The panel of judges who were on hand to score the acts were Clifford Davis, Alan A. Freeman, John Robins and Jack Parnell.

The seven acts looking for a place in the next All Winners Final were;

• The Duvals (magic act)
• Jo Vartan (vocalist) from London
• Colin Phillips Combo (seven-piece group) from Birmingham
• Goody Two Shoes (group) from Solihull
• Jefferson Lincoln (vocal / comedy act) from Doncaster
• Mike Lancaster (comedian) from Cheshire
• Ken Graham and Family (unusual ventriloquist) from Coventry

It’s taken a while and a good bit of research to work out the winner of this show, mainly because the All Winners Show they won a place on took place the very next week. Many TV listings for the All Winners Show did not include the name of the winning act from this show the previous week. 

Checking the final seconds of the footage of the runners-up, the Colin Phillips Combo, the winner is clearly a solo artist, meaning just three possible winners. Ruling out Mike Lancaster (see below) that leaves just two acts, Jo Vartan and Jefferson Lincoln. An advert for a Jefferson Lincoln show in the Thanet Times, dated 10 August 1976, and an article in the East Kent Times and Mail about that very show both list him as a New Faces winner and looking at the footage again I am now confident that he won this show.

Comedian Mike Lancaster was almost unrecognisable to those that may have previously seen him on the comedy club circuit as in the previous ten months he’d shed six stone in weight dropping from 17 stone to his new slim look. While he didn’t win the show, the panel recorded an unusually high score for a comedian and he was invited back to appear in the Viewers Winners show on 1 February 1975.

Scheduled to appear was the act the Stuart Newton Duo from Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Tragically the talented singer songwriter Brian Perks, who performed under the name Stuart Newton, passed away peacefully on 12 December before having the opportunity he had always wanted, to perform his own song on television on this show that was recorded on 18 December 1974.

Magic act The Duvals stepped in at short notice. They were a highly successful and very slick illusion act, producing doves of all colours, parrots, cockatoos, rabbits and poodles during their cabaret act.

Stylish vocalist Jo Vartan was born in the Lebanon of Armenian parents. He was a previously an overseas bandleader and played all over the Far East and at the famous Casino Du Liban in Beirut. Following his New Faces appearance Jo took up a residency as compere, producer and performer at the Celebrity (later trenamed El Nile) in London’s West End.

Ken Graham and Ginger vs Clifford Davis

The biggest controversy of the all the shows to date were marks of judge Clifford Davis for the ventriloquist act from Coventry. After Ken Graham and his assistant, his wife Lillian and his Black Country monkey puppet Ginger completed their act they waited expectantly for the judges scores. Two of the judges awarded them eight and nine points for Star Quality but Clifford Davis was clearly not impressed.

When Clifford gave his scores he was booed by the audience. For Presentation he gave one mark, for Content he doubled that and gave just two points. Finally came the Star Quality category, he hesitated and Derek Hobson prompted, “Don’t you want to give him any marks at all?” “No, that’s right. None at all” responded Clifford causing uproar in the studio. It was the first ever score of nil awarded on New Faces. Scores of viewers phoned in to the ATV Centre in Birmingham to protest.

Clifford Davis was surrounded by a dozen angry men and woman as he tried to leave the studio at the end of the show. One was so furious about the treatment of Ken that they slapped Clifford Davis round the face.

The Monday after the show aired Eamonn Andrews invited Ken Graham to appear live on Thames Television’s Today show alongside Clifford Davis. The London viewers saw a replay of the act and the scoring which was followed by the two adversaries engaging in a ‘slanging match’ over the events on the show, all while host John Stapleton tried to keep order.

However, despite the low marks Ken, a former Coventry window dresser from Tile Hill, was offered work all over the country and was billed by Stan Stennett as ‘The World’s Worst Ventriloquist’ thereby proving that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

What did Ken think of all the controversy? Ken decided to ride the wave of publicity by making his act even worse and found he got even more laughs. Speaking after the event Ken said, “If my lips decide to move I let them and Ginger, my monkey, turns his head and gives me a telling off. It gets me work. If I hadn’t been voted the worst act I might have finished up like lots of others – a quick spot and then never heard of again.”

Archive footage of the Colin Phillips Combo