BANANARAMA TOP OF THE POPS INTERVIEW

Were you left wondering who Bananarama were after their recent appearance on the Pops? Well, we decided to find out how much THEY knew about the biggest-selling all female group of the '80s...

TOTP: [fumbles with microphone] OK ladies, are you ready to test your own knowledge from these true or false questions?
Keren: Hang on, I'm just being jooshed [turns to hairdresser for final squirt of lacquer]. OK, perfect. I'm ready.

TOTP: Sarah? You set to head back down memory lane.
Sarah: Fire away!

TOTP: I heard a rumour... that Bananarama were the only band to appear on Band Aid and Band Aid II. True or false?
Both: True!

TOTP: Were you upset not to have been asked to contribute to Band Aid 20?
Sarah: Well, it would have been a little strange to have been asked seeing as we've not had a record out in God knows how many years.
Keren: I read somewhere on the internet where people were saying "If it's not got Bananarama on it, it's not an official Band Aid record". We were very flattered about that.

TOTP: True or false. When Siobhan Fahey left the band in 1988, she was briefly replaced with T'Pau singer Carol Decker.
Both: [Laughs] False
Keren: She would have been good!
Victim: We used to see her a lot back in the day and she certainly knew how to have fun, which is one of the best criteria to be in Bananarama.TOTP: Keren once told a magazine that she insisted on a separate recording booth after Sarah repeatedly burped cheese and onion crisps in the studio
Sarah: False! It was Siobhan!
Keren: It was Siobhan and it was beef and onion crisps!

TOTP: You can remember that?
Sarah: How could we forget? The smell! No, I want to make it clear. It was Siobhan and she was burping beef and onion.

TOTP: Next. I heard a rumour that work on 1992's 'Please Yourself' album was halted after a heavily pregnant Sarah became too large to sing.
Sarah: False!

TOTP: [Checking notes which say 'true'] Um, er, are you sure?
Keren: That's rubbish. Where did you get that? Did I say that?
Sarah: Darling, I was probably too lazy to sing, but certainly not too pregnant. I just couldn't be bothered.

TOTP: I heard a rumour... that Keren has been in a long term relationship with Wham's Andrew Ridgeley.
Sarah: False! It was George Michael!
Keren: [Laughs] No, that one's definitely true.

TOTP: True or false. Bananarama once made a video where they re-enacted famous scenes from the movie Sound of Music.
Both: True!
Keren: We did indeed, for a song called 'Cheers Then'.
Sarah: We went to Austria and visited the very places where the film was done. We even went to the gazebo and had a Ralph lookalike!
Keren: I am sixteen, going on seventeen [starts humming].

TOTP: What the eidelweiss inspired you to do that?
Keren: [Stops humming] I think we were wearing a lot of black at the time. We probably thought we looked like nuns!

TOTP: OK. True or false. The original lineup of Bananrama reunited in the late '90s to record a cover of Bucks Fizz's 'Making Your Mind Up'?
Sarah: False. Almost. We got together for the Eurotrash album and recorded... what was it?
Keren: 'Waterloo'
Sarah: That's right, Abba's 'Waterloo'

TOTP: Excellent! So, you've scored seven out of seven!
Keren: What do we win?

TOTP: Er, you win the chance to answer some more questions. OK, first up. How does it feel to be back?
Sarah: Great. I thought it was still up in Elstree. I wasn't looking forward to the drive.
Keren: Lovely to see Paul [Weller] here too. But we're a bit tired. We did G-A-Y last night and didn't leave till gone 4am

TOTP: So, if we were to play one of your old hits now, could you still remember the routine?
Sarah: Like clockwork, darling

TOTP: What about your fans?
Keren: Oh they know every move. [Turns to Sarah] we forgot to do 'Nathan Jones' last night.
Sarah: Oh, they love that one.
Keren: Yep, that's a favourite. Especially the bit that goes [holds arm outright with palm facing upwards and out. Bobs it up and down TOTP's face] "You've been gone too long"

TOTP: Could you ever NOT be pop stars?
Keren: Oh easily. I'm very good at doing nothing at all

TOTP: Can't you live off your royalties? Do you still get royalty cheques through?
Keren: Oh yes, we had one through the other day, didn't we?
Sarah: Dont' forget, we wrote a lot of songs.

TOTP: Does it frustrate you that people don't seem to realise that you write your own songs and have a huge input into them?
Keren: It's something that annoyed us back in the day, but after a while, you realise that the people who matter know the truth. You know, the people at the label, the fans etc.

TOTP: OK, so if there was one Bananarama record that you'd like to erase from history, what would it be?
Keren: Well it used to be 'Na Na Hey Hey' but we played it last night and it went down very well, so I'm not so sure now.
Sarah: Snoop Dogg covered it at Live 8
Keren: Did he?
Sarah: Perhaps we should get together with Snoop for a duet?

TOTP: And your favourite?
Sarah: For me, 'Robert De Niro's Waiting'
Keren: 'I Heard A Rumour' I love that one.