BBC Ask the Family Robert Robinson 70s

[DavidCarvel]

In the days when you had to look nerdy to be intelligent!

[abhard6]

People like this simply don't exist today, instead we have chav's on Jeremy Kyle or wannabe's on some reality programme hoping to be 'Famous'.

I'd rather watch this thank you

[mistressmeeker]

Brains and good looks, what more could one ask for?

[jayrox40]

A reminder of a more civilised age.

[whitbyjet65]

@jayrox40 How right you are! A time when adults were addressed as Mister or Missus & not by their first names or 'mate'. A time when people could spell, when people did things and made things, when people knew how to have fun but behaved & when people were famous for actually having talent.

[boxerdog1999]

Agree with OldSetonian, a gently age. RIP Robert Robinson

[Squab1972]

RIp Robert Robinson

[popcorntommy]

R.I.P. Robert Robinson

[michaelclarke18]

I *love* the comb over - I want one just like it!

[OldSetonian]

A reminder of a gentler age. He will be missed greatly.

[JohnLHume]

One of my childhood fears was that as their were four of us my dad would enter our family on to this show (just for his own amusement) We still watched it though and you were a favourite. Rest in Peace Robert

[1961raver]

R.I.P Robert

[EmmyNeander]

Wahahaha, this is hilarious! Who the f came up with this show? :P

[justre1989]

hardly poor yet the Griffiths' are wearing national health specs

[pilchardcove]

If any commentators wonder why English (not British) people in their 50's have difficulty understanding the 'youth of today' it's most likely due to the fact that we were forced to watch this type of appalling programme before bed time - that's strictly 9 o'clock, by the way!!!

[LouishWaltz]

Always used to think this was TYPICAL BBC ; showing middle class families ( father often university lecturer ), with teacher mothers and snotty-nosed kids who thought they knew it all.

Not for us working class 'plebs'.

[SpicyRocketSauce]

And an extra mark for being so clever!

[xanderxine]

My God its the spotty specky four-eyed tank top brigade!! The countries largest collection of geeks all rounded up and paraded on tv throughout the seventies!!

Where are these people today...? They are all Liberal Democrats and helping the tories to screw the country for revenge!!!

[MistaVista1]

1:13 A most welcome cameo appearence from Ronald Reagan's Spitting Image puppet...

[vanillaorchid]

This programme said nothing to me about my life then, or now. Middle class aliens from another planet. And always so funny looking.

Why did they have those weird question combinations? 'Next question for mother and younger child only' - why?

[orchardcottage]

Frighteningly middle class, chillingly formal, alarmingly clever and wonderfully charming!

[UndeadYakboy]

The first related video from this is "Welcome to the Smug Hour." Fitting.

[jcpadmore]

"....And Mr David Griffiths is a psychotic serial killer...." ;-D

[KenMrshll]

The days before contacts wre widely available.

[sadlersinengland]

Giles Smartarse is a Quantity Surveyor and his wife Serena Smartarse is also a Quantity Suveyor. Their two children, Julian (16) and Nigel (14) are both Quantity Surveyors........

[Rotom5000]

They both look old for 14 year olds dontcha think?!

[shaftsbury94]

good theme music, i got the first question, then said try for the rugby fishing one...dooooowww

[SeventiesMania]

@shaftsbury94 I said 'fly'. 

[Feisty1967]

It just goes to prove that only ugly people who wear thick glasses have the time and inclination to read books.

[BPL1980]

That title sequence is one of the most eery and sinister things I've seen on TV. It looked as though on some of the graphics the dad was going to give the wife a backhand.

[mrparsnip]

The Griffiths family chill my blood. Royston Vasey residents?

[rulebrittaniaPTBB]

What he doesnt tell you is if they lose they die

[judgenutmeg1977]

Amusingly enough, Richard Stilgoe's name is not an anagram of TALENTLESS BASTARD. I have spotted several of these non-anagrams, such as Robert Robinson - POMPOUS PORKER and Anne Diamond - VACANT TART. Can any youtubers spot any more?

[liccleterror]

@judgenutmeg1977

I read Viz also...

[judgenutmeg1977]

@liccleterror Busted.

I'm 33 and i still find it brilliantly funny.

[liccleterror]

@judgenutmeg1977 I'm 40 tomorrow and still read it! :-)

But your reference was a letter I'll never forget.

[judgenutmeg1977]

@liccleterror Hey, Happy Birthday!

I must admit, i do like to borrow certain gems from the infamous archives of Viz! I giggle my fucking ass off in a proper schoolboy fashion as i type them.

[Karlol100]

0:56, Nick Frost!!!

[bumfacefuck]

this is too funny

[abhard6]

Bloody hell!! - Did everyone half clever look like that back in the early 80's???

I must have been about 9 or 10 when this was around, glad I was thick and stupid at least I had my looks!!

[theprospecttavern]

That's Numberwang !

[fremsley001]

Having sex with any of that lot would be like shagging a wardrobe.

[cielobuio]

LOL - What a happy lot they all look !

God only knows what the prize was........?

[kenfig]

No glue sniffing for these kids- nearly all the family have glasses ; bet the older boy has demanded contacts cos hes a teenager now

[GuanoLad]

Wow. Could they get nerdier nerds from all of nerd-dom?

[m230690]

ah yes would that it were, would that it were

[PhilipPorter]

Yes we Brits were once ugly.

Now we`re ugly fat and stupid!

[BaddaBigBoom]

Speak for yourself - Igor ;-)

[Kevo216666]

We're turning into Yanks.

[Chalkerfan]

Bloody Hell!!

Non-photogenic, intelligent people appearing on a 70s/80s prime-time quiz show???

Wheres Jonathon Ross? Wheres the bare flesh? Wheres the cheap swearing?

Mama we're all crazy now.... :-(

[BoonyBanny]

Tackle? Banger? Oo-er!!!

[groberts101]

Is Robert Robinson related to Nick Robinson, political correspondent of the BBC News ?

[dermot51]

@groberts101 Yes, he's Nicks great great grandfather but sadly Bobs "brown bread" (im sure he'd approve of this little bit of word play) then again maybe not

[MOSTechnology]

nice theme tune!

[lhermann1]

Hi. Little Miss Almond here again. Just to prove the people on there are real, that was me answering questions on The George Cross on Mastermind last week. I have now officially turned into my mother!

[stormmine]

How many poindexters can you fit in one studio!?

[biddyficationprocess]

The mums where always teachers and the dads always made radar for a living and the kids always looked like rod and tod flanders

[tstsullivan797]

it should be a contest for the ugliest family in Britain, lol

[dorsettwerp]

UGLY FUCKERS aint they ??

[leolodreamland]

clever people were in them days. to look good was to look stupid. no mariella frostrups then, oh no.

[Toragirl]

"Hello"

[ajax2610]

i have to do this crap for my GCSE coursework =]

[LovingTheHated]

media studies? haha! so do I!

[JWK35]

woohoo go media studies!!!!!!!

[Toragirl]

same. Its on thursday

[shortandspiky]

why else would anyone choose to watch this

[KhyleFryer]

haha, so do i

[spamtree]

isn't it bullshit?!

[ajax2610]

It sure is BS, and tommorrow i have my exam, based on TV quiz shows :P media studies rule haha

[broom2000]

Edward - 14 - looks really pleased to have been dragged into this!!

[jaybolger]

THIS LOOKED LIKE A REALLY CRAP SHOW

[NearlyFreeSpeech]

He interviewed erich fromm

[sparkymark17]

Lovely scrape-over Mr Robinson!!

[nwmale45]

Can u imagine it today ? far less cleverer.

[herringthorpe]

Christ where did they get those familys from, a freak show. Old man Griffith's specs must have been attached to his eyebrows. Bet he could see to America in the bastards !!

[chelceyoh07]

I loved the way they all went 'hello', they sounded really enthusiastic - NOT lol

[IlRezzonico]

@herringthorpe this programme couldn't exist today - no families to go on it, and too intellectual for the viewing audience. Maybe "Ask the Gang" - with various questions on drugs, guns, looting and rioting.

[mislead1000]

@IlRezzonico...most of the kids these days have not got enough parents to make a team

[IlRezzonico]

@mislead1000 Ask the Gang with your host, Ross Kemp

[FMTCH]

Who has the most ridiculous combover on British television?

[avocadopye]

Ahhh, would that it were, would that it were.

[spelqueka]

I'm sure there was a different signature tune before this one.

[enidzaig]

I'm sure there was too - played on the sitar. Wikipedia list the theme tune as 'Acka Raga' by John Mayer, but whether that's this tune or the earlier one is anyone's guess.

The music used here was also used in a 1960s short film called 'Seven Day Wonder', which has since disappeared. Oh, dear, I really should get out more!

[BackToTheBlues]

Bit of a child prodigy then, as John Mayer wasn't born until 1977! Good old 'edit by anyone' Wikipedia, lol...

The other theme was Acka Raga, but the original by Shocking Blue, it's not this tune but someone has put it on youtube, nice vid with it, too.

[powderfinger71]

Just done a quick search,including longer segments,if it was here it must have been taken down.I'm sure it will turn up on here eventually,everything else has!

[powderfinger71]

Can't watch this without thinking of Not the 9 o'clock News

[NeuropolitiqueCOGGER]

...Graham 14 and Liza 16, who are both Quantity Surveyors

[powderfinger71]

Spot on wasn't it

[NeuropolitiqueCOGGER]

That sketch is on here somewhere - tried finding it last night to no avail. It may be in the middle of a 10 minute exert.

[dermot51]

@NeuropolitiqueCOGGER apparently Graham became a hopeless crack addict and Lisa took up with crystal meths..NOT

[tellyisrubbish]

If only the elder of the Griffiths' son looked goofy and wore glasses.

[vvvulf]

The familys on this show where all inbred middle class freaks from the wrong side of the 1960's all wondering when the H bomb was going to be dropped! all tank tops and NHS specs, but I have to say Robert Robinsons combover is superb!! the greatest combover in the history of brylcream!

[gga1967nice]

I got fanmail, correctly spelt as well

[mastamom]

The kids are potential serial killers. The Griffith's may be the most disturbing family ever on TV.

[tardisdrwho2007]

the theme tune was called sun-ride by ole jensen and his music and its on a cd called the day the tv stood still on whrcd 701.

[viaccess]

Yes, but who won?

[salmonfaky]

how sinister is the beggining? creepy

[stig114]

Middle class entertainment at its best!

[Widmerpool99]

Do you think they all got naked in the hospitality room afterwards?

[rahmanemdadur04]

there sure did

[Knappa22]

lol! I bet they did - all that middle-class surpression just got too much!

[muchallsufos]

Was that a Hurdy Gurdy playing? Why were the mothers always teachers and the fathers professionals? Never saw one where the father was a labourer and the mother works in a pub!

[tvinsider4]

ha, they wudnt allow riff raff on the beeb in them days!

[Enerjee]

@tvinsider4 - no, not like now since the commissioning of East Enders. The BBC allows all sorts of unpalatable regional accents now - all the kinds of people who refuse to pay the TV licence. What's the country come to, eh? Dumbing down and standards lowered.  Where will it all end?

[shashi2005]

It's a Cymbalom

[kenfig]

@muchallsufos its an instrument called a Cimbalom or a hammered dulcimer.Anyone remember the previous Ask the family theme which was an Indian arrangement played on Sitars ?

[leggsuk49]

@kenfig I think it was Acka Raga by Joe Harriott and John Mayer. This theme is Sun Ride by John Leach.

[raystopher]

@muchallsufos Its a zither !

[raystopher]

@muchallsufos Its a zither !

[raystopher]

@muchallsufos Its a zither !

[metalbucket2]

@muchallsufos A hurdy gurdy has a violin-like sound, it's basically a violin with a circular bow that you turn with a handle and does not have the percussive sound that made this music. The music was done with a cimbalon, a Hungarian instrument, it looks like a vertical harp or a piano and you hit the strings with little hammers.

[mistofoles]

The Alomond family were nuts...

[MissAlmond]

Hi, it's Lisa (Almond daughter) from the video here - 26 years older, a bit plumper and a mother of two myself although they have no ambitions to make idiots of themselves on TV!! 

Your assessment of my cat-looking-after ability is 100% accurate as I don't really see the point of them, but my brother is a member of the Cats Protection League! The clip is from August 1981 by the way.

[tvinsider4]

hey lisa, weldun! it was a gripping episode. dont worry i wont spoil it & say who won!!

[jgrantjo]

hi i remember this program from when i was a kid (35 now!!) the internet certainly does let your memories come flooding back eh !!

[midlander4]

Lisa, you're a genius... as you'd expect from someone participating in this programme.

Tell us something amazing about being on telly...

[grayzieuk100]

Don't think I'd trust either bunch to look after my cat while I was on holiday.

[numberstation]

Fuck me,the Griffiths look like they come from Royston Vasey.LOCAL PEOPLE!!!

[simonbath]

best comb over in the business...the almonds???jesus!

[tvinsider4]

scary huh

[dabbleduck]

we are the robert robinsons...would that it were!

[TRYEUGF]

Loved the theme tune.

School day memories.

[POOKIESREDSLIPPERS]

Hello!

Jeez - The cartoon dad in the opening credits looks like he is giving his daughter a right back-hander!!

What - did she get her question wrong???

[fraserkatie]

I remember this classic with Robert Robinson, mind you I was a baby at the time so thats unbelieveable!