The People

A format needs faces. In Jeux Sans Frontières the faces fall into three groups: the hosts and presenters who ran the French production, the referees whose whistles and gestures were the same everywhere, and the commentators who described the pictures in each country's language. This chapter introduces the best-remembered people in each group. Names and roles are well known to fans, but exact years and pairings vary between sources, so the chapter gives the general picture and flags the details that need checking.

The French Hosts

These three are named together in many accounts of the French side of the show. Which of them appeared in which year or which edition is a matter for a dedicated programme history, and this chapter does not give a year-by-year cast list.

The Referees

The referees are the figures people remember most. In the international programme the games were judged by a pair of Swiss referees, Gennaro Olivieri and Guido Pancaldi, who appeared in matching outfits and carried whistles. They explained the rules, watched for infringements and made the decisions that fed into the scoring. Their calm, formal manner was part of the joke against the chaos around them.

Britain had its own famous referee, Arthur Ellis (1914–2000), a former football referee who officiated at a World Cup final and became a household name through It's a Knockout. His whistle and his exaggerated, very formal style made him one of the best-known faces of the British show.

The Commentators

Each country's broadcaster provided its own commentary on the shared pictures. The commentators described the action in their own language, explained the games to their audience and usually leaned towards their own team. In Britain, the voices most associated with It's a Knockout were Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring. Waring was already known as a rugby league commentator, and Hall as a presenter. David Vine is another name connected with the British side of the international programme.

A viewer's memory of the 1970s and 1980s, which fits this picture, is that the BBC used two kinds of voice: Hall and Waring appearing on screen, with comments between the games, and an unseen commentator describing the games themselves, who may have been the same person throughout. This is recalled from viewing and not taken from a programme record, so treat it as a description of how the show felt to watch, and check the exact line-up by year before relying on it.

Catchphrases and Style

The presenters, referees and commentators shared a style: formal, slightly mock-serious, with the broadcaster's voice describing silly events as if they were a major sporting occasion. That contrast between the formal delivery and the farce on screen was a large part of the appeal. It is also what makes the show easy to parody, which later chapters discuss.

Exercises

Next chapter: Many Languages, One Show, which looks at how the shared broadcast worked across languages.