Thank Your Lucky Stars

Thank Your Lucky Stars (TYLS) was independent television’s answer to the BBC‘s Juke Box Jury – serving the growing interest in popular music. The first show was broadcast on April Fool’s Day 1961 and was introduced by a pre-Top of the Pops Pete Murray. The show stole the BBC Juke Box Jury’s judging panel format for new releases renaming it ‘Spin-a-Disc’, in which a guest DJ and three teenagers reviewed three singles. Yet TYLS went beyond what the BBC had done in that it also followed ITV‘s tradition of having variety artists perform live in front of the cameras – which Juke Box Jury did not do. TYLS started out with the usual staid line-ups popular during the previous decade – Acker Bilk, Alma Cogan, Russ Conway, and Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen, were acts that looked back to the 50’s – Thank Your Lucky Stars was lucky in that it began to look forward into the coming 60’s. The producers noted the rise in popularity of the Merseybeat sound, where iconic bands like The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers, and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, along with singers like Cilla Black, became central to the Merseybeat movement. TYLS leapt aboard the Merseybeat train. The show gave The Beatles their first ever appearance on national television on 13th January 1963 – putting them bottom of the bill and giving them time for one song – ‘Please Please Me’.

The band would be invited back a further three times that year – culminating in December 15th’s Merseybeat Special where they topped the bill and were given time for an unprecedented four songs – “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “All My Loving,” “Twist And Shout,” before playing the show out with “She Loves You”. 1963 is the year that saw The Beatles go from local heroes to become national phenomena – the Merseybeat Special of December 63 had to call in extra police to the ATV Studio in Aston, Birmingham, as screaming fans mobbed the bands arrival during a snowstorm. Beatlemania had been born and neither they nor we would ever be the same again.

All images in this section are taken from the private collection of the show’s official photographer, Willoughby ‘Gus’ Gullachsen. They are images taken during the performance of The Beatles final song on that show – ‘She Loves You’ ‘Gus’ was always interested in photography. His dad was a keen amateur photographer who loved pottering in his darkroom, so it was no surprise when Gus’ first job was as a darkroom assistant in Newcastle. Sadly, Gus proved to be a bit of a bumbler, and got sacked for his bumbling. His dad asked why he had been fired and was told ‘He’ll never make a photographer’. Yet Gus persisted. Taking menial jobs as photographer’s assistant where he could, as well at studying photography at technical college. When World War Two broke out Gus volunteered for the RAF, and served as a photographer in South Africa, India and Iraq. On his return from war he used his demob

money to set up as a freelance photographer in Birmingham and was soon the go to man for the local press and the theatres of the region. Eventually also working for the BBC – ATV – and the TV Times. He was The Rep’s official photographer and rose to become Chairman of the Birmingham Press Club.

Gus photographed every famous face of post war Britain – in film, TV, theatre, and music. His work presented here is from his role as official photographer to ABC Weekend Television’s show ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’.