50 Fun Facts About Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops magazine coined the famous individual nicknames of which pop group in a 1996 feature?

Spice Girls members became Baby, Ginger, Posh, Scary and Sporty after editor Peter Loraine's team invented the labels following a lunch with the group.

The only Beatles footage from Top of the Pops long thought to survive was a clip reused in which BBC series?

Doctor Who borrowed a short clip of the band playing 'Ticket to Ride' for the 1965 serial The Chase, and that excerpt outlived the BBC's own copy of the performance.

An instrumental cover of which rock band's song was the Top of the Pops theme tune for most of the 1970s?

Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' became the theme in a version by the band CCS, a UK chart hit in 1970, and a remix of it returned to open the show from 1998 to 2003.

Dexys Midnight Runners sang 'Jackie Wilson Said' on Top of the Pops beneath a photo of a namesake from which sport?

Darts star Jocky Wilson's face filled the screen behind the band in 1982, and frontman Kevin Rowland later said the swap was his own idea, not a BBC mistake.

Which Radio 1 DJ pretended to play the mandolin behind Rod Stewart's 'Maggie May' on Top of the Pops in 1971?

John Peel joined Stewart and the Faces on stage, and near the end of the song the band began kicking a football around while the record played on.

Which American band protested Top of the Pops' miming rule in 1991 when its singer performed in a deep, deadpan voice?

Nirvana were told to sing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' over a backing track, so Kurt Cobain dropped his voice while Krist Novoselic swung his bass over his head.

Which regular Top of the Pops host missed the 2006 finale because she was filming Love Island in Fiji?

Fearne Cotton still opened the farewell with a short introduction recorded on location, while Edith Bowman co-presented the hour-long show in the studio.

Which singer performed the very first song on Top of the Pops on New Year's Day 1964?

Dusty Springfield opened with 'I Only Want to Be with You' on a show the BBC had planned to run for only a few programmes; it lasted more than 42 years.

A 1996 move to Friday nights put Top of the Pops in direct competition with which ITV favourite?

Coronation Street went out at the same time once the chart show settled at 7.30 pm, forcing fans to choose and starting a major decline in Top of the Pops' audience.

Which rock band appeared on Top of the Pops more often than any other group, from 1968 to 2005?

Status Quo made 106 appearances, the first with 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' and the last with 'The Party Ain't Over Yet'.

Which band was the first group ever to perform on Top of the Pops, playing 'I Wanna Be Your Man'?

The Rolling Stones followed the opening solo singer on the first edition, and 42 years later their song 'The Last Time' opened the farewell episode.

Which band was the last act to play live on a weekly Top of the Pops, performing 'Chasing Cars' in 2006?

Snow Patrol played in the penultimate edition, because the farewell a week later was built from archive clips and tributes with no live acts in the studio.

Which singer held the number one spot on the final weekly Top of the Pops with a hit featuring Wyclef Jean?

Shakira's 'Hips Don't Lie' had climbed back to the top of the UK chart earlier that same day, just in time to close the final countdown in July 2006.

Which English city hosted Top of the Pops for its first two years before the show moved to London?

Manchester's Dickenson Road Studios in Rusholme staged the first edition, but the capital was thought easier for bands to reach and the programme left in 1966.

On which evening of the week did BBC One show Top of the Pops for most of its 42-year run?

Thursday became the regular slot in September 1964, after the earliest editions had gone out on Wednesdays, and it remained the show's traditional night until the mid-1990s.

Which all-female dance troupe became a regular fixture on Top of the Pops between 1968 and 1976?

Pan's People danced to hits whose performers could not appear in the studio, and each member was paid the minimum Equity rate of £56 a week.

Which six-woman dance troupe replaced the mixed-sex Ruby Flipper on Top of the Pops in late 1976?

Legs & Co. got their name from a viewers' competition, after spending their first weeks on screen listed as a row of question marks in the end credits.

Which Britpop band's singer and guitarist swapped roles while miming 'Roll with It' on Top of the Pops in 1995?

Oasis sent Liam Gallagher out pretending to play guitar while Noel mouthed the vocal and held his brother's tambourine, mocking the order to mime.

Which band's singer waved gladioli instead of a microphone while miming 'This Charming Man' on Top of the Pops?

The Smiths' frontman Morrissey objected to having to lip-sync, so he carried a bunch of the flowers on stage where a microphone would normally be.

Brian May says which Queen single got its 1975 video so the band could avoid miming on Top of the Pops?

Bohemian Rhapsody was thought too complex to mime convincingly, and the film made in its place first aired on the show in November 1975.

Marc Bolan's glittery 1971 performance of 'Hot Love' on Top of the Pops is often seen as the start of which genre?

Glam rock took off after the T. Rex frontman appeared in shiny satin and glittery make-up, the latter suggested by his stylist Chelita Secunda.

Which David Bowie song did he perform on Top of the Pops in July 1972, inspiring a generation of future musicians?

Starman climbed to number 10 after the broadcast, and Robert Smith of the Cure later said everyone his age remembers the night it was on.

Which band holds the record for the longest Top of the Pops performance with the nine-minute 'Jesus of Suburbia'?

Green Day's 2005 performance of the full nine-minute song ran about three times the limit the show had placed on studio acts through most of the 1990s.

Which heavy metal band refused to mime 'Running Free' in 1980 and played live on Top of the Pops instead?

Iron Maiden were promoting their debut single at the time, yet the newcomers got their way and played it for real.

Which guitarist was left stranded on Top of the Pops in 1967 when an Alan Price Set record played instead of his?

Jimi Hendrix was ready to perform 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' when the wrong record rolled, and he reportedly quipped that he did not know the words.

What happened to the tapes of most Top of the Pops episodes made before 1976, leaving them lost today?

Wiped by the BBC under what was then standard practice for videotape, the early archive is so thin that only about 20 of the first 500 episodes survive complete.

'Top Gear of the Pops', Jeremy Clarkson's 2007 take on Top of the Pops, was made to raise money for which charity?

Comic Relief got the special after a celebrity quiz planned for the night was withdrawn, and the three hosts ended it by performing as a band with Justin Hawkins.

Which talent-show judge said in 2008 that he would be willing to buy Top of the Pops from the BBC?

Simon Cowell's idea went nowhere: the BBC replied that it had not been formally approached and that the format was not up for sale anyway.

In 2005 Top of the Pops lost its prime-time Friday slot and moved to Sunday evenings on which channel?

BBC Two took the show after ratings fell below three million; the stated aim was to air it straight after Radio 1 revealed the new chart each Sunday.

Which leading British punk band was known for refusing to appear on Top of the Pops at all?

The Clash's refusal fed a sense that the programme had become uncool, one of the reasons behind its radical 1991 revamp, nicknamed 'Year Zero'.

Which 1984 number one was banned by the BBC, so Top of the Pops showed only a still photo of the band?

Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood spent five weeks at the top under the ban, which was lifted in time for the song to feature on that year's Christmas Day edition.

Which Irish band tore up photos of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John on Top of the Pops after reaching number one?

The Boomtown Rats had just reached the top with 'Rat Trap', deposing a Grease pairing that had led the chart for 16 of the previous 22 weeks.

'Yellow Pearl', the Top of the Pops theme from 1981 to 1986, was a solo track by the frontman of which band?

Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott wrote the song with Midge Ure, and a remixed version played over opening titles full of flying coloured LPs.

Which musician, famous for the 1985 hit '19', wrote 'The Wizard', the Top of the Pops theme from 1986 to 1991?

Paul Hardcastle was asked to write it after the producers heard his earlier hit, and the theme itself then reached number 15 as a single.

Which veteran radio DJ narrated the archive spin-off Top of the Pops 2 from 1997 until 2009?

Steve Wright wrote the commentary as well as voicing it, and he knew the archive well, having been a regular presenter of the parent show in the 1980s.

Which American network launched its own version of Top of the Pops in 1987, hosted by actress Nia Peeples?

CBS ran the show late on Friday nights and traded performances with the British original, but it lasted only about half a year.

Bon Jovi's 1994 satellite performance of 'Always' for Top of the Pops was staged beside which natural landmark?

Niagara Falls was one of the landmark backdrops producer Ric Blaxill chose for satellite links; Celine Dion sang 'Think Twice' from Miami Beach.

Samantha Juste, the 'disc girl' who cued the records on 1960s Top of the Pops, married a member of which band?

The Monkees' drummer Micky Dolenz spotted her as he passed a studio cafeteria; she left the show to live with him in California, and they married in 1968.

When a 1980 strike took Top of the Pops off air, BBC1 filled its slot with repeats of which sitcom?

Are You Being Served? covered the gap from late May to early August, after BBC cuts to five orchestras led the Musicians' Union to halt live music.

Which space mission caused the BBC to drop Top of the Pops for one week in November 1969?

Apollo 12 was on the Moon that week, and when the chart show returned seven days later it had new titles made for colour television.

Mud singer Les Gray performed part of 'Lonely This Christmas' on Top of the Pops with which unusual stage partner?

A ventriloquist's dummy mouthed the spoken passage in the middle of the song, while guitarist Rob Davis wore tinsel and baubles for earrings.

Instead of miming their near-40-minute single 'Blue Room' on Top of the Pops, the Orb sat down to which game?

Chess kept the two members busy while an edit of the longest single ever to reach the UK chart ran in the background.

A damaged home recording found in 2009 restored a lost 1967 Top of the Pops featuring which band's 'See Emily Play'?

Pink Floyd were still led by Syd Barrett on the tape, which had been made at home on an early reel-to-reel video recorder and sat in a private collection.

Which Radio 1 DJ became the first woman to be a regular presenter of Top of the Pops in the 1980s?

Janice Long hosted regularly from 1983 to 1988 and was also the first woman to have her own daily music show on Radio 1.

Which former Children's BBC presenter became executive producer of Top of the Pops for its 2003 relaunch?

Andi Peters brought in the 'All New' format with interviews, a music news feature and mostly live editions, then resigned in 2005.

Which Australian-born DJ nicknamed 'Fluff' was one of the four original Top of the Pops presenters in 1964?

Alan Freeman appeared on the very first edition in a link from London, previewing the following week's show, and fronted radio's Pick of the Pops for decades.

In 1991 Top of the Pops left Television Centre for which studio complex, also the home of EastEnders?

Elstree's BBC centre in Borehamwood housed the show for a decade from the 1991 revamp, until it returned to Television Centre in 2001.

Which band played both sides of a double A-side on one Top of the Pops when 'Town Called Malice' hit number one?

The Jam followed the chart-topper with its flip side 'Precious', and made their last appearance on the show later in 1982 to promote 'Beat Surrender'.

Which band drew more than 25,000 complaints after its singer wore a balaclava on Top of the Pops in 1994?

Manic Street Preachers were playing 'Faster' in military-style outfits, and many viewers read James Dean Bradfield's mask as support for the IRA.

Which band got a last-minute Top of the Pops booking in 1982 when Shakin' Stevens pulled out of the show?

Culture Club's 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me' then rose rapidly to become their first major hit, as Boy George's androgynous look made newspaper headlines.