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''Vision On'' was a British children's

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

programme, shown on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

from 1964 to 1976 and designed specifically for children with hearing impairment.

Concept and production

''Vision On'' was conceived and developed by

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...

producers

Ursula Eason Ursula Vernon Eason (19 August 1910 – 25 December 1993) was a BBC radio broadcaster, television producer and administrator, and a pioneer of television programmes for deaf children in the 1950s and '60s. Eason joined the BBC in 1933 as th ...

and Patrick Dowling to replace a monthly series ''For Deaf Children'' (1952–64), a programme paced slowly enough for children to read captions and subtitles. It was noted in surveys that a favourite for deaf children was ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', due to its lively and fast-moving format and that even the profoundly deaf could still enjoy the music's lower frequency notes. There was initial disagreement as to whether lip-reading or

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...

would be more appropriate. Eventually it was decided that, since the new programme was intended as entertainment rather than education, communication would be entirely visual, the amount of text would be severely limited and, except for a few repeated statements, speech would be abandoned altogether. The title ''Vision On'' referred to the illuminated sign in studios indicating that cameras were live. Normally another sign "Sound On" would follow, but the titles for ''Vision On'' deliberately omitted this. The programme's logo is made up from the handwritten words of the title and their reflection, stylised into an animated character. The aim of the programme was to entertain but also to encourage imagination, with a fast-paced flow of contrasting ideas, both sane and silly. This mixture was an apparent success as the series ran for twelve years and, while retaining a commitment to the deaf, attracted a wider following and gained several awards including the international

Prix Jeunesse Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

and the BAFTA Award for Specialised Programmes (Patrick Dowling 1974).

Presenters

A full list of contributors can be found, but the main presenters were: * Pat Keysell: an actress who also taught deaf children *

Tony Hart Norman Antony Hart (15 October 1925 – 18 January 2009),Debrett's People of Today 2008, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2007. known professionally as Tony Hart, was an English artist best known for his work in educating children in art through his role ...

: artist, who made pictures in a variety of sizes and media, and encouraged children to submit their own paintings to "The Gallery", which they did by the thousands *Ben Benison and

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the lon ...

(credited as Sylveste McCoy):

mime artist A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium ...

es *

Wilf Lunn Wilfred Makepeace Lunn (born 1942 in Rastrick, West Yorkshire, England) is an English inventor, prop maker and TV presenter. He is best known for his regular appearances on the 1960s and 1970s UK children's television show '' Vision On''. Early ...

: eccentric inventor of equally eccentric machines *David Cleveland: appeared in film sequences as the Prof

Segments

Besides the scenes with Hart, Keysell and the others doing artwork (which in later years appeared on the screen as the artwork being made without any hands), ''Vision On'' had many memorable segments: *"The Gallery" – A section consisting of artwork sent into the show by viewers, with the name and age of the artist being shown alongside the artwork. Often the artwork shown on a specific show coincided with the theme of the show. At the end of this segment, Keysell would thank everyone for sending in their pictures and apologize for being unable to return them, but did state there was "a prize for any that we show". However, it remains unknown as to what exactly the prize was. *"The Burbles" – A couple of unseen people living inside a

grandfather clock A grandfather clock (also a longcase clock, tall-case clock, grandfather's clock, or floor clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are common ...

who converse in

speech bubbles Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a char ...

, mainly telling puns. Occasionally they are heard speaking the lines as if they are underwater, but other times there are just the speech bubbles. *"The Prof" – A man in a white lab coat (aka film-makers David Cleveland, Tony Amies and David Wyatt) who is usually outdoors doing various humorous things. *"Humphrey the Tortoise" – Much like the Burbles, Humphrey talks of something specific (usually a pun or joke) either to himself or someone else. His speech, as well as the other person's if there is one, is shown on screen with no audio. *"The Digger" – A "cut-out" cartoon man designed and animated by Bill Mather and

George Dunning George Garnett Dunning (November 17, 1920 – February 15, 1979) was a Canadian filmmaker and animator. He is known for animating and directing the 1968 film inspired by the Beatles, '' Yellow Submarine''. Biography Dunning was born in Toron ...

. Other Animators, Bob Baker, Dave Martin and Laurie Booth. Each week on a construction site he digs into the dirt with a shovel until something interesting is dug up. *"The Animated Clock" – An animated

cuckoo clock A cuckoo clock is, typically, a pendulum clock that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings and open and close their beaks while leaning forwards ...

that is either showing signs of trouble or whose parts come to life like a human being, sometimes it would also feature a small animated man wandering around a surreal animated world and would interact with the clock's bird. *"The Woofumpuss" – One running gag in later episodes involved one of the cast members frantically chasing a fuzzy worm trying to catch it to no avail and occasionally messing up the artwork of Hart and Keysell. *"Aardman" - Various Clay animated segments created by

Peter Lord Peter Lord CBE (born 1953) is an English animator, director, producer and co-founder of the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay-animated films and shorts, particularly those featuring p ...

and

David Sproxton David Sproxton, (born 6 January 1954) is a British entrepreneur, best known as one of the co-founders, with Peter Lord, of the Aardman Animations studio. Sproxton was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) on 17 June 20 ...

, including the Greeblies, who served as early precursors of their later creation,

Morph Morph may refer to: Biology * Morph (zoology), a visual or behavioral difference between organisms of distinct populations in a species * Muller's morphs, a classification scheme for genetic mutations * "-morph", a suffix commonly used in tax ...

, and Aard-man, a superhero whose name would later become the name of Lord and Sproxton's company,

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay ani ...

Music

Despite its intended hearing-impaired audience, the show made extensive use of music for the benefit of hearing viewers watching the show. Notable themes included: * The opening theme was "Accroche-Toi, Caroline" by

Caravelli Caravelli (born Claude Vasori; 12 September 1930, Paris, France – 1 April 2019, Cannet, France) was a French orchestra leader, composer and arranger of orchestral music. Biography The son of an Italian father and a French mother, Vasori was ...

(recorded by the Paris Studio Group). * The closing theme was "

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

" in the versions recorded by

Al Hirt Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of "Java" and the accompanying album '' Honey in the Horn'' (1963), and for the them ...

and

Bert Kaempfert Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the mus ...

. * "The Gallery" – " Left Bank Two" by Wayne Hill (recorded by The Noveltones) for

De Wolfe Music De Wolfe Limited (previously known as Music de Wolfe, often referred to as De Wolfe Music) is a British music production company, recognised as the originator of what has become known as library music. De Wolfe Music was established by Meyer de Wo ...

is best remembered for this sequence. When ''

Take Hart ''Take Hart'' is a British children's television programme about art, presented by Tony Hart. It took over from ''Vision On'', and ran from 1977 until 1983. The programme featured Hart and the animated Plasticine character Morph, and other cha ...

'' started, "Left Bank Two" became the opening theme tune and "

Cavatina Cavatina is a musical term, originally meaning a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air. It is now frequently applied to any simple, melodious air, as distinguished from brilliant arias or recitatives ...

" became the "Gallery" music for the show instead. * "The Burbles" theme "Goofy" by Cliff Johns. * "Humphrey the tortoise" theme "Merry Ocarina" by Pierre Arvay. * "Animated Clock" scenes used "Gurney Slade" by Max Harris (the theme music from the TV series ''

The Strange World of Gurney Slade ''The Strange World of Gurney Slade'' is a surreal six-part British television comedy series devised by Anthony Newley and made by ATV, first transmitted by the ITV network between 22 October and 26 November 1960. Newley devised the central co ...

'') and "Keystone Capers" by Eric Peters. * "The Digger" music was "Elephant Dance" by Harry Pitch. * "The Prof" – the two most commonly used themes were "Comedy Cocktails 2" and "Comedy Cocktails 4" by Paul Gerard, from the Chappell recorded music library. * "Interlude" music was "Rampage" by Mike Vickers from the KPM music library. * Picture montages were often accompanied by "Drumdramatics No.13" by Robert Farnon, from the Chappell Music library.

Co-productions

''Vision On'' was co-produced in France with ORTF, in Canada with

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

under the title ''Déclic'' and in Sweden as ''Ögon Blik''. It was also shown in Israel under the title "קסים קסם" (Magic Magic).

Distribution

The programme was shown in many other countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden & Switzerland. In the United States, many

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

stations, and a few commercial stations, aired ''Vision On'' during the 1970s and 1980s. Some of these stations, such as

KOMO-TV KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue-licensed Univision affiliate KUNS-TV (channel 51). Both stations share studios w ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, taped their own episodes, which were seen along with the BBC-produced shows.

End of production

Series' producer Dowling eventually found that the flow of new ideas became more and more difficult to sustain, and after twelve years decided to close the programme while it was still at its height. Dowling and Hart continued to make arts programmes, starting with ''

'' (which kept "The Gallery" segment), continuing with ''

Hartbeat ''Hartbeat'' is a Children's BBC television arts programme presented by Tony Hart. It was broadcast between 1984 and 1993. The series was a follow on from ''Take Hart'' and taught children how to design art features and use everyday items to ma ...

'' during the 1980s and 1990s, and then the BBC's current children's art programme, ''

SMart Smart or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * '' SMart'', a children's television se ...

''.

Series guide

*Series 1: 29 editions from 6 March 1964 – 29 October 1965 *Series 2: 6 editions from 5 January 1966 – 9 February 1966 *Series 3: 6 editions from 21 September 1966 – 26 October 1966 *Series 4: 7 editions from 1 February 1967 – 16 March 1967 *Series 5: 6 editions from 5 July 1967 – 9 August 1967 *Series 6: 12 editions from 27 December 1967 – 20 March 1968 *Series 7: 11 editions from 3 June 1969 – 12 August 1969 *Series 8: 9 editions from 22 April 1970 – 17 June 1970 *Series 9: 9 editions from 22 September 1970 – 17 November 1970 *Series 10A: 9 editions from 23 February 1971 – 27 April 1971 *Series 10B: Best of Vision On: 6 editions from 27 July 1971 – 31 August 1971 *Series 11?: 16 editions from 14 December 1971 – 4 April 1972 *Series 12?: 16 editions from 5 December 1972 – 27 March 1973 *Series 13?: 16 editions from 1 January 1974 – 16 April 1974 *Series 13: 16 editions from 31 December 1974 – 22 April 1975 *Series 14: 14 editions from 10 February 1976 – 11 May 1976

Archival Status

Over 70 episodes of the series are lost or have most footage missing, but all episodes from series 9 onwards are known to exist.Vision On.List of missing episodes.
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Tie-in publication

* ''Vision On: A Book of Nonsense with Some Sense In It'', published by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1970. SBN: 563 09454 0. :No author's name given on cover, but publishing notes read '© The British Broadcasting Corporation and Pat Keysell 1970'.

References

''Radio Times'', 1964–1977

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0072579, title=Vision On
BBC News Magazine – "A bit of vibraphone nostalgia"
BBC children's television shows British television series with live action and animation 1964 British television series debuts 1976 British television series endings 1960s British children's television series 1970s British children's television series Sign language television shows Deaf culture in the United Kingdom British Sign Language English-language television shows Television shows about deaf people