Bernie Newnham

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…


A Pres Control secretary called Fran decided to leave the department, back in the days when leaving was pretty much unheard of.  Presentation Editor Granville Jenkins had bought himself a video camera, and set out to make a video of everyone saying goodbye to Fran.

Somehow, long ago, I was given a copy of the rushes. I don’t remember what format they were on, probably second or third generation VHS, nor do I remember why, but I recently found a DVD copy in amongst much other stuff lying around here.  I’ve done a rather late edit.

Much of the material was given to "Goodbye Fran" stuff, but Granny often started recording early and stopped late. The bits round the edges form lots of tiny character vignettes which, much, much later, are fascinating. Some people only got to say the goodbye bit – not too relevant now – but I still wanted to put them in, so they are slomo-ed.  Granny also covered much of the places we worked and the gear we used, and that adds a context.

I don’t know if Granny ever did a edit, but his experience must have been a lot different to mine. I’m sitting here at home in front of the free version of Blackmagic Da Vince Resolve, so reversing the last shot, laying multiple audio tracks, trimming a word or sentence, and adding titles (in BBC Washington typeface), was the work of seconds. How the world has moved on.

Anyway – if you were there, and even if you weren’t, please enjoy this visit to BBC TV Centre and its presentation department, when, in hindsight, it was at its peak.

32 years late:

         

 

Geoff Hawkes

Thank you so much for sharing that video with us beginning with the walk down the Pres corridor that was so familiar to many of us. It was wonderful to see that fine cast of characters who populated the area in those days and who many of us remember very well from our time there. I’d want to go through it frame by frame and try to put names to all of them, or the ones I can’t identify. I think it must have been Janet Hoenig making the comment “Second time today”. She seemed in remarkably good humour considering that I didn’t find her the most likeable of the production staff I had to do with at the time. I think I spotted your wife, Pauline too? And old Frank Hurrell, Geoff Pointer’s second-in-command; I liked him. And a brief appearance of Anne Crocker, what a character she was. Albert Barber tells the story of when she decided it was time for her meal break and left the gallery halfway through a junction, which I can believe.

I was wondering when Fran, the object of it (Francis Walton I assume) would make an appearance and sure enough, there she was doing the countdown into a trail. I chatted to her a lot while on one of the usual camera attachments we did and got to know her quite well. I’ve often wondered what happened to her and hope she made it to old age, despite her problems the type of which I hadn’t heard much about at that time but have

My memories of those people picture them  just as they look in that video, which is hardly surprising considering that I’ve not seen most of them since. Good old Ian Stubbs, what happened to him? I’d love to know as he was  a very likeable, genial, down-to-earth sort of person that it was easy to get along with. Do try and get him to come to one of the lunches if he’d like to. I won’t be at the one next week but hope to be again soon when perhaps we could look through the video together. Lots of people would want to gather round with the same fascination, I’m sure,

 

Bernie Newnham

Though lots of the people in the video are gone now, Frances is still out there. She emailed in the same way you have, just the other day.

Janet was a good person once you got to know her. Perhaps rather shy. And yes, Pauline did her bit.  My next edit is just her, demonstrating network directing just before she left.

 

Tony Grant

Thank you Bernie, what a lot of memories come cascading back. You’ve missed out T. K. Betham (is that how it was spelt) but perhaps he was already in his own little cubbyhole for ‘Quality Control’ still managing to upset all and sundry. My favourite moment was just after Pres A had been refurbished with Grass valley mixer and other bells and whistles, we were just about to go on air with the lunchtime weather and his lighting control panel in the gallery seized up. He was last seen racing up and down the corridor outside yelling “I’ve lost control. I’ve lost control…” With aching sides I went into the studio and asked the sparks to turn the lights on manually, and on we went.

Now all you have to do for next year is a video of ‘Where are they now…?’

 

Bernie Newnham

I only did the edit, Granny shot the video, and T. K. Bethan must have been  off that day. Joe E gets a tiny moment.

Sadly "where they now?" is often "Gone to the great NC1 in the sky",  notably Granny himself, Terry Yetton, Pat Hubbard, Brian Wolstenholme and Frank Hurrell.