PROSPERO - THE QUEEN IN COLOUR - BBC
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PROSPERO
The newspaper for retired BBC Pension Scheme members • August 2021 • Issue 4
THE QUEEN
PENSION IN COLOUR
SCHEME
PAGE 7
| BACK AT THE BBC
RICHARD SHARP,
THE NEW BBC CHAIRMAN
Richard Sharp was appointed Chairman
of the BBC in February, replacing
Sir David Clementi when he stepped down.
A
s Chairman of the Board for the next four Richard has had a 40-year career in finance working
years, Richard is responsible for upholding with a number of financial institutions. Most notably
and protecting the independence of the BBC. he worked at JP Morgan and was for 23 years a
He is responsible for ensuring that the BBC fulfils partner at Goldman Sachs. Subsequently Richard
its mission to inform, educate and entertain and served for two terms on the Bank of England’s
promotes its public purposes. The Chairman ensures Financial Policy Committee, charged with protecting
DCMS/PA Wire
that the Board’s decision-making is in the public the UK’s financial stability. Richard has served on the
interest, informed by the best interests of the boards of public and private companies in the UK,
audience and with appropriate regard to the impact Germany, Denmark and the United States.
of decisions on the wider media market in the UK.
Throughout his career Richard has supported and The fees for non-executive directors of the BBC Board
The Board, under the Chairman, also must ensure held governance roles in a number of non-profit are set by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media
that the BBC maintains the highest standards of organisations including, amongst others, the Royal and Sport. The Chairman receives fees of £160,000
corporate governance. Academy of Arts, The Royal Marsden, The Institute of per annum. The time commitment for the Chairman
Cancer Research, International Rescue, and Uprising. will be at least 3–4 days per week.
A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER
– BBC ANNUAL REPORT
The BBC’s annual report, published on
6 July 2021, showed the broadcaster has
‘made a difference to the public during this
challenging period’ and has delivered on its
BBC ort
Group Annual Rep /21
public service mission to inform, educate
and Accounts 2020 and entertain with record numbers.
T
his has been achieved while making the BBC In 2020/21 there were 1.3bn billion plays on BBC Sounds, It has demonstrated very clearly the enduring
leaner – a key priority. The BBC’s total public with 900,000 more 16 to 34-year-olds using it for the importance of its public service mission.
sector workforce has reduced by over 1,200 first time in the last six months, exceeding expectations. And against a landscape of unprecedented
(6% of the total workforce) – the first significant market pressures, it has kept delivering
In a year of complex news, as the UK battled the world-class programming across all genres.’
drop in five years. Senior leader numbers are also
global coronavirus pandemic, audiences for the BBC
down by over 5% and there’s been a 10% decrease
News At Six were the largest in almost two decades. The full report is available online at:
in its pay bill for top talent.
BBC One’s 6.30pm bulletin in Scotland, Wales, https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/
Time spent with the BBC went up to 18 hours two Northern Ireland and the English regions is the UK’s reports/annualreport/2020-21.pdf
minutes, from 17 hours 45 minutes on average, per most watched news programme.
week. On an average day, over 28 million people
tune into the BBC for evening entertainment. The BBC reaffirmed its commitment to impartiality
in the last 12 months, publishing new guidance,
The quality of its content has been recognised with introduced new training for all staff, and increased
130 awards since April 2020, including: transparency through an External Events Register
for news and current affairs staff.
• 31 out of 48 Baftas
The BBC also announced significant plans to shift
• 16 out of 23 Broadcast awards, with Channel Of
people and decision making away from London, in the
The Year for BBC Two
biggest transformation for decades through its ‘Across
• 16 out of 25 gold wins at the Audio & Radio The UK’ plan. By 2027/28 the BBC will be spending, at
Industry Awards, from best news coverage to the very least, an extra £700m cumulatively across the
best music breakfast show to best local station. UK, generating an additional economic benefit of over
£850m. This will ensure it better reflects all parts of
BBC iPlayer attracted record audiences with the UK, increases opportunities for jobs and training
6.1 billion streams, up 28% on last year, and in and improves representation on and off screen.
January, there were a record 163 million streams
in one week, as viewers devoured programmes Richard Sharp, BBC Chairman, said: ‘I’m proud of
like The Serpent, A Perfect Planet, Traces what the BBC has done to rally round the needs
and EastEnders. of the country throughout the Covid crisis.
2
| BACK AT THE BBC
ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES PROSPERO
40TH ANNIVERSARY Prospero is provided free of charge to retired Scheme
members or to their spouses and dependants.
Prospero provides a source of news on former
The first ever episode of Only Fools and Horses, ‘Big Brother’, colleagues, developments at the BBC and pension
issues. It is available online at bbc.com/mypension
aired on 8 September 1981. The series was written by Please send your editorial contributions,
John Sullivan, who had already seen success with Citizen Smith. comments or feedback to:
Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre,
O
Central Square, Cardiff CF10 1FT
nly Fools and Horses introduced the Trotters, led Sullivan to revisit the characters before he died in
and created career-defining roles for 2011. In The Green Green Grass, Marlene and Boycie Email: prospero@bbc.co.uk
David Jason as Del Boy and Nicholas started a new life in the country. Please make sure that any digital pictures you send
Lyndhurst as Rodney. The much-loved sitcom are scanned at 300dpi. Please also note that the
followed their lives until 2003, and is often voted In 2010, Rock and Chips looked at Del and Rodney’s
maximum word count for obituaries is 350 words.
amongst the top British television programmes. early life, with James Buckley playing the young
Del Boy and Lyndhurst returning to play Rodney’s dad.
Del and Rodney lived in Peckham with Grandad,
played by Lennard Pearce. When Pearce died, his
character was replaced by Buster Merryfield, as Contents
Uncle Albert. Sullivan allowed his characters to
develop and mixed tragedy with the comedy. In the
1996 Christmas special, Rodney’s wife Cassandra Back at the BBC 2-3
suffered a miscarriage, but in the following episode Richard Sharp, the new BBC Chairman
24 million viewers
A year like no other – BBC annual report
watched as the Trotters
Only Fools and Horses 40th Anniversary
finally became the
millionaires they had Summary Report 2021
always hoped to be. New HMRC tax codes
The versatile Jason and
Lyndhurst have enjoyed
continued success. The
Their friends included Trigger, Boycie,
enduring popularity of
Marlene, Denzil and Mike.
Letters 4-5
Only Fools and Horses
Summary Report 2021 Memories 6-9
The BBC Pension Scheme Annual Summary Report will be published during September. It will include the Weather icons
usual Scheme funding update (looking at the position on 1 April 2021) along with news about the Scheme The Queen’s first Christmas Broadcast – in colour
and useful information.
Alexandra Palace and the Open University reunion
New HMRC tax codes
You might have noticed a different tax code on your needing to pay tax on it, with tax rates kicking in Obituaries 10-11
pension payslip since April. This is because HMRC has beyond this threshold.
updated the tax codes it sends out to payroll
You can view your pension payslips (and the tax code
providers. The code lets the payroll team know how
that applies to your BBC Scheme pension) online
much tax they need to deduct from your pension.
through myPension Online. Odds ‘n’ ends 12
For example, if you previously saw the code 1250L on
If you think your tax code is wrong or you don’t 50 years since the Old Grey Whistle Test
your pension payslip, you will now see 1257L. This is
the most common tax code for people who have one understand it, please don’t contact the BBC Pension Caption competition
job or pension. It has changed from 1250L after a 0.5% Centre as unfortunately we won’t be able to help you. Classifieds
increase in the Personal Allowance this tax year, from You will need to speak to HMRC using the details at Contacts
£12,500 to £12,570. The Personal Allowance is the www.gov.uk/contact-hmrc or by phoning 0300 200
amount of taxable income a person can earn without 3300 with your National Insurance number to hand.
Sudoku I B
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3
O C X A I
box contains the letters ABCEINORX in some order.
One row or column contains a 5 or more letter word, A X O B
name or programme title with a BBC connection.
Solve the sudoku to discover what or who it is and N B Prospero October 2021
send or email your answer to The Editor, Prospero,
BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Central Square, R C I O The next issue of Prospero will appear
Cardiff CF10 1FT by Monday, 6 September 2021. in October 2021. The copy deadline
O X is Monday, 6 September 2021.
The winner gets a £10 voucher. Many thanks to
Neil Somerville for providing this puzzle. X O A E
The Sudoku winner in June 2021 was
Mrs H Wishart who correctly identified C A R X B
the connection as ‘Industry’.
WIN
£10 I N
PROSPERO AUGUST 2021 | 3
| LETTERS
Legionnaires’ disease – it started
Mr Middleton’s Gate long before they said it did
Vickie Abel sent in this letter in response I read with interest the letters by the BBC Club, in what is now known
to the February article on BBC Written
Ken Wright and Charles Hope as Wogan House.
Archives Centre – not knowing that mere
regarding Legionnaires’ disease
days later the April edition would feature After a two-week spell in Maidstone
and was amazed at the similarities
Mr Middleton and the gardening team in Hospital (most of which I do not really
in our stories.
detail. Vickie’s letter touches on both: remember), and although still very
I was on the roof of my house painting weak, I was sent home. Sometime
The BBC WAC article reminded me
BBC Belfast in the when I came over feeling very weak. later my manager telephoned me
that early in lockdown I’d been reading
late Sixties, when I had no option but to stop everything at home to say an outbreak of
a BBC publication by Jennifer Davies,
The Wartime Kitchen and Garden. it was being and come down off the roof. Legionnaires had been discovered
There I came across an intriguing reconfigured for and I was to return to my GP with
At this point, Legionnaires had not
reference to The Middleton Gate BBC2 Colour. this information. More tests were
been discovered but during my
at BBC WAC in Caversham. While the engineering work was going carried out, after which Legionnaires
second visit to my GP she said I must
on, there were prominent signs: ‘THIS was confirmed.
I worked at BBCM next door for many go to hospital straightaway, believing
years, and in the old days used to take PLANT IS UNDER TEST AND MAY BE it to be pneumonia. I think that is The outbreak at Broadcasting House
the shortcut through the WAC grounds DANGEROUS’. The Goonish mental what I was treated for. had been discovered when two or
to the Caversham Park mansion, but picture that this conjured up, of three people had been taken into
carnivorous carnations or rabid While I was in hospital, as it was
I couldn’t remember what the gate the same hospital in Essex and it
rhododendrons, led to some mirth. impossible to breathe laying down,
looked like. A phone call later and transpired that they all worked in or
Indeed, someone even drew a cartoon of I never laid in or on the bed once –
Jackie Kavanagh, former head of WAC, around Broadcasting House. At the
a fierce-looking flower with teeth (for but every day the nurses came along
had put me in touch with the archivist end of four months, I had regained
some reason riding a bicycle, if I recall). and made the bed!
Jeff Walden. enough strength to return to work
Mr Middleton died in 1945: such was his One of those signs was ‘liberated’ when I got the infection several weeks on a short working day basis.
popularity that a public subscription the work finished, and still decorates my before Legionnaires’ disease was
Legionnaires’ disease is a condition
was launched to erect a memorial to studio, stuck to the face of my left-hand discovered at Broadcasting House,
I would not wish on anyone.
him, in the form of a gate to the LS3 speaker. London. I believe I contracted it when
Cavendish Place garden. walking from Henry Wood House to Bob Brewer
Graeme Aldous
When the garden was sold off, the gate
was rescued and, thanks to the efforts
Facial hair
WHEN I JOINED the BBC in the late
of Jackie Kavanagh and her team, Sixties, I discovered that part of my role
was installed at the WAC in 1990. was to produce In Your Garden,
As Jeff Walden says: ‘As it was designed broadcast on a Saturday morning. Following on from dress codes, I would
for a posh Georgian square, it looks a bit like to tell the tale of growing a beard
out of place attached to a suburban I discovered a few interesting things in in the BBC. In 1961 I had ended up at
chain-link fence. But Middleton was the files. One of my predecessors must Equipment Department, which was
known for being the first gardener to have written to CH, as he was called,
situated in Chiswick.
reach a mass audience of people with suggesting he did not need to dress
formally and suggesting the wing collar It was the BBC’s industrial department
modest means, so perhaps it’s not so
was not necessary. This kindly gesture and had a large workshop, technical
incongruous after all.’
was dismissed with the words ‘as I am stores and a test lab where I worked.
The plaque reads: ‘This gate was listened to in people’s lounges, I would be
presented by friends of the late C.H. In September 1961 we (my wife Pat
embarrassed not to be properly dressed.’
Middleton, gardener and broadcaster. and I) decided to holiday on Corsica.
It stood in a small garden in Cavendish CH had a garden dedicated to his This was the beginning of the swinging
Place in London, the setting for many service in WWII, behind the Langham. Sixties but Corsica was a little primitive
of his broadcasts. It was re-sited at It was never maintained and looked a even for those days. I decided I would
Caversham during the rebuilding of the terrible mess. I guess it is a part of the grow a beard, not a full set but at the
BBC’s Written Archives Centre and hotel now. end of our fortnight it had looked
I wore the beard for another three
opened on 9th May 1990 by Marmaduke TV gardening was normally live from quite well.
weeks and then succumbed. The strain
Hussey, Chairman of the Board of the Birmingham botanic gardens. On returning to work I was aware of was too much. My excursion into the
Governors of the BBC.’ Percy Thrower told great stories, one remarks and sly asides. ‘He won’t like ‘hirsute world’ came later on in the
Another fascinating link in the history of when he had stepped into a pond and
it’ and ‘you will have to shave it off Sixties when I was working at
the BBC, the WAC and the role of BBC disappeared off camera. It was a cold
within a week!’ Television Centre and no one was
Monitoring and the Evesham studios at day but he thought it was more
bothered.
professional to continue broadcasting The problem was the Head of
Wood Norton during WWII.
from his watery position without Equipment Department did not Dennis Gale
Vickie Abel
mentioning it. like beards. For some reason he,
Mr Drewe, liked his staff clean shaven
He also told of an occasion when he
ABOVE PERCY THROWER’S head on unless they had a medical certificate
Cards with
turned to his interviewee, who just
the front cover of the April issue of and then it had to be a ‘full set’ like
keeled over and died. The perils of
Prospero is a sign ‘PLEASE DO NOT King George the Fifth.
Uncle Tom
being live.
TOUCH THE PLANTS’. That took me
straight back to the Control Room in Robin Hicks
John Chambers (Prospero letters,
June) might be interested in the
Bert Foord’s Trick Suit following. The play was televised
on 8 September 1959 and this
I read with nostalgia the piece by incorporated a green fleck thread, which The Marconis were tiresome to colour synopsis appeared in Radio Times.
Geoff Hawkes about Pres A and B and was not apparent on first inspection. balance anyway, so if the result was IMDb assumes the TV version to
the weather. I too was a ‘junior’ rotating Depending on camera angle and that a grey jacket on one shot have been lost, too.
through Pres, and wrestling with the luminaire position, the fleck was changed to a greenish (or reddish)
Roger Hughes
weather set, the magnetic strips which sometimes invisible and sometimes all jacket on the other shot, it looked as
kept falling off and the enormous too apparent. The effect on the pictures though the racks man (me) had not
Marconi Mk 7 cameras. I dealt also with was that the jacket apparently changed been doing his job. Pointing out that
the weathermen, but who remembers colour as the presenter moved. the same effect could be seen on a
Bert Foord and his jacket? His moves were either across the single camera as the presenter moved
‘Atlantic’ chart from side to side on one from side to side in front of it was
In certain seasons Bert would wear an
camera, or, on a cut to the other camera, somehow dismissed as irrelevant.
apparently innocuous pale grey jacket
I called it ‘Bert Foord’s Trick Suit’.
in a muted tweed-like cloth, but – oh, a panning move in vision from the
I used to hate that jacket! The weave ‘Today’ chart to the ’Tomorrow’ chart. Richard Downs
4
Dress codes
It is true that in the 1960s, women in the The director – James Gatward
Greasy noses and noisy faders
BBC used to wear dresses and skirts. – asked me to wear trousers for Brian Willis’s letter in the June edition the BBC Research Department at
I wasn’t aware of any official this, as he did not want the crew to be remined me of a similar experience. Kingswood Warren.
instructions in this matter, but that’s distracted during the recording. I joined BBC Birmingham in 1962 Studio A had a projection room above
what the fashion tended to be generally, I had to explain that I was required to straight from the RAF and came it incorporating a 35mm cinema-style
and in Radio most people were fairly wear the overall. He had to request across – not noisy audio faders – arc projector which I operated and
conservative and rather formal. permission from the Head of Make-up but sparkly video faders. maintained. It had an annual visit from
The styles were various. for me to be allowed to wear trousers! a man from GB Kalee who did a
My supervisor demonstrated the
proper maintenance job on it.
Around 1964 there was even a tall lady On another occasion, whilst filming up correct technique: with finger, rub
who was often to be seen in the Yalding a mountain in Wales in a gale in March, the side of the nose and apply to On one of his visits, he told me that,
canteen in a kind of flowing New Look the fader studs, carefully making as it was only in occasional use, it
I ruined a pair of ski pants. We did not
sure to wipe all the studs, one way would be helpful to lightly lubricate
dress in green, ankle-length if I receive a filming allowance in those days
then the other, and refit the fader. the two highly polished metal strips
remember rightly – quite a while before so were allowed to claim for damaged
It always worked. which guided the film through the
the era of maxi-length skirts; or for that clothing. I remember being called to the
gate. His company could supply a
matter miniskirts, against which there AA’s office and being told that I was Today, surrounded as we are by ultra suitable grease but, you guessed it,
was no ban as long as they were not issued with a blue overall that I was hygiene, this is all sounds rather sniffy. sliding your finger down the side of
too minimal. expected to wear at all times! How things But then, of course, after maintaining your nose produced a better one.
I worked in Music Department’s Yalding have changed – thank goodness. Cold War weaponry at peak
I once mentioned this to my wife who
House from around 1963 to the performance with such cleaners as
Jan Nethercot thought it was disgusting. Which is
mid-1970s, and I distinctly remember carbon tetrachloride, this off-beat
why, almost seventy years on, she still
BBC remedy struck me as delightfully
the trouser rebellion in about 1967. does not know how it is that, when
THE ‘DRESS CODE’ letters in Prospero old-fashioned! the front door gets to need a slam to
We heard that women in TV studios
triggered my memory of summer 1958 close it, it only takes me two minutes’
wore jeans! Peter Hodges
when I had several weeks of work work on the curved surfaces of the
One of the senior music producers at experience at LBH and other London door latch and the Yale lock to get it
that time was the distinguished THE LETTER FROM Brian Willis on
sites. For two weeks I was attached to so that it can be closed with the tip of
international cellist, Eleanor Warren, who the subject of nasal sebum in the
(or perhaps inflicted on) Alan Gee, an a little finger. (I’ve just tried it. It can!)
came to the BBC when she retired from June issue took me back to the 1950s
engineer in Designs Department at
when I was a laboratory technician at Bill Rhodes
public performing, and initiated the idea Western House. My dress included
of the public lunchtime concerts by a new college blazer, white shirt,
international soloists at St John’s Smith
Square. She firmly decided that women
grey flannel trousers and a pair of
well-polished, black lace-up shoes. Changing times
should wear trouser suits if they wished,
One particularly warm day Alan asked Times indeed are changing and I have to attitudes to homosexuality but I can’t
and appeared in a very elegant one.
me to return a stop coil (a heavy 8 or ask about the BBC’s role, together with help noticing that its newsrooms seem
I wonder if this was the producer that 9-inch cube of metal core and coax the other media, in those changes? to scour the world for any pro-LGBT
Jane Wood (Prospero letters, June) saw, cable) to TV area in BH. I put on my Of course, the ‘shadow of the law’ issue, however un-newsworthy.
visiting the Gramophone Library, or more blazer then took the coil to BH and Tony Austin referred to in his letter Such stories can remain on the
likely were they fellow campaigners? handed it to somebody in a TV area (Prospero, February), made life very website week after week.
I wouldn’t describe Eleanor as particularly who asked me if I was from the Post uncomfortable for the tiny minority who
Your article suggested that there has
brisk, but she definitely had presence. Office (BT). On returning to the lab I were homosexually inclined. But now the been only one programme that dared
After that, it was agreed that we could told Alan about this. Immediately Alan shadow has moved. The great majority examine the issue and I have yet to hear
wear smart trousers. But not jeans. of the population dare not even suggest any programme that honestly questioned
said ‘You are not wearing a tie.’
that homosexuality is a problem because the LGBT+ agenda. Is that because of the
Gillian Ward I doubt that episode was the reason of the fear of being charged with hate fear of a demonstration outside BH by
I didn’t get selected as a graduate speech or being ‘cancelled’. Even my LGBT+ militants who have cleverly
I READ WITH interest the comments apprentice but after two years’ National own book about the Salvation Army, orchestrated the changes in our society
regarding dress codes in the BBC in the Service in the RAF I think my which contains a sympathetic story of a via the media such that our freedom of
Sixties. I was a member of the Make-up knowledge of klystrons impressed young man struggling with his sexuality, speech is in peril and many of our
Department at that time. Our regulation Eddie Woods and others on the received some quite unwarranted vile children are confused about their
dress was a (ghastly) pale blue overall. selection board enough for them to comments on Amazon. sexuality? A change for the better?
offer me a place as direct entry I think not.
During a recording of Troubleshooters Studies might show if the BBC has, in
engineer in Lines Department.
I would need to clamber up a large fact, contributed to the change in public Reg Kennedy
army tank to do a make-up change. Ken Turner
Location location location
Remembering Theo David Buckley (Prospero letters, June) referred to the former BBC training base,
I was Greek programme organiser I spliced them together. It wasn’t a Woodstock Grove. This building appeared in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy playing
when John Theocharis first appeared. tape we could have broadcast. the part of the Acton Laundry (HQ of the Lamplighters). The approach and
He did some freelance work for us but Probably my splicing was too clumsy. cramped entrance were shown, but the interior office was in another BBC
we soon saw we had a man of Theocharis learnt the song and building, Threshold House, at the other end of Shepherd’s Bush. This belonged
outstanding talent…and moreover recorded it for us. It was a great to the Head of Series and Serials, then Graeme McDonald. All his furniture was
a man with a voice. When we next success. We next tried to organise a used as there was a BBC transport strike at the time and nothing different could
had a vacancy, he got it. concert in a large London hall but that be brought in. I don’t think the designer, Austin Ruddy, would have chosen the
was a failure. John’s voice wasn’t bright green sofa.
One Greek Easter he sang a hymn
for us and we were amazed to get powerful enough to fill a large hall. The double agent Bill Hayden was imprisoned and interrogated in the BBC
a message from Mikis Theodorakis. Engineering School at Evesham, the only alteration to the location being the
I felt our minute BBC Greek service
He had been ‘rusticated’ in a faraway addition of a length of perimeter fencing.
could not provide Theo with the stage
village by the Greek dictators. he deserved. I spoke to Martin Esslin, Marcia Wheeler
However, he succeeded in getting head of BBC Drama and a personal
a message to us: ‘That’s a wonderful friend. He sighed: ‘I’m being offered
voice. I’d like him to sing my
new songs.’
a genius every day.’ But I persisted. BBC Commissionaires
At my third attempt, he agreed to
Two of the best Commissionaire stories concern:
Although ‘rusticated’, Theodorakis give Theo a brief trial.
had a recording machine and was 1. The legendary one-armed Vic who 2. The unknown BH white cap who
In no time Theo was near the top of
allowed the occasional visitor. One of was constantly nagging Frank Muir for greeted Peter Woods on his return
the BBC’s domestic service Drama
these visitors – it being cold – had a Light Entertainment tickets until Frank from New York, where he had been
Department. I, however, had lost my
coat with large buttons. She brought snapped: ‘No more tickets for you Vic: working for ITN for the last 18 months,
best Greek broadcaster!
several bits of recorded tape, you can’t clap.’ with: ‘Hullo Sir, been on leave?’
wrapped secretly behind her buttons. Peter Fraenkel Paul Fox
PROSPERO AUGUST 2021 | 5
| MEMORIES
WEATHER ICONS
John Teather, who was the founder
and former editor of the BBC Weather Centre,
remembers the change from magnetic rubber
to electronic graphics.
T
he recent article in Prospero highlighted the weather charts. But when done, they looked fantastic
production of weather reports from studio in comparison to the magnetic rubber. It was certainly Bill Giles with the first
Pres A using magnetic weather symbols. a wake-up call for the Presentation Department. electronic symbol chart.
In 1967, symbols were introduced to show the weather; I was convinced that magnetic rubber must go and be would automatically draw them up ready to be
they were ones used by the international replaced as soon as possible with computer graphics. selected by the duty weather presenter.
meteorological community and had been developed The problem would be cost and practicality.
However, there was a hurdle to overcome. To show the
to brief meteorologists and not the public.
Francis Wilson only broadcast for a comparatively weather presenter standing against computer graphics
That changed when Hugh Sheppard, who was in short period from 6am until 9am, so once the graphics required us to use Colour Separation Overlay (CSO) or,
charge of the weather at the time, received a letter had been made they didn’t have to be updated. as it was known in the rest of the world, Chroma Key.
from a student in Norwich, Mark Allen. As part of his The cost of the Paintbox and a designer was easily The main issue was how to prompt the presenter.
design degree, Mark had developed a set of 35, easy lost in the overall budget of a live current affairs To the viewer they would be seen standing against a
to understand weather symbols that covered every programme. To do the same thing for the main lovely weather chart, but in the studio all they would
aspect of weather conditions. The BBC readily weather broadcasts would involve having an see would be a plain blue screen – so pointing to a
adopted them, and on 16 August 1975 Bill Giles expensive designer on a 12-hour shift, seven days a particular area on the screen would be impossible.
presented the first broadcast using them. week. So to cover holiday and sickness it would mean
a team of five designers. It was just too much. Blue lights
Gone was the ‘meteorological briefing’ and in came true Bill Gardner came up with the idea of a translucent
television weather forecasts designed for the general But tucked away at Television Centre was a small but screen mounted in a frame, lit from the back with blue
public. These symbols remained as a mainstay of clever team called Computer Graphics Workshop lights, and also behind was a video projector that would
broadcasts right up to 2005 when a new set of graphics (CGW). It was managed by a brilliant Scotsman, project a faint image of the graphics. From the front,
was introduced (although it is worth noting that Mark’s Bill Gardner, who proposed that they could develop the camera would see a blue screen, and if the settings
symbols are still used today in printed material). the software which would allow the duty weatherman were right, it would not detect the projected image of
to make up a stack of weather graphics using an the graphics. Initial experiments showed promise.
Apple Lisa Computer as the interface to a Paintbox.
I then had to sell it to the staff in Pres ‘A’ who would
Apple had developed an operating system that have to operate it. Needless to say they were less than
provided a very user-friendly screen display which enthusiastic! However, I also added another idea, and
could be configured to make the job of the that was to use an autocue head on the camera.
weatherman easy. I realised that this would be the way Autocue was a long-established system for putting a
forward, because the ‘one-man’ operation of weather script in front of the camera so that a presenter could
would continue without additional staffing. In effect read it without it looking as if they were reading.
the weather presenter would also be the graphics It’s what makes newsreaders look as if they know
artist, although the system contained all the graphics what they are talking about.
elements already drawn and agreed. This would
ensure that all the weather graphics would have the In this case, there was no script – just the final mix of
same look – even if the late Ian McCaskill was on duty! presenter and graphics just as the viewer would be
seeing, plus another innovation in the top right-hand
Brainstorming sessions corner – a countdown clock.
Satellite pictures became available in the late Seventies,
But the implications of this new technology were even
firstly biked across from London Weather Centre until No more ‘finger on the clock’. In the gallery the
wider than perhaps we first realised. By now Bill had
a ‘Mufax’ machine (pictured above) was provided at director started an electronic countdown clock that
taken over from Jack Scott as the senior forecaster
TVC. This huge machine scanned the image onto began with the full duration of the broadcast and
pre-impregnated paper rolls. The means for showing and team leader. Together, we spent a great deal of
then counted down to zero. So when the weather
the satellite pictures were equally simple. The weather time brainstorming its potential. To start with there
presenter turned to look at the camera, they could see
presenter marked the coast of the UK in red felt tip was no limit to the number and type of graphics that
what the viewer was seeing and also how much longer
pen, and then it was held onto a metal music stand by could be used.
they had to speak. It was the end of over-running
some odd strips of magnetic rubber. The spare studio weather presenters!
The magnetic system always had the same format –
camera was trained onto it and then locked off.
Atlantic Chart, Satellite, Tonight and Tomorrow. On a
They became an instant hit. For the first time the To control the replay of the graphics in the studio, a
Friday evening the Tomorrow UK chart was replaced
British public could actually see the clouds that trolley-mounted Apple Lisa Computer was supplied
with a European one. We realised that there was a
covered the UK and how the patterns they made fitted with a lockable door on the front to prevent anyone
whole new visual grammar here. Not only was it about
in with the rest of the graphics, in particular the having a ‘play’. Attached to this was a long lead with
quantity, but also about order. The weather ‘story’
pressure chart. a push button on the end by which the forecaster
could be illustrated in the right way. I got busy and
triggered each graphic.
‘Fluffy bits’ persuaded the BBC system to fund a Quantel
In January 1983, the BBC launched Breakfast Time, Paintbox dedicated to weather and the cost of the It had been thought that this could be done by
with weather presenter Francis Wilson who had been development of the software. someone in the gallery, but it worked much better
poached from Thames Television. Although he had with the presenter doing it, as they had made and
The new system would be like a slideshow with a stack
been trained in the Met Office, he was young, ambitious rehearsed with the graphics. It gave them total control
of graphics that could be shown in order. The graphics
and no longer constrained by the Met Office’s rigid civil of the broadcast – something I was keen to encourage.
would be of two main types: those that the weather
service mentality. He was refreshingly different.
presenter had prepared themselves, such as symbol There were some experiments with using a button
Under the flamboyant producer, Tam Fry, he developed
charts or league tables and graphics automatically connected by radio, but it was too dangerous. It would
his own style and was soon talking about ‘fluffy bits’ –
drawn up from data supplied by the Met Office. only need a local taxi on the same frequency and
a term the Met Office would never have allowed.
Luck was on our side again as the Met Office had some chaos would have reigned. There were several pilot
But more importantly, he used computer graphics.
very clever software people, in particular Bob Ellis, who runs to ensure that the system was stable and
The programme used a suite of Paintboxes to produce led a team to develop the means to send to Television predictable. Bill scheduled all of his team to have
all their graphics. But they were labour intensive, Centre, on an agreed timetable, data such as pressure training days with the ever-patient Tom Hartwell of
needing a skilled graphic artist at each machine. charts, humidity charts, temperature charts, satellite CGW. We were finally ready, and the first broadcast
It took a fair degree of resources to make up the images etc. Once received at the BBC, the Paintbox was on 18 February 1985, presented by Bill Giles.
6
THE QUEEN’S FIRST CHRISTMAS
BROADCAST – IN COLOUR
By Ian Hare
I was a young graduate engineer briefly
working in ‘Vision maintenance’ at TVC in 1967.
T
V colour monitors for general viewing were On the day of the recording, I turned up at the side gate
very large ‘Decca’ sets that needed constant towards the Royal Mews and with my pass checked
‘tweaking’ of sensitive controls to keep the I strolled through the gardens and was pleased to see
colours on-screen showing correctly; and although an assortment of green BBC vehicles drawn up on the
I wasn’t the world’s expert, for some reason I and a gravel driveway alongside the ‘Bow room’ where the
senior colleague were chosen to be ‘in attendance’ cameras and monitors were set up for recording.
at the recording of the Queen’s 1967 Christmas
We had a separate viewing area with two or three
Broadcast at Buckingham Palace, which was to be
Decca sets, and in the Bow room there was a set
the first one in colour.
for everyone, including the Queen, to see what was
Our job was to keep an eye on the various Decca sets being recorded.
used as monitors and make sure they were showing I remember, as everyone does who has met her, the
the colours as best as possible and adjust if necessary. beautiful smile and the intensity of her blue eyes,
which were quite stunning, especially to a young informed us all in a loud voice that he had been told
twenty-something. ‘to expect 14 not 40 of us!’
The Decca sets performed well and needed little So that was it – no Buck Palace lunch for this
treatment; consequently, much of the time a strange youngster; and worse, having made my way out of the
sense of boredom set in after the novelty had garden gate again, in those days there were no
worn off. ‘sandwich shops’ so yours truly went hungry.
Come lunchtime we were all corralled into a giant But the hunger pangs soon subsided, and in the
‘conga’ which trailed through the various state rooms afternoon the royal children came in to see what all
and grand hallways with sweeping stairways the fun was about, and it was nice to see their natural
ascending loftily above; but we made our way down inquisitiveness – I’m not sure which ones they were
to the ‘servants’ quarters’ where we stood in line but they were quite enjoying themselves. So in those
outside a mean little entrance door. days 40 staff and several O.B. vans were the order of
After a wait of some minutes, out came a rueful BBC the day. A not-to-be-forgotten experience I shall
person with an aggrieved kitchen staffer who always treasure.
ALEXANDRA PALACE AND
THE OPEN UNIVERSITY REUNION
I read with some interest the suggestion by were challenging, requiring new thinking and techniques.
Tim Burrell in the April issue of Prospero that there It was a close-knit community and disciplines overlapped
might be a reunion of staff who were involved with in a way that was simply not possible in other areas of
the television establishment. Engineers, lecturers, I am still of the opinion that the Open University and
the Open University programmes at Alexandra
photographic experts, scenic design people…all the use of television was a magnificent concept.
Palace or at Milton Keynes.
intermingled and helped solve problems. Some mainstream TV and radio programmes now
When I read that such a reunion would be the 50th state that they were made in conjunction with the
anniversary I was taken aback! Was that really 50 I regard those years at Alexandra Palace as some of Open University.
years ago? the most fulfilling and happy ones in my BBC career.
In later travels I found that Guyana use their national
I was involved with the programmes at Alexandra There was too the nostalgia of working at Alexandra TV service for educational purposes. There are
Palace. When I applied to work there, my colleagues Palace, which had such a history. The two studios morning programmes that are dedicated to teaching
at TVC thought that I was deranged, I think. were still there, the one that EMI and the one that mathematics, science and other subjects that are
They pointed out that the OU was a side shoot from Baird each used for their initial trials and taught in the schools there. What an excellent use
the core of television and would never come to demonstrations of their systems. of television! I think that our TV service could have
anything! been used in a similar way during this present Covid
An occasional visit to the crypt was fascinating, as
crisis, and beyond!
My thoughts were that television might have a real there were to be found there ancient bits of television
use in the field of education. I saw most of the main technology to be wondered at! Well, back to the thoughts suggested by Tim Burrell
TV output as simply entertainment of the soporific about a reunion. I would like to meet up with old
The grand theatre at Alexandra Palace was used as a
sort. Even documentaries were, I thought, shallow colleagues from those happy years, but now, 50
scenery store for the Television Centre, and was in a
and only skimmed over the surface of their chosen years on, I wonder how many are still with us and
sad state of neglect, but it still had the remnants of its
subject. In fact, I felt that the whole of established of those who are with us how many are fit to travel
former glory. I was pleased to note recently that the
television was just ‘routine’. to a reunion.
theatre had been magnificently restored.
My experience at Alexandra Palace was delightful in In my case, I am severely restricted now by health
I was sad when the television component of the
every way – apart from the longer commute that I issues. However, what a nice thought Tim, and I do
Open University abandoned Alexandra Palace and
now had to endure. hope that it might come to fruition. If it does, I will
moved to Milton Keynes, but it was, I suppose,
be there in spirit!
Initially there were old Pye monochrome cameras. inevitable. I still feel honoured that I played a small
However, the atmosphere was exciting. Programmes part in those early, exciting years at Ally Pally though. Tom Peckham
PROSPERO AUGUST 2021 | 7
| MEMORIES
SEX AND THE BBC
The February 2021 edition of Prospero, which included the article
on LGBTQ history in the BBC, stated that the ‘first same sex kiss on
television was broadcast on 6 August 1970’. Not so, writes John Davies.
F
ifty-three years ago in 1968, I directed an The novel begins at the Théâtre des Variétés where Sensational reaction
adaptation of Zola’s Nana, which was broadcast the voluptuous 18-year-old Nana is performing in a Episode One went out on a Saturday night at the end
on BBC2 during August and September of that rather tacky comedy displaying little talent but all of of August 1968 and our little house in Fulham was
year. Set in Paris in the 1860s, it dealt with the rise and her beautiful body. ‘A shiver of delight ran round the crowded with many of the cast and crew. With two
fall of Nana, a courtesan who at one stage of her house – Nana was nude, a woman full of restless episodes to shoot, we were all still a team – on a high,
career, donning top hat and tails, was seen kissing suggestion, who brought with her the delirium of sex, drunk and happy, but mostly quite incredulous that
another woman in a nightclub. The series was and opened the gates of the unknown world of desire.’ we’d been allowed to get away with it. The immediate
ground-breaking in 1968, pushing a few boundaries press reaction was sensational, with seemingly the
The scripts for all five episodes were already available
but received an excellent audience reaction and two only cavil being that the breasts of our nude actress
to read (those were the days!) and I devoured them
Bafta nominations. playing Nana were not voluptuous enough!
in a sitting. Robert Muller’s adaptation was concise,
In those far-off days, when the BBC was still direct, and unflinching.
transmitting The Black and White Minstrel Show A team was assembled, and pre-production began
and Dixon of Dock Green, I was on something of a with casting sessions, which entailed at one point
treadmill at the BBC, directing Z Cars, a television flying in an extremely famous French film actress who
police series which had been running for six years. was interviewed over lunch and flown home again the
I was pretty new at the game and had only been next day. The production, largely studio based, was to
allowed to get my hands on the ‘soaps’ of that period be shot on videotape with four cameras, the way that
– United, a twice-weekly series about a football team; most television drama was made in those days.
The Newcomers, another twice-weekly about a family
of Londoners who had moved to a country town; a On location at Althorp
series of Doctor Who episodes with Patrick Troughton However, there were some exteriors to be shot and so
as the Time Lord; and Z Cars. locations had to be found. The basement alley ways at
Somerset House served as the back streets of Paris.
The beautiful Northampton Theatre Royal was our
Théâtre des Variétés, and the estate and parkland at
Althorp near Northampton was our ‘Parc des Buttes-
Chaumont’. On our first recce to Althorp, Earl Spencer
(Princess Diana’s grandfather) welcomed us to tea,
while out on the terrace two young children played –
seven-year-old Diana and her four-year-old brother,
Charles. When we were filming in the park, David Attenborough.
Lady Cynthia Spencer, Diana’s grandmother,
approached the actors speaking to them in French;
she had read the book in French and was deeply
David Attenborough – then
disappointed that our actors hadn’t done the same.
Freddie Jones, Eric Woodburn
We began the recordings in the studio, and edited
Controller of BBC2 – had
and Katherine Schofield.
them immediately, as the transmissions were telephoned him complaining
scheduled to follow very quickly. Episode One was to
One day in 1968, I received a call at home from my be transmitted when we still had two more episodes bitterly about the nudity and
boss, the Head of Drama Serials, asking me to tackle
one of BBC2’s current successes, the Classic Serial.
to shoot and so post-production obviously had to be
kept to an absolute minimum.
general depravity of the story.
Colour television had just arrived and this was to be
a serialisation of Nana, the novel by Émile Zola. I had drenched the whole series with Offenbach However, for certain executives within the BBC, they
and all of this music had to be laid down during the were more than enough. The producer, David Conroy,
To be jolted out of the comfortable routine of actual shooting, as there was no time allowed for rang me to say that David Attenborough – then
directing Z Cars was scary but exciting. I was given a sound dub. The editing then was ‘cut and splice’ Controller of BBC2 – had telephoned him complaining
a copy of the book and told to ‘go home for a week – the videotape was actually cut like film and bitterly about the nudity and general depravity of the
and read’. spliced with a strip of silver adhesive. story. The episode was due to be repeated a few days
later and David Conroy had a real fear that someone
would ‘get at the tape’ and cut any offending
…the book was astounding – sequences. He told me that he had refused to edit the
tape himself, and that I was too busy, and that we
and it was difficult to believe were both to resign on the spot, with the serial still
that we were being allowed to unfinished, if the show had been re-edited on the
repeat transmission. We watched and held our breath
produce it. that night, but no one had touched it.
Later in the book, Nana dallies with lesbianism and we
Published in Paris in 1880, the book was astounding –
staged a scene in a nightclub with Nana in top hat and
and it was difficult to believe that we were being
tails kissing another woman. This was of course 25
allowed to produce it. Although a profoundly moral
years before the famous ‘Brookside kiss’ of 1993. I was
novel and part of Zola’s saga Les Rougon-Macquart,
setting up the scene in the studio, placing the actors
it dealt with the rise and fall of Nana, a Parisian
carefully so that the camera could see their close
courtesan surrounded by actors, pimps, prostitutes,
embrace, when David Attenborough, who had been
aristocrats and journalists during the Second Empire.
watching in the control room with us, quite obviously
This female Rake’s Progress was at first met here with
lost patience and walked out, leaving us to get on
a wave of prudishness. Zola’s London publisher was
with it.
fined and thrown into jail in 1888. ‘Smuttishness’,
‘ordure’ and ‘garbage’ were typical reactions to his So the show may have become unpopular ‘upstairs’
work in the British magazines of the period, although but we had a pretty good idea that we had a success
he soon garnered support from such writers as on our hands. Good viewing figures, good press
John and crew on
George Moore, Edmund Gosse, Henry James and reviews and appalled reactions from executives and
location at Althorp.
Havelock Ellis. Mary Whitehouse – what more could we want?
8
Complaining governors
The viewing figures for Nana proved to be the largest
for a classic serial for some considerable time and the
press reviews were excellent without exception, but
the boardrooms at the Television Centre were still not
happy and grumbled away. One of the BBC governors
complained at a meeting that the serial was ‘offbeat,
with its scenes of nudity and themes of prostitution.
It is as if the service [the BBC] feels the occasional
Request for help!
need to shock. There are sequences not at all suitable
Can you help? We are currently looking into the
to project into people’s homes.’
history of the Rotunda building attached to what was
Another senior executive at the meeting said, ‘this the White City One building in White City.
serial is brashly and thickly produced – also is there
not a taboo against showing bare breasts on This is for the current occupants who are staging an
television?’ However, someone else volunteered the exhibition of the building later in the year. According
information that his daughter had told him ‘how very to them, rumour has it that it used to be a
close to Zola’s original the adaptation was!’ discotheque for BBC staff, but any detail on the
building at all would be welcome including facts,
anecdotes and even photos if anyone has them!
Please email bbc.club@bbc.co.uk and we will pass
the information on.
Connect Club News
Katherine Schofield. The BBC Photography Club are planning ‘photo
walks’ in the summer and are looking forward to
Mary Whitehouse holding their annual exhibition early in 2022.
Mary Whitehouse and her National Viewers’ and Why not take this opportunity to learn more about
Listener’s Association (VALA) had been alerted to us your camera, join events, enjoy trips away, and even
quite early on, and she had written to Attenborough showcase your work?
who attempted to allay her concerns by replying,
‘Like the novel on which the serialisation is based, this For more details visit the website: www.bbcclub.com/
programme is not suitable for children, and it is for connect/photography
that reason that it has been placed at 9pm.’
Prospero Society
Meanwhile, the press had discovered that we were At long last we can announce the resumption of
still in production and had found out where we were Prospero Society outings which will begin with the
rehearsing, laying siege to our rehearsal room in much-deferred trips to the Royal College of Arms
a desperate effort to get pictures of Katherine Schofield, in September.
our leading lady, with her clothes on. Under all this
pressure and excitement, the outside world only Those already booked will be contacted in due
managed to break into our consciousness occasionally course and a newsletter with details for outings
– the Russian tanks in Prague, anti-Vietnam for October, November and December will be sent in
demonstrations in Grosvenor Square, Northern Ireland, the summer.
student demonstrations in Paris, and Enoch Powell’s
John Davies with Roland Curram Some events under consideration are a theatre trip
‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. 1968 was passing us by.
and Freddie Jones. (of course), a talk by the Met Police on how to avoid
Our confidence in what we were doing largely becoming a victim of crime (accompanied by
stemmed from the fact that Sir Hugh Greene was The Controller of BBC2, obviously on the back foot, afternoon tea), a visit to ‘The Painted Hall’ in
still director-general of the BBC. He was a sworn said, ‘It had to be remembered that Zola was a Greenwich and our annual Christmas Dinner.
opponent of Mary Whitehouse and her organisation journalist of a tabloid kind, turned novelist,’ but
and he had always made evident his liberal views. regretted that he had ‘been seriously misled by the Please ensure you have renewed your Prospero
producer concerned, about the means and methods Society membership.
of production which were to be used.’ He had ‘taken
BBC Club Elstree is open
the necessary steps vis-à-vis the producer and
BBC Club Elstree is open. Covid-secure measures
vis-à-vis the remaining episodes.’ Not so. In fact
in line with current Government advice are in place.
he left us alone to finish the serial without any further
interference, but left us all bemused that some of the Opening Hours: Monday – Friday. Breakfast served
BBC hierarchy had failed to grasp that the book and between 7am and 10.30am. Lunch served between
the series had a strong moral theme, and that any 12noon and 2.30pm. Evening drinks are also served
depravity portrayed was met with terrible retribution! on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Sixteen years later while filming a PD James novel in
If you do not have access to this site, please
the summer of 1984, I met the long-retired Sir Hugh
pre-book your table by calling 0208 228 7159
Greene who had turned up at our location in Norfolk
as you will need to be signed in.
with an ex-colleague of mine. He sat with us on the
dining bus, and over lunch shared his memories of the At the time of writing, an announcement regarding
BBC in the Sixties and the ‘Nana’ affair, confessing the lifting of Covid restrictions by the Government
that he had taken every opportunity to dampen down had not been made, so for details of BBC Club W1
the internal opposition to the serial, and making it reopening please see the website: www.bbcclub.com
very clear that during his tenure as director-general,
he had always firmly rejected any attempt by Regardless of whether the W1 Club is open or not,
Mary Whitehouse to influence the BBC’s output. you can pick up your Radio Times on a Tuesday
between 11am and 3pm from BBC Club W1.
Our postbag from the public had been enthusiastic
and congratulatory. ‘Natural and explicit, not coy or Lottery News
poetic – hurrah for a more enlightened attitude’ was a Our lottery is drawn on a monthly basis and is
typical reaction. The serial was eventually nominated continuing to send prizes ranging from £100 to
for Bafta awards in two categories, and I was £1,000 every month.
Sir Hugh Greene. condemned to direct classic serial adaptations for
many years to come. Our quarterly £10,000 jackpot winner in March was a
The BBC was then a wonderful place to work, and we BBC pensioner, so congratulations to her! To join the
Two days before our last transmission, the American
were all enjoying the new freedom. Throughout the lottery, email the Club stating how many shares you
tribal love musical Hair with its famous nude scene
1960s, Sir Hugh had encouraged the genesis of such would like each month (minimum of 5).
opened in London’s West End, only a day after the
ground-breaking programmes as That Was the Week
abolition of theatre censorship which had existed
that Was, Z Cars, Steptoe & Son, Til Death us Do Part
since 1737. BBC.CLUB@BBC.CO.UK
and The Wednesday play with Up the Junction and
Cathy Come Home. In 1967, The Forsyte Saga in 26 Changing attitudes, and the sexual revolution, were BBC Club Broadcast Centre, BC2 B3,
episodes achieved ratings which left ITV far behind. well under way. 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TP
PROSPERO AUGUST 2021 | 9
| OBITUARIES
Burmese artist who In the 1970s, he was arts director of programming for
the Open University for seven years, when access to Engineer in embryonic
worked in World study through television was expanding.
Videotape Department
Service listener During his time at the BBC, Peter’s work earned him
several commendations. In 1974, a Money Programme
Ron Bowman was an exceptional videotape editor.
correspondence
Following a long illness, he died peacefully at home
edition called The Father of Europe, about the major
on 28 March.
European problems of the day won the Monnet Prize,
Tin Tin Sann, known as Rose, who worked at the given by the Commission for European Communities. Born in 1939 and
BBC World Service for over 22 years until retirement In a letter from Huw Weldon, director-general in 1981, educated at Dartford
in 2004, died at the age of 76 from Covid-19, a week Peter’s sound editorial judgement, professionalism Grammar School,
after her husband Salman Raschid died of the same. and reliability were noted, as was his ability to enthuse he became a Post
and engage trainees, along with a flair for good man Office Engineering
She was a pupil at the same school in Rangoon as
management and organisation. Youth in Training.
Aung San Suu Kyi, with whom she remained in contact
for the rest of her life. Towards the end of his career, he made the In 1961 Ron became
programmes of which he was most proud, initiating an engineer in BBC Television Centre’s embryonic
After leaving school, she gained two degrees in botany
the magazine programme for the deaf, See Hear. Videotape Department. The BBC had acquired
at Rangoon Arts and Science University and went on to
He was a passionate advocate of teaching sign and videotape machines three years earlier. They were
teach the subject. She married Salman, a psychiatrist, in
never forgot what he had learnt, even up to his death. complex, using expensive two-inch tape which was
1980, and went with him to Harvard University first and
then to the UK. Peter had a long, happy retirement. He enjoyed living only cut-edited as a last resort.
in Dorset, gardening, travelling and the U3A. He was a
Tin Tin worked at the BBC from 1982 to 2004. At first Ron joined a band of engineers who developed
kind, funny and interesting man and a generous host.
she was a freelance broadcaster in the Burmese service videotape editing as an integral part of production.
He is much missed by his whole family.
and then moved to listener correspondence, where Their success is legendry. Ron can be seen editing in
she handled and, where necessary, replied to all mail Anna Foster, Matt Dunkley and Charlotte Dunkley a film on the vtoldboys.com website.
from listeners to the Burmese programmes. She soon
Ron, aware of the nervous disposition of directors,
found promotion and managed all-mail handling,
convinced them all was well as he cut open their
reporting and response in the then 40 or so
non-English languages.
News editor, prized transmission tapes with surgical precision.
But soon, technology changed everything. When she Radio Birmingham His calm way of keeping clients from fainting won much
admiration. In 1966 he became one of seven engineers
arrived, the World Service received around 600,000 to be named ‘videotape editor’. IMDb shows the broad
Stewart Woodcock, former
letters annually. By the mid-Noughties the number range of his work.
programme organiser of
had shrunk to almost none. SMS and social media
Radio Oxford and news
soon took over. Tin Tin managed the necessary Ron edited two dramas of which he was particularly
editor of Radio Birmingham
transition, involving huge changes of staff, skills proud. First, The Forsyte Saga, directed by David Giles
at the time of the pub
and responsibilities. and James Cellan Jones. During the time that Ron was
bombings in the city has died.
editing The Forsyte Saga, he was introduced to Carole.
When still in Burma working as a scientist, she studied He was 74 and had been
They married in 1968.
painting under Burmese artists U Lun Gywe and her suffering from chronic
brother Prof Sun Myint. She had also studied sculpture obstructive pulmonary Ron’s second pride was Abigail’s Party, written and
with U Soe Tint and, as if that were not enough, disease for several years. directed by Mike Leigh.
Chinese watercolour with Law San. She became one
Stewart was in his post at Radio Birmingham when Listing all of Ron’s credits would require many pages.
of the pioneers of a young avant-garde art movement
the pub bombings took place on 24 November 1974. After working on the 1990 Commonwealth Games in
in Burma, painting mainly in oil and acrylic but also
Six men were arrested and later convicted, but the Auckland he became an editing manager.
creating Chinese watercolours, Batiks and sculptures in
convictions were overturned in 1991.
clay, plaster and bronze. Younger staff appreciated Ron editing tutorials aimed
On the night of the bombings, a social evening had at nurturing new talent.
Tin Tin enjoyed painting seascapes and was very
been planned for Radio Birmingham listeners at the
much interested in colour and the free flow of it. In 1992 Ron left to pursue interests he and Carole had
Bull Ring complex in the city. Stewart and his then
She had exhibitions in Burma, USA and Britain. been developing. They became assistants to their MP,
wife Carolyn were preparing to leave home but there
She last exhibited at the Royal Society of Medicine allowing Ron to enter the portals of number 10.
was an abrupt change of plan.
in 2019, where her painting ‘Connection’ won the first He became a CAB adviser and also a local councillor.
prize. There is a website showing some of her art: He recalls hearing a ‘deep boom’ in the distance,
followed by a phone call telling Stewart to get into the Ron was a private person, a listener and supporter of
www.tintinsann.com
city. IRA bombs had exploded at the Mulberry Bush the underdog. He was also a devoted godfather.
Jamil Sharif and Graham Mytton with assistance from
and the Tavern in the Town in the Bull Ring Centre, Ron leaves his wife, Carole, daughter Hilary and two
family members and BBC colleagues
killing 21 people and injuring 220 others. grandchildren. We offer them our condolences knowing
Stewart played a significant role in the local, that the archives hold many productions which appear
Senior Producer and national and international media coverage of from time to time, reminding us of Ron’s brilliant skills.
events that night.
Neil Pittaway
Monnet Prize winner In 1963, he secured his first job as a trainee at
the Midland Bank in Shipston-on-Stour but
Peter Dunkley, who has died
aged 88, was born in 1932.
had a change of career, joining the Wilts and
Gloucestershire Standard. When the West
Remembering
His childhood was spent in
New Cross, South London,
Oxfordshire Standard started, Stewart moved to
Witney to join the newspaper.
Anne Bristow
and disrupted by war. Annie, who has died of Covid-19
Later Stewart joined Colin Fenton’s Oxford News
In 1951 he entered National aged 67, was an inspiring and
Agency, which had been appointed to supply news
Service in the Royal Fusiliers. innovative radio producer.
to the newly opened BBC Radio Oxford in 1970.
From there he was recruited Her colleagues at World Service
In August 1972, Stewart married Carolyn Harvey and
by the Intelligence Corps to remember her inexhaustible
soon afterwards was due to join the news team at
study Russian at the Joint School for Linguists in energy and her habit of never
BBC Radio Carlisle. Due to delays in the opening of
Cambridge. He went on to Exeter College, Oxford, sitting at a desk if she could
the Carlisle station, however, Stewart went on
where he studied English from 1953 to 1956. It was sit on it, poised to leap off and
attachment for six months to BBC Radio Birmingham,
here he met his wife Shirley, who survives him. approach anyone with the unshakeable belief that they
based at Pebble Mill.
would agree to her plans and projects. And they did!
Peter gained a graduate traineeship at the BBC and
In 1982 Stewart was appointed programme organiser
spent the next 32 years making television programmes. Annie completed her education with a law degree at
at Radio Oxford and moved back to Witney. In 1993,
Oxford Brookes University, but Law was not for her.
A producer in News, Current Affairs, Education, he left the BBC and started a media consultancy
She joined Radio Cambridgeshire in 1982 and was on air
Continuing Education, The Money Programme company, Media Matters.
from day one. There, she met her future husband, Cliff
and Panorama, Peter also produced the Budget
Stewart is survived by Jean Hodson, his partner of Kitney. Their paths crossed again when she joined World
coverage for many years. He loved travel and his
25 years, his son Simon, Simon’s wife Jenn and their Service in the mid-Eighties, and they married in 1990.
work in documentaries in the Sixties and Seventies
daughter, Polly, Stewart’s sister Barbara and her
took him to many countries. Peter loved languages, Based in the Popular Music Department, she led the
husband Philip.
being fluent in French and Russian, and devised team that created Megamix, the wide-ranging youth
teaching programmes in these languages. Gordon Rogers magazine which ran from November 1988 for over
10 years, where she was the launch presenter.
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