A weekly magazine programme for children, very much a copy of Blue Peter, complete
with real-life adventure stories, advice on pets, and for some reason, art. "A weekly
rendezvous with friends old and new" is how the TV Times described the new show,
which adopted pretty much all the hosts and features from the show it replaced, Lucky
Dip. Tuesday Rendezvous would also give away merit badges, just like Blue Peter.
Muriel Young was one of the regular hosts, while guitar legend Bert Weedon would
provide music and musical instruction, sometimes with his group The Rendezvous Instrumental
Group which featured ex-Shadow Tony Meehan. His Star Record Guest of the Week feature
would feature visiting pop stars like Bobby Vee, Joe Brown and Kenny Lynch.
Along with art a source of puzzlement there would also be a weekly Story of Jazz
feature, hosted by Bob Wallis, hardly relevant for young kids, and even more puzzling
since trad' jazz was on its way out. More relevant however was the appearance on
4th December 1962 of The Beatles, playing both sides of their debut single which,
by the time of the broadcast, had been out for almost two months. But despite the
intrusion of Merseybeat the addiction to trad jazz continued well into 1963. The
Beatles re-appearance on the show in April 1963 was another yet reminder that things
were changing. Even if the reaction by the jazz camp within the show was negative
someone in the Beatles' camp must have appreciated what was going on as Muriel Young
was mentioned in the liner notes of their first album, albeit in a reference to her
Radio Luxembourg show. Despite its apparent success the show was cut from 55 minutes
to under half an hour in 1963 to make way for the serial Sierra Nine.
Tea-time shows on Rediffusion had to progress to survive and once the series had
concluded on the 24th September 1963 The Five O'Clock Club began, which would on
the face of it was a very similar show, but this one included much more pop music,
and surprisingly hip guests and regulars.
The show was originally scheduled for a thirteen week run, but stuck around for two
years.