Alex Thomas

On the opening night of BBC 2 a kangaroo was loaded into the big lift at Lime Grove.

I was in TC doing the “Compact” soap when it all went dark and all transmissions reverted to Alexandra Palace.  I remember Frank Rose, the VCS, also known as “Horse”, saying “It must be Battersea that has gone” He was right.

The next morning saw a large generator from OBs parked on the TC ring road with cables draped over the building and into CAR.

BBC 2 started a day late.

Pat Heigham

The opening night of BBC2 must have been an embarrassing experience for TVC’s Engineering Dept. No back-up power?  I was mixing “Blue Peter” live, once, on Sound Supervisor training and got ticked off for not checking the standby main output amp from the desk. Back-up even there in the programme chain, but nobody thought that the main power input to TVC would suffer!

A guy I knew well, ran a family seaside hotel in the Isle of Wight. Sometimes prone to power cuts, so he installed a diesel generator in an exterior outhouse. This was started when the incoming power failed, with a mains powered solenoid releasing a mercury switch where the mercury then ran down a glass tube to complete a circuit to start the genny, which then automatically fed the hotel. Care had to be taken when mains power was restored to re-set everything to square one. The local Electricity Board used to peer at his rig, shake their heads in bewilderment and leave him alone!

Kangaroos are an incredible animal species. Mummy Kanga has the ability to carry and nourish differently aged ‘joeys’, with nipples in the pouch delivering different strengths of her milk (4-star and unleaded!), Attenborough’s lectures are not wasted on me!

Working in Adelaide for McLaren Formula 1, our PA said that she had now been in Australia for nine days and had not yet seen a sensible animal. We discussed the idea that maybe the Almighty had planned South America first, got stoned on cocaine, then set about designing the fauna for Australia!

There was a body cam attached to a Kangaroo recently – wondered whether it would be very jerky, but sensibly put just under the jaw, as the head doesn’t move that much vertically – like a cheetah chasing down a gazelle – the head stays practically unmoving in the vertical plane, like its own Steadicam!

Dave Plowman

If I recall correctly, TC did have backup. It had two independent mains feeds, either of which capable of running it fully. But when one went down, the other failed. It would be very expensive to have a backup generator for the entire site. You could provide backup for just the network control area, but again expensive for something purely standby, since it is no big deal for elsewhere in the UK to take over running the network in event of an emergency, provided plans for this are in place.

Thames TV at Teddington did install a generator big enough for the entire site. Tested every month. But was never used in anger and sold for scrap some 20 years later.

Chris Woolf

Of course the provision of a generator to run the source material is of little value of the audience is also in darkness and can’t view it;}

Dave Plowman

Quite.  Although it wasn’t a nationwide power cut.

What I do remember was the emergency lighting in the studio (battery) didn’t last long. Not long enough for a safe evacuation had it been a fire or whatever. I was working on “Dr Findlay’s Casebook” in TC3 or 4.

Dave Buickley

The comment about the emergency lighting at TVC not lasting very long, is surprising, although it was the 1960s.

Some years later, I was involved with a village hall which would get inspected by the local fire brigade from time to time as well as the council health and safety inspector.

One of the tests would be to switch the emergency lighting on and time how long they lasted – which should be in excess of two hours! Any light that didn’t last this long had to have its battery changed. The fact that the hall could be cleared in about five minutes didn’t wash!

I had experience of a power cut during a play at the Harrow Arts Centre during a production of “Oliver”. About 20 minutes into the second act, the power went out due to a cable fault in the area. We had to evacuate the audience (500+) under the emergency lighting only. Afterwards, the cast and crew stayed on for a time, and it was noticeable that the lights did dim over time. However, the level of the lighting didn’t allow for any derig, so this had to be done early the next day.

Roger Long

Bush house had a Bristol Proteus Jet engine on the roof for back up….

It was so noisy it was never used in anger……

It was used in Hovercraft and Bluebird, however.

Dave Mundy

I was in Lime Grove waiting to do ’24 hours’, I think, which was cancelled so I strolled up to TVC and saw people sitting on the stairs in the South Hall in tears, obviously from Pres. on their big night!

Mike Giles

If they were sitting on different levels of the stairs, then I suppose they were in tears in tiers!

Peter Fox

I am not sure about this now, but I think that after BBC2 débacle a genny was installed below ground level near the South Hall rear exit and could manage a couple of lamps and a vidicon in Pres A. and maybe a few other bits and pieces like Noddy and a TK machine or two? That wasn’t run up every week, so it refused to start when it was needed. The next iteration was much larger and somewhere near the canteen? Dave Elvin, engineer, who loved routing around TVC infrastructure told me that although there were a matched pair next to each other and were run up regularly the back-up couldn’t be used in anger because its exhaust was next to the fuel tank. I can’t verify that, but I can believe it.

John Howell

I was en route to Ealing on the Central Line, when we emerged from underground after leaving Shepherds Bush I expected to see the lights of TVC’s East Tower, but I missed it, must have been looking out of the wrong window.

When we reached the heights of East Acton I could see the extent of the blackout, just a few lights near Acton Town.)

Of course the Tube Network was a blaze of glory it had its own Generating Station at Lots Road.