What actually happened in the first Festive 50 of 1976?

[ken garner]

I have just uploaded pdf scans of the full scripts (PasBs) for the 6 (not 5) relevant shows to 
the files section of this group's site. These should answer most of 'rushomancy''s long list 
of questions! As I say over there, "To resolve debates, and as a thank-you (from me) to 
the members of this group who contributed so much to the correcting of BBC archive data 
over recent months and years, here (for a limited time only) are the full details of what 
Peel actually played on the radio on six shows from 24/12/76 to 3/1/77 in the first 
Festive 50. One obvious forgotten detail is that several of these shows were extended to 
two hours, anticipating a permanent change at Easter 1977." I also noticed with horror 
that, contrary to the shows index in my book, and what my original notes back in 1992 
said, that the F50 actually started a show earlier, on Christmas Eve, and he did indeed play 
the first 6 records, including Yes! I have no idea how I missed that 16 years ago. 
Apologies. These also serve as good examples of Peel PasBs at their best: legible, 
complete, reliable. This period only lasted from the mid 70s through to the late 80s. 
Earlier ones are sometimes incomplete or simply illegible, black and blotchy, when printed 
from the negative on microfilm at archives. And before anyone gets too excited, this is 
the only Festive 50 for which I actually have the hard copies of the scripts (the rest I read 
on screen only). The BBC charges a whopping fee per page for external organisations who 
ask for these scripts to be printed out, so I am at risk of breaking BBC copyright here. But, 
on the other hand, these are past the 30 year rule, were printed out and paid for internally 
as part of the production of In Session Tonight back in 92-93, and I would argue are the 
least the BBC can do for the sterling efforts of this group to properly document the legend 
that is etc. Still, to be on the safe side, I shall only leave them up on the site for a month, 
and will delete this post from the online archive after 2 weeks, ok? Enjoy! For use strictly 
for information and not graphic illumination of any bootlegs... NB. Note how records 
played that are singles, all the info is the first main column. The main oddities here, it 
seems to me, are the Hendrix tracks, whose discographical info given I do not understand: 
but then wasn't there a big copyright spat about Hendrix all through the 70s??