Melvin Bragg introduces a Cornish poet, an electronic painting, the music of Horslips and The Great Money Trick
HORSLIPS
The Irish jig and the 12-bar blues did not have much in common, until HORSLIPS, a five-piece rock group from Dublin, found a way of marrying the two.
Horslips are: CHARLES O'CONNOR JOHN FEAN , BARRY DEVLIN
EAMON CARR , JIM LOCKHART
Poems for Children
CHARLES CAUSLEY has lived and worked in the small town of Launceston, in Cornwall, for most of his life. He is, in the words of one critic, ' a wartime sailor, present teacher, and major poet.' Tonight's film concentrates purely on his work for children based on his own childhood experiences, and on those of the children he teaches today.
Entering
Tonight the TV screen becomes an artist's canvas, with an ' electronic painting' commissioned from PETER DONEBAUER , who has been doing experiments with colour videotape.
The Eye of the Storm
An award-winning American film which documents a young teacher's attempt to explain prejudice to her eight-year-old pupils - by experience. On the first day of the experiment, the blue-eyed children were designated as the ' privileged class,' and the brown-eyed children were treated as inferiors. On the second day, the roles were reversed.
Guitar Solo
From a live concert at Ronnie Scott's Club, a demonstration of the ' blindingly nimble finger-work ' (Sunday Times) of jazz guitarist JOE PASS , who accompanied Ella Fitzgerald on her recent British tour.
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Immingham, in Lincolnshire, has no professional theatre. So BELT AND BRACES and 7:84, the touring company founded by playwright JOHN MCGRATH , decided to use the village streets. Their show, The Reign of Terror and The Great Money Trick, is a musical based on Robert Tressell's novel, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. 2nd House filmed the group in Immingham; in the studio MELVYN BRAGG talks to JOHN MCGRATH about the project.
Producers TONY CASH, KARL. FRANCIS Assistant editor TONY STAVEACRE Editor BILL MORTON