It was 25 years ago today that the warm Scottish tones of Paul Coia welcomed viewers to the broadcasting revolution that was Channel 4.
Within minutes viewers would watch spellbound as a bespectacled chap in a tie asked a couple of people sat behind a desk to make the longest word possible out of a random selection of nine letters. The countdown had finished - and Countdown had begun.
As revolutions go, it was very much of the mild-mannered variety. But that was before red triangle films, Chris Morris took revenge on Michael Grade with an unfortunate four-letter subliminal message and a band I can't remember took their clothes off on The Word.
Just three of the many memorable moments on Channel 4. And here we present another 25 of them.
The extraordinarily complicated logarithm with which we came up with the selection shall remain a secret. But it involved asking the MediaGuardian team: "What clips would you most like to see from the first 25 years of Channel 4?"
Tell us yours, and find out if they match ours. Or sit back and enjoy these 25 timeless, and occasionally not so timeless, TV moments.
Early Channel 4 News First up, the Channel 4 News from November 3, 1982 Channel 4's second night on air, Ronald Reagan has election issues in the US and Margaret Thatcher is selling more family silver. With the sort of graphics that seemed futuristic at the time and now look hilariously out of date, it is brought to you by Peter Sissons, Elinor Goodman and Trevor McDonald. Was he ever off our screens? I'm sure I saw Sissons in that tie last week.
Hammer time A phrase that will be familiar to anyone who remembers this clip from The Word, in which Mark Lamarr interviewed MC Hammer, or the newly-rebranded "Hammer" in 1994. Except Lamarr, in comedy gold trousers, was keen on reminding the rapper of his old image. "I'll put you on your back, at least off the camera," Hammer tells him. Cut to Terry Christian. Please, no.
Joss Ackland's spunky back pack Chris Morris's Brass Eye alerts the nation to the danger of a shocking new drug, Cake, with the help of a bunch of unsuspecting celebrities including Noel Edmonds - "It stimulates the part of the brain called Shatner's Bassoon" - Bernard Manning - "She threw up her pelvic bone" - and of course David Amess MP. For some reason I find the chap twirling the stereo the funniest bit of all. Oh, and "Joss Ackland's spunky back pack".
Go on, go on, go on... Putting Father Ted on this list was the easy bit. Choosing which moment from the 25 episodes to include, well, that was rather more difficult. Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathew's sitcom is one of Channel 4's all-time great shows, and wherever it comes on those lists of "Britain's favourite sitcoms", it deserves to be even higher.
Tired & emotional After Dark was not the only time Oliver Reed was drunk on television, but it was probably the most memorable. The 1991 late night live, open-ended talk show featured an inebriated Reed verbally abused his other guests including, most famously, feminist author Kate Millett. "Among Reed's quieter comments to Millett was 'I've had more fights in pubs than you've had hot dinners, girl'," reported the Guardian's TV reviewer. Watching it now, it all seems rather sad. The link is to the whole show - you have to get through to near the end before it all kicks off.
That kiss It was arguably Brookside's best-known moment - the lesbian kiss between medical student Beth, played by Anna Friel, and Nicola Stephenson's Margaret. This prompted a flurry of complaints, but even more people complained when it was dropped from the teatime omnibus. The soap, which peaked with ratings of 8 million, was axed in 2003.
Drop the Dead Donkey "We're merely running our bulletins through the cappuccino machine of innovation, see if it comes out frothy." No, not Brass Eye but Gus Hedges in Drop The Dead Donkey, the media satire based in the fictional offices of Globelink News and starring the likes of Stephen Tompkinson, Haydn Gwynne and Neil Pearson. If it is possible for a show to be ahead of its time and yet, perversely, not to have stood the test of time particularly well, then this is it. Maybe truth has become stranger than fiction.
What Russell T did before Doctor Who It was, according to then Channel 4 chief executive Michael Jackson, "funny, truthful and stylish... a programme no other broadcaster would have shown". Lynda Lee-Potter in the Daily Mail disagreed. "It's exploiting young gay men in order to give cheap thrills to inadequate, sad viewers... Certainly we shouldn't be at liberty to watch naked actors having relentless homosexual sex. Any nation which allows this without any voices raised in dissent is lacking in both wisdom and self-respect. It's hell-bent on destruction." That's right - it's Queer as Folk.
It's Jackie How to sum up the appeal - and awfulness - of Celebrity Big Brother? Well, this clip does it pretty well. It's Jackie Stallone's arrival on Celebrity Big Brother, prompting varying degrees of appalled expressions on the faces of her new housemates, not least her former daughter in law, Brigitte Nielsen. Is Jackie doing an impression of Scrappy Doo? "Yeah, it's Jackie!"
Snow v Campbell "Well now we are joined by Alastair Campbell. A rare moment, thank you for coming in... This row between you and the BBC... ." Channel 4 News had been trying to get Campbell on the programme all day. He then turned up unannounced with the bulletin already on air for one of the great TV interviews, with Jon Snow, during the government's 2003 Iraq dossier row with the BBC. Channel 4 News editor Jim Gray said he was "levitating off his seat with excitement".
I'll be there for you So which US comedy to include? Cheers? Frasier? Sex and the City? Well, it had to be Friends. But which clip? Well, this is the trivia game from series four. There is something about Chandler's line "His legs flail around as if independent from his body" that gets me every time.
Animal lovin' One of the less celebrated Channel 4 programmes on this list is called Animal Passions, its 1999 documentary about bestiality that featured a man who had sex with his pony and a woman who had sex with her dog. If the phrase "sex with my miniature stallion" offends you, then don't click on the link.
Beneath the Veil As well as all the late night naughtiness, no Channel 4's YouTube greatest hits blog would be complete without at least one example of the broadcaster's extensive documentary output. For this multi award winning Dispatches, Saira Shah went undercover in Afghanistan to find out about life under the Taliban.
Potter on Potter This one needs no introduction, or explanation. Dennis Potter interviewed by Melvyn Bragg on Without Walls, 1994.
England's 2005 Ashes victory Happier times for the England cricket team, and happier times for sports fans who could watch live Test match cricket for free on Channel 4 without having to subscribe to Sky. Channel 4 helped revolutionise TV cricket coverage, and it was fitting that their association with the sport should end on such a high.
Onanists Of all the episodes of Countdown to choose from - well, at least the ones on the web - it would be a cheap shot to include the one in which contestants pick a pair of unfortunate seven letter words. So let's do it. We're sure Richard Whiteley would have appreciated it.
When Channel 4 did good breakfast TV So who were the real stars of the Big Breakfast? Chris Evans? Nope. Paula Yates? Maybe. Mark Little? Who? No, of course it was Zig and Zag. Anyway, here are a few of them celebrating the show's first birthday. And Take That are on the bed with Paula.
Tha education ting "Will there always be education throughout the nation stopping domination... in the station?" Ali G interviews Sir Rhodes Boyson.
Shall we show him Tim... This is one of those clips that will have you reaching for the box set tonight. Or maybe ordering it on Amazon. It's the comedy pretend fight scene from Spaced. Well, in fact, two comedy pretend fight scenes from Spaced. I prefer the first one.
Frack me! It was probably a mistake of TFI Friday host Chris Evans to invite Shaun Ryder to impersonate Johnny Rotten - in the style of Stars In Their Eyes - on his live Friday night Channel 4 show. Ryder managed so many "fucks" in his short time on stage that the programme wouldn't be live for much longer.
Turnip head Does he not like that? "Linesman! Linesman! What sort of thing is happening here? Eh? You know it, don't you? You know it? A yellow card! Absolutely disgraceful. You know we've been cheated don't you?" Graham Taylor implodes in the 1994 Cutting Edge documentary.
Lashings of ginger beer Don't they all look young? Oh no, I'm starting to sound like my mother. But they do! Five Go Mad in Dorset, the first Comic Strip Presents... production from Channel 4's opening night.
When Channel 4 did bad breakfast TV Back in the days before the Big Breakfast and the waking hell that was RI:SE, there was Channel 4 Daily. Giving Dermot Murnaghan his first big TV gig was a great idea. Using bite-sized Countdown clips to fill in the gaps between breaking news probably wasn't. Here is the very first programme - with the obligatory cock-up at 6.18am.
'im off of Rocky Horror Collect the crystals and see how many pieces of silver - and gold - foil you can grab while they are blown around your head by a hairdryer in a giant plastic bubble. Yes, it's the Crystal Maze, which narrowly beats Treasure Hunt in our "gameshows featuring people running around collecting things" category. Aztec or industrial zone, folks?
Thank you for... smoking I think I remember watching this particular episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway. I feel terribly old and might need a sit down. It's a particularly good line-up: Stephen Fry, John Sessions, Josie Lawrence and Peter Cook who - shock horror - appears to be smoking. In a TV studio! What is it about Sessions that makes him so INCREDIBLY irritating?
