PROSPERO - THE GREEN PLANET - BBC
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PROSPERO
The newspaper for retired BBC Pension Scheme members • December 2021 • Issue 6
PENSION THE GREEN PLANET
SCHEME
PAGE 9
| MONEY MATTERS
MONEY & BENEFITS HEADLINES
FROM 2021
Looking back over 2021, there were several major announcements from
the government affecting older people. Here’s a summary of some of
the main stories from the past year – and a reminder about where you
can get help with tax, benefits or money issues.
State Pensions increase Over-80 State Pension
The government announced in September 2021 that An estimated £400 million of State Pension has gone unclaimed each year by over 100,000 over-80-year-olds,
it would suspend for one year the ‘triple lock’ used who have mistakenly been living on no State Pension. From the age of 80, everyone is entitled to a £82.45
for State Pensions uprating. Instead of considering weekly State Pension regardless of their National Insurance contributions. Retirees receive the over-80 State
average earnings growth figures in the calculation, Pension if they either were not eligible beforehand or if they were paid less than £82.45 per week on the
pensioner incomes in 2022/23 will be uprated by the Basic State Pension. The only condition for receiving the money is they must have lived in England, Scotland
higher of inflation or 2.5%. This is because the or Wales for at least 10 years out of the previous 20. Pensioners can check whether they qualify by filling out
pandemic skewed the ‘growth in average earnings’ a claim form from Jobcentre Plus. To find out more, call The Pension Service on 0800 731 0469 or go to
figure as people returned to work after furlough – gov.uk/over-80-pension
which would have resulted in a State Pension
increase of between 8% and 8.5%. (It has since been
confirmed that the State Pension for 2022/23 will Bereavement support changes Funerals sector review
increase by 3.1%, in line with September’s Consumer On 15 July 2021, a draft plan was laid before Last year, the Competition and Markets Authority
Prices Index inflation figure.) Parliament to extend Widowed Parent’s Allowance (CMA) completed its in-depth market investigation
and Bereavement Support Payment to surviving into the funerals sector. This identified a number of
co-habiting partners with children who were living concerns, including that prices for similar services
with their partner at the time of death. These changes differed considerably between funeral directors and
will be retrospective and will apply from 30 August the way that information was provided made it hard
2018, with any backdated payments being made as for families to compare prices and choose the right
lump sums. Previously, a surviving parent could only combination of services for their loved ones. As a
claim the financial support if they had been married result, from 16 September 2021, all funeral directors
or in a civil partnership at the time of their spouse or must display a Standardised Price List at their
civil partner’s death. premises and on their website. This list must include:
• The headline price of a funeral
• The price of the individual items comprising
Social care funding
the funeral
From April 2022, the government will introduce a
new 1.25% levy on both earned income and on • The price of certain additional products
employers’ wage bills to raise funds for the NHS and and services.
adult social care. For the first year, the levy will be
In addition, from 17 June 2021, funeral directors may
applied through a temporary increase in National
not:
Insurance contributions. From April 2023, it will
become a separate item and appear on payslips as a • Make payments to incentivise hospitals, palliative
new health and social care levy. In another change, care services, hospices, care homes or similar
from April 2023, the new levy will be paid by all institutions to refer customers to a particular
working adults, including those over State Pension funeral director
Age. (Currently, National Insurance is not paid by • Solicit for business through coroner and police
people who are over State Pension Age but still The Special Rules for Terminal Illness
contracts.
working.) These rules fast-track benefit applications for those with
a terminal diagnosis of six months. In July 2021, the UK
The levy is being introduced to alleviate the costs government announced that it would be replacing the
associated with adult social care and to offset the LPA changes
six-month criteria with a 12-month end-of-life approach.
increase in spending incurred by the NHS resulting The government is consulting on reforms that would
The change will ensure that people in the final year of
from the Covid-19 crisis. Currently, anyone in make the process of managing a loved one’s affairs
their life will receive financial support quicker than they
England with assets over £23,250 must pay for their through a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) quicker
can at present, at a higher rate through revised Special
care in full, and it’s estimated than 1 in 7 adults aged to use, easier to access and even more secure from
Rules. In Scotland, a broader, non-time-limited definition
65 face lifetime costs of more than £100,000. From fraud – primarily by shifting many of its paper-based
applies, while Northern Ireland and Wales are also
October 2023, the government will introduce a new features to digital.
adopting the 12-month rule.
£86,000 cap on the amount anyone in England will
need to spend on their personal care over their
lifetime. Anyone with assets of less than £20,000
will not have to make any contribution to their
personal care from their savings or the value of their
home, and anyone with assets of between £20,000
and £100,00 will be eligible for some means-tested
support. Where there are different systems in Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland, the government will
look to establish a programme of joint work to share
best practice across the home nations. It’s worth
noting, however, that the cap only applies to Dividend tax
personal care costs; individuals will still need to pay From April 2022, the government will increase the rate of tax paid by individuals who receive income from
for daily living costs such as food and dividends paid through shares by 1.25%. However, shares held in Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are not
accommodation, leading many commentators to subject to the dividend tax.
describe it as misleading.
2
RPI changes
Towards the end of 2021, the Chancellor announced the government’s decision to press ahead with a change in
the way inflation is calculated, following the UK Statistics Authority’s request that the country should replace the
PROSPERO
Retail Prices Index (RPI) with the Consumer Prices Index that includes owner-occupiers’ housing costs, known Prospero is provided free of charge to retired Scheme
as CPIH. The difference between how the two indices are calculated has meant RPI was one percentage point members or to their spouses and dependants.
higher than CPIH, on average. Switching to the lower measure may reduce the amount of income that members
of defined benefit/final salary pension schemes receive. The change is set to be introduced from 2030. Prospero provides a source of news on former
colleagues, developments at the BBC and pension
issues. It is available online at bbc.com/mypension
Did you pay the ‘small stamp’?
Tens of thousands of women are likely to have been
Cashless society Please send your editorial contributions,
Earlier this year, the government set out its plans to comments or feedback to:
underpaid the State Pension and could be due a refund.
protect the UK’s future cash system and ensure Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre,
Until April 1977, married women had the option to pay a
people have easy access to cash. Under their Central Square, Cardiff CF10 1FT
lower rate of National Insurance (NI) contributions
proposals, people would be able to request
(known as the ‘small stamp’) and give up the right to Email: prospero@bbc.co.uk
cashback from retailers of all sizes, without having
claim a full State Pension in their own right. Before the
to make a purchase. Although the use of cash is Please make sure that any digital pictures you send
new State Pension was introduced on 6 April 2016,
declining in the UK, it remains crucial for groups are scanned at 300dpi. Please also note that the
women could claim a partial State Pension based on the
across the UK – including the elderly and vulnerable. maximum word count for obituaries is 350 words.
NI record of their husband. But the new State Pension
In 2019, consumers received £3.8bn of cashback
system is based on an individual’s own record of NI
when paying for items at a till – making it the
contributions, not those of their spouse. As this could
Contents
second-most-used method for withdrawing cash in
have disadvantaged women who were expecting to
the UK behind ATMs.
claim their State Pension based on their husband’s
record but suddenly could not do so, the government
introduced a concession which means any woman
reaching State Pension Age under the new rules and Money Matters 2-3
who paid the ‘small stamp’ at any point in the 35 years Money and benefits headlines from 2021
before reaching State Pension Age can make a Need money help?
claim based on her husband’s NI record. However, a
computer error meant this didn’t happen automatically.
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP)
says it first became aware of the issue last year.
Where underpayments are identified, the Department Letters 4-5
will contact the individual to inform them of the changes
to their State Pension amount and of any arrears
payment they will receive in accordance with the law.
Memories 6-7
Looking back 50 years
It was the best of times at BBC Pebble Mill
Back at the BBC 8-9
BBC Christmas food
BBC premiers The Green Planet on the
eve of COP26
Tackling climate change behind the camera
NEED MONEY HELP? Obituaries 10-11
MoneyHelper, which launched in the summer, is a government service that offers free and impartial
guidance about money and pensions. It combines the services previously provided by Pension Wise, the
Money Advice Service and the Pensions Advisory Service. Most of the information, tools and content on
the legacy services websites have moved to the new MoneyHelper website, making it easier for people to
find the information they need. You can use the online tools and calculators to help you keep track of your Odds ‘n’ ends 12
finances and plan ahead, or have a confidential chat with their advisers about any money or debt issues. BBC Motion Graphics Archive
Go to moneyhelper.org.uk
Caption competition
Classifieds
Contacts
Sudoku D O
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3
E T
box contains the letters ADEGHORTW in some order.
One row or column contains a 5 or more letter word, A O R H
name or programme title with a BBC connection.
Solve the sudoku to discover what or who it is and R D G E Prospero December 2021
send or email your answer to The Editor, Prospero,
BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Central Square, W H A G The next issue of Prospero will appear
Cardiff CF10 1FT by Tuesday, 4 January 2022. in February 2022. The copy deadline
G A W R is Tuesday, 4 January 2022.
The winner gets a £10 voucher. Many thanks to
Neil Somerville for providing this puzzle. R A W O
The Sudoku winner in October 2021 was W G
Mr R Cox who correctly identified the WIN
link as Trace, the crime drama series £10 R T
shown on BBC1 in early 2021.
PROSPERO DECEMBER 2021 | 3
| LETTERS
Paging people
Local Radio mugs Reading the item (Prospero, October 2021) about Brian Blessed asking for
The Living History project has inspired me to contact Prospero about my Mole Richardson and Andrew Pandy to be paged, reminded me of the joke played
collection of Local Radio mugs, acquired during my time at BBC International on newcomers to the switchboard at Lime Grove. They were asked to make
Relations Division, when I visited almost all the then stations, often as they were the following announcement over the Tannoy in the canteen: ‘Will the cast of
about to start. Andy Pandy please return to the studio’.
Sooner or later, I shall be moving into a smaller home and would like to find the Talking of appearance, although I wasn’t the ‘Face of the BBC’, working in the post
mug collection a home where it will be appreciated. room as I was at the time, I was still expected to wear a tie.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Neville Withers
Rodney Mantle
Weather symbols
John Teather’s tales of 1980s-style, cutting-edge BBC weather graphics
technology (Prospero, August) brought back a few memories of my own.
On Sunday, 17 February 1985
I was the live graphics
operator in the weather
studio (‘Pres A’ at TV Centre).
Michael Fish was the
weatherman on duty that
night and I recall him telling
us that the recorded weather
(for Closedown) would be
the last time the magnetic
symbols would be used on
air. When the recording was
completed, there were
several souvenir hunters
on the studio floor, all keen
to get hold of the now
Remembering Eric Bowman
redundant graphics. Michael
allowed me to take two
of them, which still adorn
Eric Bowman, the former deputy head of News and Current Affairs who died my fridge door over 36
in 2017, was remembered in a walk up Ben Nevis in September. years later.
Five of his regular walking partners took part: Bob Eggington, the former I also still have my grey polyester necktie, adorned with weather symbols and
Project Director of News Online, Simon George, formerly head of finance for purchased from the BBC Shop at TVC.
Radio Five Live, Richard Williams, formerly of BBC Online, Tom Perrott (friend)
I felt a small twinge of guilt to be walking away with items of BBC property until
and Bernie Graneek (friend).
I watched a recent Antiques Roadshow which featured a full set of 35 magnetic
‘We’d walked many hundreds of miles with Eric, all over Europe and the British symbols which were sent to a viewer who simply wrote to Bill Giles and asked
Isles – organised every time by Eric himself. So we decided we’d organise a for them. I now wish I’d grabbed a few more!
memorial walk just the way he would have done it,’ said Bob Eggington.
Bob Richardson
‘Eric had been in the Parachute Regiment and he had a military-style approach
to organisation.
‘He wasn’t interested in scenery – he had a policy of ‘no stopping to admire the Effin’ power cuts
view’. Instead he was focussed on the physical challenge the walk presented.
Will Wyatt’s amusing anecdote in the October edition (Effin’
It had to be as long as possible, taking in as much altitude as possible, so that
weather, Letters) reminded me of a similar mishap during the
you finished the walk exhausted.
three-day week of the 1970s when power cuts meant that not
‘Then, of course, you had earned a big dinner and a few glasses of the good only industry but homes had to suffer regular blackouts.
stuff. The apres-walk was almost as important as the walk itself.’ It fell to BBC Local Radio to keep its audiences informed of the latest power
The five chose Ben Nevis because it was ‘the biggest hill in the UK with outages. Radio Manchester had adopted a system of grouping districts together
guaranteed creature comforts at the bottom of the climb’. alphabetically for efficiency. Listeners would have been used to being grouped
under A for their area, for example.
‘We enjoyed both,’ said Simon George.
So the presenter – who shall remain nameless – began reading out the groups to
Eric’s widow, Sheila, gave the walk her blessing and sent congratulations to the face a blackout that evening…A off, B off, C off. Too late, we realised what was about
team at the summit of the Ben. to happen…D off, E off, then F off.
I’m not sure what the listeners thought but we were rolling about in the newsroom.
I mention this verbal bear trap because we may well face electricity blackouts this
winter, and Local Radio teams need to be aware.
David Edwards Hulme
Commissionaires
Harry, one of BBC TVC’s commissionaires, will always be remembered for the
early morning cups of tea he made for those of us in the Make-up Department
when we started a long shift in the studio or on location. He once said that he
could get two dozen cups of tea from one teabag!
Commissionaires were employed to drive a Lambretta around the multi-story
car park next to BBC TVC to locate our cars. After a 12-hour shift, we couldn’t
always remember which floor we’d parked on!
Joan Stribling de’ Launay
Ed: Unfortunately we misspelled Joan’s surname in the last issue of Prospero,
Pictured at the summit of Ben Nevis (from left): Bob Eggington,
when she sent in a letter about The Old Grey Whistle Test. We apologise for
Simon George, Richard Williams and Tom Perrott.
the error.
4
Technical Trainees
A scream of annoyance The article on page 6 of the October
re surveys issue was a joy to read and it was a
pleasant surprise to see my face in
This letter is really for the Pension Scheme Trustees, who had an appeal for us to the middle of the front row of the
‘complete the member survey’ on page 3 of the current edition (October). But if left-hand photo.
you want to publish this scream of annoyance in Prospero, go ahead!
Ray Liffen did a great job by accurately
I know that we often read a sentence or phrase like this. But it is wrong and describing the diverse training and
worse, it misleads and causes confusion. It is the result of the misuse of the word
experience which ‘Technical Trainees’
in US English. You are carrying out a survey of pensioners to discover how they
(TTs) received under this scheme.
use and what they think of the service provided. The ‘survey’ is the entire project.
It includes your project objectives, your decision about what method to use, your I was one of the 1963 intake, along with
decision on how to reach respondents, your decision about what you need to John Lightfoot and the others in the
find out from them, the design of an appropriate questionnaire, your decision on picture. Having survived the three
whether it is to be self-completion online, a decision on whether or not to find sandwich course years leading to the
some way of reaching the offlines, the way you approach the respondents and HND in Electrical Engineering, some
was so good we asked to stay for the
encourage them to participate, the way you analyse their responses and the of us were lucky to be granted a
whole of our six-week attachment.
report that is then written. All of that is the survey, made up of many different fourth year at college to study for
And it turned out that the owner had a
bits. To call just one part of that project, namely the questionnaire, the ‘survey’ is the IEE Part 3 examination, which
residential licence and was very happy
obviously wrong. A questionnaire can no more be called a ‘survey’ than a table enabled me to qualify as a chartered
leg can be called a ‘table’. for us just to chalk our consumption up
electrical engineer.
after he had gone to bed, leaving us
People answer questionnaires. Never once in the history of the world has anyone The article says some TTs left to further learning to play bridge with the other
ever, anywhere answered, or even worse, ‘taken’ a survey! We have a correct their careers elsewhere, as did I. ‘guests’, the local vets on call overnight.
word for that thing we use when we want to ask questions in a systematic and
However, the training wasn’t wasted
measured way. It is, no surprise, ‘questionnaire’. It is not a survey. The other phenomenon on site at
and further confirmation of the value
Skelton was that the lights were never
Graham Mytton (Head of Audience Research BBC World Service 1982 to 1998) of the BBC’s TT scheme came when in
switched on in the SME’s office – the
1989, after 20 or so years in commercial
fluorescent tubes just glowed from the
television, I returned to the fold as
HF radiation. After the workshop course
‘Chief Engineer’ of the Television Service.
Dress codes
(without any exams necessary, Wood
Such was the quality of the BBC staff
Norton being just one long social event!)
records, I even regained my original five
In the Make-up Department at BBC TVC, we went from tunics, smocks, I was posted to Belfast and spent eight
figure staff number – 89014.
ballerina-style overalls, waisted with large billowing skirts, striped uniforms weeks in digs... quite an eye opener into
and pinafores with pockets. All with flat shoes for health and safety. Thank you BBC – you gave me a good the culture of the province.
How glamorous it all was! start and an even better finish!
My second year took in Birmingham and
Joan Stribling de’ Launay Peter Marchant Sutton Coldfield, and then in the final
year London Switching Centre, Television
OBs and News at Alexandra Palace.
I READ THIS with interest, and it caused
me to think about my early BBC career Whilst doing a training exercise in the
and how times change! gallery of N2, the EMX lit up and as
TM I answered somewhat
I was engaged as a Youth in Training in apprehensively, ‘N2’.
1943 at the small ‘H Group’ transmitter
at Exeter. ‘The Newsflash will be in ten minutes,’
said the voice. ‘Can you send us an
The work was interesting, but I soon ident, please?’
realised that to make progress in a
career I would have to obtain some form Thinking this was all part of the exercise,
of professional qualification. The BBC I made some vague comment, at which
did not then send its trainees to college, point ‘the voice’ must have realised his
so I had to organise my own mistake and hurriedly said, ‘Sorry, I need
arrangements, in my own time and at N1’ and rang off. Ten minutes later I was
my own expense. asked to pack a bag and stand by to go
with Curly Haywood’s News OB Unit…
However, I like to think that, in a small to Aberfan. In the end, we were stood
way, I contributed to help maintain the down but I still pause for reflection on
high reputation the BBC undoubtedly that terrible event every October.
enjoyed during the end-of-war years.
I eventually spent six years in Studio
Alan Brown Engineering at Television Centre before
moving to Television Network, some of
the happiest days of my life. My journeys
I WAS TAKEN aback to see such a long
around the country stood me in good
article about Technical Trainees in the
stead when dealing with all the various
October issue. I feature in the photo of
regional staff on the phone, knowing
the workshop course (with more hair
what their jobs and conditions entailed.
and minus the beard I now have).
I did defect to ‘another broadcaster’ in
Ray and I joined the intake of 1963 at
1981, but some 40 years on still meet up
Portsmouth but I didn’t set foot on
with my ex colleagues from the fourth
BBC premises as an employee until
floor for a walk and pub lunch in the
May 1964 at Skelton. Whilst at college,
Chilterns every week – and four of us
I wrote to the Welfare Department in
were Technical Trainees!
order to find accommodation in
Penrith... no internet, no mobiles and a PS: The Victoria Temperance Hotel
walk to the end of the road to make a is now The Castlegate Arms.
phone call back then. I was horrified to
Grant Feltham
get a letter saying that I had been
booked into the Victoria TEMPERANCE
Hotel for the first night. What is this
strange organisation I now work for?
Chris Williams and I turned up expecting
the worst but the food on the first night
PROSPERO DECEMBER 2021 | 5
| MEMORIES
LOOKING BACK 50 YEARS
As the BBC gears up to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2022, David
Wood recalls what it was like working for the Beeb in 1972 at the time
of its 50th celebrations.
T
he BBC is a great place to work today. It was
then – but they were calmer, and maybe more
naïve, times. There was (hooray or boo) no
remote working from home. In the office buildings,
there were no electronic gates clocking you in and
out, just smiles and hellos from receptionists.
BBC 50th exhibition at the Langham.
50 years of the BBC
What is the collective noun for exhibitions? Maybe it’s The author’s folksy band, ‘The Formation’.
a ‘Huddle of Exhibitions’? 1972 had its Huddle of BBC
50th anniversary exhibitions.
Across the road from my office was the Langham Some personal anecdotes
It was a land of cautiously written paper memos and
(now a hotel, then a BBC building). It was one from that time
of the clusters of BBC buildings within a coffee
reports – intended to inform the recipient and break’s walking distance of Broadcasting House. • My office was in Henry Wood House (HWH),
simultaneously protect the sender from blame. In November 1972, the Queen and the Duke of which was glued to the St George Hotel next
The company’s lifeblood was the internal paper mail Edinburgh opened a super exhibition: ‘BBC-50 – door in Langham Place. The hotel had a genial
system. We were managed by an army of bosses all Sights and Sounds of Fifty Years’ designed by painter, and unique outside doorman, always and ever
with ‘acronym’ titles. Yes, there was someone - not glancing at his watch, murmuring to himself:
sculptor, and gourmet Mario Armengol in the Langham.
named McDonald - with the title: ‘E.I.E.I.O’. ‘So much to do, so little time!’. No one ever
The next day another fine exhibition, ‘BBC-50 – The found out what it was he had to do.
There was a saying: ‘people in broadcasting are either Technical Story’ opened across town at Mullard House
• The BBC occupied the first six floors of HWH,
working for the BBC, have worked for the BBC, or are in Torrington Place by the BBC Chairman.
with the rest of the building hotel rooms.
going to work for the BBC’. It seemed to be true.
This was followed by a BBC-50 exhibition at the The floor of your office depended on your work
If, as a BBC staffer, you needed to travel outside Photographers’ Gallery in Great Newport Street and – and your BBC ‘mp’ staff grade. To an extent,
London for work, the Corporation could lend you a BBC-50 exhibition at the Imperial War Museum. the higher the grade, the higher the floor. I will
a car for the trip. If you went by train, the ticket was not tell where I was but let’s just say it was easy
first class. All the exhibitions were free. to get to the road.
There were also a whole series of special radio and • Since joining the BBC, I joined up with
There were no ‘hot desks’ – your papers and files
television programmes, events from banquets to Kay Cadell, a production assistant for Radio 2’s
rested neatly on your own desk.
concerts, anniversary discs and publications. Housewives’ Choice and You and Yours,
When you joined the organisation, you were given a together with my second cousin and fellow
papyrus/Magna Carta-like contract. For many it was There was the moving lyricism of Andy Boyle’s then BBC-er Gary Lewis, to form a folksy band,
a job for life. published book title about BBC founder John Reith: ‘The Formation’. Kay had a super voice and
Only the Wind will Listen. Gary was a real star. Outside office hours, we
For all the distance and differences that you see played in and around London. We made some
between 2022 and 1972, way back then the year of the I later moved on to the BBC’s ‘protégé’ organisation, recordings in one of the sound studios in the
BBC’s birth in 1922 seemed to us to be an even more the EBU/Eurovision in Brussels and Geneva. But the Langham, which was then the home of Radio 2.
distant foreign country. year 1972 and the microworld around BH then returns Kay took them the Housewives’ Choice host,
to the memory like Du Maurier’s Manderley. It was an Pete Murray. His thoughtful advice was, ‘Just
Original BBC and EBU folk hero, Arthur Burrows read amazing time with amazing people. But surely no keep practising’. He was honest. We were OK but
the first radio news in 1922 – including latest billiards more so than today’s BBC. just (gulp!) mediocre. If you are desperate, we
scores – to crystal sets and horn-shaped speakers.
may be still available for events.
He read it all twice – once fast and once slowly. And, by the way, in 1972 we were given one extra day
You wish. The next year, 1923, broadcasting a wedding off (aghast!) to mark the 50th anniversary, and a BBC • You want laid back? I joined Auntie back in 1968
service from Westminster Abbey was not allowed Anniversary Stamp was issued by the Post Office. as a graduate trainee, and my first stop was the
because it might be heard by ‘irreverent persons’ BBC Training Centre at Wood Norton in the
and ‘persons in public houses with their hats on’. Midlands. Rumour held that it was not just the
Thus it was in the BBC’s early years. place of newbies, it was also the location of the
BBC’s ‘deferred facilities’. When the Russians
By 1972, we had advanced to two colour TV channels, dropped the bomb, this would be one of the
four national radio channels and local radio, and hush-hush underground bivouacs for BBC Radio.
Terry Wogan on Radio 2’s Breakfast Show. It was Influenced by latter-day Goon Shows rather than
much closer to today’s media diet. The original 1920s Borat, impishly one day I turned up my collar
Reith motif of ‘entertain, educate, and inform’ had and, never having met him, I approached the
been modulated, at least sometimes, to: ‘stimulate, ground’s gardener with a Russian glare:
irritate, and give pleasure’. ‘Me excuse, Mister Plant Man – where is place
secret of BBC facilities?’ He replied (said with
1972 found me working in the BBC Capital Projects Midlands accent): ‘Yer go down there – frew va
Department in Henry Wood House, a memo’s throw trees – down va steps – there’s an unmarked
from Broadcasting House. Not quite the glamour of white door – you can’t miss it Guv’. BBC
the 1960s-built question-mark-in-concrete Television homeland security was tight 50 years ago.
Jimmy Young and Joan Gill.
Centre, but we felt we were at the centre of the world.
6
IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES
AT BBC PEBBLE MILL
Fifty years ago since it all began Christmas Radio Times
Club members can collect their Christmas and New
Year double edition of the Radio Times from BBC
Club W1 in Wogan (formerly Western) House from
On an autumn Wednesday five years ago, when the BBC Tuesday, 14 December, between 10am and 2pm.
Pebble Mill alumni met for their regular monthly coffee This is dependent on our delivery being on time.
We understand that copies may be available in shops
morning, John Williams, retired film cameraman, presented and newsagents before this date but our delivery
schedules differ. There will be a dedicated desk for
to the room his recently published memoir of working for the collections every morning during this week to speed
BBC in Birmingham; the thrills, the spills and the adventures. things up. Why not combine this with a morning
coffee and mince pie or pastry?
J
Lottery
im Dumighan, a previous Head of Network The blue plaque arrived with us in March 2020, BBC Club Extra is proud to announce the return of
Television, pronounced to the room that we just about when the hospital build had been THE BIG ONE! Our £10,000 jackpot is back in
should make sure the BBC in Birmingham at completed and the week that very sadly my colleague December. This is in addition to the other £1,000 and
Pebble Mill is not forgotten. Steve Weddle died. Also during this process we lost 10 x £100 prizes. To join or increase your shares, email
David Waine early in 2021, our inspiring Head of or call the Club Hub (details below). Minimum entry is
My colleague Steve Weddle and I then took on the Broadcasting from 1983 to 1994. £5 per month.
challenge of arranging a blue plaque to commemorate
everything that was the BBC and Pebble Mill. We were put on hold due to Covid but eventually the Events
unveiling took place on Wednesday, 8 September All BBC Club retired members are invited once again
We had a couple of false starts but made contact with 2021, with Nick Owen doing the honours. to Christmas lunch on Monday, 6 December.
the BBC Heritage Trail who agreed to present Pebble You could combine a relaxed lunch in the Club with
Mill with a blue plaque. We got the support of the Nick had worked on many shows made out of Pebble old friends and colleagues (and a chance to meet
BBC, now based at the Mailbox in Birmingham, and Mill over the years. He presented the very last news some new!) with some West End Christmas shopping
we also got the support of Circle Health, the company bulletin from Pebble Mill in 2004 and he is still and perhaps a glance at the Christmas lights in
that were building their Rehabilitation Hospital on the presenting almost daily from the Mailbox. Regent Street and Oxford Street on the way home!
footprint of the old BBC building. You MUST have pre-booked to attend this event.
The BBC Heritage Trail blue plaque is placed at the
Please email for details and to book.
main entrance of the Circle Rehabilitation Hospital on
a small tree-covered roundel. BBC Club Hub
A history of Pebble Mill BBC Birmingham in every department and at every
As the BBC has now introduced hybrid working, with
most staff working from home for part of the week,
The BBC acquired the lease for the nine-acre level was populated with inquisitive, curious, clever the BBC Club Hub in Broadcast Centre is not staffed
Pebble Mill site in 1951, but progress was slow – and creative people who loved what they did. on a full-time basis. This means that all phone calls
a model for the building was presented to the UK They were unafraid to express an opinion, were highly are diverted. The quickest way for you to have any
press in 1962, but the first sod was turned in skilled and wholeheartedly worked together to query answered is to email the Club. If you do not
April 1967 by Sir Hugh Greene, the DG at the time. achieve some extraordinary broadcast milestones. have the ability to email, please still telephone but be
In the meantime, production continued at the aware your call may not be answered, in which case
I know we were all dismayed when in the early 2000s please leave a message when prompted, with details
small Gosta Green studios.
it became apparent that the building was no longer fit of your query. This will allow it to be passed to the
The new Birmingham Broadcasting Centre for purpose and that strategic decisions made in most appropriate person and enable us to respond
was opened by HRH Princess Anne on London changed and altered the commissioned shows to you as quickly as possible. Please note, diverted
10 November 1971. made in Birmingham. There is still a healthy phone calls do not show the caller’s phone number
production base in the city but I am not sure it has so do leave your number if you wish for a reply!
Designed by John Madin, the new building that same collegiate feel and culture that was
became an icon on the local landscape and at the Our email address is: bbc.club@bbc.co.uk
prevalent in the heyday of BBC Birmingham at Pebble
time deemed to be the most technologically Mill. You might say ‘she would say that’ but I think I am For correspondence by mail, please write to:
advanced of the BBC’s premises. It was the first entitled to, as is everyone else who worked at Pebble BBC Club, Broadcast Centre BC2 B3, 201 Wood Lane,
purpose-built BBC building to house news, radio Mill anytime between 1971 and 2004 – the glory years! London W12 7TP
and television all under the same roof – with eight
floors of offices, TV and Radio studios, two For more memories, photographs and all sorts visit For phone enquires, please call: 0208 7526666
canteens and of course a garden. pebblemill.org
The Club would like to wish you all a very Merry
As well as being the home of Midlands Today for Jenny Brewer Christmas and a Happy New Year.
many years, Pebble Mill produced thousands of BBC Birmingham from 1968 to 2000
BBC programmes including Doctor Who and
Gardeners’ World. Stuart Thomas, Head of
Midlands, and Midlands Today
Pebble Mill’s cavernous colour studios, particularly
presenter Nick Owen unveil
the huge Studio A, made it popular for taping
the blue plaque.
dramas in the era when dramas were produced in
multi-camera setups. These included All Creatures
Great and Small, Boys from the Blackstuff,
Doctors, Dangerfield, Triangle, Howards’ Way,
Juliet Bravo, The Brothers and Dalziel and Pascoe,
and children’s programmes such as Rentaghost.
However, changes in the way dramas were
produced and a strategy to move production to
two hubs in Bristol and Salford Quays meant the
large Pebble Mill complex became surplus to
requirement. BBC Midlands Today and The Archers
moved to the smaller Mailbox buildings in central
Birmingham in 2005 and the site was demolished.
Meanwhile drama production was moved to the
new Drama Village at Selly Oak.
PROSPERO DECEMBER 2021 | 7
| BACK AT THE BBC
BBC CHRISTMAS FOOD
BBC History Manager John Escolme takes a look at the more
eccentric side of cookery on BBC TV at Christmas, and discovers
that programme makers have always had an eye for something
different at this time of year.
A radio debut So, how did Fanny keep her dresses so clean? It is a
Nigel Slater.
Saturday, 22 December 1923 at 7.15 in the evening question no one has yet been able to answer, but it
goes down in history as the BBC’s first attempt at certainly seemed to concern many of those watching!
cooking up something festive for Christmas – on radio.
A down to earth BBC Christmas
But what a curious sounding programme – entitled Fanny’s opposite, the down to earth Zena Skinner,
5SC’s Christmas: Pudding and Pie, A Mixture of Good avoided any potential clash of cooks’ egos a year later,
Things, the show featured ‘real wholesome fare’, where when she chose Christmas sweets as an alternative to
the ‘ingredients are mixed and baked by our own cooks Mrs Cradock’s heavyweight mainstays. Yet, even Zena
on the premises’. The Christmas Radio Times listing couldn’t resist more than just a dash of green food
continues: ‘Wigs supplied by ‘Soosie’ the Studio Cat, colouring for her Christmas peppermint creams – it
Costumes by Mrs Mike, Scenery by Mr Mike, Lighting by was the 1970s after all.
Jimmy, Sauce by All and Sundry, and Interruptions by
Unusual?
the Authors and Producer, Mr. George Ross.’
By the late 1980s, the BBC regions had started to
Even if this programme had nothing to do with break with what were then considered universal
Christmas cookery at all, it is interesting to imagine Christmas food conventions on TV.
wigs and costumes being donned to present a special
In 1987 Judith Stamper, the long-serving and popular
Christmas show just for radio.
presenter of Look North (Leeds), spent a week looking
For reasons known only to the producers of the day, at, what to her, were ‘unusual’ Christmas Day recipes.
other Christmas food programmes on the BBC have Rusty Lee was invited along to make ackee and
taken on similarly surreal characteristics. saltfish, that classic Caribbean Christmas breakfast.
She’s a Scream!
Zena Skinner.
In 1975 Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas saw the This was presented as a real novelty, and definitely
formidable Fanny in a series of lurid frocks fronting aimed at an audience ‘looking in’ rather than seasoned
her first Christmas food show. British-Caribbean cooks.
All the essentials for a British-style Christmas were
Delia
packed into five 15-minute programmes, but each
Despite numerous repeats and a follow-up series in
came with a twist.
2009, Delia Smith’s Christmas series of 1990 remains a
benchmark for BBC Christmas food programmes.
In its day it was revolutionary, daring to step outside
the confines of the studio and into Delia’s very
own kitchen.
Not only did she cook all the Christmas classics but
she invited wine expert Alice King to pair all the wines
with her for the big day – for those that could afford it
of course.
The whole series had a decidedly well-heeled feel
– cooking for yuppies had arrived.
Delia Smith.
Johnny and Fanny Cradock.
Green piped mashed potato was presented as the
latest accompaniment to a glamour-packed Christmas
dinner, and the method for the preparing the perfect
Christmas goose was something to behold.
You prod it all over, you think of somebody you never
really liked, but you are too well bred to say what you
think of them, so you take it out on a goose until it’s
stabbed all over.
Viewers seemed to love Fanny Cradock and found her
highly entertaining, as a document from the BBC’s
Written Archive reveals:
‘However, with the exception of a few who objected to
some silly chatter and constant references to her
booklet, Fanny Cradock struck most as a real
professional with a delightful personality. Often she
was commended for her easy-to-follow, step-by-step
illustrations, her sense of humour (‘she’s a scream’,
‘a first-rate entertainer’) but mostly, perhaps, for her
appearance: ‘Not a spot of anything to be seen on her
lovely dresses. How on earth does she keep so clean
without an apron?’
BBC Audience Research Report, January 1976
8
| BACK AT THE BBC
BBC PREMIERS THE GREEN PLANET
ON THE EVE OF COP26
Due to air in January 2022, the BBC premiered its new groundbreaking natural history series,
billed as ‘Planet Earth from the perspective of plants’, in front of an invited audience
at Glasgow’s Pacific Quay IMAX, on the eve of the city hosting COP26.
T
he Green Planet is a five-part landmark series Following the screening, The Green Planet’s
from BBC Studios’ world-renowned Natural Executive Producer Mike Gunton was joined by
History Unit, for BBC One and iPlayer. Nisreen Elsaim, Paloma Costa and Archana Soreng,
members of the United Nations Secretary General’s
It follows David Attenborough as he travels the world
Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change
– from the rainforests of the tropics to the
representing Sudan, Brazil and India, who shared their
wildernesses of the frozen north – to explore the
reaction to the film and talked about the importance
extraordinary ways in which plants have learnt to
of our green worlds and what role younger
survive and thrive in almost every environment. Using
generations can play.
pioneering new film-making technology and the very
latest science, the series takes the viewer on a journey The giant 80x60ft IMAX screen also played a
into a series of magical worlds. It reveals that the lives provocative animation ahead of the premiere
of plants are as competitive, aggressive, and dramatic featuring an electrocardiogram heartbeat that turns
as those of animals, and investigates the crucial role into a green plant stem and flatlines, perilously voiced
plants play in controlling our climate and maintaining by David Attenborough. As the audience exited the
our ecosystems. screening, they were confronted with a living plant
installation that was abundant at the start of the
David Attenborough, making his first appearance at
screening but now appeared decaying and withered
COP26 said, ‘It is quite fitting that The Green Planet
bearing the message: ‘Let’s not make Fossil Forests be
will receive its premiere at COP26, and I’m pleased
our Future.’
that I could be in Glasgow to see it with an audience.
For years plant life has been largely ignored The Green Planet uses new developments in
when talking about climate change, but as viewers robotics, moving time-lapse, super-detail thermal
will see from watching the series, the green cameras, deep focus ‘frame-stacking’ and ultra-high-
ecosystem is at the heart of all life on earth and thus Sir David Attenborough meets members of the UN
speed to travel beyond the power of the human
it’s vital that we tackle biodiversity and climate Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, Paloma
eye and make visible the amazing, hidden life of the
change together.’ Costa, Nisreen Elsaim and Archana Soreng.
green planet.
Tackling climate change behind the camera
A
t the core of the BBC is programme To ensure sustainability is baked into every production: Teams decide which green actions work for their
making, and ensuring it is environmentally productions, earning ‘points’ for their commitments.
sustainable is a priority. • We have made the completion of the albert Some actions are obligatory and must be
carbon footprint calculator mandatory on all our implemented, but productions can use their
From first draft to final transmission, we are commissioned content. discretion over which other actions they adopt.
continually exploring and implementing ways to
• We now actively encourage productions to Each action must be supported with evidence or
lower the carbon emissions generated by our
complete the albert certification process, also other auditable information, as the process is
output, but crucially without affecting its quality.
known as the carbon action plan. verified to ensure the rating system is robust and
This means tackling practical, day-to-day challenges
meaningful. These pledges result in an overall total
and spreading sustainable values throughout the
• We have committed to ensure all in-house score and ‘green star’ rating.
production supply chain.
production from both public service and BBC
Studios will be albert certified. All productions working to achieve an albert mark
The BBC continues to play an active and prominent
must follow these core principles:
role in the collaborative pan-industry BAFTA albert
Consortium and Directorate (wearealbert.org), Albert certification
• Seek to reduce the negative environmental impact
of which it is a founder member, having gifted the Certification helps production teams make their
of programme production wherever possible
albert carbon calculator to Bafta a decade ago. programmes in more sustainable ways, keeps track of
The aims of the Consortium are to reduce the their achievements, and rewards them with a rating – • Share and embed sustainable values and
negative environmental impacts arising from one, two or three stars, determined by the range and behaviour with cast, crew and their supply chain
TV production and promote positive action to complexity of green initiatives implemented by each
tackle climate change behind the camera. team. Three-star productions will have achieved • Promote sustainable production to colleagues
significant results and made the most positive impact within the production or company, across the wider
The albert carbon calculator possible on the environment. industry, and where appropriate, the audience.
The albert carbon calculator is an online resource
and the industry standard environmental impact Starting at the pre-production stage, teams taking
assessment for TV productions, first developed by part in the certification process work through a range
the BBC. Using albert at the start of the production of ideas and suggestions for green actions from the So how is the BBC doing?
process to predict the expected carbon footprint, bespoke checklist. Certification focuses on the As detailed in our latest BBC Annual Report &
production teams can highlight opportunities for following areas of the production process: Accounts (2020/21):
improvement and take steps throughout to lower
• Preparation
the actual carbon footprint – reducing the impact • 100% of BBC Studios TV productions
on the environment. There is more information on • Production office completed the albert carbon footprint with
the BBC Commissioning website: bbc.co.uk/ • Studios and stages 98% managing to decrease carbon emissions.
delivery/sustainable-productions
• Travel • 48% of BBC programmes were albert certified,
In 2011 we shared the albert carbon calculator an increase of 14% YoY and exceeding our 25%
• On location
through an industry partnership with Bafta, where target.
it is now available, free of charge. It’s being used • Post-production
by more than 200 production companies and • 93% of BBC programmes completed the
broadcasters in the UK television industry. albert carbon footprint.
PROSPERO DECEMBER 2021 | 9
| OBITUARIES
Head of Children’s His worship series, A Service for Schools, was a
flagship for School Radio; it was heard each week by
Les was a keen golfer and regularly played on
Saturdays with a team of friends. He was also a great
Acquisitions and over half a million children aged 7-11. The stories he supporter of the Peterborough Panthers speedway
Co-Productions commissioned about animals and children from
Johnny Morris became contemporary parables.
team. Granddaughter Jessica and Les were very close
and he supported her in her ten-pin bowling hobby,
To enable listening schools to join in the hymns and where she is now a gold medallist.
Theresa Plummer Andrews died on 31 August this
songs, Geoffrey devised an anthology called ‘Hymns
year, aged 77. During retirement, Les suffered colon cancer and
for Primary Schools.’ Donald Swann contributed new
songs for the series. battled that, including a reversal. He gave up golf at
Theresa joined the Children’s Department as
this stage but led a normal life for several years.
executive producer of Acquisitions and
In 1975 Geoffrey returned to parish ministry, setting up
Co-Productions in 1986 and stayed for 18 years. Les died on 13 July 2021, leaving wife Janet, son
a studio in Surrey to enable members of the Guildford
Diocese to train in work with audio and video and to David, daughter-in-law Catherine and granddaughter
In her early career she had worked in a theatrical
produce resource packs for parishes. He became Jessica, who all miss him greatly – our thoughts go
agent ‘babysitting’ Richard Burton and
Diocesan Communication Officer and was then made out to them.
Elizabeth Taylor. She had worked on live action
TV films, including Elephant Boy, and with a Canon of the Cathedral. Tony Kendall
Portman Productions and Global Television.
He always said that the one thing he missed after
Her interest in children’s production really started
leaving the BBC was his desk and green leather
From Studio
when we were both working for TVS, then the
armchair in his first-floor office in Number 3 Portland
ITV company for South and South-East England.
Place. He said it was one of the best views in the BBC,
When I returned to the BBC in 1986, I asked her as it looked across the road to All Souls church and to Management to
to join us as Head of Children’s Acquisitions and
Co-Productions. During the following years she
the front doors of BH, where the comings and goings
offered daily distractions!
Safety Services
built up an important and successful area of Gavin Birkett died in April this year from kidney
Geoffrey was much-loved by colleagues and
programming which had not really existed on failure and pneumonia.
contributors, whose warmth towards him is seen in
such a big scale before.
their descriptions of him as, for example, ‘kindly’, Before joining the BBC, Gavin attended the London
Theresa acted as producer or executive producer ‘self-effacing’ and ‘encouraging’. His love of stories Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and joined BBC
on many iconic animation series screened by the and music enriched his programmes, enabling Television in Studio Management.
BBC: Bob The Builder, Fireman Sam, Noddy, thousands of children to embark on their own spiritual
Postman Pat and more. journeys. Here he worked on a variety of programmes, but his
favourite was Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em. I first met
Theresa became an internationally renowned Daphne, Geoffrey’s wife, lives in Surrey with their Gavin when we were working on the same show,
expert in children’s animation. She travelled the daughter Rachel. Their elder daughter Jane is a where firearms were required. In later life Gavin
world looking for new series, and found many teacher in Portsmouth. moved into the Television Safety Services, where I
classics like Pingu and Rugrats for the BBC to acquire. joined him in 1987.
Geoff Marshall-Taylor
It was a period of expansion in the Children’s He loved technology gadgets, mobile phones, radios,
Department, not only in new animation series but movie cameras, et al. His spare room in his house
also in international live action acquisitions and
co-productions like the very successful Australian
Well respected was set up as a recording studio and editing suite
for television and video. He also used a reel-to-reel
comedy Round the Twist. BBC enterprises also started transmitting station/ tape recorder, audio cassettes, CD and MiniDisc
mobile maintenance
to invest in some of the Children’s Department’s own players and an old Edison phonograph player with the
domestic drama when they could see potential for record cylinders and 38rpm shellac records. He could
overseas sales.
engineer play any period sound required on whatever he was
working on.
Theresa was executive producer of the animated
Leslie John Sillis (Les)
series, The Animals of Farthing Wood, which involved On retiring from the BBC, and as he lived in Stratford-
spent most of his working
18 broadcasters in 16 countries. This required upon-Avon, Gavin worked voluntarily at the Stratford
life at the Peterborough
numerous long multilingual meetings in various cities. Theatre recording the Shakespearean plays on
transmitting station.
Theresa did not suffer fools gladly, and had firm multi-camera setups for students to learn from their
opinions, and there were times when she was sorely He joined the BBC in 1959, experiences on stage. He lived his life to the full.
tried, but she was admired and loved by her when the station opened as
international colleagues. part of the 405-line TV and Desmond Stewart
FM radio expansion.
Theresa was a perfectionist, and had a real skill for
He worked on shift there
Vision mixer when
knowing what would, and would not work for the
until the equipment was
child audience, and expressed her views forcefully.
automated and a mobile maintenance team
She enjoyed nurturing new talent, was fiercely loyal established, which he became part of. Kennedy was shot
to her team, and her friends, and was great fun.
Peterborough transmitting station was closed as a Leaving St Andrews
Anna Home staff base in 1986, although it continues now as an University, Frank Smith joined
unattended station. Being too young to retire, Les the BBC in August 1961 – the
travelled to Daventry on a daily basis until that station heady days of working at a
Leading religious
closed in 1992. He then joined the passport office in brand-new Television Centre.
Peterborough, where he worked until he retired.
education on BBC
Initially he was assigned to
Les was born in Burnham Market, Norfolk in January Technical Operations: cameras
School Radio 1937 and was educated at the primary school there
and later at Fakenham Grammar School.
and sound in the studios.
Frank got re-mustered into
The Rev Canon Geoffrey
During secondary education, an interest in planes engineering, and joined Central Areas, later renamed
Curtis joined BBC School
developed and he joined the RAF Air Cadets. On Television Network. Posts rotated around the Central
Radio in 1968, having been
leaving school, he joined the RAF as an aircraft Apparatus Room, International Control Room,
ordained into the Church of
technician which included a tour of Malta. He left to Maintenance, Presentation Studios, and Network
England seven years earlier.
join BBC at the age of 22 and stayed for 33 years. Control Rooms, then known as Central Control Rooms.
Alongside his parish activities,
he had developed a Les Sillis was a very competent and willing engineer The early duties here as a technical assistant involved
fascination with broadcasting. who liked the more intricate faults, rather than the vision and sound mixing the network outputs.
mundane maintenance tasks. Having spent one week
Geoffrey’s role in School On 22 November 1963, I was vision and sound mixing
in three with him on mobile maintenance, I got to
Radio included making radio in the BBC Network Control Room when we had a
know him well.
programmes for Religious Education and Collective newsflash from Alexandra Palace. Somebody had shot
Worship. Among his notable contributors were He had a dry sense of humour coupled with a at President Kennedy. I was on the early shift; that
Mother Teresa and Spike Milligan, though, as he put it, sarcastic wit, which was often a relief when we were newsflash done, I handed over to Frank. He had the
‘Sadly not in the same show!’ in a tight corner on an intricate fault. dubious privilege of being told to fade up the next
10newsflash, which reported Kennedy’s head covered
in blood, and then to cut to the opening titles of the
Edward pioneered Saturday morning sequential
programming for children, with Multi-Coloured
Adventurous Green
Harry Worth comedy show, where Harry walks down
the street and sticks out a leg behind a mirrored shop
Swap Shop – British television’s first-ever children’s Beret film editor
phone-in. Its presenter Noel Edmonds’ star potential
window. Look – airborne! Oh dear, that didn’t stay up had been spotted by Edward. He devised Blue Peter Before joining the BBC aged
too long! Special Assignment and commissioned The Record 25, Martin Winterton had
Breakers with Roy Castle, Go With Noakes featuring already lived quite a life,
The Central Areas were later reorganised into attaining his Royal Marine
John Noakes and his dog Shep, and many
Presentation Areas and Central Areas, and Frank Green Beret and then
programmes for teenagers such as Tucker’s Luck,
gravitated to the Presentation Floor, lighting in the spending 1962-1964 as a
Maggie and Speak Out. Drama serials included
Presentation Studios and running the Network dog-sledger down in the
John Masefield’s Box of Delights, the winner of four
Control Rooms. British Antarctic Survey’s
major awards. Appointed Head of the Department in
1978, he secured the rights to dramatise The Narnia Halley Bay base, even
Much later Frank, with others, came out of retirement
Chronicles, defeating fierce competition from becoming the first human
to continue running the Network Controls when the
Walt Disney. being to climb some of that
transmission operation was being moved to the new
continent’s remote mountains.
area on the second floor at Television Centre.
Stepping down as Head of BBC Children’s Television
Frank had also been talent spotted as a stand-in for While amongst the stark Antarctic landscape, Martin
programmes in 1986, Edward returned to producing
Ronnie Barker, due to an alleged physical similarity! discovered a passion for photography, and this led
and directing and spending more time with his family
This he greatly enjoyed. him to apply to a three-line job application in
and friends, listening to music, walking his dog, bird
watching, and following cricket and rugby league! The Telegraph as trainee assistant film editor for
Frank was an extremely good and sociable colleague,
the BBC.
a great raconteur and very popular. His lovely wife
Biddy Baxter
Mary predeceased him, but he leaves a daughter He worked on a wide variety of BBC output, including
and son, both of whom followed his footsteps into a long stint in the Arts magazine programmes, and –
television.
Alex Cruickshank from 1971-72 – he was acting editor on Blue Peter.
In Drama, Martin edited episodes of Doomwatch,
A good friend, he took our wedding photos on his
Alex passed away peacefully The Onedin Line, Striker and Ken Russell’s The Life
Rolliflex, and was godfather to our son. My wife and
in Signature House nursing And Times Of Dante Gabriel Rosetti.
I will sorely miss Frank, and remember the convivial
occasions we had with both him and Mary. home on 16 June 2021, aged
Martin also edited an animated series the BBC had
92. A dear husband to Freda,
acquired from France, given the English name of
Nigel Phillips loving brother-in-law, uncle
The Magic Roundabout – and it was Martin who
and great uncle. He will be
suggested naming the guitar-playing hippy rabbit
greatly missed by many
Dylan, after Bob Dylan, of course.
Distinguished Head of friends. A celebration for the
life of Alex will be arranged Marriage and children saw Martin leave London for
Children’s Programmes in due course. BBC Leeds, primarily cutting for Look North. As well
as news, during this time Martin was also proud to
‘One of BBC Television’s most work on other films such as Sid Perou’s potholing
distinguished Head of
Children’s Programmes’ was Radio 3 producer and films (one of which won the RTS’s Best Regional Film
Award in 1978).
Professor Jean Seaton’s
verdict after interviewing
presenter In 1982 Martin began a happy time as Film Unit
Edward Barnes, when Manager at BBC Open University in Milton Keynes.
Jill Anderson, a much-loved
researching Volume VI of the Sadly, in 1988, restructuring across the corporation saw
member of the Radio 3
Corporation’s official history Martin made redundant and his BBC career ended.
family, passed away on
– a great accolade for the lad 2 October 2021. Post-BBC he became head of the Ministry of
born in Wigan in 1928 who
Defence’s Department of Media Services. Bringing
left school at 14. Born on 8 December 1951,
together his love of film and TV with his military side
she grew up in Edgeware,
After a brief time in an office, a department store (he remained a Royal Marine Reservist throughout
the daughter of Eunice
and The Merchant Navy, Edward became an actor in his working life) this proved to be his perfect job, and
and Arthur, who ran a
repertory theatre. National Service intervened in 1947 even included a three-week stint back to the Falkland
hardware shop.
when he joined the British Forces Network Radio in Islands he’d first visited en route to Antarctica in 1962.
Vienna as an announcer, and met Dorothy Smith, After graduating from the Royal College of Music,
Martin James Winterton died in Airedale Hospital,
later his wife. Jill joined Radio 3 in 1974 as a secretary. She became
near Skipton, North Yorkshire, on 26 September 2021,
a studio manager in 1978 and joined ‘Group 3’,
After demobilisation, Edward returned to rep but aged 81.
dedicated to bringing the sound of Radio 3 to life.
became fascinated by the emerging medium of
He is survived by his two sons, six grandchildren and
television. He wrote to every producer listed in After various other attachments, she spent many
his wife of 54 years, Carole.
Radio Times and was eventually offered a job as years variously producing, presenting and reading the
stage manager in Light Entertainment. news on Radio 3 and the World Service. Ian Winterton
In 1962 Edward, by then a producer in Children’s On Radio 3 she had the vital role of continuity
presenter, coping with the variability of performance
Managing editor, BBC
Television, was asked to join Blue Peter to mentor a
raw recruit from BBC Schools Radio, Biddy Baxter. times and live radio, presenting musical choices
Biddy had applied for the job of Blue Peter producer
and there had been stiff competition within the
to match the requirements of the moment – a
skilled role and much appreciated by listeners for
Hereford & Worcester
Department, with Edward one of the unsuccessful whom she was there at all times in the day. A quiet, James Coghill died in October after a long illness,
candidates, but he was professional enough to give accomplished, knowledgeable and comforting voice peacefully at home surrounded by his wife Sandra and
Biddy unswerving support. that meant a great deal to a great many people, who family – aged 65.
will miss her.
Edward, Biddy and Rosemary Gill were the driving He’d trained in local newspapers and worked in
force of the programme, introducing the famous We as colleagues – both at Radio 3 and the World television in Hong Kong, as well as the BBC Midlands
ship logo and badge, the pets and the competitions. Service – will miss her too. We will miss her ability to Today newsroom and BBC Radio 5 Live.
In 1969 it won a BAFTA Award for the Best cope with any situation and to do so with humour and
a love of gossip. It was always reassuring to know that He worked at commercial station BRMB before joining
Specialised Programme.
Jill was at the controls. the BBC for the launch of BBC Hereford & Worcester –
In 1970, Edward was appointed Deputy Head of and read the first news bulletin on 14 February 1989.
Children’s Television but still kept in close touch with She was a keen clarinetist and played in, and helped
run, several amateur ensembles and orchestras around He became the station’s managing editor in 1999 and
Blue Peter, including directing Princess Anne in her
London. In the past few years she gained a Masters retired in early 2012.
first solo television programme, The Royal Safari to
at Goldsmiths, and took up an interest in playing
Kenya, transmitted in 1971. Mark Hellings
historical clarinets. She was a keen practitioner
In 1972, Edward created John Craven’s Newsround of Kletzmer.
– the world’s first ever regular news bulletin for
She will be much missed by colleagues and friends.
children. In 2012 BAFTA recognised the importance of
the programme by giving Edward a Special Award. Alan Davey CBE
PROSPERO DECEMBER 2021 | 11You can also read
