In 1976 Shirley Bassey made 6 shows for the BBC. Here is part 1 of one of these shows. The recordings took place in Great Britain and under sometimes terrible weather conditions. Also included was a song where Shirley had to sing on the back of a horse but the horse threw her off and she hurt her leg and was not able to walk for a few days. Here is a clip from a Dutch newspaper about the accident. After the accident the director decided to take this particular scene out of the show. Also in some of the scenes we see Shirley’s dog Emma.
The Sun: 3 Jul. 1976
SHIRLEY FALLS OF HER HIGH HORSE: (By Chris Kenworthy)
S h i r l e y B a s s e y climbs aboard a 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, to be taken for a spin by Lord Montagu. Another episode of her BBC television series-the first Shirley has made-is well on its way.
Shirley swears it will also be her last.
For producer Stewart Morris has devised six 50-minute shows which would tax a trained athlete.
CHOP: In one show Shirley has to ride a horse.
Shirley terrified of horses fell off, grazing her elbow on the concrete below. Then they sent her waterskiing. While two stuntmen jumped over her and tried to attack her. Nervous Shirley delivered a real karate chop to one man’s throat and almost drowned him. The car trip, at Lord Montagu’s estate at Beautiou Hants was to record The Way We Were..
NERVES: Shirley says: “I have always done one television show a year for the BBC.
It’s not the work I object to. It’s the waiting around between takes. Having to do the same thing over and over again, because somebody walked into the shot or something”.
She cools her nerves with cans of beer. She says: “I’m a beer freak. We don’t have tea-time in my house. We have beer-time.”
(Thanks to Rien for this news paperclip).
