Harbour Lights on Ready Steady Win 1964

Ready Steady Win was introduced by Keith Fordyce and Cathy McGowan and hosted by Michael Aldred and Gay Singleton. It was a TV talent contest, based on the 60s pop show Ready Steady Go!

To enter, bands had first to send in a demo disc (not tape) then pass an audition. The shows were recorded at the Associated Rediffusion studios in Wembley. It was the first time that the RSG engineers had tried to mix and broadcast live bands - unlike RSG, there was no miming in RSW.

The engineers were obsessed with removing all trace of hum & other noise from the bands' equipment, and spent much of the morning replacing valves, etc.

The judges varied from week to week, such as Beatles manager Brian Epstein, bandleader Cyril Ornadel and journalist Maureen Cleve. When interviewed on the show and asked what was the most important attribute a band should have, Maureen gave the most profound response "clean fingernails".