BBC 4 are showing episodes of "Come Dancing", from 1979 early on Sunday nights. Don't ask me why.
But it I guess it will bring back memories for some.

Presented by "Terry Wigon," with his usual bit of micky taking and poor jokes, which now and even back then, I found unnecessary. But he of coursem thought, as he was, destined for much better jobs.
I remember him in earlier series in his green velvet jacket where his job, was to describe the dresses, when Peter West was the presenter.
Ray Moore took over that job.
Many of the female dancers were between 16 and 22, (going on 35). All had waists and no tats.
Some now, must be well into the sixties, What a thought!

The standard of dancing was, extremely good and was enthusiastically applauded by the audience, but no screaming.
But ballroom dancing was so out of step with young people by then and had been for a couple of decades.

The band was led by Andy Ross, (no trace of him now on Wiki), later replaced by Glenn Miller....Well... not actually... by Ray McVay...who eventually became Glenn Miller.

The judges made my smile, the men in dinner jackets and the woman in a long dress with the handle of her handbag over one arm, walking on to the middle of the dance floor. Then, searching through the A4 size cards with numbers on them, to find the right one for their score.

Of course in 1979, the BBC, to show they were, "with it" had a disco dancing section as part of the competition in the middle of it, on the obligatory "Saturday Night Fever" illuminated floor with the flashing panels.

It looked as naff now, as it probably did back then.

Of course, last week, Home Counties South, wiped the floor with Midlands and West, which was only to be expected. This week, it was Northern Ireland that got pasted by the North West.

At its height, ten million viewers used to watch this. Then a gradual decline until it was shifted around the schedules until no one could find it and it died.

The parallel is of course Strictly Come Dancing, which was extremely popular, but the regular "improvements" the BBC have made over the years, will eventually seal its fate.
I stopped watching that four years ago.

I can remember at the age of sixteen with a couple of school friends, going to ballroom dance lessons, Frank and Peggy Spencer?
It was a way to meet girls. We only went for a few months. Less than two years later. I had my own car and opportunities to meet girls weren't a problem.