Rediffusion Television Studios, Studio 1, Wembley, north-west London
ITV’s Ready Steady Go! – Taped for broadcast on December 24, 1965, 8:00-8:55pm
Left to right: Ray Davies, Pete Quaife, Mick Avory, and Dave Davies
The Story
The Kinks captured during rehearsals, moments from launching into ‘Till the End of the Day’ before a special, star-studded Christmas edition of Ready Steady Go!
The second segment of the show featured various group members joining in a pantomime performance of Cinderella, with RSG! fave rave Cathy McGowan as Cinderella, Cilla Black as the Storyteller, The Kinks’ Ray Davies and Hilton Valentine of The Animals as the Ugly Stepsisters, The Who’s Pete Townshend as the Wicked Stepmother, The Animals’ Eric Burdon as the Fairy Godmother, Graham Nash and Bobby Elliot of The Hollies as Pantomime Horses, and in an understated stroke of casting genius, Peter “Herman” Noone of Herman’s Hermits as the Prince.
During the show’s third and final segment, The Kinks presented eggnog-imbibed ITV viewers with a relentlessly raw but original take of ‘All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth’, complete with a classic Kinks key change. An exceedingly rare home recording of this performance exists on YouTube – a true holiday miracle.
Also appearing on this week’s Ready Steady Go!: The Who, The Animals, The Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, Chris Farlowe, and Cilla Black.
Photographer unconfirmed — possibly Dezo Hoffman / Image formerly from the London Features International Ltd – John Halsall Archives / Published in Jon Savage’s The Kinks: The Official Biography, 1984 Faber and Faber Limited
The Process
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