Network: CBC Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1968 to 1972
Broadcast Medium: Television
While he was the chief catering officer for the Royal New Zealand Air Force, British-born Graham Kerr was invited to demonstrate his cooking skills on television. This resulted in his being given his own local television series, and a later move to Australia to do a half-hour, weekday cooking show, titled Entertaining with Kerr, made him a nation-wide celebrity.
A tape of the show was sent to Canada, and a pilot produced at Ottawa’s CJOH-TV resulted in the sale of the series , now titled The Galloping Gourmet, to the CBC. Kerr’s show was unique for his extrovert, irreverent style, and for his many double entendres, all delivered as he cooked exotic dishes and
slurped innumerable glasses of wine.
The music for the series was composed and played by Champ Champagne.
The series aired five days a week from December 1968 to November 1972. It was repeated in 1972/73. and subsequently enjoyed wide syndication in Canada and internationally.
Kerr went on to do several more widely syndicated television series in the 1980s and 1990s.
Written by Pip Wedge – June, 2006