Animal Magic - The Original Theme Tune - BBC TV 1960s
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- Опубликовано: 3 мар 2021
- Animal Magic - the all-time favourite children's nature programme by a country mile.
Johnny Morris (yes, we all believed he really was a zookeeper at Bristol Zoo) hosted the show and provided all sorts of comedic animal voices.
Johnny risked his dignity (and perhaps his life) by sharing the stage with wild animals, sometimes at Bristol Zoo and sometimes in the studio.
Animal Magic began on BBC TV in 1962 and continued on BBC1 until 1983. It will not come as any surprise to learn that the BBC junked most editions of Animal Magic since they were believed to be of no further use. Typical!
Johnny Morris was already known to children as he was the voice of the British version of Tales of the Riverbank featuring Hammy Hamster - a series that was first broadcast in 1960.
The Animal Magic theme tune is called 'Las Vegas'. It was written by Laurie Johnson and performed by the Group Forty Orchestra. It was used until the late seventies or early eighties when for no explicable reason it was replaced by an 'updated' (aka not nearly as good) version.
Laurie (Lawrence Reginald Ward) Johnson was a prolific TV theme composer. As well as that of Animal Magic he is known for the theme tunes of: This Is Your Life; The Avengers; The Professionals; Jason King. He also wrote film scores for Dr Strangelove and First Men In The Moon.
Laurie Johnson 7th February 1927 - 16th January 2024
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Disclaimer: I do not claim any copyright in the broadcast, the images or the music composition or performance. This clip is uploaded purely for historic interest and should not be used commercially in part or in whole.
Laurie Johnson, the man who composed this (as well as the Avengers and the Professionals theme tunes) has died at the age of 96. A long life for a very talented man, who was loved by everyone he knew. RIP Laurie!
Absolutely. R.I.P. Laurie Johnson.
The full version of the music is on RUclips.
Great pal of Parky. His wife was the wonderful singer Marian Montgomery who often appeared on the show.
RIP Laurie Johnson who gave us this wonderful theme tune along with many others that brought great pleasure to us children of the 60s and 70s.
Yes The Avengers 👍 timeless music x
Just hearing the theme tune puts a smile on my face and reminds me of happier times,
Yes it's full of cheery optimism - can't help but smile!
IT BOUGHT TEARS TO ME !!! OH SUCH WONDERFUL MEMORIES !!!
Makes me happy! Brilliant animal voices from Johnny morris ❤
Johnny Morris...RIP..great entertainer...
A well loved show when I was young and part of the golden era of television when children were educated and entertained.
It certainly was a golden era! Production values may have gone up since then, but the sheer brilliance of the concept of Animal Magic hasn't been beaten.
Me 2
@@EquatorMarsupial I used to like it when Johnny talked to the animals in Bristol Zoo.
Good lord! I remember being 9 or 10 years old, running home from school to see this.
I used to run home from school to watch this, much better times
Heard this as an intro to a Radio London show this morning 😊 Carrie and Grant xx
Glad it's still being used!
Carrie and David Grant sorry... made playlist of TV TUNES but some are hard to track down or strangely named. Thanking you x
loved the program made by Jonney Morris.
Amusingly revived, years later, as the theme tune for the tv series W1A.
Indeed!!
Absolute classic
final time visiting Bristol Zoo today before it closes, very sad.
It's a tragedy. I'll try and visit this week for old times' sake. I think I first went in 1966 as a primary school visit. Loved it.
This, I dream of Jeannie, Bewitched and Shake Senora by Harry Belafonte ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Yes - so similar!
Las Vegas
They used to think they were so clever replacing a great piece of music with a feeble copy. I have nothing against Harry Stoneham who was a reasonable jazz organist but what a comedown from the full orchestral sound his thin gruel replaced. The swinging latin timbales and the gushing strings of the original did not need to be reduced to some poppy quartet's pale imitation. And the C section, never heard on the programme, was simply awe-inspiring with its grand sweeping strings, creative use of harmony and counter melodies. Ah well. That's the modern world.
Agreed! And, as you implied, Animal Magic was no exception. Well-loved signature tunes of programmes ranging from Blue Peter to Tomorrows World, Dixon of Dock Green and Z Cars (naming only a few), suffered under the strange impulse of producers to 'modernise'. Some tune were ditched altogether, whilst others were replaced by insipid versions of the original. Many of the changes seemed to coincide with the introduction of colour, but perhaps the dawning of a new decade was another impetus.
I have film inserts for animal magic.
I heard this song from Action League Now
Ahh, so it's been used again. Can't keep a good tune down!!
Must crush action jerks!
This bring back memories I use to watch Animal Magic all the time - but I've heard some idiots are wanting to Build House's where Bristol Zoo is I think its absolutely disgusting that's all they blinking think about House's all the time - Bristol Zoo been there for year's and year's and Bristol Zoo should reject whoever is wanting to build the House's where Bristol Zoo is another words they are going to knock Bristol Zoo down I tell you if Johnny Morris knew this he'd go flipping mad 😠 😠😠
Noooo .... What on earth are they thinking of? It's such an historic location. Crazy!!
It's all about the money. So sad.
So sad,it's all about the money, I hope that they use the money and develop bigger and better places for the animals, Bristol has been very successful in breeding endangered species.
It doesn't surprise me. Pretty much all our past is being sanitised, cancelled, erased and politically-corrected. A veritable antithesis of "What hope springs eternal.."
I prefer the original theme to the jazzed up version, which has a horrible ending. Both in C major, but this one wins hands down!
Amen!
i heard johhny morris in the paris studios in london way back in the 1990s recording a radio show. my god before the mics went live to record - he came out with some proper racist stuff. seriously folks
Oh no 😥... that's really sad to learn.
@@LostsTVandRadio yes it was proper old school racism that stopped when the mics went live. I still love the show and the theme tune. I now live in manchester but back then i worked in bbc radio and went to paris studios a lot. The studios are gone now
@@dastardlyman I'm often in Regent Street where the Paris Studios used to be.
Seems a shame about the BBC pulling out of all those famous studios like Shepherd's Bush, TVC, Riverside, Lime Grove, Pebble Mill and Golders Green.
At least we still have Broadcasting House and Maida Vale, otherwise they might as well rebrand it the Salford Broadcasting Corporation!