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David Mason Thomas - Technical Duty Manager (Wales)
It is with a heavy heart I write to share that my father, David Thomas, peacefully passed away at home surrounded by family on 9th February, 2024 at the age of 92 after some years of ill health.
David joined the 91热爆 in September 1952 after a short, and somewhat frustrating spell following his father’s footsteps working in the Bank, then completing his National Service, where his passion for all things radio and communications truly began.
His 91热爆 Career started in Short Wave Transmitters stationed at OSE8/9 Penrith followed by OSE10 near Ludlow. He was quickly transferred to Television OBs Wembley joining the Radio Link Unit.
Then David was sent on attachment to the PID Radio Links Section as part of the European Television Exchange based in Cassell, Northern France – the first Franco-British Television Programme Relay – the technical challenge being British and French television operating on different standards and moreover, the signal had to be transmitted from Paris to Great Britain live – no hope of VTR in those days!
On his return in 1955, David joined the Radio Link Team based in Cardiff serving Wales Television OBs and was the first member of television staff to arrive at the Cardiff base on 18th January 1955 leading the Radio Link convoy from London Palace of Arts, Wembley. I am quite sure this is where he first acquired the nickname of ‘Dai Links’!
1966 saw the opening of the Severn Bridge crossing where David took part in the OB and associated radio links as he did in 1969 for the Investiture of Prince Charles in Caernarvon.
In 1979, David was attached to London Features and given the opportunity to produce a film of his own on Amateur Radio – a lifelong passion of his. The completed programme was aired on 91热爆 Wales and 91热爆 2. The family are looking forward to having an afternoon of nostalgia watching this once more to celebrate the achievement.
On returning to 91热爆 Wales Communications in 1980, David acted as CPE and Duty Engineer Wales. In 1982, he acted as Communications Permanent Circuits Engineer where he re-engineered permanent audio and television circuits throughout Wales. In 1983-84 David formed a development team to engineer sound on subcarrier systems enabling sound to be superimposed on video signals for use in Wales PSC news injection terminals. The final product was well accepted culminating in the roll out across other regions.
1985 saw David’s promotion to Technical Duty Manager, Wales until 1990 when he finally retired after proudly serving the 91热爆 for some 38 years.
Aside from the career highlights above and the obvious pride and enjoyment David had in his career, there was a side to ‘Dai Links’ that will resonate with anyone in Engineering and across the board who knew him. Firstly, he made sure he looked after anyone joining the team, in a kindly fatherly fashion taking them under his wing and showing them the ropes, he would help anyone both professionally and personally at the drop of a hat without question. Equally, David was never short of a story or two, there was a wit he will be remembered for, quite possibly a little inappropriate on occasion, but banter between colleagues that was unquestionably acceptable in a certain time. There are many stories that continue to be recounted and raise a smile. Described as the Engineers’ Engineer.
David leaves his family that he was so proud of - his wife of 64 years, Celia, (also ex 91热爆), his children Karen and Adrian, Grandchildren Alex, Holly, Jonathan and David and his great granddaughter Frankie with whom he shared a particularly special bond. He will be greatly missed by the family and everyone else who knew him.
Karen Thomas
Alun Owen – Head of Engineering Training Department (Wood Norton)
Alun first joined the 91热爆 in the early 1960s as an engineering trainee, after graduating from Swansea University. He trained at Wood Norton in Worcestershire, though was written off as ‘not suitable to be an engineer’ by the course tutor – an unintended irony, given where his career later took him.
A spell in both the navy (up to the rank of Lieutenant Commander) and the Open University carried him through the 70s, until the fateful year of 1979. To his great surprise – and delight – he was recruited back by the 91热爆 to head up…the Engineering Training Department at Wood Norton, succeeding Harry Henderson.
Any feelings of vindication were subsumed by the more pressing requirements of the new role, at the start of a decade of profound change at the organisation. His natural character came to the fore in an education environment – affable, unfazed by hierarchy, and an instinctive communicator.
The Wood Norton estate was by this point vast, with a dozen fully-equipped studios and residential halls for the thousands of trainees who studied there. It was occasionally used for episodes of Wogan and dramas such as Doctor Who and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The original building and estate (commissioned in 1837 and later lived in by the claimant to the French throne, the Duc D’Orleans) included a swimming pool once used as a polar bear pit, a completely intact original bathroom used by the Duc himself, and a secret nuclear bunker.
Alun loved the estate’s incredible story – reflective of his wider interest in history, which occupied much of his later life in Pembrokeshire (where he was born, just before the Second World War). For his family, it was a greatly looked forward to treat, to be able to explore Wood Norton on summer weekends, including sunbathing by the pool, practising snooker and playing an incredible Bösendorfer piano, marooned in one of the residential buildings.
In 1993, Alun left the 91热爆 and subsequently retired to Fishguard, in west Wales. He retained his passion for broadcast engineering, evidenced by a home-made mast he erected in the corner of his garden. From there he could indulge in his preferred hobbies of ham radio – sometimes chatting with fellow enthusiasts over in Ireland – and tinkering with all manner of electronic devices and appliances in the garage, interrupted occasionally by one of his 11 grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife Marie and their five children, Sian, Raymond, Paul, Matthew and Huw.
Robert David Doogood was born on 9 February 1935 in Kingstanding, Birmingham. A younger brother tragically died in infancy, so he was raised as an only child. His father was a chartered accountant and his mother worked in a jewellery shop in Birmingham. They moved to Bewdley at the start of the Second World War.
Dave went to grammar school in Kidderminster and became interested in photography at an early age. He left school at 16, having passed six O-levels. His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps by becoming an accountant. He persevered for a year but found the job very mundane, despite managing to buy his first motorbike. In order to escape, he signed up for three years in the RAF in November 1952.
He had wanted to be a pilot but, as his nose needed an operation, he had to settle for Radio Assistant. He trained in East Anglia and was sent to Kuala Lumpur. He was promoted through Air Wireless Mechanic to Senior Aircraftman.
When his three years were up, a friend suggested that he investigate joining the 91热爆. He returned home to Bewdley and applied. He was invited for interview and was asked to bring in a hobby or two. So he took along some of his photographs and talked about his experiences in the RAF. They offered him a job at Lime Grove, London.
In those days (1956), one didn’t start to specialise until after two years. After about a year, he was sent a letter by the Personnel Department, asking if he would like to be transferred to 91热爆 Birmingham. As he came from the Midlands, he agreed.
On arrival in Birmingham, Dave was assigned to Radio Links. After his two years’ probation, he joined the Camera Department, working in Broad Street, Carpenter Road and Gosta Green. He took a flat in Wheeleys Road, where he met his future wife, Joan Girling, who was a teacher. They married in 1963 and moved to a house in Moseley, where their first daughter, Susie, was born in 1971, followed by Helen a year later.
Dave became Senior Cameraman at Pebble Mill in 1974, and he and the family moved to Solihull. One of the many shows he worked on was Pot Black, which fired an interest in snooker. When the first series was over, the snooker table was moved to the second floor bar and Dave could frequently be found practising there with other crew members.
He loved cars and motorbikes. He restored a Hillman Minx on the drive for many, many months and was always tinkering with his bikes.
Around 1981, a camera crew system was formed at Pebble Mill, modelled on London’s TV Centre. Dave was made Camera Supervisor of Crew 1.
He retired in 1991 and enjoyed holidaying in Europe, playing snooker and photography. He had built up an impressive motorbike collection – all sadly sold at the National Motorcycle Museum a few years ago. He also found a new interest in microcomputers and enjoyed visiting computer shows.
Unfortunately, around 2018, Dave started developing dementia and in February 2022, he moved into Ambleside care home in Stratford, before finally passing away on 11 July 2024. He will be greatly missed by his two children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
James French & Joan Doogood
With deep sadness, we share that David died in June 2024. He passed, without pain, in Royal Worcester Hospital, due to acute myeloid leukaemia but, at the age of 75, was taken far too early.
‘Bush’, as he was often called, was a beloved husband to former 91热爆 NVQ Training Manager, Monica Cannings-Bushell, and much-loved father to two daughters, Catherine and Louisa.
He was best known as a gentle man and a gentleman, with a wicked sense of humour and a lifelong love of learning.
David was born in Cirencester, a strapping boy and the eldest of three. He joined the 91热爆 as a young man in Bristol in 1968.
His career at the Beeb spanned over three decades and saw him mastering his Television Lighting craft at Wood Norton, White City, Pebble Mill and on numerous Outside Broadcasts.
He worked on productions that included Dead Head, Howard’s Way, Lizzie’s Pictures, Shalom Salaam, Olly’s Prison and Pebble Mill at One. He received a BAFTA nomination for his work on Vanity Fair in 1987.
After leaving Pebble Mill, he worked briefly on The Gadget Show and then got involved with lighting poker competitions all around the world.
He filled his life with many and varied interests, from train-spotting to amateur dramatics, amateur radio, choral singing, cycling in the country (always with a pub pit stop), geocaching, receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History, photography, researching family genealogy, travelling extensively across the world, devouring big tomes and beating his family hands down in any sort of trivia quiz!
Words cannot begin to convey how much he will be missed. He leaves a big hole in our lives but all our hearts have been warmed, not only by him, but with the beautiful messages we’ve received since his passing, letting us know how much he was liked and respected – much more than he knew.
A celebration of his life is planned at Bredon Hill, Worcestershire in the autumn.
Catherine Tan-Gillespie
Julian (9 December 1940 – 5 April 2024) was born into a musical family, the oldest of four children. At the time, his father was working for the 91热爆 in Bristol as a sound engineer.
Julian and his mother lived briefly in North Devon to escape the wartime bombing but, by the time Julian was five, the family was established in Aberystwyth and Julian attended a Welsh-speaking primary school, never having used the language before.
The stories he told of his childhood included an uncontrollable go-cart, cycling adventures and his first camera, with which he patiently photographed robins raising their young in the garden shed. His love of wildlife and particularly birds remained with him all his life.
His secondary education was mainly at Bootham School in York, to which he travelled by steam train on the Cambrian Coast Railway. In later years, he was delighted to meet the same locomotive, Bradley Manor, on the restored Severn Valley Railway, which he supported with enthusiasm. At Bootham as a boy treble, he played the lead role in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida, made up for the part by an older girl at the neighbouring girls’ school; a budding actress called Judy Dench.
In 1959, Julian embarked on an electrical engineering degree course at Manchester University, but left two years later, after failing his exams. Perhaps he put more effort into the old Rover which he lovingly restored, than into his studies?
In the autumn of 1961, Julian applied to the 91热爆 in London for a job in the Sound Department but, having heard that there were also vacancies in television, he was able to change his application, which was successful, and he started at Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush. He eventually progressed to cameraman class one.
Julian thoroughly enjoyed working on classical music programmes, including Jacqueline du Pré performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Verdi’s La Traviata. He also worked on many of the classic shows of the time, including The Likely Lads, some Doctor Who episodes, Softly, Softly: Task Force, Steptoe and Son, Not Only… But Also, Till Death Us Do Part, Blue Peter, Nationwide, Midweek, Grandstand, etc. He was attached to several crews during his time at TC, under senior cameramen Ron Green, Jim Atkinson and Reg Poulter, amongst others.
Fellow cameramen at the time, Tony Grant and Mark Kershaw, both remember those days well, as the three of them often car-shared into work. Julian looked after the complex timetable spreadsheet, long before Microsoft Excel. Whilst Tony and Mark drove fairly standard cars of the time, Julian had a two-seater van, so he installed an armchair in the rear for the third person!
While he was working for the 91热爆, Julian played the bassoon in the Ariel Symphony Orchestra (as a student he had been a bassoonist in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales), and enjoyed sailing on the Thames with the Ariel Sailing Club. However, driving was his great passion, and for three years he was Champion Rally Driver of the 91热爆 Motoring Club.
Julian married his first wife, Gwyneth, in 1968. Seven years later and after the birth of their two daughters, the young family sold their house in High Wycombe, Julian gave in his notice to the 91热爆 and they moved to a smallholding in Pembrokeshire to embark on a life of self-sufficiency. Julian drove buses around Carmarthen to pay the mortgage and it was a hard life, with water drawn from a well which could run dry in the summer, a small herd of Jerseys, and little money to spare. By 1978, the marriage had failed and Julian returned to television, first as a freelance but then securing a job as a cameraman at HTV Bristol in 1980.
He did a variety of pedestal work in the studios on dramas such as Separate Tables, directed by John Schlesinger, and several quiz shows. He also did corporate and commercial PSC shoots, configured the multi-camera robotics systems for news & current affairs, and designed and programmed a graphics software package which he licensed to HTV and was installed in the Bristol main control room as a line ident and message system.
In 1981, he married his second wife, Jennifer, and they settled in Chew Magna – a village within easy reach of HTV – and Julian now had time to pursue some of his hobbies. Each spring for 30 years, he undertook a sponsored birdwatch, raising over £5,000 for charity, and kept meticulous records of species seen or heard in a 24-hour period. Julian sang as a bass in the Bristol Phoenix Choir for 25 years and enjoyed the Somerset countryside on many cycle rides, keeping thorough notes of all his outings. He was a computer enthusiast in the days before computers became common in the home and used to spend hours in front of the screen. There were happy holidays, often in France, which frequently included cycling and birdwatching.
Julian joined the Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1982 as the Falklands War confirmed him in his pacifist views.
In 1992, he left HTV and went freelance again, working on news gathering and numerous OBs – such as rugby and horse racing – and Princess Diana’s funeral. He also regularly operated the remote control camera systems at the Welsh Assembly for Derwen. He even found time to squeeze in teaching robotics for OpTex and training multi-skilled operators at Westcountry TV.
Julian’s retirement at 60 in 2000 coincided with his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. He was fortunate that the disease developed only slowly and he continued to enjoy his hobbies. These included a lengthy period on the Guild of Television Camera Professionals Council, which included a spell as Membership Secretary and he helped out with many projects and events. His fastidious work as a proofreader was particularly appreciated by the GTC Newsletter editor. He was awarded Fellowship of the Guild in 2005.
Julian also found time to learn the bass recorder and volunteered as a buggy driver at a National Trust property. As the limitations caused by his condition slowly increased, he bore them with patience. He took life as it came, was seldom in a hurry and always had time for people. He was gentle, forgiving and tolerant, and ready to laugh. Later, when he needed help, he was always appreciative of kind offers. He was able to live at home with increasing help, until the last three weeks of his life. These he spent in a local nursing home, where he died peacefully.
His life was celebrated in a moving Quaker ceremony on 2 May at Folly Farm Centre at nearby Pensford.
Jennifer Clapham & James French Julian (9 December 1940 – 5 April 2024) was born into a musical family, the oldest of four children. At the time, his father was working for the 91热爆 in Bristol as a sound engineer.
Julian and his mother lived briefly in North Devon to escape the wartime bombing but, by the time Julian was five, the family was established in Aberystwyth and Julian attended a Welsh-speaking primary school, never having used the language before.
The stories he told of his childhood included an uncontrollable go-cart, cycling adventures and his first camera, with which he patiently photographed robins raising their young in the garden shed. His love of wildlife and particularly birds remained with him all his life.
His secondary education was mainly at Bootham School in York, to which he travelled by steam train on the Cambrian Coast Railway. In later years, he was delighted to meet the same locomotive, Bradley Manor, on the restored Severn Valley Railway, which he supported with enthusiasm. At Bootham as a boy treble, he played the lead role in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida, made up for the part by an older girl at the neighbouring girls’ school; a budding actress called Judy Dench.
In 1959, Julian embarked on an electrical engineering degree course at Manchester University, but left two years later, after failing his exams. Perhaps he put more effort into the old Rover which he lovingly restored, than into his studies?
In the autumn of 1961, Julian applied to the 91热爆 in London for a job in the Sound Department but, having heard that there were also vacancies in television, he was able to change his application, which was successful, and he started at Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush. He eventually progressed to cameraman class one.
Julian thoroughly enjoyed working on classical music programmes, including Jacqueline du Pré performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Verdi’s La Traviata. He also worked on many of the classic shows of the time, including The Likely Lads, some Doctor Who episodes, Softly, Softly: Task Force, Steptoe and Son, Not Only… But Also, Till Death Us Do Part, Blue Peter, Nationwide, Midweek, Grandstand, etc. He was attached to several crews during his time at TC, under senior cameramen Ron Green, Jim Atkinson and Reg Poulter, amongst others.
Fellow cameramen at the time, Tony Grant and Mark Kershaw, both remember those days well, as the three of them often car-shared into work. Julian looked after the complex timetable spreadsheet, long before Microsoft Excel. Whilst Tony and Mark drove fairly standard cars of the time, Julian had a two-seater van, so he installed an armchair in the rear for the third person!
While he was working for the 91热爆, Julian played the bassoon in the Ariel Symphony Orchestra (as a student he had been a bassoonist in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales), and enjoyed sailing on the Thames with the Ariel Sailing Club. However, driving was his great passion, and for three years he was Champion Rally Driver of the 91热爆 Motoring Club.
Julian married his first wife, Gwyneth, in 1968. Seven years later and after the birth of their two daughters, the young family sold their house in High Wycombe, Julian gave in his notice to the 91热爆 and they moved to a smallholding in Pembrokeshire to embark on a life of self-sufficiency. Julian drove buses around Carmarthen to pay the mortgage and it was a hard life, with water drawn from a well which could run dry in the summer, a small herd of Jerseys, and little money to spare. By 1978, the marriage had failed and Julian returned to television, first as a freelance but then securing a job as a cameraman at HTV Bristol in 1980.
He did a variety of pedestal work in the studios on dramas such as Separate Tables, directed by John Schlesinger, and several quiz shows. He also did corporate and commercial PSC shoots, configured the multi-camera robotics systems for news & current affairs, and designed and programmed a graphics software package which he licensed to HTV and was installed in the Bristol main control room as a line ident and message system.
In 1981, he married his second wife, Jennifer, and they settled in Chew Magna – a village within easy reach of HTV – and Julian now had time to pursue some of his hobbies. Each spring for 30 years, he undertook a sponsored birdwatch, raising over £5,000 for charity, and kept meticulous records of species seen or heard in a 24-hour period. Julian sang as a bass in the Bristol Phoenix Choir for 25 years and enjoyed the Somerset countryside on many cycle rides, keeping thorough notes of all his outings. He was a computer enthusiast in the days before computers became common in the home and used to spend hours in front of the screen. There were happy holidays, often in France, which frequently included cycling and birdwatching.
Julian joined the Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1982 as the Falklands War confirmed him in his pacifist views.
In 1992, he left HTV and went freelance again, working on news gathering and numerous OBs – such as rugby and horse racing – and Princess Diana’s funeral. He also regularly operated the remote control camera systems at the Welsh Assembly for Derwen. He even found time to squeeze in teaching robotics for OpTex and training multi-skilled operators at Westcountry TV.
Julian’s retirement at 60 in 2000 coincided with his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. He was fortunate that the disease developed only slowly and he continued to enjoy his hobbies. These included a lengthy period on the Guild of Television Camera Professionals Council, which included a spell as Membership Secretary and he helped out with many projects and events. His fastidious work as a proofreader was particularly appreciated by the GTC Newsletter editor. He was awarded Fellowship of the Guild in 2005.
Julian also found time to learn the bass recorder and volunteered as a buggy driver at a National Trust property. As the limitations caused by his condition slowly increased, he bore them with patience. He took life as it came, was seldom in a hurry and always had time for people. He was gentle, forgiving and tolerant, and ready to laugh. Later, when he needed help, he was always appreciative of kind offers. He was able to live at home with increasing help, until the last three weeks of his life. These he spent in a local nursing home, where he died peacefully.
His life was celebrated in a moving Quaker ceremony on 2 May at Folly Farm Centre at nearby Pensford.
Jennifer Clapham & James French
My father Cliff Linnitt, formerly MHOS at 91热爆 Pebble Mill, passed away on 20 June. He was 97.
He began his 91热爆 career aged 15, leaving home in Northampton to live in London and train as a radio engineer. I’m not sure if he was at Bush House or Broadcasting House.
He recalled many stories of his time in London and was very proud to have been in front of Buckingham Palace at the Queen’s Coronation whilst working on the broadcast, which I believe, at the time, was the biggest live broadcast ever undertaken.
He moved from London to Broad Street and settled in Solihull where he met my mother, Bobbie, who sadly died in 1986. When Broad Street ceased operations, Cliff moved to 91热爆 Pebble Mill. At that time he was TOS, and later in the 70s he became MHOS.
He took early retirement in 1984 to care for my mother for two years. After her death, he continued to enjoy his allotment and following Birmingham City until he moved to Pembrokeshire in 2000, where he was able to spend his time with myself, his granddaughter and more recently his two great-granddaughters.
Joy Dixon, daughter
Al, an only child, was born in London and the family lived briefly in Fulham before moving to Addlestone near Weybridge. Al and his mother later moved to be near family in Folkestone whilst his father did service for five years in Burma during the war. Sadly, their marriage broke up.
Schooling having been disrupted, Al left aged 14 and was apprenticed to a blacksmith, learning the art of welding. He did his National Service in the RAF and, as a proficient jet mechanic, was posted to a fighter squadron in Germany. On his return to the UK, he dabbled in various jobs including fetching fishing boats from the North Sea coast and training for the Dungeness Power Station in underwater diving.
Al took part in many long-distance sea races for the local swimming club, including one cross-Channel relay race that led to his future career with the 91热爆 as he doubled for an actor falling into the harbour. He applied as a dresser but was turned down. However, The Hollow Crown was in production and urgently needed in-house help mending and maintaining the armour – they gratefully employed him.
Al soon became friends with costume designers Reg Samuel and Charles Knode, working as an assistant on such heavy shows as Colditz, War and Peace and became Series Costume Designer on Boys From the Blackstuff. He also worked occasionally as a designer – on Juliet Bravo, Live From Pebble Mill and Howard’s Way. Following retirement he worked freelance on the epic Mel Gibson film, Braveheart.
Al married four times, fathering two sons, Russell and Scott, by his second wife Jennifer, whom he met on a production of Dr Findlay’s Casebook. He settled in the Isle of Wight with his beloved fourth wife Jane. As his health gradually failed, he was moved into care.
It is hard to imagine such a vital and energetic colleague fading slowly away, leaving only the memory-echo of his trademark bursts of hearty laughter. He is fondly remembered by colleagues as a charismatic man, truly great fun to be with, happiest when working hard.
Maggie Partington Smith
David Heycock, who has died aged 80, lived most of his life in south London. He was educated at Dulwich College where he excelled academically and gained an exhibition to read English at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He gained a first in the English Tripos and his debating skills took him to the Cambridge Union, where he was asked to propose the motion in the now famous 1965 debate ‘The American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro’, alongside the writer James Baldwin and the right-wing commentator William Buckley.
After a year in the States, David returned to the UK to take up a place on the 91热爆 General Trainee scheme. David became a producer in Television Music and Arts, where he thrived. He was involved in Kenneth Clarke’s Civilisation and directed four programmes in Alistaire Cooke’s America. David was in his late 20s and Cooke, in one of his Letters from America, described David as ‘a very sharp and perceptive young director’.
During the 70s and early 80s, David produced and directed a wide range of films involving literature, theatre, the visual arts and history. Productions included Writers Houses (1973-4), Where we Live (1974), Spirit of the Age (1975), Royal Heritage (1976), D.H. Lawrence: A Portrait (1980) and An Evening with Queen Victoria (1981). David worked with writers such as John Betjeman, Alan Bennett, Laurie Lee and Edna O’Brien.
David’s achievements as a 91热爆 producer were remarkable and varied before being cut short by Multiple Sclerosis. He developed MS in his late twenties, and as his condition worsened it became difficult to continue as a producer within Music and Arts. He spent several years in TV training, lecturing and making training films before taking early retirement in his late forties.
In retirement, David moved on to other projects: taking an MA in Media Studies, lecturing at Birkbeck College and adapting English classics for the Japanese market.
Although confined to a wheelchair for the last 15 years, David continued visiting exhibitions and going to the theatre. He is survived by his wife, Isabel and by two sons, Tom and Carlos.
Isabel Heycock
Born 14.05.25. Died 04.07.24
Ysanne has died peacefully at home at the age of 99 after a long and happy life. She was christened Isabel Ann but was always known by family and friends by the name she called herself as a young child. She had a long career as an actor starting in childhood in 1937 and with her last appearances on 91热爆 radio in 2015
She was born in Sutton Coldfield to Andrew Churchman and Gladys Dale, both actors. She trained as a dancer at the
Cone Ripman College. She worked on stage in repertory and did a great deal of work for radio as well as some work in TV and films.
In 1951 she met and married Tony Pilgrim who had already seen her photo outside a theatre in the West End, a copy of which he carried in his wallet hoping he would one day meet her. Their marriage was extremely happy, Tony was a senior engineer in the 91热爆. They had no children, both had busy working lives, living in Birmingham but frequently travelling to London where for many years they had a studio flat in Tavistock Square.
Tony and Ysanne had many good friends and always enjoyed social events both formal and informal. They loved holidays and weekend breaks in hotels, especially when there was a music programme. Ysanne was a warm and friendly person, charming to meet and always elegant.
Tony died in 2015, Ysanne continued to live in their spacious flat in Edgbaston. During her last years she was looked after by a dedicated team of carers and for her last four years she had 24 hour care. She was still able to enjoy visits from friends and always enjoyed reminiscing about her career, often in quite a humorous way.
As children, my sisters and I thought of her as ‘our glamorous grown-up cousin’. Now we remember her with pride and affection.
Anne Kilby
91热爆 film and picture editor whose career developed from initial camera operation, news interviews, programme development and directing to editing major series such as ‘Brass Tacks’ and 'King's Country'
Despite his long-held ambition to be a film director, Tony Williams amassed experience in all aspects of TV programme production, from the complex and developing technical operation of camerawork in the early 1960s, through interviewing, ideas for news and feature content, and eventually his main area of expertise as a film editor.
Initially working with Park Pictures, and for a time at the Carlisle-based Border Press Agency as a news film cameraman, Tony's ambition was to eventually work in a permanent position as a cameraman with the 91热爆. Tony finally achieved his ambition to join the 91热爆 as a full-time employee in 1968 when he became the youngest film editor. Initially involved in editing local interest and news items, opportunities arose to direct short news films covering topics such as mountain rescue team activities and celebrity charity appeals, featuring well-known faces such as Ken Dodd and the actor, John Gregson.
One of the most well-received series which Tony was involved in was 'Brass Tacks', which investigated topics such as the Moors Murders, drug dealing and usage, and communication options for deaf children; the programme mixed outside filming, studio settings and studio discussions.
The award-winning series, 'King's Country', filmed by John King's son, Simon, coordinated Tony's film editing with the dubbing experts who added the live or simulated sounds of the wildlife featured.
While working with the 91热爆 in Southampton, Tony met and married his wife, Alex, in 1984, and the couple enjoyed a life full of travel and opportunities to make new friends during their extensive holidays at the campsite in Montviron, France, and at their beloved second home on the Greek island of Paros. Unfortunately, Tony was forced into early retirement in 1996 following a heart attack two years previously. It was while enjoying a holiday on Paros in August 2023 that Tony's multiple complex health conditions finally gave out and he passed away exactly where he would have wanted to be.
Anthony Williams, television film editor, was born on January 15, 1944 in the British Military Hospital, Bombay, India. He died on August 29, 2023 aged 79.
Alexandra Williams
When her school’s team appeared on Top of the Form, the experience heralded the start of Vivien Stuart-Mossop’s life-long relationship with the 91热爆.
Following university, Vivien was accepted on the Broadcast Journalist Training Scheme, which led to several years from 1975 working as a studio manager and then presentation announcer with Radio 1 and Radio 2 under her professional name of Vivien Stuart.
The arrival of Derek Jameson as presenter of Radio 2’s breakfast programme in 1985 catapulted her into the spotlight as the show’s resident weather presenter. The role morphed quickly into an on-air sparring partnership of witty banter, which grabbed the tabloid headlines and gained Vivien a keen fan base.
She joined the News Journalist Training Scheme in 1990 and put her writing skills to use in the Economics and Business Unit before working as a publicity officer in News and Current Affairs. Launching Working Lunch and re-launching Breakfast News, she brought a playful element into the serious business of communications work. The brightly-coloured plastic Working Lunch lunchbox became something of a collector’s item, even if some of her more frivolous ideas never quite made it off the drawing board!
Vivien’s interest in property renovation prompted a startling, but not untypical, career change when she trained and worked as a plumber for a while at the turn of the century. However, the 91热爆 beckoned again and she returned, this time to Audience Services, escorting visitors around TVC and BH.
A stickler for correct pronunciation, good grammar and a clear presentational style, Vivien could be relied on to uphold traditional 91热爆 journalistic standards and would express concern whenever she detected slippage.
Vivien was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 2016 and tolerated the subsequent years of treatment with both determination and a certain disdain. She continued with her final part-time job of Investigation Analyst in 91热爆 Distribution until deteriorating health led to retirement.
Vivien split her time between her beloved Devon and Chiswick, indulging her passions of music, travel, DIY and walking her dog. She died in March 2024, aged 70.
Lesley Kettle
It is often said that someone was 91热爆 through and through and this was never more true than of Roy Davenport.
After leaving school, he started an apprenticeship at Ian Miller’s garage, which carried out work on the 91热爆 vehicles based in Manchester. It was a natural move for him to join the 91热爆 vehicle workshop in Daisy Works as a mechanic on 15 May 1967.
In 1975, the workshop moved to the New Broadcasting House site, and Roy was appointed rigging and transport manager, later taking on responsibility for scenic services. Significant expansion of the radio and television outside broadcast fleet led to the building of a self-contained transport centre, which was very much Roy’s.
Roy’s post closed in 1994 but, typically, he was undeterred, establishing ‘Auntie’s Wheels’, which he ran with his devoted wife Connie in a portakabin in a corner of the NBH car park to service the taxi, hire car and transport needs of the centre. He was the natural choice to oversee the transport logistics for the 91热爆 host broadcaster coverage of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Roy was very much a transport man, chairing the local Transport Association and maintaining links which frequently benefitted the 91热爆, as well as his colleagues, with any car issues they had. He was a hands-on manager, quick to roll up his sleeves and get back on the tools to solve a tricky problem or pass on his skills.
Those of us who were privileged to work alongside Roy and consider him a friend knew him to be expert, innovative, reliable, a source of sound advice and utterly loyal to the 91热爆. He was a generous man with a keen sense of humour and a fund of stories that he told in his own inimitable way, making him great company. There was always a glint in his eye and the hint of a knowing smile.
Roy died peacefully on 6 May at a nursing home in Portsmouth with his children, Andrew and Alison at his side, but affectionate stories about Roy will live on.
Steve Schroeder
When I moved from Television Centre’s engineering department to the videotape department, the first person I met was Derek Fawcitt, assistant manager on Shift One. That was the start of a life-long friendship.
Derek was the middle child of three born to Clifford and Ethel. Clifford had been in the RAF since school and during WW2 was a flying officer. Following service in Aden, Clifford died while returning home at the end of hostilities. Derek was 15.
During the war, Derek was at school in Hindhead but his progression to engineering at the 91热爆 is unknown.
He started his career in radio, working in the Control Room of Broadcasting House. Anyone who knew Derek recalls him as calm and patient. He told a wonderful tale of how he used to treat panic phone calls when a line was lost. He would say, ‘Worry not, it will return.’ He would count to 10 and then ask, ‘Has it returned?’ Often it would have!
Derek transferred to television when videotape was new. It was an exciting time, when most production had little idea what they could do with the new medium, and Derek joined the team who, with 91热爆 engineers and Ampex in the USA, progressed a temperamental recording format into a revered production tool.
Derek became Shift One’s manager, then videotape operations manager, before becoming Head of Recording Operations, a role he held until retirement in 1987.
On our last phone conversation before Easter, Derek told me something that I and his secretary, Nikki, had known for years: ‘I’ve realised that I just love people.’
He was indeed born to love people: kind, patient, forgiving and thankful. That came from an unshakable Christian faith that gave him such strength through his final hospice care months.
Married to Peggy Boud in 1955, they had two children, Kerry and David. Peggy died in 1996.
Derek married Barbara Chesser in 1999. They were looking forward to spending their final years in a retirement village.
We send our love and condolences to Kerry, David and Barbara and all the family.
Neil Pittaway
Harry died on 21 May 2024 after a long illness.
Harry joined 91热爆 Publications in the mid-60s, working as a publications assistant based in Birmingham. The job involved liaising with the wholesale news trade, promoting sales of the Radio Times and The Listener, and selling books to the retail and wholesale book trade.
In the early 70s, he was transferred to Newcastle upon Tyne as a senior publications assistant. Whilst in the north east, he met his future wife, Jenny. He then moved to Leeds where he stayed for some years. Following a major reorganisation, he became northern regional manager with a team of representatives under his control. After another reorganisation separating the magazine and book publishing sides of 91热爆 Publications, Harry moved to London to take up a senior role in 91热爆 Magazines.
After some time, he left the 91热爆 to take up a position as circulation director for the Autotrader magazine, where he stayed until his retirement.
Then came another side to his career, that as a successful crime writer. He wrote two best-selling detective novels and one short story.
Although Harry spent most of his working life in England, he never forgot his roots and was a proud Scot.
During his time at the 91热爆, Harry was a much loved and popular man. His ability at sales conferences to tell stories and jokes was legendary.
Harry is survived by Jenny and children, Andy and Rachel. He will be greatly missed by all his family and wide circle of friends, of which I was fortunate enough to be one for over 50 years.
John Hayward
Doreen Jordan died in March 2024, aged 87. She was married to John for 58 years (he, too, was a 91热爆 employee, employed as a rigger/driver for Outside Broadcasts Manchester). Their son Paul was employed as a scene hand and then redeployed to OB Manchester as a rigger/driver. Sadly, Paul died suddenly, 20 years ago, aged 42, and John died 10 years ago, aged 83. With the passing of Doreen, we feel 91热爆 Manchester Oxford Road has finally closed!
Doreen joined the 91热爆 after John and Paul as an assistant staff restaurant manager; colleagues would joke that the 91热爆 was the family business! Doreen was very proud of working at the Beeb and to work with her colleagues and ‘celebrity friends’; they were like family to her and she cared about them all.
Looking towards retirement, she reduced her hours and went to work in the post room, where she enjoyed the variety of work, which included delivering post to the offices. She was told she delivered sunshine as well as post, meeting and greeting people at reception with her warm smile. Change came again as she was redeployed to the archive/records office. Doreen was in her element developing and organising administration needs, and she was proud to think she was involved in the rich history of work created by 91热爆 Manchester.
Doreen worked hard and played hard. She was always happy to help, which included supporting Children in Need’s programme of events in the summer, out and about with (GMR) radio productions. She would catch up with colleagues at the staff sports weekends at Pebble Mill, Birmingham and, nearer home, the 91热爆 Club Manchester.
In retirement, Doreen enjoyed reading the Prospero newspaper. She was proud when she saw names she recognised and read about their experiences and promotions. She loved to get updates on colleagues and how their families were growing, and would share her own family news with them. She loved to tell everyone about her 17 great-grandchildren. As an only child, she would say, ‘From small acorns, mighty oak trees grow.’
Doreen (and John) had their share of difficult days, but they always wanted colleagues and friends to be happy at work and in their homes and tried to ensure everyone left with a smile. So, if you are remembering them now, we hope the memories bring lots of smiles.
We were proud to present Francis House Children’s Hospice, Didsbury, with nearly £800, thanks to donations given in memory of Mum.
Julie Bradley (daughter) and Gary Jordan (son)
Graham Carson Wands, our Dad, was born on the Shetland Isle of Yell, a son of the Manse, on 19 March 1933, and his father, who had been a medical orderly in the First World War, was an army padre during the Second World War.
Dad was educated as a boarder at McClaren High School in Callander and then attended Bredalben Academy in Aberfeldy, the family having moved to the Scottish mainland by this time. It was during his schooldays that his life-long love of rugby developed.
He spent his National Service in the RAF, mainly in Malta, as a radar engineer, and during his time there he had taken part in a special parade during Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Malta in 1954. He enjoyed his time in the Mediterranean so much that he extended his National Service by signing up for a further two years. At the end of his time in the RAF he joined the 91热爆 as a transmitter engineer, and he worked for the 91热爆 for the next 35 (?) years.
Dad was initially based at Kirk O’Shotts, the main television and FM radio transmitter for central Scotland, and later moved to Stagshaw, where he was part of the two-man transmitter maintenance team responsible for the newly constructed network of unattended low-power MF radio stations in part of the north of England and Scotland. It was the start of his involvement with the programme of transmitter automation and, by the 1970s, then based in the Technical Services Section of Transmission Head Office in London, he was playing a major role in converting the older manually operated stations to unattended working, and being a key member of the team that developed the Monitoring and Information Centres. Known as MICs, they were an essential part of the automation programme.
Bert Gallon described our Dad as a highly-skilled engineer, a team-player, whose approach was methodical and organised, and staff who worked for him were always very clear about their roles and what was expected of them.
One of the members of this team who worked for Dad, David Russell, told us that he had worked for many 91热爆 engineers and managers in his time and that ‘none were more encouraging and caring and kind as Graham Wands.’
Dad was an engineer at home too and loved technology and gadgets. Ahead of his time, he invested in an early pocket calculator, and bought a 91热爆 Micro Computer when they were released in 1981. He loved his cameras and many lenses. He had a slide projector and no holiday slide show was complete without a few photographs at the end, of some transmitter equipment. He had a cine camera and projector, a reel-to-reel tape recorder, home-brewing kit and bell jars. He was also a DIY enthusiast and had amazing patience fixing things. Bryan Holroyd, a long-term colleague, friend for over 60 years, and near neighbour, was very grateful for Dad’s DIY expertise on an occasion when a leak developed in the hot water cylinder at his home and he was unable to obtain the services of a plumber. Dad came to the rescue at 4 o’clock in the morning and fixed the problem!
Away from work Dad enjoyed gardening. He carefully tended the roses in our front garden for many years, and looked after the vegetable patch at the back. He was devoted to raising his tomato plants, always seeking out his favourite Ailsa Craig variety. He maintained the family membership of the National Trust (for Scotland, of course) and enjoyed visiting historical sites and museums where he examined all the exhibits in great detail, leaving no word unread. The family occasionally attended classical concerts in London, and for many years Mum and Dad supported local music events including the Little Missenden Music Festival and the Amersham Concert Club. They also loved walking in the Chilterns (Wendover Woods, Beacon Hill and Pulpit Hill), and in the Scottish hills and glens. Every year we went to Scotland for our summer holidays, and this involved a good many walks, with Dad leading the way.
When the 91热爆 moved the Transmitter Department from London to Warwick, Dad opted to take early retirement and, initially, he and Mum took the opportunity to travel, and visited family in the US and Canada and family and friends in Scotland, around Britain and in France. They enjoyed the arrival of grandchildren and numerous pictures of grandchildren replaced those of transmitters in Dad’s photo collection. Dad was devoted to Mum and as her health deteriorated and she slowly succumbed to Alzheimer’s, he cared for her tirelessly and uncomplaining. But eventually the strain became too much even for Dad, and he suffered a stroke. To his great regret, Mum had to be moved to a nursing home. After she died in 2012, he remained in the family home, of course, keeping to his familiar routines and habits. He was very neighbourly and friendly and accepted everyone equally, and he seems to have been a favourite of local supermarket cashiers and coffee shop staff. The pandemic put a stop to such expeditions and he had to settle for online orders. Once a week, one of us would drive over and take him out for lunch. His health slowly deteriorated over time, but again he didn’t complain. If asked how he was doing, he would invariably reply: ‘Och, not bad really’.
He sadly passed away on 30 March 2024 and is survived by us three children and his eight grandchildren.
Vivien, David, and Catherine (Graham’s children)
Margaret Steven passed away peacefully just before her 88th birthday last year, after a long battle with a debilitating lung disease. She will be sorely missed by all her friends and ex-91热爆 colleagues with whom she kept in touch after her retirement.
Margaret was born in Wick, Caithness, on 9 August 1935. She came to London to study the piano at the Royal Academy of Music. Graduating, she joined the 91热爆 as a trainee Studio Manager, inevitably moving to the Classical Music section of SMs, eventually becoming its manager, all the while driving around in her beloved E Type Jaguar!
Always caring by nature, Margaret was the kindest, most sympathetic and respected of leaders, with always a shoulder to cry on, or friendly advice, when needed. After her retirement in January 1992, she became a member of the Volunteer Visiting Scheme for retired staff.
Margaret led a full and happy retirement herself with her second husband John Kemp – visiting friends and family across the globe, involving themselves with a couple of operas written by an ex-colleague, and contributing to the running of the local church choir in the Arundel area.
Margaret’s brother, Duncan, lived with his family in Perth, Western Australia, where Margaret actually bought a property which she often visited with John. Margaret leaves behind Rebecca, Duncan’s daughter, and her family, to whom we extend our heartfelt and deepest sympathy at this sad time.
Keith Wilson
An obituary for Martin Muncaster is available to read on the 91热爆 local news website.
Selfless, clever, shrewd, wise. Just a few of the words from former colleagues about Peter Rosier who died in March, aged 82.
Peter joined the 91热爆 in 1968 as publicity officer for TV News & Current Affairs. He retired in 1993 as Head of Corporate Affairs and Press Relations.
At 16 he’d rejected the family’s shoe-making business and instead was schooled by legendary Fleet Street journalist, Joe Vodicka, at a news agency in Cambridge. Vodika was renowned for spotting and nurturing journalistic talent. Peter scented a story instinctively and enjoyed a challenge. And he would often recall incidents from the period, including being sent to cover the opening night of a new play. Clueless as to what was going on, he buttonholed another audience member called Kenneth in the interval, made some notes and after the final curtain, phoned through his copy. The next day his boss got an effusive call from The Times about the brilliant review from their man – even better than Kenneth Tynan’s in the Observer, he said.
After a decade in journalism, Peter moved into PR, initially with Southern TV, then to the 91热爆 at TVC to represent the programmes, the philosophy and the people of Lime Grove and The Spur, which he did with deft skill and distinction. In 1980, he sensitively devised and ran a project to enable Sim Harris and Chris Cramer, two 91热爆 News employees caught up as hostages in the Iranian Embassy siege, to share the story of their ordeal while protecting them from the excesses of the world’s media.
Peter was in his thirties and en route to becoming the consummate comms professional when cancer struck. He was one of the youngest people at the time to have a laryngectomy, a major setback for a comms man, but he became a poster child for the procedure. And with typical grit and determination he fought the debilitating battles and graduated seamlessly via Head of Radio Publicity and Head of Information Division to become Head of Corporate Affairs and Press Relations.
Key tasks at the time included explaining the effects of efficiency savings and justifying the benefits of the 91热爆 to opinion formers and the public in the run-up to the charter renewal debate.
With a comprehensive knowledge of the industry and as a righteous advocate of the 91热爆 as a p.s.b. (it’s said he understood the role of the 91热爆 Governors better than they did!), Peter seemed born to this post, overseeing with dexterity all the Corporation’s press and PR activities, under Corporate Affairs Director, Howell James, and Director-General, Michael Checkland.
Sir Michael said: ‘Peter was perceptive, well-connected with the press and amusing – a powerful combination for anyone advising the DG, and I always appreciated so much his advice and support over the years.’
I count myself fortunate to have known Peter as friend and colleague for almost half a century. As a colleague and boss, he was astute, principled, disciplined and thrifty. Constantly on the phone to staff or the press, researching, reporting or reprimanding; always fair but firm, prone to the occasional Anglo-Saxon outburst and once threatening a Sunday Times journalist with the handset! Panorama reporter and author, Tom Mangold, who was one of the first to respond to news of Peter’s death, said: ‘The end of a brave man, and one who was superb at his job.’
Over a quarter of a century at the Beeb, Peter proved ‘superb’ at every turn, winning the respect of everyone he encountered inside and outside the corporation – well, almost!
As a friend, Peter was kind, generous, erudite and witty. A devoted dad, fond of decent wine and company, and a dedicated follower and season ticket holder at Brentford FC.
At a drinks in W1 in April, old friends and colleagues were told Peter didn’t want a funeral. He left instructions in his will – no fuss, minimal expense and no clerics. Drinks with friends was much more his scene. Lord (John) Birt, who attended, remarked: ‘Peter in character, and firm of view, to the very end!’ We may note that Peter’s departure from the 91热爆 had prompted a story in News of the World under the headline, 饾惔饾憶饾懄饾憽鈩庰潙栶潙涴潙� 饾惖饾憱饾憻饾憽 饾憪饾憥饾憶 饾憫饾憸, 饾惣 饾憪饾憥饾憶 饾憫饾憸 饾惖饾憱饾憻饾憽饾憭饾憻. He went on to be a successful consultant.
Peter Rosier (1941-2024) leaves a widow, Pamela, daughters Lottie and Milly, son Ben and three grandchildren.
Bob Dulson
Bryce McCrirrick, CBE, FEng, FIEE, FRTS, former Director of Engineering at the 91热爆, died on 26 December last, aged 96.
Born in Galashiels, and educated at the local Academy and Heriot Watt College, Edinburgh, he joined the 91热爆 in 1943. His career was interrupted by two years National Service in the RAF, and when he returned to the 91热爆, in 1949, he joined the Television Service. He went on to hold a number of senior posts in the Television Service, including Technical Operations Manager, Engineer-in-Charge, Television Studios, and Head of Engineering, Television Recording, before moving, in 1969, to become Head of Studio Capital Projects Department. Twelve months later, he was appointed Chief Engineer, Radio Broadcasting, and this was quickly followed by his appointment as Assistant Director of Engineering. He became Deputy Director of Engineering in 1976 and Director of Engineering in 1978.
Bryce gained a very wide experience in the years prior to his appointment as Director of Engineering, which was invaluable as he led 91热爆 Engineering through a number of important technical innovations and organisational changes. He played an active part in the 91热爆’s management team and in the various engineering and broadcast institutions to which he belonged. He was highly regarded throughout the broadcasting industry as well as within the 91热爆, and although his preferred management style was to keep a slight distance from staff, he was completely committed to their interests. One of the first questions he would ask when organisational and technical changes were being discussed was how would staff be affected. He also took a detailed interest in the work of staff across the Directorate and was quick to recognise and celebrate special achievements.
He retired from the 91热爆 in 1987, but there were no signs of his enthusiasm and energy declining as he approached this milestone, or in the years that followed, as he welcomed new roles as a consultant and as director of a number of companies associated with broadcasting. He also continued his work with the IEE and he became the Institute’s President in 1988. In 1990 he was delighted when a new conference centre opened at 91热爆 Wood Norton which was named after him. I kept in touch with Bryce for many years as we both attended concerts at the Anvil Arts Centre and classical music was one of his interests away from work, together with the theatre and travel, which included two or three cruise-ship tours each year. They were interests that he shared with Margaret, his wife of over 70 years, who survives him together with two of their sons, Alastair and Stuart.
Albert Gallon
Chris Woolley was born in Bognor Regis but moved to Harrogate shortly afterwards where his parents had bought a small hotel.
It was there as a boy he became fascinated with still photography, keenly taking and developing the photos in his own darkroom.
After attending the local grammar school, he won a State scholarship to study Chemistry at UCL in London. Whilst at University, he joined the Film Society and later became its President. Alas, pursuing his newly discovered attraction for generating moving images meant his Chemistry studies took a back seat.
After leaving University to further his passion for film, he applied to an expanding 91热爆 in 1967 as a Trainee Assistant Film Cameraman but as there were no vacancies he was instead offered a place as a Trainee Assistant Film Editor, a job which quickly delighted him. He worked his way up from Assistant Editor to Film Editor and then Chief Film Editor.
During his 91热爆 career he proved to be a very industrious, reliable and creative Film Editor, contributing to a variety of notable programmes, but he became drawn towards those involving science. In fact, Chris prodigiously put together a remarkable 50 Horizon documentaries and even produced one himself.
Fortunately he was also blessed with that enviable trait for editing, of being ultra-calm in whatever crisis came along.
It is worth noting when the 91热爆 in 1992 started to phase out film and introduce ground-breaking and daunting computerised editing systems, such as AVID, it was Chris with his very sharp brain who quickly mastered their finer technicalities.
After leaving the 91热爆 in 1994, Chris and his wife Maureen boldly travelled extensively including to South America, India, Nepal, China, New Zealand and Australia. However, for many years their favourite excursions were venturing on bicycles along the mighty rivers of Europe, including the Rhine and Danube.
Despite his many achievements, Chris, with his endearing self-effacing relaxed personality, certainly was without doubt Mr Modesty. It goes without saying that those with fond memories who met and worked with Chris are all deeply and sadly bereft after his passing.
Les Filby
Fiona Shore, who died on 22 January aged 70, joined School Radio in 1981 after teaching Religious Education at Langley Park School in Beckenham, where she was known for her wide knowledge of her subject and her ability to communicate engagingly with young people.
Initially at School Radio, she produced Contact, a story series for primary-school assemblies. Fiona co-produced numerous OBs around the UK with Geoff Marshall-Taylor, with whom she shared an office for eight years. Among these was a programme in the Together series, which was recorded in Clifton Roman Catholic Cathedral with over 1,000 primary-school children taking part from Bristol and the surrounding counties. The singing was accompanied by Donald Swann; zoo-man Johnny Morris entertained with his entrancing stories.
Fiona was a much-liked colleague whose creative gifts sparkled when she worked in studios, especially with actors, musicians and writers. She always admired those involved in the performing arts, partly through her own love of music and drama but also because she shared the world of her husband, Andrew Shore, the leading operatic baritone. Fiona’s long addiction to The Archers, she maintained, helped to foster her love of radio drama!
In 1988 Fiona went briefly to Children’s 91热爆, working with Tony Hart on Hartbeat: her programmes included Vision On and Morph. On returning to Radio, she produced the series she was most proud of – Wiggly Park – for young children. Andrew Sachs presented tales about five friends – a slug, a worm, a caterpillar, a bee and a turtle! Andrew did all the voices. Wiggly Park was broadcast on the launch day of Radio 5.
Fiona left the 91热爆 in 1994 but developed her scriptwriting skills for many TV series. She was a scriptwriter for The Blue Dragon, a science-based animation series for Channel 4 Schools. She also wrote scripts for Boo! which was a pre-school animation series for 91热爆2 and CBeebies.
Fiona returned for a while to teaching in both the primary and secondary sectors. Her commitment, skills and care were greatly appreciated by pupils, staff and parents. For a year she taught Year 6 children at Christ Church School, Chorleywood, where she also became a Governor. She went on to teach RE at Watford Girls’ Grammar School, later becoming a dynamic Chair of Governors there. She was highly effective in those roles. Fiona used her extensive knowledge of the diverse religious communities in the UK in her RE teaching. For several years she led student visits to Auschwitz to increase awareness of the Holocaust.
Fiona was active in her community of Chorleywood, especially at Christ Church, her local church, where she became a Deputy Warden and Wedding Coordinator. She acted as a funeral Celebrant on several occasions, demonstrating great empathy with the wishes and varied spiritual perspectives of families involved.
Few people were aware that Fiona had to contend with cancer treatment over many years. She was always positive and great fun. For her funeral, Christ Church was packed and three overflow areas were needed – an expression of the huge admiration, affection and sense of loss felt by all who knew her.
Fiona was thrilled to see her three daughters – Sarah, Emily and Hattie – happily married and to enjoy time with her five grandchildren. Arthur, the most recent, was born on the very day Fiona died. It was a huge joy to her that she not only knew that his birth was imminent but she was aware of the name he would be given.
Geoff Marshall-Taylor
Graham King was born in London in 1936. His parents were friends of Tommy Cooper and, knowing his aptitude for fixing things, Tommy asked if Graham could repair his old valve wireless. He succeeded, and this led to his fascination with electronics.
Graham joined the 91热爆 in the early 60s, transferring to the Engineering Training Centre at Wood Norton in 1963. A fortunate move as it was in nearby Tewkesbury he met Thelma, who became his beloved wife. He spent over half of his 91热爆 career at Evesham, maintaining and repairing the wide range of broadcast equipment essential for the centre’s many courses. Graham and Thelma enjoyed being there, happily raising their two children.
In 1978, their five-year-old son became seriously ill with leukaemia. To be near David’s treatment centre, they moved to Bristol. Outcomes weren’t as good then as now and, sadly, David didn’t survive.
Graham transferred to Southampton as Maintenance Supervisor in 1979 where he was noted for his creative problem solving – for example utilising a ‘Henry’ vacuum cleaner to keep the VT machine running during an edition of South Today. 91热爆 South used to be based in the Victorian ‘South Western House’, originally built as a luxury hotel for Cunard passengers. There were many challenges, not least the installation of new cabling through its interstices ahead of the newsroom’s computerisation.
After five years in Southampton, Graham transferred to Cardiff before taking early retirement. Not ready to give up work entirely, he spent 10 years at Southampton University, providing technical support for course delivery.
Graham was immensely proud to work for the 91热爆, maintaining contact and friendships long after retirement. He became a Pension Visitor and enjoyed attending RELICs lunches.
Graham passed away on 29 January 2024, having never fully recovered from the stroke he had suffered four years earlier. Thanks to Thelma’s devoted care, he was able to remain at home throughout the final years of his life.
He is greatly missed by Thelma, daughter Helen, family and numerous friends.
Jeremy Brown
John Hobbs was born in Fishponds, Bristol on 14 May 1936, and was educated at St George’s Grammar School.
From an early age John loved reading and had a vivid imagination. His grandmother introduced John to the world of theatre and cinema, by taking him to the Bristol Hippodrome or the local cinema on a regular basis. As a result, John used to present ‘shows’ in his back garden to which other children in the street were invited.
When he left school, his desire to perform was uppermost in his thoughts and he was now presenting his ‘shows’ in the Church Hall. There is a local newspaper cutting declaring him ‘Bristol’s youngest producer’. He then tried his hand at different forms of performing, as a touring actor and a stand-up comedian.
John decided he needed to move to London as by now he wanted to somehow gain employment at the 91热爆. He applied, was offered a position and joined the staff of the 91热爆 in the accounts department of the Radio Times in Marylebone High Street, in 1958.
A move to Gramophone Programmes followed, and finally he gained a position in Television as a floor assistant, working on programmes, such as Dixon of Dock Green, A for Andromeda, The Aldwych Farces and That Was The Week That Was.
When promoted to a floor manager, he worked on the very first Play School and remained for over 100 episodes.
Some Mothers do Ave Em, The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin, To the Manor Born and Butterflies were to follow. Wendy Craig agreed to John being given the opportunity to direct an episode, and he was soon appointed a director, and in 1980 nominated for a BAFTA.
John then directed Roger Doesn’t Live Here Any More, starring Jonathan Price, L for Lester with Brian Murphy, Sweet Sixteen starring Penelope Keith, Three Up Two Down with Michael Elphick and Angela Thorne, Late Expectations starring Keith Barron and Nanette Newman, Just a Nimmo, Leaving by Carla Lane, with Susan Hampshire and Keith Barron, Terry and June and Brush Strokes starring Karl Howman.
After being appointed as a producer director, Lame Ducks, starring John Duttine, achieved the highest viewing figure for a comedy episode on 91热爆2.
He then took over producing and directing the very popular comedies, Bread and Alla Alla, followed by Mulberry, starring Geraldine McEwan and Karl Howman, and Down to Earth with Richard Briers.
John, like so many other producers, had to accept early retirement in 1994, and as a result formed his own theatre production company, Swallow Productions, touring comedies and a revival of the musical ‘Happy as a Sandbag’.
In the theatre John directed many Christmas pantomimes for the Nick Thomas and Jon Conway Organisation, and for the Mill Theatre, Sonning; comedies such as ‘Spring and Port Wine’, ‘Tons of Money’, ‘Charley's Aunt’, and a highly acclaimed production of the musical ‘Dames at Sea’, an
excerpt from which was chosen to be included in a TVS 1988 Royal Gala in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
After a long illness, John passed away peacefully at Denville Hall Care 91热爆, on 29 February 2024.
He is survived by lain, his partner of over 50 years.
Iain McCorquodale
Joy Heffernan was born in Birkenhead, which was then in Cheshire, on 23 September 1931.
She was the only child of Daisy and Charles Nichols. Charles had survived the first world war, where he served on the Western Front as a gun technician.
Joy was a staff nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary when she met Charles in 1953. After marrying in 1956, they moved to Blackburn when he accepted the post of consultant pathologist at the Royal Infirmary. Blackburn would be her home for her remaining 68 years but it didn’t begin very auspiciously: she recalled the sight that greeted her when she and Charles drove into the town for the first time. Descending from the surrounding upland moors, she surveyed a rain-drenched valley of a hundred mill chimneys and she quietly shed a tear. But it was a town she would come to know very well and one where she made many friends.
After rearing three children, she became a volunteer at Radio Hospitals and was made programme planner. She was already a governor for the fledgling 91热爆 Radio Blackburn when she took up a secretarial post there. She subsequently became a contributor on air to Norman Thomas’s daily afternoon show, where she became known as ‘Nurse Joy’. The station had expanded its reach and had been rebranded as 91热爆 Radio Lancashire.
She made many friends at the King Street studios, many of whom were wined and dined at the family home, as Joy loved being the hostess. During her last few days, she would refer to this period as ‘the happiest time of my life’.
Joy was delighted to become a grandmother in 1988, then twice more.
Her interest in, and knowledge of, local history led her to The Friends of Blackburn Museum. She also served the national governing body, The British Association of Friends of Museums as home news editor and became an honorary life president.
Joy was charitable in all respects, keeping an open house, making everyone feel welcomed. When time eventually caught up with her at the grand old age of 92, she would surely have felt content in her generosity, conviviality and responsibility as a beloved wife, mother and grandmother.
Seamus Heffernan
Monica Atkinson (1930 - 2024) died on 16 March 2024 aged 93.
She joined the 91热爆 in 1949, working for World Service (then called the 91热爆 Overseas Service) in Bush House.
In 1950 she moved to the first floor of Broadcasting House, working in the Light Programme, as secretary to Franklin Engelmann who went ‘Down Your Way’. It was in BH that she met her future husband Geoff, an engineer.
After children in 1975, Monica returned on secondment to the Programme Complaints Commission with Sir Edmund Compton, a small team working out of Queen Anne’s Gate, dealing with complaints by high-profile members of the public or contributors. She was there until the office closed down in 1980.
Monica during the 1980s worked part time as a reserve secretary and was placed in a variety of departments, which gave her a great number of useful contacts, and lifelong friends. One of these was Stephen Hearst, Special Adviser to DG Alistair Milne, and the newly appointed Controller Radio 3, John Drummond. Although he had worked in Television in the 60s, he was unaccustomed to Radio. Writing later in his autobiography, John wrote: ‘I had the services of one of those amazing women who had for so many years been the backbone of the Corporation. Monica Atkinson had been in the organisation all her life, latterly as assistant to senior Controllers…she knew everyone and how to get hold of things. Monica became a great friend and was typical of a 91热爆 now totally lost. She loved the place and all its oddities, and helped me avoid a hundred elephant traps with a cheerful ‘let me call Maisie’ or Harry, or whoever it was. She always had a way around any problem and an answer to any question.’
After that she was asked to give secretarial support to the incoming DG, Michael Checkland, during a very difficult time in the 91热爆, then another secondment to the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, and later on giving support to Sir Roger Cary on organising of the memorial services for Stuart Young and Sir Hugh Greene.
She finished her career in Continuing Education Radio, where she established more lifelong friends whom she delighted in keeping up with after her retirement in 1990.
The years after she remained at her home, and took a happy and active interest in her children, Paul, Philip and Sue, and her grandchildren.
Paul Atkinson
Bob joined the 91热爆 as a technical operator after National Service with the RAF.
This was a time when ¼” tape was ‘new technology’ and few studios had been equipped with machines.
Bob joined XP (transportable) unit in which tape machines were wheeled from studio to studio. He particularly enjoyed working on Sports Report, then introduced by Eamon Andrews, as it combined work with a passionate interest in football.
He moved to Programme Operations along with many of his colleagues to become a POA and then studio manager, working on News and Sport programmes. Here he became an Assistant Programme Services Manager, scheduling and allocating staff. It is in this role that he is most fondly remembered. He had a knack of reconciling the demands of a 24/7 operation with a reasonable work/life balance for the SMs; taking time to fairly distribute the routine jobs with the more demanding ones. His calm and approachable manner was much appreciated.
Bob became Manager Sound Operations when NCA was formed, and Group One Studio Managers became part of Sound Operations. It was a time of great change: the Radio Car operation joined the section and SMs undertook outside assignments supporting the News coverage; there was ‘rolling news’ during the Gulf War and the launch of Radio Five Live. New technology was introduced in the form of D.Cart, an online digital system. He took all the changes in his stride, an unflappable and reassuring presence.
Richard Wright
Chris Paling was the producer of Midweek (the 9am show on Wednesdays on Radio 4) for well over a decade, longer than any other. I had met him first when I enjoyed his 1999 novel, The Silent Sentry, based on his time on an afternoon magazine. I loved his humour, and the melancholy perception of how a huge institution gets defined by people inside it, and by their peculiarities. But I also loved the fact that he prefaced that book with John Reith’s 1920s confidence that the wireless would alleviate loneliness, physical and mental.
He knew the value of what we did, and the particular ways that radio touches people’s hearts and reaches out with intelligence; but also knew the dangers of institutional life – his hero Maurice sits alone in one of those dog-kennel offices, communicating by email and resenting the Corporation’s brutal streamlining of the period. His editor is known as Peculiar Edwards.
So as a fellow 91热爆 lifer, albeit by that time fully freelance, I found happy shared grounds of humour and appreciation. When he took on Midweek, it was a delight. His eye for interesting guests – and possible chimes between them – was superb, and his briefing notes excellent. He appreciated the programme’s aim of enabling people, often unaccustomed broadcasters as well as big stars, to relax just enough to reveal the strongest possible flavour of themselves, whether he personally admired and liked them or not. I used to tease him about the fact that even when there was a guest he had admired over years, he would leave me to ‘warm the guests up up’ in the hospitality room beforehand, rather than come and talk with them himself. ‘Too shy’ he said. But in every discussion we had about lines to take, or ideas to float, his judgement was good, and his psychological and moral understanding disguised by a modest, consciously diffident manner.
We laughed a lot, as you have to in a fast changing and often irritating organisation, and ‘got’ each other’s differences. We certainly shared some dark jokes, as well as a bit of mutual mockery (some of it on my side about his decision to come all the way from Brighton on a moped).
His essential humanity – always there in his novels – was strong and unembarrassed. On the terrible day that my 23-year-old son died by his own hand, it was Chris I had to ring to say I wasn’t coming in: we had talked before about the mental difficulties Nicholas had been having, and he understood clinical depression. All his reactions – then and later, when I came back after the summer – were exactly what I needed. I suspect that was why he was kept on at Midweek for longer than most producers: management knew there was a bond. Once, a friend I had introduced to him over work sent me a text saying, ‘C Paling Nicest Man in World, yes?’. I agreed.
When he became ill, and later when he retired, I saw him a few times down in Brighton – once in hospital. We always stayed in touch. After his retirement it was astonishing to see that, as well as continuing with his fine writing, he became a painter: again, his modest and perceptive eye bringing a vivid sense of mood – and sometimes melancholy – to every scene. He was courageous through those years of difficult treatment, and when he died we had a firm date for our next meeting. I will miss him like a brother.
Libby Purves
John Elfes (1935-2023) died in October 2023, after a stroke, following a serious fall.
His 38-year career with the 91热爆 began after National Service at RAF Locking, Somerset, where he not only learnt Radar, radio and electronics, but ended as an instructor, thus gaining a skill-set ideal for his technical roles as well as his involvement with the ABS.
In 1957 John started as a probationary TA at AP, then moved to Tel OBs – firstly at the Palace of Arts Wembley, then Kendal Avenue. He progressed from Engineering Manager to Senior EM, where he could employ his organisational skills with the blockbusters: the Boat Race, Cup Final or the World Cup. He developed excellent lighting techniques, and particularly enjoyed covering operas such as those from Covent Garden or Glyndebourne. All at the same time as a major role within the ABS.
His strong political convictions (only ever wearing a red tie) saw him not only join the Union but achieve chairmanship in the late 70s. In the words of one senior colleague, he was ‘a troublesome Union official’ – his children remember proudly watching the news as he led the Union into meetings at ACAS.
He was briefly Head of Lighting at TVC, before taking up the full management role of HPRE at Cardiff in the 80s and finding himself on the other side of the negotiating table. Based in Llandaff, he enjoyed the trappings of the executive office, especially the view of Castel Côch, but was distressed by the need to implement the imposed ‘down-sizing’ of those times. He ended his career back in London as Chief Engineer, Regions, at HWH, retiring in 1998.
With retirement he continued his devotion to music, both classical and early jazz, as well as his major relaxation of walking; he was a member of the Ramblers’ Association and Public Access Forums, chairing meetings with skill and fighting for the rights of the public, and leading walks around his beloved home territory of the Chilterns.
John worked and played hard, and was always excellent company (first in and last out at any bar or party), but probably his most significant achievement is the improvement to pay and conditions for innumerable employees, gained through his negotiating skills on behalf of the Union.
He was predeceased by one son, Julian, and his wife, Ann, but leaves a son, Chris, daughter, Liz, and four beloved granddaughters.
Ann Hignell and Chris Elfes
John Powell, who died in December at the age of 92, had a prolific career in radio, almost four careers, as he moved from Radio Drama to Radio 4’s live arts magazine Kaleidoscope, to Arts and Features, and as a final flourish, as producer of two multimedia events tracing the 91热爆’s history through sound and imagery, both for 91热爆 on tour and in the BH Radio Theatre.
Having flexed his theatrical muscles at grammar school, then with his local amateur drama group and Oxford University’s Dramatic Society, he joined the Radio Drama Department in 1955 at the age of 24. It was the perfect job, allowing him to exploit all his theatrical ambitions, sometimes to the concern of those managing the budgets, and certainly, on occasion, scaring the studio team who raced between tapes and grams as they cued in the atmospheres and sound effects for such productions as the eight-episode The Hobbit, or the 20-episode War and Peace, or Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing with its music, rain, thunder, horses’ hooves, jingling of reins, several church bells, dogs, fireworks, fountains, doves and cicadas.
He returned briefly to live theatre at Denver University, Colorado, but in 1973 joined the new Radio 4 arts programme Kaleidoscope. He covered stories in the UK and the world, but had to bear in mind that the 30-minute live broadcast was bookended by the 10 o’clock pips. One ambitious programme was 15 minutes over just before transmission. John was equal to the task: ‘Cut all cues from 94 to 120’ came the order. After producing 300 editions, he moved to Features and Arts. He said he ‘enjoyed stretching radio to its absolute limits’, and his programmes were awarded Sony awards and New York Festival Gold medals, as he brought composers, choreographers, actors, cowboys and cathedrals to listeners.
After final retirement in 1997, he and his wife Hilary welcomed friends to their home, which held a treasured collection of theatre art and books, and a large fully operational model of the Old Vic, which if you were lucky, he would bring to life.
Richard Bannerman
Kathryn Davies, who has died at 79, was a journalist and translator, a presenter for 91热爆 World Service of 24 Hours, East Asia Today and much else, and correspondent for The Guardian and the Financial Times in South East Asia and Cairo.
She was married to the former 91热爆 South East Asia correspondent, Jack Thompson, for 54 years and mother of Barnaby Thompson, inter alia, former legal correspondent of the Financial Times. Barnaby was born in Bangkok, to where Kathryn and Jack had moved in1972 for an assignment as advisers to the Thai broadcasting authorities, setting up a training school for Thai radio producers.
Returning to London in April 1974, Kathryn soon made her name as a highly knowledgeable presenter of several World Service radio news and current affairs programmes. She also did stints as the presenter of The World Tonight and Woman’s Hour on Radio 4.
Her career as a broadcaster had started in 1968 at Granada TV in Manchester, where she was a researcher and reporter on local programmes, a job she also did later at Yorkshire TV. Before taking up the post at Granada, she had worked as a researcher for Michael Foot, doing the donkey work on his biography of Aneurin Bevan. She met Jack at 91热爆 Radio Sheffield where, after the death of her father, she sought work in order to look after her mother who lived in nearby Chesterfield.
She was born Anne Kathryn Burns Davies in Kent, her Scottish mother being convinced the family were distant cousins of the poet. She was always remarkably loyal to Scotland and its aspirations for independence. Loyalty to family, friends and working colleagues was her constant trademark.
It was from South East Asia that she penned her most profound pieces after visits in the 90s to post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia and Vietnam. In her sixties, she gained a degree in Russian at the University of Westminster, influenced by the presence of Russian relatives through her son’s marriage to the pianist, Anya Fadina. She pursued a career as a translator of Russian literature, including the works of the poet and humorist, Nadezhda Teffi, whose wit appealed to her.
She loved her house and garden in Dulwich, all kinds of music, as a fan of the Beatles and the Stones in the 60s and 70s, and later the classics, not least Prokoviev and Shostakovitch because Barnaby had become a budding conductor until he discovered he was more likely to be a successful journalist.
Kathryn doted on her grandchildren and her golden retrievers, Nelson and Izzy. She is survived by Jack, Barnaby, Anya, Sasha and Maria, who adored her dark beauty and her acerbic wit and marvelled at her consistent fury over what she saw as Labour’s mistakes in opposition and government. She was no fan of Keir Starmer or even of old right-wingers like Denis Healey and Jim Callaghan and hoped for a better socialist world.
Jack Thompson
Ken Pollock was a talented television producer based at Pebble Mill in Birmingham. He originally qualified as an agricultural engineer with degrees from several universities and a doctorate from Newcastle University.
Encouraged by Anthony Parkin, the long-serving agricultural editor of The Archers, he joined the Farming Unit at Pebble Mill in 1977, working first in radio, then in television.
The chance to join Top Gear in 1987 meant he could indulge in his other great love – cars, and, in particular, motorsport. The programme was under attack at that time by two successive Controllers of 91热爆2: too many fast cars and too many boy racers, they said.
Together with Jon Bentley, the other producer, he and the team helped Top Gear become the most watched programme on the channel week after week. Audience figures soared and the programme earned an early afternoon repeat.
Ken championed bringing racing driver Tiff Needell on board as one of the new presenters introduced at that time and was somehow always available to film at Silverstone or Brands Hatch as often as he could. From 1994 he produced a spin-off from the main programme called, unsurprisingly, Top Gear Motorsport.
When Ken left the 91热爆 he continued to work in motorsport as a freelance producer/director.
He loved rock climbing, the natural environment, Van Morrison and Crystal Palace Football team among other things. He never shied away from a reasoned argument.
Latterly, Ken was a Worcestershire County Councillor for 12 years and served as Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy, Skills and Infrastructure from 2016 until 2021. While in that role, he helped to deliver many major infrastructure projects, including Worcestershire Parkway and Kidderminster railway stations and Worcester Six business park. Not a bad environmental record for someone who loved cars!
Ken died in January aged 79. He leaves a wife, Diana, and two daughters, Tavy and Lucy. Sadly, he died just before his first grandson was born.
Tom Ross
Ken Oxley, who died last November, joined the 91热爆 in 1959 when he was 24 after completing his National Service.
By 1964 he was one of the three senior studio engineers manning the two studios at Alexandra Palace.
On the move of News in 1970 to the Television Centre, he was promoted to senior shift studio engineer and deputy duty engineer.
In 1980 he became manager of Field Operations – a massive change in direction for him as it meant overseeing all the road crews, lighting men, associated engineers and the News Outside Broadcast Unit. Here he managed the introduction of electronic news gathering (ENG) – a slow process because of the capital costs involved. He was based in the newsroom so was able to give advice and share his expert knowledge of the technical issues of ENG with News Intake. The Falklands War was a new challenge, especially getting tapes and pictures from the ENG crew, embedded on HMS Hermes, back to London. During his time as Field Operations manager Ken impressed the ENG crews and journalists with his skills and calm manner. He had the ability to get on with everyone at all levels, however challenging.
With the amalgamation of News and Current Affairs in 1988, Ken became Foreign Bureau manager which involved a great deal of travel, including to Russia, Europe and Washington.
He retired in 1997, having enjoyed a great broadcasting career. He was always immensely proud of working for the 91热爆.
He was married to Kim and they had four children.
Colin Smith
I am sorry to report that Mike, as he was known within the 91热爆, passed peacefully away on 21 October 2023 after a long spell in hospital. He was 91.
Born in Sheffield, he and his sister were evacuated to Kegworth when he was 7. After the war he returned to Sheffield and to the City Grammar School, where he completed his Higher School Certificate. He was then called up for National Service so missed out on University. His service was spent in various locations as a clerk despite his maths/physics background, and he was finally posted to Shoeburyness in Essex where he was demobbed.
He started work at the Proof and Experimental Establishment, an MoD facility in Shoeburyness, in 1952 and met his future wife there. They married in 1955, and in 1956 he applied for a job at the 91热爆 at the princely sum of £600 per annum – almost twice what he was getting at the P&EE! He was successful and they moved to Chiswick, from where he could cycle to Lime Grove. Two of his daughters were born there.
In 1960 they bought a house in Ash Vale, which made travelling to London more difficult, especially as he was still working shifts, but eventually a car-share rota was designed with colleagues which continued until he was transferred to Monday-Friday working and the 91热爆 started interest-free loans for season tickets. Two more sons and a daughter were born there, and in 1970 they moved to a larger house, nearer the station, where he lived for the rest of his life.
He was made redundant in the shakeup in 1990 – he said he wrote himself out of his own job! This was 18 months before he was due to retire. At the time, Jim Hart, a colleague, wrote in Ariel:
‘Mike Bunting retired from the post, manager Studio Engineering at the end of October after 34½ years’ service. In this post Mike has been a mainstay of Studio Engineering for a number of years, leading the studio engineers through many changes, some of which were not easy. During this time he has led and represented the engineers with a friendly style and a firm hand on the tiller.
Mike started his career as an engineer at Lime Grove, studio E before gaining experience at All Souls and London Airport Studios, studio D, Lime Grove and the Television Theatre.
During 1961 Mike moved to Television Centre as one of the studio engineers working in the then-new TC2. Later that year, following promotion to B1, he moved back to Lime Grove becoming the senior engineer in studio E.
During the period leading up to 1964, Mike worked in several studios including Riverside. On 13 July 1964, Mike became S.Tel.E. (maintenance) in Studio Engineering. This led him to heavy involvement in the programme to adapt the London TV Studios to colour working, with the particular involvement in the colourisation of his original studio – Lime Grove E which, as his 1969 annual report records, was ‘... a complex Current Affairs Studio...’.
Mike is well known for his diligence, industry and attention to detail, qualities which have stood him in good stead throughout his career.
He was promoted to manager, Studio Engineering in November 1980, from which post he has led his team through the many changes that have taken place.
Mike is a keen badminton player and one of the leading lights in the 91热爆 Club Badminton section.
Mike leaves with best wishes for a long and happy retirement from all his friends and colleagues both within Studio Production Resources and throughout the 91热爆.’
After his retirement, he continued playing badminton at the Club and took up tennis, playing regularly for a local team. He became interested in family history, researching the Bunting surname, and was an active member of several family history societies, including the Society of Genealogists that awarded him a Fellowship for ‘rendering distinguished services to the Society’.
He kept in touch with many of his 91热爆 colleagues by email, through mailing lists, and various group lunches – the RELiCs in Bournemouth, a group at ‘The Star’ and the London Lunch. He, together with Norman Taylor, took on the organisation of the London Lunch for several years when it moved to the Victory Services Club, having outgrown its previous venue.
In 2012, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, but as it was discovered early he was put on medication which slowed it down. During the next few years, he volunteered for several medical trials for research into new Alzheimer’s drugs. His physical health eventually began to decline and his mobility with it, but he was still able to drive and get out and about with the aid of a scooter.
He became susceptible to infections and had several spells in hospital. The final one was for rehab and he was just beginning to improve when, after an afternoon of looking at photos and reminiscing with the family, they left him dozing and he didn’t wake up again.
‘Always the gentleman’, ‘a good and conscientious 91热爆 man’, ‘kind, polite, a real gentleman’, ‘a sincere, and honourable friend’, ‘truly respected for his integrity, sense of fairness and friendly attitude’ are just a few of the many tributes to him that were received from former colleagues after the announcement of his death. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
Jeanne Bunting (wife of 68 years)
Peter Firth loved to tell the story of his visit to an English Cathedral City to produce Morning Service. He was staying in an upmarket hotel and had ordered his favourite newspaper when he checked in. When he woke up the next morning, he was upset to discover that there was no paper outside his bedroom door so he rang reception, only to be told that it was not hotel policy to deliver the morning paper but it could be picked up at the desk. He explained that it was one of his great pleasures to lie in bed reading the paper while enjoying a cup of tea. A rather snooty receptionist brushed aside his objections, so Peter got out of bed and, wearing only his rather gaudy pyjama bottoms, passed through a crowded lobby to collect his news sheet from a very disapproving receptionist.
Peter was the most unpretentious and unstuffy of clerics. His Northern upbringing gave him a natural sympathy for the underdog. He would have been at home with those brave Victorian High Anglican priests who went into the industrial slums to bring the Christian message to those most in need of it. He brought those values to his work as a Religious Broadcasting producer based in Bristol. He loved his adopted city and made it his own. When race riots broke out in the St Pauls’ area in the 1980s, he was heartbroken and expressed his deep sadness in some of his finest poetry.
Peter bought into the Reithian concept of public service broadcasting. At a time when many of his colleagues accepted the challenge to ‘educate and inform’, but neglected to ‘entertain’, Peter relished the challenge of reaching wide audiences. He brought a lightness of touch to a host of great programmes, like Songs of Praise and the People’s Service on Radio 2 while also exploring deep theological issues in series like God and the Scientist.
He was the most selfless of colleagues. He very soon realised that his junior producer, Chris Mann, was a maverick who possessed more than a touch of creative genius. Peter stepped back and gave Chris the space to exercise his talents. ‘He has nine bad ideas for every one that is brilliant,’ he told me. ‘My job is to teach him how to tell the difference.’ He took enormous pride in the development of Chris, who became one of the most creative producers of innovative television.
Peter was of the old school. Britain was still predominantly a Christian country. He believed that his broadcasting work was a vocation. He celebrated regular Communion services for the staff of 91热爆 Bristol. It could not happen now in these more secular days, but it was hugely appreciated by the number who attended.
He was loved and respected by all, and he would surely have gone on to higher things in the 91热爆; but when his friend John Tinsley, the Bishop of Bristol, invited him to become Suffragan Bishop of Malmesbury, he felt that he must accept. He served for 12 years in that post, but the Church failed to utilise his huge talents. When I visited him in his lovely house, which he shared with his wife Felicity, overlooking the Clifton Down, I sensed his disappointment: but then I suspect that had he remained in the 91热爆 he would have found the sidelining of religious broadcasting, the obsession with audience figures and the increasing demand for satisfactory performance indicators were not to his taste.
He left a legacy of first-class programme making which meant that when I succeeded him in Bristol, I inherited a welcoming, supportive environment. Religious programme making is now an endangered species. How that must have hurt him, whose own career was a proof that programmes which explore the big questions should always find a place in public service broadcasting.
Ernie Rea
Rena Williamson Robertson Stewart, who became the first woman to be promoted to senior duty editor in the 91热爆 World Service newsroom, has died just short of her 101st birthday.
Rena began her adult life gaining a degree in German and French at the University of St Andrews in Scotland before joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the female equivalent of the army. In early 1944, she was posted to Bletchley Park where she put her language skills to good use translating scraps of German into English for the Enigma code-breaking team.
When the war ended, she was sent to Germany to be in the team interrogating prisoners-of-war. Such was the respect in which she was held that she and a colleague were given the task of translating Hitler’s hand-written will, something that was to gain her considerable fame in later life.
The secrecy that existed at Bletchley Park was so great that the huts occupied by the various teams were not permitted to mix, and it was not until well after Rena returned to civilian life that she learned of the Enigma machine.
Rena was keen to become a 91热爆 journalist, but all that was offered to her in the beginning was a job as a clerk in Bush House with what was then 91热爆 External Services. That took her to the German Service in Bush House, then onto the 91热爆 Monitoring Service at Caversham Park where she spent 10 years. She enjoyed her time at Caversham, but really wanted to move back to Bush House, this time into the newsroom. After many applications failed, she was given a job as a lowly sub-editor.
Over the years, her considerable talents were recognised, rising to become an SDE against competition from her male colleagues. Back then, the SDE was the most senior person on a shift in the newsroom, responsible for the tone and shape of the bulletins in English and the many foreign languages.
Rena was known for her calming influence in the newsroom, no matter the importance of a breaking story – an important achievement in what could be a very shouty and frantic male-dominated environment. The output very much benefited from that.
Ian D. Richardson
Bet Tickner, 91热爆 journalist, linguist, walker, craftswoman and political animal, died in Caversham, Reading, on 6 January 2024, after a brief period of palliative care.
She was born in London in 1946, attending Hornsey High School and then studying Russian and French at the University of Birmingham. Her first job after university was in Cameroon, where she spent two years translating and interpreting, then in 1973 she joined the 91热爆 Monitoring Service (later 91热爆 Monitoring/91热爆M), which sat within World Service and was based at Caversham Park, Reading.
Bet began her long career with 91热爆M working in the French and Russian teams, later switching to editorial work on the Asia-Pacific desk. After a spell as a duty editor, she moved into management, spending two years as head of the East Africa Unit in Nairobi. Accompanied by her son Paul, Bet made the most of opportunities for exploring East Africa and beyond, where she rejoiced in trekking and learning about African textiles and crafts. She had many tales to tell, including about one dramatic incident when she and her son were hijacked.
On her return to the UK, Bet moved into the then new Customer Services Unit at 91热爆M, which she had helped to set up, liaising with official and government customers. She retired after over 30 years at 91热爆M, relishing the multilingual and multicultural environment and the insight into international politics at the heart of the operation.
A lifelong socialist and active member of the NUJ and the Labour Party, Bet was a local councillor for Reading Borough for 16 years, serving as mayor of Reading from 2006-2007. Bet also served on the Royal Berkshire Hospital Board and was a trustee of the Reading Refugee Support Group. After retirement she worked in the voluntary sector, pursuing her particular interests of health care and crafts.
Off duty, Bet was an enthusiastic member of a walking group who took off for long weekends and holidays in hilly and mountainous places from Derbyshire to the borders of Nepal. Closer to home, she devised superb walks for friends, exploring the Thames Valley and the Chiltern hills that she knew so well.
Bet made a difference to the lives of many; she will be sorely missed.
Vickie Abel, and Magda and Maurice Ralphs
2024
Rena Williamson Robertson Stewart, who became the first woman to be promoted to Senior Duty Editor in the 91热爆 World Service newsroom, has died just short of her 101st birthday.
Rena began her adult life gaining a degree in German and French at the University of St Andrews in Scotland before joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the female equivalent of the army. In early 1944, she was posted to Bletchley Park where she put her language skills to good use translating scraps of German into English for the Enigma code-breaking team.
When the war ended, she was sent to Germany to be in the team interrogating prisoners-of-war. Such was the respect in which she was held that she and a colleague were given the task of translating Hitler’s hand-written will, something that was to gain her considerable fame in later life.
The secrecy that existed at Bletchley Park was so great that the huts occupied by the various teams were not permitted to mix, and it was not until well after Rena returned to civilian life that she learned of the Enigma machine.
Rena was keen to become a 91热爆 journalist, but all that was offered to her in the beginning was a job as a clerk in Bush House with what was then 91热爆 External Services. That took her to the German Service in Bush House, then onto the 91热爆 Monitoring Service at Caversham Park where she spent 10 years. She enjoyed her time at Caversham, but really wanted to move back to Bush House, this time into the newsroom. After many applications failed, she was given a job as a lowly sub-editor.
Over the years, her considerable talents were recognised, rising to become an SDE against competition from her male colleagues. Back then, the SDE was the most senior person on a shift in the newsroom, responsible for the tone and shape of the bulletins in English and the many foreign languages.
Rena was known for her calming influence in the newsroom, no matter the importance of a breaking story – an important achievement in what could be a very shouty and frantic male-dominated environment. The output very much benefited from that.
Ian D. Richardson (a friend and former colleague)
Michael Langley Evans died at home on 4 August 2023. He spent most of his 91热爆 career working in Technical Operations, starting off in the World Service in Bush House. He was soon seduced by the bright lights of Television Centre, first in Sound Operations, where he became a respected boom operator on some of the greatest plays of the studio drama era, then as a Technical Manager, where his organising skills, and ability to very slightly bend the rules, eased the way for many Light Entertainment productions.
In the 70s, Michael was boom operator on classic studio productions including I Claudius and the 91热爆 Shakespeare series. His many credits as technical manager include Top of the Pops and French and Saunders.
One particularly demanding series was The Paul Daniels Magic Show; its Easter Special won the international Golden Rose of Montreux Award in 1985.
Michael was always immaculately presented, even in the casual if not scruffy working areas of the large studios. He was generally known as Mike, but Michael always sounded more appropriate.
When not working, Michael’s main enthusiasms were twofold. His decorating skills went way beyond the usual understanding of ‘DIY’. In the mid 70s, he bought a large but totally rundown house overlooking Richmond. He spent a year or more of his spare time turning it into what could only be described as a mansion. Outside he displayed his Jaguar, one of a succession of Jaguars which he enjoyed driving and maintaining all his life.
Michael retired fully in 1999 and settled into retirement in the village of Bourne End in Buckinghamshire. He kept up his contact with broadcasting by joining regular lunches with work friends and enjoyed a quietly satisfying life, spiced up regularly with a spin in his beloved Jaguar.
In later years, his horizons were seriously narrowed by illness and the wider effects of the Covid pandemic, which cruelly affected both him and a close friend. His illness had been under control for a while, and he was working in his garden on the day that he passed away.
John Hoare and Richard Green
Bob Edmands, a backbone of 91热爆 TV News for nearly 30 years, died in July this year. Never a ‘front row’ performer, he should nevertheless be appreciated here. Not a bureaucrat, Bob’s heart was always in the journalism and telling a good story.
Unafraid of change, his career spanned the eras from 16mm film and cardboard graphics to the introduction of digital news. He was heavily involved with the practical implementation of the new computerised technology. It was Bob who ironed out the initial incapacities of the first Basys system. This allowed automated script writing, and enabled easier sharing and editing, including vital communication with reporters and correspondents in the field – amazing then, and just a taste of what was to come.
Born in Leicester in 1949, Bob’s early schooling started there in a pioneering comprehensive, where his concise writing skills and wonderful one-liners were given full rein – culminating in a well-received revue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe of 1969.
Next, politics at Hull University, where he edited the student newspaper, leading to a coveted place on the Thomson Regional Newspapers’ training scheme. After jobs in Newcastle upon Tyne and Blackburn – and perhaps the greatest fun, as a critic for the New Musical Express –- he joined 91热爆 Television News in 1974. He started as a sub-editor in the newsroom in Television Centre, the Spur, working on the lunchtime and all the evening bulletins.
He was Father of the NUJ News Chapel in the 1970s and 80s, at a time when unions and the 91热爆 were frequently in dispute over management plans, departmental mergers, locations, inevitably pay and the occasional run-in over Government interference in programmes. Eventually the NUJ gave him a lifelong membership in honour. The 91热爆, meanwhile, rewarded him with a vital Health and Safety brief, work which brought management and unions together, including care of staff working at home and abroad.
Early in the 1980s, he helped with the launch of 91热爆 Breakfast Time and worked his way up from news producer and editor to being part of the News Management group, finally in the role of operations manager. All this, whilst for a long time, and with reservations on his part, keeping up his journalistic and managerial oversight of several Royal obituaries – primarily the Queen Mother’s, who happily outlived his editorship.
His highly successful career was helped by his amazingly supportive wife, Val, who shared and appreciated Bob’s sense of humour. His two sons, James and William, also gave him their loving support – and they were his pride and joy.
Bob developed and progressed through as many projects as 91热爆 News could think of throwing at him, however fraught or successful they turned out to be. Bob cleverly balanced his work with his first loves and inspirations. He travelled extensively through Europe and North America, following the Electric Light Orchestra, Genesis, Manfred Mann and Status Quo. At his partial retirement in 2000, he became a principal promoter of a highly-regarded folksinger, Reg Meuros.
For us friends and former colleagues of Bob Edmands, this adds up to a very busy and successful life well lived, and we will all remember and miss him enormously.
Philip Campbell and Fiona Chesterton
I first met Keith Evans over 30 years ago, when I joined Serpentine Running Club in Hyde Park, London. I soon realised that Keith was a man of many talents. Not only was he a runner, but he was also a keen skier and, chatting in the pub after club runs, I discovered that he had worked in the film industry during the 1960s and 70s. I was particularly impressed to learn that he had worked alongside Ken Loach!
Born in Manchester, a year before the start of WWII, Keith grew up in Stockport. Fresh out of school, he started an apprenticeship with a portrait photographer. But he was dying to get into film, which wasn’t easy in Stockport in those days. So, Keith wrote what he described as a ‘boy’s letter’ to a small film studio in Manchester – the only one outside London at the time. To his delight, they took him on immediately, and he entered ‘the circus world of the film business’. He stayed with the studio for a year and learned quickly.
National service interrupted Keith’s emerging film career, but it didn’t stop him running, which he had learnt to enjoy while at school. He spent two years as a wireless mechanic in the RAF, and he ran for the Force. ‘That was great,’ he said. But once he left the RAF, his running tailed off completely.
Life was picking up on other fronts, and it wasn’t long before Keith got taken on by Granada television in Manchester, where he spent more than a decade, working first on documentaries then on live current affairs. ‘It was a wonderful time,’ he recounted, working with people ranging from pioneers of the documentary form to up-and-coming journalists like the young Michael Parkinson. And a daily live show brought frequent encounters with the legends of 60s rock and roll, especially the Beatles.
Keith made a lot of London-based friends, and he started to visit them. It was the swinging 60s, and it felt exciting and new. Before the decade was out, he’d decided to make the capital his home. He lived briefly in Richmond, but after a short marriage, he rented a flat in Little Venice. ‘I was just passing through,’ he said, laughing. More than 50 years later, he was still there, and had watched the city grow and change around him.
When Keith arrived in London, Ken Loach and Tony Garnett had just made the influential Cathy Come 91热爆 and were looking for an assistant director for a new film. They specifically wanted someone from outside the world of feature films, and Keith fitted the bill perfectly. The film, which needs no introduction, was Kes. Within two years, Keith became the assistant director on another of the 20th century’s iconic films: Get Carter. It was, he admitted, ‘an amazing period’.
Ken Loach has shared his memories of working with Keith.
‘I worked with Keith in the 60s and 70s, when he was a first assistant director, in charge of keeping the crew happy and working efficiently. He managed this with great good humour, tact and a friendly smile.
‘We worked together on Kes, and also on The Price of Coal, both written by Barry Hines.
‘For the latter, we had to construct underground tunnels alongside an old slag heap near a pit head. The structures were covered in spoil from the tip. It was summer, and the tunnels were dark and soundproof and very hot. Inevitably, some of the crew and production team were outside enjoying the sunshine, while we were toiling up and down the tunnels. Not the most nimble figure, Keith kept up our spirits by railing against the St Tropez set sunbathing on the grass – while trickles of perspiration ran down his coal-stained face.’
Ken finished by telling me that Keith was always a benign presence and a joy to work alongside. He had met him in more recent years at various film screenings, where they always shared a memory or two. Those of us who got to know Keith in later years can confirm how easygoing Keith was and how much fun we had whenever we were with him.
Keith went on to work on several TV productions, including Play for Today in the 70s. He also directed six episodes of the first series of Brookside in 1983 – where he worked with Ricky Tomlinson.
Keith first visited Alpbach in 1968 and soon became a keen skier, returning nearly every year over the next 50 years. His last skiing trip was in February 2023. He got to know the local people as well as other holidaymakers. He loved the village and its people, and they loved him back. The local Tourist Board has promised to pay for a memorial bench in his name in Spring 2024.
Then in 1981, on holiday in Holland, Keith turned on the radio and stumbled on the commentary on the inaugural London Marathon and his interest was piqued. Life as a freelancer was tough. The film work had run out, and Keith found himself going through a difficult time. A friend had joined a new running club, which met in Hyde Park, and he encouraged Keith to give it a try. He didn’t look back.
In 1989 he ran his first marathon, in London. He enjoyed it so much that he ran it six more times during the 1990s, peaking at 3:30. And it wasn’t just road marathons: he was running the hilly, cross-country Seven Sisters marathon most years too.
Keith’s last marathon was in New York in 2001. It was just after 9/11, and it left a lasting impression. He said the city really embraced the runners, and he felt as if he belonged. The weather was perfect, and Sinatra’s New York, New York rang out at the beginning, as hundreds of doves were let off.
Outside of work, Keith lived life to the max. He was an avid traveller and accomplished skier. In London, he set aside time to partake in the Proms and savour the strawberries and cream of Wimbledon, and at Christmas time he would arrange to hear the choir at Westminster Abbey. He enjoyed following politics and wasn’t afraid to participate in a protest march.
When he was not running, Keith loved cinema and theatre and was a member of the BFI. He travelled as often as he could and followed current affairs assiduously. His close friend Juliet Collins said, ‘I’ll never forget cycling with a group of Serpie friends in France years ago. We noticed that Keith was missing. Someone turned back, and eventually spotted his bike by the side of the road. That led to Keith, who was running frantically across the fields, chasing pages of his Guardian newspaper, which had escaped from his parcel carrier.’ He was an avid Guardian reader.
No one who was at Keith’s 200th handicap race in October 2017 is likely to forget the cheers as the familiar, much-loved figure crossed the finish line. Standing on a bench afterwards, glass of prosecco in hand, cutting a rakish figure in his Serpie cap, he made a speech. He recounted how he’d been going through a bad period when he started running, and he knew he wasn’t alone in that. ‘I was going through a bad period again last year,’ he said (he’d been having serious health problems), ‘and being able to see that 200 has kept me going.’ He thanked the club for always having made sure it was inclusive, and ‘the wonderful way I’ve been incorporated, even though I’m getting slower’.
Keith’s defining feature was definitely his love for his friends. He amassed friends from all generations and all walks of life. He enjoyed nothing more than gathering with friends and setting the world to rights – if it was over a tasty dinner and a pint of London Pride then that was all the better. In so many areas of his life, and especially in the way he treated his friends, he was a true inspiration, and he has left us with many happy memories. He will be greatly missed by all of us who knew him.
Sue Walker with contributions from Juliet Collins, Diana Valk and Ken Loach
Further to the obituary above for Keith Evans.
Keith was a friend of mine just short of 50 years. We met in Sicily in 1974 filming on 6-part 91热爆 Drama Documentary Microbes and Men. He was the Unit Manager for I think three separate units filming in more than one country. I was a very new costume assistant to June Hudson on my first 91热爆 contract. Kind man that he was he still found time to organise breakfasts for the hideous early 5am starts for the costume and make up departments! He also was dealing with tricky Italian supporting artistes amongst many jobs on his watch with such good humour. Later in the filming he organised a trip to Paris for me to sort hiring costumes for filming there saving valuable time and budget.
He went on to work at the 91热爆 in Drama Plays, Series and Serials as a first assistant going on to do the 91热爆 Directors Course then directing Travellers in the first series of Premier for new TV directors. Afterwards directing amongst others Angels, Brookside and Jury as well as Play for Today. Always a keen runner and skier he was doing both earlier this year as well as always at the cinema especially BAFTA and the Proms Concerts - Rest in Peace Dear Keith.
Anna Downey
“As a Postscript for the obituary for Keith Evans – his work for the 91热爆 included Travellers, written by Stan Barstow, which was part of the Premiere series filmed in 1977 for first time Directors. It starred Paul Copley, who later wrote Pillion for the 91热爆 which Keith also directed. I worked with Keith as the Costume Designer on Travellers and we remained lifelong friends.”
Caroline Hutchings
It is with great sadness and broken hearts that I have to say that my Mum, Barbara Sadler, passed away suddenly on 7 November. She had been ill for some time but it was manageable.
She leaves behind her husband Frank (scenic service supervisor) and daughter Julie Harris, who worked in the Beeb’s Costume Store.
Barbara was born and lived in London, with her childhood spent in Somerset. In 1964, she joined PABX at Television Centre as a telephonist, having previously worked and trained at what was then the GPO.
Barbara enjoyed working on the switchboard and in later years, in the clerical office, where she would index all the 91热爆’s employees, including their job descriptions and phone numbers. Some of her highlights were working on Wimbledon, It’s a Knockout and Children in Need.
Barbara worked at Television Centre for 37 years, retiring in 2001, only for PABX asking her out of retirement to work on their switchboard at Elstree, where Mum made her acquaintance with the actors of Eastenders who would often have a chat in their canteen.
My parents moved to North East Lincolnshire due to family reasons; by then both of them were fully retired and filled their days with happy memories.
Julie Harris
Trevor Hill, who died aged 98, was a pioneer broadcaster on both 91热爆 Radio and Television, especially Children’s Hour but also on the BFN (British Forces Network) linking Britain and Germany after the war.
He operated the sound effects for Tommy Handley and ITMA and was the first to record a V1 flying bomb by climbing on to the roof of 200 Oxford Street, where the 91热爆 had emergency studios. He was the first person to hear the top-secret Eisenhower disc when, as duty engineer, it arrived late one night at the 91热爆 announcing the D-Day Landings.
During his work in Hamburg after the war, he directed several aspiring actors who later became famous, one of whom he informed would never make the grade, to which, years later, Sir Roger Moore replied, ‘Doing OK but still can’t act!’
In 1948, he was the official 91热爆 reporter hastily despatched to the German capital to report on the Berlin Airlift.
In Manchester, he became Head of 91热爆 Radio Children’s Hour, where many of his colleagues became close friends, including Wilfred and Mabel Pickles but especially Violet Carson, whom he partnered in ‘Nursery Sing Song’, long before she became Ena Sharples in Coronation Street, where Hill insisted she was joined by other former Children’s Hour stalwarts, including Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) and Doris Speed (Annie Walker).
When auditioning some children’s music, Hill came across an unusual piece composed by a young Peter Maxwell Davies, whom he then mentored and who later became Master of the Queen’s Music.
Other youngsters he afforded their first broadcasts included Julie Andrews, Billie Whitelaw, Ben Kingsley, Robert Powell, and both Judith and Sandra Chalmers. He was responsible for the long-running radio shows Round Britain Quiz, Trans-Atlantic Quiz and Round Europe Quiz and also worked closely with the musician Ray Martin and the NDO (91热爆 Northern Dance Orchestra). On the physical front, he designed, steered and oversaw the 91热爆 move from Manchester Piccadilly studios to purpose-built premises adjacent to the nearby Oxford Road railway station.
Hill produced several outside broadcasts, and his weekly Children’s Television Club from the North soon metamorphosed into Blue Peter nationwide. He also worked on Children’s Television at Lime Grove in London as well as producing both Pinky and Perky and Sooty. Once, when watching at home, he narrowly averted a national crisis. Realising the engineers had put on the wrong tape, he frantically rang the 91热爆 and demanded the programme be stopped before Harry Corbett, another close friend, made a mistake and uttered a four-letter word at his gloved puppet. The correct tape was hurriedly inserted after a suitable apology for the ‘breakdown’ and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
He gave the Liverpool folk group The Spinners their television debut, and in 1977 was awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee medal.
Whilst broadcasting Two Way Family Favourites in Germany, he introduced Cliff Michelmore to Jean Metcalfe and also met his wife, the 91热爆 producer and author Margaret Potter. They married in 1952 and between them wrote and produced several thousand 91热爆 programmes. His autobiography, Over the Airwaves, was published in 2005.
Peter Worsley
Marilyn Becheley, known to us all as Paddy, spent 25 years as a producer and scriptwriter for 91热爆 School Radio, delivering a constant flow of delightful programmes for children aged seven and over.
She came to the 91热爆 from teaching at her local primary school in Bishops Stortford, where, by all accounts, she was a captivating teacher who could keep a class spellbound with her storytelling.
This gift would find eloquent expression in her radio series Stories and Rhymes. The stories were drawn from myths and legends, folk tales and fairy tales from all corners of the world, from the High Plains of the Native Americans to the Dreamtime of the Australian Aborigines and the sea voyages of the Norsemen.
These exotic landscapes and seascapes became the backdrop for a number of Radiovision programmes – film strips linked with taped narration, music and sound effects. Paddy was in her element here: she had a natural sense of design and was herself an accomplished painter in watercolours.
Memorable among her Radiovisions were The Land of the Rainbow Snake and The Sea-Farers. Another, Everything New, drew together pictures, poetry and music to celebrate, as she put it, ‘the variety and wonder of the world continually created and continually new’. This beautiful programme won the International Japan Prize for Educational Broadcasting.
Under Paddy’s direction, the poetry programmes became a showcase for new writers, discovered and fostered by Paddy herself. The anthologies of poetry that accompanied the broadcasts were consistent bestsellers on the 91热爆 Educational list. The last programme of each summer term would feature the children’s own work, sent in by their teachers. This produced some wonderful surprises.
Paddy’s private passion had long been the history of Alexander the Great. After her retirement, she wrote and illustrated the story of his early life: Lion Cub: The Boyhood of Alexander. Her research for this book included a visit to the landscapes where young Alexander roamed: a guided tour of Northern Greece with a botanist as well as bird and butterfly experts. Paddy. of course. took her paintbox.
Mary Haydon
John Elfes, passed away 15th October in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, aged 88. Fuller details of his career will follow, after a 'Celebration' of his life at Amersham crematorium at 11:00 on Friday 8th December.
After National Service in the RAF, John started as an Engineer at AP, then moved to Tel OBs - firstly at Palace of Arts Wembley then Kendal Avenue - he was allocated the job of overseeing the move, and had all packed & ready when Churchill died & all had to be unpacked! As Senior EM at Acton he covered many major events - from Cup Finals & Boat Races to Glyndebourne Operas, which he most enjoyed. All at the same time as a major role within the ABS - reaching Chairman in the late 70s. He then moved across to TVC as Head of Lighting, and later went to Cardiff as HPRE. He ended his career at the 91热爆 as Chief Engineer, Regions, at HWH, retiring in 1998. His major relaxation was walking, an annual event was a trip to the Lakes, and on retirement he went into rambling in a big way, both sorting out access problems, as well as planning & leading walks in his home territory of the Chilterns. John leaves a son & daughter, and 4 granddaughters.
Written by Ann Hignell, a close friend from his KA days - who, together with his family, would welcome any further details of his career from other friends and comrades. Please email any details to: annhignell@btinternet.com.
On a very cold, snowy day in February 1979, along with 29 other trainees, I found myself sitting in the Langham on the first day of studio manager course 79/1. We have good reason to be grateful that on that same afternoon, Pete (Wizzo) Wisbey came to talk to us about joining the ‘Union’. Typically, Wizzo undersold it. However, he did then spend the afternoon explaining the pension scheme to us. He bullied, cajoled and quite literally blocked our exit until we signed up to it, apologising all the while for how much it would hurt us financially at this stage but how we would be grateful in the long run. He was, of course, right, and at this distance I and many others are eternally grateful to him for doing so. Wizz always did the right thing first; doing the thing right was secondary to the needs of those involved.
If Wizzo was writing this, he would probably now say something along the lines of: ‘Pete was born at a very early age…’ because he never took himself too seriously. Pete was a studio manager of the very best sort – calm, organised and a safe pair of hands – but it was as an instructor that most people came to know him. Across the years, he trained hundreds of studio managers, and I was lucky enough to count him as a close colleague and friend when I became an instructor.
The day usually started as the door opened and Wizzo breezed in with: ‘Morning TJ, twelve minutes late, badgers on the line at Franham (sic).’
TJ was a fellow instructor, and this misquote from Wizzo was a dig at the 91热爆 HR Department who, across many years, had totally failed to correct his address once it had been wrongly entered into the system as Franham rather than Farnham. Wizzo’s sense of humour was legendary, lightning quick and completely disarming for nervous trainees.
I was reminded of a classic Wizzo introduction a few days ago from a fellow SM…
Day one of the course:
‘And what's your name?’
‘Charlotte Green.’
‘Does anyone call you Charlie?’
‘No!’
‘Alright Charlie, and who’s next?’
And to Pete only, she was always and would remain Charlie, and somehow he made that seem right. And that was the point – Wizzo always did make everything seem right. He would have been horrified if he ever thought he had offended anyone.
Pete’s great knack was to make things seem simple, because if an idiot like him could do it then it must be easy. He did, of course, know the technicalities inside out, but he was aware that there is a time and place for that, and that all you need as a trainee is a way of getting through your first days.
As I am writing this, Wireless 3 (Radio 3 to most) is just playing the Dambuster’s march, which I am sure is some form of omen. Wizzo’s days in the RAF on National Service encouraged his great love of aviation, and he spent his formative years in uniform at RAF Ballykelly, mostly picking up broken bits of Shackletons which ‘careless pilots had scattered around the airfield’. It was the technical experience gained in the RAF which led to Wizz being recruited into the 91热爆.
Pete’s love of aviation never left him, and with other friends we spent endless hours together watching classic aircraft barrelling around the skies, often with a tear in the eye. Sausage roll and sandwich always put to one side as Pete leapt to his feet to salute the Red Arrows as they painted the sky in red, white and blue.
Wizzo was a true polymath, but he particularly knew his music and was a great supporter of many musicians across the years, particularly in his connections to the Tilford Bach Festival. Typically, once retired, Pete was never going to be idle, and he got stuck into working with the local U3a group organising interesting things for us old people to do.
Wizzo was immensely proud of his two sons, Duncan and Piers, although of course he spoke of them with his usual humour. Duncan’s early exploits as a budding actor starring in obscure commercials and stage plays gave Wizzo plenty of scope for some fun. Piers too was unable to avoid ribbing as he joined the same department as his dad, working in the office before moving on. Once Piers had ‘escaped’ to work for Sky, then the gloves were off, and updates to his career were peppered with mock indignation about crossing to the other side.
It was a real joy to see Pete’s family at the celebration of his life in Farnham. All of his grandchildren and children supported Rosemary, and contributed both dignity and a healthy amount of fun to what could have otherwise been a very sad occasion. Wizzo can rest easy in the knowledge that what he leaves behind him is a job well done.
As I came to write this, I read again all the very many comments that people had sent in with memories of Pete. Everyone has a story or several. Pete touched very many lives along the way, inspiring and encouraging. However, it is uncanny just how many times a single comment, thought and memory came to the top of the pile. Time and time again the same phrase was used: Wizzo – a really lovely, decent human being.
Paul Newis
*Addendum*
I met Pete Wisbey long after both he and I had left the 91热爆, when he provided the technical know-how for Farnham University of the Third Age (U3A), one of the largest U3As in the country. Calm, unflustered and usually accompanied by a joke, Pete was a byword for reliability, know-how, and kindness. Typically, Field Marshall Sir Thingummy-Bodge, or whoever, on the threshold of a lecture on the war in the desert, or how the U Boat menace was overcome, would pick up the microphone and blow into it. (They all do this, inexplicably), count to three and then say, ‘Damn thing doesn’t work.’ Pete would magically materialise beside the Field Marshall and say, kindly, ‘Let’s try turning it on.’
As well as providing the technicals for lecturers, Pete also gave talks himself - memorably one called ‘How I ran the 91热爆.’ It seemed a merry old place, which on one occasion involved dangling a microphone out of a window in the Governors’ Chamber, so that a VIP outside the front door of BH could address a crowd and/or be interviewed. For elegance sake, Pete led the cable behind the sculpture of Prospero, where he discovered a slate engraving of Gill’s daughter, Petra, undoubtedly made by Gill, a discovery that adds nuance to the whole story of Gill and Petra.
Mike Hapgood
Colin Cheesman (19 April 1934 – 4 October 2023), a versatile graphic designer and Head of Graphic Design at the 91热爆 for five years, died peacefully at home.
After attending Hornsey College of Art and completing his National Service, he started at ATV in 1959. Four years later, he came to the 91热爆 and the newly launched Channel Two to join a growing team of experimental and creative young designers who were inventing the grammar of television graphics.
He married Drusilla Jenden in 1962, newly graduated from the School of Fashion at the RCA.
An amazing variety of projects were coming on stream, with serious dramas such as The Expert, a more friendly romp with The Likely Lads and a sequence for Zodiac featuring animated photographs of Victorian boxers moving in time to a Mozart symphony. By 1968, he was promoted to senior designer. Two years later he was chief assistant, and in 1974 he became Head of Graphic Design 91热爆 TV.
It was a management role that gave Colin a new perspective on the relationship of the department to the whole 91热爆 structure. He was a member of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers, the Society of Typographic Designers and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was also a life member of BAFTA and a visiting lecturer at Kingston University. Through his examining duties he maintained extensive contact with many leading Art Colleges throughout the UK.
Although he now had a wide widespread insight into the landscape of design, Colin began to miss the actual experience of designing. In 1979, he accepted an invitation to join me, and we formed the partnership of Lodge/Cheesman Productions. This was an enormous career change as the pattern of life in the 91热爆 had become very predictable, but life outside was amazingly unpredictable. In the first week, he was involved with effects on the Ridley Scott film Alien, a commercial for Norwich Union and animation on the Boots logo.
The company grew with international commissions. Colin was required to travel and co-ordinate work in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and New York. We worked together for nine years.
In 1989, Colin took the post of senior lecturer at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication to set up and run a new Moving Image course for the next generation of designers.
On retirement, he moved to Suffolk and saw his grandchildren flourish and grow up and was able to enjoy a relaxed life, with both daughters Johanna and Chloe living nearby. He will be remembered for his humour and gentle disposition by us all.
Bernard Lodge
John Waters died on 17 August 2023 aged 79. John recently wrote the obituary for Derry Cameron, his transmitter team manager for Shetland, in May 2023.
John joined the 91热爆 in 1962. After serving at Daventry, Woofferton and various other transmitters in England, he gradually moved up north via many of the Scottish transmitters, including Meldrum and Gareloch before taking up his first permanent posting in Shetland in 1969.
A few years after he arrived in Shetland, in 1973 John married Ruby Irvine who had been his landlady when he first landed in Lerwick. He adopted her son George, and he and Ruby had 21 happy years together before her sudden illness and death in 1994.
John was instrumental in the setting up of Radio Shetland in 1977. He was the first call for any faults and keeping the station on air when anything went wrong. Radio Shetland depended on regular help from John but never more so than in 1980, when a Spanish tug ran aground, cutting the submarine cable that carried the signal from the Lerwick studio to the Bressay transmitter.
It could have taken weeks to get a cable-laying ship north and get back on air. However, within days, John and his colleagues had sourced some links kit in 91热爆 Scotland’s Glasgow store and shortly after they were on the roof of Radio Shetland strapping a microwave dish to the chimney. This was then aligned by sight with the other dish lashed to the transmitter mast in Bressay, and within less than a week they had a ‘broadcastable’ signal again.
In addition to his work with transmitters, John had already retrained as a TV film cameraman when one of the biggest news stories of his career broke on the morning of 5 January 1993. The American-owned tanker Braer broke down in the Fair Isle Channel and drifted before a southerly storm force 11 towards the southern tip of Shetland. She had 84,700 tonnes of crude aboard and at 11:13am the huge tanker grounded and began to spill oil. This may have been the first time a tanker had been wrecked in front of a TV camera, and John recorded the whole event on video, despite his tripod and camera almost blowing away. It was an extremely spectacular wreck, exhaustively covered by TV, radio and newspapers from all over the world. John’s grainy but surprisingly unshaky 91热爆 footage scooped them all.
John took early retirement from the 91热爆 in 1997 and married his second wife Betty Sandison, whom he had met while working closely with her son Garry during his film and video work. They had many happy years together, travelling all over the world (although she never entirely forgave him for the train trip over the bridge over the river Kwai!) before Betty died after a long illness in 2017.
John continued to work as a stringer, providing news footage to the 91热爆 and independents through his company Norfilm, and in recent years he also became a fully CAA-qualified commercial drone pilot. As recently as July this year, he was filming drone footage of the Tall Ships race in Lerwick which was shown around the world.
Chris Stone, a highly regarded member of the 91热爆’s Rights team, died on 5 September aged 81.
Chris joined the 91热爆 in Bristol in 1982, becoming Contracts Manager South in 1993 responsible for radio and television artists’ contract negotiations. Chris proved adept at handling even the most difficult situations with tact and diplomacy. He was respected by production teams and contributors alike.
He had previously worked at Imperial Tobacco and noted that the move to the 91热爆 highlighted the change in office attire from pinstripe suits to colourful jackets and ties.
He took early retirement in 2001, and long foreign holidays with his wife Hazel became the order of the day.
Chris did some work for the 91热爆 History Archive and joined the Antiques Roadshow as an assistant steward. He became a 91热爆 Pension Visitor and enjoyed chatting with and helping pensioners with any problems, although he found that he was on his own list for a visit and was sent a Christmas card from himself!
Walking on Exmoor with Hazel was such a pleasure that they joined the Exmoor Society Bristol Group, with Chris becoming chairman from 2005-2010. He joined The Civic Society and helped organise the clean-up of Clevedon, where he had lived all his life.
He was a member of Somerset Cricket Club and was one of the ball-by-ball commentary team from 2011-2013. His love of sport encouraged him to write a book, Clevedon’s Sporting Heroes, featuring 50 of the town’s heroes, including three world champions. He then wrote Pubs of Clevedon for the Civic Society and co-wrote Doris Hart Revolutionary Artist to coincide with an exhibition of her work at Taunton Museum.
Chris became president of Portishead Table Tennis Club. After 51 years of playing, he hung up his bat but not before winning the doubles shield at the age of 75.
In the centre of all this was his 57-year marriage to Hazel, whom he courted for seven years before they married. They have a daughter Sarah, son Rob and four grandchildren.
He will be greatly missed at our Rights reunions.
Jim Preacher
Arthur Mulot, who died in August, retired from the 91热爆 in 1987 after more than 30 years’ service.
Apart from a short initial period in Equipment Department, he spent his career in Communications, where he supervised the maintenance of teleprinters and allied equipment throughout the 91热爆. Over this period, the technology of teleprinters changed from electro-mechanical to very sophisticated microprocessor-controlled electronics, and the impact on maintenance was equally dramatic. Thanks to Arthur’s professionalism, and his well-founded faith in the ability of his staff, the transition was achieved smoothly and effectively.
In addition to his mainstream job, Arthur prepared many ‘vintage’ machines as working props for television productions. One such project was, with a colleague, to restore to full operation the only Enigma machine in the country. This captured German code machine had enabled the Allies to ‘crack’ coded enemy messages during the last war. This project led to Arthur appearing on Nationwide, recounting the story.
Arthur is survived by his wife Beryl and daughter Carol; sadly their sons Paul and Martin died in 1987 and 2013.
Bill Mitchell, former general manager, Transmission Operations, has died aged 94. Born in Lossiemouth and educated locally, he joined the 91热爆 as a Youth-in-Training at the nearby Burghead Transmitting Station.
He had moved from Burghead to Skelton prior to being called up for National Service in 1947, and he was one of the few national servicemen selected to spend their two years in the Royal Navy, rather than the RAF or Army. He considered making the Navy his career, but decided to return to the 91热爆 and accepted an appointment as a technical assistant at Droitwich Transmitting Station. This was where he met his wife, Jean, and they were married in 1953. Jean, who was a secretary at Droitwich, had to leave the 91热爆 as married women were not then allowed to work at the same premises as their husbands.
Bill had, by this time, qualified as an engineer, and he undertook attachments at Sutton Coldfield and Truleigh Hill, prior to obtaining a permanent engineer post at Tacolneston. More senior appointments followed. He was appointed assistant engineer-in-charge at Sandale in 1959, engineer-in-charge at Thrumster in 1963, and engineer-in-charge Holme Moss, in 1967. Having sampled the work of Transmission Head Office in London, during an attachment, Bill was eventually persuaded to move on a permanent basis, and he did so as assistant chief engineer, Transmission, in 1979. The job title was changed and it was general manager, Transmission Operations at the time of Bill’s retirement in 1989.
Throughout those ten years Bill was responsible for the operation and maintenance of all of the 91热爆’s transmitting stations. It was a period of major changes. The ongoing automation programme had embraced a number of high and medium-power stations by this time, which resulted in a large number of staffing changes and the related reorganisation of the maintenance bases. At the same time as successfully managing and implementing the changes and reorganisation, he took the opportunity to introduce some improvements in maintenance methods, and to pursue a long-held wish of decentralising activities from Head Office and increasing the involvement and skills of staff at transmitting stations. Staff training and development were high priorities for Bill, and he could look back with satisfaction, when he retired, at what he had achieved in developing staff for more senior appointments.
As he approached retirement, the decision was made to amalgamate Transmission Operations and Transmitter Capital Projects and to relocate the staff from Central London and Brookmans Park to a new location at Warwick. There was no question of him taking a back seat and relaxing. The enthusiastic and painstaking approach that had characterised his whole career was again evident in the support he provided and the part he played in helping to ensure that the amalgamation of departments and the move to Warwick were successful.
We missed him when he retired, and not only for his commitment and what he achieved, but for his company, socially, as well as at work.
For Bill, retirement meant goodbye to engineering – being an engineer was related solely to his time with the 91热爆. He and Jean moved to Carlisle to begin a new life in which charity work was to become the beneficiary. He set up and managed the Carlisle branch of the tools for self-reliance project, which involved the collection and refurbishment of a wide range of tools that were distributed overseas, mainly to countries in Africa, and he continued to play a part in the organisation until relatively recently.
Bill’s wife, Jean, predeceased him, and our sympathy is extended at this sad time to his children, David, Jane and Timothy.
Albert Gallon
Colin Smith, who died earlier this year, was a producer in School Radio from the late 1960s until the late 1980s.
Born in 1935, he read English at Cambridge. After qualifying as a teacher in education and a number of years teaching, he joined 91热爆 School Radio.
For many years he was the producer of a weekly series called Let’s Join In, consisting of stories, plays and poetry to kindle the imagination of thousands of schoolchildren aged seven to nine. Another weekly series called Speak was innovative in supporting the development of oracy in secondary schools. His production of Winnie the Pooh, read by Alan Bennett, has given immense pleasure on CD to parents and children worldwide. Internationally, he was an active link with School Radio in Sweden.
Long into his retirement, Colin maintained annual gatherings set up in celebration of School Radio by Peter Fozzard, a senior producer who had died of cancer at the height of his creative work in drama. Colin posted invitations to a wide range of radio actors, staff and friends to spend convivial evenings together.
Colin's interest in theatre went side by side with his radio career and continued afterwards with at least thirty amateur productions for companies such as the Tower Theatre in London, ranging from Hedda Gabler to Murder in the Cathedral along with Mediaeval Mystery plays.
Colin had a wonderful sense of humour. Even sixth-formers, whom Colin had taught many years before, attended his funeral. They remembered him with affection and praised his wit and inspiration.
Joan Griffiths
Gwyneth Henderson (1943-2023), who died in April, made a significant contribution both to the journalism and the development of talent at the 91热爆 World Service. She was head of its training department and used her position to promote change.
Gwyneth had a passionate commitment to the 91热爆. She also was a formidable spotter of hidden talent and a great networker. She was warm and funny, with a sense of mischief – an exceptional colleague.
She promoted diversity at the World Service at a time when few other people were even discussing it. She encouraged younger colleagues to be ambitious, and she helped develop their talents and their careers. She also cajoled managers to offer opportunities for those she thought would benefit. Many were offered promotion or jobs in new areas of the 91热爆 – and in some cases became stars in other media organisations.
Gwyneth was also involved in World Service projects to train broadcasters from around the world including the former communist countries of Eastern Europe.
After she left the 91热爆, Gwyneth continued to work in Eastern Europe training broadcasters. Indirectly these experiences led to the final stage of her career. She was one of the founders of the charity now known as Media Defence, which was set up to provide legal support to journalists around the world – under her leadership as Chair it flourished and it remains a major actor in the community of freedom of expression NGOs.
Gwyneth possessed a rigorous and curious mind, and a vast range of interests – including an abiding love of Africa. She was passionately interested in the arts, in literature, and especially the theatre, and remained deeply immersed in current affairs. She had a wide and eclectic circle of friends which extended well beyond her professional life – and she inspired great loyalty.
Her favourite song, she said, was ‘I will survive’. The Gloria Gaynor version was played at the end of her funeral – an anthem to her life and work and to her courage and determination in confronting her long final illness.
Bob Jobbins
Jack Leathem, who died just one month short of his 73rd birthday, was a man of many talents. He was an imaginative documentary filmmaker, a gifted jazz trumpeter and keen sportsman. Most important of all, though, he was a devoted husband to his wife and children.
Born in Caterham in 1950, Jack was 12 when he heard a recording of Kenny Ball’s ‘Midnight in Moscow’ and immediately decided that he wanted to play the trumpet. The £12 spent on Jack’s first trumpet might be said to have been ‘instrumental’ in charting the rest of his life. Over the years, Jack became an accomplished semi-pro trumpet player. Indeed it led to Jack playing trumpet for many recording sessions of music for TV and film; including three series of The Dick Emery Show and, perhaps most notably, Magnus Magnusson’s ten-part documentary Vikings.
After living in Paris for several months, Jack returned to London and became an articled clerk at the accountancy firm Moore Stephens, simultaneously joining the 91热爆 Club Concert Band, meeting some more musicians and forming ‘The Tyger Band’ with a residency to play (and pack out) the Tower Tavern in London’s West End, every Friday night. Jack later went on to work as a session player.
In 1976 Jack was asked to join The Ray Shield's Orchestra, a Glenn Miller tribute band which contained some very fine musicians. They deservedly got a lot of work and played all over the country, most notably at London’s Apollo Theatre and a season at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
Jack moved to a house share in Islington where two residents were 91热爆 film editors. Jack’s dear friend and film editor Mike Crisp informed him that the 91热爆 wanted assistant film editors. Jack got a two-month contract, then a permanent contract, and was sent to work in the cutting rooms of the Open University at Alexandra Palace; the opposite side of London to where he was now residing in Ealing.
After touring with Glen Miller’s brother Herb, Jack threw in his lot with the Open University and moved to Milton Keynes. He had done much of the editing on a highly acclaimed film history of early television entitled Magic Rays of Light and this convinced the appointment board to promote him to film editor.
In 1983 he got an attachment to direct a programme with Johnny Ball, which was followed by an interesting attachment to Radio 2. Here Jack worked with Ken Bruce and Humphrey Lyttleton among others. By the late 1980s, he became a full producer at the OU, making programmes with the likes of John Humphrys, Neil Kinnock and David Blunkett.
Jack played jazz on two of the 91热爆’s annual Children in Need programmes. One band featured John Dankworth and Chris Barber, the second included George Chisholm and Bruce Turner; both featured Jack Leathem on trumpet.
He contracted endocarditis in 1995, a potentially fatal heart disease, and after major heart surgery, Jack became a freelance producer, determined to live a full and happy life.
He was very much part of the community, organising jazz bands for charity events and pub gigs and participating in charity bike rides with his father-in-law, Gerald. He gave his services free to write and direct a video history of Aston Martin for use in their new museum in Newport Pagnell.
Jack loved to play tennis, card games and was also a lifelong supporter of Ireland in the Six Nations rugby championship (Leathem being an old Irish name). He loved to holiday with his family in the Lake district and France. He was a fluent French speaker, having spent summer holidays on exchanges.
Jack Leathem was a dear man, husband, father, friend, extremely talented musician and filmmaker. He led a life!
Jack is survived by his wife Claire and children Charlie and Jess.
Jess Leathem
We are sad to report the passing of former news editor, Peter Trowsdale, who has died aged 90. He had a long and varied career across the 91热爆, in TV and radio. He retired in 1988 from his role as Editor of the 91热爆’s weekend News Review bulletin.
Son of a North Yorkshire miner, youngest of 11 children, Peter was the first of his family to go to university, studying History and Politics at Manchester. He then trained as a journalist, rising through the ranks of the Evening Gazette, covering his native Middlesborough and Stockport.
Moving south, he joined the 91热爆 in the Radio newsroom in 1960, at the start of a career of different roles across the organisation. He worked briefly in Sports News and the South East regional newsroom before joining the TV newsroom in 1963 as a script writer, rising to Duty Editor. He spent time producing the Town and Around and Westminster at Work programmes and some filming on the road around the world. He worked on the first colour TV news bulletins on 91热爆 2 and later those other innovations at different ends of the day, Breakfast News and Newsnight.
Standing in for the duty copy taster during the evening break on 22 November 1963, he became one of the first people in the 91热爆 to hear about the news of the death of John F Kennedy.
A creative and thoughtful man, Peter enjoyed an attachment with the Open University, producing a documentary for their history department, before returning to the TV newsroom. He ended his career having risen to become the Editor of the weekly TV News Review bulletin.
Peter retired in 1988 but returned as a freelance to write and deliver training on TV news techniques for regional newsrooms.
Peter is survived by his daughter Alison, to whom he gave two pieces of advice at the start of her career: ‘Don’t become a journalist – and don’t join the 91热爆’. After training as a journalist and working in local newspapers like her father, Alison joined the 91热爆 in the same year Peter retired. She echoed her father’s footsteps on more than one occasion in her own 91热爆 News career, working like Peter for periods at Westminster, the Radio newsroom and Breakfast News.
Andrew Crawford
Yvonne Littlewood, who has died aged 95, was one of the 91热爆’s most respected television directors and producers and for many years the only woman producer in the Corporation’s Light Entertainment department where, in a career spanning 30 years, she oversaw more than 500 programmes.
During the 1960s and 1970s, when the Beatles and Rolling Stones were fluttering the dovecotes, Yvonne Littlewood beavered away producing shows featuring such reassuring personalities as Val Doonican, Petula Clark, Perry Como and Nana Mouskouri.
In a review of 1968, the year of student protests, riots in the streets of Paris, the assassination of Martin Luther King and the crushing of the Prague Spring, the Telegraph’s veteran television correspondent L Marsland Gander singled out programmes ‘produced by Yvonne Littlewood with Kenneth MacKellar singing in the enchanted Hebrides’ [the Road to the Isles series] as having given him ‘maximum enjoyment’.
Yvonne Littlewood was also known as the 91热爆’s premier producer of large-scale all-star spectaculars, including several Royal Variety shows, Christmas galas and, in 1990, the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday gala, held at the London Palladium and featuring a huge cast of top singers, comedians and actors, from Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Rowan Atkinson to Kiri Te Kanawa and Dame Vera Lynn.
Earlier in her career, she was in the director’s chair on 23 March 1963 when the 91热爆 hosted the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest at its newly built Television Centre in White City – an event so demanding that she had to spread it across three studios, with audience, host Katie Boyle, and scoreboard in one, singers and orchestra in another, and the British jury in a third.
Viewers across the continent saw the 91热爆’s shining new showpiece building from a helicopter in the opening titles, while the studio location allowed Yvonne Littlewood and her team to use more varied stage props.
The production was also notable for its use of close-up shots of the performers. The studio version of Eurovision never caught on, however, perhaps because the sense of live occasion, with singers performing in front of an audience, was considered more important than the televisual aesthetic and the greater variety possible in a studio setting.
Meanwhile the event led Yvonne Littlewood to forge a life-long friendship with Nana Mouskouri, the Greek singer who had represented Luxembourg (Greece not being part of the contest at the time) finishing a disappointing eighth.
Spotting her potential, Yvonne Littlewood asked her to do a television series, Presenting Nana Mouskouri, that continued for 11 years and was sold to countries around the world. She went on to produce all the singer’s 91热爆 television series and specials until the early 80s, helping to establish her as an international star.
Esther Rantzen once recalled that when she began her television career in the 1960s, apart from Yvonne Littlewood ‘no other women producers were allowed on any teams because, it was said, they would be offended by all the bad language.’
That Yvonne Littlewood was made of sterner stuff became apparent in 1961, when she was directing an episode of This Is Your Life (then broadcast by the 91热爆), after a technical fault led to her talkback going out live on air. Viewers heard her yelling: ‘Sound on film. Where’s the sound gone? Oh Christ, not again!’. At the subsequent inquest by the 91热爆’s programme review board, Eric Maschwitz, then head of Television Light Entertainment, endeavoured to defend Yvonne Littlewood by explaining that she had merely been ‘asking for help from above’.
Yvonne Mary Pearl Littlewood was born in Maidstone, Kent on 22 July 1927, the daughter of Eric Littlewood, a bank manager, and his wife Joan, née Ball. The family later moved to Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire where Yvonne’s parents became keen members of the local operatic and dramatic society, while Joan learnt the piano and became an accomplished ballet dancer.
She joined the 91热爆 in 1944 as a typist, and by the age of 20 was working as a production secretary for Michael Mills, the Corporation’s first ‘Light Entertainment’ producer, based at Alexandra Palace.
After working with Mills for eight years on variety and popular music programmes, in the late 1950s she was picked by Eric Maschwitz for the 91热爆’s television directing and production training course. She directed her first show, Soft Lights and Sweet Music, in 1960. Other early successes included the 1960 Eurovision song contest, held at the Royal Festival Hall, on which she worked as programme coordinator.
In 1962 one of her productions, Big Band Concert, featuring Ted Heath and his music, received a special award at the Montreux Golden Rose Festival, the Telegraph’s L Marsland Gander remarking: ‘It cost only £2,000, was made on one day and, unlike most entries, which were filmed, was shot entirely with TV cameras.’ Yvonne Littlewood, he noted, was the only woman producer of a programme at the festival.
As well as directing the 1963 Eurovision final, she was instrumental, in 1964, in launching the Jazz 625 series on the newly-formed 91热爆 2, the channel on which she would really make her name as a producer. Her longest association was with The Val Doonican Music Show, of which she produced 85 episodes from 1976 to 1986.
As producer of the series A World of Music from 1976 to 1978, Yvonne Littlewood featured performers ranging from The Carpenters and Fairport Convention to classical stars such as James Galway, Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman and the King’s Singers. She was often involved in 91热爆-US co-productions, and brought US stars such as Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole to British television screens.
Strikingly distinguished looking, her raven hair often pulled fiercely back in a ponytail, Yvonne Littlewood officially retired from the 91热爆 in 1986 and was appointed MBE the same year, though she continued to work for the 91热爆 as a guest producer into the 1990s.
Occasionally life forgets the rules and brings forth a force of nature. Nick Levinson, who died, aged 80, on 13 June, was a forcefield of energy; argumentative and passionate. He could be infuriating but never ceased to be totally loveable. He studied art history at the Courtauld, beginning a lifelong love affair with the visual arts and Italy, where he had spent a student year.
Nick had first worked in the 91热爆’s Music and Arts Department in the late 1960s, but we first met as fledgling producers when he found his feet in that wonderful 1970s innovation, the Open University (OU). The 91热爆 arm of the OU was housed at Alexandra Palace, and from 1981 on the campus at Milton Keynes. He produced a triumphant series on Modern Art which rankled in some 91热爆 nostrils, possibly because its political flavour challenged conventional thinking and achieved good ratings. Later series focused on Renaissance art. Filming took him all over Europe, to Africa, India, USA and Australia. He was always hungry for new knowledge and experience. He finally retired in 1998 after 30 years in the Corporation.
Nick loved architecture, lavishing time and energy on renovating old buildings. Discovering some discarded windows in a skip in Holloway, he used them to construct a ‘period’ conservatory at the back of his Victorian terrace. It was only the beginning. Nick went on to buy and reconstruct four other great houses. An untypically practical art historian, he threw himself into the work. His passion became an obsession. He was in his element in builders’ yards teasing out materials for his renovations. Driven by insight and good taste, the results were always magnificent. But somehow, somewhere, there was always another house on the horizon.
Professionally, Nick was a television producer of the old school, dedicated to education, passing on his passion and insight to a wide audience, absolute in his commitment to truth and the integrity of the idea. He met his wife Dee, a production assistant, at the Open University. She spent her later years fighting disability, with Nick lovingly devoting himself to her care. When she died in January 2022, Nick’s final dream was to move to Italy and yet another house project. By then he was very ill himself. But determined as always, and against all advice, he set forth for Italy to find his ultimate project. While there, he had an accident. Brought back to England, he courageously refused further medical intervention. Now he has gone, leaving his two beloved children Charlie and Selina, three adored grandchildren and many friends who will miss him terribly. I hope he has found his final, perfect building in the Italy of his dreams.
Paul Kafno
Pete Harris, retired Wood Norton lecturer, passed away on 29 May 2023, aged 76.
After graduating from Imperial College, Pete joined 91热爆 TV Studio Engineering, working in Television Centre, Lime Grove and Riverside studios on programmes like Dad’s Army, Monty Python and Play School, amongst many others.
After a while Pete fancied a change and a bit of adventure, so he left the 91热爆 for a job in Switzerland. It was at the time of the ‘Gnomes of Zurich’ so, at his departing do, his friends in Studios presented him with a garden gnome (and alcohol). He drove to Switzerland in his trusty Morris Minor convertible.
After a couple of years, he returned to the 91热爆, this time working in Regions before joining Engineering Training Department (ETD) at Wood Norton. In the Television section of ETD, Pete helped train engineers who joined the 91热爆, working on, and developing and managing ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘DE’ courses. He specialised in videotape, seeing technology progress from 2-inch quad machines through to digital video-cassette tape formats.
Pete also developed and presented specialist update courses supporting the introduction of digital studio infrastructure and digital video broadcasting. Latterly, Pete trained staff in many broadcasting organisations around the world, often meeting people he had trained at the start of their broadcasting careers.
On a Wednesday night, Pete met up with colleagues from Wood Norton to put the world to rights and have a pint. We would be forewarned of his letters to the paper, hear about his projects around the house and in the barn workshop. One of the projects Pete didn’t get around to finishing was the restoration of his Morris Minor convertible. There were so many other things more urgent or important that kept him busy.
Pete lived in Cropthorne, Worcestershire in a black and white timber-framed house. When he and Hilary, his wife, moved in, the house needed an awful lot of repair work. He could turn his hand to most things and developed his own method of repairing and insulating wattle and daub panels. He was very involved in village life, well regarded and was a church warden and member of the choir.
A proud family man, Pete would share his delight at their achievements and recount the good times they all had on family holidays together. He will be sadly missed by Hilary, his children Ruth and Sean, his grandchildren and his many friends in Worcestershire and the 91热爆.
Andy Woodhouse, Steve Westlake and Stu Allerton
Dickon Reed, who headed the World Service Drama Unit when he left the 91热爆 in the early 1980s, died in July at the age of 82.
His working life, based at Bush House in central London, pre-dated the age of the internet and so he was producing radio versions of contemporary and classic plays by British and international writers for people around the world, many of whom would have had no access to drama in any other format. Dickon often adapted the plays for radio himself as well as directing them.
Two location recordings remain in my mind. TS Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, recorded on location in St Giles’ Church, Cripplegate, with Michael Williams as Thomas Becket, and a version of Prunella Scales’s one-woman show on Queen Victoria, which was recorded at the former music museum, Finchcocks in Kent, with appropriate music played on period keyboard instruments.
After leaving the 91热爆, Dickon worked briefly for the Arts Council of Great Britain before moving to teach Drama at the University of Kent in Canterbury. In retirement, he enjoyed singing with the Hogarth Singers in west London and took a practical art course. His wife Maggie, nee Macpherson, pre-deceased him, but he leaves a daughter, a son-in-law and two grandchildren.
Gordon House, Dickon’s successor as Head of World Service Drama, writes: ‘Prior to Dickon’s arrival, the Drama Unit was happy to bask along in the shadow of the Radio Drama Department at Broadcasting House. Dickon would have none of that. He instigated major changes; he initiated the first international playwriting competition in 1979 with Tom Stoppard as one of the judges, and the winning play, Brides are not for Burning by Dina Mehta, was one of the dramatic highlights of the year. He took drama on location long before this became fashionable. The first World Service soap, London Royal, was produced during his headship, and while budgets were tight, which precluded much original writing, Dickon worked with many of the leading actors of the time – most notably on a six-part Shakespeare adaptation entitled The Noble Romans. His enthusiasm was infectious and he inspired us all.
‘Dickon could be abrasive, yet also wonderfully warm and supportive. He was an excellent director and I learned so much from him – including the fact that nobody is infallible. He once watched me record – in one take – Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. At its conclusion, he remarked: ‘If I were you I’d record it all again’ – and then went off to catch his train. With my cast exhausted, I ignored him. Three weeks later, having heard the play, he bounced into my office and said, ‘You see Gordon– that was SO much better!’ I never told him the truth – and sadly will never be able to now. The rest is silence.’
Roe Grave
Alan Hatchman was born in Ashford and had one older sister Beryl. While his father was away at war, Alan attended local schools and experienced regular air-raids, often sleeping in what was considered to be the safest place in the house, the cupboard under the stairs.
In 1945 Alan attended Haliford School in Shepperton, later spending a year at Twickenham Art School. In 1950 he got a job working for the Eagle Star Insurance Company, followed by an assortment of other firms. He then did his RAF National Service from 1952-1954 and was posted to Thorney Island.
The family were stalwart Church members, all participating in various social events and even performing with the Ashford Players. Many of the local Ashford girls took a shine to Alan, but he knew deep down that marriage was not for him, and in 1959 he took the brave decision to tell his parents that he was gay. Far from banishing him from their home, as he feared, they assured him of their undying love and affection and he was able to be truly himself thereafter.
In 1960 Alan worked in the City at a Gentleman’s Outfitters called ‘Horne Brothers’, then moved on to Austin Reed, becoming Deputy Manager. He was further dispatched to Bristol in 1966 where he acquired his first car, a black Morris Minor. Back in London he found that several friends were now employed within the 91热爆 TV Wardrobe Department. Age 33, he too applied and was accepted, first as a dresser and then later as a senior dresser. He was regarded as a kind and conscientious colleague. When his father died, Alan dutifully returned home to take care of his elderly mother.
Listed among the many productions he worked on were Up Pompeii, Onedin Line, By the Sword Divided, Roads to Freedom and Dad’s Army.
The day before he died, when asked to sign a ‘do not resuscitate’ form, Alan remarked: ‘I’ve had a good life and made some wonderful friends, but if it’s time for me to go…it’s time for me to go.’
Maggie Partington Smith
Brian Willey was a gentleman in every sense of that word; kind, loyal and creative. A man who spent his life in the pursuit of excellent musical entertainment and the world of broadcasting will be the poorer for his passing.
He joined the 91热爆 in 1944, and after doing his two years’ National Service in the RAF he returned to the 91热爆 in 1951 as a studio manager, creating sound effects and working with many band leaders and musicians. He had natural talent and soon became a producer, where he was responsible for auditioning promising talent, including The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. He took over Saturday Club, where he introduced many big artists and bands, including The Springfields, The Who, and Gerry and the Pacemakers, and brought in Keith Skues to replace Brian Matthew. He produced many programmes on Radio 2 including Family Favourites, The Jimmy Young Show and John Dunn Show. He produced the first broadcast of the Ivor Novello Awards, one of many. He later became an Executive Producer, with responsibility for the Radio Orchestras and Concerts.
He was a notable musical documentary producer, too, and was particularly proud of The Songwriters series. His 13-part documentary series on Bing Crosby was one of his most ambitious projects, introduced by Douglas Fairbanks Junior. Another personal friend was Gracie Fields, with whom he made Our Gracie 80.
He was also a pianist and songwriter. His songs were performed by many artistes and he wrote A Gibraltar Anthem, which was often played on notable occasions on the Rock and in the UK.
He also had a number one record in New Zealand sung by Inia Te Wiata – he was particularly proud of that.
In 1987 he retired from the 91热爆 and became Vice-Chairman of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), and Chairman of the Ivor Novello Awards Committee.
Remembered for his great love of music, and the written word, he left behind a legacy of both. He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends at the 91热爆.
Johnny Beerling
Rodney Foster worked for the 91热爆 for more than 20 years in TV and Radio News, as a valued member of the political and parliamentary team in the Houses of Parliament.
His varied duties included presenting The Record – the daily parliamentary summary on 91热爆2 – and he was a prolific contributor to Yesterday in Parliament on Radio 4. He was a lobby correspondent for some time, and was attached to Nationwide in 1975, when he appeared in a documentary film about it.
Rodney drove in to work from deepest Essex, but was the envy of his colleagues because, as the long-serving Treasurer of the Press Gallery, he was allowed to park in the Commons underground car park. He worked hard, was very reliable, and invariably cheerful. One colleague recalls him saying at the end of a shift: ‘Fancy a few Vimtos?’
He had worked in the lobby for the Wolverhampton Express & Star and the Daily Sketch before joining the 91热爆 and had good contacts with MPs from the West Midlands, including Enoch Powell, who congratulated him when he first arrived at Westminster. A colleague remembers he had ‘beautiful Pitman’s shorthand’.
Rodney used to live in a lovely old house in Bardfield Saling in an area where many famous artists had lived in the Thirties. After retiring, he continued to play golf, with a handicap of 11 (until he had knee problems); to take part in local amateur dramatics and to play in a ukelele orchestra. He could also play well on the piano. He also found an enjoyable sideline, writing the history of local golf clubs, which were nicely bound and sold well. He liked going on cruises; and in 2016 on one of them he met Madeleine Halcrow, a forensic nurse, who became a close friend and brought him new happiness.
Rodney was born in Sutton Coldfield in June 1938, a first child with several sisters, and went to grammar school there, and later in Llandudno. His first job was as a cub reporter on the North Wales Weekly News.
Peter Hill
Anthony Martyn (Tony) Raymont (1929-2023) died peacefully at home in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, on 14 April 2023, aged 94 years.
Tony had a 91热爆 career lasting 38 years, embracing a variety of broadcasting disciplines. After National Service, Tony joined the 91热爆’s Salaries and Pensions team, and then took up opportunities to join radio programme production in London, Belfast and Birmingham.
He was one of the first readers for the 91热爆 Midlands News daily television broadcast from 1957. For some years he was a 91热爆 Service newsreader and Light Programme announcer in London, sometimes billed as presenter for Friday Night is Music Night, Breakfast Special and Melody Hour.
When Uganda gained independence in October 1962, Tony was seconded to its government until 1964 to lead its National Programme as a broadcasting adviser.
He returned to announcing work in London, then took up a Head of Presentation post for the 91热爆’s former South & West Region in Bristol. His next move was back to Birmingham from late 1970, at the 91热爆’s newly opened Pebble Mill Centre, as Assistant to Controller of English Regional Television, supporting John Grist and then Mike Alder, overseeing the operation of the 91热爆’s eight English regional television stations. Over some 16 years, he would regularly travel to meetings of regional advisory councils across England.
Back in Birmingham, he particularly valued friendships with Pebble Mill colleagues Mike Hancock and Mike Treloar, taking lunchtime walks round Cannon Hill Park conjuring an imitation of Last of the Summer Wine. From Tony’s starting days for 91热爆 pensions, Viv Marett remained a lifelong family friend too and essential ‘Uncle UVW’ family guest at Christmas.
Tony took early retirement in 1987, continuing with freelance work. He took roles supporting 91热爆 Children in Need, Birmingham Council for Old People, Talking Newspapers for the Blind, and he was a guide at National Trust properties near Solihull. He particularly enjoyed a return to ‘on air’ broadcasting, in occasional work over five years for Radio Blue Danube in Vienna, offering a late evening show to Austrians keen to learn English, hearing his ‘91热爆’ voice and humour, alongside those of his other anglophone colleague presenters.
Above all this, Tony was husband to his beloved wife Val; they had been happily married for nearly 64 years when she died in 2020. Both he and Mum provided love, practical support and encouragements. The whole family considers our immense good fortune to have enjoyed our times in the company of ‘Nanny and Grandad’ of over 30 years, and Dad entertaining us all with quips, funny tales and great word play to the last.
Nigel and David Raymont (sons of Tony)
Norman Shacklady, a highly valued (although initially reluctant) member of the 91热爆 Transmission management team, has died at the age of 93.
Born in Liverpool in 1929, he moved to south London as a teenager and joined the 91热爆 in 1949 after completing his National Service in the RAF. The early years of his 91热爆 career were spent at the Kirk o’ Shotts, Londonderry and Alexandra Palace transmitting stations, and he was part of the original staff when the new high-power transmitting station for London and the southeast opened at Crystal Palace in 1956.
His engineering abilities and management potential were quickly recognised, and he was involved in a number of Transmission head office projects – but head office in London was as far as he was prepared to move. Attempts to persuade him to apply for more senior roles away from Crystal Palace repeatedly failed. He was happy there and he had family commitments that he did not want to disrupt, including his sons’ education.
A temporary, six-month attachment as manager of the then-new transmitting station at Midhurst in Sussex in 1972 eventually tempted him. He enjoyed the experience and in 1975 he was appointed Transmitter Manager at the Beckley transmitting station near Oxford. More senior roles followed. He returned to Crystal Palace as Senior Transmitter Manager in 1978 and was subsequently Area Transmitter Manager for the southeast. He completed two tours as Resident Engineer, Ascension Island, and Senior Transmitter Area Manager (overseas) was his final role before retirement in 1989.
Retirement did not end Norman’s involvement with the 91热爆. He was co-author (along with Martin Ellen) of On Air: A History of 91热爆 Transmission. The book charted the history of 91热爆 Transmission and the key role it played in the 91热爆’s development, from the opening day of broadcasting from the London-based 2LO transmitter in November 1922, through to privatisation in 1997. It also included a series of memories by former staff that were collected by Norman, which provided a fascinating illustration of the range and complexity of the work at transmitting stations, and of some of the wonderful characters among the staff.
Norman also included one of his own memories in the book from his time on Ascension Island during the testing three months when the island played a crucial part in the Falklands War. Local facilities and services had not been designed to cope with the huge increase in military personnel that descended on the island, or the associated increases in demand for accommodation, fuel, food and water. There were problems with aircraft movements, given that there was only a single runway, the telephone service into and out of the island was cut for a time for security reasons, and there was the fear that the Argentineans might attempt a commando raid attack on the power station.
The 91热爆 was responsible for the power station, which provided power across the island, and for the desalination plant that provided the island’s water. Both came under severe pressure. There were shortages at times that demanded cuts and restrictions in the use of water and electricity. There were food shortages, and a major crisis was avoided on one occasion when the island almost ran out of beer. In the midst of all of this activity and stress, Norman was surprised to hear that Bill Dennay, who was the then Chief Engineer, World Service, had arrived on the island, but it was a different B. Dennay – Bill’s son Bob, an officer in the RAF on his way to the Falklands.
The way Norman handled all of the problems he faced on the island provided a clear demonstration of his leadership qualities and organisational abilities. His calm approach and the priority he gave to finding solutions in difficult situations, and the importance he placed on cooperating and helping others, will always be remembered. The welfare of his own staff and the protection of the World Service transmission schedule were his clear priorities, and the 91热爆 was thanked after the war ended for the valuable assistance that they had provided.
Dedicated as he was to his work at the 91热爆, Norman enjoyed a full life away from work and had a wide range of interests. Family life was very important, but he was also an accomplished pianist and organist. He enjoyed fishing and was an active member of his local rotary club. Despite his Liverpudlian roots, but perhaps not surprisingly, his football allegiance leaned towards Crystal Palace FC.
Norman was happily married to Jean for 65 years and the thoughts of his former colleagues are with Jean and their sons, Stephen and Peter, at this sad time.
Albert Gallon
My boss, colleague, teacher and friend, Michael Edwards, was not just a superb designer. Of course, his work was second to no other, always adding an extra sparkle to a production, mood to a scene, depth to a character. His sets themselves could be characters in their own right, but always solidly supporting, never upstaging the production as a whole.
I think we shall always remember his sense of humour. Original, ironic, usually deadpan and always to the point. And, of course, always funny.
As a fine artist, he was a master, as indeed is his wife, Janet, whom he met at art school. An accomplished musician and potter, he could turn his hand to anything creative and be brilliant at it, but he was always so dismissive of his own talents. Self-deprecating, quiet, efficient, appreciative of others’ efforts and consistently producing the most wonderful results on-screen.
Michael's professional (and social) qualities earned him the deepest love and respect from his colleagues, not just in the Design Department, but from everyone who encountered his work throughout the industry. All those who worked with him, from scene crew and suppliers right up to the best directors, producers and artistes in the business; we all looked up to him and tried to give him our best.
Inevitably, he eventually found himself at the head of our department in Birmingham, where he practised (perhaps even discovered) magical skills in management. His unique, laid-back style always secured the most equitable outcome from any situation.
A most remarkable man who would dismiss all of the above with a wave of his hand and refute any notion that he will be remembered for a very long time to come.
But he will be.
John Plush
George Inger launched his career in Soho, the heartland of film production, where he worked his passage as a trainee film editor with Pearl & Dean and Pathé.
On joining the 91热爆 in 1956, he became their youngest film editor. Based at Lime Grove, he found himself much in demand, not only for his craft skills but for his reliability in meeting the daily deadlines on the current affairs magazine Tonight. Despite his relative youth, he successfully wrangled the egos and ambition of a procession of emerging producers and reporters.
Although George relished the cauldron that was Lime Grove, he seized upon an opportunity to move to the West Country to join the 91热爆 Bristol Film Unit. Here he encountered producer/director John Boorman, at the time still a relative unknown. They developed a mutual respect, which led to a productive and successful collaboration on a ground-breaking social documentary series, The Newcomers. For Boorman it was to be his launchpad to Hollywood, and his first feature film Point Blank.
George made his own directing debut in 1966. By chance, a producer with precious little experience of television was struggling to make an important series demonstrating a radical new approach to the teaching of young children. George came to the rescue with an offer to take on a role as editor and director. He pulled it off and it proved to be his springboard to production in Bristol’s emerging Natural History Unit. Here he directed, then produced, countless episodes of Animal Magic, travelling extensively with Johnny Morris before directing the weekly live transmissions from the Whiteladies Road studio.
As the NHU expanded into countryside programming, George took a new role working alongside Peter Crawford on long-running strands, including In the Country, and Country Game. He established strong working relationships with a host of presenters and contributors, including Angela Rippon, Phil Drabble, Joe Henson and Bernard Price.
Over the years George did take an occasional time-out from his relentless production schedules. For a while he returned to Ealing for a stint as Film Operations Manager. Another foray saw him back in Television Centre as a studio director with Presentation.
George was never absent from full-time production for long and continued to devise and craft standalone programmes. He seemed blessed with the knack of establishing relationships and earning the trust of creative people taking their inspiration from the natural world. His films were informative, entertaining, and showcased the talents of many, including watercolour artist Gordon Beningfield, wildlife photographer Heather Angel, botanical artist Marjorie Blamey and sculptor Jonathan Kenworthy.
Inevitably the time for 91热爆 retirement loomed. Undaunted, George continued to operate as a freelance for several years, setting up and recording events, and producing videos for the international market.
Ever sociable and gregarious, George kept in contact with many of his ex-colleagues. He was particularly active in a lunch group where his skill as a raconteur was much appreciated. Somehow, he never seemed short of an entertaining new tale trawled from over five decades of global travel and experience.
Following a brief illness, George died on 9 April 2023. He is survived by his wife Daisy and son Mark; his younger son Robin sadly having passed away with cystic fibrosis at the age of 34.
Robin Hellier
Martin Kisner’s career started out with a five-year apprenticeship with EMI Electronics that allowed him to spend time in many parts of their business, including a stint in 1963 at Abbey Road Studios, as a ‘very, very junior’ engineer. What an amazing time to be at Abbey Road, when performers from Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Adam Faith to the Goons and Helen Shapiro were recording their hits. The studio was about to be elevated to iconic status with the arrival of the Beatles – and Martin was there.
As a 14-year-old boy, Martin wrote to the 91热爆 to find out what his direction of study should be for him to get a job there. In August 1964, with the experience and training with EMI, he followed that dream of joining the 91热爆, where he worked until his retirement in 2001.
During his 91热爆 years he progressed through various camera assistant roles before becoming a television cameraman in 1971. After deciding that lighting was his preferred direction, he worked towards that goal, gaining a place on a highly sought after 91热爆 lighting training course. In 1986 he was promoted to the position of Lighting Director, a role that he loved and excelled at for the next 25 years.
Martin worked on a variety of large studio productions such as Children in Need, Comic Relief and 2000 Today (the 91热爆’s welcome to the new millennium). In addition, he did his time on regular shows including Eastenders, Top of the Pops and Tomorrow’s World.
Following his retirement in 2001 aged 60 he still had many good years of work in him and embarked on his freelance career.
He was a doting grandfather, endeavouring to share his love of the creative arts with them. He cared for his mother and brother in their final years, as well as looking after his wife Bernice, who has suffered with dementia.
Martin Kisner sadly died on Sunday 23 April following a stay in hospital. He was 81. He was highly regarded in his professional life as he was loved in his personal life. We will miss him a lot.
Simon and Darren Kisner
After graduating in Maths and Physics from Keele University, John Groom joined the 91热爆 in 1956 as an engineer: ‘I started work halfway up Crystal Palace mast… it was a cold foggy day so that clambering over the girders at 400 feet was not exactly a doddle and I dropped my screwdriver. Consequently, it was decided that I should help to refurbish a studio in Broadcasting House’
(John Groom, 1992).
Initially, John lived at the 91热爆 Hostel in Bayswater where he met his wife-to-be, Ann Gore (Secretary, 91热爆 Presentation). A keen musician, he played trumpet with the 91热爆 Club Orchestra. He was an active member of the Ariel Sailing Club.
After his National Service (Royal Signals, RAF Laarbruch), John returned to the 91热爆 as an engineer in telerecording but soon joined the Central Establishment Office.
John specialised in Pay Relativities, Grading and Industrial Relations. In the 1970s he published an article on Job Evaluation in Benefits International Magazine and gave several lectures on the subject at the Polytechnic of Central London.
During the 70s and 80s, John spent many hours in negotiations with trade unions at ACAS. In 1988, he was seconded to Cyprus Broadcasting to undertake a full review of grading. He loved Cyprus and made some enduring friends through his work there.
John was an early adopter of new technology at home and work. This came in use when in 1988, on his way to an exhibition in London on a Bank Holiday weekend, he dropped into Broadcasting House just as the Legionnaires Disease outbreak was underway. He stayed until, by the end of the evening, he had set up the computer system in the Incident Room.
John retired from the 91热爆 in 1992. He kept in touch with fellow 91热爆 retirees by organising a monthly walking and lunch group. He used his free time to enjoy his many passions – clock making, amateur radio, building and flying kites and model aircraft, walking, camping, and composing, playing and conducting music.
John Groom passed away on 20 January 2023. Ann, his wife of 60 years, survived him by just six weeks.
Ann-Marie Boyle
(Mary Elisabeth) Ann Gore grew up in London and Bristol. In 1957, she followed her father Sydney Gore (91热爆 Sound Engineer) into the Corporation. She was based at the then brand-new Television Centre and worked for several years as a secretary in the Presentation Department (Sound Broadcasting).
During her time in London, Ann lived at the 91热爆 Hostel in Bayswater, where she met her future husband John Groom (91热爆 Job Evaluation). She was a keen sailor and member of the Ariel Sailing Club. Persuading John to join her, they bought a dinghy and sailed together regularly.
Following their marriage in 1962, Ann left the 91热爆 to care for their new family. She regularly volunteered for community projects such as the Maidenhead Holiday Activities Scheme for children. She took on a variety of charity work, including training to work as a counsellor for the bereavement service, Cruse. Ann was also an active member of her church, working as a Special Minister for Communion and Safeguarding Officer.
She was an accomplished cook and a skilled craftsperson, completing a wide variety of projects such as sewing, sugarcraft, embroidery, bobbin lace-making, pewter work, macrame and stained glass.
After bringing up their five children, Ann returned to paid employment as a cook in a Care 91热爆 and then became an Assistant Librarian. Ann had an active retirement, travelling the world and creating a beautiful garden at their family home.
Ann Groom died peacefully on 3 March 2023, just six weeks after her husband of 60 years, John Groom (91热爆 Job Evaluation and Industrial Relations).
Ann is survived by five children, eight grandchildren, her sister Jennifer and her brother, Bob Gore (91热爆 Television News). Her brother, Peter Gore (91热爆 Radio Derby) passed away in 2021.
Ann-Marie Boyle
Sheena Harold (daughter of Angus MacKay, for many years the doyen of 91热爆 Radio’s Sports Report) followed her father into the 91热爆 in the mid-60s after a stint working on teenager magazines such as Roxy and Valentine, where she did photo-shoots and interviews with some big names of the music scene of the day.
She did not join the 91热爆 in a sports role (though she was a good hockey player) but in the World Service at Bush House.
Amongst her posts there was a long stint in the Export Liaison Unit, an offshoot of the Science Unit which reported on the success stories of British companies abroad. Later she graduated to the main Science Unit, working on the programmes Health Matters and New Ideas which featured innovation and new technologies across the UK.
Sheena was admired for her great professional competence but probably even more for her people skills and colourful personality. She was an exceptionally witty and amusing companion, with the ability to lighten otherwise leaden meetings and dull office discussions with hilarious repartee, but she did not suffer fools gladly and could be quite acerbic – she was not her father’s daughter for nothing!
Former colleagues have said she was a delight to work with and paid tribute to the laughter and fun she generated and her generosity with advice and time to younger staff. One said the best piece of advice he ever received was her warning never to drink the home-made wine that sometimes appeared at Science Unit parties! (I never found out who was responsible…)
After her 91热爆 career and following the death of her second husband Ernest in 2007, Sheena continued to live in Teddington, London, where she became a leading light of the Teddington Society.
In 2017 she was presented with the Richmond Borough Community Award for her outstanding public service.
Sheena died on 9 January after a brief illness in Kingston Hospital – she had diabetes and a heart condition but had always made light of both.
Pat Colbert, 91热爆 World Service
(Facilities Unit, 1961 – 1993)
Syed Rashid Ashraf, whose voice was well known to millions of listeners to the Urdu Service for almost 50 years, died peacefully at home in Bromley at the age of 90 on 17 March.
Born in Faizabad in North India in 1932, he spent his teenage years in Delhi where he attended the famous Anglo-Arabic High School. At Partition, while still a teenager, he migrated to Lahore where he enrolled at Punjab University for both his BA and his MA in journalism, in which he topped his year.
After a spell with the UK’s Information Services, he was recruited by the 91热爆 and arrived in London in June 1966. This was a time of remarkable change, as the transistor revolution took hold in South Asia and news and current affairs assumed greater importance in 91热爆 broadcasts in the wake of the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
Rashid soon proved himself a capable and trusted broadcaster, whether as presenter of the newly introduced dawn programme, Jahanoma, or the regular weekly programme responding to listeners’ letters.
Rashid left the full-time staff in the 1970s but continued to broadcast regularly, while taking on a variety of new assignments – as an interpreter, a teacher of Urdu to customs officials, and a regular contributor to New 91热爆, New Life, the 91热爆 Sunday morning TV programme for the Asian community.
His first love remained broadcasting but for 20 years he also operated a successful franchise for Kentucky Fried Chicken in Greenwich.
Rashid was a respected mentor to new members of staff and an authority on the history of the service. His English-Urdu dictionary of modern English phrases is still an important work of reference. He also translated a number of novels into Urdu, including Ben Okri’s The Famished Road.
He will be remembered affectionately for his unique broadcasting style, his deep knowledge of the language, his resourcefulness, modesty and unfailing good humour.
He is survived by his wife Kishwar, and his three daughters, Annie, Monuza and Bushra and their families.
David Page
Garry Lloyd (born Gareth in 1937) came to the 91热爆 in 1972 with a great reputation as a tenacious journalist. At The Times, with Julian Mounter, he had exposed widespread corruption among detectives in the Met. Concealed tape recorders in a car had gathered the evidence. The Times, in a long and generous obituary, also recalled his compassion when covering the Nigerian civil war, and his earlier expert notetaking (in Pitman’s shorthand) of the trial of the Great Train Robbers, his coverage of the trial of Stephen Ward, and his serious eye wound suffered during a riot in Londonderry. Garry also investigated several criminal conspiracies.
When he came to the 91热爆 he worked in local and regional radio before becoming a TV News reporter, and occasional reader of World Service news. In retirement he did shifts for Sky News and wrote for Horse and Hound.
He had learned to ride at his private boarding school, and during National Service in Germany he exercised the polo ponies. Garry developed a lifelong love of horses. His Christmas cards were invariably for equine charities. Being of slight build, he was a good jockey, and had raced trotting horses competitively in New Zealand. He enjoyed playing polo. He was also fond of the Wild West. In 1998 he went on a riding holiday in Monument Valley, Arizona, with the little-known British Cowboys Rodeo Association. He wrote a vivid article about it in The Independent. He had a framed set of cowboy belt buckles on his wall at home.
Garry was a fit man. He even took up judo for a time. He was also exceptionally musical (both his parents had been opera singers) and he could play the piano – and compose – without being able to read sheet music. In later years he sang in a barber shop quartet.
At his funeral, his nephew Mike Lloyd called him ‘a happy man’, ‘a natural raconteur’, and someone with a joyful, distinctive laugh.
Garry had no children. He is survived by his third wife, Sherrie, to whom he was married for 37 years.
Peter Hill
Myles Lang joined the 91热爆 Midland Region in 1964, working at Gosta Green and later at Pebble Mill. Some of the many programmes he designed include: Owen MD (1971), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1976), All Creatures Great and Small (1978), A Family Affair (1979), Buccaneer (1980), Our John Willie (1980), Play for Today (1978 - 1984), Spytrap (1983), and The Pickwick Papers (1985).
After his retirement he played golf, travelled and sang in a local choral society with Alison, his wife.
Michael Edwards says: ‘Myles was a great friend and with his calm and collaborative manner was always a pleasure to work with.’
Joyce Hawkins, who worked with Myles at Gosta Green and then Pebble Mill, recalls working with him on some ‘very happy serials’, including Tom’s Midnight Garden, The Phoenix and the Carpet and Nanny.
‘There was a comfortable atmosphere when working on all these programmes, even when we were quarantined, due to one of the young actors catching cow-pox!
‘Myles gave the impression that his designs were accomplished easily and without fuss. I only know that they were always right and it was my privilege to work with him over so many years on so many different programmes.’
Myles passed away on 11 February.
Robert (Bob) Matthews passed away peacefully at home in Binfield, Berkshire on 28 November 2022, at the age of 96 years.
Bob joined the 91热爆’s Planning & Installations Department (later known as SCPD) in London during 1956 following employment at the English Electric Valve Co in Chelmsford, Essex, where he worked on the design and production of power transmission valves.
At the 91热爆 he was involved in the installation of television studios at Gosta Green (Birmingham), Riverside, Hammersmith and some of the original studios at Television Centre, West London.
During his employment, Bob worked on several key events which made broadcasting history, including being part of the 91热爆’s engineering team at Goonhilly Earth Station, Cornwall during 1961, when the first satellite broadcasts were made between the UK and USA via the Telstar-1 satellite.
He was then involved in the first colour television outside broadcasts from Wimbledon in 1967. Bob then spent some years with the Videotape Unit, which was at the time concentrating on the main installations at Television Centre and finally joined Engineering Secretariat in 1971, primarily focussing on Radio Capital Projects.
He was very proud to work for the 91热爆 for 29 years, with its high engineering standards and was passionate about ‘free-to-air’ public service broadcasting. Bob was an avid listener of Radio 4 and Radio Berkshire until the end.
Post retirement he was kept very busy with multiple interests and for many years assisted the science and technology classes at the local comprehensive school in Colchester, Essex. He loved new technology and always strived to keep up to date with latest developments. One of the last things he accomplished was to upgrade one of his numerous PCs to the new Windows 11 OS just a few days before he died, much to the horror of his sons!
During his life he had many wide-ranging and varied interests. He had a passion for horse riding – he started riding with the 91热爆 Club and continued to ride until he was in his 80s. He had kept dogs and several cats over the years and was a strong supporter of the Brooke Charity for Working Horses and Donkeys across the world. He was a lifelong Arsenal supporter, spent many hours updating his vast stamp collection, and loved to do woodworking projects.
He leaves a wife and two sons and a large legacy in broadcast engineering history.
Garth Matthews (eldest son)
Phil Thomas died on 8 October 2022. He leaves a wife, a son, two daughters, four grandchildren and two step-grandchildren. He was born in Bristol and at the age of 11 went to Cotham Grammar School.
On leaving school he joined EMI in Wells, Somerset, the recording arm of HMV and developers of the first electronic system which, in the late 30s, was given over to the engineering development and MOD projects.
In 1961 he married and, following the birth of a son in 1962, decided it was time to increase his income. He joined the 91热爆, which necessitated a move – firstly to Flaunden, Bucks and then to High Wycombe.
He loved his job which involved covering many events. It included the funerals of Winston Churchill and Princess Diana, many sporting events including the 1972 Olympic Games in Germany, the 1988 Olympic Games in South Korea, the World Cup in Germany and Spain and, of course, Wimbledon. He worked on many dramas, among the most memorable The Mayor of Casterbridge. He also loved music – the Proms and at Aldeburgh, Peter Grimes.
There were voluntary redundancies which enabled him to retire in 1992, after which he was offered freelance work for several years.
Joan Thomas
Alexander Drummond (Derry) Cameron was one of a very small band of engineers who maintained 91热爆 transmitters in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the latter part of the twentieth century. He was in charge of the operations in the Shetland Islands.
The job called for very special qualities – not only as an engineer who invariably had to operate with no backup, but also one who had to contend very much with weather and geography. Not infrequently, he had to charter a ferry or aircraft to even get to the problem.
With only one TV channel, no Internet, satellite broadcasting or mobile phone service, the 91热爆 was a vital service, and on one occasion, during a snowstorm, Derry restored the service by climbing a link tower to pour antifreeze from a milk jug into a snow-clogged microwave dish to restore the service.
Born in Edinburgh and brought up in Bishopbriggs near Glasgow, Derry initially worked in a bank before national service in the RAF as a senior radar mechanic. On joining 91热爆 transmitters, he worked at Woofferton in Shropshire and Kirk O’Shotts in Central Scotland before becoming Team Manager in Shetland in 1968. Derry regarded the title as a huge joke as the ‘team’ consisted of only two (latterly three) people.
Derry had made Shetland his home, and never fully recovered from the death of his wife Jean a year ago. A stalwart of the local swimming club, he is survived by his children Drew and Jane.
John Waters
The big man of News Picture Editing has gone.
Mike Davies joined the 91热爆 at Alexander Palace as an assistant film editor in 1963 and became a film editor around 1968. He very quickly established a formidable reputation as a very skilled editor in a department that was bursting with talent.
He made his name in 1973 when he flew out at very short notice to cover the Yom Kippur war. This was at a time when few editors travelled abroad to active and dangerous war zones. Keith Graves, Martin Bell and Mike Davies, what a team!
Mike set the pattern for all future foreign editing operations and it was around this time he was promoted to become a chief film editor. He was a big guy, dominant in a department of very strong and vocal characters but also a very kind, caring man who was a mentor for the many younger editors who flooded into the rapidly expanding news operation.
The transition from film to tape hugely broadened the scope for editors to work away from base. As a chief picture editor, he travelled the world and met them all – from our Queen to Nelson Mandela. To list his trips and adventures would take a small book. Just a few spring to mind: Belfast, Ethiopia, Moscow, Poland, Beirut, Saudi Arabia, South Africa during the apartheid years, South America to cover the Falklands War, Yugoslavia with John Simpson, Washington with Charles Wheeler and many more. In Poland and the USSR, he and Tim Sebastian became a formidable team, close friends as well as colleagues in the most difficult situations, denied of normal creature comforts and under constant monitoring by the KGB.
He was the epitome of what a news editor should be, with a strong and abiding news sense, his deadlines never missed and each frame according to him ‘a Rembrandt.’ He could make the Sony edit machines sing as he churned out the stories that formed such an important part of the history of those times. Mike was, in every sense, a hard newsman who could hold his own with the roughest and toughest, in and out of the 91热爆. He was a man of strong opinions succinctly put.
His home life, frequently interrupted by breaking news events, was something that was very important to him. Mike was a devoted husband, father and grandfather who was immensely proud of his daughters Karen and Susan, his wife Margaret and his three grandchildren, Sena, Oliver and Johnathan. Mike and Margaret were married for 63 years.
Mike will be missed by so many people who knew him. The words ‘legend’ and ‘masterful’ spring to mind as a testament to his memory. He was 84 when he died in January.
Martyn Holland
Charles Knode sadly died in the hospital on Thursday, 16 February, aged 80.
He joined the 91热爆 just when television went into colour, one of a stellar new intake of young theatre-trained stage and costume designers, among them Elizabeth Waller, John Bloomfield, Raymond Hughes and Robin Frazer-Paye.
Before this, costume designers were called costume supervisors and wore petal ½ hats, handbags, and white gloves to work!
I assisted Charles in 1970 on Sense and Sensibility, my first job after Art School and working in the theatre. What an enormous amount I learnt from the Master!
He charmed actors – they loved his attention to detail, vast historical knowledge and the artistry that went into his designs. He made them feel comfortable and look good, correct and characterful, so they could get on with their job of acting, having the confidence of knowing their costume was 100% right and a huge part of their performance.
Great fun to be with at work and after work, he became a lasting friend to me and a great many film, TV and theatre directors, makers, actors and designers. Generous, warm and thoughtful, at 6ft4 he was a gentle giant.
His War and Peace (1972-73, directed by John Davies) was a triumph (featured in Prospero recently).
Owen Wingrave, the Britten opera was memorable; his designs had a sell-out exhibition near Aldeburgh.
After leaving the 91热爆, Charles had a varied and remarkable career in film. He had little time for ridiculous Hollywood producers and accountants who had not properly budgeted the film’s costume demands. Unafraid of sacking, he stood firm and faced them off on many occasions!
His film credits include:
Monty Python – Jabberwocky and Life of Brian
James Bond – Never say Never Again
Braveheart, for Mel Gibson (BAFTA and Oscar nomination)
Sir Ridley Scott – Blade Runner, Legend, and 1492: Conquest of Paradise
TV movies include The Odyssey, Alice in Wonderland and Don Quixote.
Judy Pepperdine, Costume Designer
After a long illness, Geoffrey Feld died on 5 March 2023.
Geoff worked for most of his life in television, progressing rapidly from trainee to camera supervisor specialising in drama.
Joining the 91热爆 in 1958, he lived through the days of black & white TV, when plays were ‘live’, through to the introduction of colour. He then led the move into lightweight camera production. He was a BAFTA nominee four times for his camerawork, winning the award outright in 1981 for The Merchant of Venice. His credits are a lexicon of the 91热爆’s output over more than five decades.
Always a thorough professional and as a legend to work with, numerous directors would demand that he be allocated to their productions. He had the ability to understand and empathise with production ideas however ambitious, using the camera to translate these ideas into pictures. Not surprisingly, he worked with a many great directors and marvellous actors.
To become part of his camera crew was an accolade in itself. So many of today’s successful camera operators are in his debt for the training he gave them. The ‘Tech Ops website’ and Facebook reflect well over 100 expressions of heartfelt thanks to him for sharing his expertise, and the wise advice given, a testament to his expertise and sense of humour. Not surprisingly he was encouraged to become a director himself, where again he demonstrated his knowledge of television expertise.
Geoff resisted the call to commercial television companies that offered higher pay – he was 91热爆 through and through. He battled successfully for camera staff to be given on-screen credits and to be involved in productions at the earliest possible stage. But he also battled to ensure that staff were rewarded properly for their contribution to television as an active member of the Association of Broadcasting Staff (now BECTU).
A lovely man who leaves us with beautiful memories.
John Barlow & Garth Tucker
The Ariel Sub-Aqua Club (ASAC) was founded in 1988, and two years into its life, it was in a slightly precarious situation. It had very few experienced divers, and certainly no instructors. But, as members of the 91热爆, we had contacts. Frank Brown (a member of the 91热爆 Dive Unit Film Club) was persuaded to step into the role of Ariel Sub-Aqua Club Diving Officer. He was a natural teacher (his day job was training camera crew for the 91热爆), a keen boatman and he became an Advanced Diving Instructor (rising up these ranks swiftly, and on behalf of his role for ASAC). He turned our fortunes around.
He poured his heart and soul into the role of Diving Officer, nurturing a batch of us youngsters through to Advanced Divers. Love me, love my boat: Frank came with Spindrift, his own beloved Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat. Back in the early 90s, ASAC had a small inflatable boat, so Spindrift was a true gift.
With Frank at the helm, ASAC flourished. We enjoyed many trips to Swanage and Weymouth in Dorset, Hope Cove in Devon, and Gozo in the Mediterranean. During the winter Frank ran many boat-handling trips in Poole Harbour. We divers grew in confidence and skills, both underwater and on the water, driving his beloved Spindrift.
Frank was a family man, and his wife and daughter joined us on those sunny diving holidays. We have many fond memories of his little daughter, Charlee, splashing around the boat in Swanage Bay, or swimming above us in Gozo – acting as a Surface Marker Buoy!
He was our Diving Officer for four years. When he stood down and moved onto other things, one of which was running Club Instructor courses in Gozo, our thriving, confident club was his legacy.
Some things we didn’t know about Frank Brown: During his very early career as an engineer, a senior colleague told him that chewing pencils looked unprofessional, and could he please smoke a pipe instead. Thus began his lifelong relationship with his pipes. We have fond memories of his many words of wisdom delivered over a puffing pipe.
Frank mingled with stars! Having done a sound check for Diana Ross when she was performing at the Pan-Am Building, he plucked up the courage to ask her to dinner – and she said yes! He never told his family what they talked about… He recorded ABBA’s final UK tour, and Agnetha kissed him (on the cheek). During a break, Frank watched in awe as Benny sat down at the piano and started playing with melodies. Later, Frank realised he had witnessed the beginnings of Lay All Your Love On Me.
Frank had many loves during his life: motorbikes, boats (especially Spindrift), his work, scuba-diving, his pets. And his greatest love was his family. At the sad loss of this charismatic man (who once told his teachers that what he liked best at school was ‘being a little rebel’) our thoughts, love and deepest sympathy are with Charlee, his daughter, and Briony, his wife.
ASAC is proud to have had Frank Brown as our Diving Officer, and to have known him and his family for so many years. His legacy and memory live on.
Cecilia Thwaites
Bill Dennay, who sadly died on New Year’s Eve, was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, in 1935.
Educated at the local Grammar School, he trained initially as a Marine Radio Officer, but instead of a life at sea, joined the Scientific Civil Service before moving to the 91热爆 in 1956.
The early years were spent at transmitting stations, including Daventry and Sandale, before he became a highly respected lecturer at Wood Norton. He returned to Transmission as Head of Transmitter Operations in 1971, and a series of senior appointments followed. They included Assistant Chief Engineer, Transmitters; Controller Operations and Engineering, Radio; Chief Engineer, External Broadcasting – a role he particularly enjoyed; and Assistant Director of Engineering, which included responsibility for planning the 91热爆’s Headquarters at White City.
In 1987 he joined Board of Management as Director of Engineering, and for six years he showed his commitment to a wide vision of the public service broadcasting role of the 91热爆, embracing organisational and technological change with enthusiasm and expertise. He was a highly supportive team player who upheld with pride the great tradition of 91热爆 Engineering.
Bill’s qualifications included a Dip. E.E., Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the IEE, and President of the IIE in 2001/2002. He played an active role in these institutions and was highly regarded throughout the industry. This view was shared by his staff. Bill set high standards and expected results, but staff were always fully involved, advice and guidance were readily available, and work was enjoyable. He was also wonderful company inside and outside of work.
Following retirement from the 91热爆 in 1993, Bill spent eight productive years with Quantel, a company that designed and manufactured equipment for the broadcasting industry.
He had a wide range of interests outside of engineering, including aviation, opera and classical music, particularly appreciating the music of Vaughan Williams.
He is survived by Shirley, his wife of 67 years, and their son Bob.
Sir Michael Checkland
Helen sparkled as a creative, independent and inspirational woman who was never afraid to speak her mind!
I always wonder if these strengths were partly inherited from her beloved mother. She would recount the frightening days of the Blitz when living as a child in Loughton but how her mum refused to evacuate her and made her dad install the Anderson shelter in their living room!
Helen had inherited her mother’s ability for dress-making and had an amazing eye for colour co-ordination.
Like many large organisations, one needed experience, but this didn’t stop Helen from applying to the 91热爆. Over the next two years she badgered the personnel department and on her fifth interview was told to apply to a theatre to gain some experience. With dogged determination she worked at the Victoria Palace Theatre, dressing young dancers. After eight months she commenced work in the 91热爆 make-up and costume department in July 1960, where she stayed until retirement at 60.
Her experience explains why she always looked so stylish at parties – notably sporting an amazing emerald green bob wig for an Absinthe party (where she accidently downed a shot of Absinthe before I’d had a chance to add the remaining cocktail ingredients). She often recounted the 1984 91热爆 costume ball and loved showing the album full of magical outfits! And she was a wonderful hostess with impeccably dressed tables full of nibbles and of course her favourite German wine.
Oozing in creativity, she was also a prolific painter across a host of styles from African landscapes and art deco ladies to abstract cityscapes.
She seized life! Travelling independently through India, the Middle East, Asia, the US and beyond…her romance with Alfred (and being courted by many more), the dance classes and theatrical performances, dashing around on her scooter and in her little orange racing car, dancing at our wedding when 88 years old and leisurely lunches at Joanna’s – always starting with a prosecco.
Helen was brilliant and splendidly sassy. She passed away at 93 years old in Crystal Palace having lived life to the full!
Alexandra Lewis
I regret to relate the sad death of the Current Affairs reporter, Bill Kerr Elliott, who passed away on 16 January, aged 78. He worked at Lime Grove on Nationwide and 24 Hours, which was where I first met him.
He originally worked at 91热爆 Scotland before requesting a move to London. The reason was his mentor was the 24 Hours regular front man, Kenneth Allsop. Bill by chance came south with another reporter from Scotland, Bernard Falk, with whom I also worked on 24 Hours. Bill and I became good friends, especially as Bill, like me, had a passion for Grand Prix motor racing. When I left the Corporation to become a freelance documentary director, Bill and I kept in touch and he always asked me what GP drivers and teams I had been filming. I was able to say, Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks, Damon Hill and teams such as Ferrari, Williams and BRM.
Bill was very proud of being a spectator at the French GP in 1961 when there was the closest of finishes on record: Giancarlo Baghetti in a Ferrari beat Dan Durney in a works Porsche by half a car’s length. Bill continued his love of F1 racing by attended most of Goodwood’s Revival meeting when they began in 1998. Drivers of his cherished era were there in abundance – Stirling Moss, John Surtees and Jack Brabham, to name a few.
When we retired some years ago, we met regularly for lunch at our favourite watering holes. With us at our table was Bill and Sara Billett, editors from Lime Grove, and Valerie Singleton, who had moved from London to Dorset. They were special gatherings which we hope to continue in Bill’s honour.
Paul Foxall
Cliff Wright, who died on New Year’s Eve, was a lifelong member of the 91热爆 engineering establishment.
Born in Caerwys, North Wales, Cliff joined the 91热爆 as a youth in training in 1943. He completed his national service with the Royal Navy from 1946 to 1948, and was then taken onto the permanent staff of the 91热爆.
After a long spell working at transmitters all around England and Wales, Cliff was seconded to the BFBS in Libya for two years in the mid-late 1950s, with a remit to help the locals establish their own radio service. He returned to transmitters in the UK in 1958, prior to a move to Radio Links and Telecine in Cardiff, in 1961.
In 1967, Cliff was instrumental, as Engineer in Charge, in setting up 91热爆 Radio Merseyside, one of the first local radio stations. Three years later, he moved to Oxford to get Radio Oxford on the air, and remained as EiC in Oxford until his retirement in 1987.
Following retirement, Cliff and his wife Mary moved to North Wales, where he enjoyed a long retirement. He loved his time at the 91热爆, though, and would probably have preferred to keep on working well beyond his 60th birthday!
Graham Wright (Cliff's son)
Joe Hambrook, who died on 25 September 2022, was a producer with English by Television from about 1963 to 1988.
He was born in 1928 in Sumatra, where his father was the manager of a rubber plantation. He was brought to England as a child and later was at Shrewsbury School and then Trinity College, Oxford.
After finishing his degree in the early 1950s, Joe led a rather nomadic life, spending time in Spain and Italy. One Spanish trip included train crashes, avoiding the secret police and running parcels to the anti-Franco resistance. He then spent time in Ibiza and Mallorca with the ex-patriate communities of artists and writers, and did research for the poet and novelist Robert Graves.
In the mid-1950s Joe spent three years teaching Latin and Greek at Eton. All through these years Joe had also been doing bits of work in advertising, such as writing scripts for animated commercials, and he left Eton to work with the animator Richard Williams. Joe worked on Richard Williams’ award-winning cartoon The Little Island and they set up a cartoon film studio in Rome. This led to his being appointed the film executive for Beecham Overseas Ltd, where he looked after their film production outside the UK. After a couple of years in charge of the English department at a university in the Congo, Joe joined the 91热爆.
At 91热爆 English by Television, Joe produced TV shows which were immensely popular and commercially successful in Europe and beyond. He was responsible for the video/TV component of world-wide multi-media English courses which pioneered new ways of learning English, for both adults and children. He produced the 1980s series, Follow Me, which was claimed to have been the most widely watched TV/video series of its time, the result of its popularity among the rapidly growing Chinese TV audience as a means of learning English.
After a period working with Children’s Television Workshop in New York on a project to make an international version of Sesame Street, Joe returned to the 91热爆 and produced a widely acclaimed animated cartoon stories for children, featuring a friendly monster from Outer Space, named Muzzy. Employing recently developed interactive technology, it was possible to use the same Muzzy video to learn both English and many other languages.
After Joe left the 91热爆, he was engaged in several language-learning video and multi-media course designs, as well as a project to use the Muppets for teaching English. He acted as a consultant and ran workshops and short courses around the world. Joe founded a video special interest group for IATEFL (the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) and was influential in promoting the use of video in English language teaching.
After his death, tributes from colleagues described their admiration for Joe’s talent, expertise, hard work and sharp mind – many remembered him as an inspirational influence and mentor. Joe had a great gift for friendship, and was remembered as warm and generous, entertaining and full of fascinating stories.
Katie Hambrook
Monica Jefferies, who worked for the 91热爆 from the mid-1950s until her retirement in 1987, died on 2 February. Her career was, I believe, entirely spent in radio, for many years as a producer. Her surname from her previous marriage was Cockburn, under which name she was employed for most of her time with the 91热爆.
Michael Cockburn
2023
David Hughes moved to 91热爆 Pebble Mill in 1974 after having established his credentials at Television Centre in London. He was encouraged to move to the Birmingham Audio Unit by the then Head of Department, Bryan Forgham, who knew David from his time at Television Centre. The Audio Unit serviced both radio and television programmes – studios, outside broadcasts and post, and promised a greater variety of work.
David’s specialism was sound for multi-camera drama; Pebble Mill was the home of the English Regions Drama Department and hosted a lot of drama from London production teams. At Television Centre he had been one of the sound supervisors to mix series 1 and 2 of Doctor Who, so it was obvious that, when the Doctor Who story ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ was to be recorded at Pebble Mill, David should be chosen as the sound supervisor. The story involved the fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker. The ‘hurry-up-and-wait’ nature of making television was even more true for a Doctor Who episode, as everyone had to wait for the special effects team to finish their preparations before a safe recording could begin. Horror of Fang Rock was made at Pebble Mill because engineering work at Television Centre had reduced studio availability and it was the only Doctor Who story of the earlier series to be made outside London.
At Pebble Mill, studio multi-camera drama sound supervisors followed their dramas into the dubbing theatre. David was a skilled dubbing mixer and was a great advocate of this continuity, arguing that sound design decisions taken in the studio often made dubbing easier and quicker, and the final sound design more polished.
David was part of the team that mixed three innovative and iconic Pebble Mill shows: Pebble Mill at One, Saturday Night at the Mill and Pop at the Mill.
For those too young to remember Pebble Mill at One, think The One Show, but at 1pm for an hour, with a large audience. Live music in every show and the whole building wired for sound and cameras. The studio was the huge marble-floored reception area, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Pebble Mill’s front lawns and tree-lined Pebble Mill Road. Items were many and varied: live bands; celebrity interviews in the foyer studio – often actors (including Tom Baker) working in the studio next door; gardening items from Pebble Mill’s many landscaped areas; occasional visits from military bands trooping on the front lawns with the odd helicopter flypast, shot from the roof, thrown in; once, a Harrier jump jet landing – live and to the timed second – in the field next to the Pebble Mill car park! Pebble Mill at One ran from 1972 to 1986. In the same stable were the occasionally anarchic foyer-based Saturday Night at the Mill chat show (think Graham Norton, but with a smaller budget!) and Pop at the Mill – Pebble Mill’s mini-Glastonbury, from the back garden. Wall to wall music – with all the technical challenges that involved. David’s talent navigated through them all.
Pebble Mill was also the home of a new Asian Unit, which David was involved with. He was well respected for – and very proud of – his Asian music mixing skills; stylistically so different from western music. In recognition of his work, David and his wife were invited by the Unit’s producers to the Ravi Shankar 50 years in broadcasting celebration – a big event at Pebble Mill.
When David arrived in Birmingham, the Audio Unit made mono programmes for television, but stereo programmes for radio. Television didn’t start broadcasting in stereo until August 1991, but Pebble Mill’s Audio Unit staff were well prepared – not least because, in 1985, David was the first sound supervisor to mix a multi-camera drama in stereo. The series was called Late Starter, about a retired university professor (Peter Barkworth) starting again after his wife walks out, leaving him penniless. Making this series helped the 91热爆 to decide, and define, the ‘format’ (usually centre speech, stereo music and effects) for the broadcast industry, and informed the wider 91热爆 audio community on the operational challenges associated with stereo recording for TV.
In retirement, David went on for 20 years organising and making cassette tapes for the local Talking Newspaper for the Blind. He also did many talks for local organisations called ‘Grampa’s Gramophone’, where he took along numerous 78 records of Music Hall songs and others and played these on his grandfather’s wonderful old gramophone which had a large wooden horn. The audience were soon singing along.
When David was admitted into care, five and a half years ago, he still continued his life of music. Each night he conducted silently beside his bed. If anyone asked him where the music was, he just replied ‘It’s all in my head’. He told his wife that he would only ever pass away if and when this music disappeared.
Not long before he died, he said the music was fading…
David passed away on 14 November 2022, at the Rushdon Park Nursing 91热爆. He was 90 and had been suffering from Parkinson’s with Lewy body dementia. He leaves his wife of 62 years, Marian, sons Simon and Timothy, grandchildren Kayleigh and Erik and two great grandchildren Harvey-Jack and Evie-Mai. He was cremated at The Vale Crematorium on 5 December 2022.
Louise Willcox
Ken Brazier, who died in August, would have turned 96 this December, just four years younger than the 91热爆 itself, to which he devoted most of his long and remarkable career. He covered the insurgency against British colonial rule in Aden as Foreign Correspondent from 1963 to 1967 and was Editor of 91热爆 World Service News from 1977 to 1984.
As Editor, ‘he steered one of the most significant and influential – and best – sources of global news through the horrors of the Cold War and the beginnings of our emergence from it, while deftly managing and getting the very best out of the journalists. And he did all this with the deep humanity that endeared him to us all. He was simply a great man,’ said Bush House colleagues in a tribute.
Ken was born in Ilford, Essex, in 1926, to George and Gladys, who met working in the civil service. George served in Cairo and Beirut as the UK civil air attaché in the Middle East, in the 1950s. Ken’s sister, Jennifer, was born in 1929. When Ken was 12 the family moved to a new bungalow in Ashtead, Surrey, with all mod cons, including, he recalled later in life, an indoor toilet! The Second World War broke out soon after the move. Ken never forgot watching London burning on the skyline, during the Blitz.
The Epsom Grammar School boy knew very early on that he wanted to be a journalist. He left school at 16 to start as a cub reporter on the Croydon Times, determined to gain as much training and experience as possible before being called up for National Service. He had the blessing of his headmaster, who wrote to his father in December 1942, ‘I have had a chat with Kenneth and am glad to find that this is the kind of thing he wants to do.’
He was called up on 4 January 1945 and spent three years in the Forces – swiftly promoted to Sergeant Chief Clerk – first in Bombay, and then with the War Graves HQ in Brussels and Paris. His time overseas, particularly the two years in India, made a deep and lasting impression on him, firing his interest in the wider world and his lifelong passion for travel. Keen to get back to journalism as soon as possible, he turned down a commission with a place at Sandhurst because it would have delayed his demobilisation.
Immediately after being demobbed in February 1948, Ken was reinstated at the Croydon Times on 15 March. He was there two years before moving to the Leicester Evening Mercury, where he rose to be Political and City Council Correspondent. ‘He was one of the best journalists to pass through our hands since the war,’ said the editor in a reference. After 14 months in the provinces, he was itching to return to London, and he joined the Press Association in Fleet Street in 1951 as a reporter.
In 1954, aged 27, Ken landed a reporting job on the Bulawayo Chronicle, in Rhodesia, at last fulfilling his dream of going overseas again. His fiancée, Judy Clement, whom he had met at a 21st birthday party thrown by mutual friends, sailed out to Africa to join him. They were married in Umtali on 5 November 1954 and honeymooned on Paradise Island, off the Portuguese East African coast.
In 1955 they embarked on one of their greatest adventures together, driving 2,000 miles from Bulawayo to Nairobi in a second-hand Humber Super Snipe wagon. Along the way, they dramatically rolled the car over and were miraculously rescued by people who appeared out of the bush. Ken worked on papers in Nairobi and in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika.
The young couple returned to England on the Lloyd Triestino ‘Africa’ in October 1956. Back in London, Ken worked as a reporter for the Evening Standard earning £19 a week and they rented a small flat in Red Lion Street, Holborn, above a fishmonger’s who – Judy later recalled – would drop left-over kippers in their letter box at the end of the day. Their daughter Mary was born in December 1957, followed by their son Patrick in August 1960. By then they had moved to a brand new three-bedroom house in Crystal Palace.
Ken began his career with the 91热爆 on 15 June 1957 as a sub-editor in the newsroom of External Services (as the World Service was known then), on a starting salary of £1,060 a year.
His big break came in 1963 when he was appointed Aden Correspondent to cover the growing insurgency against British colonial rule. During his four-year posting with the family, Aden became a huge news story. Local and regional rebellions against British rule were mixed with the wider geopolitics of the Cold War as Britain became embroiled in an escalating and increasingly vicious insurgency by nationalist rebels.
Nearly 60 years ago, on 10 December 1963, a bomb exploded at Aden Airport, marking the beginning of the four-year Emergency. Ken was injured by flying shrapnel but calmly filed his story before seeking medical attention and only then going home to rest. His professionalism earned him a £50 bonus and accolades from the editors back home. ‘We were all enormously impressed by your work today,’ the Head of News wrote to him. ‘Your first despatch, written as I realise, while you must still have been badly shaken, was a stirring example of factual reporting plus calm valuable back-grounding.’ Ken had been standing near the target, the British High Commissioner, Sir Kennedy Trevaskis, but fortunately only received light flesh wounds. Sir Kennedy survived the assassination attempt but two people were killed and dozens injured.
The London bosses commiserated that the explosion ‘must have been a shocking experience for you,’ adding, ‘and I am sure to your wife when she learned about it – wives tend to be forgotten in these hazards.’ In fact, Judy was the Aden stringer for the Daily Telegraph and the Associated Press. She was later to despatch a cable about another bomb, even closer to home. In February 1967 a time-bomb exploded during a dinner party in the block of flats that the Braziers lived in, killing two British women.
Ken did not rest on his laurels after the airport bomb. A few months later, he had one of his greatest scoops. It was still fresh in his mind just weeks before he died. He had got wind of a plane transporting a grisly cargo to Aden and was able to confirm that two SAS paratroopers had been killed by tribesmen on 30 April 1964 during an intelligence operation in the heart of rebel territory in the Radfan mountains, north of Aden, and their bodies decapitated. Rumours that they had been beheaded, and their heads paraded on sticks, had swirled, and been denied, causing political uproar in London. Ken’s cable beat the agencies by an hour. The Ministry of Defence in London issued a statement confirming his report. The bodies were being flown by the RAF to Aden for burial. The heads had been taken by the rebels to Qataba. Ken signed off his cable ‘I cannot reveal sources of information, but this story is absolutely incontrovertible.’ The editors were ecstatic. ‘Time and again, Brazier has left the Agencies standing,’ said a memo from London – and that was from Broadcasting House.
It was a dangerous and exciting time. Aden was a complex story to cover. The beat included Oman, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia, with frequent trips up-country and into neighbouring Yemen, reporting on the clashes between rebels and British forces and between the rebel groups themselves.
In summer 1967, Ken secured an interview with the leader of one of the rebel groups, the Front for the Liberation of South Yemen (FLOSY), on the roof of its HQ. Terrorist gunmen took Ken and a TV crew on a hair-raising, two-day ride over the mountains to Taiz, in Yemen, 75 miles away.
The violence escalated in 1967 with demonstrations, strikes and running street battles. A mutiny in June by the British-trained Aden police in the commercial district of Crater, nestled in the heart of an extinct volcano and at the centre of the insurgency, led to a massacre of British troops. Terrorists were targeting journalists and civilians. There were questions in the House of Commons about their safety.
Ken wrote to reassure his parents that a demonstration in Crater in mid-1967, seen in a photo showing him at the front, was ‘very peaceful’ but ‘now that they’ve started shooting at journalists however, I won’t go near any more demonstrations. No point in pushing one’s luck so near the end.’
The end was not long coming. That summer, women and children, including Judy, Mary and Patrick, were evacuated back to England. Ken’s tour of duty ended in September and his successor, Brian Barron, covered the departure of British troops in November 1967.
Back in London, Ken was soon sent to report on the Vietnam War for three months, followed by assignments in Beirut, Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan and Iran, and a six-month secondment at 91热爆 TV News.
But Bush House was Ken’s spiritual home and after 10 years of frontline reporting, now in his 40s, senior management roles beckoned. He rose to be Editor, World Service News, in November 1977, after several years as Deputy Editor. There he led Bush House’s news output during those Cold War years, broadcast round the clock, in English plus 38 other languages, reaching a global audience of over 70 million listeners.
Ken was respected and admired as a kind and thoughtful editor of the utmost professional integrity. He defended to the hilt the newsroom’s editorial independence and the values of freedom of information and accurate, factual, impartial news reporting. Former Managing Editor Jim Laurie paid tribute to ‘a great editor, a fine journalist and more importantly, a nice human being.’ Other colleagues recall ‘a particularly welcoming and encouraging senior figure…he made a distinctive contribution to why it was such a great place to work,’ and ‘he exemplified the very best of the 91热爆 of those days.’
With a million words a day pouring into the Bush House newsroom, the big internal issue was the advent of new technology. Ken introduced an electronic news distribution system and averted a strike by having a typist assigned to type out each journalist’s copy on the new computers.
After retiring from the 91热爆 in 1984, Ken worked as Publicity and Information Officer at the Oman Embassy in London and slowly wound down to full retirement. Now he could pursue his other great passion, travel. Following a three-month rail tour of India with Judy during a sabbatical from the 91热爆, they travelled all over the world, including visits to Judy’s sister in Australia, to Patrick and family in their various British Council postings in Africa and the Middle East, and to Mary who worked in Brussels for the EU. In his 70s, Ken made a solo trip to China where, true to his independent journalist’s instincts, he slipped away from the guide to explore by himself.
He also pursued his lifelong interests in photography and carpentry. A skilled craftsman, he made two dolls’ houses, one for Mary when she was little, as well as a fort for Patrick, and one for his three granddaughters, complete with running water and electricity. A devoted family man, he was a hands-on grandfather and he cared for Judy with the utmost devotion during her long illness right up until she died in 2018.
In his last years, Ken kept in touch with family, friends and neighbours during the Covid lockdowns by WhatsApp and Zoom. In 2021, he decided to move to a care home and there he retained a zest for life right up to the end. He passed away peacefully in his sleep on 2 August. Newsman to the last, he had been following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan online that very day.
Ken Cuthbert Brazier, born 4 December 1926; died 2 August 2022, was dearly loved and is greatly missed by his children Mary and Patrick, his granddaughters Jenny, Claire and Lizzie and all those who knew him.
Mary Brazier
George Ageros, a great friend and colleague, sadly passed away on 10 October 2022, aged 94.
George joined the 91热爆 in 1954, having served in the Royal Signals for eight years. He worked in Radio before joining the Sound Department of Television Technical Operations, working in all the famous studios of the time – Alexandra Palace, Lime Grove and Riverside Studios.
I first worked with George in Studio H, Lime Grove in 1958. He was operating a microphone boom on the remake of The Cabin in the Clearing starring Patrick Troughton and Ewan Solon. He was wearing a suit and tie, of course; he was always an immaculate dresser. He quickly progressed at the end of the 50s to become an ‘asked for’ and well-liked sound supervisor, specialising in music and drama productions.
George worked on many prestigious programmes with great directors such as Rudi Cartier, Naomi Capon, Margaret Dale et al.
In the early 60s George left the technical ranks and moved to personnel in Scenic Operations, where he remained until 1967 – when he took another career change. With his newly acquired management skills, he became Organiser Children’s Programmes, working with head of department Monica Sims. It was a very successful partnership.
His skill as a negotiator was second to none – he was forceful but polite and never gave up until he felt he’d achieved the best for the department. Forever a gentleman, George dealt with all aspects of departmental budget, facilities, staffing and scheduling with consummate ease. He remained very happily in Children’s Programmes for 20 years until his retirement in 1987.
In retirement we’d often compare our respective memories of the 91热爆 and its many wonderful characters, present and past, and compare our own families’ progress. Sadly, George’s beloved wife Gill predeceased him ten years ago. He leaves his much-loved daughter Jane, sons James and Justin, and grandchildren Marina and Johnnie.
He lived for music to the last so it was fitting that at his funeral there was a live performance of ‘Libera Me’ from Faure’s Requiem, George's favourite work.
One of the 91热爆’s finest ‘gentlemen’ employees to the end, much missed and never forgotten.
Clive Doig
Geoff Platts was born in June 1931, attended school in Huddersfield and then Manchester University, where he graduated with Honours in Physics.
He joined the 91热爆 as one of six on a newly created two-year Engineering Graduate Apprenticeship, following which he joined the Planning and Installation Department until retirement in 1989. He was a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
Geoff worked initially on the design, installation and commissioning of antennas at Medium Power FM Radio Stations and re-engineering Crystal Palace 405-line television antenna. Later in the 1960s, he was responsible for re-engineering the Band 1 405-line television antennas at Sutton Coldfield and Wenvoe, making way for the UHF 625-line antennas. Geoff regarded the re-engineering of these 405-line antennas as the zenith of his ‘hands-on engineering career’: they remained in service without fault until the 405-line service closed.
Geoff’s engineering skills came to the fore again with the considerable expansion of the transmitter network for the UHF 625-line service, particularly when frequent technical problems needed resolving.
As his career progressed, Geoff became increasingly involved in the managerial, financial and overall planning of future stations, becoming head of Aerial Unit, then head of Relays and Aerial Section. Throughout his career he strove to achieve the optimum balance between direction and delegation, regarding his staff and himself as a team.
Geoff was proud to have worked for the 91热爆, with its high technical standards, and was well regarded by his colleagues.
After retiring, Geoff remained active, ice-skating into his eighties and enjoying worldwide adventure holidays with his brother. Geoff was longstanding treasurer for a local Abbeyfield 91热爆 and also Amersham Residents’ Association. As a volunteer for the charity Workaid, he refurbished tools, typewriters and sewing machines for African countries. Geoff also helped with technology at two schools. Occasionally he would write to his MP and the press expressing his views on a wide range of topics.
Geoff died peacefully at home in October. A devoted family man, he is survived by his wife Doreen, two sons, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.
Jonathan Stedall worked for the 91热爆 for 27 years (1963-1990). During this time, he produced a host of documentaries with people including John Betjeman, Laurens van der Post, Sir Bernard Lovell, Ron Eyre, Fritz Schumacher, Cecil Collins, Theodore Roszak, Malcolm Muggeridge, Alan Bennett, Ben Okri and Mark Tully.
In 1968, he won the British Film Academy (now BAFTA) and Robert Flaherty Award for In Need of Special Care, a film about a Camphill school for children with additional needs. He was also nominated by BAFTA and The Broadcasting Press Guild for the 1985 series with Alan Whicker, Living with Uncle Sam. From 1990 onwards he worked as an independent documentary film-maker.
Born in Buckinghamshire in 1938, and educated at Harrow, he was expected to go into the family firm in the City. However, as soon as he could, he changed direction and, by way of preparation, studied at the London School of Film Technique.
Jonathan began his career as an ASM, then as stage manager in Repertory Theatre, and later worked in the cutting-rooms at Pinewood as an assistant film editor. For two years he was a floor manager in ITV before becoming a studio and film director at TWW in Cardiff, where he made his first films with the poet, John Betjeman.
Jonathan made over 150 documentaries whilst being at the 91热爆, beginning 1964-66 with the series Footprints. These dealt with such personages as Don Quixote, Byron and Shelley, Hans Christian Anderson, Lewis Carroll, Brunel and TE Lawrence, followed by three films for The World of a Child series.
His film In Need of Special Care was followed by a film about Carl Gustav Jung which was written and presented by Laurens van der Post in 1971; after this he directed a film about Tolstoy, From Rags to Riches, which was scripted by Theodore Roszak (1972).
In 1973 Jonathan worked with Camphill founder, Dr Thomas Weihs, and produced In Defence of the Stork, which examined the connections between embryology and the creation story in Genesis. In the same year he worked with John Betjeman on Thank God it’s Sunday about how Londoners spend their Sundays, which was repeated in 1995 on 91热爆’s Everyman and introduced by Alan Bennett.
The mythology of Africa’s Bushmen was explored in All Africa Within Us, written and presented by Laurens van der Post, while the limitations of science were reflected on by Sir Bernard Lovell in the film As a man is, so he sees. John Betjeman’s verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells, was then presented as a film. In 1976-8, 91热爆2 launched a series called The Long Search of which Jonathan was an associate producer; the theatre director Ron Eyre wrote and presented these films, three of which Jonathan directed. Many more films followed: including two with Mark Tully; an autobiographical series on Malcolm Muggeridge, while in A Week with Svetlana, Muggeridge interviewed Stalin’s daughter, and, in another film, Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
In 1981 Jonathan married Jackie (née Barton) and they had two children, Thomas and Ellie. Jackie became a mathematics historian, writing nine books and becoming a senior research fellow at Queen’s College, Oxford. Sadly, he lost her to cancer in 2014.
Time with Betjeman was an autobiographical series where Betjeman converses with Jonathan, family and well-known friends. This was the film where Jonathan asked Betjeman if he had any regrets, to which Betjeman gave the famous answer: ‘Not enough sex’! On Betjeman’s death, Jonathan made a film tribute to him.
Moving to 91热爆 Bristol in 1984, Jonathan first made the series, Living with Uncle Sam, which was followed by a film with Laurens van der Post for his 80th birthday. Working again with Ron Eyre, Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man speech led to films on the seven stages of life, four of which Jonathan directed. Dinner at Noon, a portrait of Harrogate Hotel, written and presented by Alan Bennett, followed, and in 1989, the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, he made Revolution!! – a comedic retelling of the story – with Patrick Barlow and Jim Broadbent of The National Theatre of Brent.
Jonathan became an independent producer/director of documentaries in 1993, producing 21 films over 12 years. These included films with Alan Bennett, Portrait or Bust, about Leeds City Art Gallery, and The Abbey, a day in the life of Westminster Abbey. Jonathan also devoted much of his time to supporting the work of the Camphill movement by making promotional videos, three of these being for St Christopher’s School, Bristol. His last film for the 91热爆 was about Elizabeth I in the series Great Britons, written and presented by Michael Portillo.
In 2009 Jonathan wrote an autobiography entitled Where on Earth is Heaven, in which he explored ‘challenging questions about living and dying, looking and seeing, heaven and earth, and our human potential.’ In 2017 he produced a volume of poetry No Shore too Far, which comprises meditations on death, bereavement and hope, and is dedicated to his late wife, Jackie. Finally, Jonathan indulged a love of AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories by writing An Enchanted Place, in which Pooh and all his friends are de-anthropomorphised, that is, ‘reincarnated’ as human beings and fighting against a housing development scheme in their beloved countryside.
Jonathan found new love in his life when he met Maureen (Rowcliffe), whom he married in 2021. She survives him, along with his son, Thomas, two grandchildren Rohan and Skye; his daughter, Ellie, his sister, Dede, and brother, David, and by a whole tribe of nieces, nephews, and their children. He will be missed immensely.
The Guardian has an obituary for Jonathan, available here:
David Bryer
After an 18-month battle with bowel cancer, Ken McHale passed away peacefully on 27 July 2022 with his wife Melanie by his side.
Born in March 1953, Ken grew up in Epsom, Surrey with his brothers Ian and Rob. A good all-rounder at school, he excelled at English and enjoyed playing sport, especially football. A keen Manchester United supporter, he never missed a match.
Ken joined the workforce as a Telex operator for the Post Office. It was a good job but the shift work interfered too much with his social life. So, after spotting a 91热爆 vacancy for the same role and encouragement from his Mum to apply, he joined in 1973, converting messages for the newsroom.
Over the next 33 years Ken had secondments in Local Radio Programme Services, Sport and Contracts-Glasgow, but the majority of his career was as a Talent Rights Executive in London, negotiating artists’ contracts and fees for radio and television. His last production was the series Egypt – Rediscovering a Lost World.
He took voluntary redundancy in 2006 and enjoyed his semi-retirement travelling and regularly playing golf and snooker whilst embarking on a second career as a film and television extra. Parts included ‘man on bike’ in Downton Abbey, ‘a 91热爆 journalist’ in The Crown, and others on Holby City, Call the Midwife, Great Expectations and Star Wars. He even shared the screen with Tommy Lee Jones in the film Captain America. He enjoyed making new friends as well as keeping in contact with his 91热爆 colleagues.
He never forgot his time with the Talent Rights Group and continued to meet up for reunion lunches and chat to friends about stories from those days. It was also where he met his wife Melanie in 1994.
Ken knew many people but chose to keep his illness private and only told a few. He was determined, positive and never gave up the fight but sadly it wasn’t to be.
A devoted husband, a gentleman, a loyal friend and as someone recently said ‘A good bloke with a great sense of humour’.
He will be missed by all.
Melanie (Rowlands) McHale
Everyone meeting Susie Davies for the first time could have spotted that she was creative. Her brightly coloured and stylish outfits revealed a singular personality, somehow always fashionable right to the end of her life in July, at the age of 84.
Her home was the same, rich in paintings and cultural artefacts. Her trademark fringe could make her seem severe, but she was kind and generous-spirited, especially with children. She was certainly the holder of strong views, tempered by her natural curiosity, always able to stand up for herself.
I never worked with her but got to know her in 91热爆 Continuing Education in the 1970s, and liked her enormously, admiring her commitment to feminism, expressed in departmental meetings and through the Union (now Bectu), and the campaigning group, Women in Film & Television.
Susie’s roots were in Norfolk, although her father was a much-travelled businessman. She was educated in a convent school in Yarmouth before winning a scholarship to Queenswood school in Hatfield where she excelled academically and athletically. She gained a degree in Bedford College and, after working as a supply teacher in the East End, got a job as a researcher in the 91热爆.
I know how grateful Susie was to the late Gordon Croton for what he taught her as a programme maker, at a time when it was tough for women to progress. They were a somewhat surprising combination; he being an ex-naval officer who liked to prop up the bar in the 91热爆 Club. Susie went on to become widely respected as a producer, her most important project being the landmark series A Woman’s Place, a feminist exploration of the position of women, which gave voice to those demanding fairness and equality, including by implication inside the 91热爆.
It was in this context I got to know Susie better in 1978 when we both joined the ‘Groundswell’ campaign for staff crèche facilities, which would have helped women in particular. Working through the union and with likeminded individuals such as Jenny Morgan and Margie Barbour, the movement gained wide support using well-researched articles in newsletters, plus humour, which appealed to Susie’s mischievous side. She sometimes contacted me as chair of the London Production Branch of the union for advice. When we’d finished, she would say, ‘Thanks, Uncle Giles’.
Giles Oakley
Paul Mitchell, who died on 22 September 2022, was a senior producer with Schools Television from the early 1960s to 1988. He was born on 28 December 1930 in London and went away to Haileybury School in 1943. When he was 18, he did National Service. He liked telling the story of the time he had ordered his men to turn left; the sergeant then whispered to him: ‘I think you’ll find it’s to the right, sir’, which he promptly ignored, repeating his command, ‘Turn left!’, leading his men into a bog.
Aged 20, Paul went up to Lincoln College in Oxford. When he graduated, he came to London and started work as an assistant studio manager at 91热爆 World Service, continuing his volunteer work at the Oxford Settlement boys’ club in the East End.
He had known John le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell, as they were both at Lincoln College. One day, Cornwell called Paul and asked if he’d like to meet up for lunch. Paul said he was happy to accept a free lunch as the 91热爆 paid people so badly, but regretted accepting as he felt so uncomfortable at Cornwell’s superior at the Foreign Office being there, too. Finally, it became clear that they were ‘tapping him on the shoulder’, when they asked him whether he ever heard any mention of communism in the boys’ club, as it was feared that this was being infiltrated from the docks during the Cold War. Paul’s answer was that the boys were far more interested in girls and football and that, if he should ever hear anything about politics, he would never betray any confidences.
After working on arts programmes at Kensington House, Paul joined 91热爆 Schools Television, specialising in careers programmes and making innovative and well-received series like Going to work and Working together. He always talked about the audiences for his programmes with understanding and sympathy for being teenagers.
Paul had a gift for friendship and had friends from each stage of his life. I was lucky to have been one of them.
Pat Farrington
“Quality” is a word that instantly springs to my mind when remembering Mike Bracey, who has died aged 72. Whether the topic was food, drink, public services, musical interpretations or (especially) the performance and use of broadcast sound equipment, Mike demanded the best. And during a lengthy career in Radio Operations in Cardiff, he led by personal example, giving much-lauded support to producers and fellow audio staff, meticulously identifying where things could be improved and often suggesting innovative solutions to unforeseen problems. His particular bêtes noires, especially in later years, were seeing technical matters being prescribed by the unqualified, and precision equipment entrusted to the poorly trained. Few examples of low standards escaped his forensic scrutiny, and many prompted acerbic comments – though these were not-infrequently delivered through a wicked grin. “The Scourge of Mediocrity” was how he was once described!
In retirement, Mike uprooted from his rural cottage in the Vale of Glamorgan – an Aladdin’s cave of classic audio hardware, ancient and modern – and moved to live with a close friend in mid Wales. Sadly, beset by indifferent health for many years, he spent his final months in nursing care, latterly suffering two strokes and passing away on September 15th. His final wish was that his remains be scattered on the fair hills of his native Wiltshire.
Mike Bracey was no Luddite, and he readily embraced new technology and the opportunities it afforded. His philosophies, though, were grounded in the finest traditions of “old-school” 91热爆, where technical standards were never to be compromised by lax attitudes or the pursuit of novelty or gimmick. Fashions would come and go, but Mike never lost sight of the simple first principles of engineering, acoustics and operational technique that once helped make the Corporation a byword for excellence. Perhaps we shall never see his like again - and that would be our corporate loss.
Geoff Atkins
Richard Wade, also known as Lawrence Wade, spent 23 years at the 91热爆, first as a TV producer (including four years as editor of Tomorrow’s World), rising to become deputy to the controller of 91热爆 Radio, Monica Sims.
Wade was born in Harrow on 5 July 1938 and evacuated as a small child to Wiltshire during the war, where he was taught to read by a local farmer’s wife. From the age of eight he attended Bedford School before going up to New College, Oxford to read Arabic and Persian. Here he played for the first XV rugby team and captained the OU gymnastics club, for which he was awarded a Half Blue even though he’d been rejected for National Service as an asthmatic!
While his peers did their National Service, Wade took a job in Jamaica, travelling out on a banana boat to tutor the son of the colonial secretary. He fell in love with the Caribbean and learned an essential life-skill – how to dance!
Never conventional, after Oxford, he advertised for a job. Rejecting one to work on a sheep farm in the Australian outback, he went to West Africa to help run the United Nations-led 1961 plebiscite on whether British Cameroon should join Nigeria or the French Cameroon. He went from village to village on horseback with a clerk, cook and Land Rover to draw up an electoral roll.
He returned to the UK to join Unilever as a management trainee selling Stork margarine to shops in the backstreets of Birmingham but really wanted something more out of life and was lucky enough to be accepted into the 91热爆’s graduate trainee programme.
After a short stint in the World Service he moved to Television, producing schools’ and children’s programmes under Monica Sims. She gave Richard his first big break, appointing him to produce Tom Tom, a weekly science series for children, bringing ‘new, unusual and fascinating stories and items of interest in a modern and changing world’.
This experience paved the way for Wade’s editorship of the 91热爆 Television’s flagship science and technology programme, Tomorrow’s World, with Raymond Baxter and James Burke presenting 135 live episodes over his four years as editor, showcasing the wonders of digital watches (which Wade himself never wore!), pocket calculators and teletext.
In 1973 Wade took the first foreign TV crew into Mao’s China for a special Tomorrow’s World documentary, and in 1976 he was the executive producer of the 91热爆’s major documentary The Inventing of America to celebrate the bicentenary of the United States, narrated by Raymond Burr.
It was at this point he rejoined Monica Sims to go into Radio. During his time there he gave Douglas Adams his big break by airing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which soon became cult listening. He gave many presenters their first breaks and worked closely with many household names like Roger Cook, and started The Food Programme with Derek Cooper.
Wade left the 91热爆 to work briefly for Sir Norman Foster before becoming a director of the Prince of Wales’s charity Business in the Community, spending three years running urban regeneration projects in the north of England. He later became Director General of the Advertising Association where he established the European Advertising Standards Alliance which today thrives in 27 countries as a pan-European network to promote advertising self-regulation; the Advertising Association .
He then moved back to his beloved Oxford to become a Fellow of St. Edmund Hall where he was director of development.
He retired to write a novel about cybercrime and global communications which, years later, Monica Sims tried to persuade him to dust off and publish, and to pursue his love of photography, travelling the world.
Never one to sit still, Wade founded Freespeling as he wanted to promote a freer way to spell ‘for the comfort of the reader’. His campaign got a lot of attention including from that stickler for correct use of language, John Humphrys. When interviewed on the Today programme they found they shared a lot in common, especially when it came to the spelling of yacht!
Richard Wade died on 12 July 2022 following complications from an earlier stroke and is survived by his wife Angela Mills Wade, his two daughters from his first marriage to Lee Mikhelson, Tanya Castell and Sophie Wade, and his two step-children, Hannah Khalil and William Wade Mills.
A full obituary was published in The Times on 24 September 2022 and is available online .
Angela Wade
David was born in Birmingham on 19 May 1938 and met Jean (his wife to be) shortly before joining the RAF for National Service, where he was involved in radar on Vulcan bombers.
David managed to return home most weekends to see Jean, and following completion of his National Service he joined the 91热爆 in 1959. Jean and David were married in 1960.
Following training in Wood Norton, David began working in Carpenter Road, Broad Street and Gosta Green in Birmingham, on both Outside Broadcasts and TV Studios, where he was a boom operator for TV dramas and gardening (in the days of Percy Thrower!)
Jean and David had two children, Andrew (1961) and Isobel (1967).
When Audio Unit was formed in 1970 at the newly opened Pebble Mill Studios, David was now working in Sound for both TV & Radio. He went on to become assistant to the audio manager, which involved among other duties, supervising the allocation of Audio staff to both TV and Radio programmes. He also co-ordinated the movement of Audio staff, vehicles and drivers for Radio Outside Broadcasts in the Midlands region. This work also involved delicate diplomacy with both Sound staff and producers.
David was always a sympathetic person to all his staff in the Audio Department. His workload increased with the forthcoming introduction of Total Costing for both Studios and Outside Broadcasting and its associated staff. A short while later David retired on health grounds.
David and Jean enjoyed their retirement, but in 2016 were devastated following the death of their son Andrew aged 55 from Leukaemia. (Andrew had also worked at Pebble Mill but as a cameraman.)
In the spring of 2022, David was diagnosed with cancer, and quietly passed away at home on 4 September, surrounded by his family. Our thoughts are with his wife Jean, daughter Isobel, daughter-in-law Kate and Jean and David’s five grandchildren.
John Pierce
With the death of Karl Lehmann on 2 September 2022 at the age of 101, the 91热爆 has lost one of its longest surviving pensioners and the 91热爆 Monitoring Service one of its original monitors.
Karl came to England in 1936 because conditions in Germany were no longer safe for him. Helped by his school in Reading, he adapted quickly to a new language and a new way of life. At the outbreak of war, Karl was classified as an enemy alien category C (refugee from Nazi persecution) and then interned for six months in 1940 before being allowed to finish his studies at Oxford. He began working as a German monitor in December 1942 and retired 39 years later as Monitoring’s Editor News and Publications.
One of the high points of Karl’s monitoring career came on 1 May 1945. He was on duty in the evening when German radio listeners were told to stand by for an important announcement. Preceded by solemn music, the announcement said that Hitler was dead. As Karl recalled: They said he had fallen fighting Bolshevism. I felt total relief because Hitler had ruined my life. We were the first people in Britain to hear the announcement and the whole building cheered.’
The war and the immediate post-war years were a significant period in Karl’s life and a few years ago he wrote down his memories of that time (see the Prospero article ‘Memories of 91热爆 Monitoring’).
Karl enjoyed a long and active retirement. He played tennis into his nineties and pursued his main passion – following the horses – to the very end. He always recommended horseracing as an ‘excellent retirement occupation because there is a problem in the morning and a solution in the afternoon.’
The day before he died he said ‘Cancel the Racing Post!’
Helga Lehmann-Knoche
Velma studied at Trinity Grammar School, Wood Green, and attended Saturday classes at Hornsey College of Art, followed by two years’ teacher training.
She was persuaded to join 91热爆 Costume Department as a holiday relief dresser, the milieu appealing to her so much she stayed, and was rapidly promoted to costume supervisor then to costume designer.
In 1964 Velma’s very first Arts & Features production was The Life of Debussy, starring Oliver Reed and directed by Ken Russell (‘a baptism of fire’). There followed a variety of popular productions including Z-Cars, Softly Softly, Terry and June, King of the River and Hugh and I. She received an in-house award for revitalising The Dick Emery Show, worked on several Play for Today and Wednesday Play productions including The Cellar and the Almond Tree (starring Celia Johnson), and received many gratifying reviews for outstanding costume detail.
Velma was one of the last designers to be awarded ‘grace leave’. With husband Robert in tow, she spent two months exploring the dazzling Golden Triangle in India. On her return she was promoted to senior designer, overseeing The Costume Design Unit which dealt with small budget productions. She worked with Jonathan Miller, Peter Ustinov and Esther Rantzen; oversaw Science, Maths and Children’s Productions (Playaway, Play School and Jackanory). She famously had a close collaboration with celebrated producer Biddy Baxter on the Blue Peter series, receiving a further two in-house awards for her outstanding design contributions.
Velma took retirement in 1992, dividing time between her home in UK and a romantic turret in the French Pyrenees. She indulged her love of colour, creating beautiful weaving projects and several glorious stained glass windows.
Despite losing her husband to dementia/Covid in 2021, undaunted, whilst herself suffering debilitating heart complications, she bought an ipad for research and in a wave of nostalgia even purchased a vintage MG sports car (housed in a friend’s garage) for occasional chauffeured jaunts in the countryside. She was a kind, cultured, generous, talented friend and will be sorely missed.
Maggie Partington Smith
Tony Harrison, producer and director Light Entertainment and Children’s Programmes, Manchester, between 1972 and 1992, died in June aged 82.
As a schoolboy he’d taken part in Children’s Hour programmes but his 91热爆 career began as a studio manager in BH, London in 1963. He left radio for television, joining Grampian Television in 1965. There he honed his skills in directing and producing live programmes and in working within tight budgets.
Returning to the 91热爆 in 1972, his work encompassed a wide variety of programmes. Children’s output included several popular series as well as Saturday morning live shows. In Light Entertainment he earned the respect of musicians and singers, including Roy Orbison, Buddy Greco and Gene Pitney, who all acknowledged his professionalism. From David Bowie in 1970 to pop groups in the 80s, many owed him their early television appearances.
In 1979 he participated in auditioning and directed the 91热爆’s first talent show Rising Stars. Directing It’s a Knockout presented its own set of challenges, which he met with his usual calm competence. Always innovative, he devised a computer programme which he used when Open Air was breaking new ground in daytime television.
Tony was never happier than when directing, either in the gallery or scanner, knowing that the finished programme, whatever the content, was of the highest possible standard. To achieve this, he fully appreciated the work of the whole team, not least his long-term PA Iris Davies, and was rewarded by their support, loyalty and friendship.
When managerial values transcended production values, he took too early retirement. Designing and fitting out a succession of narrow boats and extensively cruising the canals, as well as setting up complex model train layouts, walking his beloved dogs in the Warwickshire countryside and photography occupied his post-91热爆 years.
Mike Malone, OBSM for 33 years, says, ‘I spent many years working with Tony, both in studio shows and outside broadcast. He was a very professional director, always attentive to detail and able to get the best of the whole team – cams/sound/vision/floor staff. He was a good man.’
Ruth Harrison
After a short illness, former senior 91热爆 television engineer Richard Stibbons passed away peacefully in a Norfolk hospital on 6 April 2022, three days after his 78th birthday. Although he requested a direct cremation, a small number of mourners attended a brief send-off. A celebration of life is to be held later this year.
Born into a farming family in Norfolk, he attended Gresham’s School where he excelled. In 1962, he joined the 91热爆, starting in Transmitters, before moving to London Studios as an engineer. Many in television will remember him as Dick Stibbons. He became Senior Engineer in TC4, and at Lime Grove the Engineer-in-Charge of Shift 2 for Current Affairs programmes, especially Breakfast Time.
An innovator, he worked on split-screen technology. His colleague Andrew Prince adds: ‘We went on to devise “microfex”, a memory system for CSO (chromakey) desks. Engineers were a mixture of experienced staff and new recruits but Dick got the best out of us all with his positive and encouraging attitude. Affectionately known as “Stibbo”, he once received a bonus and in typical fashion spent it on subsidising a trip to Boulogne for the whole shift.’
He joined the team designing the News and Current Affairs building at White City. When the project was cancelled in 1992, Richard took early retirement. Freelance work followed, sometimes in Europe. He moved back to Norfolk, living in, among other places, West Beckam, Cromer and, lastly, Lowestoft.
A cultured man, his interests included reading and adventurous travel. His great passion was music, especially player-pianos, though he was a capable pianist. He acquired his first pianola aged 14; several more followed. By the late 1960s he was assistant curator to Frank Holland at the Brentford Piano Museum.
In the 1990s he developed custom scanners to digitise piano rolls into Midi format using computer software he wrote and freely shared. An important figure in the roll-scanning community, his pioneering methods of preservation benefitted many. I first met Richard in 1996, and on numerous visits listened to a steady stream of 91热爆 anecdotes; all interesting, some surprising, quite a few unrepeatable here. He will be much missed. My thanks to Andrew Prince for his valuable contribution.
John Watson
Ronald William Paul Allison CVO, who died on 26 July 2022, was a true gentleman – a loving and much loved man who enjoyed a happy life and a wonderful career.
Ron was born on 26 January 1932 to Percy and Dorothy Allison in Weymouth, where he learned to swim before he could walk. He attended Weymouth Grammar School and Taunton’s School, Southampton. National Service followed. After leaving the army in 1952, Ron became a trainee reporter at the Hampshire Chronicle, travelling to weddings and funerals on his vespa to collect names of attendees.
In 1957 he transferred to the 91热爆 West region based in Southampton where he worked initially in radio. His time included interviewing famous stars who crossed the Atlantic. Moving to London in 1961 as a reporter, he became a 91热爆 presenter of news and sports programmes (occasionally including Grandstand) before becoming Court Correspondent in 1969. This brought him into contact with the Royal family which led, in 1973, to his appointment as Press Secretary to The Queen, a post he held until 1978. Thereafter he moved to Thames Television, holding a number of roles culminating in Director of Corporate Affairs. Leaving Thames he became a freelance writer and broadcaster and joined BAFTA as Director of Corporate Affairs in 1993.
He authored books on The Queen (1973, 2001) and Prince Charles (1978), and The Royal Encyclopedia (with Sarah Riddell) in 1993.
His life was grounded in a strong Christian faith, which remained a fundamental part of all he did and was. This was demonstrated through small, deeply kind interactions with others as well as more public activities. He led local Christian youth groups and co-founded the Arts Centre Group in 1964. His first book was a reflection on the gospel.
His retirement saw him return to the Hampshire Chronicle writing a monthly column until October 2021. He was delighted to do this for many years as he greatly valued local news and newspapers in particular. Sport was a lifelong interest and he remained a passionate Southampton football supporter.
He was married twice, first to Maureen Macdonald, who predeceased him in 1992, and then to Jennifer Weider, who survives him. He adored their son, David, and his daughters from his first marriage, Sheila and Rose, his three grandchildren Ross, Tom and Amadea, and three great-grandchildren Isla, Milly and Henry.
His final days were filled with many family visits which brought much joy, and he died peacefully with his wife Jennifer by his side. He was deeply loved and will be greatly missed.
Sheila Yarrow
George Newbery was born in Altrincham on 13 January 1938 with the aurora borealis visible in the sky.
After leaving Malvern College he did A levels in Manchester and then National Service in the Royal Signals as a radio technician, based in Edinburgh and billeted in the Castle.
He joined the 91热爆 in 1959, recruited into television in Manchester as technical assistant, and for a short time in Television News at Alexandra Palace. In Manchester he moved to the Radio Links Section, servicing the needs of Outside Broadcasts. He was a member of a small team responsible for the final planning and acceptance of the communication facilities for New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road. During this time, he did a BA degree through the Open University, and was a graduate of The Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers.
In 1976, he was appointed senior engineer in the Radio Links Section and later project engineer, based in Cavendish Square, London. He was responsible for the budget and acquisition of Outside Broadcast equipment and facilities for the Regions, as well as being the 91热爆’s representative on CCIR and ETSI committees.
George was then seconded to work on the broadcasters’ response into an investigation by the 91热爆 Office/Radio Communications Agency into the perceived profligate use of radio frequency spectrum by Broadcasters for Outside Broadcasts. The result was that the broadcasters (the 91热爆, IBA, ITCA and ILR) formed JFMG Limited to issue licences on behalf of the Secretary of State.
George held the new post of senior engineer ancillary frequencies and later senior engineer special duties. This involved liaison with various Government departments, the military and security services over the budget for acquisition, provision and operation of facilities required by the Government in extreme emergency situations.
He enjoyed his varied and challenging career with the 91热爆.
Throughout his life and well into retirement, he enjoyed travelling worldwide and visited 50 countries. On retirement he played bridge three times a week, latterly online. He was devoted to his family and leaves Anne, their two daughters, son in law and granddaughter.
Anne Newbery
My father, Alan Knowles, who has died aged 94, was a journalist with the Bolton Evening News for a decade after leaving school, and with the 91热爆 from the early days of television news in the 1950s until his retirement. His passion was for trade unionism, and he held local, regional and national office with the NUJ.
He was born in Bolton, some time in the summer of 1927, the youngest of three children of Frank Knowles, a linotype operator at the Bolton Evening News, and Ada Melling, a cotton mill worker. Alan’s birth certificate recorded 20 August but no one ever really knew, as the pressures of his mother’s illness took precedence over his father’s trip to the town hall to record the date, which was by then forgotten. His mother, Ada, died when he was three, from heart disease caused by rheumatic fever.
Alan lodged with neighbours and relatives from a very early age and remembered his first day at school, aged four, riding a tram on his own, having been told to get off where all the other children got off. After his father remarried, he gained two more siblings.
A scholarship boy to Bolton School, Alan left at 16 to earn his keep. He started as a cub reporter with the Bolton Evening News and was called up to the army just as the second world war was ending to spend two years in Germany, mostly in Berlin.
After the army he returned to the newspaper in Bolton and won an English Speaking Union scholarship to the US. He interviewed James Cagney in Hollywood and, offered the choice between two presidential hopefuls, John F Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, chose to meet the latter.
In 1959 he joined the 91热爆 in London as a sub-editor at Alexandra Palace. He soon returned to Bolton as a journalist in the Manchester newsroom, and stayed with the 91热爆 until his retirement in 1987. He served his union as father of chapel, branch secretary, member of the NEC, and chair of the radio and television journalists’ council, and was made an NUJ member of honour. He was intensely proud of my career in journalism as a manager, but would always try to persuade me to go on strike. He went on his last picket line in Manchester, aged 80, in the rain.
He had a near photographic memory and an unmatched speed as a touch typist, but never learned to change the ribbon!
My mother, Mary (nee Ashworth), whom he married in 1953, recalls their disastrous first date (to see a movie – she hated the cinema) and the near-fatal second date when their rowing boat on Windermere was swamped in a storm. They celebrated their diamond wedding in 2013, having moved to Islay in 2009, to live near my sister, Jean, the GP in Port Ellen.
Looking out to sea from their cottage near the Laphroaig distillery, my father, a lifelong Guardian reader, did not see a ferry boat coming in on its morning run – to him; it was a seaborne Guardian delivery vehicle.
My father was kind, gentle and modest. His greatest happiness lay in being a husband, father and grandfather.
He is survived by Mary, Jean and me, two grandchildren, David and Andrew, and his siblings Frank and Margaret.
Peter Knowles
Pat Walker – a name used by his family to distinguish him from his lawyer father, David – had personal contact with the 91热爆 in Glasgow from childhood as his mother was the singer and actress, Madeleine Christie. Pat himself once had a single line in a play broadcast in 1944.
An independent-minded individual, he shocked his parents when on leaving school he chose to volunteer for service with the navy. He later described this experience as extremely useful in learning how to deal with people from all backgrounds.
Back on shore, marriage to Lily followed in December 1949, as did a broadcasting career at the 91热爆, first as a contract junior programme engineer then staff studio manager. Further promotions took him to radio producer, then OB studio manager in the new television service, where he subsequently rose further to become a director.
In 1960 Pat moved to Northern Ireland as a television producer and then Assistant Head of Programmes. He revelled in the creative opportunities of mixed programming in Belfast, while his family life was enriched by the adoption of daughter, Jane.
He returned to Scotland in 1970 to take up the post of Assistant Head of Programmes. On a visit to WGBH in Boston he noticed the way the station had used a section of its car park for a gardening programme. Back in Scotland, this resulted in Aberdeen’s Beechgrove Garden, one of Scotland’s all-time favourites.
In his executive role he faced many managerial crises, but drew on his vast experience to ensure the future of the service, notably Radio Scotland. In this he believed he was greatly helped by the strong links he maintained with the then Broadcasting Council for Scotland.
Pat Walker retired in 1983, turning down one offer to become editor of the Radio Times. But he was delighted when the former 91热爆 Scotland Controller and then 91热爆 Director-General, Alasdair Milne, retained his services to pursue a project on the history of the 91热爆 in Scotland. This was eventually turned into a book on its first 50 years, a legacy of which he was deservedly proud.
Mike Shaw
I was introduced to Lucy on April Fool’s Day in 1974, a ‘the lady in charge of the money’ when I was taking over a position in House Services at the 91热爆’s Research Department at Kingswood Warren near Tadworth in Surrey.
One of my many jobs was to escort her to the local bank once a week, where she did a whole lot of financial transactions for some 275 staff. She had a small ‘general’ office with a 36mm-bulletproof glass window to protect her against any sudden armed burglars. Almost everyone on site needed to see her for some sort of financial transactions throughout her busy working day.
Lucy was most helpful to most of my staff especially when it came to their problematic tax returns. She would patiently go through the necessary paperwork and help everyone. In her little office she always had a small vase with different types of daffodils in them. She would drive into work in an open-top sport’s car and she always looked great in whatever she wore. Lucy enjoyed weekends as she and her husband Brian were both experts in china and glass antiques and they travelled in their motorhome to many shows and markets to do business.
One time she asked me to help Brian, who had made a film about the building of the M25 motorway. He wanted a commentary added to it. I arranged for this to be done in one of our 91热爆 studios and it is still a classic piece of composing, with endless hours of work involved. They won awards from abroad for their excellent amateur film work, which meant they had to travel twice to Malta to receive (as winners) two lots of Golden Knights trophies.
Another thing they both did brilliantly was ballroom dancing, and they were regular attendees to those that I ran in our village of Tatsfield. They always came smartly dressed and loved strict tempo band music, especially the foxtrot where they excelled themselves. Lucy was always kind and extremely knowledgeable.
Further investigation on Lucy reveals that she had a rich contralto voice and that in her younger days ‘up North’ she was in the Huddersfield Choral Society in the early 1960s. She and her sister Mary moved down to Tunbridge Wells looking for new challenges. It was there that Lucy became involved with Brian when he was making one of his films. They found mutual interests and were married in Reigate in 1963 and they stayed that way until she passed away after 59 years.
She worked at the 91热爆’s Research Department for 27 years, where her efforts were highly valued and much appreciated by all. Their holidays were not as sun seekers but always to places of interest. One of the places in particular they both liked was Bulgaria, long before it became modernised. Sadly Lucy’s final days were blighted by Alzheimer’s disease, which eventually meant she spent a number of years in a home being cared for. But for us – we will remember a hard-working, smartly dressed lady who would always find the time to help anyone with any problem. So wherever Lucy is now, she is bound to make sure that all of the accountancy is correct in every detail.
Dave Bishop
James Harold Clive Ferguson, one of the Spur’s finest reporters who became one of newsgathering’s most respected managers, has died after a short but sudden illness, aged 70.
Starting his broadcasting career on Radio Ulster’s current affairs programmes, he became a reporter on the nightly TV news programme, Scene Around Six which he also presented.
In 1981, Clive moved to the Spur Newsroom as a reporter. He covered the wedding of Charles and Diana, David Hempleman-Adams’ trek to the North Pole, and the Bhopal chemical disaster. His work covering the Falklands War from the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, won a mention in a hero gram from the DG.
There was also a stint in the Washington Bureau, where the future Mrs Sheila Ferguson was working as the office manager. They married in 1985 and had two children, Jessica and Andrew.
As Scotland correspondent between 1986 and 1988, Clive reported on prison sieges, the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster, helicopter crashes in the North Sea, and the then 86-year-old Queen Mother being taken to hospital in Aberdeen after swallowing a fishbone.
The sinking of the Thames pleasure cruiser, the Marchioness, in 1989 was Clive’s last big story as a reporter. He became a news organiser and a year later Deputy 91热爆 Editor.
Quickly establishing himself as ‘a good man in a crisis’, Gulf War 1 saw Clive as the field producer at the US-led coalition forces’ main base in Saudi Arabia. In 1997, he led the team in Paris following the death of Princess Diana and after the 9/11 attacks, he was in New York, co-ordinating the coverage.
Many have spoken about how good Clive was to work with, recalling his sense of humour, his seemingly unfailing cheerfulness and how after a hard day there would be a convivial debrief over a drink.
For those he worked with, he was not only a good colleague, but also a good friend.
Peter Mayne
Don Smith, the first, and only, Radio Times staff photographer, died in May aged 89. Brought up in Barnet, Don came to the magazine in 1955 on contract from The Daily Mirror and later transferred to the 91热爆. In his 37 years at Radio Times, he photographed just about everybody who appeared in a 91热爆 programme.
His working days involved dashing between different 91热爆 buildings as well as visiting personalities to photograph them in their home or on location. On one occasion he finished working at the Trade Union Conference in Brighton at 11pm, drove home to north London and then, after just a few hours’ sleep, travelled to Belvoir Castle for a 9am appointment to photograph the Duke of Rutland. This was followed by a job at the local radio station after which he headed back to TV Centre to photograph an episode of Porridge.
On another occasion, he spent three days waiting to photograph ABBA; his patience paid off. Don modestly regarded himself as not very creative but good at seizing the moment. As such, his pictures, some of which were taken on his own initiative when he bumped into stars in the corridors, accounted for more than 250 covers. The portraits he shot with his twin-lens Rolleiflex are now regarded as classics. These include Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies, The Beatles, Doctor Who and Tony Hancock. One of the latter, with Sid James, was even reprised as a cover in 1985.
Don officially retired in 1992 but remained a familiar figure at Radio Times, undertaking freelance work and helping to identify personalities in pictures he had taken decades before. In his spare time, Don played bass with Mike Daniels and his Delta Jazzmen and even featured himself with his fellow musicians in silhouette when Radio Times required a generic jazz cover. He was also a competitive cyclist, riding up to 20 miles every day when retirement gave him the time to do so. Don will be best remembered for the plethora of anecdotes that he loved to share.
Ralph Montagu
John Price Williams, who has died aged 84, was an outstanding news writer, editor and producer in the Broadcasting House newsroom between 1966 and 1992.
He was a dedicated ‘engineer’ of news production, who acquired his skills and tenacity on the old-fashioned pilgrimage through local newspapers in his native Wales and in Devon, and the subs’ tables of Fleet Street, at the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Herald and the Observer, then joining the newsroom at BH, where he rose to become Managing Editor, Radio News, under Jenny Abramsky in the late 1980s.
I say ‘engineer’ because in my view (as a former 91热爆 foreign correspondent and 60 years a close friend of John’s) he could easily, with his mellifluous voice and awesome command of English, written and spoken, and news sense, been a first-class broadcaster. Modest as ever, he chose to stay below decks.
John was born on 13 April 1938 to John Price Williams, a Minister of the Presbyterian Church, and Mair Anne Davies, in Swansea. They were a Welsh-speaking family who in 1943 moved to Oswestry, John attending Oswestry Boys’ High School (where he learned his first English) and later Aberystwyth University. True to his eventual calling, John spent more time editing the college newspaper than on his degree and, when the University decided to ‘dispense with his services’, he threw himself into the role of a newspaper journalist, first at the Merthyr Express, followed by the Rhondda Leader and then, via the weekly Western Times, in Exeter, to The Western Mail and South Wales Echo in Cardiff.
Six years of early Sixties Fleet Street under his belt (the Vassal and Profumo affairs, Harold Macmillan’s resignation, the first Labour Government for 13 years), John, at Broadcasting House, quickly ascended to the rank of senior and later assistant duty editor, responsible for the main R4 news programmes but also for the growing number of bulletins fed to all channels and outlets 91热爆 radio served (in these days TV and radio news were separate entities).
He also produced many editions of the half-hour weekly R4 foreign affairs programme International Assignment, one of them with me as reporter, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of the West Bank in 1978. It will surprise no-one who worked with him that he arrived in Jerusalem knowing far more about Palestine than I (then Middle East Correspondent); and honed our mass of material into shape with characteristic unflappability and erudition.
In the late 1980s, during the upheavals of the Birt Reformation, John, alongside his old friend and newsroom colleague Roy Walters (obituary, by John, in the July Prospero), became radio news managing editor, at Jenny Abramsky’s side, a testing time for everyone as new concepts of newsgathering and news production were administered. Leading up to this, John and Roy were the team that brought the Basys Computer system to BH news. They studied its operation in the United States and applied it, and the slightly later revolutionary move to a paperless, digitized system, in the often technophobic reaches of a newsroom already battered by the Birtist makeover.
After leaving the 91热爆, in 1992, John worked on ceaselessly, at the Royal Geographical Society, where he became a Fellow of the RGS, in communications consultancies for different government departments, studying for a History of Art A level, and finally finishing his decades-in-the-gestation biography, The Fatal Cup, of the 19th Century writer, swindler and possibly multiple murderer, Thomas Griffiths Wainwright. He also, as engineer in the mechanical sense, stripped down and rebuilt a number of old Alvis models, and wrote books about the process. (After John and I met, on the South Wales Echo, in 1962, he spent much of his time with his nose in the rear-drive engines of my Fiats 500 and 600D, a friend indeed.)
In February 1964, John married Kathy Rees, who died in 2009. He is survived by his daughter, the broadcaster Sian, his sons, Peter and David, and his partner Louise Wood.
Tim Llewellyn
Peter Ward died in January aged 78 after making a remarkable contribution to School Radio as a Senior Producer of Science, Mathematics and the development of Online Learning.
He stepped into the 91热爆 as the young Head of Biology in a London comprehensive school.
Only last year he recalled: ‘In 1954, as a nine-year-old sitting in a classroom,
I listened along with 53 others as we shared between two the illustrated Nature pamphlet. How could I possibly predict that 20 years later I’d be the producer of the series of my childhood, by now 28 programmes a year including three tape-slide Radiovisions, to over 6,500 schools?’
Peter seized the children’s interest with documentaries recorded on location and studio dramas drawing on 91热爆 Bristol’s real sounds and the ingenuity of Studio Managers creating, for instance, ants in flight intercepted by birds. Broadcasters such as the naturalist Bernard Venables ‘took children’s imaginations to the depths of the ocean, across the African savannah and deep into the British countryside, even to problems of the pollution of land and water.’
When a teacher asked, ‘Why don’t you do Maths?’ Peter was incredulous: ‘Of course we don’t! Do Maths on Radio?’ But later the idea came like a thunderbolt – Maths with a Story, a story set in a zoo containing, for instance, a giraffe called Geraldine who wanted a multi-striped football scarf for her very long neck, so it was knitted for her in a programme called Fractions and Remainders.
Series for secondary schools included programmes on Parents and Teenagers, Police and Teenagers, Biology Field Studies, an important Biotechnology series, and then Help Yourself: GCSE self-learning resources. And so into the group of producers developing software and on to the 91热爆 Acorn computer.
After leaving, he was active in campaigning for a plaque to honour 91热爆 School Radio’s years in 1 Portland Place; for the preservation of neglected programmes, including many Radiovision, into the British Library Sound Archives; and for encouraging the recording of memories of producers making the broadcasts.
Peter is remembered by his family and his many friends.
Michael Howarth and Joan Griffiths
Cristina arrived in London in 1973. Born in Argentina, she used to sing in a choir in Buenos Aires with her only sister Ana Maria and also studied English for many years parallel to her studies at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. On graduation she went to the USA where she did her Masters degree in English Literature at Bryn Mawr College.
She then travelled to London where, in 1974, she was offered a part-time position at the then Latin American Spanish Section of the World Service as a programme assistant/producer, to become full time in 1981.
But it was not only work that she found at the 91热爆. In 1984 she married Peter Noy, who was on attachment as a Studio Manager in the LA Section. They had a daughter, Mariana and together with stepchildren Matthew and Timothy they became a very loving family unit.
During her long career in the department, she produced a variety of programmes. Her enduring love of literature and music was poured into programmes like The World of Books and Features and Arts, among others. The long running Folk Music of the British Isles was also a labour of love for her. She also had successful attachments to Talks and Features in World Service English and to Topical Tapes.
One of her former colleagues remembers the challenging times she had during the Falkland/Malvinas war 40 years ago, working for the 91热爆 World Service as an Argentinian, and her emotion when she received a bunch of flowers from the colleagues in the newsroom with a note saying, ‘We are thinking of you’.
Cristina took early retirement in 2002. Her life was a happy one, surrounded by her family, enjoying the company of her daughter Mariana, now married to Alec Paschalis and their two children Lucia and Sebastian plus her step-grandson Kai. They and her many friends will miss Cristina’s smile, kindness, intelligence and warmth. And she will remain in our hearts for ever.
Maria Eliana Cordaro and Sue Comb
Daphne Gee started at the 91热爆 in 1974 at a salary of £1,419 p.a. and retired in 1991 on her 60th birthday.
She loved working as a telephonist at 91热爆 TVC in Shepherds Bush and if it hadn’t been the rule of the day to retire at 60, she might have stayed longer. She worked at some point in the office next to Cliff Morgan and enjoyed many conversations with him. She also particularly liked chatting to anyone with Welsh connections and mentioned chats with Geraint Evans as one of the many celebrities of the day that she had met.
But thereafter she began to relish all the spare time she found she had and delighted in visiting the abundance of cultural opportunities that London has to offer. She was from Wales originally and typically loved music. She married Maurice Gee who was a trombonist in the Mantovani Orchestra. Opera was always a favourite and she would go to the open-air performances at Holland Park in the summer. She had a good recall of geographical locations and she would easily remember something interesting about the different towns she travelled to during various day trips.
Eventually Daphne moved to Saltwood in Kent to live near to her family, cousin Roma and Roma’s husband Keith. When she moved into Balgowan Nursing 91热爆, she continued to make friends and charmed the staff with her wit and humour; there was always a story on the tip of her tongue about her happy days in Wales and at the 91热爆.
Her family and friends will miss and never forget Daphne, who passed aged 91 on Thursday, 12 May.
Rita Barnett
Roy Walters, who has died at the age of 91, was a stalwart of the Radio Newsroom at BH, began as a sub-editor (now producer) and rose to become Deputy Editor of News and Current Affairs Radio.
After National Service in post-war Germany as a sergeant tank commander in the 3rd Hussars, he began his career in weekly newspapers. On an Ilford paper he met Dulcie, who was to be his wife for a remarkable 66 years; the Queen congratulated them last year.
After breaking into Fleet Street, Roy joined the 91热爆 in 1964 from the Press Association. PA’s demand for quick, accurate work was valuable training for turning out hourly radio news summaries which he did expertly.
He also played a major role in introducing the Basys digital text editing system to the 91热爆. It began in the radio newsroom with 30 terminals and ended with 3,000 throughout the 91热爆.
Having risen through the newsroom ranks, when the John Birt era arrived, which brought together two sides of a sometimes-strained relationship between news and current affairs, he became deputy to the new editor, Jenny Abramsky. Apparently he growled: ‘Deputy again!’ to which Birt, then deputy DG, replied: ‘What do you think I am?’
Roy was characterised by a generosity of spirit, though those who fell short of his standards were met with some asperity. But he always remembered that he had considerably more experience of both life and journalism than younger staff, and his innate kindness and patience were appreciated by those he tutored in his last posting, in Journalist Training. They also benefitted from his skill as a considerable raconteur in telling what awaited them.
Outside the 91热爆 he loved cricket and spent many happy hours with former colleagues at Test and county matches.
Roy was a very good friend for nearly 60 years; when we last spoke, a few days before his death, he was as sharp and enquiring as ever. Our condolences to Dulcie, who cared for him devotedly until the end, and to son Michael and family.
John Williams
Willy Cave, who died on 13 March aged 95, had a 26-year career in television, beginning with the 1948 Olympics and including Tonight with Cliff Michelmore, Tomorrow’s World, Horizon and many outside broadcasts.
Born in Westminster on 29 January 1927, Willy grew up in Hampshire and Buckinghamshire. After wartime evacuation to Canada, he attended Radley College and then read Engineering Science at Trinity College, Oxford. He first appeared at Alexandra Palace in January 1948 as a guest on Picture Page, talking to Leslie Mitchell about British entries in the Winter Olympics. This led to two months’ work experience, including operating an Emitron camera for the Summer Olympics at Wembley.
After National Service as an RAF pilot, Willy joined the 91热爆 in 1950 as a boom-swinger on Crew 2 at Alexandra Palace (where eating up Philip Harben’s cooking was a weekly treat). Gaining experience in Manchester as OB Stage Manager and Producer, and covering the Coronation, he spent five years on Tonight, directing studios, OB inserts and films with Alan Whicker. He spent three years as a Presentation Editor until the opening of 91热爆2 when he joined Aubrey Singer in OB Science and Features to start up Tomorrow’s World and Horizon. After a spell as Acting Head of Science Programmes, he moved to OB Events, where his programmes included Crufts, the Lord Mayor’s Show, two Concorde maiden flights and four years of the London International Fireworks Competition.
After leaving the 91热爆, Willy spent ten years as the first broadcasting adviser to the Metropolitan Police and then became Director of Studies at the National Broadcasting School.
Willy competed in over 60 Monte Carlo, Alpine and RAC rallies, navigating and co-driving for Paddy Hopkirk and John Sprinzel among others. His last Monte Carlo rally was in 2018 when he was 91.
Willy was married first to 91热爆 Producer Julia Cave and second to Yvette Palmer, with whom he had two daughters. Both marriages ended in divorce.
Former colleagues enjoyed meeting Willy at the annual ‘Telobians’ reunions and we send our condolences to daughters Rosy and Vici and grandchildren George and Scarlett.
Sylvia Rutter
Keith Perrin, who died on 29 March, joined the 91热爆 as a trainee Technical Operative in 1966. He became a Studio Manager, was assigned to Bush House, and remained an SM until his retirement in April 2001, after 35 years’ excellent service.
But these bare bones of his career hardly do justice to the man. When I wrote about his sad death on Facebook, the response was overwhelming. Fellow SMs wrote of his expertise and professionalism: ‘So many junior SMs (including me) learned their craft in drama and features from him,’ wrote Jeremy Lowe. Hilary Malicka talked about how he magically created the sound of a train blowing up on the Bridge over the River Kwai from a dodgy recording she had made of wood and stones being thrown into a river by her daughters. ‘He was, quite simply, a creative genius!’ she added.
‘He taught me so much and was such a beautiful human being,’ said Dirk Maggs. ‘Keith was from the best tradition of great SMs who knew how to do their job to the highest standards and yet keep everyone around them grounded and in good humour,’ wrote Nicky Barranger. ‘He was one of the kindest, loveliest, most genuine men I know,’ said Jo Hill.
And that’s exactly what he was – one of the most genuine men any of us knew; brilliant at his job, but also brilliant as a human being, and as generous sharing his knowledge as he was at sharing his Mum’s flapjacks. He was a superb Studio Manager, particularly when working on Dramas and Features, and helped World Service win many awards.
I loved working with him; I spent some of the happiest days of my life in studios and editing channels with Keith. He made my bad productions bearable and burnished the good ones with gold. But – much more importantly – he was a wonderful man; funny, generous, naughty, a fund of gossip, and a life-affirming friend. He and Ty were a terrific team – and they adored each other.
He will be so much missed.
Gordon House
Robert joined the 91热爆 in June 1956 as a PTA in the Control Room at 200 Oxford Street. This was after his Royal Signals National Service when he learned, and taught, electronics.
He took the engineering courses at Evesham, transferred to Bush House and later became a Studio Manager. He worked at BH, Bristol and in Light Entertainment specialising in orchestral music balance – he did the first stereo ‘Semprini Serenade’. He then joined Programme Operations, training SMs. He signed on in the Emergency Reserve and subsequently became Captain Adjutant of 81 Signals Regiment at Blandford.
Robert then took a two-year secondment to the Solomon Islands in the West Pacific to run the Broadcasting Service, returning in time – after a spell with the Commonwealth Broadcasting Secretariat – for the 1967 start of Local Radio.
He joined Radio Nottingham as Programme Organiser, where apart from writing the schedules had his own request programme and looked after the religious output. He returned to the Langham in London in 1970 to set up the Training Unit for the development of local stations. This was a time of intense activity to get another 20 stations on the air in the face of commercial opposition.
His final job was for six years as Head of Corporate Management Training, with a team first at the Langham, then at Elstree.
He took early retirement in 1989 to set up his own international training consultancy, working with major broadcasters, taking him across the United States, Australia, Russia, Sri Lanka, and many European and African countries. He wrote six editions of his iconic Radio Production, translated into Spanish, Polish, Greek and French for West Africa.
In retirement he took up watercolour and acrylic painting, produced the historical map of his adopted town of Wareham, was ten years a volunteer with the National Trust at Kingston Lacy, was on the council of his local church, and served as a Trustee on the Board of several mission organisations. He was married to Judy and leaves three children and eight grandchildren.
Nick McLeish
Alan Perry was a peace-loving man whose formative years were shaped by war. Though you would never have guessed it, he’d been at the sharp end.
Born in 1927 into a lower middle-class family, his education suffered in 1939 when he flatly refused to be evacuated from London with the rest of his school. So as a teenager he remained in London, surviving the Blitz and the V-weapon attacks – just as his older brother in the Merchant Navy had survived being torpedoed.
But Alan’s father wanted him to become a journalist and, given his lack of academic qualifications, enrolled him into Pitman’s College. And it was his certified 170wpm shorthand (!) that guaranteed his future employment and success. Shorthand enabled him to become a 17-year-old clerk in The Times Intelligence Unit, and then to follow his brother into the Merchant Navy as a P&O ship’s writer.
In January 1945 he crossed the Atlantic to New York in the Queen Mary before joining the troopship Corfu in Mobile, Alabama. His first trip carried US Army reinforcements to Normandy; next came voyages to India, Ceylon and (memorably) to Rangoon to bring the first of the surviving PoWs home. Alan got the Burma Star for that trip.
In 1947 he returned to The Times, spending three years as a copytaker. But he yearned to be a reporter, so he quit Fleet Street to learn his trade on provincial papers. First the Tiverton Gazette, then the Salisbury Journal.
He returned to The Times as a Parliamentary then General Reporter, finally becoming Night News Editor, a job he held for two years before joining ITN.
Five years later he moved to the 91热爆, and there are others much better qualified than me to tell you about his career at Alexandra Palace, TVC and BH. How he moved from planning to 91热爆 News Editor to Programme Editor to Head of Journalist Training. Suffice it to say, in all those jobs he was outstandingly successful. He retired in 1986.
Alan had been a deeply committed Christian since his early days in the Boys’ Brigade. But gradually he moved from the Baptist Church to CofE. When he and Pam settled in Salisbury in 2005, they bought a flat in The Close looking out at the West Front of the cathedral.
Tragically, Alan’s beloved daughter Jane suffered from a brain tumour and died in her home in Denver three years ago.
I saw him many times at the Sunday eucharist – a service he loved – and afterwards we would often chat about the Beeb. But over the past year his health had visibly deteriorated and when I last saw him he was looking very frail.
He spent five weeks in Salisbury District Hospital but was brought home for what turned out to be his last 15 hours. His bed had been moved into the bay window of the flat, and so he could gaze at the spire of his beloved Cathedral.
Besides Pam, Alan is survived by his son, Martin, step-children Lalage, Tim and Toby, four grandchildren, nine step-grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
He wrote a book for them about his life called My Side of the Story. It deserves to be published.
Christopher Wain
Colin Adams, who has died from a brain tumour at the age of 78, was a modest man with much to be immodest about.
Having failed the 11 plus, he started his journalistic career, aged 17, cleaning the grate of the Editor of the Cheshire Observer. He ended his time at the 91热爆 as Controller of TV Drama, having been Head of Network TV in Birmingham and Head of Broadcasting North.
In between he had been Deputy Editor of both Radio 1’s Newsbeat, and the Today programme, and, also, Editor of File on 4.
He took early retirement at the end of 1999 and then went to the University of East Anglia, where he obtained a first-class degree and an MA.
Not that you would have known all this if you had met Colin in later life. He never boasted, always looked forward, was endlessly curious, and was always interested in what others thought.
Unsurprisingly, many of his bosses, Mike Chaney at Today, Michael Green at Radio Sheffield and Manchester, and David Waine at Birmingham, all became fans of Colin and lifelong friends.
He was the best sort of fixer, sorting out problems others would prefer to ignore, and rarely taking the credit. Perhaps his most difficult assignment was running TV Drama, which had become an unwieldy and almost unmanageable empire. There he was surrounded by some egos of Himalayan proportions, who were initially condescending to this northern journalist who had no experience of fiction. Not for long.
I first met him in 1983 when I became his boss in Manchester, and never had a more loyal, creative and enthusiastic colleague. In retirement it was a delight to accompany him and Margaret to exhibitions, particularly those of Aboriginal art, which they loved, and along the wild Norfolk shores.
Theirs was a marriage of true minds, and with their three daughters, they formed as close a family unit as I have known. Colin was greatly admired, greatly loved, and will be greatly missed.
Roger Bolton
Ronald David Mason was born in 1924. Ron (Ronnie to his friends and colleagues) sadly died on 4 March 2022 at the great age of 97 years and 4 months. He will be sorely missed.
Ron joined the 91热爆 in 1941 as a Youth in Training (YiT) and was based at the Dyke Road studios in Brighton.
In 1944 he was seconded to the Navy returning to the 91热爆 studios at 200 Oxford Street in 1947. He married Joan, his late wife of 76 years, in 1945. Ron and Joan had two children, Lynda and Kevin.
He moved to Bush House where he served as a highly respected Shift Maintenance Engineer until his early retirement in 1979.
Such comments as ‘calm and reassuring’ and ‘always smiling’ were forthcoming from those who worked with Ron. There was one reference to his overwhelming desire to polish everything; this was put down to his Navy training!
Ronnie was an excellent engineer who maintained the highest professional standards throughout his 91热爆 career. He will be missed by all those who had the pleasure of knowing him.
Alec Thomas
I knew Tony Roberts for more than 50 years. For most of that time, we worked as producers in the same area of the 91热爆 – the ‘Further Education Department’, which offered adults learning opportunities in a whole range of subjects.
Tony had joined the department a few months before me; he had entered the 91热爆 as a ‘general trainee’, the most prestigious, and most competed for, form of entry. Initially we worked on different projects. But in 1968 our boss called us in to tell us that we would be working together for the next 18 months to produce one of the department’s biggest projects – 30 half-hour programmes teaching German.
This was a complete surprise. Neither of us was yet graded as a producer and it created a delicate situation in that neither of us had any obvious seniority over the other. Looking at us thoughtfully, the boss declared me to be the person ultimately responsible. This was probably because I was three years older and already looked more careworn than the fresh-faced Tony. We were not quite ‘The Odd Couple’, but Tony was more sparky, gregarious and outgoing than me.
In the event, we found we got along fine. We travelled together in Germany selecting actors, we filmed our drama and documentary elements in Hamburg and on return put our shoulders to the wheel for the 30 weekly studio recordings in which the programmes would take their final form.
And I think it was in these studio days that the mutual respect we had achieved really showed. I directed in the studio one week, he the next. We alternated the role of producer.
Through tact and mutual respect, this rather unusual ‘pantomime horse’ made the series and we could see that our boss’s assessment of us and our potential for working together had been correct. The series turned out to be both effective, and fun.
Fun, not least because Tony brought fun to everything he did. He had a quicksilver intelligence and a playful approach to much that he did in programme making.
Working with him you were constantly stimulated by his many non-standard views. One of our bosses used to say she thought of him as ‘a naughty elf’. Of course, besides his wit Tony had a talent for languages and he made several valuable contributions to the 91热爆’s work in that field. His interests and enthusiasm were wide, as you might expect from someone who narrowly failed to get a cricket Blue for Cambridge (much to his chagrin) and he was also a reserve contestant for his college’s University Challenge team.
The most congenial of men, wonderful company, Tony could sometimes carry congeniality a touch too far for his own good. Later, Tony’s high intelligence and his capacity for empathy enabled him to help others with addictions. Probably very entertainingly. But that was another career, of which I’m not qualified to speak. I can only testify about the 91热爆 years.
I don’t know if Tony ever regretted not pursuing the law as a career. All I can say, with great warmth, is that the Law’s loss was indisputably the 91热爆’s gain.
David Hargraves
Joyce Harrow was born on 2 February 1925 in Dulwich, South East London. She moved to Beckenham in 1931 when her father got a job with Burroughs and Wellcome. She attended Churchfields School, where she met and made lifelong friendships with Nancy Banks and Joyce Walden. The three girls all won scholarships to the local grammar school. Joyce’s best subjects were Maths, French and Geography and she developed a lasting interest in the arts and sport, particularly tennis and cricket. She possessed a good singing voice and had lessons for some years, and might have considered a musical career but for the effect of the winter fogs which played havoc with her voice!
After matriculation, she obtained a clerical post with a small insurance company to help domestic servants who ‘lived in’. She received excellent training from a lady called Miss Smith. The company had to be wound up in 1948, when the National Health Act came into effect. Joyce did not want to be absorbed into the Civil Service so applied to the 91热爆 and was offered a post in the Finance Department.
She spent 37 happy years with the 91热爆, gaining steady promotion out of finance and into personnel. Her final posting was as the Deputy to the Allowances Officer, mainly dealing with staff who were being relocated. She met interesting people and enjoyed the travelling involved to most of the regional offices.
It was during her time at the 91热爆 that Joyce met Moira Gridley and together they spent many happy holidays travelling the world – they visited Australia, South Africa, Russia, New Zealand, Canada, Madeira and other European locations. At one stage, Joyce even thought about emigrating to Canada to join Margaret, another friend from her early years. All of this would not have happened had her plans to marry in 1947 not fallen through but she felt she had a lot to be thankful for, not least the company of some wonderful friends.
Retirement led Joyce to live in Sussex, which fulfilled another ambition to live by the sea. She settled in Storrington before moving to Grand Avenue in Worthing, 91热爆 Searle House in Goring, Abbeyfields and then Greystoke Manor in Ferring which she regarded as her ‘real home’. It was from here that she used to travel to London, visit friends, plan her next excursion and generally enjoy herself. She was accompanied by Alan, her faithful taxi driver, on many of these trips.
Joyce very much enjoyed going out to lunch with friends and knew all the best places to eat in the local area – Amberley Castle was a favourite.
One of my earliest memories of Joyce was her visiting my old home in Beckenham. She was always very smartly dressed with immaculate hair and bright red lipstick. I thought she was incredibly posh and I was so lucky to have her as a godmother. She never forgot a single birthday and put so much thought into choosing presents for me.
Joyce had amazing conversational skills. She could walk into a room of relative strangers and engage in conversation with anyone on any topic. She was a people person and her warmth, humour and genuine concern for others, combined with her lovely personality and wicked sense of humour, helped her make friends wherever she went. Over the years, she became a much-loved member of many families.
She had fantastic memory recall and would ask after family pets and nieces and nephews, wanting to know how they were getting on. She was always quick to tell me that my Irish Setter Rufie – who she had only met once – was not at all well-behaved. On my last visit to see her in Greystoke Manor, she was at pains to point out to me that a dog belonging to her 91热爆 Visitor was perfectly behaved and perhaps Rufie and I needed some training!
Joyce was looking forward to spending Christmas at Greystoke Manor, but she had a fall on 3 December and spent the next eight weeks in Worthing Hospital before being transferred to Red Oaks Nursing 91热爆 for recuperation.
It was always Joyce’s wish that she return to Greystoke Manor; however, her physical condition meant this was not possible. She did not regain her mobility after her fall and was bedridden for much of the time. Fortunately, Red Oaks provided a wheelchair and Joyce was able to spend a short time most days in the residents’ lounge. She still got the Telegraph each day and kept up with the news – her views on Vladimir Putin and Boris Johnson are not repeatable!
Joyce had many visitors whilst she was at Red Oaks and during her short stay she also received more than 50 cards and letters; the Red Oaks staff commented that no other resident received so much mail!
Joyce organised her own funeral several years ago, even choosing the music and flowers – and much of what has been included in this obituary. She was also adamant that she wanted those attending to enjoy themselves afterwards and have a glass of wine in her memory.
Sue Curtis
George Pagan, who died on 3 April, aged 92, had a 91热爆 career spanning five decades, during which he held managerial posts in Programme Services and Engineering.
Born in Glasgow, his long tenure began in July 1945 when, still in his teens, he reported to Broadcasting House as a trainee in Sound Effects. He ended up in the same building in 1989, when he retired as Chief Engineer, Regions.
His first move from London came via promotion in 1954 to Studio manager at Bristol. In 1965, he was appointed to the newly created post of Programme Services Organiser in the Midlands.
Considered a meticulous organiser and someone of sound judgement, he was part of the working party assigned to produce a report on ‘Broadcasting in The Seventies’. His stay in Birmingham ended when he was named Manager Programme Services at Manchester.
During his stint in North Region he pursued a complete career change – a bold move considering he was, by now, in his mid-forties. However, he was accepted for engineering training at Wood Norton, his previous technical background and experience in radio being taken into account.
As a ‘mature student’ he successfully completed the course and passed out a qualified engineer. A three-month secondment to Southampton as Engineer-in-Charge added to his CV. He received two further promotions in his final 10 years of service.
In 1979 he returned to Birmingham as Senior Manager Programme Services and Engineering, English Regions, and then in 1985 as Chief Engineer, Regions, based once again at BH.
Outside the 91热爆, he collaborated with close friend Michael Alder, former Controller, English Regions, to establish a thriving Probus Club in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire.
Other interests centred on golf, tennis and a love of Jazz.
A severe stroke in 2016 robbed him of his mobility and triggered subsequent health issues. Bedridden for 18 months, he was nursed by his wife Helen and a team of carers.
He always described his 43 years in the 91热爆 as an ‘absolute privilege’.
George Pagan died peacefully at home in Redditch, Worcestershire.
Jim Dumighan
Sandra Westbrooke had a remarkable career, rising from Radio Newsroom sub to become a local radio legend.
Sandra was born in London in 1946 but a few years later her parents, fed up with post-war austerity, set sail for New Zealand. There, at the age of 18, she joined the Auckland Star as their only female trainee. She later moved into public relations.
She met her husband, John, after being prosecuted for driving through a red traffic light and he happened to be the defense lawyer on duty that day. She taught John typing and he, too, moved into journalism.
In 1977 they married and headed for London. Sandra got a job in the Radio Newsroom – then a predominately male environment with Jenny Bond and Julia Sommerville among her rare female colleagues. Sandra made history when she became the first member of the newsroom to become pregnant which, in her words, ‘caused a bit of a stir.’ Four months after the birth of her son, David, she was back at work.
In 1988 she moved to the General News Service (GNS), which at that time provided written and pre-recorded national and international news to the Nations and Local Radio. This was a period of expansion for GNS and before long it was sending its own reporters to cover major stories and provide live bespoke two-ways to local stations.
Sandra stayed with GNS for 20 years and it was here she found her true vocation. Encouraged to specialise, she became the GNS Royal Correspondent and stations were soon queuing to put her on air. She covered all the main royal stories, from the funeral of the Queen Mother to Princess Diana’s inquest as well as travelling abroad on royal tours. She went to Egypt for Charles and Camilla’s first tour together and to America with the Queen, where she was invited to a drinks reception at the White House.
Indeed, after journalism, travelling was her other great passion. Often she managed to combine the two – returning from holiday full of enthusiasm for a story she’d come across. Sometimes, it has to be said, her enthusiasm wasn’t always matched by her editor. On one occasion she returned from a trip to Namibia with a tale about the Kalahari desert being turned over to the production of asparagus. Her then editor felt that, fascinating though this was, it probably wouldn’t have much resonance with the average Local Radio listener. Sandra had two great qualities: creativity and persistence. She soon returned with another idea. It was December – how about a feature on exotic foods now available at Christmas?
The piece was duly delivered… it began with the singing of native workers as they made their way to the fields. ‘Where is this?’ asked her editor. ‘Namibia’, Sandra replied. ‘And which exotic Christmas food are they producing?’ ‘Asparagus’.
Sandra took redundancy in 2008 but even after she left she remained the freelance GNS person to go to for royal stories.
News of her death brought a flood of tributes from former Local Radio colleagues: ‘A unique storyteller with a wonderful style and a majestic turn of phrase’ wrote one. ‘What a voice, what a lady, what a loss’ added another.
Speaking at her funeral, Sandra’s husband, John, had this thought: ‘If her life was shorter than she would have hoped, it was a challenging, varied and fulfilling one. Very much what she wanted.’
Dave Dunford
When my husband, John Harrison, aged 15, was left £100 by an aunt he spent the money on one of the first home tape recorders enabling him to interview friends and family and edit the results. It was the first step towards steering his favourite hobby into a life-long and varied career at the 91热爆.
This began in1960 as an OB floor manager in the Midland Region based in Birmingham, where I too had just joined the 91热爆 as a secretary. It ended 32 years later in 91热爆 Radio Administration when he was pleased to be offered an early retirement package, sorry to see, in his view that the 91热爆’s management policies were increasingly putting the emphasis on bean counting rather than the quality of its output.
In between he always said how lucky he had been to have such an interesting range of jobs. While in Birmingham working in television outside broadcasts he frequently also read the news on Midlands Today. He had been a holiday relief announcer with the 91热爆 during vacations while studying politics, phylosophy and economics at Oxford University. This was mainly on the Light Programme with a stint at TV news in Belfast. Previously he had gained experience in radio broadcasting while stationed with the RAF at the British Forces Network in Cologne during National Service.
We moved to London in 1967 when John became a producer on Top Firm, a quiz show hosted by Kenneth Horne. This was followed by management roles on programmes which included Tomorrow’s World and Horizon.
When the Ministry of Defence wanted to set up a television service for British troops and their familes stationed in Germany John keenly applied and got the job as controller of British Forces Broadcasting Service - BFBS - TV, seconded to it from the 91热爆 with ITV providing the technical side of the operation. Much to the amusement of the family he was given the rank of colonel.
Five challenging but exciting years followed involving frequent visits to Celle, a charming small town to the north-east of Hanover . A selection of taped programmes were flown over every day from the UK to be put out ‘topped’and ‘tailed’ by local announcers.
Gradually he added a few locally-made programmes to the mix, including language lessons ‘Instant German’ and interviews with locally-based Army officers. Not surprisingly it was the military wives who began to appreciate BFBS most, particularly those with husbands away serving in Northern Ireland. It made John feel that the hard work he and his team were putting in was very much worthwhile
The ultimate aim was to set up a live-link to Germany but this took longer than planned, finally arriving in 1982 By then John had returned to the 91热爆 , joining 91热爆 Enterprises, helping to sell programmes such as Dr Who around the world. It was here ,working from Villiers House in Ealing, where he was part of the 91热爆 Micro Computer, giving support to the 91热爆 Continuous Education Department which had come up with the bold plan of launching a home computer to go with a series they were creatinting about the microchip and computer programming called 'The Computer Programme'. This was the famous, 91热爆 Computer Literacy Project and after a collaboration with Acorn, the Micro was built, historic as one of the first home computers and demand for this new exciting home accessory was huge. By 1985 they had sold 500,000 and earned the 91热爆 a huge amount of money and introduced the nation and a new generation of school children to the exciting world of computers.
John, who became deputy sales director for 91热爆 Micro recalled at the time seeing a cheque for £1million. “It was the only time I had ever seen such a large cheque,” he said.
John has left a big hole in our family, one son, two daughters and four grandchildren. He died peacefully with all of us at his bedside shortly after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
John Harrison died November 2021 aged 85
Gillian Harrison
The greatest cameraman since Raoul Coutard?
Ian Stone, who died on 4 December 2021 aged 89, was among the best liked of documentary cameramen.
‘In documentary filming,’ he said, ‘getting on with people is more important than technique.’ A large imposing man with a great black beard, he could never be a ‘fly on the wall’ – but by getting to know people, being warm, cheerful, funny and friendly, he achieved remarkable results.
Born in Caerphilly, the son of a Welsh farmer, he became fascinated by film-making when a documentary was made about his father’s Sheep Dog Trials.
After Cardiff University and National Service – as a sergeant in the Education Corps – he taught English. Responding to a 91热爆 advertisement, he was accepted as a trainee cameraman. Early years were spent at Birmingham, mainly on the Farming Unit. By 1968 he was a fully-fledged cameraman at Ealing.
For the Bird’s-Eye View series (1969-71), Ian explored pioneering techniques of aerial filming, perched precariously in the helicopter’s open doorway. ‘Paralyse the Pope,’ he would murmur, pleased by a spectacular developing shot. At stressful moments, the cry was ‘Icy calm...’
His speciality was filming documentaries with a hand-held camera and little lighting – or just available light. Critic Clive James proclaimed that an observational documentary at a school must have been rehearsed, because it was so steady and sharp: ‘If not the cameraman must have been the greatest since Raoul Coutard.’ Ian had hand-held his Eclair throughout. Clive James apologised.
Ian worked for Panorama, Horizon, World About Us and numerous prestigious single documentaries and series, enjoying trips to far-flung places, especially relishing the culture, people, food – and leisure activities – of Japan, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Australia and America.
But a favourite assignment was nearer home – Year of the French, 12 films, 1981-2. He loved France and bought a Breton barn which he renovated for holidays. Later he moved his family home to Brittany, indulging his passions for French food, Fleurie, beaches and extensive DIY home improvement, while treasuring visits from old colleagues and friends.
Our thoughts are with Stella, Ian’s wife for 65 years, daughter Sian and grandson Luc.
Edward Mirzoeff
Lynchpin of World Service English language teaching department
Caroline Dunton, known as Carrie during her 33 years at the 91热爆, has died suddenly at the age of 61.
Starting as a clerk in Overseas Administration, she joined the World Service English language teaching department. From her room, G4 NE Wing, Bush House, she quietly established herself as a highly competent organiser of the department’s studio bookings, a repository of knowledge and a lynchpin in the daily workings of 91热爆 English. Studios were booked, the six-strong repertory company of actors allocated, outside actors engaged and paid, 30 language sections liaised with – all with tact, humour and the occasional gentle reminder to producers that, yes, one did indeed need to clear copyright. You could always discuss problems with Carrie.
Every summer, part of the department decamped for three weeks to the residential 91热爆 English Language Summer School. Here, Carrie’s organisational skills were used to cope with the arrival of 150 students from around the world, bringing challenges from the domestic to the diplomatic.
The department’s television series, Muzzy in Gondoland, English for children, was proving popular in a rapidly changing USSR and Eastern Europe. In the early 1990s Carrie led members of the repertory company round Eastern Europe in a stage version of Muzzy. When blogs arrived, she blogged with enthusiasm.
Carrie had a busy life outside the 91热爆. Whenever possible, Wimbledon fortnight would find her in SW19 rather than WC2. Her church and her Guides were very important, as later was the charity Beyond Words. She sang in the annual Bush Carol service, and, when World Service left Bush House, was part of the choir that serenaded ‘Farewell to the Stairwell’.
In early October Carrie entered hospital with an infection. Transferred to Intensive Care, she died on 25 October. The many people she had touched during her lifetime were present (in person or virtually) for her funeral. One of her actors read from Ezekiel, another sang, her church family was there, with friends from the 91热爆, and her Guides. She narrowly predeceased her mother, who died on 29 December.
Memories from Emily Westlake, Chris Faram, David Thomas, Hamish Norbrook, Regina Denton and others.
From YiT to head of film operations
Peter (Pete) Jarvis was born in St Albans and brought up his family there. In 1944, he joined the 91热爆 as a Youth in Training and was posted to the transmitter station at Rampisham, then to the London Recording Unit in the basement of 200 Oxford Street.
In 1955, he transferred to the new 91热爆 Film Unit at Lime Grove and then Ealing Studios. For ten years he travelled far and wide, contributing to such programmes as Tonight, Panorama and Monitor with people including Alan Wicker, Jonathan Miller, Cliff Michelmore and Huw Wheldon. He was the recordist on Ken Russell’s profiles of Elgar and Debussy.
As well as many trips to France, he remembered: filming in Sweden – the raising of the Vasa and the overnight change to driving on the right; a tour of the West Indies looking at the British influence in the Commonwealth (flying by Boeing Stratocruiser, at around 200 miles an hour and stopping three times on the 24-hour flight); and a tour of African nations with Gerry Mulligan (cameraman).
Peter came off the road to be a film operations manager for Current Affairs programmes. After a secondment to Mackenzies, implementing ‘Total Costing’, he became film business manager and then was promoted to chief assistant film operations, retiring as head of film operations in 1982.
On retirement, Ariel commented on his ‘deep affection for film and those who work in it’ and observed that ‘beneath his benign smile there was also an astute mind’.
Away from the 91热爆, Peter was a devoted family man, a cornerstone of his immediate family and loved and respected by his wider family. Practical and helpful, full of good advice and always interested in what the family were doing. He loved projects and planning. He loved his holidays in Menorca.
In retirement he moved to Andover, finally spending his last few months in Dorchester where he passed away peacefully, aged 96. He is survived by Gwen, his wife of 72 years, his children Stephen and Carrie, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Steve Diamond
Managing editor of 91热爆 Radio West Midlands
Peter Davies, managing editor of 91热爆 WM in succession to Tony Inchley, has died peacefully after a number of years of ill health.
Peter had a hard act to follow after Inchley and he inherited the tricky problem of absorbing Coventry & Warwickshire (CWR) into WM after the silly decision to close Coventry was taken in 1995.
Peter was a gruff, quite hard-drinking, no-nonsense, rugby-supporting journalist who could appear to be quite aggressive.
He’d been news editor at 91热爆 Radio Bristol where he pioneered opt-out mini stations for the West Country during times of flooding and emergency. His enterprise here demonstrated how flexible and vital 91热爆 local radio could be in a crisis. I admit he and I were at daggers drawn when he arrived at WM. I was one of the Inchley old guard – we were to be regarded with suspicion. However, over the years we became firm friends and I realised his gruffness was in fact a form of shyness.
Peter, together with Andy Conroy, Tony Wadsworth, Raj Ford and Stuart Linnell retrieved the situation at Coventry. ‘91热爆 WM across Coventry & Warwickshire’ built up a good audience, persuading 91热爆 chiefs that the 1995 decision should be reversed. In 1996 Peter enjoyed WM being named station of the year.
Conal O’Donnell
91热爆 Radio West Midlands presenter
Paul Brighton has died aged 62. Paul was the station’s best informed political interviewer in the late 80s and early 90s, and one of those individuals who made working at the 91热爆 so rewarding both professionally and privately.
Paul was born and brought up in Wolverhampton where he attended grammar school before going on to read English at Cambridge University, gaining a first. As a young man he was active in local politics and gained a lot of kudos by winning a 91热爆 Mastermind round.
He joined WM as a producer, but his pleasing broadcasting voice and informed manner soon made him the stand-in presenter of choice before making the drivetime programme his own.
His knowledge of local and national politics was encyclopaedic, lending huge credibility to the station’s output.
A natty dresser in his signature jacket and tie (even at weekends!), he often exuded the air of a rising young political star which at times threatened to run away with him. His questions were sometimes long and convoluted, with a tendency to suggest to the interviewee the answer Paul perhaps expected. One slightly exasperated programme organiser timed one of his questions at almost two minutes!
Paul also developed the interesting habit of doing a ‘Pinocchio’s nose’ gesture when doing down-the-line interviews with guests he didn’t rate. It hugely amused his studio team but problems arose when he did it face to face on one or two occasions!
Paul left the 91热爆 to become Head of Media & Film at Wolverhampton University, where the academic side really suited him. In his spare time he completed an unpublished biography of Palmerston.
A severe stroke cruelly robbed him of fully enjoying his second career. His father and mother, to whom he was devoted, pre-deceased him. His funeral took place in January.
Conal O’Donnell
London Studio engineer who overcame the odds
Ted Hartwell passed away on 11 November 2021, within weeks of being 91. He was a London Studio engineering and operations’ engineer for 20 years, his last three as our technical writer.
He worked in many of the West London studios, often alongside ourselves, in particular spending time with Roy Glew in Riverside 2 on children’s programmes. Living near each other, he and Alec Booker became firm friends. Later (1983), he became the research author in Research Department, sub-editing their engineers’ reports and producing many local publications.
He retired in 1990, after 27 years in the 91热爆.
He achieved all of this in spite of a very harsh upbringing with minimal early education. Ted stated he had a ‘useless’ father but a loving mother, who was basically destitute and had to place him and his twin sister into social care, living with several foster parents. Both developed Bovine Tuberculosis (1935), having consumed TB-infected milk on a foster carer’s farm.
He was sent to Tidemills Marine Hospital near Newhaven (1935/36) but, necessarily, he went on to a Farnham sanatorium for 15 months. He, and sister, then rejoined their mother (1940). She only lived for another year, dying of cancer. Their father then placed them with various relatives before deserting them. Being put into care with the Kent County Council, Ted was then adopted (aged 14) by a couple called Hartwell. Fortunately, he now received a serious education.
At 17, he joined the Merchant Navy, travelling the world. It ended when he revealed he’d had TB. Two horticultural jobs later, he succumbed to TB again. He spent 4.5 years in two sanatoria, completing correspondence courses while there and studied music, becoming a competent Spanish Guitar player. He also became a lifelong expert at doing cryptic crosswords.
Aged 27, he managed to enter Hull and Southampton Technical Colleges. In three years, he gained excellent engineering qualifications. Having then worked for Redifon, he joined the 91热爆 in 1963 as a direct entry engineer.
Through decades of ill health, including diabetes, he overcame serious life trials with courage, determination and humour. A wonderful man to know.
Farewell Ted, dear colleague and friend.
Roy Glew and Alec Booker
Roger Bunce was born on 16 March 1946. From early days he was interested in science and technology, art and design, and storytelling – and these were to shape his life and work.
He joined the 91热爆 in January 1965 as a technical operator based at Television Centre and progressed to being a cameraman. His shot cards were always adorned with sketches and cartoons as an aide-mémoire and amusement for himself and others.
Doctor Who was a show he loved working on and he gave passionate talks about it at the BFI and elsewhere.
After working on blue-screen shows like Bellamy’s Backyard Safari, HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Box of Delights, with the advent of Virtual Reality he came into his own with ideas on how to make it look real and proportionate. A technical manager of the time says, ‘I was trying to get my head around VR when it was being introduced to the Sport studio and Roger gave me a copy of the booklet he‘d written on Perspective. It was outstanding.’
He did an attachment to Jackanory, adapting and directing some of the stories – and wrote a play for Radio 4, Cleopatra. He had a fantastical imagination and his watercolour of life in a television studio in the style of Hieronymus Bosch was a work of genius. He could solve complex mathematical and logical puzzles and won a Whodunnit competition on ITV.
Roger was an active member of BECTU and was liked and respected by the managers, even when disagreeing with them.
Along with others he took redundancy in 2001 and continued as a freelancer for the 91热爆 till 2011. In November 2020 he was diagnosed with cancer of the thymus for which he underwent chemotherapy and surgery but in August, succumbed. He is survived by Pat, his wife of nearly 53 years, children Robin and Jenny and three grandchildren.
Roger was a great colleague with a wonderful sense of humour and a cheery smile. He always signed messages with ‘Luv, Rog’ and the warmth of that remains, along with many memories of him.
Geoffrey Hawkes
From spot effects to studio manager
Peter Novis died on 11 January in Bath Hospital, after being admitted on the 5th with pneumonia and complications.
He had moved from his home in Bow in April last year to a care home in Frome, Somerset, to be closer to his Executor, after two years of worsening health and a growing inability to cope. He was, of course, much further away from his London friends, but he was happy there and the staff had become very fond of him.
Peter joined the 91热爆 in the early 1960s and in 1963 he was attached to TV as a floor assistant on the Top of the Pops Christmas Special. Asked to look after a group, The Beatles, he left the building with all four autographs on the front of his camera script!
He did another attachment later on Z Cars as a production manager but spent most of his working life in BH on Radio Drama, starting as a spot effects operator in the studio. He loved doing this and actually returned to it part time after leaving the 91热爆 in the early 1990s.
He progressed from spot effects to studio manager, working happily for many years with many drama directors and well-known actors. He also went briefly to Birmingham to direct The Archers!
In his spare time, he was also an accomplished and talented amateur actor and director, both in radio and theatre, as a member of SADG and Ariel Theatre Group through the 91热爆 Club.
I met him at my first audition for SADG in 1971. He was directing ‘The Three Princes’ and cast me as The Prince of the Rising Sun and Kafur, the Slave of the Ring.
Through the 70s we met across three organisations, SADG, ATG and the Comedy Club, which took a show every two years to the open air Minack Theatre in Cornwall until 1995, and they were fabulous times.
Finally, he was happy and comfortable in Frome until a week before his death, which he knew was coming.
A great friend, much missed!
Alan Charlesworth
35 years of loyal service Brian Leaver joined 91热爆 Publications in January 1956 as an office junior in the Advertisement Department. In 1958, he joined Circulation Publicity, where he spent three years before joining Distribution Department in 1961. He spent eight years in the Traffic Section, which had responsibility for distribution of Radio Times, The Listener and all other journals.
In 1969 he gained promotion to Business Department, 91热爆 Enterprises, dealing with clearances and copyrights for radio and television programmes. In June 1972, he returned to 91热爆 Publications to take up the post of assistant traffic manager. In 1976 he was promoted to traffic manager, where he had responsibility for close liaison with printers, the trade, British Rail, major carriage organisations and control of expenditure. The 1980s had many industrial disputes affecting printing and distribution. Throughout these difficult times he maintained good relationships with all concerned. He always gave of his best.
Brian’s last appointment in Publications was distribution manager, a post he held until the merger of Publications with 91热爆 Enterprises. Before leaving the 91热爆 in December 1990, he had an attachment to Allowances Department – a period he remembered with fondness and pleasure. In February 1991, he joined the Ministry of Defence, where he worked at the American West Ruislip Elementary School. He retired in 1997.
Brian loved his home, and retirement enabled him to enjoy gardening, DIY projects, walks with our dog and some lovely holidays. He was a family man who always supported us all – he always had time to listen. In September 2021, Brian became very unwell and was admitted to Hillingdon Hospital where he died peacefully on 14 September, at the age of 81. He is greatly missed by me, our children, Pauline, Christine and Simon, and three granddaughters, Lilly, Alice and Isabelle.
Susan Leaver (his wife of 52 years)
Dave Sandbrook was born in Swindon on 31 December 1933. This fact will no doubt surprise many of his colleagues – Dave, always a proud Welshman, was actually born in England! Dave always maintained that his mother intended to be on the two o’clock train from Swindon to Carmarthen, so he could be born in Wales, but she didn’t quite make it.
Not long after he was born, the family moved back to Carmarthen, where his dad was appointed caretaker of the Guidhall. Their house in Carmarthen was to be Dave’s home for the next 20 years. Dave used to recount how he and his cousins used to play in the Court at the Guildhall, as judges and the accused – a wonderful playground indeed!
Dave was an only child but his mother was one of 14 children – life was great with plenty of cousins to play with. After passing the 11+ examination, he went to the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School Carmarthen, followed by study at Cardiff University, which is where he met Margaret, his wife-to-be. After being called up for National Service in the RAF, where he wrote to Margaret from Germany every day, he joined 91热爆 Transmission.
His first posting was to the Short Wave Transmitting Station at Woofferton, near Ludlow. Later Dave worked at Wenvoe, Holme Moss and Sutton Coldfield, and he eventually became general manager of 91热爆 Transmission after the Department moved to the new headquarters in Warwick in 1988. Dave retired from the 91热爆 Warwick HQ in 1993 after almost 40 years’ service. His managerial style was robust, to the point, but always fair, calling ‘a spade a spade’ but supporting and helping his staff and rewarding them when they deserved it.
Dave excelled at sports, cricket, rugby and later golf. He was also an avid supporter of Rugby Union, particularly (of course) the Welsh Team, when they played at Cardiff Arms Park, then later at the National Stadium. During these games he was sometimes accompanied by Tyssul James from Merthyr Tydfil, another rugby-supporting SME at Wenvoe. There we many funny stories of their experiences together.
Thank you Dave! Peter Condron
Hugh Barker radiated positivity. His smile seemed to precede him into the room.
His presence brought enormous confidence to producers and artists alike. It was not misplaced. Sound crews felt the same desire to produce the best and would always go the extra mile for him, his leadership style accepting nothing less.
Hugh came to 91热爆 Television via the Merchant Navy, the RAF and 91热爆 Radio, arriving at Lime Grove studios as a sound supervisor in 1954. Sound supervisors were first freely allocated, then integrated into the crew system, then once again separated and allocated directly to programmes. He was the sound supervisor on a broad range of content in the television output as were all supervisors, always bringing the same commitment to the highest standards whatever he was doing, always with a light touch.
Throughout this time, Hugh was steadily building his expertise primarily in the light entertainment field, and his flair for the work and consistently high standards quickly became apparent. As specialisation increased, Hugh became increasingly in demand to take on the high profile, often difficult shows featuring musical stars of the day, working with television’s big-name producers such as Stewart Morris and Yvonne Littlewood.
World class artistes and orchestras including Mantovani, Vera Lynn, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Petula Clark, Cilla Black, Nana Mouskouri, Leo Sayer, Lulu, Harry Secombe, Young Generation and many more received his skilful care and attention.
From the USA, The Carpenters, Nilsson, Jack Jones, Buddy Rich, Bobbie Gentry, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Mathis, Nelson Riddle and Henry Mancini joined the list. By now a senior figure in television sound, Hugh made several trips abroad on behalf of the 91热爆 for demonstration and training. As time passed, light entertainment began to move away from solo artistes and orchestras, so music sessions for comedy and drama programmes in Television Music Studio and many of the leading commercial studios filled much of his schedule.
Beyond the 91热爆, Hugh was a family man. He leaves a wife Rita, four children, grandchildren and great-grand children, and a large hole in the lives of his many friends.
Larry Goodson
The passing of Michael Alder at the age of 92 should not go unrecognised. This was a man who rose from being a journalist on a local newspaper to become the 91热爆’s Controller of English Regional Television, responsible for the staffing and production of 2,500 television programmes a year made in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, Norwich, Leeds and his hometown of Newcastle.
Michael was a sub-editor of the Newcastle Chronicle and joined the 91热爆 in its studios in New Bridge Street in 1959, working with the late John Tisdall. When John went to Manchester as part of a study group to consider what the structure of regional broadcasting should look like in the 1970s and beyond, Michael took over the reins and was responsible for the establishment of the 91热爆’s news output in the North East, bringing on a host of broadcasting talent including Frank Bough, Mike Neville, Harold Williamson and George House to name but a few.
With the growth of regional television, Michael eventually found himself as Controller based at Pebble Mill. It was from here that he had to negotiate with fellow controllers (of 91热爆 One and 91热爆 Two) and others in the corridors of power in Television Centre and Broadcasting House to win appropriate slots in the schedules for nightly news magazines and for documentary and features opt-outs.
Ultimately, Michael was responsible for the editorial content of eight regional television stations. The siting of regional headquarters in Pebble Mill must have been a challenge. For most of his tenure in Birmingham, Pebble Mill was the fiefdom of the legendary Phil Sidey, Head of the Network Production Centre, himself no shrinking violet when it came to talking to power.
When, inevitably, the Corporation decided to reinvent non-metropolitan broadcasting in 1990, Michael took retirement and returned to his beloved North. His wife Freda predeceased him.
Michael Fitzgerald
For over 20 years, Veronica Hitchcock, who has died two months short of her 90th birthday, was a stalwart and knowledgeable presence in the Radio Times features department.
She joined the magazine as a subeditor in 1967, later becoming chief features sub and then in 1981 features editor, a post she held until retiring in 1989. Born in India, she came to the UK in 1939 and grew up in Letchworth. It was there, while her father was away at the war, that she began a lifelong love affair with the movies.
Her first job was with Amateur Gardener magazine. Later, after an unsuccessful interview with the 91热爆 in the 1950s – she was rejected, it was said, because she wasn’t wearing gloves – she moved to Country Life, where she met staff photographer Alex Starkey; they were soulmates for the rest of their lives, eventually marrying in 2007. For their holidays together they would go as far afield as Iran and Sri Lanka to furnish material for Country Life’s travel issues. Alex died in 2014, a tremendous loss for Veronica.
At Radio Times she stood out for her quirky sense of humour and many enthusiasms, from Ken Dodd’s comedy, Graham Greene’s novels and bargainhunting to travel and wildlife: for many years she shared her SW1 flat with a succession of pet owls (the registration plate of her old Mini, which included the letters WOL, reflected this passion). Above all, though, she was a cinema enthusiast. She helped set up a ‘This week’s Films’ column with Philip Jenkinson in the early 1970s – a pioneering effort then but now an indispensable feature of every listings magazine.
As features editor she was fiercely protective of the writers she commissioned, ensuring they were well paid and defending their copy, where necessary, against censorious producers. After retirement, Veronica worked part-time for Channel 4’s Programme Management team, vetting films before transmission. She never stopped learning – an early adopter of new technology, she maintained an Excel spreadsheet of all the TV programmes and movies she had recorded. She made friends wherever she went: we all miss her.
John Davies