Teesside funster Paul was actually christened Newton Daniels, but funnily enough he decided to change it to something snappier before hitting the big time. This he did through the usual channels (OP KNOCKS, WHEELTAPPERS) in the 1970s before getting his first starring show thanks to Granada, the LE-fest PAUL DANIELS' BLACKPOOL BONANZA. At this point he wasn't accompanied by The Lovely, but instead another assistant named Nikki Heard who, you won't be surprised to learn, was also his girlfriend at the time. However she later left the partnership in both senses, perhaps after reading some of his fan mail, which Newton claimed "make Mayfair and Penthouse read like Enid Blyton". Ahem. He became a national institution when he legged it over to the Beeb in 1979, and THE PAUL DANIELS MAGIC SHOW became a part of Saturday nights for some 15 years. Looking back, it reminds us of a golden age of light entertainment you just don't get anymore, although at the time, we all hated it, because it seemed to be on all the time, and was always exactly the same. And all we can really remember was Mississippi Riverboat Magic. Which was just a magic trick. On a Mississippi Riverboat. Oh, and regular appearances from his "modern face of magic" son, Martin P.

Paul didn't just do tricks, though, and throughout the '80s he diversified as a quizmaster ("Say 'Yes, Paul'"), hosting a trilogy of reliably entertaining if slight game shows, all of which had different concepts but all looked and sounded the same. ODD ONE OUT was the first, replaced in 1986 by EVERY SECOND COUNTS - or to give it it's full name, EVERY! SECOND! COUNTS! Talking points from this show were a) whether or not the contestants got all the prizes they won in the final (they didn't) and b) that fantastic twiddly bit in the closing theme to allow Newton to wish us all goodnight in as excruciatingly cheesy a way as possible. In 1994 the generic Paul Daniels Quiz Show mutated into WIPEOUT. Some would say that Paul was better at this than Lord Bob, but we disagree, as we love the bit at the end where Bob invites the contestant to look at the question card. And there was WIZBIT, of course. The Magic Show continued throughout the decade, including notorious Hallowe'en specials where he kept pretending to have killed himself, before time was called in 1994. Paul and Debbie then set up Secrets, "the most exciting nightclub in the world" - ie, it was The Paul Daniels Magic Show but with the audience sitting at tables. In the last show, Newton invited us to write to the BBC if we enjoyed the series. People did write to the BBC, but for a different reason. Since then he's been pestering student unions to come and see his wife's ballet, as well as taking his magic show around the country. And you will come and see it, won't you, come on...

The erstwhile Richard started his broadcasting career in the early days of ITV at Southern Television, before moving on to the network and in 1968 he replaced Eamonn Andrews as the anchor of WORLD OF SPORT. With his streaked hair and cravat, Dickie (as Jimmy Hill renamed him) made for a slick, go-getting alternative to Frank Bough droning away on BBC1. For nearly two decades, Dick'd be there every Saturday afternoon, leaning forwards, folding his arms and smiling at you from under his moustache, while introducing The ITV Seven, The Target Clown Diving Championships, or Monster Trucks ("Really driving those trucks!"). His finest hour came on Christmas Eve 1977 when he co-presented the show with Eric Morecambe, including a great bit where Eric read Dickie's autocue along with him, which is the funniest thing ever broadcast ("And first up is... Franz Klammer!") Dickie was also one of ITV's Super Seven commentators during the 1972 Olympics, where the TV Times boasted that husbands wouldn't have to argue with their wives over whether they watched Mark Spitz or Max Bygraves, as they could watch both. Basically because there was only about an hour of Olympics coverage all day.

WoS ended in 1985, but Dickie was still the main man for most of the big sporting occasions, fronting boxing matches and the 1988 Olympics ("Who else but cockney Reg Gutteridge!"). Without his Saturday job, Dickie had a bit more freetime to do other stuff, including C4 teatime quiz JIGSAW and, later, SPORTSMASTERS, the Saturday afternoon quiz which he also produced. And was a HTV West production, fact fans. At the end of the '80s, Dickie left ITV Sport and suffered a stroke, but thankfully he made a full recovery. He went back to work on the long-forgotten Sky Sports Gold, where he fronted BOBBY CHARLTON'S FOOTBALL SCRAPBOOL, or as it should have been called, Bobby Charlton's Football Scrapbook But Actually Presented By Dickie Davies, as Bobby did bugger all. He also anchored a mammoth 150-minute show on LWT on a Saturday afternoon in August 1998 to celebrate the channel's 30th anniversary, where he bantered with Brian Moore, cockney Reg Gutteridge, Brough Scott and Ian St John (who rather desperately pitched for work at the end - "I know ITV has a lot of football coming up..."), and he was really good at it, too. Of course, all his hair is white now.

Robin is one of those people who appeared on television for several decades, yet never really gave over the impression that he knew anything about it. He started off as a radio producer at the Beeb, but legged it to ITN when it started up in 1955, reading the news and fronting some embryonic current affairs shows. He left in 1959 to stand as Liberal candidate for Hereford, but failed to win the seat. Instead he went back to the Beeb and stayed there for the next 30 years. His biggest exposure came, of course, on Election Night, when he'd sit in a paddock smoking a huge cigar and bark at anyone who showed up, or as he put it, "I shall be performing my usual humble function". Memorable moments included the time in 1979 when he was due to appear on the Election QUESTION TIME panel ("If you have a question, send a postcard to David Dimbleby, BBC Television") but turned up late because he was on the phone. He was also about on the coverage of the Party Conferences, barking at the politicians on NATIONWIDE - there were more than just John Nott, although nobody can remember who they were. In 1979 he fronted Question Time, partly because he was whinging about not being on telly enough, and partly because they'd already booked the Greenwood Thatre to do PARKY five nights a week before that plan was vetoed by the governers, so needed to make up a programme to fill it. Robin sat around the round table for a decade, but was eventually told to stop telling the viewers to "Sleep well" at the end of the show because there were other programmes on after it. He retired in 1989 and then took his bow tie to anyone who wanted him - he was on ITV on the night of the 1992 election, and the same year also appeared on BREAKFAST NEWS during the campaign, bantering with people like Lord Jenkins and Lord Tebbit. Robin died in 2000, and it was a sad loss. May we call him brother?

Anne started her broadcasting career back in the days of ATV, where she was a roving reporter on ATV TODAY along with her soon-to-be screen husband Nick Owen. After a couple of years reporting on banger racing in Cannock or flower shows in Shrewsbury, she became one of the senior faces and in 1982, when ATV begat Central with it's revolutionary dual arrangements, she was due to be the presenter of the new East Midlands news programme from Nottingham, alongside Mr Owen again. However union problems meant that it couldn't start for absolutely ages, and by the time it did both the original hosts had left the Midlands and looked further afield. Nick went off to TV-AM and was there on the first day reading the sports news, while Anne moved over to the Beeb and got a job on NATIONWIDE. However she didn't like it much, because she was stuck on reporting duties rather than presenting, and eventually they let her co-present NEWS AFTER NOON for a month, during a deranged period when Richard Whitmore had a different sidekick (Viv Creegor, Fern Britton, Judi Lines et al) every few weeks.

After a few months at Lime Grove she returned to join Nick at TVam. Nick had been quickly promoted to main presenter thanks to Greg Dyke, and Anne joined him on the sofa to watch that jug of orange juice slowly go off. For the next three years Anne and Nick spent most mornings pointing at pictures of Princess Diana in the papers, and then reading the bingo numbers out of the papers ("A round dozen, number 12. Is that a round dozen?" "It's a dozen, in any case"). And somehow, it was compulsive viewing for millions. Nick left in 1986 and Anne continued alongside a revolving line-up of sidekicks (mostly because Nick's replacement, Adrian Brown, was dropped after six weeks) before leaving Eggcup Towers in 1988. Then it was time for the first of many reunions with Nick, fronting half-arsed chat show THE BIRTHDAY SHOW on Saturday teatimes. She also took up residence on Thursday afternoon's TV WEEKLY, which seemed to run forever, and came back to TVam for a bit to present a Sunday morning show when Frost was off. And appeared in the papers most days, partly due to her having a baby while (gasp!) unmarried.

In 1992 it was the big one - GOOD MORNING WITH ANNE AND NICK. Said show was, of course, bloody awful from day one, and everyone knew it, but the Beeb had to keep it running for four years to avoid admitting they'd made a terrible mistake. What made it different from THIS MORNING was, apparently, the news element, but this basically consisted of Anne shouting down the phone at David Mellor. And everyone only remembers the Coffee Break Love Story anyway. For the last few months it was Good Morning With Nick And Somebody Else most days (Anne once missing a show to go to her son's nativity play), yet when it was rightly axed in 1996, Anne still moaned at the Beeb for not giving them enough "support". After that she sort of faded out of the limelight, with only a few appearances on LOOSE WOMEN to remind us that she still existed. Then there was CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER and a load of stupid comments about her weight from dickhead comedians and columnists. She came over quite well, but nobody's offered her a new show yet. Well, Nick's sitting pretty on MIDLANDS TODAY, so he's busy.