(The deal did not last long: worldpop went out of business.)At the time, the Official UK Charts Company told the BBC that if the corporation did not accept the arrival of a sponsor, it would take the “official” chart to commercial radio and to ITV. It sounds nuts, because it is.In fact, we have been here before, though you are unlikely to remember. It claims that the reading of the chart rundown is just such an event, akin to a Barclaycard Premiership football match. Thus, from the new year, we will now hear that “the official chart is compiled by the Official UK Charts Company and is supported by Coca-Cola”.That is because, bizarrely, the BBC does not own its charts. They belong instead to the Official UK Charts Company, which is in turn owned jointly by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the body that represents the record companies, and Bard, the British Association of Record Dealers.So, the BBC pays over licence-fee cash to the record industry in exchange for permission to broadcast a chart that gives publicity to the record industry And, now, publicity also to a fizzy drink. To this day, brand-names are obscured with masking tape and felt tip The BBC’s producer guidelines forbid such advertising. Children, in particular, ought to be given a space away from commercial pressures That is one of the things the BBC is for.Well, sort of.

This week, it emerged that the BBC’s music charts are to be sponsored by Coca-Cola. In a deal said to be worth about £1m over two years, the soft-drinks company is to receive two namechecks every week on the Radio 1 chart show and one in the credits of Top of The Pops.How does the BBC square those commercial references with its public-service obligation to avoid such things? Its guidelines allow it to mention the name of sponsors of outside events. Biddy has gone, and the no-sex-before-marriage law has probably been repealed. It was most likely scrapped at about the same time as viewers were given permission to throw away their milk-bottle tops instead of being bullied into sending them to Lesley or Peter or Valerie.But one Blue Peter regulation remains in place: the rule that when the presenters show viewers how to make gifts out of washing-up-liquid bottles and sticky tape, the children are not allowed to know that the bottles were made by Fairy and the tape came from the Sellotape factory. (Actually, they weren’t allowed to have sex without getting married, but Biddy’s budget did not stretch to bugging equipment or chastity belts.)Even Blue Peter has moved with the times. I won’t remind you what it was – the details are too sordid for a family newspaper – but suffice to say it involved a double bed and a naked man…

and (most crucially) it did not involve a wedding ring.
In the late Eighties, Blue Peter presenters were not allowed to get pregnant without getting married first. I haven’t seen Blue Peter since the day Janet Ellis was forced to quit the programme after being caught by Biddy Baxter, the show’s notoriously strict editor Janet had done a very naughty thing, children. He realised he had a brilliant idea that might just save the day.”I know what,” he told the gunman, “we’ll nip to the bank in Nairobi tomorrow Then we will send you the cash. How about that?”The bloody-eyed gang leader looked rather dubious. But as the cogs attempted to click into place – unsuccessfully, I am delighted to say – he responded: “All right, then.”He got off the plane, and we were able to take off.Alas, that was probably his greatest mistake: the last thing we saw as we rose into the air was the sight of this great bruiser being beaten with rifle-butts by his angry comrades..