It is an incredible 51 years ago since The Beatles topped the charts with She Loves You — as was made clear by Tony Blackburn in Saturday’s vintage edition of Radio 2’s Pick of the Pops. In fact, in the chart featured, from November 23, 1963, the Fab Four were still being held off the top spot by Gerry and the Pacemakers with You’ll Never Walk Alone, a song that had our reviewer weeping at Oxford Playhouse this week (see Weekend) in the Oxford Operatic Society’s production of Carousel.

Further down the charts was a another show song, Secret Love, from the Wild West musical Calamity Jane, as recorded by Kathy Kirby a decade after Doris Day’s original hit.

A surprise on Pick of the Pops was to hear Tony play both the Phil Spector hits that were in the charts that week, The Crystals’ Then He Kissed Me, which was at No 14, and The Ronettes’ Be My Baby, at No 4.

This column has noted in the past the programme’s — indeed Radio 2’s — practice of purging from the airwaves the music of people whose conduct is deemed to have put them beyond the pale. Thus nothing is heard now from Gary Glitter, Jonathan King or Rolf Harris.

Oddly, this sanction seems not to be imposed on the work of Spector, who in 2009 was convicted of the second-degree murder of actress Lana Clarkson at his California home — a crime for which he is still serving time.

In the eyes of the BBC, clearly, sexual impropriety is a more serious matter than taking someone’s life. Up next, the Spector Christmas album . . .