"Hello Children, Everywhere" - Uncle Mac's Children's Favourites

Back in 1954 the BBC's idea of pop music was a reflection of mainstream taste with ladies and gentlemen singers who annunciated their words and delivered good wholesome material. They also recognised the fact that children were interested in music, although in those far off days it was of course not pop music. The BBC Light Programme's solution for catering to younger people's musical interests was to start a show called 'Children’s Favourites' presented by Uncle Mac (Real name Derek McCulloch). Every show began with the immortal words “hello children, everywhere” over the theme song of Puffing Billy.

The show was built around the genuine requests from the show's audience, as often as not children and their parents who would sit around the radio at home enjoying the music - there was of course no Breakfast TV - heady days indeed. Thousands of requests were received each week on a postcard (50’s email) for songs like Max Bygraves 'You’re a Pink Toothbrush, I’m A Blue Toothbrush', or 'Sparky’s Magic Piano'. Every now and then there was something unusual requested and one particular week someone wrote in to ask for a song that helped shape the rock era. Listening from his childhood home in Surrey was future guitar legend Eric Clapton. “The first blues I ever heard was on that programme. It was a song by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, with Sonny Terry howling and playing the harmonica. It blew me away. I was ten or eleven.”

With the advent of Radio 1 in 1967 Leslie Crowther replaced Derek McCulloch and the show renamed Junior Choice. Increasingly pop music was taking the place of little white bulls, laughing policemen and tubby tubas….thank goodness that it didn’t change any earlier!