Tag Archives: Test Card F

“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncmg3bxtTB0

Posted on by Muggs

May 15, 2011:

@ChieftanMews “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncmg3bxtTB0

One of two links to Youtube Chieftan Mews sent out on the same day both linked Youtube videos of BBC Test Card F titled ‘BBC Test Card F (1978)’.

“The time now very nearly 3 o clock, the next program on bbc1 Songs of Praise follows at 3.15 after a trade test transmission…”

A Youtube commenter names the piece of music as ‘Finally, swing-time’ by Pit Fontana’s New Sound. According to TestcardCircle.uk that song was used during the 2nd half of 1978 to early 1979.

Mew’s tweeted a 2nd Testcard after this one ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6SmOBxP9-g ; Test 2 ), however the second tweet was not deleted until the 20th of March 2012. You can read more about it, and the history of Test Card F here.

Songs of Praise is a weekly religious program first broadcast in 1961 early on Sunday mornings. Consisting of church hymn’s it still runs today and is broadcast in a number of countries.

In 2007 Adam Buxton uploaded a parody of Songs of Praise providing his own subtitles to the program with amusing results:

Adam Buxton is British DJ and Comedian who in 2007 helped Radiohead with their Thumbs_Down webcast to celebrate the release of In Rainbows.

A fan of the band he wrote a nice long detailed blog post about the whole thing here on his website, and later in 2008 entered his own (rather hilarious) remix for the Reckoner remix competition:

Adam Buxton Reckoner Remix

On the 29th of November 2011 Adam Buxton ran a live BUG Music Video’s special evening focusing on Radiohead’s career, during which he screened some behind the scenes footage of the recording of Thumbs_Down, Previous video clips from the band and a interview with Jonny and Colin. Described as a ‘one off’ Adam repeated the event in Los Angeles on February 2nd 2012.


( Source : Yelp.com )

A Silly Blog carries a nice review and description of the event Here.

One of the most interesting bits of trivia from the program refers to a In Rainbows Scrapbook mentioned in the Bug Program notes as a ‘proposed but ultimately unreleased DVD ‘scrapbook’ from the In Rainbows period’.


(Source: Attributed to Ian Davies by Auntie Nubbins of A Silly Blog )

Adam Buxton is on twitter as AdamRealBuxton and is one of the accounts Chieftan Mews follows on Twitter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6SmOBxP9-g ; Test 2

Posted on by Muggs

May 15, 2011:

@ChieftanMews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6SmOBxP9-g ; Test 2

Test 2 takes you to a Youtube Video of BBC Testcard F featuring the instrumental piece ‘Voy, Voy, Voy’ from BBC2 cia 1971-1972. The video is 10 minutes long and contains a number of pieces of music and features Carole Hersee and Bubbles the Clown who together have been shown on television for about 70,000 hours (That’s 8 years!). Test Card F traditionally appeared during dead air on BBC1 and BBC2.


Creepy enough for you? (Source: Wikipedia )

Wiki gives the following history of Test Card F:

Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades. Like other test cards, it was usually shown while no programmes were being broadcast, but was the first to be transmitted in colour in the UK and the first to feature a person,[1] and has become an iconic British image regularly subject to parody.

The central image on the card shows eight-year-old Carole Hersee, playing noughts and crosses with a clown doll, Bubbles the Clown, surrounded by various greyscales and colour test signals needed to ensure a correct picture. It was first broadcast on 2 July 1967 (the day after the first colour pictures appeared to the public on television) on BBC2.

The card was developed by a BBC engineer, George Hersee, father of the girl in the central image. It was frequently broadcast during downtime on BBC1 until that channel went fully 24 hours in November 1997, and on BBC Two until its downtime was replaced entirely by Pages from Ceefax in 1998, after which it was only seen during engineering work, and was last seen in this role in 1999.

Posts in the comments on Youtube state that the harmonica track is titled ‘Johanna’ and performed by the Guy Luypaerts Orchestra.

Interestingly enough ‘Testcard Girl’ was portrayed in a rather Chieftan Mews-ish role as a character in the original BBC series of Life on Mars broadcast in 2006-2007 where she appears first inside the television and then in visions providing the main character with comments relating to his life and things that where going to happen.
She also repeatedly taunts him and occasionally scares him out of his wits with quotes such as “You don’t like me and my clown, I can see I make you frown. When on earth will all this end? I’m you’re friend, you’re only friend.”

You can read more about Test Card F on Wiki here including links to download your own copy of Test Card F if you feel so inclined. While it’s tempting link to Testcard Girl’s role in Life on Mars I’d suggest hunting up the entire series instead to avoid spoilers. It’s well worth the effort.