Apropos of absolutely nothing ...

[HatterDon]

... what is the connection between the Z-Cars theme and Everton?

... while we're at it, the same question for "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and Wolves?

Inquiring tiny minds wish to know

[sunburywhite]

he significance of Z-Cars is that it was set in an undefined area of Merseyside. The series was introduced in 1962 and was an instant hit. It was also a time when regional accents – previously so despised by the BBC establishment – where finally beginning to be heard more regularly on radio and television. Home Counties dominance of the media was being challenged be regional programmes like Z-Cars that were a bit more "cutting-edge" than the usual stuff on telly back then. Z-Cars was streets ahead of its nearest London rival – the cosy and comfortable Dixon of Dock Green... but that's another story.

Z-Cars was based in a fictitious district just outside Liverpool called "Newtown". The setting was one of the new overspill towns that were springing up around British cities after World War II to re-house people after the German blitz and move them out of city-centre Victorian slums.

Most people identified "Newtown" with Kirkby, then in Lancashire, now in Merseyside. The policemen had Lancashire police badges on their hats, not Liverpool ones. Many of the location scenes were actually filmed in Kirkby.

The catchy theme tune chosen by the BBC to herald the Z-Cars series was the music from an old Liverpool folksong called Johnny Todd. And one of the fans, who played PC Sweet on the front desk, was an Evertonian; one day he brought a few of the cast to watch the team. In recognition of that, the team came out on the field to the Z-Cars theme, it has stuck ever since.

[HatterDon]

Watched the show on and off in the mid-60s, but never made the Liverpool connection. I knew it was "up north" but that was about it.

Thanks for the info.

[RaySmith]

Z Cars was a popular Liverpool set TV show in the  60's, the same time that 'You'll never walk alone' was a massive hit for Liverpool  band Gerry and the Pacemakers, and  became the anthem for Liverpool FC, and Wolves fans adopted  Jeff Beck's hit 'Hi-hi silver lining', putting different words to it, as fans do.

[MikeW]

Jeff Beck has long said he will never play Hi Ho Silver Lining as part of his live act.  It is 'unrepresentative' of his current music and indeed pretty much everything his done for many years.  There was an exception however.  He shared top billing with Eric Clapton at the 02 a few years ago (dreadful venue) and Clapton, in an impromptu moment, broke into the distinctive riff.  Beck held his head and shouted "No, no no!" at him.  It lasted about 15 seconds I recall.

I cannot enlighten further on the Wolves connection.

[Snibbo]

Bit of vaguely connected trivia. Z Cars was written by Alan Prior,  whose daughter is Maddy Prior, the singer in Steeleye Span

[jarv]

Don't you just love this site. You can learn something new every day. 082.gif

[HatterDon]

Bit of vaguely connected trivia. Z Cars was written by Alan Prior,  whose daughter is Maddy Prior, the singer in Steeleye Span

I did not know that. Thank you very much. I loved Steeleye Span.

[sunburywhite]

Sorry to be a kill joy Alan Prior was the scrpit writer of Z Cars and Softly Softly

Theme from Z-Cars" was the theme tune to the long-running BBC television drama Z-Cars.

Based on the traditional folk song "Johnny Todd", which was in a collection of traditional tunes by Frank Kidson dated 1891 called Traditional Tunes: A Collection of Ballad Airs. Kidson's notes for this song say: "Johnny Todd is a child's rhyme and game, heard and seen played by Liverpool children. The air is somewhat pleasing, and the words appear old, though some blanks caused by the reciter's memory have had to be filled up."

There is also what appears to be a version of the same song, mentioned in the first of the Para Handy stories, written in Scotland in 1905, which claims that the tune was popular around 30 years earlier. The song also appears in the book Songs of Belfast edited by David Hammond, who heard it from a Mrs. Walker of Salisbury Avenue, Belfast, who claimed it dates from around 1900.

The Z-Cars theme tune was arranged for commercial release by Fritz Spiegl and Bridget Fry, and performed by John Keating and his Orchestra. The single reached #8 in the Record Retailer chart in April 1962, and as high as #5 in other charts. The original television theme was arranged and conducted by Norrie Paramor with his orchestra.[citation needed] A later, much more syncopated arrangement of the theme replaced the original on a later television series[specify] which was also written and conducted by Norrie Paramor.[citation needed]

It was soon adopted by fans of the First Division football club Everton, who are based in Liverpool near where the programme supposedly took place. The theme tune is still played as the team come out onto the pitch at the beginning of all their home matches and has become synonymous with the club. They also use the theme tune on their official podcasts, used at the beginning to introduce the podcast.

In 1964 another football team, Watford F.C., adopted the tune as it was then manager Bill McGarry's favourite television programme. It has been played as the players come onto pitch since then. During the rise of the club through the leagues in the 1970s and 1980s, it became associated with the club's success under manager Graham Taylor.

Workington A.F.C. are also known to play the theme when the players enter the field. This is because Evertonian Ken Furphy was manager of the club in the 1960s. Sunderland A.F.C. were also known to have played the song as their players ran out to the field during their days playing at Roker Park.