2011 marks the 40th anniversary of the landmark music television series the Old Grey Whistle Test. To commemorate this milestone, WBBC have produced a special 16-part radio series on BBC Radio 2 celebrating & remembering every year of the show. With some outstanding guests making appearances on the show, it is sure to be one of the radio events of the year.

The series went down as a massive success, running for 16 weeks from Wednesday – Wednesday October 5th 2011.

Below you can see a breakdown of each of the shows in the series, along with links to our WBBC photo gallery for each episode.

Thank you very much to all who contributed and listened, we couldn’t have done it without you!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

PROGRAMME 1: Alice Cooper & Elton John reminisce about the show, along with classic performances of theirs from the show Yusuf Islam performs live AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME ONE HERE

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                          
PROGRAMME 2: Ralph McTell talks & performs, along with Thijs van Leer from Focus, a memorable

performance from the show from Bob Marley & The Wailers AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME TWO HERE

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

PROGRAMME 3: Steve Harley and Roger Daltrey talk and perform, Paul Rodgers chats with Bob, classic archive from Queen AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME THREE HERE

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

 

PROGRAMME 4: Kiki Dee performs an acoustic number, an archive performance from Free AND MORE

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME FOUR HERE

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

PROGRAMME 5: Bob interviews Brian May, who reminisces about the incredible success of Queen, Jackson Browne & Emmylou Harris perform live AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 5 HERE 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 


PROGRAMME 6: Joan Armatrading plays a lovely live set, with interviews from Stevie Nicks and Peter Frampton as well AND MORE

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 6 HERE

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

PROGRAMME 7: Randy Newman plays a brand new live set, along with John Otway Mark Knopfler and Andy Partridge chat with Bob AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 7 HERE

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 


PROGRAMME 8: Special new live sessions from some amazing artists- Squeeze, Gordon Giltrap, Ian Anderson AND Thin Lizzy, an archive performance from The Police AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 8 HERE

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 


PROGRAMME 9: New live performance from Judie Tzuke and her band, along with Steve Hackett, an interview with Greg Lake and Debbie Harry AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 9 HERE

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 


PROGRAMME 10: Hazel O’Connor and Wilko Johnson perform live, an interview from Paul Young and Neil Finn AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 10 HERE

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 


PROGRAMME 11: Gang Of Four & Jack Bruce perform live, Chris Rea & David Hepworth talk about their time on the show AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 11 HERE

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

PROGRAMME 12: In a very Scottish show, Edwyn Collins, Rab Noakes and Midge Ure all came in, along with some archive performances from Simple Minds & Eurythmics AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 12 HERE

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

PROGRAMME 13: Nick Lowe & Robyn Hitchcock joined Bob live on the show, as did Mark Ellen to talk about presenting the show, along with archive from Marillion AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 13 HERE

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

PROGRAMME 14: Billy Bragg, Andy Kershaw, Thomas Dolby and John Hiatt are all in the studio with Bob, special archive from The Richard Thompson Band AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 14 HERE

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

PROGRAMME 15: In the penultimate episode of the series, Bob was joined by another Bob in Bob Geldof, as well as Chuck Prophet and Feargal Sharkey, archive performances from Status Quo AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 15 HERE

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

PROGRAMME 16: The final episode of the series featured very special performances from Julian Lennon and Paul Weller, an interview from Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant, classic archive from INXS AND MORE

 

VISIT OUR GALLERY FOR PROGRAMME 16 HERE

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 

 

 

BEHIND THE SCENES: We are also continually taking photos of the team working hard behind the scenes of the Old Grey Whistle Test 40 series, and you can see all of the backstage images in our site gallery here

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

OGWT40 CHILDREN IN NEED PACKAGE

WBBC is very pleased to announce that we are donating a whole load of fantastic Old Grey Whistle Test 40 items to create a unique package, which is being auctioned off for Children In Need 2011. The package includes a collage of memorable photos from the series, an OGWT 40th anniversary album signed by Bob Harris, along with the entire series of brand new compilation albums, an official OGWT40 t-shirt and badge (only previously available to artists who were featured on the series), an invitation to be a guest for a Bob Harris Radio 2 show of your choice, and a wonderful 7-foot tall OGWT40 banner, signed by every single artist that came to Maida Vale to record their contribution to the series! (see left) It’s a wonderful and totally unique package. The auction took place during the Weekend Wogan show on Sunday 13th November, on BBC Radio 2, and our OGWT40 package eventually raised £4,100! Well done to Suzanne, who won the auction. To find out more info visit the official Radio 2 Children In Need page HERE.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Stay tuned to this page for more OGWT40 news, and for links to special footage and unheard performances from the show!

Click here to see Bob’s OGWT site gallery

SEE OUR OFFICIAL RADIO 2 PAGE HERE

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