Not the Musical – but what the dolly operators operated …
Geoff Fletcher
This dolly – is it a Proctor? Opinions (and memories) vary and it has been quoted as a Kestrel (I don’t think so personally), a Paddock (ditto) or a Door Dolly (definitely not!) . My money is on a Proctor.
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Bernie Newnham, Graeme Wall, Albert Barber
Pathfinder? That would be my guess, we had one at Southern.
Kestrel?
Steve Edwards
The Vinten Falcon does not look like this similar, but apparently, smaller crane. As far as I am aware the more modern looking Vinten Kestrel replaced the Falcon although both cranes still continued in use together on BBC OBs.
I have also seen the mystery crane referred to as a ‘Wembley Dolly’ but also there was the much smaller dolly called a ‘Wally Dolly’ that was actually made by Vinten, indicating these aren’t the manufacturer’s names.
ATV Borehamwood also used this same crane. Interestingly, the camera turntable part that incorporated the seat and P&T head was used on the CRE camera platform.
… so any more to support the Proctor bet?
Peter Cook
Unsurprisingly, since the Roving Eye was built at Wembley and the Colour Roving Eye at Kendal Avenue Acton, by BBC mech workshops, the seat structure was almost certainly either robbed from a Wembley Dolly or was a BBC OB workshop copy.
David Carter
It’s a Wembley dolly.
http://kaobs.com/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=99
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Peter Cook and Feline focus puller.
Peter Cook
I am absolutely certain that it is not a Kestrel. I do not think that they even existed when the photo was taken. The Falcon dolly was probably new then. I am equally sure from memory that you are showing a Wembley Dolly, named because BBC OB were based at Palace of Arts, Wembley. Is that not Andy Tallack on the left with fag? In the photo, you might notice who is sitting on the Dolly with kitten assisting with zoom? C’est moi! In fact, I posted that particular image. It was taken on a “Wheelbase” shoot at Shamley Green in Surrey, a programme featuring Bentleys and Lagondas. This was in the year preceding WO’s death. (W. O, Bentley.) Anecdotally, during a line up time, I was invited into a bungalow for coffee. Chatting away to a nice old gent, I suddenly became aware from all the photos and other paraphernalia, that I was having coffee with the great man in his own living room! More photos here: please go to the kaobs. photo for more.
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1969 “Wheelbase” – W. O. Bentley with Mrs Bentley
1969 “Wheelbase” – Bentley in Shamley Green.
Geoff Fletcher
I have never heard the term Wembley dolly – must be a BBC OBs name for it perhaps resulting from its regular usage at that venue. The general consensus now seems to be that it is a Proctor. It isn’t a Kestrel as photos show this to be an entirely different design.
I now have definite confirmation from my old planning sheets (from my Anglia UM days), on my camera mounts list: it is a Proctor.
Chris Woolf
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-an-atv-pye-mk3-television-camera-mounted-on-a-proctor-dolly-operated-389519.html
… would seem to confirm that a Proctor and a Wembley are indeed identical.
How worrying that the history of as little as the last 50 years is becoming blurred, even amongst the cognoscenti.
Tony Nuttall
My favourite picture of a TV Cameraman taken at an ATV OB from Shrewsbury Flower show in 1959. I do not know the cameraman’s name. Great detail of the Lens boxes, diascope mounted on the turret ready for L/U. Note the Proctor/Wembley has a ATV Logo! Must have fur lined jacket, essential accessory for a young man in The TOP Job!
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Another Dolly
Tony Crake
Here is another ‘dolly’
I can see Vinten written on it … what’s this then??
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Geoff Fletcher
It’s a Kestrel.
Peter Cook
But no instruction as to how to balance the different platform loads. It was a combination of gas pressure topped up with air pressure (using a lever driven pump). Quite frequently the nitrogen bottle was not available and one had to make do with air. A bugger if the previous user was a 9 stone midget with a lightweight camera and you were a 13 stone bloke with a full size camera and big zoom. Even a small error in N pressure would mean that one did not have the whole range of elevation and there would be a tendency to creep.
Steve Edwards
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Meanwhile … I’ve got a dolly here labelled Wolly Dolly (ex KA) but it has been modified with an Eclair wind-up column. Not sure why?
Some will recall that it’s a Vinten OB dolly – I’m looking for one like this if anyone knows of any survivors lurking in sheds, garages, living rooms etc- I’m also looking for a Gully dolly, or should I say Ped. (Don’t think Vinten – wasn’t it French?)
Alex Thomas
Perhaps the worst ped was the “Gully” which came from Holland and was used at Kendal Avenue for many years.
An awful mounting relying on springs to counterbalance the camera. I don’t think anybody ever achieved a decent track, crab or elevation on the brute.
Not a favourite mounting amongst KA crews.
John Bennett
Gully pictures are not easy to find, but there is this picture in the Science Museum: a “Vinten Gully” (obviously not Dutch).
The legend states:
Vinten Gully pedestal for Marconi ‘Coffin’ television camera
Object Name: Television camera pedestal
Maker: W Vinten
Place Made: United Kingdom
Date Made: 1960-1969
Description: Vinten Gully OB (outside broadcast) pedestal
Peter Cook
Re the Gully Dolly, the photo from Science Museum is definitely the business, (Tel OBs ones were grey not bronze painted) but I do not recall it being of Vinten manufacture. They were designed to split so could be rigged where the likes of a Plover could not.
Alex Thomas
The Lightweight dolly could easily track through a standard doorway. Inflatable tyres – but don’t use a gas bottle to top up tyre pressure. The tyre would explode!
I remember a church service in an old London church when the combined weight of dolly, camera and cameraman ended a track up the aisle by breaking into the tomb of a man who had lain there undisturbed for a couple of centuries. Fortunately it was the rehearsal and not the live TX.
There was a monstrously heavy monochrome camera which was loathed by all on OBs. The lens lay alongside the I O tube and the light was bounced round the end. On the Boat Race the plan was hatched to let it go down the slipway into the water and never be seen again.
Sadly after the release of the dolly with camera mounted and plenty of slack cable, a member of the public jumped forward and “saved” the thing. We were stuck with the camera for a few more months.
The Falcon had a spec that it could be split into 3 parts and fitted into a pair of London taxis. (Must be apocryphal.)
I worked on the early Heron dollies but went to OBs before the arrival of the Vinten Peregrine. Now that was a strange beast indeed.
Geoff Fletcher
We had one of these at Anglia TV for OB use and it was known as a Door Dolly. The front wheels could be extended on their axles to aid stability, but with them inboard it would indeed track through a standard door width.
Bernie Newnham
The only time I ever operated one of those early Philips colour cameras was on a cricket match with the Welsh OB unit – in East London. It was mounted on one of these things. At some point I was asked for a shot and twiddled the top round sideways and the whole thing started to topple. Luckily the riggers were next to me and stopped it. Probably why they were there.
I wasn’t one of the worlds natural OB cameramen (hated it actually) , and having a camera near fall over was one of the things that convinced me that I was destined for a different life.
Dave Mundy
You need a good head for heights and a steady grip on OBs!
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Alasdair Lawrance
At Grampian in Edinburgh, we inherited a Vinten ‘Dutch Dolly’ perhaps from ATV along with the drive-in scanner. Take my advice, do not try tracking on this with a Marconi Mk 3 – not a good idea!
Peregrine
Geoff Fletcher
Here’s a mention of the Peregrine. A strange beast indeed. It used to scar the lino floors if it was spun too fast. It was a sod to work with as I recall.
I see from my diaries that I was down to track it in TC5 on 7 August 1968 but I took leave instead!
Bernie Newnham
The website has a whole page on the Peregrine: 
I’ve put an mp4 version of the Peregrine film [on YouTube] 
[Ed: entry edited to match site update…March 2024…]
Chris Woolf
A wonderful demonstration of the inevitable pitch and yaw problems association with moving a large mass on laggy servos. Impressive how well the crew achieved something usable – but clear enough to the perspicacious why it was never going to be a winner.
The Peregrine was a classic example of a tech spec that was always going to be impossible to satisfy. In mechanical terms it ignored simple physics – the length of arm sitting on a ridiculously short wheelbase required a level of rigidity from everything, including tyres and floor, that could never exist. In operational terms it required a tracker to keep two independent frames of reference in mind, while being rotated in space – something that even highly trained helicopter pilots struggle with despite the advantage of several blind-flying aids to give them a sense of their personal orientation. I did a couple of training sessions on it, but the tendency of a rear wall to suddenly appear in the wrong place was very difficult to overcome, and the enormous tilting moment of the arm meant that the base inevitably rocked on its tyres and rammed the cable guards into the floor, unless they were set so high that they ceased to function. Any cable basher nearby should have had enhanced life insurance.
Geoff Fletcher
I think it ended up under a tarp in the scene dock ring road eventually, or at least for a while.
You had to have at least two minders with the thing when in use to prevent clobbering other studio crew. The visibility astern wasn’t good, and anyway you had to concentrate so hard tracking it, you had no time to watch your environs.
The helicopter analogy is a good one.
John Vincent
I was one of the few to operate the damned thing on a real show. I tracked and Julian Clapham was Cameraman. It was however the pre-cursor to getting rid of ride-on cranes.
Remembering Julian, he was an accomplished Rally Driver. There are stories of him demonstrating handbrake turns in BBC car parks.
Peter Fox
Didn’t someone write a few years back that they had Julian driving a bus down West somewhere? His passengers must have been a bit worried in the snow. We’ve all seen the Chiswick bus garage skidpan films.
Pat Heigham
The Camera Dept. were not the only people to suffer the infliction of faulty designed equipment (Peregrine dolly), there was another dolly sound boom that made an appearance in TVC studios – the Pedalo! This had a comfy chair for the operator, which together with the complete boom-arm support could be panned around by bicycle pedals. There was so much slack in the chain drive of this mechanism, that it was near impossible to manoeuvre to any exact degree of precision, and was generally hated.
Dave Plowman
Teddington Studios still had a couple of those left lying around when I arrived. They had been modified by having the seat and pedals etc removed, and a larger platform. Known locally as a 360 – as you could walk the arm round 360 degrees. They were also fitted with Fisher arms by then.
Mike Giles
We made the same mod to Pedalos in Bristol and with the Fisher arm they were excellent in a small studio as you could cover virtually everything from a central position without much tracking.
Nick Ware
Poor old Pedalo! You weren’t supposed to use the pedals to pan the mic, you did that from a static position using the boom arm movements. The pedalo bit meant that you never had to stand on the corner of a square platform over a triangular wheelbase, as you did somewhat dangerously with its contemporary, the Mole. I saw the Pedalo as a brave attempt to make a boom less precarious by keeping the operator nearer to the centre of the wheelbase. The Fisher, when it came, was a major improvement in many ways.
The Peregrine. What an absurd contraption! Heath Robinson would be proud. Interesting to note that everything it’s trying to do, the boom is showing it how. If only they’d had GoPros then!
Alasdair Lawrance
John Henshall demonstrated that shortly after with a small CCTV type camera instead of a mic. Somewhere in TC, IIRC, but I don’t remember when.
Roger Bunce, Bernie Newnham
John Henshall’s demo of a camera-in-a-boom is on page 164 of the old site: http://www.tech-ops.co.uk/page164.html
Geoff Fletcher
I also saw him do a demo of that with Dick Hibberd at Vintens in Bury St Edmunds? I think it was a Guild do or something. I definitely saw it somewhere while I was at Anglia TV. I particularly remember they put the camera through the spokes of a wagon wheel, turned it through 180 degrees it and looked back at the set, and also dropped the camera into a beer crate and looked through the handhold slot. They pulled back through the wheel spokes and went into a high shot looking vertically down on the presenter. It was a real eye-opener at the time.
John Henshall
My camera in the boom idea – aka the ‘KingFisher’ – was directed by Bernie in TC6 (in the dinner break) with the help of Bill Millar. It was for a Royal Television Society lecture which Dick Hibberd and I (for the Guild of Television Cameramen) were asked to give by Bill Vinten. The cameraman/boom op was Mike Cotton. Bob Dinsmore recorded it on 2-inch Quad VTR. Lawrence J. Duley was watching from the second floor observation gallery and I was told off for ‘using BBC facilities without permission’. Note: no ‘what a great idea John’. Typical Tech.Ops. management.
However, L J Duley did like the ‘Dutch’ dolly when I brought back details of it from NOS in Hilversum when I went there with the George Mitchell Choir in 1964. That’s how that was introduced to the UK. I still have the photo somewhere …
Nick Ware
Junior management had an interesting attitude towards minions like John and me showing above normal initiative! I was once booked as gram op to go to IBC Studios in Langham Place for a music recording session. The sound supervisor, who shall be nameless, didn’t show up, so because I was on home ground at IBC in my own right (we cut many LP lacquer masters there), I did the session. Back at TC, I got summoned to Sam Hutchings’ office for a bollocking, which I duly got. As a grade C- gram op, how dare I?! But next time I saw Sam, he said, “Oh by the way, well done”. It was the Jackanory title music, and it stood the test of time!
Managers – pah!
Pat Heigham
I didn’t know your story, Nick, but with hindsight experience, you might have stood your ground and demanded a pay upgrade for that day!
As has been said, the ‘management’ had a (now) thought to be stupid and short-sighted attitude to demonstrated initiative? Pity, since that degree of talent (e.g.Henshall’s BoomCam) should have been fallen on with glee, and properly developed. So what have we got, many years later – the jib with remote controlled head.
Maybe it’s sour grapes/jealousy that ‘management’ didn’t think of these things first!
There was a distinct reluctance to credit staff with effort – while working on the very early “Dr. Who’”s, was asked to provide a diagram for the pluggery involved in creating the Dalek voices, in co-operation with the Radiophonic workshop.
I drew out the desk circuitry as settled on, and entered my name at the bottom as ‘drawn by’ like an architect’s plan.
This was removed after I had rendered it to Sam Hutchings.
Bernie Newnham
It wasn’t just tech ops management. In the early days of desktop computers I was much encouraged by the then Pres management to develop an idea I had to computerize our nitty grtty scheduling system.
Programmes didn’t last 29.30 and trails didn’t run 1.00 but you still had to get to the Nine O’Clock News on time so much fiddling was required. Up to then it was a mechanical calculator and Tippex.
Things were going well when the management changed and a new one appeared. They didn’t like me and they had grand expensive plans so I stopped. Then the BBC World TV services came along with no money, and the boss at that time, one Warwick Cross of this parish, asked me to revive it. Within a few months half the BBC TV output was scheduled on what was now called PILOTS. That’s an acronym for something, but someone made it up because I’d just learned to fly and was always asking people to be passengers (sharing the cost!)
So – did the new management offer huge bonuses, and much praise for saving the BBC many thousands of pounds? Of course not. They gave me my first annual report in years, a much fabricated very bad one, and tried to get me out of the BBC. I don’t think our wonderful boss even knew how much she was relying on me till the man in charge of World Pres explained it to her. My system ran the World Pres services for nine years with an office full of people using it. Meanwhile they commissioned another system for BBC1 and 2 which cost tens of millions and was pretty much stalled for 5 years. I could have put in a version of mine in in half an hour. I haven’t forgotten the injustice, but we all know that’s the BBC.
Alasdair Lawrance
That all sounds fairly typical, and I’m quite certain it’s a tale that many of us could repeat – working in our own time, begging, borrowing (not stealing!) from various sources to advance the cause, whatever it may be. I once made an excellent contact at the machine-shop in the Polytechnic of the South Bank, which was also GLC/ILEA (now London University of the South Bank, or somesuch), who made all sorts of widgets for me, as well as copying special tools for Bentleys. In return, I recorded/copied stuff for him, mostly low band U-matic – happy days!
Back to booms …
Tony Crake
Sometime before I arrived at TVC , was there not a big studio production all about the JFK assassination? A huge model of the entire motorcade route with a camera in a boom ? so about 1964 or 1965?
David Brunt
Sounds like the 1965 play “Lee Harvey Oswald – Assassin”. It centred on Oswald’s (fictional) trial.
John Vincent
I worked on a Paul Merton pilot called “Does China Exist”.
One segment was a studio re-enactment of the JFK Assassination. One element was a chap sitting in an armchair throwing cakes at the motorcade.
He was the Bunman on the Parker Knolle.
Pat Heigham
Whilst idly trolling the Internet to see if the dolly could be ‘tracked’ down, I happened across Dicky Howett’s website of historic kit for hire as authentic props.
A fascinating wallow in nostalgia!
http://www.golden-agetv.co.uk/index.php
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Graeme Wall
Nice to see Big Bertha in her original colours, looked a bit drab under TVS:
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Pat Heigham
I also came across this picture.
Intriguing, but I suspect that the grips would mutiny at having to lay the track!
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