British 90s nostalgia and shite

Imagine if CBBC rolled up at Birmingham for a week - presenters, cameras, gunge and all - and had a great big party where everyone's invited. Imagine it as a giant indoor festival for kids.

Well, it actually happened. It was the CBBC'S BIG BASH.

The Big Bash came to Birmingham every October or November, for five years, from 1994 to 1998.

Photos

I nicked some photos from www.myledbury.co.uk (don't tell anyone).

Here's a photo of Konnie Huq standing next to some other less memorable Blue Peter presenter:

The Chuckle Brothers, before their convictions:

Mr Blobby dressed as Jesus:

Otis the Aardvark screaming because he has a hand up his bum:

Some of the people from SMart, I think. The quality of the photo is too bad to tell.

These two, whatever the fuck their names were:

Zoe Ball and Toby Antis from Live & Kicking:

This guy:

And who can forget Pogman (apparently me, because I had to look him up):

Things you could do at the Big Bash

Using http://www.myledbury.co.uk/ again, I've found some other things you could see at the Big Bash:

• Ant and Dec when they were still a boy band
• Random CBBC presenters
• Gladiators Lightning and Rhino injecting themselves with steriods
• An orgy with Blue Peter's Tim Vincent, Paul Hendy, Katy Hill and Konnie Huq
• Newsround's Julie Etchingham and Chris Rogers, in the backseat of a 1994 Volvo
• Bodger and Badger smoking crack
• Z-list pop groups Code Red, Upside Down, No Sweat

The different sections of the Big Bash

The Big Bash was divided into different "worlds". Who knew at the time that we were travelling to different planets when we set foot in the Big Bash? Not me. It's a testament to how futuristic the Big Bash was that it included interplanetary travel.

Issue 77 (September 1994) of Amiga Computing Magazine says:

Featuring a series of six distinctively themed "worlds' (or the visitors to walk through that include fashion, sports and entertainment, the BBC are promising the event to be "the ultimate interactive show".

I'm not making this up. I really did find that in a magazine called Amiga Shopper. Apparently, the Amiga community were big fans of the CBBC back then. Though it's fair to say who WOULDN'T have been a fan of the Big Bash? Because it was so great.

According to www.myledbury.co.uk/ again (I have to keep referring to this site because there's no other information about the Big Bash on the internet), in 1997 there was the Little Bash, for pre-school children, the Main Stage, the Pantomime and the sports area. So they might have gotten rid of the interplanetary travel at that point.

Future world

I did some more digging. My research led me to Issue 41 of Amiga Shopper ("The magazine for hardcore Amiga enthusiasts"), which says:

The BBC's Big Bash is an exhibition that is aimed specifically at children between the ages of 7 and 14 years. Amongst other events, the exhibition will have an area called Future World. This aims to introduce children to various aspects of the latest developments in technology, including computer hardware and software. Tickets will cost £6 for children and £8 for adults - they can be purchased from the ticket hot-line on 071-323 3003.

I called the hotline number just now so I could buy some tickets but I got through to a sex worker named Janice instead. Oh well. It has been over twenty years after all and times have changed.

If you like the sound of Future World then here's a video of some Blue Peter presenters using the internet for apparently the first time in their lives:

I liked the part where they send rude and sexy messages to each other, even though that part didn't actually happen because I only imagined it.

Videos of the Big Bash

Here's another video of the Big Bash on YouTube. The video features Ant and Dec, Otis the Aardvark, and the three presenters from SMart.

The Blue Peter stand let you surf around on the information superhighway? I'm a bit confused as to how I'm supposed to surf on a highway. It sounds dangerous. Knowing my luck, I'd probably be hit by a car.

Can I just point out how much Stuart Miles looks like a Bond villain in this video:

He's even stroking a cat, just like Dr No:

And he has photos of the other Blue Peter presenters laid out on a table, as though he's killed them and the photos are his trophies:

They were so young. Why, Stuart, why??

Brummy girl

Here's a video of a girl giving a Newsround report in a brummy accent:

That girl may have been the only Brummy on telly throughout the whole of the 1990s because I don't remember seeing any other Brummies. Being from Birmingham myself, it always annoyed me there weren't more Brummies on TV. All we had was that shit yellow car called Brum and now this teenage girl.

My memories of the Big Bash

Oh yeah, so I should probably tell you about my own memories of the Big Bash. Because I actually went there, you know. I have photographic proof. Look, here's a photo of me with Dave Benson Phillips:

And here's a photo of me at the Big Bash with the snowman from The Snowman.

Here's a photo of me at Christmas wearing a Big Bash t-shirt. This t-shirt would be worth millions of pounds if I'd kept it. Which I haven't. Because I'm an idiot.

I also had this snazzy poster on my wall. I hope that proves to you how much I must have loved the Big Bash. Even though I don't really remember it that well.

Actually, I do have some memories. I remember collecting stickers, pens, useless leaflets that would go straight in the bin later, and, best of all, Weepuls (cute little hairy monsters with googly eyes and sticky feet).

I also remember playing Scrabble with a man who was the number one Scrabble player in the world, or something like that. I almost beat him (I suspect he was letting me win) until he played the word "poo" and somehow scored loads of points, thus winning the game. It's all true.

Conclusion

For five years, every October or November, Birmingham would host the Big Bash, the biggest event for children's television. It was an experiment and I don't think there's been anything like it since. So here's to you, the Big Bash, wherever you are now.