Pan's People footage rediscovered in haul

But footage of well-known dance troop Pan's People taking a starring role on the flagship music programme was thought lost forever.

Now television researchers – with the help of a well known record producer – have stumbled across tapes that they will reveal to the world again in a showcase in June.

The Pan's People dancers, starring Wolverhampton born Barbara "Babs" Lord among the lineiup, were staples of Top of the Pops during its heyday. Members of Stourbridge-based vintage television group Kaleidoscope, which aims to preserve classic programmes, were alerted to tapes owned by Ian Levine.

Mr Levine, who mixed a number of dance-pop hits artists including Pet Shop Boys, Erasure and Kim Wilde, uncovered the tapes in his private collection at his London home.

A dozen sorely missed Pan's People performances are revealed in the films on original VCR-format tapes. The rare clips, dating from between 1973 and 1975 featuring Pan's People dancing to hits by T.Rex, Barry White, Elton John, I The Jackson 5 and Diana Ross.

Kaleidoscope founder Chris Perry, said: "This is a major find of missing Pan's People performances in great condition not held by the BBC, Pan's People or anyone else.

"Ian recorded the clips off the TV back in the 1970s and the tapes had sat on his shelf until donated to Kaleidoscope last year.

"We've received a huge haul of 20,000 tapes from Ian which we are currently cataloguing.

"We've also come across an almost complete Top of the Pops missing from the archives from 1976 so who knows what else is waiting to be found." The group plan to showcase the footage at Stourbridge's The Talbot Hotel, on June 1 at 12pm.

One of the Pan's People dancers, Patricia Wilde, says she hopes to attend and said it will be an "exciting if poignant experience" watching the clips since co-founders Felicity "Flick" Colby and Louise Clarke have both died in the last two years.

She said: "Considering that Pan's People danced on Top of the Pops week in, week out, for so many years, it's such a pity that most of our routines have been lost, wiped by the BBC back in the 70s.

"To hear that some of them have now been recovered thanks to a collector recording them himself and keeping the tapes all these years really is wonderful."