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The Grand Knockout Tournament

January 01, 1970

The Grand Knockout Tournament (also known as It's a Royal Knockout) was a one-off charity event which took place on 15 June 1987, and was shown on British television on 19 June 1987 (BBC1, repeated on 27 December 1987), in addition to airing on American TV via the USA Network on 12 August 1987, and European satellite channel Superchannel on 6 March 1988 (repeated on Christmas Day 1988). It followed the format of It's a Knockout (the British version of Jeux sans frontières), a slapstick TV game show which was broadcast in the UK until 1982.

The event was staged on the lakeside lawn of the Alton Towers stately home and theme park in Staffordshire.

Although regarded as a failure, a similar show without royal involvement was made the following year at Walt Disney World in Florida, featuring teams of celebrities representing the United Kingdom, USA, and Australia.

Synopsis edit

The show featured members of the British royal family alongside various sporting and showbiz celebrities. The celebrity participants were drawn from the realms of music, sport, television, comedy and film:

Team One edit

Team Two edit

Team Three edit

Team Four edit

The show was conceived and organised by Prince Edward, who had been keen to develop a career in TV and theatre after he left the Royal Marines.[2] The show featured Prince Edward, the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of York as non-participating team captains, each of whom supported a different charity.[2] The show was hosted by Stuart Hall, Les Dawson and Su Pollard, with Hal Linden providing commentary for the U.S. telecast. Paul Daniels and Geoff Capes were timekeepers. Aled Jones, Rowan Atkinson and Barbara Windsor were heralds of the tournament. The Duke of Abercorn, the Duke of Westminster, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Roxburghe acted as impartial judges for each of the four teams.

The contestants competed in numerous games; for example, in one round, the players dressed up as giant vegetables, while in another they threw fake hams at each other. Live coverage was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on 15 June 1987, and was presented by Steve Wright (The Radio 1 Roadshow).

The tournament was won by the Princess Royal's team, with the Duke of York's team second, Prince Edward's team third, and the Duchess of York's team finishing last.

Aftermath edit

Immediately after the event, Prince Edward asked the assembled journalists, "Well, what did you think?" The journalists, unbeknownst to Prince Edward, hadn't seen the event properly as they had been kept confined in the press tent, separate from the celebrities and members of the royal family who had taken part, and were underwhelmed and unhappy at such an arrangement. They responded with nervous laughter and Prince Edward stormed out of the press conference, sarcastically thanking the journalists for their enthusiasm.[2]

Reportedly the Queen disapproved of the event and all of her courtiers had advised against it.[3] Neither she, the Duke of Edinburgh nor the Prince and Princess of Wales agreed to take part, but Edward persevered and the project went to completion. Nonetheless, the event drew an audience of 18 million domestically, making it the fourth most-watched programme of the year.[2] It was later watched by 400 million viewers worldwide and raised over £1.5 million for the respective charities.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ "It's A Knockout - The Royal Tournamont". www.its-a-knockout.tv.
  2. ^ a b c d e Roseman, Daniel (21 April 1996). "Was this the day when royalty lost the plot?". The Independent. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  3. ^ Ben Pimlott "Polishing Their Image", extract from The Queen, HarperCollins (1996) reprinted on the PBS Frontline webpage

External links edit

  • It's a Royal Knockout at IMDb  
  • Knockout – The Grand Charity Tournament (the book of the event) ISBN 0-00-217993-8

January 01, 1970
grand, knockout, tournament, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources The Grand Knockout Tournament news newspapers books scholar JSTOR May 2007 Learn how and when to remove this message The Grand Knockout Tournament also known as It s a Royal Knockout was a one off charity event which took place on 15 June 1987 and was shown on British television on 19 June 1987 BBC1 repeated on 27 December 1987 in addition to airing on American TV via the USA Network on 12 August 1987 and European satellite channel Superchannel on 6 March 1988 repeated on Christmas Day 1988 It followed the format of It s a Knockout the British version of Jeux sans frontieres a slapstick TV game show which was broadcast in the UK until 1982 The event was staged on the lakeside lawn of the Alton Towers stately home and theme park in Staffordshire Although regarded as a failure a similar show without royal involvement was made the following year at Walt Disney World in Florida featuring teams of celebrities representing the United Kingdom USA and Australia Contents 1 Synopsis 1 1 Team One 1 2 Team Two 1 3 Team Three 1 4 Team Four 2 Aftermath 3 References 4 External linksSynopsis editThe show featured members of the British royal family alongside various sporting and showbiz celebrities The celebrity participants were drawn from the realms of music sport television comedy and film Team One edit Prince Edward s team on behalf of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Toyah Willcox Barry McGuigan Christopher Reeve Steve Cram Tessa Sanderson Sarah Hardcastle John Cleese Michael Ball Nicholas Lyndhurst Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Duncan Goodhew Sharon McPeake Team Two edit The Princess Royal s team on behalf of Save the Children Debbie Flintoff Cliff Richard Emlyn Hughes Jenny Agutter Kevin Kline Jackie Stewart Eddy Grant Bill Wyman Peter Blake Walter Payton Virginia Leng Sunil Gavaskar Anthony Andrews Tom Jones Sheena Easton Team Three edit The Duke of York s team on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund Judy Simpson Anneka Rice Fiona Fullerton Gary Lineker George Lazenby Michael Palin Nigel Mansell John Travolta Griff Rhys Jones Margot Kidder Steve Podborski Team Four edit The Duchess of York s team on behalf of International Year of Shelter for the Homeless 1987 Meat Loaf Pamela Stephenson Brian Cooper dog sledder 1 Mel Smith Jane Seymour Chris de Burgh Viv Richards Michael Brandon John Mills The show was conceived and organised by Prince Edward who had been keen to develop a career in TV and theatre after he left the Royal Marines 2 The show featured Prince Edward the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of York as non participating team captains each of whom supported a different charity 2 The show was hosted by Stuart Hall Les Dawson and Su Pollard with Hal Linden providing commentary for the U S telecast Paul Daniels and Geoff Capes were timekeepers Aled Jones Rowan Atkinson and Barbara Windsor were heralds of the tournament The Duke of Abercorn the Duke of Westminster the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Roxburghe acted as impartial judges for each of the four teams The contestants competed in numerous games for example in one round the players dressed up as giant vegetables while in another they threw fake hams at each other Live coverage was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on 15 June 1987 and was presented by Steve Wright The Radio 1 Roadshow The tournament was won by the Princess Royal s team with the Duke of York s team second Prince Edward s team third and the Duchess of York s team finishing last Aftermath editImmediately after the event Prince Edward asked the assembled journalists Well what did you think The journalists unbeknownst to Prince Edward hadn t seen the event properly as they had been kept confined in the press tent separate from the celebrities and members of the royal family who had taken part and were underwhelmed and unhappy at such an arrangement They responded with nervous laughter and Prince Edward stormed out of the press conference sarcastically thanking the journalists for their enthusiasm 2 Reportedly the Queen disapproved of the event and all of her courtiers had advised against it 3 Neither she the Duke of Edinburgh nor the Prince and Princess of Wales agreed to take part but Edward persevered and the project went to completion Nonetheless the event drew an audience of 18 million domestically making it the fourth most watched programme of the year 2 It was later watched by 400 million viewers worldwide and raised over 1 5 million for the respective charities 2 References edit It s A Knockout The Royal Tournamont www its a knockout tv a b c d e Roseman Daniel 21 April 1996 Was this the day when royalty lost the plot The Independent Retrieved 17 July 2022 Ben Pimlott Polishing Their Image extract from The Queen HarperCollins 1996 reprinted on the PBS Frontline webpageExternal links editIt s a Royal Knockout at IMDb nbsp Knockout The Grand Charity Tournament the book of the event ISBN 0 00 217993 8 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Grand Knockout Tournament amp oldid 1220162538, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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