0:00:07 > 0:00:11For more than half a century, the BBC has captured the changing
0:00:11 > 0:00:14face of life in Londonderry and the North-west.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20In good times and bad times this vibrant region has given us
0:00:20 > 0:00:23some of our finest singers and writers.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31These are the archives and those were the days.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38I think it's absolutely essential to preserve
0:00:38 > 0:00:40and hold on to archive footage,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43because it's the memory of our community.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48I think the existence of an archive is hugely important.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50If we don't know where we come from,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54I think it's doubly hard to know where we're going.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03We need our memories to make sense of our lives today.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06And we need to remember, you know, the stars of the past
0:01:06 > 0:01:09and the places we grew up in.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11And I think it's wonderful that this footage exists.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I just wish there was more of it.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23''Number 38, first time in - Undertones and Teenage Kicks.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Blasting their way onto the nation's biggest music show
0:01:30 > 0:01:35these five energy-fuelled lads unleashed a punk classic
0:01:35 > 0:01:36on Top Of The Pops.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40# Teenage dreams so hard to beat
0:01:40 > 0:01:43# Every time she walks down the street...#
0:01:43 > 0:01:46The first we knew about our Top of the Pops appearance
0:01:46 > 0:01:48we were up the town and they called into Feargal's work.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Fergal worked for Radio Rentals at the time.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54And he'd got the phone call from the record company
0:01:54 > 0:01:57to say that the record had charted and that we'd got Top Of The Pops.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02# I'm gonna call her on the telephone...#
0:02:02 > 0:02:04For me, the occasion of Top Of The Pops
0:02:04 > 0:02:07was overshadowed by the fact that I got pyjamas from my aunties.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09I was 19 years old,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12and they heard that I was going to London to do Top Of The Pops,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and for whatever reason they thought I'd need pyjamas.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18But that's my memory of doing Top Of The Pops.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23There's something about it.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26I don't think you can ever put your finger on what makes great music.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29It's that riff, it's that lyric.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Teenage Kicks... It's almost a timeless quality.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34I don't think they'd even have a clue at the time
0:02:34 > 0:02:36that what the were writing was a little bit of genius
0:02:36 > 0:02:38in this part of the world.
0:02:38 > 0:02:39And time tells us that this music,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42they'll still be playing this stuff in 100 years.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45It'll still THE Derry anthem.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47# I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight
0:02:47 > 0:02:53# Get teenage kicks right through the night...#
0:02:53 > 0:02:58I think, Teenage Kicks is just two minutes, 26 of pure pop perfection.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Everything about it is just magical for me.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03It's got an incredible chorus, it's got handclaps -
0:03:03 > 0:03:07it's got everything that a good pop song should have.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Teenage Kicks... The lyrics really explain the song.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13It's not a complicated or in-depth theme to the song.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17It's just about wanting to meet a girl in the local area.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20And hoping that sometime you get the chance to meet her.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22And hopefully a chance to get a date.
0:03:24 > 0:03:30Any top ten that you get chosen by top people, Teenage Kicks is in it.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33And, of course, the great John Peel -
0:03:33 > 0:03:36it was probably his favourite song of all time.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39So if it's good enough for John Peel, it's good enough for me.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41The fact that John Peel liked the record and then
0:03:41 > 0:03:43when the record had stopped he picked up the needle
0:03:43 > 0:03:46and played it the second time, so it was played back to back,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48and we were thinking this is absolutely...
0:03:48 > 0:03:49This is the greatest thing.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Now even to this day,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54I've never heard a record played back-to-back ever.
0:03:57 > 0:04:03Derry people to this day, absolutely adore The Undertones.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Not just for the music they wrote, which was superb,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08but for what they represented.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11# Teenage dreams so hard to beat...#
0:04:11 > 0:04:14This is a Derry band, who put Derry on the map.
0:04:14 > 0:04:20We weren't trying to go against the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23But it didn't prevent us from doing what we wanted to do.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26I don't think it changed anybody.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28And anyway in Derry, if you got above your station,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31they'd throw you in the river anyway.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38'Home again, and back to Derry to see Billy Kelly in action.'
0:04:40 > 0:04:45A world away from showbiz pomp, 1955 saw another local hero
0:04:45 > 0:04:49slugging it out on a very different public stage.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53But he attracted as much acclaim as his pop successors.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58And the BBC cameras were there to document Billy Spider Kelly's
0:04:58 > 0:05:00preparations for the biggest fight of his life.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05The British title.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Billy Kelly was a huge star. Not only in Derry.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14You go anywhere...
0:05:14 > 0:05:18practically in the world, anywhere where there's boxing,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20they will know of Billy Kelly.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25I never saw Billy box,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28but you knew of Billy Kelly and you knew of his father.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31And what they had achieved in boxing.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34'The 22-year-old boxer is himself the son of a famous father,
0:05:34 > 0:05:40John Spider Kelly who won the British and Empire Featherweight titles 16 years ago.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44When I was growing up, the Kellys were sort of Bogside royalty.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Because there was a dynasty there, or so there seemed to be.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51The position of being a great hero of Derry was being
0:05:51 > 0:05:56passed down from father to son.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58So it became not just an achievement in the past,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00but a living tradition, almost.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05To see where they trained, it was so primitive.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10This little room or gym, produced a British and Empire champion.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14His timing was perfect, his movement was perfect, he bobbed
0:06:14 > 0:06:18and weaved like no other fighter that any of us had ever seen.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22He wasn't a knockout specialist,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25but he was a specialist at avoiding knockouts.
0:06:25 > 0:06:31People in the Bogside fed off the glamour of Spider Kelly.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34And it was all the more wonderful that you could see him
0:06:34 > 0:06:38in the morning running through the area.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40And wonderful that you could see his father,
0:06:40 > 0:06:44the previous Spider Kelly, cycling along.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47'Turning professional, he has worked his way up under the expert eye of
0:06:47 > 0:06:49'his father, who although retired from the ring,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53'still paces his son through the streets of Derry on training runs.'
0:06:53 > 0:06:56My father had a very long career in boxing.
0:06:56 > 0:06:57But when you think back to those times,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00it overhung their professional fights.
0:07:00 > 0:07:06And I think there was a natural progression there,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09that he would follow in his father's footsteps.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12'Last October, Billy Kelly completed half of his father's double
0:07:12 > 0:07:16'when he took the Empire title from Roy Ankrah at the King's Hall.'
0:07:16 > 0:07:19I did notice one thing, that as he was going down the street,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22he seemed to have big army boots on.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26And apparently that's what he wore, so that when he went in the ring
0:07:26 > 0:07:32and put on these light boxing boots, it felt he was gliding.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35He was on air.
0:07:35 > 0:07:36And I did notice too,
0:07:36 > 0:07:41when he was running across Craigavon Bridge a wee bit of a belly.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45I would have blamed his wife Pam for that.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Because it takes you back to his house then
0:07:47 > 0:07:50and you see her preparing steak for the champion.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56# Some people say a man is made out of mud
0:07:56 > 0:07:59# A poor man's made out of muscle and blood
0:07:59 > 0:08:02# Muscle and blood and skin and bone...#
0:08:02 > 0:08:05But the thing that amazed me most of all was,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08here you have the little baby sitting in the high stool,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11and Billy's cutting the steak
0:08:11 > 0:08:14and he puts it over to the baby's mouth...
0:08:14 > 0:08:16And even the baby's saying, "Wise up, Da."
0:08:16 > 0:08:18And he keeps on!
0:08:18 > 0:08:21And you're..."He's not going to give that to the baby, is he?"
0:08:21 > 0:08:23And he puts it up to the baby's mouth
0:08:23 > 0:08:25and the baby's sort of going...
0:08:25 > 0:08:28"Da, no teeth. Take it away."
0:08:28 > 0:08:32And Billy's, "No, you're going to be a champion some day. Like me."
0:08:33 > 0:08:39Actually, I am that baby in the high chair. Now, 58 years ago.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41That is a big steak.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44It looks as if someone pulled the horns off a cow and sat it there.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46And the reason that steak's there is
0:08:46 > 0:08:49round the corner from our house was the slaughterhouse.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51So all the men there knew that he was fighting
0:08:51 > 0:08:53for the British and Empire title,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56and so we were very well fed with high quality meat.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02He lifted people up like nothing else did at the time.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Here's something that we could do. Look at that.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Here's Billy Kelly on the front page of the Daily Express.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11With his fist raised above him in triumph.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15If you came from the Bogside, you didn't get many opportunities.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19To see something like that and to feel that sense of triumph
0:09:19 > 0:09:24and achievement and vindication that Billy Kelly supplied to us...
0:09:24 > 0:09:30So he was terrifically important, far beyond the sporting arena.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34But beyond the sporting arena, for young people Billy's age,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38entertainment venues in downtown Derry were in short supply.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43'In the evening there is not a great deal to do.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46'And it's only on the teenage beat scene that there is variety,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49'choice and the odd, big-name, one-night stand.'
0:09:51 > 0:09:55However the dawn of the Swinging Sixties saw more stars play Derry.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59And the unmissable Embassy Court had a new generation jiving.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06Fashion-conscious factory girls boogied with boys with big hair -
0:10:06 > 0:10:07as this rare BBC film reveals.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15The Embassy, of course, was a very smart place to go to.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18But it was for slightly older girls.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23And it was much patronised by visitors to the town,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26like the sailors and airmen from Ballykelly
0:10:26 > 0:10:28and the boats that would come in.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33People dressed to the nines to go to the Embassy!
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Factory girls particularly could come out of work,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38buy a remnant of something,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and have a dress ready to go out to the Embassy that night.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45The floor was always crowded,
0:10:45 > 0:10:51and many Derry girls smoked while they danced,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55so there was always a lit cigarette hovering around about ear level.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58And you had to be careful, one of you would look in one direction,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02one the other, because you could be set light to from either end.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10The bands of course were terrific. They got the big names.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14And it was very much a rather classy kind of place to go.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22'Coleraine is the location of the new University of Ulster.'
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Fast forward to the '70s.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31And the seven-year-old university of Ulster at Coleraine was being
0:11:31 > 0:11:36given the once-over by a fresh-faced BBC reporter Mike McKimm.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40But would this academic newcomer pass its first test.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46It was very interesting for me that particular film,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50because I was actually at the new University of Ulster in Coleraine
0:11:50 > 0:11:52at the very time that that was being shot.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55So to be made to face some of those issues that Mike was talking about
0:11:55 > 0:11:57within that film was really interesting.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01'NUU's fundamental problem is its lack of students.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03'There is just over half the projected number
0:12:03 > 0:12:07'at the university at present. With 1,000 empty places to fill,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09'NUU has little choice in its student intake.'
0:12:12 > 0:12:14It was trying to get across this message
0:12:14 > 0:12:17that the university wasn't operating correctly.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22Vast sums of money had been spent, and it simply wasn't going to last.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26As though the university had been something of a mistake.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31'Despite a vociferous campaign by the people of Londonderry,
0:12:31 > 0:12:35the decision was taken to site the university on 300 acres
0:12:35 > 0:12:37given by the little market town of Coleraine.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42In every Derryman's heart of hearts they're thinking why did
0:12:42 > 0:12:44they put it there?
0:12:44 > 0:12:46It could have been so much better!
0:12:46 > 0:12:49So much faster...had it been located here.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53where there was already the hub of Magee College
0:12:53 > 0:12:58which could perfectly adequately have been used to start it off.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Even all these years later,
0:13:01 > 0:13:08this simple decision not to put the new university in the heart of this cultural, historic city,
0:13:08 > 0:13:13and instead sit in a couple of fields outside Coleraine...
0:13:13 > 0:13:15It's amazing because even the guys in this footage,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17the locals are going, "We didn't want it."
0:13:17 > 0:13:19The Coleraine people were
0:13:19 > 0:13:21so underwhelmed about getting a university.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23'What's the university meant to you,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26'now it's been here six or seven years?
0:13:26 > 0:13:29'Well, it hasn't really been a benefit really in the long run.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31'I can't see that it's done any harm.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34'Originally, when we heard it was coming to Coleraine
0:13:34 > 0:13:37'we had the fear of drugs and things like that,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40'but as I say, it's done no harm.'
0:13:40 > 0:13:43'Although it's often dubbed Coleraine university,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46'the campus is actually outside the town and surrounded by fields.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49'Indeed it's often described as a nine-to-five university.'
0:13:50 > 0:13:53As students we weren't in the centre of Coleraine very much.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56We wouldn't have gone into town too much.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58We tended to stay on campus.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Interestingly, they call it a nine-to-five university.
0:14:02 > 0:14:03I'm not sure quite why that is,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05people were maybe commuting more at that point,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07but we were there to stay.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18A dynamic combination of sporting resources,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21state-of-the-art media resources,
0:14:21 > 0:14:25and new to Northern Ireland universities, an on-site creche,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29were all part of life for students at the Coleraine campus.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35My first impression, I have to admit of the university
0:14:35 > 0:14:38when I arrived up as a fresh-faced first year,
0:14:38 > 0:14:41was that I may well have signed to join a Soviet bloc sausage factory.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Because I mean it is a bit of a carbuncle.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49It almost looked like a Korean nuclear plant.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54Because none of the foliage had grown, none of the trees had grown around it.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57It was just these stark white buildings.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03It's an amazing university for that sense that it may not look great,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06but there was a great sense of community in Coleraine
0:15:06 > 0:15:08and a great sense of student community.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11And there were people from all over the UK and Europe
0:15:11 > 0:15:14at the university when I was there. I thought it was a fascinating place.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17It was a real melting pot for cultures.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21There were a lot of very earnest young men there and you can see those guys in the documentary.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24You can see the guys who've spent more time growing a beard
0:15:24 > 0:15:26than actually going to lectures
0:15:26 > 0:15:30I love the footage of the students lounging about and reading papers
0:15:30 > 0:15:35and drinking tea and smoking, lying out right outside the refectory, you know.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39It maybe doesn't do them any favours, because it's playing into all the cliches about lazy students,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42but that's how I remember it, as lazing about in the summer.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45And it's great to see that old footage again.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53For many, academic life contrasted sharply with dreams of the open road.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56One such free spirit was Bangor grocery Jim Beck,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58who turned his childhood dreams
0:15:58 > 0:16:02of running away with the circus into a reality.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Named after his wife, Jim launched Circus Dellabeck.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15And the couple and their three young daughters headed north-west to entertain the crowds.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24I know that my dad's circus brought a lot of joy into people's lives
0:16:24 > 0:16:28in the '70s when there was nothing. We actually were entertainment,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32which sounds a bit strange now, but we definitely were.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35And the people who came to see the circus wanted to see it.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39And whatever town we pulled into, he was determined to make sure they enjoyed the show.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44So whether the tent was half full, Dad always got the audience to interact
0:16:44 > 0:16:47and that generated a real buzz about the place.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49So he was quite a showman as well.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52- I want to have a drink with this guy. I want to meet this guy. - HE LAUGHS
0:16:52 > 0:16:55I mean, he turns up in the town...
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and let's be honest about Jim and his circus,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02there are no tigers in this circus, there are no leopards.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06Jim has a couple of horses. Jim has a dog that jumps up and down.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09But he arrives in a sports car at the front of the cavalcade
0:17:09 > 0:17:11and the crowds turn up.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15Isn't there something absolutely magical about what this guy did.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26I just thought the whole footage was absolutely hilarious from start to finish,
0:17:26 > 0:17:27just everything about it.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30The fact that he'd been a grocer and then decided, you know...
0:17:30 > 0:17:32I think he had quite a successful cash and carry.
0:17:32 > 0:17:38And to just throw that all away, in a way, I really admired him.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40He followed his dream, didn't he?
0:17:40 > 0:17:43You know, you think a lot of people have fantasies about things
0:17:43 > 0:17:46but he actually put it into practice.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50The stars of the show and the love of Jim's life are his Appaloosas,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54eight matched stallions and the reason for owning a circus.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58He had always had a passion for training horses,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02so he decided he had trained them so well that Northern Ireland should see them.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06So the best way for that to happen was to start up a circus.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10And... that's really how it all started.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14And then we were all taken off into this circus world,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17which was very different from our normal lives.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19MUSIC: "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer
0:18:19 > 0:18:22If life seemed like a circus for the Beck family,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26there was no clowning around for this hard-working clan.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28Behind the scenes of the Big Top,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32everyone had a role to play to keep this show on the road.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Down the line, I saw other artists doing acts
0:18:38 > 0:18:42and I just thought, "You know, I am going to do that."
0:18:42 > 0:18:44And then I got my younger sister
0:18:44 > 0:18:47and we decided to teach ourselves to do an aerial act.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52So we both taught ourselves and the next thing we were a circus act in the Big Top.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55- SHE LAUGHS - That's how it happened.
0:19:02 > 0:19:09I absolutely hate clowns and Bilbo the Clown was a particularly creepy clown. It was bad.
0:19:09 > 0:19:15But the nose, that was the most award-winningly evil clown nose I've ever seen in my life.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19And it was just, I'm sorry, that really freaked me out.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22- Bilbo the Clown. - SHE SHUDDERS AND LAUGHS
0:19:22 > 0:19:27As Bilbo the Clown, Billy has been about circuses all his life.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32His wife, Betty, is a comparative newcomer but a trooper nonetheless.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Well, there's three of us.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Betty here and a son.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41And we started off with David throwing knives.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44I think we can learn a lot, firstly, from the guy with the knives.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47So let's look at his technique here.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Betty, stand there for a minute, right. Wear a wee skimpy skirt
0:19:51 > 0:19:54and I'm going to get a few knives here and chuck 'em at you.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56And that was fine in Jim Becks. "You want a go at it?"
0:19:56 > 0:19:59"You want a go at the trapeze? Don't worry about safety."
0:19:59 > 0:20:03So he used his mother and he threw the knives at his mother.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05And it was so funny when Betty got hit.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Well, as a matter of fact, I got stabbed in the arm.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13- How did it happen?- David was firing the knives and one of them sort of missed.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17He went too close and one of them missed and I got it right in the arm.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19"He sort of stabbed me. He sort of stabbed me."
0:20:19 > 0:20:22And I'm thinking, "Betty, there's no such thing as sort of stabbed."
0:20:22 > 0:20:26And it was so funny, "The blood was running down me arm, but I would do it again."
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Well, I would do it again, all over again.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31They don't make women like Betty McCormac any more.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35You know, that good, stoical woman that just does what her husband tells her
0:20:35 > 0:20:37and lets the son throw knives at her. Those were the days(!)
0:20:37 > 0:20:42There's just something very homely about this which is probably timeless.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45And I'm sure his family cherish it.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49It brought back happy emotions. Really genuine happy emotions.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52You just think, "Wow! Did I really do that?"
0:20:52 > 0:20:55- And you just go, "Yes, I did!" - SHE LAUGHS
0:20:59 > 0:21:03From the raw energy of the Big Top to the cutting-edge technology of TV
0:21:03 > 0:21:08the 1980s saw a new BBC programme made for and by young people,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Channel One.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14And when the show broadcast from Derry,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16local presenter Jackie Hamilton
0:21:16 > 0:21:19gave viewers an insight into the city's youth culture...
0:21:19 > 0:21:22and questionable headgear.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25CHEERING
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Hello and welcome to our second Channel One On The Road.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32And tonight we're coming live from The Venue in Derry/Londonderry.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36MUSIC: "Into The Groove" by Madonna
0:21:41 > 0:21:46That show, Channel One On The Road, it's... just the '80s.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Caron Keating's there. Caron's like Madonna,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53complete with the beads, everything, the hair, all Madonna-ish.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Jackie Hamilton's shoulder pads.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01The whole thing was just, like, my teenage years.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03It was just them encapsulated in one programme.
0:22:06 > 0:22:12Just the whole scene was, you know, it was really... it was really buzzing.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13The band scene was buzzing
0:22:13 > 0:22:17and everybody was writing their own stuff. And they look so young!
0:22:21 > 0:22:27Channel One On The Road also provided a rare opportunity for new bands to get on television
0:22:27 > 0:22:31and grasp their chance to become Derry's next big thing.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34ROCK MUSIC
0:22:37 > 0:22:41In the '80s it was all about the talent, really, wasn't it?
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Just young kids getting together, putting a band together,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45ending up on television.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51One thing that struck you was that the music was good, you know,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54that those bands... They were good original tunes.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56And they could all play an instrument.
0:23:02 > 0:23:09I thought watching back it was great that the people such as John Roddy
0:23:09 > 0:23:14were trying to get a platform for something different in Derry.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17MUSIC: "Male Model" by The Undertones
0:23:19 > 0:23:24Music and fashion go hand-in-hand and local model agent John Roddy
0:23:24 > 0:23:30was determined to drag Derry's fashion scene kicking and screaming into the 1980s.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34And what better catwalk than Channel One's studio floor.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Like, trying to start a model agency.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42That was stuff you did in London it wasn't stuff you did in Derry.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44But he was deadly serious about it
0:23:44 > 0:23:48and the people taking part at the time were deadly serious about it.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53He was trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear with some of those boys.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Those boys were just, like, straight off a tractor.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58You know, this big gulpin in a... you know,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02in a jumper that he had squeezed into his jeans.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08And then the girl. The girl was hilarious with that whole big swagger up and down.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10And it was just hilarious.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13I mean, no sophistication about the whole thing.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Well, to find out what has the men of Derry all rushing off to the catwalk,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20I have with me the man responsible for it all, John Ruddy.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24John, it used to be that all male models were very skinny and the arty type,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27yours are all fairly natural and well built.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30I think that's maybe the image I'm after anyway.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35It takes away from the usual run-of-the-mill sort of small and skinny.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37I prefer them tall.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40I think he's in awe of Caron Keating to begin with. SHE LAUGHS
0:24:40 > 0:24:45And John's trying to tell her about models. SHE LAUGHS
0:24:45 > 0:24:48And it's... it was just funny.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52As the glamorous '80s made way for the alternative '90s,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Derry's live band scene was witnessing a renaissance.
0:24:55 > 0:25:01These wannabe rock stars needed a secure space to hone their performing skills.
0:25:01 > 0:25:08And captured on the BBC TV series 29 Bedford Street was the new Northwest Musicians Collective.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12All those guys in that collective were playing in their own bands,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15your Stooms, your Cuckoos, your Turtle Assassins.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Suddenly the Collective comes along and they're going,
0:25:18 > 0:25:20we can do something bigger together.
0:25:20 > 0:25:27And then the Nerve Centre comes along and almost put a capital N and a capital C on those endeavours.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32The Nerve Centre was set up in Derry around about 1999
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and the main thrust of the Nerve Centre was to provide facilities
0:25:35 > 0:25:40for bands where they could rehearse and they could get equipment and they could record.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43Which is a very positive thing for them to do,
0:25:43 > 0:25:48because when The Undertones were starting out there was no such facility.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53We couldn't find a room in the city where people could set up a drum kit
0:25:53 > 0:25:55and then amplifiers and, you know, play in a rock band.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57And somewhere far away
0:25:57 > 0:25:59that wouldn't make too much noise and annoy anyone.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02That was the original vision of the whole place.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04MUSIC: "Jimmy Jimmy" by The Undertones
0:26:04 > 0:26:08The Undertones achieved pop success without this level of support.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11But as he explained in this BBC documentary
0:26:11 > 0:26:15the band's rhythm guitarist John O'Neill was keen to share his skills
0:26:15 > 0:26:19with this new generation of musicians.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23There are about 30 bands that actively use the building that we have,
0:26:23 > 0:26:28so we've built quite a big following among young people.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32There really has never been anything for the youth in Derry.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34John wasn't just an inspiration,
0:26:34 > 0:26:39it was the experiences he had throughout the '90s when we were developing the Nerve Centre.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41And then having him and his band open it,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44I suppose for me that's a bit like all your dreams coming true.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46This is the hottest ticket in Derry tonight
0:26:46 > 0:26:48the reunion concert by The Undertones
0:26:48 > 0:26:52to mark the official launch of the Nerve Centre here in Derry.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55And, of course, Newsnight has a sneak preview.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00I think what those guys were really doing was taking control
0:27:00 > 0:27:04and taking the power. What they were doing was saying, let's bring this back to Derry,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08let's take control of the space, of the contract, of the deal,
0:27:08 > 0:27:13of the skills and let's give that to young Derry musicians.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17As the Nerve Centre evolved, so too did its proteges.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Animators, photographers and film directors were among its apprentices.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Derry had discovered a new cultural heartbeat.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Back then these guys were absolute innovators.
0:27:28 > 0:27:34It was only the networks or the broadcasters, your BBCs, your ITVs, who could do this stuff.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Suddenly you had kids in Derry doing it for themselves
0:27:38 > 0:27:40behind the scenes in the Nerve Centre.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43It's not just the Nerve Centre and the trendy stuff
0:27:43 > 0:27:46we saw up front, the gigs, the bands, the films and the animations,
0:27:46 > 0:27:51but behind them, almost from the ground upwards was this army of young people being skilled up.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56And, what, 30 years later that Nerve Centre is still doing that.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59MUSIC: "Those Were The Days" by Max Bygraves
0:27:59 > 0:28:01From The Embassy to The Undertones
0:28:01 > 0:28:08the story of the Northwest's music, culture and young people shows us how we used to live.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12And thanks to a rich archive and the magic of film,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15we can bring those bygone days back to life.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26# Those were the days, my friend
0:28:26 > 0:28:28# We thought they'd never end
0:28:28 > 0:28:33# We'd sing and dance for ever and a day
0:28:33 > 0:28:37# We'd live the life we choose
0:28:37 > 0:28:39# We'd fight and never lose
0:28:39 > 0:28:44# For we were young and sure to have our way... #
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:49 > 0:28:51# ..Those were the days
0:28:51 > 0:28:55# Oh, yes, those were the days. #