BBC CHRISTMAS TV 1959
Christmas Eve Thursday 24th December 1959
BBCTV
1.00pm Beunydd
(In Welsh : Daily news, and a talk on Welsh religious matters)
(Wenvoe, Blaen-Plwyf, Holme Moss and Sutton Coldfield only)
1.15pm Closedown
2.30pm Watch with Mother : Rag, Tag, and Bobtail
2.45pm Man from 1997
a comic fantasy with Charles Ruggles
3.30pm Faraway Look
Kangaroos and Koalas
Peter Scott looks back, with his wife, on his first Faraway Look tour which took him to Australia,
New Zealand, New Guinea, and Fiji
4.30pm The Apple Tree with the Golden Apples
Hungarian film. The story told by Johnny Morris
The animals in the wood are puzzled when the apple tree they plant produces nasty sour apples.
They call the children of the village in to help. Will it now yield a golden harvest?
4.55pm Children's Newsreel
5.10pm Eamonn Andrews in Christmas Crackerjack
featuring
Lenny the Lion with Terry Hall
Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson
Ronnie Corbett
Raymond Rollett
Jerry Bergmann and Mimi
Ronnie Boyer and Jeanne Ravel
6.05pm News, The Weather
6.25pm Christmas Fare
A look ahead at Christmas programmes with Alex Macintosh , Michael Aspel , and a few friends
6.30pm Carols from Canterbury
Sung in the Crypt and the Choir of the Cathedral Introduced by The Dean of Canterbury
The Very Rev. Hewlett Johnson. D.D.
7.05pm Film : The Trail to Christmas (1957)
starring James Stewart
A boy who has run away on Christmas Eve meets a stranger on the trail and hears a tale
which leads him home for Christmas
7.30pm Julie Andrews and John Fraser in "The Gentle Flame"
by Francis Essex
8.15pm Amahl and the Night Visitors
Christmas story with music by Gian Carlo Menotti
9.00pm News Summary
9.05pm Film : Sister Kenny (1946)
starring Rosalind Russell
10.55pm Mass of the Nativity
from the Roman Catholic Bergkirche, Eisenstadt, Austria
12.00 Closedown
Christmas Day Friday 25th December 1959
BBCTV
8.30am Christmas Greeting
A programme of carols by The George Mitchell Glee Club and Dennis Wilson Quartet
9.00am The Queen
Her Majesty's recorded Christmas Message to the Commonwealth (sound only)
9.03am Dartington Christmas Festival
introduced by Huw Wheldon
9.30am Gwyl Y Geni
(Festival of the Nativity)
(Wenvoe, Blaen-Plwyf, Holme Moss, Sutton Coldfield and Crystal Palace only)
10.00am Closedown
11.00am Morning Service
for Christmas Day from St George's Parish Church, Stockport
11.45am Peace on Earth
Christmas programme from the International Pestalozzi Children's Villages.
In Switzerland and in Sussex children from all over Europe gather round the Christmas tree as one family.
12.15pm Meet Mr Kringle
film comedy starring Thomas Mitchell, Teresa Wright , Macdonald Carey
If Mr. Kringle looks and behaves like Santa Claus, it is, of course, a coincidence - or is it?
1.00pm News Summary
1.15pm Music with Max
Max Jaffa's with The Trio, Alicia Markova and the Linden Singers
1.35pm Days Before Christmas
National Film Board of Canada film about the festive season in Montreal
2.00pm Boots and Saddles : Dispatch Rider
film series
2.25pm While Angels Watch
In a hospital in Singapore a young nurse finds that the message of Christmas has for her a
special and personal meaning. A documentary film about Queen Alexandra's Nursing Service
3.00pm Chipperfield's Christmas Circus Festival
from Bingley Hall , Birmingham
4.00pm Billy Cotton's Christmas Party
An invitation to children of all ages to join Billy Cotton and his Band plus guests
4.45pm A Kiss for Cinderella
by J M Barrie
starring Jeannie Carson
6.15pm News Summary
6.20pm Christmas Night with the Stars
featuring the Jimmy Logan Show,
Charlie Drake, Whack-O! and many more
7.35pm Harry Belafonte in Songs of Many Lands
The distinguished American artist makes his Christmas appearance in a
recorded programme of music and songs from many lands
8.20pm Film : High Noon (1952)
starring Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell
During the events that reach their climax at high noon, it is only
one man's courage and devotion to duty that stand between the
inhabitants of the small Western township and a future full of violence and fear
9.45pm News Summary
9.50pm Bleak House : The End of the Story
by Charles Dickens adapted for television
10.20pm Make Way for Music
Presenting Alyn Ainsworth and the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra in thirty minutes
of music in an informal manner with songs by Sheila Buxton, Roberto Cardinal and
Norman George with his violin
10.50pm Epilogue for Christmas Day
The Rev. Frederic Greeves
Principal of Didsbury College, Bristol followed by
Weather
Closedown
Boxing Day Saturday 26th December 1959
BBCTV
11.40am Beunydd
(Wenvoe, Blaen-Plwyf, Holme Moss and Sutton Coldfield only)
12.00 Grandstand
introduced by David Coleman
(12.05pm Boxing in America: Garnett 'Sugar' Hart v Luis Rodriguez
12.35 Motor Racing from Brands Hatch: Production Sports Car Race
1.00 Racing at Kempton Park: Mistletoe Novices Steeplechase
1.10 Motor Racing: Christmas Trophy Race,
1.30 Racing: Hunter Simmonds Handicap Hurdle
2.00 Racing: The King George VI Steeplechase
2.10 Motor Racing: John Davy Trophy Race
2.30 Racing: Holly Handicap Steeplechase
3.00 Motor Racing: Silver City Trophy Race
3.30 Amateur Boxing: Welsh ABA Annual Competition
4.30 Football and Racing Summaries)
5.00pm Whirlybirds : Seven Were Trapped
The back entrance to the mine is on a part of the mountain which is inaccessible by car or on foot.
P.T. and Chuck arrive and with their helicopter's help, try to save the lives of seven trapped men
5.25pm The Three Princes
A tale of the Thousand Nights and One Night by Rex Tucker
6.15pm News Summary, The Weather
6.22pm Laramie : Man of God
Western series
7.10pm Dixon of Dock Green : A Piece of Pink Ribbon
starring Jack Warner
7.40pm Bertram Montague's traditional pantomime Mother Goose
starring Frankie Howerd
9.10pm News Summary
9.15pm Never Die
A new detective thriller by John Elliott and Geoffrey Bush starring
Dorothy Alison, Gordon Jackson, Bill Owen, William Russell
Katherine Kath, Jack Watling
10.45pm The Good Old Days
A Christmas Edition of Old-Time Music-Hall presenting
Morecambe and Wise
Betty Jumel
Cardew Robinson
Noberti
Smoothey and Layton
The Manton Brothers
Patricia Bredin
Chairman : Leonard Sachs
11.45pm Weather
Closedown
Sunday 27th December 1959
BBCTV
12.40pm The Weather Situation for farmers and growers
followed by Farming : The Farming of David Hay
1.15pm O Sul I Sul
(From Sunday to Sunday) in Welsh
(Wenvoe, Blaen-Plwyf, Holme Moss, Sutton Coldfield and Crystal Palace only)
1.30pm Croeso
(Welcome) in Welsh
2.00pm Ask Me Another
special challenge match between the Webster family from Lancashire
and the Carr family from North Wales
2.30pm Film: Never a Dull Moment (1950)
starring Irene Dunne and Fred MacMurray
Successful songwriter Kay Kingsley finds that, as a cowboy's wife, life on a ranch
way out West is not so simple, and certainly far from quiet. Particularly when you
have the additional hazard of a ready-made family to contend with.
3.55pm The Phil Silvers Show : Mess Hall Mess
starring Phil Silvers as Sergeant Bilko
4.20pm Out of the Blue
Roger Bond is a farmer's son but his life is closely linked with the sea, and his dreams
are of tides and boats and fishing, and, above all, the spoils of the sea
4.50pm Lenny's Den
with Lenny the Lion and Terry Hall
5.00pm The Young Lady from London
A comedy in six parts
Written and produced by Rex Tucker
Part 6
5.30pm Snapshot
film series about animals and people from all over the world
Do you know what a Tarsier is? You can see one in this edition,
as well as the work of a bird sanctuary off the coast of Wales and
hear the story of a young thoroughbred race-horse
5.45pm Sunday Special : The Candlemaker
An animated cartoon film
6.00pm News Summary and The Weather Man
6.05pm Sea Parish
The work of the Missions to Seamen told through the story of a seaman whose
voyages take him to Australia and back home in time for Christmas
6.35pm With Heart and Voice
from Wales, Hywel Davies introduces seven hymns and carols sung by Helen Watts,
Rowland Jonet and the Treorchy Male Choir
7.00pm Meeting Point at Christmas
When Jesus was born at Bethlehem God Became Man
The Rev. Peter Hamilton considers the meaning of this statement,
and what it has to tell us about ourselves
7.25pm News Summary
7.30pm The Eddie Fisher Show
with guests including Bob Monkhouse
8.15pm What's My Line ?
Television's most popular panel game with Isobcl Barnett, Gilbert Harding, Polly Elwes
Cyril Fletcher, In the chair, Eamonn Andrews
8.45pm Sunday Night Theatre : Waters of the Moon
a play by N C Hunter
10.15pm News Summary
10.20pm The Edge of the Sixties
11.15pm The Epilogue : The Christmas Story
As seen by great artists of the past
Paintings shown by permission of The National Gallery of
Scotland and the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum
followed by
Weather and Closedown
Bank Holiday Monday 28th December 1959
BBCTV
12.55pm Beunydd
(Wenvoe, Blaen-Plwyf, Holme Moss and Sutton Coldfield only)
1.15pm Racing at Kempton Park
(1.30 Christmas Handicap Hurdle,
2.00 Kenton Handicap Chase, 2.30 Oatlands Handicap Chase)
2.40pm Watch with Mother : Picture Book
2.55pm Mainly for Women
"Passage into Sunshine"
The story of an emigrant journey to Australia
3.25pm Keep Fit
with Eileen Fowler
3.40pm Science International
4.45pm Today's Sport
introduced by Kenneth Wolstenholme
Today's sporting headlines and all the results Football, Rugby, Racing
5.00pm The Snow Princess
Russian cartoon film based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen
6.00pm News and The Weather
6.20pm Wells Fargo : Fort Massacre
starring Dale Robertson
The exciting adventures of the famous Western Stagecoach Service
6.45pm Tonight
Look around with Cliff Michelmore
Derek Hart, Alan Whicker , Fyfe Robertson and including
John Morgan , Polly Elwes and Cy Grant
7.25pm News Summary
7.30pm This Is Your Life
with Eamonn Andrews
8.05pm The Men from Room Thirteen : The Man Who Lost His Trousers Part 1
starring John Welsh and William Fox
A series of crime stories in two weekly parts
8.35pm The Edge of the Sixties
2- The Jazz Age
During these last few days of 1959 the BBC is presenting-as a series on successive
evenings -four television films which between them look back at the first sixty years of the Twentieth Century
9.30pm Professional Boxing
Cruiserweight- Alan Peacock (Hull) v Gordon Corbett (B'ham),
Welterweight- Brian Husband (Hull) v Ron Warnes (Erith)
10.30pm News
10.45pm Come Dancing
for the BBC Inter-Regional Dancing Contest
Peter West introduces the fifth heat in the nation-wide amateur ballroom
dancing contest between twelve regions for the BBC Television Award and Formation Team Cup
11.30pm Weather
Closedown
