I'm kinda with you on this one.
I'm also sure it's never been shown but others seem to beg to differ and I'd love to be proved wrong.

http://missingepisodes.proboards.com/in ... hread=5487

Can you expand on this and also tell us how you arrived at that conclusion?

This quote from the fore mentioned http://missingepisodes.proboards.com:

I have gone through several VHS tapes from 1981/82 to find the Jean Genie clip from Pop Quiz. Judging by what precedes and follows it...........

...........The trousers are leather or PVC, very generously baggy with a high waist band and belt. They are black or very dark grey. He's wearing an open-necked orange shirt which is also baggy. His hair is mousey brown and slicked back a bit, but not as much as in 75 or 76. It's in a TV studio, not from a tour though - small stage, four other musicians in shot, and a tv camera front of stage. Sounds live but may have a playback element.

Later confirmed by another member (you're spot on, Musik Laden it is) as

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzTMQ6kr ... re=related

A solution to the Pop Quiz vs TOTP quandary?

Unfortunately not, there'll always be an element of doubt if we can't confirm the TOTP clip didn't turn up in another episode.

Well, I'm not sure I kept every one of those programmes on tape - but I was a religious collector of video back then. I recorded the OYPT Whistle Test clip from Pop Quiz, I recorded the Bremen clip and I even kept even the vaguest reference to Bowie. On any UK programme, at all. If there had been a clip of ToTP from 1973 on Pop Quiz, everybody would have seen it by now. But there wasn't. Sorry to be so black and white about it, but that's how it is.

Many thanks for that, it is appreciated.

Still not sure where I stand on this as the only evidence is conflicting memories of something that may or may not have happened 30 years ago. Whatever way you look at it though, we still don't have a recording of the TOTP performance and we can only hope it's not totally lost.

Here are Tim Browns recollections of what happened:

Missing Episodes Forum

I'm relaying only what I saw, believe me, I'm not one for making scurilous stories & having myself hung by all & sundry.
There was apparently some sort of broadcasting/BBC strike on at the time, I usually recorded all mentions of Bowie by VHS at the time also, but missed this as my recorder wasn't ready for some reason. I do not say this statement lightly, nobody recorded it, I can't understand why either???

Which is also why I'm so confused here, I know there's no way you'd confuse Bremen with TOTP.

How common were VCRs in the early 80s? I was the first member of my family to buy a VCR, £399 in 1983. Four times the monthly mortgage payment on my house!

how many possible questions could there be about Bowie's Jean Genie on a Pop Quiz spanning only 47 episodes? (or maybe so, possible questions. 'Which song contains a blatant ripoff of the riff from The Yardbirds (featuring Jeff Beck - now doesn't it all fall into place) fast version of Bo Diddleys 'I'm a man'? and/or 'The song title is a parody of which authors name who's novels contain explicit and often deliberately provocative portrayal of homosexuality and criminality'? ....on the BBC well perhaps not, more like 'Who's poor little Greenie'?

The two chaps I'd quoted - from the aforementioned website - had both viewed said VHS clip (featuring Tim RICE (captain), Clem BURKE & Billy CURRIE vs Rick WAKEMAN (captain), Mike BERRY & John PEEL) before drawing their conclusions.

Sadly I let go of the notion sometime ago that the BBC have this film, (in any form) It's not like this hasn't been researched to death by those with a few bob to spare and, consequently, rake in, however, I'll happily masticate on my grey fedora (á la 'Man who fell to earth') if it turns up in my lifetime.


further listening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAdCePtwoW4 sounds rather familiar.

Two?

Nobody's questioning that, it's just that we have two knowledgable fans who say they saw the TOTP performance on Pop Quiz and we can't ignore them just because it muddies the waters. As previously mentioned by noggin, Tim Brown also has a possible explanation for the confusion.

Missing Episodes forum

Personally, I really don't know what to believe and I'm just trying to make sense of the conflicting evidence.

I live in hope. BBC programs were exported around the World and missing episodes can turn up in the least expected places.

though his memory seems a little unreliable, It transpires that BG never appeard on the show - but the poster recalls his expression, not a reliable eye witness, this clip was apparently shown very briefly almost 30 years ago, he can remember this and Boy Georges fizzog - which wasn't there

But you've certainly raised my hopes, there may well be the full performance basking on some foreign land awaiting a dust down (It'll take some restoring though - Sound vs Motion differing deterioration /shrinkage rates etc, for starters)

edited - my spelling stinks at times.

The BBC have responded to a poster on Missing Episodes.

""The only performance of Jean Genie (the Beeb) have (is on one of) the Bob Pratt tapes, and is listed as a poor quality film excerpt from a concert film; if that or another clip was used in "Pop Quiz" (one) can't tell without viewing all the episodes....the content of every episode of that has not been fully catalogued.""

Bob Pratt is the man responsible for saving the majority of the 60's/early 70's TOTP appearances. It looks like his 'Jean Genie' isn't a TOTP performance, more likely a clip from 'Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture' me thinks.

Still we can't confirm what was shown on Pop Quiz though.

And I'm still sat on the fence

Many thanks for that. If nothing else, it's good to know they still have the Pop Quiz tapes.

Some years ago, there was an auction of a massive batch of old video tapes on eBay. Among the Cliff Richard shows and Z-Cars were a few items of interest, namely Lift Off With Ayshea and Jean Genie from Top of the Pops. The auction concluded - the pile went for thousands - but I don't know who got it.

I don't know if this is the Bob Pratt archive mentioned in posts above. Maybe.

Memory is hazy on this point, but I seem to remember the tapes also included both ToTP broadcasts of Starman. It would be massively interesting to see/hear the intros to these performances. Also, I'm not sure if it has ever been ruled out that there were two different tapings for this song. Certainly only one survives (having been kept for the end of year ToTP special in 1972), but could there have been two different broadcasts?

From memory, it was also a 405 lines B&W recording. I'm not sure about the Bob Pratt connection either, Bob was a BBC man and Lift Off With Ayshea was an ITV show.

I also have vague recollections of reading something about 3 takes for The Jean Genie.

It's also nice to see the guys over at the Missing Episodes forum getting to grips with the Pop Quiz conundrum now. Hopefully, it's only a matter of time before they resolve it one way or the other.

So the jury is still out....