Today, the 2nd of November 2022 marks 40 Years since Channel 4 first broadcasted all the way back in 1982! HAPPY 40TH ANNIVERSARY CHANNEL 4! 🎂 4️⃣0️⃣ 🎉🎉🎉🎉
I was a 13 year old when Channel Four started broadcasting. It amazed me with Countdown, Fifteen To One, The Munsters, The Addams Family, Bewitched, Alice, The Avengers and The Human Jungle. Plus the old Universal Horror movies on a Friday and Saturday nights. In the afternoons they showed Old Mother Riley and Will Hay movies along with other classics which I still watch. And the Christmas week was a treat with some silent movies like Nosferatu and The Crowd. They were cheap to show and because they couldn't get enough adverts for the breaks we were gifted this tune. It was the first thing I downloaded on Napster and I still listen to it regularly. I wrote to them in 1982 to say how much I loved the channel and they sent me a Channel Four opening day paperweight. I have it in front of my monitor. Still.
it is genuinley one of my life goals to hear this preformed by a full live orchestra, it's magical enough as it is, live would be breathtaking. such a well constructed peice
@@andrewnewton7093it was a one-off project called The Airwave Orchestra put together by Lord David Dundas. Rumour has it everytime Channel 4 played his famous 4 notes he was paid £3.50 in royalties totalling £1000 per week!
In an age where you don't really notice TV channels coming and going (I mean - seriously, when did Dave-ja-vu virtually stop and Really start broadcasting. Never noticed!), the idea that a TV station would not only have the launch that it did but would also come with its own theme music that wasn't cheesy, would survive for ten years and be a record breaker is really humbling. Even better that the same graphic "4" is still in use even now - about thirty years on!
One of the anthems of my youth, I remember the excitement and anticipation of start of Channel 4 like it was yesterday, happy days that I miss so much.
I Remember, the first few months before Channel Four came on the Air, the Channel were creating real excitement of the Programmes that the Channel would show. The Music with the images of programmes represented the Dawning of a New Age of British Television Broadcasting. The Music in the Channel Four theme represented MORE than just music, it was a representation of a Nation's Unity on the Television Screen. Coming towards the end of 1982 (when the Channel Opened November 2nd), The Old Fashioned ...
What a great original catchy theme tune. I remember vividly as a teenager Paul Coia's opening remarks "It's a pleasure to say to you welcome to channel 4" as the UK all tuned with curiosity and anticipation to this new analogue channel at 4.41pm on Tuesday 2nd November 1982 followed by the full play of this tune. This would be a great additional orchestral piece whenever the Proms decide to do an evening in tribute to popular TV themes aswell as the now familiar and equally popular Proms film nights.
I remember the excitement in the run-up to the launch of Channel 4. People needed to get their TVs re-tuned to pick up the new signal. If you did, you could have a sticker which read "I''ve joined the I've had my set set set". I had one which I kept for many years.
Oh wow! What it was like to be a teenager growing up in the 80s, I'd give anything to go back again, channel 4 had the best programs, exciting and different...the munsters, addams family, Mr ed, Beverly hillbillies, car 54, bewitched, I dream of Jeanne...the list goes on, my memory is dull but it still reminds me of great days gone by. X
Every time this was played on Channel 4 for ten years from 1982 to 1992, David Dundas earned one grand a week. Just imagine that one grand a week for ten years! No wonder David Dundas was made a Lord, he's loaded!
It seems that Lord Dundas is a Lord by birth, not by appointment. But how can we begrudge him his lot in life when he composed this wonderful piece of music?!
For some reason, whenever I heard this song, particularly the beginning, I thought about computers! They should bring this theme song back, but I don't think they ever will. Channel 4 truly was groundbreaking, and to think that in the early days they were actually called 'Channel Bore'...
Channel 4 had been paying a little too much money to keep using this tune for their idents. On an average scale, throughout the ten years, Dundas would've got over £520,000 from this. This was why in 1992, the day after it's tenth anniversary, Fourscore was no longer used on the idents. I don't know if Dundas was payed when the tune temporarily returned in 2007 for the channel's 25th anniversary but it seems unlikely.
Toffaexe - Was it definitely the day after the tenth anniversary that Fourscore was replaced? It's just that I know they used a special version of it for the Christmas idents that year, so I always assumed that it was replaced on new year's day 1993, coinciding with Channel 4 becoming fully independent.
It was definitely dropped after the tenth anniversary. IIRC, the last use of it was in the early hours of 3rd November and reshowing the launch film with the full Fourscore track. I always thought that the music to the 1992 Christmas ident was based on the music that replaced Fourscore. They do sound very similar, so it seems likely that Fourscore was definitely dropped then before the 1992 Christmas idents appeared.
Yeah, just had a little look around and continuity from the 4th of November features the newer jingle. But the Christmas idents are confusing, one variation I can find is definitely based on the one which replaced Fourscore, but another one is highly ambiguous. It sounds so much like Fourscore, the notes are identical, but the pace is more similar to the underscore of the newer one. I have a feeling it is meant to be based on the newer jingle, but if I were David Dundas I'd have asked for my fee, because it's basically the exact same four notes just ever so slightly paced differently. I've got this version of the xmas ident on a copy of The Big Breakfast 1992 New Year's Eve special, and I've never questioned it to be anything other than a festive version of Fourscore.
And because their style of programming immensely changed after then becoming far more mainstream than they had been before and to have this piece of music come on before something like Friends or Eurotrash, it doesn't really fit.
I agree with the various comments of there's too many tv channels. I'm sure most of them would go bust if you paid for just programs you wanted to see, not a bundle of channels on Sky.
@@PeteNicholsonAnimation lol, ITV and Channel 4 relied on ( and still does ) advertising to fund their channels as well as channel 5. In the early days of Sky in the 90’s and it was an analog signal, there was a decryption card in the box that is similar to the pin we have now, but it locked you out of certain channels as you needed another card for them. Now it’s subscription based like the sports channels are, and you have to key in your pin code for shows or films that are being broadcast before the watershed that my contain sex etc.
@@jane1975 relying on advertising is fine. That means they’re bringing in enough viewers to sell ads and become profitable. What I meant was wanting to watch just the football on Sky 1 and needing to buy the “sports package” with 6 channels you’ll never watch.
the last time channel 4 used the fourscore theme was on their 10th birthday in 1992, and so, i'd like to see a video of the bbc1 laser-disc globe with the full fourscore theme tune in the background, please.
1/ Play the clip above 2/ insert two lower case "s"s between the www and your tube. 3/ refresh your browsermabob, 4/ when system loads, select "download" and choose the format you wish to save the clip in - MP3, MP4 etc. 5. when the download square pops up select "save" and off you go !. The piece should be in your download box and you can move it from there if you wish. Best wishes, Anton
These days they aim to imitate the populist cheap reality TV rubbish shown on ITV and Channel 5. Disappointing and frustrating. They have reached an all-time low with Gogglebox, a programme about people watching programmes. Ugh!
@@georgeholland2934 I think it started with the Broadcast Act of 1990, which deregulated British television, and dissolved the IBA. According to Wikipedia, this allowed for Channel 4's commercialization.
... I'm Garth Marenghi, author, dreamweaver, visionary... plus actor. You are about to enter the world of my imagination, you are entering... my darkplace.
Can you make a My Little Pony PMV of this tune? I think it will do some good for bronies like myself. I have never seen an orchestral theme like this on a PMV.
Today, the 2nd of November 2022 marks 40 Years since Channel 4 first broadcasted all the way back in 1982!
HAPPY 40TH ANNIVERSARY CHANNEL 4!
🎂
4️⃣0️⃣
🎉🎉🎉🎉
Waiting for 50 years of C5 now!
@@TheDoomb i am waiting 60 years of C6
@@Alantheguy2025technically bbc three
I was a 13 year old when Channel Four started broadcasting. It amazed me with Countdown, Fifteen To One, The Munsters, The Addams Family, Bewitched, Alice, The Avengers and The Human Jungle. Plus the old Universal Horror movies on a Friday and Saturday nights. In the afternoons they showed Old Mother Riley and Will Hay movies along with other classics which I still watch. And the Christmas week was a treat with some silent movies like Nosferatu and The Crowd. They were cheap to show and because they couldn't get enough adverts for the breaks we were gifted this tune. It was the first thing I downloaded on Napster and I still listen to it regularly. I wrote to them in 1982 to say how much I loved the channel and they sent me a Channel Four opening day paperweight. I have it in front of my monitor. Still.
it is genuinley one of my life goals to hear this preformed by a full live orchestra, it's magical enough as it is, live would be breathtaking. such a well constructed peice
I wonder who the airwave orchestra really were... 🤔
I don't know why channel 4 don't still use it from time to time. It's too good to sit in their archive!
It was because they didn't want to pay the royalties
I totally agree with that.💯
@@andrewnewton7093it was a one-off project called The Airwave Orchestra put together by Lord David Dundas. Rumour has it everytime Channel 4 played his famous 4 notes he was paid £3.50 in royalties totalling £1000 per week!
One of the tracks I remember most from when I was young: always good to hear it.
This is a classic. One of the best channel themes of all time.
In an age where you don't really notice TV channels coming and going (I mean - seriously, when did Dave-ja-vu virtually stop and Really start broadcasting. Never noticed!), the idea that a TV station would not only have the launch that it did but would also come with its own theme music that wasn't cheesy, would survive for ten years and be a record breaker is really humbling.
Even better that the same graphic "4" is still in use even now - about thirty years on!
Your really sad m8!
@@samorra7123 nah he's nkt fuck off
And as the countdown to a brand new channel ends, a brand new countdown begins.
Richard Whiteley. I miss him so much. Those jackets!
AND. THIS. IS. 5.
I was 16 when chanel 4 started and loved all their thene tunes, fourscore, chanel 4 news and brookside
One of the anthems of my youth, I remember the excitement and anticipation of start of Channel 4 like it was yesterday, happy days that I miss so much.
I Remember, the first few months before Channel Four came on the Air, the Channel were creating real excitement of the Programmes that the Channel would show.
The Music with the images of programmes represented the Dawning of a New Age of British Television Broadcasting.
The Music in the Channel Four theme represented MORE than just music, it was a representation of a Nation's Unity on the Television Screen. Coming towards the end of 1982 (when the Channel Opened November 2nd), The Old Fashioned ...
Happy 40th Birthday and Anniversary Channel 4, and to another 40 to come!
What a great original catchy theme tune. I remember vividly as a teenager Paul Coia's opening remarks "It's a pleasure to say to you welcome to channel 4" as the UK all tuned with curiosity and anticipation to this new analogue channel at 4.41pm on Tuesday 2nd November 1982 followed by the full play of this tune.
This would be a great additional orchestral piece whenever the Proms decide to do an evening in tribute to popular TV themes aswell as the now familiar and equally popular Proms film nights.
Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to say to you: Welcome to Channel 4!
(Music playing)
The Good afternoon sentence was a bit of an Scottish dialect.
@@test-ru2jo it was Pual Coia
@@DJDeryn Mr Coia is the most handsome narrators on Channel 4.
He was the host of BBC 2's quiz show Catchword, and also presented Pebble Mill at One!
This is a classic as far as I'm concerned
One of the most well known tracks in British television history
Right next to Best Endeavours
it's a not a song.... a song must have singing
It’s not a song if it doesn’t have words!!! It’s an instrumental piece of music!
only for certain generations
Fourscore is back
Yes, I've heard it on E4 a few times
Happy 40th Birthday Channel 4
I remember the excitement in the run-up to the launch of Channel 4. People needed to get their TVs re-tuned to pick up the new signal. If you did, you could have a sticker which read "I''ve joined the I've had my set set set". I had one which I kept for many years.
Oh wow! What it was like to be a teenager growing up in the 80s, I'd give anything to go back again, channel 4 had the best programs, exciting and different...the munsters, addams family, Mr ed, Beverly hillbillies, car 54, bewitched, I dream of Jeanne...the list goes on, my memory is dull but it still reminds me of great days gone by. X
Beautiful piece of music !!!
23' Just gives you goosebumps
Superb music
I can confirm in 2018 that Fourscore, albeit remixed, is back.
The new idents featuring the new Fourscore were actually introduced mid 2017.
TehMondasianSpartan I thought it was October?
An E4 ident used the Fourscore theme as well
Every time this was played on Channel 4 for ten years from 1982 to 1992, David Dundas earned one grand a week. Just imagine that one grand a week for ten years! No wonder David Dundas was made a Lord, he's loaded!
It seems that Lord Dundas is a Lord by birth, not by appointment.
But how can we begrudge him his lot in life when he composed this wonderful piece of music?!
@@lewisclark1122 It was orchestrated by Rick Wentworth. David wrote the 4 notes.
Channel 4 had urd own unique set of whom came to be very well known and respected continuity announcèrs
I hope channel 4 goes 4k when it's 40th comes up...
DUN DUN DU-DUN!
Ladies and gentlemen, *4 fucking notes on a loop* makes a good track. And for idents at that!
fourscore is a lovely piece, its it's such a burgeoning and expectant tune, must've been a small fortune
Rather than pay a lump sum for the track, Channel 4 paid royalties every time they used it.
@@GryphLane Apparently it amounted to £1000 per week to David Dundas, as such it was dropped in 1993.
They need to bring this back.
But they kind of do now
The piano-led section after 2:07 reminds me of Bat Out of Hell.
I can agree with that... It sounds like it, only without Meat Loaf singing...!
@@MrDan1466 You're right! It does! You could make up some Bat Out of Hell-esque lyrics to go with it!
Lovely piece of music.
Its Channel 4's Birthday tomorrow... mine too! Happy 39th Birthday 4!
soon 40th
For some reason, whenever I heard this song, particularly the beginning, I thought about computers! They should bring this theme song back, but I don't think they ever will. Channel 4 truly was groundbreaking, and to think that in the early days they were actually called 'Channel Bore'...
ua-cam.com/video/2Ei_XdwSghQ/v-deo.html
Great memories.
4 score love it
True, funny and even a bit of fourscore thrown in for good measure. Cheers
It's classic. It's also very 1982...if that makes sense
I love 4score, I wish that C4 news had used this. I LOVE C4
I think it was money well spent. For four notes it's very memorable.
David Dundas also composed the 1989 and 1999 ITV Generic themes.
yeah, David Dumbass is good isn't he?
MondySpartan Also did Meridian’s ident theme too.
@@jane1975 so did Peter Gibbon-Fischer
@@trollface1994 Probably the later ones with the "Spirit of idents which Anglia Television also had, the early launch ones were Dundas".
@@jane1975 I made ''Peter Gibbon-Fischer'' up :)
Just goes to show how people take content people write here as being for real.
Best theme EVER!
Amazing
what a banger.
Good one
I love ❤️ it
That's quite clever, 4 notes in sequence for channel 4! Is that the same David Dundas of " I put my blue jeans on" fame?
I had no idea that the bloke who wrote the pop song Jeans On also wrote this masterpiece
Nice music.
Can someone please upload the slow reggae tune they used to have with the melancholy clarinet? Can't find it anywhere. :(
This is a pretty hard theme for a TV channel.
Channel 4 had been paying a little too much money to keep using this tune for their idents. On an average scale, throughout the ten years, Dundas would've got over £520,000 from this. This was why in 1992, the day after it's tenth anniversary, Fourscore was no longer used on the idents. I don't know if Dundas was payed when the tune temporarily returned in 2007 for the channel's 25th anniversary but it seems unlikely.
I wonder if they are still paying him as they brought the Fourscore music back for their idents
Toffaexe - Was it definitely the day after the tenth anniversary that Fourscore was replaced? It's just that I know they used a special version of it for the Christmas idents that year, so I always assumed that it was replaced on new year's day 1993, coinciding with Channel 4 becoming fully independent.
It was definitely dropped after the tenth anniversary. IIRC, the last use of it was in the early hours of 3rd November and reshowing the launch film with the full Fourscore track. I always thought that the music to the 1992 Christmas ident was based on the music that replaced Fourscore. They do sound very similar, so it seems likely that Fourscore was definitely dropped then before the 1992 Christmas idents appeared.
Yeah, just had a little look around and continuity from the 4th of November features the newer jingle. But the Christmas idents are confusing, one variation I can find is definitely based on the one which replaced Fourscore, but another one is highly ambiguous. It sounds so much like Fourscore, the notes are identical, but the pace is more similar to the underscore of the newer one. I have a feeling it is meant to be based on the newer jingle, but if I were David Dundas I'd have asked for my fee, because it's basically the exact same four notes just ever so slightly paced differently. I've got this version of the xmas ident on a copy of The Big Breakfast 1992 New Year's Eve special, and I've never questioned it to be anything other than a festive version of Fourscore.
And because their style of programming immensely changed after then becoming far more mainstream than they had been before and to have this piece of music come on before something like Friends or Eurotrash, it doesn't really fit.
I agree with the various comments of there's too many tv channels. I'm sure most of them would go bust if you paid for just programs you wanted to see, not a bundle of channels on Sky.
I would always watch Dave!
@@davidtownson1476 Same here. Also, love getting a reply 8 years after a comment!
@@PeteNicholsonAnimation lol, ITV and Channel 4 relied on ( and still does ) advertising to fund their channels as well as channel 5. In the early days of Sky in the 90’s and it was an analog signal, there was a decryption card in the box that is similar to the pin we have now, but it locked you out of certain channels as you needed another card for them. Now it’s subscription based like the sports channels are, and you have to key in your pin code for shows or films that are being broadcast before the watershed that my contain sex etc.
@@jane1975 relying on advertising is fine. That means they’re bringing in enough viewers to sell ads and become profitable.
What I meant was wanting to watch just the football on Sky 1 and needing to buy the “sports package” with 6 channels you’ll never watch.
Wales never got to hear this great track. Wales had S4C(S Pedwar Ec)
I think certain parts of Wales had Channel 4 and S4C
I Love My Train He Loves His Train
I like this video it good
the last time channel 4 used the fourscore theme was on their 10th birthday in 1992, and so, i'd like to see a video of the bbc1 laser-disc globe with the full fourscore theme tune in the background, please.
They use 'Fourscore' theme until January 1, 1993 (playing at closedown on New Year's Eve for the last time) with baroque-like remix
They brought it back for It's A Sin last year.
welcome to classic channel 4 four score .
Why Matt Berry didn’t cover this on his Television Themes album befuddles me so much...
It was at the start of each episode of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace!
He’d need to pay David Dundas £3.50
This sounds like a much earlier piece of music, as if it's from the 50s/60s era. Definitely not something from the 1980s.
Recorded at Odyssey studio and mixed at Utopia during August/September 1982 by me. John Mackswith.
The last time Channel 4 used 'Fourscore' wasn't on Wednesday, 30 December 1992, it was actually in the early hours of Tuesday, 3 November 1992.
And at last, Fourscore Returns.
Ok, but I know they kept it on Channel 4 Video VHS releases until 1999
Makes the hairs stand up...!
lost forever
Certainly starts with a punch
-and seven years ago-
I’m guessing the theme used for this long during test broadcasts before the launch of Channel 4?
Channel 4 used library music & 1Khz tone for their testcard, not fourscore.
Sean B158 ok
Sean B158 I know channel 4 and E4 use it now - albeit it does sound a bit different now tho
@@jackcrawford3921 E4 used Fourscore for one ident
@@ziyaadjamil2324 yeah I know but thanks
This Song Looks Like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Fermeture Credits Theme!!!! #WeDoWoW
Hard to believe this was written by the same guy who wrote "Jeans On".
This is the most modern orchestra or something
The composer was paid per play, or part play.
The theme played every 15 minutes for 25 years.
Can somebody send me this song please because it is amazing and I did have it before but now it as gone, because of my PC crashed on me. :)
1/ Play the clip above
2/ insert two lower case "s"s between the www and your tube.
3/ refresh your browsermabob,
4/ when system loads, select "download" and choose the format you wish to save the clip in - MP3, MP4 etc.
5. when the download square pops up select "save" and off you go !.
The piece should be in your download box and you can move it from there if you wish.
Best wishes,
Anton
antonincorsham1 I have tried that and it did not work for me, so is there another way to download this song. :)
use clip converter, it's a free website. www.clipconverter.cc
where's the video?
Welcome welcome welcome home to ITV.. oh.. sorry ;)
The Mike Sammes Singers, I do believe, sang that one
Was this a synthesised orchestra or was it a live recording? The piano solo sounded genuine...
It was indeed a live recording Ben. Engineered by me. John Mackswith.
First time in stereo? When did they stop using it?
Channel 4 used to be ground breaking
These days they aim to imitate the populist cheap reality TV rubbish shown on ITV and Channel 5. Disappointing and frustrating. They have reached an all-time low with Gogglebox, a programme about people watching programmes. Ugh!
@@georgeholland2934 I think it started with the Broadcast Act of 1990, which deregulated British television, and dissolved the IBA. According to Wikipedia, this allowed for Channel 4's commercialization.
This has a James Horner-esque vibe.
I have the 7" single
this is channel four
You are watching the work of Martin Lambie-nairn, who sadly dies on Christmas day
what's the exact date channel 4 last used 'fourscore' as an interval track?
I see it as a 'Bohemian Rhapsody' for the 1980s - the song is broken up the same way as Freddie Mercury did in 'Bohemian Rhapsody' back in 1975...
Yes, but I reckon Walt Disney could have made an animated short film in 'Fantasia' - now that would work...!
@blackjackaug or you could just get a youtube to MP3 converter :D
when did DAVID DUNDAS ware his blue jeans
... I'm Garth Marenghi, author, dreamweaver, visionary... plus actor. You are about to enter the world of my imagination, you are entering... my darkplace.
How fivescore from channel 5
to produce
The best TV theme ever? They should just bring the original ident and theme back than the crap they've got now.
vaporwaaaaaaave
not even close babyyyyyy
You can't vaporwave Fourscore. There's no point in doing so. There's no way to mock consumerism with Fourscore.
@@NaviciaAbbot you could vaporwave Fourscore II though.
@@TheGerkuman Touché
Can I Get Fourscore As Your Ringtone Please!
Text UKTV1 To 94948
@@blakewilliams6051 you seriously need help
I can imagine this being on a smash bros. game
© Channel Four Television Corporation 2004
2004??????
Channel 4 forgot what made them watchable
RIP headphone users
Not me
DAVID DUNDAS,
GOT NO ROCK CAKES,
IT DON'T WORRY ME NONE BRO.
アリスバトン
Can you make a My Little Pony PMV of this tune? I think it will do some good for bronies like myself. I have never seen an orchestral theme like this on a PMV.
“Good afternoon. It is pleasure to say to you, welcome to My Little Pony: FiM!”
NO
What a sad mess Channel 4 has become.
Hard to believe this was written by the same guy who wrote "Jeans On".
why
@@rick182z It sounds too good