The Merry Men At The Stair

Perhaps the most memorable tea-time television viewing for the boys at The Stair was the Robin Hood series starring Richard Greene as Robin. Rather like the distinctive Fireball XL5 theme tune it featured the very haunting song below-for the younger followers of The Stair check it out at the link underneath the opening lyrics. 

Richard Greene is brilliant as Robin Hood. He combines authority and nobility and is athletic, swashbuckling and a bonny fechter. Similarly, Alan Wheatley plays a wonderful part as the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham, indeed he would have made a wonderful Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races!; and Friar Tuck is a lovely mix of affability and irritability and is a cantankerous, beer swilling, deer guzzling oaf! 

As soon as our tea, toast and beans were over and the theme tune sounded its last bars, Michael Hanlon; Boo-Boo Hanlon; Iain Hoffmann; Ali Douglas et al were oot the back of The Stair playing with their bows and arrows!

ps Mrs Anne Duncan (Hoffmann) to the rescue!-I may be wrong on this but I think we had an unusual link to Richard Greene-a friend of the family, Patrick Hogg, Director Tourist Information, St Andrews, girlfriend was Patricia Medina, the actress, who was previously married to Richard Greene-she later married the famous American actor Joseph Cotten-whew!

'Robin Hood, Robin Hood, 

Riding through the glen, 

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, 

With his band of men, 

Feared by the bad, loved by the good, 

Robin Hood! Robin Hood! Robin Hood!'

http://youtu.be/BbyYr6L

Fireball XL5

Of all the Gerry Anderson shows Fireball XL5 was my absolute favourite-how cool were these jet-mobiles?

Fireball XL5, was ably commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac-like Captain Kirk, he was the best pilot in the fleet. He was ably assisted by Venus and there was a really interesting character who was a co-pilot called Robert; Robert was a transparent, anthropomorphic robot who toward the end of the programme usually said in a staccato robot like voice, 'ON-OUR-WAY-HOME.'

I didn't much care for Stingray; Thunderbirds; or Joe 90, but there was something about Fireball XL5 that simply fired and captured one's imagination. The characters were good; the balance of time, space and setting were excellent; and the story lines were okay. Without getting into textural analysis or deconstruction the plots generally followed the classic format of order, disorder, restore order. Whilst for children there was security in that situations were resolved, missions accomplished and therefore control and order were restored; and yet there was also something deeply unsettling too-in particular I found the the view from the cockpit out into the distant dark depths of space to be particularly haunting and potent. 

That image actually conjures up aspects of Star Trek-was Fireball XL5 an influence? Certainly there was a Scottish engineer in the show-never mind Scottie, this character was Capstan Full Strength-he went by the name of Jock Campbell-Noo ye cannae get any more Scottish than that laddie! 

By the way, who can think of Scottie without thinking of the immortal line, Captain, the engines cannae take it! 

And of course after enjoying the show we could discuss its merits whilst enjoying an evening smoke:

Or if was a warm day:

The show got it right, from the very start-who couldn't be sucked or even suckered in by the opening bars of the programme's instrumental theme tune; better still was the closing theme song which went on to become a hit in Britain. If you've never heard it, check it out on Youtube at the link below-better still, download it to your mobile! As a theme tune, surely only bettered by Robin Hood?

I wish I was a spaceman

The fastest guy alive
I’d fly you ’round the universe
In Fireball XL5
Way out in space together
Conquerors of the sky
My heart would be a fireball, a fireball
Every time I gazed into your starry eyes

We’d take the path to Jupiter
And maybe very soon
We’d cruise along the Milky Way
And land upon the Moon
To a wonderland of star dust
We’d zoom our way to Mars
My heart would be a fireball, a fireball
Cause you’d be my Venus of the stars

http://youtu.be/ed0jsVgIHu8

ps In London with d'Artagnan today and tomorrow so Saturday's post will probably appear a little later in the evening.