Long before Strictly Come Dancing, we were transfixed by sequins and sparkles on the dance floor
“Every sequin sewn on by and suggested that the glamour glamour but it was still hand.” Say that to any Brit of ballroom dancing would be a over a certain age and they welcome relief from the austerity of will smile fondly and think the war years. Although the show of Come Dancing. First shown on the originally involved demonstrations BBC in 1949, when a series of dancers by dance professionals, the idea of stepped out onto the dance floor at regional contests was added in 1953. the Lyceum Ballroom in Westminster, it remained a firm fixture on our screens until 1998. In fact, it was such a big part of our day-to-day life that it inspired numerous comedy skits, from Benny Hill as presenter Terry Wobegone to Rod Hull and Emu’s Come Prancing. It was, of course, also the forerunner to Strictly Come Dancing.
But it would never have seen the light of day if it wasn’t for creator Eric Morley, who managed Mecca dance halls and later went on to found the Miss World pageant competition. He saw the show as a great way to promote his dance halls,
It was the forerunner to Strictly
It was then that the series really took off, complete with couples, formation teams, judges, scoreboards, a galaxy of presenters and, naturally, the costumes…
By 1954, dancing had become so beloved in Britain that ordinary people across the UK were regularly throwing themselves into ballroom, performing the likes of the foxtrot, waltz and tango. And incredibly, over £25million a year (£700million in today’s money) was being spent on admissions tickets to dance halls and social events. As Strictly’s head judge Shirley Ballas said, “[Come Dancing] didn’t have the celebrity a great ambassador for ballroom dancing.”
Of course, on Come Dancing the dancers were amateurs and so those amazing dresses –with their layers of sugar-stiffened net petticoats, sequins, rhinestones and feathers –had been lovingly made at home, often by their mothers. No wonder they were described in such detail. And those descriptions were made by just about everybody in TV history. The Come Dancing presenter roll call of honour included Keith Fordyce, Sylvia Peters, Judith
Chalmers, David Jacobs, Pete Murray, Michael Aspel, Rosemarie Forde, Angela Rippon and even Noel Ed
