This certainly doesn’t start off as part of Tech Ops history, but …

Dave Mundy

We all know that song. How many items does the receiver end up with after twelve days? I said 78, my wife said 353. Who’s right?

Dave Plowman

You must be managing to avoid ITV. The answer is in an Xmas commercial – I think for Morrison.

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Dave Buckley

The answer is factorial 12 – that is 1; then 1+2; then 1+2+3 etc to 12. If you listen to the song, ‘my true love gives’ the presents each day, so one on the first day, two on the second etc, all of which add up.

(The answer of 78 refers to the 12th day only).

Bill Jenkin

The total numbers of gifts she gets are:

• 1 partridge in a pear tree on each of the 12 days. 1 x 12 = 12
• 2 turtle doves on the last 11 days. 2 x 11= 22
• 3 French hens on the last 10 days. 3 x 10 = 30
• 4 calling birds on the last 9 days. 4 x 9 = 36
• 5 gold rings on the last 8 days. 5 x 8 = 40
• 6 geese a-laying on the last 7 days. 6 x 7 = 42
• 7 swans a-swimming on the last 6 days. 7 x 6 = 42
• 8 maids a-milking on the last 5 days. 8 x 5 = 40
• 9 ladies dancing on the last 4 days. 9 x 4 = 36
• 10 lords a-leaping on the last 3 days. 10 x 3 = 30
• 11 pipers piping on the last 2 days. 11 x 2 = 22
• 12 drummers drumming on the last day. 12 x 1 = 12

Total 364 (unless you count the pear trees as separate  gifts in which case it would be 376).

OK that’s wasted a bit of time while I am supposed to be Christmas shopping, I’m pleased to say.

Pat Heigham

I would agree that if the verses of the song are interpreted  literally, the earlier presents are copied again as time goes on.

I expect people have seen the ‘thank-you’ letter.  

[Ed: The URLs originally supplied by Pat no longer exist, unfortunately. Sorry Pat! Instead, here is a sampler…]

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Roger Bunce

I have just come to the same result:

364 if you count ‘A Partridge in a Pear Tree’ as a single gift, or
376 if you count a Partridge and a Pear Tree as two separate gifts,

or

if you assume that only the first mentioned gift arrives on that particular day, and all the repletion is just a recap on gifts received on previous days, then 78 (or 79).

UNLESS,

of course, some of those Ladies Dancing had done a quick costume change, having previously been Maids a-Milking, and some of those Lords a-Leaping had doubled up as Drummers, or even Pipers – that’s the way they’d have done it at the Beeb – then it all gets more complicated!

And now, a Crew Christmas Card from 1978 (ish)

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Bernie Newnham

My wife has been re-watching all of the “X-Files” on a channel called Spike. Apparently an ad which has the answer to this runs in pretty much every break. 364 she said without a pause when asked.

Philip Tyler

What about ‘the maids a milking?’

They must be milking something, so another 32 cows? 

Dave Mundy

Not necessarily cows, it could be goats or nursing Mums or any male animal they want to breed from via IVF (remember Rebecca Loos!), and so on – my wife is giggling about this thread she started!

Roger Bunce

And the Drummers must have brought their drums, and sticks; the Pipers must have brought their pipes; the Lords may have brought something to leap over; if the Geese were a-laying, they must have had at least one egg each, and . . . I give up.

Steve Edwards

“Wishing you all a very Happy Xmas”

To all Camera Operators past and present, Techies, Anoraks, Boffins, those folks with ‘too much time on their hands’, anyone suffering various forms of OCD ! (you know who you are) and of course to everyone else who contributes by making the Tech Ops forum an interesting place !

Well, it was a toss up whether to switch over to the Morecambe & Wise Christmas Show (no offence intended of course) or stay viewing this …?

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Geoff Fletcher

The EMI2001 – a proper cameraman’s camera! Nothing sticking out of the front to clobber things with, easy to balance on the head, four decent built in carrying handles, sharp picture in the v/f, and big enough to hide behind when being pelted with coins on OB footy matches!

John Nottage

Though if you didn’t install the zoom carefully, the lens made a nice splash when it hit the ground below the rostrum! I believe safety chains were added after. I imagine they were a bit awkward if you wanted to put one on your shoulder for a bit of hand-held work…

Nick Ware

The last EMI 2001 I saw, admittedly quite a few years ago, was at Brighton University, where it was being used as a coffee table in the TV studio green room.

Dave Mundy

Sacrilege!

Nick Ware

You might think so, but it was actually much admired, and sat there in the middle of the room like an altarpiece – the focus, albeit standard definition, of everybody’s attention. A better fate than landfill!

Geoff Fletcher

Sic transit gloria mundi!

Dave Mundy

I wondered when some clever-clogs would come up with that old chestnut! When I worked on Tel.OBs. Sports Unit one of the Assistant Producers, namely Sharon Lence, who we worked with quite often,  always referred to me as ‘Sic Transit’! (not that I ever was, but often felt like it, e.g. on board a Fastnet Race yacht!).

Barry Bonner

Doing a very boring “Grandstand” we all decided to mention what our nicknames were when at school… Sharon said she was called “Pesty”! Sue Boyd was “Basher” due to her hockey technique. Mine was “Bridget” ‘cos my initials coincided with the days when every newspaper was covered with stories about “BB”… Bridget Bardot!

Dave Mundy

‘Boring Grandstand’ – Ginge wouldn’t be happy with that description!

Geoff Fletcher

Why was it named 2001?  Was there any significance in that number? Was it an EMI design office number? Were the designers fans of Arthur C Clark?

No doubt someone among us will provide the answer…

John Bennett

The 200x range of EMI cameras are the Colour models, the 2001 being the first in use. Here is a complete list (with a few surprises!) with pictures of all the cameras at the TV Camera Museum

Ian Dow

Talking of EMI 2001 and Museums reminds me of working on an OB from the Albert Hall when the 2001 had seen better days. We had a line scan fault but no spare board, so went quickly down the road to the Science Museum and swapped it with the one in the camera on display.

Problem solved!