The list:10 Golden Rose of Montreux winners best forgotten

magic tricks topped up with weak jokes and an extremely high cheese factor, this offering from the vertically challenged magician failed to pull

the wool over the eyes

of even the most docile

of viewers.

And who can deny they didn't look at Mr Daniels

in a different light when they found out he was doing the luuurve thing with his assistant Debbie McGee, 20 years his junior? Enough said.

2black and white minstrel show 1961 (BBC, GB)

Oh dear, oh dear. Who would have thought when the Black and White Minstrel Show scooped the first ever Golden Rose that, come the 40th anniversary of the award, it would be so politically incorrect?

Even looking back with hindsight, it is difficult to fathom just how this show, with its outrageous ''minstrel humour'' which regularly depicted black people as gullible and stupid, managed to last

two decades.

3rich little's christmas carol 1979 (CBC, Canada)

This so-called piece of television genius comprised a one-man

show with Canadian comedian-impressionist Rich Little providing all

the voices for his version

of Dicken's classic Christmas Carol.

But, despite Mr Little putting an original spin on the voices of his ''cast'' - with ''W C Fields'' as Scrooge and ''Humphrey Bogart'' as one of the

ghosts - it didn't really ring true as the stuff that ground-breaking TV moments are made of.

4hale & pace

1989 (ukib/lwt, GB)

With their sketches involving cruelty to animals, sex, violence and dismembered bodies, there is something truly crude about Hale and Pace, but not in the usual sense of

the word.

Our sympathies are with anyone under 30 who has had to live, almost their entire life, in a world where the contrived efforts of this duo pass for comedy.

5the kids in the hall 1993 (Broadway/CBC, Canada)

Yet another export from the country which gave us Bryan Adams and Celine Dion. Despite phenomenal success in its homeland, this quirky quintet of Canadian stand-up comedians failed to make much of an impression elsewhere. Last heard of having slunk back to Toronto to work on yet another comeback tour.

6julie and carol at carnegie hall 1963 (CBS, usa)

The first in a line of

on-stage performances made into television specials, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall deserves to be included for setting this unforgivable precedent. But slagging off legendary Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett is likely to get us lynched, so we'll stop there.

7shirley maclaine special 1978

(CBS, usa)

Likewise, reward for anything which puts the words ''Shirley MacLaine'' and ''Special'' together should be up there as an instantly punishable crime.

With sickly sweet extravaganzas like this on the box, who can blame Americans for banning their kids from watching too much television.

8brian orser:

night moves

1992 (CBC, Canada)

Despite sporting a

porn-esque title, Night Moves couldn't be risque

if it tried. Perhaps the judges confused it with

a flick of the same

name. Other than among the most enthusiastic

of figure-skating buffs,

the 1992 Golden Rose winner failed to make

any ripples in most people's list of all-time great television favourites.

9nor-way to broadcasting 1976 (NRK, Norway)

Everyone knows that Norwegians are not known for their outstanding contributions to world television but somehow this one sneaked in.

We could find no-one who would admit to having seen this, however if, as the title suggests, it was any kind of Norwegian guide to broadcasting, we are not sorry we missed it.

10the mole 2000 (VRT, Belgium)

With Britain's insatiable appetite for reality television game shows, this one should have been a dead cert. Sadly it failed

to set TV screens alight here, or pretty much anywhere elsewhere.

Instead it appears to have spawned a strange subculture of avid

viewers akin only to that

of the X-Files, Red Dwarf

or those who believe

Robot Wars is a good

show. Let's hope the 2001 winner, due to be announced on Monday, fairs a little better.