Top of the Form was a BBC radio and television quiz show for teams from secondary schools in the United Kingdom which ran for 38 years, from 1948 to 1986.
The programme began on Saturday 1 May 1948, as a radio series, at 7.30pm on the Light Programme. It progressed to become a TV series from 1962 to 1975, also the heyday of University Challenge. A decision to stop the programme was announced on 28 September 1986 and the last broadcast was on Tuesday 2 December. The producer, Graham Frost, was reported to have said it had been cancelled because the competitive nature of the show jarred with modern educational philosophy.
Each school fielded a team of four pupils ranging in age from under 13 to under 18.
BBC Light Programme from 1948–67BBC Radio 2 (sometimes simulcast on BBC Radio 1) 1967-70BBC Radio 4 from 26 September 1970 - 1986.The programme was first aired on TV in two special experiments the first on 25 April 1953, featuring Sheffield High School (girls) v. Marylebone Grammar School (boys) . A second TV broadcast was performed in 1954 featuring Lady Margaret High School for Girls (Cardiff) v Solihull School for Boys. The programme fully migrated to TV later. It ran from 1962 to 1975, and was called Television Top of the Form. It began on Sunday 12 Novemnber 1962, when the Controller of BBC1 was Stuart Hood (Scottish).
Compared to many television quiz shows in recent years, Top of the Form had a resolutely grandiose outlook; nothing would ever be dumbed down. Consequently, on Monday 18 June 1973 it had its first bilingual competition, with Paris v London. In the same year there was UK v Australia, in the Transworld Top Team. The competition on Monday 25 March 1974 was all in the Welsh language.
In 1975 the TV version moved to 4.10-4.35pm on Sundays, then from 3.55-4.20, with the last final on 9 August 1975. One of the producers of the TV version was Bill Wright, who would later devise Mastermind in the early 1970s.
The tune Marching Strings (composition credited to "Marshall Ross", a pseudonym of Ray Martin) was the theme for many years, though for the last few series, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's recording of Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man was used. Earlier, Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk, from his Children's Corner suite, had introduced the radio series.
Producers have included:
Paul Mayhew-Archer (1970s), later to produce BBC radio comedyGriff Rhys JonesThe series tended to feature grammar schools; in later years, as these schools became less numerous, comprehensive schools sometimes featured, but less often, and there was an increasing dominance by independent schools.
However, as comprehensive schools were becoming more commonplace under the Harold Wilson government, the autumn 1967 TV series of Top of the Form featured only comprehensive schools.
19 December 1948 High School for Boys, Cardiff v Royal High School, Edinburgh (winners)9 January 1950 Elgin Academy for Boys, Moray (winners) v Grove Park Grammar School for Girls, Wrexham, Denbighshire9 January 1951 Manchester High School for Girls v Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen (boys, winners)19 January 1952 St. Dominic's High School for Girls, Belfast v Morgan Academy, Dundee (winners)21 January 1954 The Methodist College, Belfast (boys) v The Nicolson Institute, Stornaway, Isle of Lewis (boys)9 January 1955 The Academy, Dumfries (girls) v Grove Park School, Wrexham (boys, winners)14 January 1956 Newtown Girls' Grammar School, Wales (winners) v The Royal School, Armagh, Northern Ireland (boys)7 January 1957 Glanmôr County Secondary School for Girls, Swansea v Sutton Coldfield High School for Girls (winners)2 January 1958 High School, High Wycombe (girls, winners) v Dr. Williams' School, Dolgellau (girls)8 January 1959 South Hampstead High School, London (girls)24 December 1959 Rotherham Grammar School v Mackie Academy, Stonehaven5 January 1961 High School for Girls, Dungannon21 December 1961 Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School, York (boys, winners)20 December 1962 High School of Stirling (boys) v Hull Grammar School (winners)22 December 1963 Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, Cambridge (winners)20 December 1964 The Academy, Montrose (girls)26 December 1965 The High School, Falkirk (boys)27 December 1966 The Grammar School, Bassaleg (boys)7 January 1968 King's Norton Grammar School for Girls, Birmingham v Greenock Academy (girls)22 December 1968 Leyton Senior High School for Girls v Grove Park School, Wrexham (boys, won)21 December 1969 The High School for Girls, Stroud v Queen Elizabeth Grammar School for Girls, Carmarthen2 January 1971 Harris Academy, Dundee (boys) v Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester (winners)22 January 1972 Cheadle Hulme School, Cheshire (winners) v Cardinal Vaughan School, London27 January 1973 Musselburgh Grammar School v The County Girls Grammar School, Newbury (winners)2 February 1974 Kirkcudbright Academy, Kirkcudbright v Broadoak School, Weston-super-Mare4 January 1975 Magdalen College School, Brackley v The Grammar School, Cheltenham29 February 1976 King William's College, Isle of Man v Paisley Grammar School, Scotland22 February 1977 Macclesfield County High School for Girls (winners) v Thomas Magnus School, Newark-on-Trent23 February 1978 Collingwood School, Camberley v Wellington School, Somerset25 December 19787 February 1980 Peterhead Academy23 December 1980 Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury v Wycombe High School, High Wycombe22 December 1981 Girvan Academy21 December 1982 Seaford Head School, Seaford14 December 1983 Colchester County High School for Girls19 December 1984 Moorhead High School, Accrington16 December 19851 December 198624 December 1962 Grove Park School for Boys, Wrexham v Kingston Grammar School for Boys1 May 1963 The Grammar School for Girls, Weston-super-Mare v Royal Belfast Academical Institution (boys)23 December 1963 Brownhills High School for Girls, Stoke-on-Trent v Hull Grammar School (boys)26 March 1964 High School, Stirling (boys)1 April 1965 Sutton Coldfield Grammar School (girls) v Paston School, North Walsham28 December 1966 Hastings High School (girls) v Leamington College (girls), Leamington Spa28 December 1967 Burnt Mill School, Harlow20 June 1970 Salisbury v Inverness8 June 1971 Luton Sixth Form College v Kenilworth Grammar School1 August 1972 Llanelli Boys' Grammar School11 June 1973 Elgin Academy17 June 1974 Loughborough v Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington9 August 1975 Gower v LeedsFilm star Hugh Grant, who represented Latymer Upper School;Darien Angadi, whose story was told during a BBC Four documentary about the quiz programmeVivien Stuart (1969), later a weather presenter and television announcer.Hilary Benn, represented Holland Park School in 1969 who were contentiously eliminated in a second round match.Robbie Fields, identical twin of Randolph and now owner of Posh Boy Records, was also a member of the 1969 Holland Park School team. Fields was asked the three-point question: "I was born in Valencia in 1867, who am I?" and answered "Blasco Ibáñez", prompting presenter Geoffrey Wheeler to take a deep breath and pronounce the answer correct and leaving viewers baffled.Top of The Form was satirised in the 1960s pre-Python television series At Last the 1948 Show.
"Natural Born Quizzers", an episode of Steve Coogan’s comedy series Coogan's Run, involved a thinly-disguised version of the show.
In 2008, Dave Gorman traced the history of the show on BBC Four.
