6 - Rock Score

Episode 1 – The Bedpans v Copperas Hillbillies (with OTB 188 Part 1) The Bedpans were from Southport Hospital Radio. One of the Bedpans twice gave Marty Wilde as the wrong answer and then when an answer was Marty Wilde, he got it wrong. Brian O’Connell, captain of the Post Office workers at Copperas Hill, often contributed to On The Beat. They did very well, roundly beating the Bedpans.

Episode 10 – Shades Of Mediocrity v Skeleton Crew A close game with Shades Of Mediocrity coming through.

Episode 11 – Sons Of Roly Daniels v Copperas Hillbillies (with OTB 193 Part 1) Copperas Hillbillies pulled ahead and won convincingly.

Episode 12 – Nut Rockers v Sunshine Boys (with OTB 0201 Part 2) As the Carrs couldn’t take part, the Sunshine Boys were given a second quarter-final – and lost again. This time Mick and John were joined by Billy Cox from the pub band, the Plazzy Bags.

Semi-Final Episode 13–Nut Rockers v Copperas Hillbillies (with OTB 194 Part 2) A tough fight ending 51 to 45 to the Nut Rockers.

Episode 14 – Three Degrees v Shades Of Mediocrity (with OTB 195 Part 1) Mike Brocken said that the Institute of Popular Music was granting a few honorary degrees to “make the questions easy”. I said that last week in one Liverpool hotel room, there had been me, a gun and P J Proby – I deserved a degree. It was a convincing win for Shades Of Mediocrity but it was surprising that none of the six contestants recognized David Bowie singing ‘Volare’.

Final Episode 15 – Nut Rockers v Shades Of Mediocrity (with OTB 197 Part 1) There was level pegging for some time but then the Nut Rockers pulled ahead. The station had come up with a cup which surely meant further series. It didn’t.

Episode 2 – Three Cool Cats v The Sunshine Boys (with OTB 0188 Part 2) The Three Cool Cats frequented the same pub in Heswall and included Steve Day, the leader of Wump and his Werbles, the first rock and roll band at the Cavern. Steve worked as the comedian Rod McKenzie for 17 years. Mick O’Toole led the hospital radio team, the Sunshine Boys, and he came through in the final round. Tough game.

Episode 3 – The Sons Of Roly Daniels v The Glover Clan (with OTB 0189 Part 1) Terry Marlow had seen Roly Daniels in a pub in Dublin and thought he was tremendous, so Tim Adams named the team, The Sons Of Roly Daniels. The three friends worked for Royal Insurance. They were competing against the Glover Clan, captained by a listener, Colin Glover. It was a close match with a win for Roly Daniels by two points (46 to 44).

Episode 4 – The Carrs v Hesketh Arms Unplugged (quiz team from Churchtown, Southport) (with OTB 0189 Part 2) Another family team with Lilian Carr and her husband Morris and daughter Samantha. They beat a pub quiz team from the Hesketh Arms in Southport: Pete and Lynda Davis with Derek Johnson who managed a CD production factory. Intriguing collage of ‘Georgia On My Mind’ with Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Tommy Steele and Tom Jones. The Carrs won but didn’t take part further because of a family problem. I did invite them for next year but there wasn’t another series.

Episode 5 – The Sandgrounders v The Three Degrees (with OTB 190 Part 1) The Sandgrounders, from Southport of course, were captained by DJ and crime writer Ron Ellis, alongside record dealer John Chapman and librarian Susan Kerr. The Institute of Popular Music team from Liverpool University was led by Mike Brocken with lecturer Philip Tagg (who had written 100,000 words on ‘Fernando’) and Philip Hayes (who ran the Picket). It was a tough game but the IPM won with an impressive knowledge of Demis Roussos.

Episode 6 – The Ageing Groovies v Shades Of Mediocrity (Listeners) (with OTB190 Part 2) The folk singer Pete Rimmer brought in Pete Cowley, whose encyclopedic knowledge let him down that night, and Steve Roberts. Shades of Mediocrity was a team of On The Beat listeners - Richard Shaw, Paul Taylor and John Salt. That might have influenced their victory as I had set the questions and they scored an impressive 58 points.

Episode 7 – The Art Mob v Skeleton Crew (with OTB 0191 Part 1) I could rely my old friend Bryan Biggs from the Bluecoat to come up with a team. He brought along Norman Killon, then working at the Walker Art Gallery, and Pam Young, who had organised the comedy festival at the Bluecoat. Pam’s knowledge of old hits wasn’t too good, which gave the Skeleton Crew the advantage. They were three sturdy musicians – Frank Johns, Paul Ogden and Ray Hilton – with a combined weight of 45 stone.

Episode 8 – The Nut Rockers v Three Must Get Theirs (with OTB 0191 Part 2) I knew of Rob Morgan as he had written to me a few times and had an impressive knowledge. He came with his sister Betty Wilson and his friend, Declan Clark. They competed against Colin McCourt who was with musician Geoff Taggart and another keen On The Beat listener and Beatles collector, Dave Donnelly. Colin was determined to get in as many references to his musical The Devil Rides Out and his songwriting for Our Kid as possible. The final scores were good but I did wonder after the two teams only collected one point in total on the first round.