power; the show featured Stilgoe singing the election results. In 1981, Southern Television commissioned him to write a satirical song about the company that outbid them for southern England's ITV franchise, Television South; the result was "Portakabin TV", a reference to the portable buildings TVS was forced to use as studios and offices until its own purpose-built complex in Maidstone, Kent could be completed and until Southern's contract expired. The song was aired as part of Southern's final broadcast on 31 December 1981, a retrospective programme titled "And It's Goodbye From Us." In 1980 he wrote two Christmas songs, "Christmas Bells" and "Imitation Myrrh", which he sang with Broom Leys Junior School choir, from Coalville, Leicestershire. The songs were sold as a record at Christmas throughout Leicestershire to raise money for the Leicestershire Arts and Music Association. These two, with other Christmas pieces of his composition, also appeared in The Truth about Christmas – or Gold, Frankenstein and Merv – a one-off television programme in 1984, performed by Stilgoe and children from the Broom Leys Junior School Choir. Stilgoe is a fan of anagrams and in 1980 he wrote The Richard Stilgoe Letters; a Jumble of Anagrams, using characters made of anagrams of his own name. These included Chris Dogtailer and Giscard O'Hitler. He has appeared over 200 times on the daytime TV quiz show, Countdown, and hosted quiz shows such as The Year in Question on Radio 4, Finders Keepers (1981–1985), and Scoop (1981–1982). His 45-minute poem, "Who Pays the Piper?", outlined the history of music from Pan to the modern day, interspersing classical music with re-written lyrics. He also appeared on a satirical BBC TV show of the 1980s, A Kick Up the Eighties. Stilgoe wrote lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats and Starlight Express, and collaborated with Charles Hart on the lyrics to The Phantom of the Opera. He also wrote two musicals for schools, Bodywork and Brilliant the Dinosaur. Stilgoe gave all his royalties as lyricist on Starlight Express to a village in India. Such was the musical's success that for some years his donations were exceeding £500 a day. He has appeared on the Royal Variety Performance, presented the Schools Proms for over 20 years and toured solo and with Peter Skellern. Throughout the 1980s, Stilgoe hosted the BBC 2 fitness programme Looking Good, Feeling Fit. Charitable work In 1984, Stilgoe founded the Alchemy Foundation,