Solar Eclipse 1999

Do you remember this?

A total eclipse sweeping across Europe and the Middle East on August 11, 1999 , including south-west England, where it was cloudy.

http://www.siloam.net/cornwall/01a.gif


Your reminiscences are welcome, and info on what TV did in many countries to mark the occasion, including any surviving clips.

And generally, how was television different in 1999?

ISTR at the time, VH1 played Bonnie Tyler's music video on repeat for half an hour – maybe not an hour.

But the "Bureau" reference (in the original title, "Pull down the blinds, I'm closing VH1, for an hour") came to mind because the BBC coverage in 1999 still resembles The Day Today a bit...

More info – is this true?

- Channel 5's show was largely "a disaster" , as seen later in behind-the-scenes footage?

- Only one ITV region covered it, and the rest showed a film?

- Michael Buerk or someone standing near him said something silly?


Some related threads:

Solar eclipse 2015 in the Faroe Islands
- https://tvforum.uk/tvhome/solar-eclipse-40671

And last week's U.S. Solar Eclipse 2017
- https://tvforum.uk/thenewsroom/solar-eclipse-2017-42894/

Only Westcountry covered coverage of the Eclipse, it was offered to the network but they declined and apparently later apologised to Westcountry for not taking its coverage. ITV showed a film and the break was conveniently timed for the Eclipse, to which they switched to ITN for a few minutes with John Suchet in London.

Worth noting that the Discovery Channel showed it (when they cared about this type of thing), but they came on air during the day which didn't happen normally, shock horror they interrupted the Home & Leisure channel for a couple of hours to broadcast it.

Channel 4 covered it with The Bigger Breakfast's team as The Big Eclipse. I think it involved a Bigger Breakfast style format based in Cornwall, and at the time of the eclipse itself everyone sang Night Fever.

Even the local cable TV channel in Cambridge, RedTV managed some coverage with a camera on the roof of their building in the centre of the city.

I did get fed up with them commenting how expensive the special lens was they had to purchase mind you.

ITV england took a film called "Lost in Yonkers" Alas this was the period were half the ITV companies just didn't care about its daytime line up with This morning off the air.

Up north there had local programme called Summer Discovery Ie scottish this morning type thing.

Westcountry line up that morning
09.25 Eclipse! the Final Countdown,
10.30 Eclipse live
11.30 Video Tech Eclipse Special

Followed immediately by "Here Comes the Sun".... gotta love The Big Breakfast

ITN archive has a wealth of stuff as usual. Like did you know, crazed anarchists wanted to smash up Penzance and have an "Autogeddon"? (Presumably they knew "CarMageddon" was already trademarked.)

This clip could be from Channel 4 News, do you think? Reporter's voiceover is missing, but I can't imagine it being on ITV's news. It's a 6-minute report about the previous British eclipse from 1927. Quite poignant really:

- http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/memories-shotlist-missing-news-footage/815356582


Here's the full ITN archive list, which apparently doesn't include clips with nudity or an unrelated item where Kevin Keegan said he wanted his team to eclipse 1966. (They didn't.) - http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/videos/eclipse-1999--keegan?collections=itn,itna&excludenudity=true&page=1&phrase=eclipse%201999%20-keegan&sort=best


And this is what the eclipse looked like on the radio. 'Avin it large! And getting the Pet Shop Boys to write special eclipse music:

I recently found a cassette of the Eclipse Roadshow on Radio 1. Also featured a live set from Phats and Small. The past is a foreign country...

I also remember being baffled BBC1 produced a special eclipse balloon ident, as seen into the highlights programme above, but used the St Michaels Mount one into the actual coverage. Admittedly where the coverage was coming from, but still an odd decision not to use it at the key moment. From the days when there was more money in marketing and you'd produce an ident to be used about half a dozen times on screen!

Some CBBC continuity from before and after the eclipse programme:



The BP special is on YouTube in full too. The penultimate time that version of the theme tune would be heard too (the last was a compilation just before the new series in September).

Crazy to think that the ultra bold Gill Sans font used on that 'Never look directly at the sun' strap was ever deemed acceptable.

It's for kids, man