Radio 1’s first pop chart was broadcast on Alan Freeman’s “Pick Of The Pops” on 1st October 1967, and The Move’s “Flowers In The Rain” nudged up from No 8 to a heady No 3, no doubt helped by significant airplay from the new national radio station that took the country by storm taking over from pirate radio.

“Flowers In The Rain / Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree” Regal Zonophone RZ 3001, is famous for the first record to be played on Radio 1. Roy Wood says “Actually, George Martin’s ‘Theme One’ had been the first piece of music and then Tony Blackburn launched into his show. He had a pile of records on the side of the turntable and he dived for the first one, which happened to be ours. Total luck, really.” The record was also the first single to be released on the reactivated Regal Zonophone label.

Tony Secunda, masterminded many of The Move’s publicity stunts and he publicised “Flowers In The Rain” with a saucy postcard depicting Harold Wilson in a compromising position with his secretary. Roy Wood: “Our manager did that. It was totally libellous. Some twit posted one to 10 Downing Street and we were in the Old Bailey about two weeks later. Our manager didn’t have to pay a penny and we ended up losing all our royalties. In fact, I lost more than anyone as I wrote the song. We got a lot of publicity, but it wasn’t anything like what we could have earned from the record.”

Radio 1 boasted at the time of their launch that they had secured an impressive array of “live” stars which included THE MOVE during the weeks of 2nd and 9th October. Also appearing around the same time were Tomorrow with Keith West, The Bee Gees, Georgie Fame, Kenny Lynch, The Peddlers, The Fortunes and Guy Darrell.

The IDLE RACE were also booked to appear on “Top Gear” On 8th October alongside The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and Procol Harum.

The first ever Top Ten broadcast on Radio 1 was as follows:-

1 THE LAST WALTZ - Engelbert Humperdinck
2 EXCERPT FROM A TEENAGE OPERA - Keith West
3 FLOWERS IN THE RAIN - The Move
4 REFLECTIONS - Diana Ross And The Supremes
5 ITCHYCOO PARK - The Small Faces
6 LET’S GO TO SAN FRANCISCO - The Flowerpot Men
7 HOLE IN MY SHOE - Traffic
8 I’LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN - Tom Jones
9 THERE MUST BE A WAY - Frankie Vaughan
10 SAN FRANCISCO (BE SURE TO WEAR SOME FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR) - Scott McKenzie