This video (below) is a rare full length recording of Dee Time from 1968. It was broadcast by BBC4 in 2004.
Dee Time was introduced by Simon Dee, a former pirate radio deejay, who became phenomenally successful on television for a short period before putting the “crash” in “crash and burn”.
On this show, you can see why he was very successful – his show was an attractive mix of music, topicality and star interviews, punctuated by his jokes.
But you can also see why his persona was somewhat brittle. Some of his jokes fall a bit flat or don’t come out right. He is Bob Monkhouse without the thousands of hours of preparation that the latter used to put into his performances.
That said, Dee Time was a real trail blazer for TV interview programmes. Incredibly it was live.
Guests on this edition are Susanna York, Lionel Jeffries (a very funny segment) and the The Equals (singing “Softly, Softly”).
The Equals, with lead singer Eddy Grant, deserve more credit in my view. They were the first mainly black British group to have a number one, with “Baby Come Back”.
The accolade for the first British black band to have a number one goes to The Real Thing. It is a shame that The Equals don’t get creditted for this achievement as they had a number one eight years before the Real Thing. It’s because the Equals were not wholly black, three out of their five members were black.
Liberal Burblings 