On 23rd March 2020, the United Kingdom – as had happened with many other European countries and other countries Worldwide – was put into lockdown in an unprecedented step to attempt to limit the spread of CoronaVirus and the disease known as Corvid-19. Some closures and restrictions had happened before the 23rd, but on that day, the government directed people to stay at home except for essential purchases, essential work travel (if working from home was not possible), medical needs, one exercise per day (alone or with household members), and providing care for others.
Tech 1 Emails
Bernie Newnham reported on 1st May 2020:
“… I’ve kept all the Tech1 emails from the start. A while back I noticed that we were on 19000 or so, and I thought I’d mention the 20000th. Unfortunately I blinked, and we are now up to 20221 – 20222 including this one…”
Not all of these, your emails, have been included in the various Conversations and Topics as your emails not only cover every aspect of past and present work and working conditions, but more generally cover all aspects of going about our normal daily lives, then and now! In fact, really only a small percentage of your emails have made it into “Topics”, hopefully those which tell particular stories of Technical Operations, and report on techniques that we used. There is one exception this time: Walk Pictures! A response to the lockdown situation, prompted by Bernie.
Coronavirus (Corvid-19) and TV
The need to prevent contact between people to prevent the spread of this strange virus and its totally devastating effects on some people caused profound changes in the way that programme content was originated and delivered. This page notes just some of the effects of the virus on TV.
Walk Pictures
Initiated by Bernie, this is collection of photos taken on our walks during lockdown, highlighting some of the beauty of the British landscape.
Social Distancing
To prevent the spread of the virus, the reproduction number (R number) had to be brought down as low as possible. One way of doing this was to make sure that people kept away from each other.
Ationwid
The early days of “Nationwide” – and why it was known a “Ationwid”. Pictures from the (first) “Nationwide” Yacht Race.
Audience Unparticipation
For many of the BBC shows, there was a clamour for tickets to be in the audience – you had to apply to the ticket unit for the free tickets to see the popular shows.
However, not all shows enjoyed a warm and welcoming audience!
<Boxing Clever
The first of three pages of recollections from the people of sound. This first one talks of rigging sound to get the best sound and atmosphere for boxing matches – particularly from the Albert Hall.
Bright Eyes
Not the title song from “Watership Down” …
Who invented “Bright Eyes” – a check for phantom power in mic lines? Phantom power is DC electric power transmitted through microphone cables to operate microphones that contain active electronic circuitry. It is best known as a convenient power source for condenser microphones, though many active direct boxes also use it.
The Sound of Football
The sound of boot hitting leather, the roar of the crowd, the chanting from the stadium – and the commentator trying to guide the viewer through the interleaving patterns of play on the pitch…
I’m on my way – where are we going?
“Tales of Misheard Directions” has been compiled by Pat Heigham. But it is not only geographical directions that get misheard or misinterpreted…
Programmes We Worked On
Notes on some of the programmes that we worked on.
Reuse, recycle, repair
In May 2020, the BBC published photographs of empty sets from well-k now BBC programmes – sets erected in the studio but before rehearsal. Interesting to see.
Stereoscopic Vision
The stereoscopic pictures shown in the Walks provoked an interesting discussion about stereoscopic vision…
3D Telly
… which led on to some thoughts on three-dimension television production.
Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?
Actually, yes!
Becoming a T.O. Autumn 1962
The letters from the BBC to an aspiring T.O in the Autumn of 1962.
Wood Norton Hall
Of course there has to be something in the topics about Wood Norton Hall!
More pictures.
Colour Supplement
May is the month of Eurovision.
So there was only one possible candidate for the Colour Supplement: “Eurovision” (as it has become known – officially it’s “The Eurovision Song Contest”): bling and camp combined, but this year cancelled for the first time in its history.
This page collects some pictures past and present, and some background to the 1974 “Eurovision Song Contest” from Brighton – oh, and some cameras in shot.
