Patrick Heigham

Inspiration as to career:

Many, many years ago I saw “South Pacific” in what was known as the fleapit cinema in Ryde IOW

First time I saw Cinemascope, and stereo sound, too.

I wanted then to work on a major musical picture. Got my wish, eventually, for a year’s work on “Fiddler on the Roof” via the BBC – brilliant training and I brought a lot of ideas towards engineering he sound from BBC techniques.

That picture gained an Oscar for Best Sound, which went to my HOD. He was busy in Europe and couldn’t attend the ceremony, but I would have gone! 
I can now watch South Pacific off Blu-Ray on a 9ft screen from a Panasonic projector that handles Hi-Def.

Bill Jenkin

Wasn’t the Kings Theatre Hammersmith used for a time in the 1950s and 1960s? I remember people talking about it. It was before my time (1965).

Ian Dow

I saw "Ask Pickles" with Wilfred Pickles and Mabel – "Give ’em the money Mabel…" at the Kings Theatre Hammersmith in about 1957. Some very old mountings with the bicycle wheels on the front, like an early Falcon. First time in a TV studio, and decided that’s what I wanted to do!

I hate to admit this but whilst at school in around 1957/8 I used to get tickets and take parties of schoolkids to shows such as “Double Your Money” and “Take Your Pick”, and they were film recorded  in the Associated Rediffusion Studios in Wembley – now Fountain. After the show you could often sneak into a corridor running between the studios and look through the observation windows into the other studios, which is what inspired me to apply for a job in TV.