Ray Columbus: Creator of the Mod's Nod...

Singer and TV presenter Ray Columbus, OBE, became a headline act in 1961 when he appeared on Time Out for Talent at age 18. He went on to perform on or host a huge range of music and light entertainment TV shows including: Club Columbus, C’Mon, Happen Inn, Personality Squares and That’s Country. With his band Ray Columbus and the Invaders, he had two big hits with ‘She’s a Mod’ and ‘Till We Kissed’.

In this ScreenTalk, Columbus talks about:

• How all tapes of his early days on TV in Club Columbus were destroyed
• Being squeezed into the newsroom in Christchurch to tape the show
• Bringing a TV studio to a standstill by dancing the ‘Mod’s Nod’
• The excitement of appearing on C’Mon and working with presenter Pete Sinclair
• How C'Mon's lurid costumes and psychedelic lyrics led to the more middle of the road Happen Inn
• How a damning TV review led to the axing of My Name is Ray Columbus
• Fearing the reactions of fans to him hosting That’s Country
• Selling the show to the Nashville Network in America
• Being grateful for his TV career

This video was first uploaded on 21 September 2010, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside