Top of the Form (quiz show)

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Top of the Form

Running time	30 mins
Country of origin	UK
Language(s)	English
Home station	BBC Radio 4
TV adaptations	BBC 1 (1962–75)
Original release	1 May 1948 – 2 December 1986
Opening theme	Marching Strings
Other themes	Fanfare for the Common Man (ELP prog rock version)

Top of the Form was a BBC radio and television quiz show for teams from secondary schools in the United Kingdom which ran for 38 years, from 1948 to 1986.

The programme began on Saturday 1 May 1948, as a radio series, at 7.30pm on the Light Programme. It progressed to become a TV series from 1962 to 1975. A decision to stop the programme was announced on 28 September 1986 and the last broadcast was on Tuesday 2 December. The producer, Graham Frost, was reported to have said it had been cancelled because the competitive nature of the show jarred with modern educational philosophy.

Hosts[]

Format[]

Each school fielded a team of four pupils ranging in age from under 13 to under 18.

Transmission[]

Radio[]

• BBC Light Programme from 1948 to 1967
• BBC Radio 2 (sometimes simulcast on BBC Radio 1) 1967–70
• BBC Radio 4 from 26 September 1970 – 1986.

Television[]

The programme was first aired on TV in two special experiments. The first was on 25 April 1953, featuring Sheffield High School (girls) v. Marylebone Grammar School (boys).^[1] A second TV broadcast was performed in 1954 featuring Lady Margaret High School for Girls (Cardiff) v Solihull School for Boys. The programme fully migrated to TV later. It ran from 1962 to 1975, and was called Television Top of the Form. It began on Monday 12 November 1962, when the Controller of BBC1 was Stuart Hood (Scottish).

The questions were set by polymath and author Boswell Taylor on behalf of BBC TV and he was assisted by the BBC's Mary Craig who doubled as the scorer and electronic score board operator. In order to set appropriate questions the selected contestants from each school filled in a questionnaire listing their interests, books recently read and favourite music. The teams from co-ed schools usually included two girls and two boys.

Compared to many television quiz shows in recent years, Top of the Form had a resolutely grandiose outlook; nothing would ever be dumbed down. Consequently, on Monday 18 June 1973 it had its first bilingual competition, with Paris v London. The competition on Monday 25 March 1974 was all in the Welsh language.

In 1967 UK schools took on Australian schools in Top of the Form: Transworld Edition. The following year this was renamed Transworld Top Team, under which title it ran until 1973. Each series involved teams from the UK taking on teams from another country. Countries participating over the course of the run included Canada, The Netherlands, the US and Hong Kong.^[2]

In 1975 the TV version moved to 4.10–4.35pm on Sundays, then from 3.55 to 4.20, with the last final on 9 August 1975. One of the producers of the TV version was Bill Wright, who would later devise Mastermind in the early 1970s.

Theme[]

The tune Marching Strings (composition credited to "Marshall Ross", a pseudonym of Ray Martin) was the theme for many years, though for the last few series, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's recording of Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man was used. Earlier, Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk, from his Children's Corner suite, had introduced the radio series.^[3]

Marching Strings had been featured in the popular 1956 British film It's Great to be Young! where a music teacher's job was saved by the efforts of his students.

Producers[]

Producers have included:

• Paul Mayhew-Archer (1970s), later to produce BBC radio comedy
• Griff Rhys Jones

Contestants[]

The series tended to feature grammar schools; in later years, as these schools became less numerous, comprehensive schools sometimes featured, but less often, and there was an increasing dominance by independent schools.

However, as comprehensive schools were becoming more commonplace under the Harold Wilson government, the autumn 1967 TV series of Top of the Form featured only comprehensive schools.^[4]

Top of the Form finalists[]

• 19 December 1948 High School for Boys, Cardiff v Royal High School, Edinburgh (winners)
• 9 January 1950 Elgin Academy for Boys, Moray (winners: Captain – Donald McDonald – English 1952–55 University of Aberdeen and President from 1955 to 1956 of the Scottish Union of Students – NUS Scotland and General Secretary for three years,^[5] John Nash, Alisdair MacLean, and Clifford Hance) v Grove Park Grammar School for Girls, Wrexham, Denbighshire
• 9 January 1951 Manchester High School for Girls v Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen (boys, winners: captain Bruce McConnach, William Innes – joined the RAF, flying Canberras at RAF Coningsby, George Tait, and Jonathan Foster who studied Classics at Aberdeen, then at Balliol College, Oxford)
• 19 January 1952 St. Dominic's High School for Girls, Belfast v Morgan Academy, Dundee (winners)
• 1952 Bangor County School for Girls (The School for Girls), north Wales (winners) v Leyton County High School for Girls
• 21 January 1954 The Methodist College, Belfast (boys, David Moore aged 12, Michael Skinner aged 14, Brian Templeton aged 15, captain Cedric Thornberry aged 17)^[6] v The Nicolson Institute, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis (boys, winners: captain Ronald Urquhart aged 16, Alistair Maclean aged 14 – studied Technical Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, Billy McTaggart aged 12, and Ian Mackay aged 13; all were patrol leaders in the Stornaway scouts)^[7][8]
• 9 January 1955 The Academy, Dumfries (girls) v Grove Park School, Wrexham (boys, winners: Michael Burke, Martin Thomas, Eric Stansfield, and Colin Bowen)
• 9 January 1956 Newtown Girls' Grammar School, Montgomeryshire (winners: Elizabeth Lewis aged 12, Ann Humphreys aged 13, Noelyne Hopkins aged 15, captain Isabel Stoner aged 16) v The Royal School, Armagh, Northern Ireland (boys, captain Bruce Cantlon aged 16 from Armagh, David Hammond aged 14 from Belfast, and Donald Stewart and Gordon Corrigan, both aged 13 from Omagh);^{[9][10][11][12]} Armagh were beaten by one point; Newtown played the girls of Falkonergårdens Gymnasium of Copenhagen, and Armagh later played the boys of the Prince Rupert School from Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony in Germany; Newtown also appeared on the TV version of In Town Tonight at Lime Grove Studios on Saturday 16 January 1956 with their Physical Culture teacher Mrs Kathleen Arthur
• 7 January 1957 Glanmôr County Secondary School for Girls, Swansea v Sutton Coldfield High School for Girls (winners); the finalists played teams from Denmark, Holland and Germany, as would happen the following year
• 2 January 1958 Wycombe High School, High Wycombe (girls, winners) v Dr Williams School, Dolgellau (girls)
• 8 January 1959 South Hampstead High School, London (girls) v The Gordon Schools, Huntly (winners)
• 24 December 1959 Rotherham Grammar School v Mackie Academy, Stonehaven (winners: captain Ian Campbell aqged 17 of Inverbervie, Gordon Shanks aged 13 of Stonehaven, James Freeman aged 15 from Kirkside at St Cyrus, David Stoney aged 12 of Stonehaven); John Bone aged 14 of Glenbervie was replaced in an earlier round as he was rushed to hospital for an appendix operation; they were taken on a night out around London by the show producer on 7 January 1960, with their teacher Mr Watt; after the final, Mackie played the Lycée Français de Londres and Rotherham played the London Central Elementary High School^[13][14][15]
• 29 December 1960 High School for Girls, Dungannon (Ann Spotswood, Elizabeth Beatty, Eileen Mullan, Christine McAllister) v Grove Park School (girls, winners: Josephine Boenisch, Gwenillian Awberry, Caroline Griffiths, and captain Veronica Lloyd); Dungannon were beaten 53–52
• 21 December 1961 Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School, York (boys, winners: Peter Waugh and Geoffrey Blunt) v Bishop Gore School, Swansea
• 20 December 1962 High School of Stirling (boys) v Hull Grammar School (winners)
• 22 December 1963 Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, Cambridge (winners)
• 20 December 1964 The Academy, Montrose (girls, winners: Morag Cuthbert, Frances Wilkinson, Helen Brett, and Patricia Mandeville)^[16] v Stafford High School; the trophy was presented on 20 January 1965 by Denis Morris, the head of the Light Programme; Stafford High were beaten 46–34, and the programme was recorded at Montrose Town Hall on Tuesday 15 December 1964
• 26 December 1965 The High School, Falkirk (boys)
• 27 December 1966 The Grammar School, Bassaleg (boys, Roger Panting aged 12, James Pierce aged 13, Stephen Dix aged 15, and captain Christopher Elliott aged 17) v St Martin-in-the-Fields High School (girls)^[17]
• 7 January 1968 King's Norton Grammar School for Girls (Verity Kemp, Jane Herbert, Grace Baron, and Mary Watt), Birmingham v Greenock Academy (girls, winners)^[18]
• 22 December 1968 Leyton Senior High School for Girls v Grove Park School, Wrexham (boys, winners)
• 21 December 1969 The High School for Girls, Stroud v Queen Elizabeth Grammar School for Girls, Carmarthen
• 2 January 1971 Harris Academy, Dundee (boys) v Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys, Leicester (winners: John Peet – captain – University College, Durham Law from 1971 to 1974 – later chair from 2008 to 2012 of Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, John Vale – Lancaster University from 1974 to 1977, Andrew Leak, Stephen Walton)
• 22 January 1972 Cheadle Hulme School, Cheshire (winners) v Cardinal Vaughan School, London
• 27 January 1973 Musselburgh Grammar School v The County Girls Grammar School, Newbury (winners)
• 20 February 1974 Kirkcudbright Academy, Kirkcudbright v Broadoak School, Weston-super-Mare
• 4 January 1975 Magdalen College School, Brackley v The Grammar School, Cheltenham
• 29 February 1976 King William's College, Isle of Man v Paisley Grammar School, Scotland
• 22 February 1977 Macclesfield County High School for Girls (winners: captain Elaine Scragg later competed in the 1978 Supermind) v Thomas Magnus School, Newark-on-Trent
• 23 February 1978 Collingwood School, Camberley v Wellington School, Somerset
• 25 December 1978 Northern Ireland v North of England
• 4 February 1980 Peterhead Academy v Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School (winners)
• 23 December 1980 Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys (Robert Rowe, Chris Gidlow – History from 1984 to 1987 at Oriel College, Oxford), Canterbury v Wycombe High School, High Wycombe (winners: Barbara Page, Claire Wilful, Julie Bungey, Sarah Graves); the trophy was presented by Mark Carlisle, the Secretary of State for Education^[19]
• 22 December 1981 Girvan Academy (winners: Kenneth Brown, Murray Pratt, Kirsteen Browning, and Marie Walker); the trophy was awarded by George Younger, Secretary of State for Scotland^[20])
• 21 December 1982 Seaford Head School, Seaford (winners: Fiona Hanley, Sean Hanley, Neil Dench, and Philip Barden); the trophy was awarded by Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Education^[21])
• 14 December 1983 Emmbrook Comprehensive School, Wokingham (winners: Sarah Lowe, Katherine James aged 12, sixth formers Jameson Wooders and David Bryant) v Colchester County High School for Girls; the trophy was awarded by Seb Coe;^[22][23][24] in one of the earlier rounds, Emmbrook scored the highest points total ever for the competition; Emmbrook had been coached by teacher Mrs Merise Corbett, and the programme was recorded on Wednesday 7 December, being a cliffhanging final
• 19 December 1984 Moorhead High School, Accrington v City of Leeds School (winners)^[25]
• 16 December 1985 Upton Grammar School, Slough
• 1 December 1986 Christ College, Brecon (winners: Oli Hide, Andy Li – captain, Gavin Doig, Robin Pinniger); the trophy was awarded by Sir David Attenborough in January 1987 in London

Television Top of the Form finalists[]

• 24 December 1962 Grove Park School for Boys, Wrexham (J Salisbury, RG Thomas, JS Williams, and D Williams) v Kingston Grammar School for Boys (winners: Ian White – Philosophy at St John's College, Oxford)
• 1 May 1963 The Grammar School for Girls, Weston-super-Mare v Royal Belfast Academical Institution (boys, winners: Hugh Gibson, Barry Stevens, Harry Cowie, and Bill Smith); Belfast won 39–33
• 23 December 1963 Brownhills High School for Girls, Stoke-on-Trent (winners: Dianne Bamber or Lawton – studied music at the University of Leeds, Lesley Steadiman, Jacqueline Bamford, and Mary Pedley) v Hull Grammar School (boys)
• 26 March 1964 High School, Stirling (boys, Hamish Meldrum – later Chairman of the BMA from 2007 to 2012) v Barnsley and District Holgate Grammar School (winners: Andrew Wood – History at Oxford)
• 10 December 1964 Portsmouth High School (a direct grant school, not independent)
• 1 April 1965 Sutton Coldfield Grammar School (girls, winners)^[26] v Paston School (boys), North Walsham
• 30 December 1965 Allan Glen's Boys School, Glasgow v , Cardiff (boys)
• 9 June 1966 Ayr Academy (winners)
• 28 December 1966 Hastings High School (girls) v Leamington College (girls, winners: Marie Bishop, Elizabeth Wilson, Janet Vaughan, and Vanessa Webb), Leamington Spa
• 28 December 1967 Burnt Mill School, Harlow v , Dundee (winners: Fiona Anderson, Michael O'Rourke, Morag Smith, and captain Gordon Cobban)
• 12 June 1969 Chatham House Grammar School (boys) v Torquay Girls' Grammar School (winners); the trophy was given by sports presenter Peter Dimmock
• 20 June 1970 Salisbury (winners: Alison Greenlees, Andrew Parton, Diane James, and Tom Owen from South Wilts Grammar School and Bishop Wordsworth's School) v Inverness (Irene Anderson, Andrew MacDonald, Margaret MacDonald, and Charles Bannerman from Inverness Royal Academy); the finalists competed with teams from the Netherlands in Transworld; on 3 August 1970 it was recorded at Inverness Royal Academy with other teams from Aberdeen Academy and Salisbury; later competed on 5 August 1970 in Hilversum, Netherlands; the Dutch teams from The Hague, Eindhoven and Deventer; it was broadcast from 15 September 70 with Salisbury v Eindhoven and continued until October 1970; a Birmingham Post review on 30 September 1970 said – 'very few programmes can boast the education quality and mental stimulus that distinguishes Transworld Top Team'
• 8 June 1971 Luton Sixth Form College v Kenilworth Grammar School (winners: Jane Broughton, Alison Love, Ross Beadle, and Martin Clarke);^[27] this was the 10th anniversary series, so the week afterwards, Kenilworth challenged a 'representative team' from the first series; Kenilworth played a team from Minneapolis on Transworld Top Team on 23 November 1971^[28]
• 1 August 1972 Llanelli (male and female, winners: Margaret Samuel – Medicine at Barts) v Manchester (Mike Murphy, Phil Smith from St Augustine RC Grammar School of Wythenshawe, and Josephine Finan – Modern Languages at Cambridge, and Anne Heaton from Hollies Convent Grammar School^[29]); the two teams competed against Canadian teams in Trans World
• 11 June 1973 Elgin Academy (winners: Blair Jenkins, Ken Lindsay – later a BBC radio newsreader) v Derby; Elgin went to Hong Kong for Trans World^[30]
• 17 June 1974 Loughborough (two males from Loughborough Grammar School and two females from Loughborough High School, Lucy Stein, Robert Satchwell – 1977–80 Christ Church, Oxford 1st Maths, Anna McKay, and Mark Poole) v Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington
• 9 August 1975 Gower (Susan Raad, Michael Isaac, Alison Maull, and David Smith) v Leeds (Francis Bruynseels – head boy of his school in 1975, Jane Dougherty, Stephen Moriarty from St Michael's College)

Notable contestants[]

• Film star Hugh Grant, who represented Latymer Upper School;^[31]
• Darien Angadi, whose story was told during a BBC Four documentary about the quiz programme
• (1969), later a weather presenter and television announcer.^[32]
• Hilary Benn, represented Holland Park School in 1969 who were contentiously eliminated in a second round match.
• , identical twin of Randolph and now owner of Posh Boy Records, was also a member of the 1969 Holland Park School team. Fields was asked the three-point question: "I was born in Valencia in 1867, who am I?" and answered "Blasco Ibáñez", prompting presenter Geoffrey Wheeler to take a deep breath and pronounce the answer correct and leaving viewers baffled.
• Blair Jenkins, later chief executive of Yes Scotland in 2014, in the TV final for Elgin Academy in June 1973

Popular culture[]

Top of The Form was satirised in the 1960s pre-Python television series At Last the 1948 Show.

"Natural Born Quizzers", an episode of Steve Coogan's comedy series Coogan's Run, involved a thinly-disguised version of the show.

In 2008, Dave Gorman traced the history of the show on BBC Four.

A similar quiz for British schools in Germany called Top Marks was broadcast by BFBS Germany.^[33]

See also[]

• Round Britain Quiz, BBC Radio 4's general knowledge quiz from the same era, but mainly for adults, and still broadcast regularly
• University Challenge, a similar Granada Television series for British universities, which was (likewise) taken off the air in 1987, but was brought back (now broadcast on BBC 2) in 1994
• Schools' Challenge – continuing UK inter-schools quiz, non-televised, based on the rules of University Challenge
• Young Scientists of the Year, BBC youth science competition
• Blockbusters – television school-age game show first broadcast in 1983

References[]

External links[]

• Top of the Form at BBC Online
• Top of the Form at UKGameshows.com
• Television Top of the Form at UKGameshows.com
• Top of the Form at IMDb
• The Top of the Form Story at IMDb
• TV Cream

Video clips[]

• Monty Python