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Brian Moore Saved Our Sundays and LWT at The Valley

mattaddickmattaddick
edited June 18 in Other Football and Sports
It's hard to recall now how dull 1970s Sundays were. Which is why for those of us of a certain age, programmes like The Big Match and their regional equivalents were so special and completely unmissable. I watched my first Charlton game on 25 August 1973 (Charlton 2 York 4) but I always loved the very rare occasions that The Big Match cameras came to The Valley or, indeed, a Charlton away game was shown as one of the other games on the programme. This book (I hope) will take you right back to that sweet spot of your childhood or youth as it recaptures those long, lost halcyon days and the voices of greats like Brian Moore, Hugh Johns, Gerry Harrison, Gerald Sinstadt and many more. About 40 people involved in putting together The Big Match or their regional equivalents like Match of The Week (Anglia), Star Soccer (ATV), Kick off Match (Granada) or Shoot! (Tyne Tees) were interviewed and many stories told. I'm now working on Volume 2 and would be interested in the recollections of any Charlton fans who recall these programmes and what they meant to them.
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Comments

  • BrentfordAddickBrentfordAddick
    How do we download or buy Volume 1?
  • mattaddickmattaddick
    BrentfordAddick said:
    How do we download or buy Volume 1?
    It's here:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brian-Moore-Saved-Our-Sundays



  • BrentfordAddickBrentfordAddick
    Found it bought it https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brian-Moore-Saved-Our-Sundays/dp/1801507163 
  • mattaddickmattaddick
    Brilliant - you didn't hang about. I'm loving your enthusiasm and hope you enjoy it.
  • seth plumseth plum
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
  • mattaddickmattaddick
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    Interesting theory Seth. Brian Moore actually had a soft spot for Charlton though of course Gillingham was his first club, followed by West Ham but living in Locksbottom as he did it was (with Palace) his local club. Charlton were the main game on The Big Match about five times during the 1970s which isn't a lot but it wasn't a particularly newsworthy decade for the club, although the 74/75 promotion season probably deserved more than just the Gillingham away game and Southend home game featured.
  • golfaddickgolfaddick
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    Interesting you say that because I never knew at all. Living in Bexley at the time I never had the need to pass the Valley during the week & only time I knew we would be on the tv was when I turned up at 2.45 on a Saturday. In the 80's it was obvious because we'd run out without a sponsor on the front of the shirt !!
  • mattaddickmattaddick
    I would agree with that. I never knew when we would be on either and I also lived in Bexley!
  • raytreacy69raytreacy69
    mattaddick said:
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    Interesting theory Seth. Brian Moore actually had a soft spot for Charlton though of course Gillingham was his first club, followed by West Ham but living in Locksbottom as he did it was (with Palace) his local club. Charlton were the main game on The Big Match about five times during the 1970s which isn't a lot but it wasn't a particularly newsworthy decade for the club, although the 74/75 promotion season probably deserved more than just the Gillingham away game and Southend home game featured.
    And Palarse away
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  • killerandflashkillerandflash
    Fitting that Brian Moore was there for the return in 1992.
  • mattaddickmattaddick
    raytreacy69 said:
    mattaddick said:
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    Interesting theory Seth. Brian Moore actually had a soft spot for Charlton though of course Gillingham was his first club, followed by West Ham but living in Locksbottom as he did it was (with Palace) his local club. Charlton were the main game on The Big Match about five times during the 1970s which isn't a lot but it wasn't a particularly newsworthy decade for the club, although the 74/75 promotion season probably deserved more than just the Gillingham away game and Southend home game featured.
    And Palarse away
    Correct. Yes, I forgot that.
  • HastingsRedHastingsRed
    raytreacy69 said:
    mattaddick said:
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    Interesting theory Seth. Brian Moore actually had a soft spot for Charlton though of course Gillingham was his first club, followed by West Ham but living in Locksbottom as he did it was (with Palace) his local club. Charlton were the main game on The Big Match about five times during the 1970s which isn't a lot but it wasn't a particularly newsworthy decade for the club, although the 74/75 promotion season probably deserved more than just the Gillingham away game and Southend home game featured.
    And Palarse away
    Did we lose that 2-1?
  • raytreacy69raytreacy69
    HastingsRed said:
    raytreacy69 said:
    mattaddick said:
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    Interesting theory Seth. Brian Moore actually had a soft spot for Charlton though of course Gillingham was his first club, followed by West Ham but living in Locksbottom as he did it was (with Palace) his local club. Charlton were the main game on The Big Match about five times during the 1970s which isn't a lot but it wasn't a particularly newsworthy decade for the club, although the 74/75 promotion season probably deserved more than just the Gillingham away game and Southend home game featured.
    And Palarse away
    Did we lose that 2-1?
    Yep and Paddy Powell scored one of the goals of the season 
  • HastingsRedHastingsRed
    raytreacy69 said:
    HastingsRed said:
    raytreacy69 said:
    mattaddick said:
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    Interesting theory Seth. Brian Moore actually had a soft spot for Charlton though of course Gillingham was his first club, followed by West Ham but living in Locksbottom as he did it was (with Palace) his local club. Charlton were the main game on The Big Match about five times during the 1970s which isn't a lot but it wasn't a particularly newsworthy decade for the club, although the 74/75 promotion season probably deserved more than just the Gillingham away game and Southend home game featured.
    And Palarse away
    Did we lose that 2-1?
    Yep and Paddy Powell scored one of the goals of the season 
    Can't remember much about the actual game but it was my first visit to Palace, I was only 9-10yrs old at the time and went with my brother in law at the time (Sean Casey) and a load of his mates, was quite an eventful day.
  • valleynick66valleynick66
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.

    As a child I never thought of it as big but more rather unsafe looking and a bit dangerous. Always thought of the occupants as being marooned there for a good while (and of course without the amenities of a nearby lounge as now).

    I assume Brian had little more than a thermos Flask of whatever his tipple was and a sandwich  :)
  • LawrieAbrahamsLawrieAbrahams
    There was a gantry at my first ever game, but it was MOTD which was even more unusual. I think they had to show a certain number of lower league games each season.
  • seth plumseth plum
    Pedro45 said:
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    I tended to know when we were going to be on, and in fact knew what London club would feature on the day before the match each Saturday.  This is because I worked on the 24th floor at Kings Reach Tower, just a hundred yards or so from the LWT building in Kent House (a little farther along the Thames). Each Friday, around lunchtime, workman would put up the satellite dishes/radio antenna on the roof of Kent House and they would point in the general direction of where the game was going to be beamed back to LWT at Kent House from.  Most weeks, if the equipment were placed on the north side of the building, then it was either Spurs or Arsenal (depending who was at home, as they rarely clashed...), and similarly you could tell the subtle difference between Chelsea or Fulham and QPR pointing west, us and Millwall/Palace (south), and Orient or West Ham (east). Brentford and Wimbledon did not feature much at all, if ever! You could even tell if Watford were going to be on as they were north-west across the river... Nobody else really featured.

    I always got a buzz when I knew we would be on, even if that didn't happen very often. Surely it was more than five times though - Sunderland at home (76, when Killer was sent off), Hull (Phil Walker scored), Blackpool (Mickey Walsh scored for them I think though maybe that was MoTD?), Hull (Killer hat-trick inc goal of the season), and there must have been others?

      
    Great post.
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  • PeanutsMolloyPeanutsMolloy
    edited June 19
    Great title.
    Bloody right. Happy days.
  • mattaddickmattaddick
    Pedro45 said:
    seth plum said:
    I have a theory that our attendances were adversely affected if we were going to be on the telly after a Saturday home game.
    My theory is because if we were going to be on it was common knowledge. So sometimes people wouldn’t mind missing a game. This was at a time when the featured matches were supposed to be a secret.
    Other stadia usually had a permanent in built kind of gantry usually hidden, but we had to have a great big scaffolding structure constructed on the East Terrace, complete with wooden ladders and whatnot.
    Anyway it was impossible to keep that construction a secret, anybody able to have eyeballs into the Valley could see it.
    Maybe that’s a reason we weren’t on that much, but I leave that notion to the Illuminati.
    I tended to know when we were going to be on, and in fact knew what London club would feature on the day before the match each Saturday.  This is because I worked on the 24th floor at Kings Reach Tower, just a hundred yards or so from the LWT building in Kent House (a little farther along the Thames). Each Friday, around lunchtime, workman would put up the satellite dishes/radio antenna on the roof of Kent House and they would point in the general direction of where the game was going to be beamed back to LWT at Kent House from.  Most weeks, if the equipment were placed on the north side of the building, then it was either Spurs or Arsenal (depending who was at home, as they rarely clashed...), and similarly you could tell the subtle difference between Chelsea or Fulham and QPR pointing west, us and Millwall/Palace (south), and Orient or West Ham (east). Brentford and Wimbledon did not feature much at all, if ever! You could even tell if Watford were going to be on as they were north-west across the river... Nobody else really featured.

    I always got a buzz when I knew we would be on, even if that didn't happen very often. Surely it was more than five times though - Sunderland at home (76, when Killer was sent off), Hull (Phil Walker scored), Blackpool (Mickey Walsh scored for them I think though maybe that was MoTD?), Hull (Killer hat-trick inc goal of the season), and there must have been others?

      
    Excellent - love this. I might use this little anecdote in volume two of the book if you don't mind! Could you DM me your name if you don't object to it being used?
  • mattaddickmattaddick
    Isawsummersplay said:
    I was fortunate to know Brian well, and can only endorse what others have said, in that he was one of the nicest people I have ever met. Looking forward to reading this book.
    Funnily enough I am meeting his sons Chris and Simon tonight. I will pass that on to them. They love hearing things like that.
  • DaveMehmetDaveMehmet
    mattaddick said:
    I actually researched all this once before when I wrote the Charlton Miscellany back in 2012. So the definitive list of matches on The Big Match filmed at The Valley between 1968 and 1983 (and it is far more than I recall) is:

    4 Jan 1969 Charlton 0 Palace 0 (FAC3)
    18 Jan 1969 Charlton 2 Derby 0
    25 Sep 1971 Charlton 2 Burnley 0
    15 Mar 1975 Charlton 2 Southend 1
    15 Nov 1975 Charlton 1 Sunderland 2
    24 Jan 1976 Charlton 1 Portsmouth 1 (FAC4)
    9 Oct 1976 Charlton 3 Hull 1 
    3 Dec 1977 Charlton 3 Sunderland 2 
    25 Nov 1978 Charlton 0 Fulham 0
    21 Apr 1979 Charlton 0 West Ham 0
    11 Oct 1980 Charlton 2 Sheff U 0
    10 Jan 1981 Charlton 3 Hull 2
    4 Apr 1981 Charlton 1 Huddersfield 2
    1 May 1982 Charlton 1 Watford 1
    4 Dec 1982 Charlton 2 Newcastle 0
    8 Jan 1983 Charlton 2 Ipswich 3 (FAC3)

    It's in the Miscellany pages 114 to 116 if you're interested.

     I can post all the times we were on The Big Match and other Sunday shows as the away team during this period as well as Match of The Day if anyone's interested!




    I saw myself on TV after the 0 0 game against Fulham in ‘78 when I ran on the pitch at the end of the game. My 2nd ever Charlton match.
  • mattaddickmattaddick
    Greenhithe said:
    mattaddick said:
    I actually researched all this once before when I wrote the Charlton Miscellany back in 2012. So the definitive list of matches on The Big Match filmed at The Valley between 1968 and 1983 (and it is far more than I recall) is:

    4 Jan 1969 Charlton 0 Palace 0 (FAC3)
    18 Jan 1969 Charlton 2 Derby 0
    25 Sep 1971 Charlton 2 Burnley 0
    15 Mar 1975 Charlton 2 Southend 1
    15 Nov 1975 Charlton 1 Sunderland 2
    24 Jan 1976 Charlton 1 Portsmouth 1 (FAC4)
    9 Oct 1976 Charlton 3 Hull 1 
    3 Dec 1977 Charlton 3 Sunderland 2 
    25 Nov 1978 Charlton 0 Fulham 0
    21 Apr 1979 Charlton 0 West Ham 0
    11 Oct 1980 Charlton 2 Sheff U 0
    10 Jan 1981 Charlton 3 Hull 2
    4 Apr 1981 Charlton 1 Huddersfield 2
    1 May 1982 Charlton 1 Watford 1
    4 Dec 1982 Charlton 2 Newcastle 0
    8 Jan 1983 Charlton 2 Ipswich 3 (FAC3)

    It's in the Miscellany pages 114 to 116 if you're interested.

     I can post all the times we were on The Big Match and other Sunday shows as the away team during this period as well as Match of The Day if anyone's interested!




    I was on the telly at half time in the 1976 Hull match. We used to stand East terrace half way line and the camera panned down and I turned around and you couldn’t mistake me at the time. National Healths, blond hair, green parka and massive red and white scarf my mum had knitted. I was 10 and loving life. 
    Great little memory. I love stuff like that. I was also 10 in 1976! 
  • seth plumseth plum
    edited June 19
    Did it go something like Thunderbirds, University Challenge, Police Five, The Big Match?
  • killerandflashkillerandflash
    This is the first Big Match theme music I remember.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P526fVoi6-A
  • cliveclive
    seth plum said:
    Did it go something like Thunderbirds, University Challenge, Police Five, The Big Match?
    Thunderbirds i think was on a Saturday early evening but University Challenge, Out Of Town [Jack Hargreaves] & Police Five i can remember preceding The Big Match on Sunday Afternoon.
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