Jeux Sans Frontières

Jeux Sans Frontières
Title card
Genre	Game show
Created by	Guy Lux Pierre Brive Claude Savarit Jean-Louis Marest
Theme music composer	Jacques Revaux
Original language(s)	English and French
No. of episodes	30 editions
Production
Production location(s)	Held around Europe
Production company(s)	European Broadcasting Union
Distributor	Eurovision
Release
Picture format	4:3
Original release	26 May 1965 (1965-05-26) – 23 September 1999 (1999-09-23)
Chronology
Related shows	It's a Knockout

Jeux Sans Frontières (English: Games Without Frontiers, or Games Without Borders) was a Europe-wide television game show. In English-speaking countries, the show is also known as It's a Knockout, the title of the BBC's domestic version.

In its original conception, it was broadcast from 1965 to 1999 under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and featured teams from different European countries in outlandish costumes (often large latex suits) competing to complete bizarre tasks in funny games. The original series run ended in 1982. It was revived in 1988 with a different complexion of nations and in its latest editions was hosted by smaller broadcasters, with the notable exception of Italy's RAI, which hosted three edition with a fixed location in 1996, 1998, 1999.

History

The idea of the show came from French President Charles de Gaulle, whose wish was that French and German youth would meet in a series of funny games to reinforce the friendship between France and Germany. The games were inspired by the matches between French cities. Some games were played in swimming pools. In 1965, three French men (Pierre Brive, Claude Savarit, and Jean-Louis Marest) spread the idea of the games to other European countries. Teams representing France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy took part in the first edition of the show called Inter Nations Games.

In the United Kingdom, participants came from the heats of It's a Knockout. The original presenter was McDonald Hobley, but he stayed for just one series before handing over to Katie Boyle, who in turn was replaced by David Vine and Eddie Waring. It was not until 1971 that the presenter most associated with the role, Stuart Hall, took over presenting the UK heats and also provided the British commentary for the international version along with Waring, who was better known as the BBC's Rugby League commentator. Wales had its own team between 1991 and 1994 and the programme was broadcast on S4C in Welsh by Iestyn Garlick.

Each participating country hosted one round of the games, presented by the host broadcaster. Every game was umpired by one or two "international" judges.

Judges

The first judges became household names in the UK, Gennaro Olivieri (1922–2009) and Guido Pancaldi (1922–2011). Both were Swiss and had been international ice-hockey referees (although Pancaldi is often wrongly referred to as being Italian, probably due to him coming from the Italian-speaking Canton of Ticino).

Participating countries and wins

Between 1965 and 1999, 20 countries participated in 30 editions of JSF (considering Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia as separate participants):

Country	Broadcaster	Years of participation	Editions	Finale Wins
Belgium	BRT, RTBF	1965–1982, 1988–1989	20	2 (1965, 1982)
West Germany	ARD	1965–1980	16	6 (1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1976, 1977)
France	ORTF, Antenne 2, France 2	1965–1968, 1970–1982, 1988–1992, 1997–1999	25	3 (1965, 1975, 1979)
Italy	RAI	1965–1982, 1988–1999	30	4 (1970, 1978, 1991, 1999)
Switzerland	SRG SSR	1967–1975, 1977–1982, 1992–1999	24	2 (1972, 1974)
United Kingdom	BBC, S4C (Wales)	1967–1982, 1991–1994	20	4 (1969, 1971, 1973, 1981)
Netherlands	NCRV, TROS	1970–1977, 1997–1998	10	0
Liechtenstein	No broadcaster	1976	1*	0
Yugoslavia	JRT	1978–1982, 1990	6	0
Portugal	RTP	1979–1982, 1988–1998	15	5 (1980, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1997)
Spain	TVE	1988, 1990–1992	4	1 (1990)
San Marino	SMRTV	1989–1991	3	0
Tunisia	ERTT	1992	1	0
Czechoslovakia	ČST	1992	1	1 (1992)
Czech Republic	ČT	1993–1995	3	2 (1994, 1995)
Greece	ERT	1993–1999	7	0
Hungary	MTV	1993–1999	7	3 (1993, 1996, 1998)
Slovenia	RTVSLO	1994, 1996–1997, 1999	4	0
Malta	PBS Malta	1994–1995	2	0

* Liechtenstein participated in 1976, replacing Switzerland in one single heat, and thus using the code FL (instead of CH).

When a team from Londonderry represented Great Britain, they were identified as 'NI' for Northern Ireland rather than GB. Wales participated from 1991 to 1994 on behalf of the United Kingdom, and were identified by the code GB in mainland Europe and by C (Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales) in Wales itself. Welsh was the transmission language of the participating broadcaster (S4C).

Czechoslovakia participated in 1992 with Czech teams only. There was no Slovak participation in JSF that year. In 1993, the Czech Republic entered the show as a separate country but Slovakia did not.

Each country was assigned a unique colour which it used on its uniforms and equipment.

Winning cities

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
1965	Ciney Saint-Amand-les-Eaux	No runner-up	No third place
1966	Eichstätt	Jambes
1967	Bardenberg	Nogent-sur-Marne	Cheltenham Spa Montecatini Terme
1968	Osterholz-Scharmbeck	Stans	Vannes
1969	Shrewsbury Wolfsburg	No runner-up	Brugge-Zeebrugge
1970	Como	Alphen aan den Rijn	Radevormwald
1971	Blackpool	Alphen aan den Rijn	Willisau
1972	La Chaux-de-Fonds	Città di Castello Venray	No third place
1973	Ely	Marburg an der Lahn	Chartres
1974	Muotathal	Marostica	Nancy
1975	Nancy	Riccione	Knokke-Heist
1976	Ettlingen	La Neuveville	Geel
1977	Schliersee	Uccle	Olivone
1978	Abano Terme	Sandwell	Fontainebleau
1979	Bar-le-Duc	Zrenjanin	Lierde
1980	Vilamoura	Rhuddlan	Merksem
1981	Dartmouth Lisbon	No runner-up	Pula
1982	Rochefort	Versoix	Madeira
1988	Madeira	Profondeville Seville	No third place
1989	Azores	Monte Argentario	Nice
1990	Jaca	Bor	Treviso
1991	Vigevano	Leiria	Megève
1992	Třebíč	Breuil-Cervinia	Lisbon
1993	Kecskemét	Šumperk	Le Bouveret
1994	Česká Třebová	Wrexham (Wrecsam)	Olivone
1995	Brno	Eger	Vallemaggia
1996	Kecskemét	Lamego	Gran San Bernardo
1997	Amadora	Val di Sole	Schattdorf
1998	Százhalombatta	Komotini	Vlieland
1999	Bolzano-Südtirol	Patras	Budapest XII. District

Revival attempt

The EBU announced plans to relaunch the series in summer 2007 with Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Italy thought to be participating countries. However, due to financial setbacks, the plans were put on hold—originally for 12 months, but later they were abandoned altogether.

In popular culture

The show inspired Peter Gabriel's 1980 hit single, "Games Without Frontiers" (the direct English translation of the title), in which backing vocalist Kate Bush sings "jeux sans frontières" during breaks. The lyrics also refer to the original title: "It's A Knockout".

The BBC Radio 4 comedy programme I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again featured a version called Guerre Sans Frontières where gallant little Belgium always had to play the Joker. It was also used in "The Goodies and the Beanstalk" with the Goodies as the Joker and a grand prize of 5000 puppies.

The last album of the popular Macedonian pop singer Tose Proeski is named Games without borders (in Slavic Cyrillic: Игри Без Граници).

The Endeavour episode "Quartet" (series 5, episode 5) features a fictional 1968 Jeux Sans Frontières competition held in Oxford, broadcast by Southern Independent Television (rather than the BBC).

See also

• It's a Knockout
• Telematch
• Jeux Sans Frontières 1991-1992

References

External links

• JSFnet Italy
• It's A Knockout & JSF website that includes details of the BBC, Channel 5, UK Royal Knockout, Telematch, and many international versions.