Extra: Sunday 18 October 1981
from the NZ Listener
TV One
Noon News
12.02 Big League Soccer
12.55 Tomorrow’s World
1.00 Farming Today
1.15 Dig This
1.30 Of Course You Can Do It
2.00 Sunday Afternoon Movie: Father Goose (1964) (Rpt)
3.50 The Royal Visit 1981 - The Prince Philip Design Awards
4.20 The All New Popeye Show
4.40 The Wonderful World of Disney - Disneyland 25th Anniversary Special
5.30 Spot On Special (Rpt)
6.00 The Herd
6.30 News
6.45 World Watch
7.00 Landmarks
7.50 Country Calendar
8.05 The Good Companions (Final)
8.55 News
9.05 Newsmakers
9.35 Offerings
9.40 Play of the Week - Giants and Ogres
10.55 News
11.00 Closedown
TV2
Noon Sunday Matinee: The Road to Denver (1955) (Rpt)
1.25 The Liver Birds (Rpt)
2.00 Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman in Concert (Part 1)
2.45 Once in a Lifetime (Final)
3.25 Arthritis
3.40 Flambards
4.30 National Geographic Special - The Invisible World
5.30 Stars on Sunday
5.55 News
6.00 Our World - The Last Roundup
6.50 The Week with Two
7.00 Three’s Company
7.25 The Project
8.05 1981 Royal Variety Performance
Recorded at St James Theatre in Auckland, and presented by the Auckland City Council for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh
10.05 Charlie’s Angels
10.50 Closedown
The 1981 Royal Variety Performance was shown on TV2 (now TVNZ 2) as a delayed telecast at 8.05pm on the evening of Sunday 18 October 1981. It was given two nights earlier by the Auckland City Council (now Auckland Council) for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, who both died recently. John Hayden was the announcer.
The many performers in Auckland’s St James Theatre included Michael Houstoun, the Rodger Fox Big Band, Mavis Rivers, John Rowles, Ray Columbus (in That’s Country mode), Ray Woolf, (Sir) Howard Morrison, Tina Cross, Sharon O’Neill, Tom Sharplin and many others. Dance was represented by Limbs and the Royal New Zealand Ballet, while comedy was provided by Billy T James, Lynn of Tawa (Ginette McDonald) and McPhail and Gadsby, with an all singing, all dancing finale to finish off. The show was compered by the late Peter Sinclair.
You can watch the 1981 Royal Variety Performance via NZ On Screen by clicking its link above.