Back in Time for Dinner/the Weekend/School

[Anita Bensoussane]

My sister's boyfriend had a ZX Spectrum - and that was the first time I'd ever seen a computer. We played 'Dungeons and Dragons' on it!

My sister and I had a ZX Spectrum and used to love playing Jetpac and Horace Goes Skiing. I remember that it took ages to load a game, accompanied by a screeching noise. If it failed to load in the end, you had to adjust the volume on your tape recorder and start the process all over again. Sounds bizarre, but the volume had to be just right for it to load - not too low and not too high!

Obesity has come on a long way as well - because people are so sedentary now. Who walks home from school any more?!

Where I live, I still see a lot of children walking to and from school. However, very few play out in the streets after school.

Also the joys of watching Treasure Hunt with Anneka Rice! What a great TV programme! It was brilliant to travel round the country seeing shots of places we might have visited, and great aerial shots too - quite modern for its time.

I liked watching Treasure Hunt too. Anneka Rice was so smiley and full of energy.

[Rob Houghton]

Also the joys of watching Treasure Hunt with Anneka Rice! What a great TV programme! It was brilliant to travel round the country seeing shots of places we might have visited, and great aerial shots too - quite modern for its time.

I liked watching Treasure Hunt too. Anneka Rice was so smiley and full of energy.

She was - she made the programme. I never enjoyed it half so much when Annabel Croft took over!

[Boatbuilder]

My sister's boyfriend had a ZX Spectrum - and that was the first time I'd ever seen a computer. We played 'Dungeons and Dragons' on it!

My sister and I had a ZX Spectrum and used to love playing Jetpac and Horace Goes Skiing. I remember that it took ages to load a game, accompanied by a screeching noise. If it failed to load in the end, you had to adjust the volume on your tape recorder and start the process all over again. Sounds bizarre, but the volume had to be just right for it to load - not too low and not too high!

Great memories of the early computers - and the fun in trying to load the programs. It could be very frustrating at times and I recall I was forever cleaning the recording head with the cleaning cassettes.

The first computer I bought in 1983 when my girls were fairly young, was the Texas TI-99/4A which also had a slot for game cartridges which, for those days, were quite novel and the graphics were superb. Of course with them, you didn't have to wait for them to load from tape. There was one game we spent hours playing called 'Parsec' - which was a space game but nothing like the traditional 'Space Invaders' that seemed to be 'in-thing' around then. My younger daughter, who was about nine at the time, held the family record for the highest score. Unfortunately, less than six months after I bought it, Texas pulled out of the home computer market and so the source of games for it eventually dried up. At the end of that same year I bought the BBC-B, which I still have, although it hasn't been switched on for quite a number of years now. I must try it out again sometime I wonder if the tapes will still load?

[timv]

I loved 'Treasure Hunt' - it was very well made and one of my favourite programmes of the 1980s. The clues were clever, too , and usually not too obvious. I recognised some of the locations and it was always fun to see what would happen and where they would end up, and Anneka's energy and enthusiasm was a great bonus contrasting with Kenneth Kendall and ex-weathergirl Wincey Willis (who I'd never heard of until then) in the studio. Once I remember Anneka and co. were chasing around Bath, and another time either Anneka or Annabel Croft ended up in the Lymington area. I also liked the later 'Challenge Anneka',and once when I heard a very noisy launch going up the Thames after dark when I was living in Richmond (c. 1990) it turned out to have been Anneka and co. filming!


I did think Treasure Hunt 'went off' a bit under Annabel Croft, though probably by that time they were running out of new ideas anyway. The show was also more tailored to specific local summertime village shows, open days at country houses, open-air plays etc, and you got the impression that an appearance by the Treasure Hunt stars might have been advertised to draw in the crowds as the participants didn't seem to be at all surprised when the 'runner' turned up shouting 'where's the clue, where's the clue?' But it would be nice to revive it now for a new generation.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'd forgotten about Challenge Anneka but I used to like that too.

It's great to see your early computer, John (Boatbuilder)!

[Rob Houghton]

I loved 'Treasure Hunt' - it was very well made and one of my favourite programmes of the 1980s. The clues were clever, too , and usually not too obvious. I recognised some of the locations and it was always fun to see what would happen and where they would end up, and Anneka's energy and enthusiasm was a great bonus contrasting with Kenneth Kendall and ex-weathergirl Wincey Willis (who I'd never heard of until then) in the studio. Once I remember Anneka and co. were chasing around Bath, and another time either Anneka or Annabel Croft ended up in the Lymington area.

I was a massive fan! We used to visit my Great Aunt back then on a Thursday evening, and we always watched Treasure Hunt while we were there. My Great Aunt loved it too. It was a tradition, and also a highlight of the TV week!

In fact I am such a fan of Treasure Hunt that I have since bought the Treasure Hunt game and two Treasure Hunt annuals.

[Boatbuilder]

It's great to see your early computer, John (Boatbuilder)!

Just for the record, the picture is an online one, as I don't still have that particular computer.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Ah yes. It's good that you still have the BBC-B though.

[floragord]

We'd recorded the latest in this series, BACK IN TIME FOR THE CORNER SHOP, really enjoying watching how they changed and developed over the years, an interesting glimpse into how these useful places have served communities even with the growth of enormous supermarkets.

[Katharine]

I've been recording that series, but haven't got around to watching it yet, however I know people who have and they too have said how enjoyable it is.

I've just been watching DVDs of Victorian Farm/Christmas and The 1900s House. Frustratingly the latter is only about half of the TV series, and I don't feel really gives a proper insight of how the family got on, as the first episode concentrated on how they restored the house, which although interesting, meant there were only 2 episodes to cram 3 months worth of life in!

I've just started on Edwardian Farm, which I don't remember watching before, so am looking forward to that. I'm in rather an 'historical' mood at the moment.

[Anita Bensoussane]

One could quite easily feel 'hysterical' in these anxious times, so feeling 'historical' sounds much better!

I very much enjoyed the programme Frontier House which aired about eighteen years ago, where families and couples settled on an American prairie and recreated the life of "homesteaders" of the 1880s. They found things physically tough but many of them grew to love the outdoorsy way of life and the feeling of community, and they didn't want to leave when the show ended.

[mikki]

I think I remember that series Anita. Were there two families feuding quite bitterly?

[Boatbuilder]

Has anyone watched the two 1955 programs currently available on iPlayer - 'In Town Tonight' ? A real taste of 1950's BBC television. I found them quite 'amusing' for want of a better word, in both the way they were presented and the content. They were made about three or four years before my parents first got a TV.

They can be found here (sorry UK only):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p ... t-29101955" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anita Bensoussane]

I think I remember that series Anita. Were there two families feuding quite bitterly?

I'm afraid I've forgotten most of the details now, Mikki, though I recall that the children loved looking after the livestock and that one young woman used to bake lots of pies for everyone! If I remember correctly, we were told at the end of the series that one of the men had decided to leave the rat race and lead a quieter, rural life following his experiences on the programme.

[Katharine]

I've just started watching Back in Time for Tea which I'd recorded, but hadn't got around to looking at.

I'm really enjoying it so far. Compared to other similar style programmes, the family are really lovely. While they are obviously finding some aspects hard, such as eating tripe, cooking a rabbit etc, they are doing their best to appreciate the times that they are re-enacting, and I can't say I've noticed any moaning so far.

I also enjoyed seeing them experiencing life in the cotton mill in the 1920's.

I hope the rest of the series is as good. If it is, then I think I'll be treating myself to the DVD.