Michael John Wilmot Appleton (30 December 1936 – 2 April 2020) was a British television producer, best remembered as the producer of the BBC TV show ''

The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...

''.

Life and career

Appleton was born in

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and moved in 1946 with his parents to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. He attended

Wells Cathedral School Wells Cathedral School is a co-educational independent school located in Wells, Somerset, England. The school is one of the five specialist musical schools for school-age children in the United Kingdom, along with Chetham's School of Music, the ...

, before being

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

into military service in Germany, where he learned

sound recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...

techniques. He joined the BBC in Bristol in 1958, working on radio programmes, and then transferred to the television service in London. He became a production assistant on the arts magazine programme '' Late Night Line-Up'', before focusing on the programme's spin-off music shows, ''

Colour Me Pop ''Colour Me Pop'' was a British music TV programme broadcast on BBC2 from 1968–1969. It was a spin-off from the BBC 2 arts magazine show '' Late Night Line-Up''. Designed to celebrate the new introduction of colour to British television, i ...

'' and '' Disco 2'', produced by

Rowan Ayers Rowan Ayers (16 June 1922 – 5 January 2008) was a British television producer and executive. He was best known as producer of BBC's ''Line-Up'' and '' Late Night Line-Up'' in the 1960s. He was the originator of BBCs influential late night rock ...

. Richard Williams, "Mike Appleton obituary"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 10 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020 In 1971, Appleton became the producer of a new weekly programme on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

, ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. Appleton was responsible for the show's title and its format, including both live and pre-recorded performances by alternative rock acts, as well as interviews. According to one of its early presenters, Richard Williams: "Starting with virtually no budget and the smallest studio in the BBC’s Television Centre, Mike Appleton turned ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' into the most effective vehicle for the burgeoning rock culture of the 1970s." It continued to develop through the late 1970s and 1980s, with an expanded budget and an ability to reflect changing musical tastes. In December 1980, Appleton put together a tribute show to

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, on the evening of his death. Appleton was also responsible for ensuring that the shows were recorded for posterity rather than being discarded, as had been the previous practice.Keith Badman, "Old Grey Whistle Test'"
''Record Collector''. Retrieved 21 April 2020 The success of ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' led to Appleton working on special live shows by artists such as

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

, as well as the British end of the ''

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

'' concert in 1985, for which he won a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

. When ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' ended in 1987 after 16 years, Appleton produced the

Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was a popular-music concert staged on 11 June 1988 at Wembley Stadium, London, and broadcast to 67 countries and an audience of 600 million. Marking the forthcoming 70th birthday (18 July 1988) of the ...

concert the following year, before leaving the BBC to join The Landscape Channel. He also expanded his collection of old

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

s and gramophones, claimed to be the best collection in Europe. Appleton died in 2020, aged 83.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, Mike 1936 births 2020 deaths People educated at Wells Cathedral School British television producers BBC television producers