I have 2 Dundee school photos coming up next, both needing a bit of extra information to make the pictures complete. I've got some of the details, but will require some assistance from you knowledgeable ones out there to help piece them together. 1 photo each from the 60's & 70's, starting with this one from the 1960's.The info I have so far is that this is Kirkton parading the "Top Of The Form" trophy.
Most of you should remember the Top of the Form quiz show, where 2 secondary school teams battled it out. There were 2 versions of the show, one on radio and one on TV. The BBC TV archives have an episode listed - a Quarter Final round featuring Kirkton v Tavistock (Devon), dated December 1967. This photo is dated 1968, so I guess it could be the same team having just won the final of that particular series. Anyone got any definite facts to accompany the photo?
To jog your memory, below is the TOTF theme tune.
Photo by the Scotsman.
Since writing this caption above, the mystery has been solved. The photo is indeed Kirkton with the "Television Top Of The Form" trophy.
The tall guy parading the prize is pupil, Gordon Cobban.
The other teamsters are - Michael O'Rourke, Fiona Anderson & Morag Smith.
Far front left,wee guy we the parka on , is that no Greame payne?, and I do believe that is a Dee scarf in the picture.
ReplyDeleteIt's from before my time at Kirkton, but when I was there in the 70s, the pride of the school was a photo of the Kirkton team who won Top of the Form in the 60s. So they definitely won it and 1968 sounds familiar.
ReplyDeleteWho is the large kid in the photo holding the trophy is that not a teacher ?
ReplyDeleteI see the boots .. ha ha
Mr Big is actually one of the pupils. There were 4 in the team, with the ages ranging from 12 to 17.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteI'll post a snippet here of a post I did in the 3Js in August '99:
_________________________________
Kirkton High? "Honore Scholae Praestemus - Let us be distinguished by the good name of our school". The only Dundee school to win "Television Top of the Form"! That was 1964. Can't remember who the beaten finalists were but a photo of the winning team hung in the school library for many years. For all I know, it could still still there!
The Kirkton team was made up of one pupil from each of S1, 2, 3 and 4. The only team member, whose name I can remember is Gordon Cobban.
_________________________________
It is Gordon who is holding the trophy in the photo. The photo was taken at the main gate in Burn Street.
Anonymous: you could be right about Graeme Payne.
Here's another snippet from that 3Js thread:
_________________________________
claymore on 08-Aug-99 18:06:54
The Top of the Form team I can remember another name. Michael O'Rourke was on that team and the name Gordon Cobban rings a bell.
_________________________________
8=)
Spot on,, Kirkton High was the next to Buy your way Dundee High , ,, We won all Sports, ,, O levels at that time were Indulged by the Headmaster and his associates ,( u lick me brigade) So , happy ,, Loved Kirkton High xxxxx
Delete.
ReplyDeleteForgot to paste:- link for 3Js is:-
http://www.dcthomson.co.uk/new_fdap/
8=)
Thanks once again for the info, Brian. The date details I got on the photo was wrong then. And you've also solved the "radio or tv" question. Well done, top marks! GG
ReplyDeleteThe team included Mike O'Rourke and the girl on the left is Fiona Anderson
ReplyDeleteHi Retro.
ReplyDeleteI was at Kirkton High when they won this. The team was on TV on the latter half of 1967. They beat the winners of Ask the Family on Xmas Day 1967. The photo was probably taken in 1968, when the school likely took possession of the trophy. Gordon Cobban was famous for being the youngest winning team captain they'd had on the show, at 16 years old. Gordon was only 13 in 1964.
I had just started at Kirkton High in 1967 and I remember watching the Top Of The Form contest in the school assembly hall.
ReplyDeleteI also remember MikeO'Rourke and Fiona Anderson being on the winning team.
As for the comments on Wee Paynie, it could be him although he was a year behind me so he must have just come to KHS in 1968 (I'm just relieved he's not the one waving the Dundee scarf!!).
Aber (or Big Abe)
My name was Helen Brannan and I was at KHS when we won top of the form. It was amazing. I new Fiona Campbell and Michael O'Rourke, they were both in my class, and for a comprehensive school to win was a smack in the puss for all those conservative twats who thought because we came from council estates we were stupid. At that time a quarter of pupils from KHS went on to higher education. We have a lot to be proud of. I am proud to have been a pupil of KHS. YEH US...
ReplyDeleteSounds like your underclass status never left you.
DeleteJust found this site and I was at KHS in 67 through to 71 and they won TV Top of the Form in my first year. Remember the recording in the hall and watching on TV.
ReplyDeleteFiona Anderson is my sister and they won in 1967.
ReplyDeletePS- Paynie was a Rangers fan!
He was my cousin Gordon he went on to become a great architect he died in 2015
ReplyDelete