Behind the Scenes at TOTP

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Top Of The Pops. Of course I heard and read about it in the 70s, absolutely had no chance to see it. Never. When I was in West Germany in 1985, I watched a little bit of MTV, but not TOTP. Made by BBC and originally broadcast weekly between January 1964 and July 2006, the world's longest running music show. Everybody performed on it, it was a honour to be there. The first artist and the first song - Dusty Springfield and 'I Only Want To Be With You'. During its heyday, in the 70s, TOTP attracted 15 millions viewers each week.

 David Cassidy should have performed on it many times in the first part of the 70s, but he couldn't, even when he had number ones.. Of course we know why, David  was banned from the BBC TV Centre in White City (where TOTP was filmed usually on Wednesdays) because of security problems. But this is also a reason that his performances filmed outside the studio, or without the audience (always in great secret) became legendary.

In addition to the weekly show there was a special edition of TOTP on Christmas day, and here is the full Christmas 1973 episode, with David Cassidy. he was.filmed earlier that year at Syon Park in London

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7xO_Q-KI5A

Wow..it was so emotional to be there in 2018 and felt DC's presence. Everything looked exactly the same like in 1973. I wish we had a memorial plaque in that park too.

I'm writing today about TOTP, because of  the Record Mirrors'  articles which were published on the David Cassidy Official Website yesterday. Now we have an amazing collection of the notes, reviews, charts, letters and articles about DC which appeared on that popular music magazine. Priceless info, interviews, gossip, The testimony how great a star David Cassidy was in the UK, in the first part of the 70s. 

This is a link to the Record Mirror's edition, January 5, 1974 and Mike Beatty's article about what happened behind the scenes at Top Of The Pops.

http://www.davidcassidy.com/fansite/InPrintPages/Mag1974Jan05_RecordMirror.pdf

and another one, this time a web article from 2010, this is the story about discovering the clip of the David's the most famous TOTP's  appearance.

https://wipednews.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/daydreamer/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecadman/2354262629



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