THE KING'S DRAGON STORY DETAILS

THE KING'S DRAGON

• Index     > Introduction     > The Plot     > Episode Listings     > Cast and Crew     > Theme Tune (download!)     > Video Clips (download!)     > Notes     > Links     > Picture Gallery • The Arm-Ring • Trivia Quiz • Story Guide     > Episode One     > Episode Two     > Episode Three     > Episode Four     > Episode Five     > Episode Six     > Episode Seven     > Episode Eight     > Episode Nine     > Episode Ten

LOOK AND READ

• Home     > Stories Index     > Downloads     > Trivia     > Schedules     > Schools TV     > Links     > Site Admin (incl. Site Map)

• Email • Discussion Forum • Guestbook • Help Out Site maintained by Ben Clarke (Sorry, I can't provide videos or any other materials, so please don't write to ask!)

ON TV:	Not scheduled at the moment, but it should be repeated again in 2007 - watch this space
ON VIDEO:	Not available on video or DVD, you'll have to tape it off TV yourself
> More information on the official BBC Schools Programme Guide

Introduction

Newspapers, archaeology and the history of Hastings feature in this story about baddies chasing after an ancient treasure that may or may not have been uncovered. A young newspaper reporter and the grandson of a local fisherman solve secret messages and face unfriendly archaeologists while trying to work out who is issuing all the threats, and whom they're aimed at. The learning bits were presented by the newspaper editor, Jack Dunbar, and much fuss was made about local weekly newspapers - kids were encouraged to create their own for the classroom.

EXTRA: Download the King's Dragon story book
EXTRA: Buy a model of The King's Dragon armring
EXTRA: Take the King's Dragon trivia quiz online


The Plot
WARNING! SPOILERS!   Reading this bit will give away the whole storyline and ruin your enjoyment if you haven't already seen/read it.

Billy West is the young grandson of a Hastings fisherman, Stan West, who discovers some threatening messages cut out of newspapers. With the help of a journalist from the local paper, Ann Mills, he discovers that the messages are targeted at an archaeologist who is digging at the castle, Miss Wood. A stranger called Mr Carter arrives in the town, whose villainy is revealed by the fact that he owns a fast motorboat. Ann tries to show the threatening messages to the police but Carter nicks them from her car - and without this proof her editor won't let Ann print her story, and gets her to do a story about a museum exhibition on the Battle of Hastings instead.
Luckily the musuem's curator is able to tell her all about a lost local treasure - King Harold's golden armring, the King's Dragon - which Ann realises is what Miss Wood must've discovered. Billy snoops around Carter's boat and finds a box of gold treasurey stuff. Ann goes to Miss Wood's house but can't find her - she also fails to discover Carter who is inside searching for the King's Dragon with his criminal associate (and nephew), Clive Manning, who is also Miss Wood's assistant. Ann works out that the armring is hidden in some caves but Clive overhears her and Billy talking about it and follows Billy to the caves, where he steals the King's Dragon. Clive and Carter also kidnap Billy and take him off on their boat. Billy releases a flare to get help and falls into the sea. Carter refuses to help Billy, so Clive carries out his threat to chuck the King's Dragon overboard, then jumps over to save Billy. Carter charges off in his motorboat but gets tangled up in Stan's nets and is captured. Ann finally gets her story: King's Dragon Lost At Sea.



Episode Listings

You can read detailed guides to the episodes, with loads of screengrabs, in the Story Guide section.

1.	Boy Finds Message
	There was something strange about that fluttering sheet of newspaper...
2.	Questions at the Castle
3.	What is King's Dragon?
	The newspaper messages disappear and Miss Wood is threatened.
4.	Miss Wood in Danger?
	Ann tells Jack Dunbar about the stolen messages. He is not impressed. Meanwhile a frightened Miss Wood decides to leave Hastings.
5.	Mr Day Helps With Story
6.	Greed For Gold
7.	Editor Asks For Proof
8.	Run-Round in Old Town
	Ann thinks she knows where Miss Wood has hidden King's Dragon... and Billy is hot on Miss Wood's trail.
9.	Archaeologist Digs Again
	The King's Dragon sees the light of day - only to fall into the wrong hands.
10.	Banner Headlines!

Cast and Crew

Written by Music by Designers Studio director Producer	Richard Carpenter Roger Limb John Holland Charles Lawrence Rosanna Hibbert Sue Weeks
Costume Lisa Benjamin, Ken Morley, make-up Kim Burns, graphics Sid Sutton, Peter Jones, film cameraman Peter Chapman, film recordist Bob Roberts, film animation Richard Taylor, film editor Monica Mead, reading consultant Joyce M. Morris
Starring Singers	Kenneth Watson as Jack Dunbar Frankie Jordan as Ann Mills Sean Flanigan as Billy West Reg Lye as Stan West John Quayle as Mr Carter Anne Pichon as Miss Wood Peter Settelen as Clive Manning Charles Lloyd Pack as Mr Day Charles Collingwood as Wordy Stuart Fell as Wordy puppeteer Judy Bennett as Spike The Letter Getter Jane Carr Derek Griffiths Gerald Down

Theme Tune

The King's Dragon theme tune was an all-instrumental radiophonic job.

music by Roger Limb, no lyrics
MP3 file: 28 seconds, 228 kb

> CLICK HERE for the Downloads section, including this and several other theme tunes.

Video Clips

• Clip 1 - Chase through Hastings
Billy West and Ann Mills are searching for clues in an old abandoned house in Hastings which had been used by the villains to prepare their newspaper messages. One of the villains unexpectedly returns to the house - he flees upon seeing the investigators, but Ann gives chase. All of the scene changes in this clip are cheats: the house interiors were shot in a different place to the exteriors; the passageway does not lead out to the street that Ann arrives in; and the street does not lead to the bus stop that she runs to.
> What happens next? Read about it in the Story Guide.

	Download WMV file 52 seconds @ 103kbps = 653kb
	Download RM file (or click here to stream it) 52 seconds @ 80kbps = 551kb

• Clip 2 - Archaeologist digs again
Billy follows Miss Wood into the caves and spies on her as she starts digging in a remote area. The archaeologist reveals the mythical King's Dragon arm-ring, which she must have earlier hidden in the caves for safe keeping. Billy slips, revealing his presence and Miss Wood flees - right into the clutches of her perfidious assistant Clive Manning.
> What happens next? Read about it in the Story Guide.

	Download WMV file 96 seconds @ 103kbps = 1.17Mb
	Download RM file (or click here to stream it) 96 seconds @ 80kbps = 978kb

• Clip 3 - Lost at sea
The climactic sequence from this story practically in full. Billy has escaped from Carter's boat by jumping overboard. Carter refuses to help him, Clive threatens to throw the King's Dragon overboard unless they turn back, Carter refuses, so Clive lobs the arm-ring into the sea then jumps off to rescue Billy. Carter shoots off and gets caught in Stan's fishing nets.
> What happens next? Read about it in the Story Guide.

	Download WMV file 122 seconds @ 103kbps = 1.49Mb
	Download RM file (or click here to stream it) 122 seconds @ 80kbps = 1.21Mb

• You can watch another clip from The King's Dragon - featuring Wordy and Spike The Letter Getter from the teaching middle of episode one - on BBCi's Look and Read website. Click here for the page, which includes a streaming RealVideo (59 seconds @ 133.6kbps SS = 500kb).

> CLICK HERE for more video clips from Look And Read stories.

Notes

The King's Dragon was previewed in the November 1976 issue of the journal Visual Education:
A local newspaper is central to the new Look and Read serial (…) The King's Dragon by Richard Carpenter. The adventures of a young girl reporter and the stories she writes for her paper offer plenty of opportunities for reading practice. The serial was filmed in Hastings, where the local newspaper happily co-operated with the production team. - Visual Education, 11/76 p.12 c.1

Gareth Hughes wrote to say that the story was filmed in St Clement's Caves in Hastings, which can still be visited. Paul Corr has been there:
(The caves) are still there and are accessible if you have the energy to climb a fairly steep, though not sheer, cliff face (I remember dragging my dad up there on a holiday not long after watching the series in what must have been 1981/2, and being disappointed that there was no archeological dig going on inside! I WAS 8/9 at the time).

The illustration I'm using is based on a detail of the Hastings coast from the Hastings website and the King's Dragon armring from the pupil's pamphlet.

Here is a list of all of the broadcasts of this story on the BBC. Unless your teachers managed to get the video recorder to work, this is when you would have seen it in school. See the Air Dates section for precise dates and times.
      Spring 1977, BBC1
      Spring 1978, BBC1
      Spring 1979, BBC1
      Spring 1981, BBC1
      Autumn 2003, CBBC
      Spring 2004, CBBC
      Autumn 2004, CBBC
      Autumn 2005, CBBC




Links

• You can now buy an authentic model of the actual King's Dragon - King Harold's golden armring - as featured in this story.
/stories/king/armring.html

• Further details of the reproduction armring, alongside other remarkable sculptures from Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings can be found on the producer, Neil Lucas', website.
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/nlucas/FilmProp.htm

• The BBC Cult website has a video clip of Wordy from one of the King's Dragon in-between bits.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/tv/lookandread/v1.shtml   (embedded RealVideo)

• Ian Trembirth's Look and Read site has a King's Dragon page which gives a friendly summary of the story.
http://www.trembirth.demon.co.uk/lookread/   (frameset)

> CLICK HERE for more general links about Look And Read and schools TV.

Picture Gallery

BANG! BANG! It was the signal for the big life-boat to put to sea. Ann ran to the life-boat. Stan West was there with his grandson, Billy.	Mr Day worked at the Hastings Museum. He was the curator. Then Ann saw Clive Manning. Mr Day and Clive Manning started to talk about archaeology.

Miss Wood was very frightened. Then Clive Manning came into the cottage. 'Who did this?' he asked. 'I don't know,' said Miss Wood.	Billy left the telephone box and ran back to the caves. He did not know that Clive Manning had listened to everything.	At last she stopped and began to dig. Then Billy saw something in her hands. She held it up. A gold arm-ring! It was the King's Dragon!

			> See every Look & Read book cover in the Trivia section > Get complete books, including this one, from the Downloads section
'If you are good, Billy-boy, you will come back with us,' said Carter. Billy knew that he must do as he was told.	'Go back for the boy!' said Clive. 'Never,' said Carter. Clive gave a cry and sent the King's Dragon spinning into the sea. 'I'm going to get you, Clive,' said Carter.	The pupil's pamphlet

VT clock	"Look and Read" was shown being torn out of old newspapers...	... as was "The King's Dragon" in the title sequence.

this site  the web

THIS UNOFFICIAL WEBSITE HAS NO CONNECTION OF ANY KIND WITH LOOK AND READ OR WITH THE BBC. The Look and Read title and logo, as well as all related material, is copyright © BBC, 1967-2006. The official BBC Schools website is at www.bbc.co.uk/schools. Everything else on this website © Ben Clarke, 2000-2006. No malicious infringement of BBC copyrights is intended. Material featured at this site remains the property of the BBC or relevant copyright holders.