever been erected to remember the injured or dead.

The rise of package holidays in the late 1960s and 1970s took many of Blackpool's traditional visitors abroad, where the weather was more reliably warm and dry, and improved road communications, epitomised by the construction of the M55 motorway in 1975, made Blackpool more feasible as a day trip rather than an overnight stay. Despite this, the town’s economy, however, flourishes relatively undiversified and firmly rooted in the tourism sector and remains the most popular seaside resort in the country. However, the town has suffered a serious drop in numbers of visitors which have fallen from 17 million in 1992 to 10 million today.

The three main tourist hotspots in Blackpool originally appeared as part of the flourishing tourist industry. The first is Blackpool Tower which opened in 1894 and has been a dominant landmark of the Blackpool skyline since that time. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, it is 518ft 4in (158m) in height (roughly half the size of its more famous original) and houses a complex of leisure facilities, entertainment venues and restaurants, including the world-famous Tower Ballroom and Tower Circus, at its base.

The second, Pleasure Beach Blackpool, originates back to around 1910 and boasts rides including the Pepsi Max Big One which, between 1994 and 1996, was the world's fastest and tallest complete circuit rollercoaster. It was the country's most popular free attraction with 6 million visitors a year but has lost over a million visitors since 1998 and has recently introduced a £5 entrance fee.

The third is the North Pier, the northern-most of Blackpool's three piers, which includes a small shopping arcade, a small tramway and the North Pier Theatre. The pier end also used to have a helicopter pad, but this was damaged in a Christmas storm in 1997 and collapsed into the sea.

The Venue

South Shore Swimming Pool

The games at this International Final were held at the South Shore Swimming Pool adjacent to the South Pier. This was the fourth time it had been used to stage the International Jeux Sans Frontières competitions, as it had previously been used to stage the British Internationals in 1967 and 1971, as well as the International Final in 1969 (all under its original name, the South Promenade Bathing Pool). Built in 1923, the South Promenade Bathing Pool was affectionately referred to as Blackpool’s ‘Jewel in the Crown’ and was frequented by the rich and famous in its early years.

The cost of building the classical-style Coliseum with its Roman pillars around the pool alone was in the region of £75,000. Many stars of the cinema even took time out to bathe in its beautiful surroundings which included Sir Harry Lauder (1870-1950) in 1932 and Hollywood blonde-bombshell Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967) in 1959, and in 1934 Associated Talking Pictures used the pool for scenes in the Gracie Fields (1898-1967) musical Sing As We Go. Within a year of opening the pool had attracted over 94,000 bathers and by the end of the decade the number of visitors had totalled over nine million!

Said to have been the largest pool in the world, it was set amongst the large promenades, nestling on the edge of golden sands within the bracing air. The stadium received the world’s press, television and cinema, as a result of being the venue for the Miss Blackpool and Miss World Contests. The pool had an unusually shaped oval perimeter, the pool itself being D-shaped, and having a concaved pageant platform. There was a ‘cut out’ for the diving boards at one end, where the depth of the water was 15ft (4.57m). The pool area was of huge scale, approximately 376 ft long x 170ft wide (114.6m x 51.8m). The shape necessitated a swimming events area which was partitioned when necessary. There were of course refreshment areas and restaurants. The diving board area was the order of the day, having 2 x 9ft 10¼in (3m) springboards, 2 x 24ft 8in (7.5m) firm boards and a 32ft 9¾in (10m) high-board (which on windy days was claimed to have swayed!).

Sadly the pool and its buildings no longer exist. Due to its very expensive running and maintenance costs and the trend for holidays on the continent, its viability could no longer be sustained, and was closed to the public in 1981 and demolished two years later in 1983. The new leisure complex The Sandcastle Water Park has occupied the site since 1986.

The Rehearsals

Referee Gennaro Olivieri had a slight accident during rehearsals which resulted in one of his teeth being damaged. A quick visit to a local dentist ultimately fixed the problem to restore his gleaning smile for the television broadcast!

Additional Information

The weather had proved difficult right up to about an hour before transmission. Heavy rain had fallen over Blackpool for the previous 48 hours and, during rehearsals, some of the games had to be altered for health and safety reasons. On the morning of the competition, the rain and clouds had cleared up and everything was looking fine and the games were reset to their original design. However, just two hours before the live transmission, the rain returned and lashed the Lancashire coast once more, and the organisers were worried about the earlier problems encountered with the games. A decision had to be made as to whether to change the design once more. Producer Cecil Korer and designer Stuart Furber delayed until about 30 minutes before the doors to the public were opened and then the rain fortunately relented. As the crowd poured in, complete with Macintoshes, Wellington boots and umbrellas, they were warned to take care of the slippery floors and wet seats!

Karl and Elisabeth Bohnenstengel from West Germany were father and daughter and their surname literally means ‘beanstalk’. This would prove an incredible coincidence in this International Final when they were drawn on Game 5 - 'Chopping the Beanstalks'!

Ironically, just as the Swiss team, Roche, scored the lowest ever points win (37) in this current formula, the West German team of Ettlingen scored the highest ever points win (52) and holds the record for winning with the second highest percentage of available points – 92.85% (52 out of a possible 56).

Ettlingen became the first West German team to lift the Golden Trophy in seven years, recording the country’s fifth International Final victory to this point.

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

JSFnetGB Series Guide pages researched by
Alan Hayes, David Hamilton, Neil Storer, Christos Moustakas, Philippe Minet,
Sébastien Dias, Ischa Bijl, Paul Leaver and JSFnet Websites