Tony Grant
Every so often the conversations I’m having with friends here (especially amongst those in the local branch of U3A) get round to how it used to be done properly (not Wobblycam and Mumblegate) – and live telly. One of the popular topics, at the moment, is that of music on telly, and of course I have told them how I worked on OGWT. However, the purpose of this email is to see if anyone can refresh my memory – I have told all and sundry that the whole programme was held together by Tom Cork’s PA Rosa – but I can’t remember her surname, help! Her bar counting was immaculate, and she knew every song forwards/backwards/sideways, and so if/when the group performing went off on an extended extemporaneous meander (improvisation, if you’re a jazz aficionado) she would let us know what they were doing, and when they had got back to ‘the rehearsal script’. Take us Pres, OK we’re off air, see you in hospitality…
Chris Glass
15 of 16 , 16 of 16, 17 of 16, 18 of 24?,
Tony Grant
Also due in part to Tom’s somewhat eccentric and erratic cuts.
And yes, working regularly on the show you could tell immediately when the group had ventured off piste, as we might well do afterwards in hostility.
Barry Bonner
Rosa Rudnicka… lovely lady. (Hope the spelling is correct).
Peter Cook
Lovely lady indeed and fearless. When she was doing a spell as PA with events (Kensington House) at a Party Conference in Brighton she joined in with crew activities. This included at least one visit to a sauna club!
Her bar counting was my saviour on “Live Aid”. I was in the airship and there was no channel available for programme sound. Tom and Rosa were the only team to make the best use musically of my camera. Other directors just shouted which as you can imagine did not help!
Tony Lennon
Talking of Tom…when OGWT left Pres and did several series from Riverside, Shepperton, and various university student unions, one of Rosa’s key jobs was to get him propped up in front of the vision mixer in time for the as-live recordings, after his usual five or six pint refreshment break late-afternoon. He didn’t so much step into the scanner, as get poured in on most occasions. Happy days….
Peter Cook
If, as often, Tom was first to the bar and anyone ordered scotch, he would ask ‘a double or a large one?’
