The Grand Knockout Tournament
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The Grand Knockout Tournament (also known as It's a Royal Knockout) was a one-off charity event which took place on 15 June 1987, and was shown on British television on 19 June 1987 (
The event was staged on the lakeside lawn of the Alton Towers stately home and theme park in Staffordshire.
Although regarded as a failure, a similar show without royal involvement was made the following year at Walt Disney World in Florida, featuring teams of celebrities representing the United Kingdom, USA, and Australia.
Synopsis
The show featured members of the British royal family alongside various sporting and showbiz celebrities. The celebrity participants were drawn from the realms of music, sport, television, comedy and film:
Team One
- Duke of Edinburgh Award:
- Toyah Willcox
- Barry McGuigan
- Christopher Reeve
- Steve Cram
- Tessa Sanderson
- Sarah Hardcastle
- John Cleese
- Michael Ball
- Nicholas Lyndhurst
- Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
- Duncan Goodhew
- Sharon McPeake
Team Two
- The Princess Royal's team, on behalf of Save the Children:
- Debbie Flintoff
- Cliff Richard
- Emlyn Hughes
- Jenny Agutter
- Kevin Kline
- Jackie Stewart
- Eddy Grant
- Bill Wyman
- Peter Blake
- Walter Payton
- Virginia Leng
- Sunil Gavaskar
- Anthony Andrews
- Tom Jones
- Sheena Easton
Team Three
- World Wildlife Fund:
- Judy Simpson
- Anneka Rice
- Fiona Fullerton
- Gary Lineker
- George Lazenby
- Michael Palin
- Nigel Mansell
- John Travolta
- Griff Rhys Jones
- Margot Kidder
- Steve Podborski
Team Four
- The Duchess of York's team, on behalf of International Year of Shelter for the Homeless, 1987:
- Meat Loaf
- Pamela Stephenson
- Brian Cooper, dog-sledder[1]
- Mel Smith
- Jane Seymour
- Chris de Burgh
- Viv Richards
- Michael Brandon
- John Mills
The show was conceived and organised by
The contestants competed in numerous games; for example, in one round, the players dressed up as giant vegetables, while in another they threw fake hams at each other. Live coverage was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on 15 June 1987, and was presented by Steve Wright (The Radio 1 Roadshow).
The tournament was won by the Princess Royal's team, with the Duke of York's team second, Prince Edward's team third, and the Duchess of York's team finishing last.
Aftermath
Immediately after the event, Prince Edward asked the assembled journalists, "Well, what did you think?" The journalists, unbeknownst to Prince Edward, hadn't seen the event properly as they had been kept confined in the press tent, separate from the celebrities and members of the royal family who had taken part, and were underwhelmed and unhappy at such an arrangement. They responded with nervous laughter and Prince Edward stormed out of the press conference, sarcastically thanking the journalists for their enthusiasm.[2]
Reportedly
References
- ^ "It's A Knockout - The Royal Tournamont". www.its-a-knockout.tv.
- ^ a b c d e Roseman, Daniel (21 April 1996). "Was this the day when royalty lost the plot?". The Independent. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ^ Ben Pimlott "Polishing Their Image", extract from The Queen, HarperCollins (1996) reprinted on the PBS Frontline webpage
External links
- It's a Royal Knockout at IMDb
- Knockout – The Grand Charity Tournament (the book of the event) ISBN 0-00-217993-8