iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I chanced on this by accident ages ago and loved it - I didn't know why it existed, but I'm very glad it did

Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It was only recently I realised BA Robertson's Swap Shop theme is based on the words 'Swap Shop' in Morse code youtu.be/qAR7JPraAzE?...

youtu.be

Brown Sauce - 2.Hello Hello (Swap Shop Theme)

YouTube video by myriver74

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Reposted by Simon McLean

David Brown @davidebrown.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

To get you excited for Swap Shop's 50th anniversary tomorrow, here's an edition which ended with Noel covering the corpse of John Craven with a shroud.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Dave Richmond - a man whose CV contains both Histoire De Melody Nelson AND the theme from Blankety Blank

Dave Richmond in the studio with his Burns Bison

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Yes!! I've often wondered about this as well - a fascinating bit of alternate history!

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

For context, this almost a fortnight after the Sex Pistols interview, so presumably Bill Grundy's suspension was about to come to an end. Bet he was sorry he missed this one.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

First time I saw this, I was completely thrown by the theme tune to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue turning up as incidental music.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Front page of DWB: BATEY MUST GO!

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Reposted by Simon McLean

Saturday Mornings @saturdaymornings.co.uk · 17/09/2026

Noel usually asked one of the guests on Swap Shop to read through the Top Ten Swaps board each week, but here's what happened when he got Richard Stilgoe to sing the board instead. #saturdaymornings

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Ah, I vaguely remember that one, though there were so many at that time they all blend into one!

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Oh yes! I've been meaning to put together a playlist of tunes overused by 90s tv programmes, that one is definitely on the list!

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Paul Brophy - another one of those people who was briefly everywhere then vanished. I do wonder what happened to him, as there seems to be nothing out there.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Fantastic! I'd not seen these before!

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Theme tune must be the same guys who did the theme to Let's Go youtu.be/7T2ll2qZP6w?...

youtu.be

Your Move

YouTube video by Crisp - Topic

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

If you were making a tv programme in the 90s and needed background music, you either used this or Guaglione by Perez Prado. There were NO other options.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Very interesting - I only saw it once, and all I remember is Fern Britton singing (I think) Two Cigarettes In The Dark. It seems like it came through the TVS purges relatively unscathed!

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Yes, an absolute joy! Done at a time when the show was largely forgotten too, if I remember rightly - I'd certainly never seen it at that time

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Richard O'Sullivan's theme from Robin's Nest is a total banger. But the only contemporary cover version was by Noele Gordon's former organ twiddler Jerry Allen - full marks to him while his peers were asleep at the wheel youtu.be/4HZKv1vRBE4?...

youtu.be

Jerry Allen ‎~ Robins Nest

YouTube video by Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It's basically an update of The Magic Christian, isn't it?

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The same tape featured some other tracks from Polish films and TV series - you might recognise the theme music from this one as well! youtu.be/e5FtGjSYso0?...

youtu.be

Szaleństwo Majki Skowron 09 Powroty (cały odcinek)

YouTube video by 1233thorn

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Oh, undoubtedly - de Gemini also owned Beat Records, so probably wise to keep him sweet!

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Oh, I love that! The harmonica player is Franco de Gemini, who played on Morricone's original score (and the Italian release has an approving message from the Maestro, which surprises me a bit, bearing in mind how much he hated what Hugo Montenegro did to The Good, The Bad And The Ugly)

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

There are so many classic songs I first heard as a kid on adverts with rewritten lyrics, and I find it very hard to shake them off. My brain always sings 'With the Petite 990' whenever I hear 9 To 5, even now.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

This is the source of Tarby's version of I Should Be So Lucky featured by Chris Morris on the Our Tune spot on his Radio 1 shows - it's actually part of a 15 minute disco medley which also includes Never Gonna Give You Up and a comedy song about golf. Perfect for parties!

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Reposted by Simon McLean

𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐨 @agnes-guano.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Tony Benn DJing for BBC Radio London and about to drop some far out Clive Dunn album track.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Also, it's difficult to imagine now but Charmaine was a genuinely revolutionary record - nobody had heard anything like that before. When it first came out, it blew American radio listeners' minds, and it would get repeated plays because people would ring in! All thanks to Ronald Binge, of course.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Outstanding work from Dave, as always!

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Cosma's theme from L'Animal was the first track on a tape that ran for years - a few of his film tracks turned up on Ceefax, credited to fictional composers for unknown reasons

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Off the top of my head, tracks from Eugenie de Sade 70, Lo Chiamavaro Trinitia, Il Consigliori, and one of Nico Fidenco's Black Emanuelle scores (can't remember which one!) were all used. Oh, and Flying Through The Air by G&M De Angelis too.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The whole Justine soundtrack was released on a special BBC-use-only Radioplay LP, with sleeve notes suggesting possible used for programmers - loads of Italian sex, western and crime film music ended up on the test card thanks to publisher Irving Wilson, who handled Beat Records over here

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Molinare! Yes, it's one of my favourite things! He's also great as a smoothy lawyer in early Prisoner Cell Block H.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

He really is! I hope every country has their own Jim Smillie.

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ChinnyVision @chinnyvision.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Tony Adams, king of filling time when Crossroads was under running.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Well, if we're doing this - unexpected 1970s Australian soap opera theme: youtu.be/SLXGM-fOKgI?...

youtu.be

Catwalk (1971)

YouTube video by Stay Tuned!

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Everything about this sounds like a 21st century parody of 1990s British pop-rock, from the references in the lyrics to the band's name - I am actually in awe

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Reposted by Simon McLean

John J. Hoare @dirtyfeed.org · 04/08/2026

Brand new on Dirty Feed: Mary Tyler Moore's long-misunderstood 1978 variety series, Mary. Part One: www.dirtyfeed.org/2026/05/some... Part Two: www.dirtyfeed.org/2026/06/some... Part Three: www.dirtyfeed.org/2026/06/some... Part Four: www.dirtyfeed.org/2026/08/some...

Newspaper advert for Mary, featuring a smiling Mary Tyler Moore.
MARY 7PM
A DELIGHTFULLY DIFFERENT MARY!
Mary Tyler Moore clowns, sings, dances and lets loose with an outrageous troupe of inspired comics. An irresistible hour of entertainment! Starring Mary Tyler Moore, Jim Hampton, Judy Kahan, Michael Keaton, Swoosie Kurtz, David Letterman, Dick Shawn.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Anyone who can get David Hamilton's 'A Special Goodnight To You' played on a Saturday afternoon on Radio 2 with no consequences deserves maximum respect

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Lovely tune - there's a version with lyrics too, but it's not on the 'Tube unfortunately

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

The composer posted on a forum I was on and said who played on it, I can't remember who he said was on flute but my memory says it might have been Olaf Vas.

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

All the reissues of The New Goodies LP so far have been taken off vinyl (and you can really tell on Wild Thing), but a quarter inch copy master exists in the Roger Hancock vaults, and needs to be got out ASAP

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Simon McLean @simonmclean.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Crossing off a list of former Taskmaster contestants one by one until they finally find one who says yes

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Reposted by Simon McLean

The Tonearm @thetonearm.com · 21/07/2026

"90% of the artists, singers, musicians, composers, and industry professionals were murdered; studios, master recordings, equipment, contracts, and legal documents were lost or destroyed." Preserving Cambodian Album Art:

theartofcoverart.substack.com

Preserving Cambodian Cover Art

A look into the work of The Cambodian Vintage Music Archive

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