Andrew started off in showbiz fairly early on in life, once being voted Young Magician Of The Year. His conjuring skills, together with his clean-cut image and ability to do so-so impressions, was enough to get him some bookings on LWT variety shows, and in 1985 he joined the cast of TVC favourite COPY CATS. In the first run he found himself behind (literally, in the V-shaped seating arrangement for the closing song) the main stars Gary Wilmot and Bobby Davro, but both left for pastures new during the run and as such Andrew found himself as one of the lead figures. Uniquely among the cast, he co-wrote some of the show, while he at least showed some ingenuity in his impressions by "doing" Kevin Turvey, although to be honest we're not sure what the purpose of doing an impression of a comedian's 'character' is, because you can't do anything with them that the actual comedian couldn't do themselves, what with them being fictional and everything. Ah well, they were simpler times. In 1987, he also recorded seemingly hundreds of episodes of ANDREW O'CONNOR'S JOKE MACHINE for Border Television (alas, this time it wasn't an Outside Broadcast) where he'd join an audience of kids to swap one-liners and do magic tricks in Andrew's Magic Circle. And he also sung the theme tune live in the studio, which is what you want. Then it was two series of ON THE WATERFRONT (see our entry on The Nolans).

The obvious next step was, of course, the quiz show. His first foray was replacing Jeremy Beadle on CHAIN LETTERS during its brief journey into prime time (or at least, opposite EastEnders on Thursday nights) in 1988 although, as with most of the other occupants of the quizmaster's chair-cum-ejector seat on that show, he lasted just one series. A better bet was TALKABOUT, where he bounded about in a waistcoat watching couples attempt to guess the words (when Andrew didn't accidentally reveal them himself, as in one famous out-take). Then a switch to the Beeb saw him land a Saturday night gig with ONE TO WIN in 1991. Alas, this simple regurgitation of Bob's Full House was always going to suffer in comparison to Lord Bob's incarnation, and the horrendous set and theme tune didn't help. After a few quiet years, he returned to daytimes with THE ALPHABET GAME, which he also devised and produced through his new production company, Objective, which specialised in magic and quizzes. Eventually he moved behind the camera and is now responsible for the various shows starring Paul Zenon, Paul McKenna and, just recently, Derren Brown. Alas, in none of those shows do the hosts sing the theme tune, which is a shame.

Des started off in showbiz in the post-war years as a Redcoat, before playing the various variety theatres where he'd sing and tell jokes. The name was very important - Des kept his real name to emphasise the fact that he was simply Des from the East End who happened to sing and tell jokes. This easy charm got him his first TV gigs in the late fifties, fronting SPOT THE TUNE and the odd episode of SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM. Lew Grade then gave him his own sketch-cum-variety show, which ran for absolutely ages. Later in the run he made a sustained attempt to crack America, with the show, like most ATV series, being screened on both sides of the Atlantic and with American input both in front of and behind the camera. This wasn't a huge success, but he was at least responsible for one of the first TV appearances for The Muppets. His career was helped even more when Morecambe and Wise decided to devote almost their entire act to taking the piss out of him, which Des wisely played along with and thus established himself as a professional Really Nice Bloke.

In the 70s, Des grew tired of the old format and, inspired by his appearances on US talk shows, asked Lew Grade whether he could front a chat show instead. Lew was lukewarm, so instead he defected to the Beeb and launched DES O'CONNOR TONIGHT in 1977, before taking the whole thing over to Thames in 1981. The format's stayed the same ever since - great big huge guest stars mixed with new upcoming comedians, who would get fed their lines by Des and he'd then guffaw at their scripted answers. If it was corny, it didn't matter, because it was always an hour of solid entertainment, thanks to Des' easy charm and slick manner - "We've got Barbra Stresiand in here tonight!" Also notable was the producers' ability to book some notable guests - Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno made very early UK appearances on the show. However an experiment with broadcasting the show live in 1986 was aborted after one series thanks to Oliver Reed, Stan Boardman and Freddie Starr all being booked on one show. Nevertheless, it remained bolted to eight o'clock on Wednesdays for years, and we'd be happy if it was there every single week, forever.

Des' extra-cirricular work included TAKE YOUR PICK, which he fronted from 1992 with a succession of sidekicks - Jodie Wilson, his current partner, was the first and the Blakeney Twins were the worst. That was always great fun, but POT OF GOLD, a hybrid of quiz and talent show, was a bit of a mess. Currently Des is fronting TV Cream's gran's fave TODAY WITH DES AND MEL, which we really like because it's really free-wheeling and Des has a real rapport with his co-host and the audience, and it's exactly what we want to see over lunch. And we'd like to see Jerry Seinfeld back on it, too.

Those who complain that BBC2 isn't as inventive or risk-taking as it once was may have forgotten that Tom O'Connor had numerous series of stand-up and sketches on the channel, as recently as 1987. That's not to disrepect Tom, of course - indeed the self-styled 'Mr Clean of comedy''s greatest talent in his inoffensiveness. He started off as a maths teacher before his slick stand-up routine was a success on OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS, and from there he was added to the line-up of THE COMEDIANS. But where were the quizzes? Right here. First off he got the job of compering various variety series like NIGHT OUT AT THE LONDON CASINO, LONDON NIGHT OUT and WEDNESDAY AT EIGHT, and the latter included a quiz section called NAME THAT TUNE. When it was spun off into its own show, Tom was the logical choice of host, and as recent Challenge? repeats have proved, he was damn good at it. Famously his phrase "Name... That Tune!" came about because he needed to leave enough time for the orchestra to get ready, and that just summed up how slick and ultra-professional he was on that show. When he was replaced by Lionel Blair, it was shit.

Tom also replaced Fred Dinenage on GAMBIT, which at least meant you didn't have to squirm with embarrassment while watching it, as well as fronting I'VE GOT A SECRET, THE ZODIAC GAME (which he co-presented with Russell Grant) and, in later years, 9.25 staple CROSS WITS ("His hobbies are trout fishing and, wait for it... crosswords!"). A rare misfire was notorious New Year's Eve show LIVE INTO 85, which was broadcast live from Gleneagles and was a complete and utter shambles. The various cock-ups meant Tom had to continually fill in, such as when Chic Murray couldn't see his mark and simply stood staring into the camera for a few minutes, before Tom simply went "Chic Murray there!" (presumably leading some viewers to think that Chic had decided to move into a new abstract area of comedy). There was also travelling daytime series THE TOM O'CONNOR ROADSHOW, broadcast live from a different provinicial theatre every day throughout 1987 (apart from one day when they couldn't do it because of snow) and proto-That's Showbusiness A QUESTION OF ENTERTAINMENT. Nowadays he combines after-dinner engagements with regular appearances in COUNTDOWN's Dictionary Corner (where he's always immaculately turned out) and playing Father Tom in the odd episode of DOCTORS.

All three of the trandem-riding trio, THE GOODIES, have worked as TV presenters both during and after their stint in the legendary series, although some have had more success than others. While the show was still going on, Bill fronted SATURDAY BANANA, the Southern-produced morning show that ran in various regions during the late 70s when much of the rest of the nation was already under the spell of Tiswas. Bill says that while he was on the Banana he tried to be more 'adult' than your normal kids' TV presenter, and not hide the frequent cock-ups. The two most famous things about the 'nana, which may or may not be true, are that a) it was supposed to be called the Saturday Bonanza, but someone misread it on a memo, and b) Southern never bothered to tape it when it was going out, although apparently a tape does exist of a dress rehearsal (we hope, anyway, given it's said to be awful).

Bill's other telly work has included FAX and the 1985 Sunday afternoon faux-It's A Knockout game show pilot FAIR GAME, which he hosted with the dream team of Nick Wilton and Sam Fox and is responsible for one of the most gormless answers in quiz history (Wilton: "What's the name of Dick Whittington's cat?" Contestant: "Er, ten o'clock."). Alas a series was not forthcoming. Into the 90s he fronted CITV environmental show ASK ODDIE, and in recent years has colonised Friday nights on BBC2 with shows about birdwatching and nature. His most recent TV appearances were an incredibly reluctant appearance on THIS IS YOUR LIFE, and being urinated on by a cow on BREAKFAST.