I'll always remember when Weekend World would start it sadly meant time to go home back to my parents and going back to school Monday. Reason was spending weekend at my grandparents. Brian Walden was a legend of a broadcaster
What I always really liked about Brian Walden was that he never lost his cool and was always in control... Although Brian could be assertive and pushy when he needed to be, he always remained calm and level-headed when giving an interview... Matthew Parris was like a rabbit in the headlights, he always seemed very anxious and not at all at ease, which often resulted in the interviewee derailing the show completely...
Brian Walden was one of the most amazing TV political pundits. He made politics interesting and engaging for the uninitiated. Pleased to hear that he's changed his allegencies.
Matthew Parris taking over was the death knell for Weekend World... Although Brian Walden could be assertive and pushy at times, he always remained calm and level-headed when giving an interview... Matthew Parris was like a rabbit in the headlights, he always seemed very anxious and not at all at ease...
This is my all-time favourite Sunday programme and I do miss Brian Walden so much and I still like the intro and outro music from the pop group Mountain best of all.
They don't make them like that. Brian Walden was a superb interviewer. Incisive, forceful, yet polite with a mind as sharp as a razor. He was the only interviewer I can ever remember who could make Arthur Scargill squirm.
I love that theme tune!! Also it was great to see that Mexico 86 trailer at the end and to hear that theme tune! Denmark thrashed Uruguay 6-1 as I recall...
Fascinated by the way the two men were separated in that way, creating a large studio 2:47 thought this programme was ahead of its time, and loved Walden, such a shame him passing. Let’s hope he’s in a better life than the Covid-19 one we now have.
Wow, takes you back to the days when we had real journalists and were questioning was more than an opportunity for a soundbite. Of course, Mandelson later got involved in producing this show. Kiss of death. No-one was interested in spinning world.
.....I remember as a kid being forced to watch this every time we went 'round me Nan's for Sunday lunch.....it gave me very little incentive to grow-up, still , the theme tune is the absolute MUTT'S NUTS......blinding upload by the way ,thanks.
I was only a kid when this was on but I remember being totally mesmerised by theme tune (Mountain's Nantucket Sleighride, of course!)... I also remember the titles before these ones, so that means I must've been 3,4, or 5 years old (cos these titles are from 86). Jeeze! What was I doing watching a political program at that age!! LOL! Well, must've been the music I guess. And of course I remember Brian Walden too... I've a pretty good memory of my early years - I'm 33 now... =O)
Miss him so much. Nobody in these times comes close to his expertise. They are now just celebrity nonentities, or failed politicians, often both, bar Andrew Neal.
Well done Sherlock...and Walden is now 86yo (as of 22/07/18),so he was exactly a month shy of his 54th birthday when he retired. Russel died 30yrs and one day before my mother.
Matthew Parris taking over was the death knell for Weekend World... Although Brian Walden could be assertive and pushy at times, he always remained calm and level-headed when giving an interview... Matthew Parris was like a rabbit in the headlights, he always seemed very anxious and not at all at ease...
An excellent Presenter, following Peter Jay very nicely. He never got flustered & spoke in a calm, clear manner, unlike many of the Politicians that He interviewed. He was a difficult act to follow, wouldn't You agree ?? "... & I must press You on that." 🙂
Weekend World, with its powerful music, by Mountain, "Nantucket Sleighride", was first presented by Peter Jay, but Brian Walden former MP for Birmingham Ladywood, in my opinion, took it up to a new level. I also used to like "The London Programme", on London Weekend, presented by Godfrey Hodgson, Gavin Weightman, and Trevor Phillips, and another bloke called Taylor,(can't remember his first name. Serious reporting, in the same era as "This Week", and "World in Action".
I seem to remember they brought him back later with a show just called "The Walden Interview" and later just "Walden." The theme for "Walden" was pretty intense, showed him tearing his victims to shreds to the tune of an omninous classical score. Has anyone got it?
Ahh the sound of this boneshaking hardrocking theme tune on the telly while me my bro and sis eat deep bowls of thick cream of mushroom soup and white buttered bread and the pitter patter of fairly (boring) news current and world affairs by Brian Walden..... perfect!
The 'Keep Britain Tidy' advisory film was very good along with others of that campaign. Makes you wonder what happened to all that rubbish which was put out (or should I say 'put in') in 1986. All that household garbage, rotting food, packaging , tampons, sanitary towels etc. Probably rotting away decomposing in a landfill in Hertfordshire causing untold pollution etc.
Looking around the net, the date of this is Sunday, 8 June, 1986. Re: the LWT blinds, as has been mentioned, they were brough in at the launch of the new Autumn season in 1986. What great TV days these were.
wow great to have this video, and through RU-vid chat I find the answer to another mystery I thought would elude me forever - what on earth that music was - Thankyou agfagaevart if that's you're real name! Prob not Shame about the video though - we get less than a minute of the wonderful Brian Walden (we need more of him pulverizing politicians in that slow relentless way), and 3 minutes of awful adverts and 80s TV rubbish! Whyyyyyyyy????
Has anyone got any of the footage where walden succinctly and scathingly dumbfounds thatcher, this has got to be british journalism at it's pinnacle and the only one that comes close to decent, honest journalism and any amount of integrity these days is paxman.
Matthew Parris is (genuinely) a very nice guy... But he was completely wrong for the job of hosting Weekend World - he always looked like a rabbit trapped in the headlights, and his obvious anxiety in the presenters chair allowed the guests to completely derail the interviews. Really, I don't think it mattered who took over in September 1986 - as soon as Brian Walden left, that was the death knell for Weekend World
I just checked up to see what Bwian Walden is up to now. He's 80 years old and lives in Guernsey and it seems the former Labour MP's sympathies have changed over the years. Not only has he become an admirer of Maggie Thatcher but he is also said by some to be the man who persuaded Cameron and Osborne that the Conservatives should enter in to a coalition rather than try to rule with a minority government.
"The theme music used throughout the series run was the closing bars of "Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)", originally written and recorded by the progressive rock group Mountain" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekend_World
The theme tune for Weekend World is called Nantucket Sleighride [to Owen Coffin] and performed by the group Mountain and it`s taken from their 1971 album Nantucket Sleighride and originally released in the UK on the Island label and can be found on Side 1,Track 3.
Correct. Also the Late Brain Moore promoting I.T.V."s World Cup Coverage. For this 51 year old former disabled carer for my late and lovely Mum. HAPPY DAYS!
Also went on to do a great series of biographies on famous 20th c. figures (a la: Churchill, Hitler, Stalin and so on) in half-hour chunks for BBC at some point. Riveting stuff -made AJP Taylor look like a stuffed ventriliquist's dummy.
I'm here because of "Pass the Baton" :D I'd have liked a bit more Brian Walden and a bit less Tom Baker telling us to keep Britain tidy and the awkward TVS announcer. Nice to hear Aztec Gold at the end, though.
I tell you what, you would learn more about politics in this edited clip than in the entire years output from the BBC today. No matter what political viewpoint you have, Thatcher,Kinnock,Steele,Owen- at least they seemed like Titans compared to today's tinpot pygmy
Good to hear someone saying 'impression', not the hateful C21 'perception'. 'There is a perception that...', 'How w.ill this be percEEEEEived?' Christ.
'Perception' is better - less metaphorical and more flexible. Instead of "how will this be perceived?" one would have to say "what impression will this make?" which to me sounds - to be frank with you - as fey as fuck.
Felt so moved on Walden death, was only 13 years old back then and politics was an interest to me. Fiona Bruce is no where near like Walden, Sir Robin Day or David Dimberby, Fiona makes me sick when I look at her at QT, proud of the 80s best times ever, great leaders around, great music and film an£ now all has change. A total pile of shit has not come it’s sucks
Brian's going after 9 years! You would have thought that as a leaving present, there would be a large bottle of 35 year old single malt on the table for Brian and David Steel to get stuck into to celebrate!! And why has David Steel been miniaturised at the begining of Weekend World?
