Catering facilities.

Chris Perry looks back on this year's line-up:

"A wide range of television companies helped Kaleidoscope for The Main Event. Each company brings a unique style of presentation that allows our schedules to reflect everyone's favourites, whilst proving useful as a cultural tool as well. In 1996, audiences laughed at the anarchic comedy of pre-Python sketches, whilst sharing an "Ooh-Er!" with Frankie Howerd and his sometime colleagues in the Carry On... team.

Meanwhile, members of the public in the Main Hall could witness a new X Files adventure, then-unseen on terrestrial television, mingled with obscure thrillers like The Odd Man and The Hanged Man (neither series is related!). Master of Ceremonies, Michael Haslett, also interviewed our guests and provided knowledgeable links about the shows. Unlike 1995, he did not attempt to join Robert Harbin in his Origami paper-folding. Alfred Burke, genial gentleman of the stage and screen, kindly introduced his own appearance on stage, before enjoying a recently-rediscovered and restored extract from Public Eye, back to back with a complete episode.

Thames Television had been very busy in 1996 on our behalf providing many complete programmes and some restored gems. An air of excitement descended on the day as the Public Eye clip was followed by an extract from "Casting the Runes", a 1966 entry into ABC's Mystery & Imagination anthology series. Later on, the original test promos for the Thames TV ident were played, to much hilarity. Tony Currie, guest lecturer and ident expert, wanted to see these, but he injured his leg climbing on stage and was in Casualty by 10 pm! Thames had also restored the infamous "Callan meets Father Dear Father" sketch from a 1971 edition of The Edward Woodward Hour. The sole-surviving Philips 1500 copy was scheduled for destruction, until somebody rang us up and enquired whether it was worth saving. Yes, yes, yes, we replied.

Our fascinating display of obscure and obsolete tape formats provided people with the opportunity to feel their heritage at first hand. The early domestic VCRs were represented by the CV2000 tapes (chiefly remembered in recent years for yielding Steptoe and Son for eventual re-transmission) and professional broadcast formats included the two-inch videotape, Betacam and M2, which is a digital storage system. Adding something special was a monitor playing TV programmes restored from CV2000 tapes. These tapes had been loaned to the British Film Institute in 1993 for transfer, but were returned two weeks before The Main Event without having been touched. A cheerful note from Brian Jenkinson informed us that the tapes would not play... a fact that surprised both our engineers and viewers who spent the whole day watching near-perfect copies of these vintage sixties recordings! Highlights included the only-surviving footage from ABC's Hancock series, and Danny La Rue singing with Dusty Springfield. Even Warren Mitchell and Eric Sykes got a look in.

As the day wound down, our level of alcoholic intake rose and the audience mellowed out with an untransmitted edition of Cadfael. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution had raised £557 pounds 22 pence; Kaleidoscope had sold enough merchandise to pay the bills and the audience had become square-eyed once again. Most people are looking forward to the return of The Main Event on Saturday 2nd August 1997."

Kaleidoscope would like to thank our assisting companies ABC/UGC, Anglia Television, Border Television, The British Film Institute, Central Television, Granada Television, Harrods of Knightsbridge, London Weekend Television, Palan Entertainment for Associated-Rediffusion material, PolyGram Television International for ATV and ITC material, Scottish Television, Southern/Primetime, Thames Television, Twentieth Century Fox Television and Yorkshire Television for making The Main Event possible.

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