| From Tech Ops Conversations during March 2024 |
| From Tech Ops Conversations during Feb 2024 |
A few Random Old Pages |
.and a Few Random Old Pages
| EMI 203, EMI 2001, Mole Crane and I, Claudius | ||
| First BBC A Course , Going for Gold , Barry Webb and Stan Appel | ||
| Dicky Howett Camera Collector |
It is with great sadness that I share with you that Bernie died [on the 17th August 2023]. He had been ill for some time, but was able to spend his last few months at home where he wanted to be.
Thank you to the friends who kept in touch over the years.
If you don’t know me, I’m his wife and we’d been together for 41 years.
If you didn’t know Bernie, then you missed out.
Very sad news coming in overnight that Bernie Newnham has passed away. When I worked in VT Current Ops he was the director of “Points Of View”. I lost contact with him but was back in contact about 10 years ago, he was the same person as he was back at TV Centre in the 1980s, always willing to help and to chat. I’m very sorry to hear this.
Very sad news to hear that Bernie Newnham has sadly passed away. Thank you to his wife Pauline for letting people know, and our condolences go out to Pauline and to Bernie’s family at large.
Amongst all his professional work for the BBC, Bernie set up the BBC TV Tech Ops website. Perhaps initially it was just a place to capture those few photographs of studio technical operations work in the late 1960s and later, under Bernie’s tutelage and guidance the Tech Ops website developed into a storehouse of pictures, stories – and gossip – of technical operations work in the latter half of the twentieth century – a sort of “folk history” of broadcasting in the “golden years” of television, including the opening of BBC 2 and the introduction of colour television, when theatrical style multicamera live or “as live” television broadcasting was the norm. It offered a balance to those academical histories of broadcasting. I never knew Bernie when he worked for the BBC : I found his web site by chance after retirement and when Bernie asked for a volunteer to review, collate and condense a backlog of emails sent to him by BBC Technical operators, as I was recovering from a major operation, I took on that job. That job grew and grew – with Bernie’s blessing: he had a light hand to guide – and gently rebuke, where necessary, and I have been really pleased to have been associated with Bernie’s website. I always had at the forefront of my mind that it was Bernie’s site – and how he would want it to be. It was an absolute pleasure to “work” for Bernie – but now, like parts of Television Centre, the beating heart has gone. So, Goodbye, Bernie – trouble is, we will now never know your stories of working with Ann Robinson on “Points Of View” (how we were looking forward to that!). Cut to “The End” caption, fade down to black. Thank you, Studio…
Please see the Message [as above, forwarded by Paul] about Bernie from his wife. As you may be aware the Tech Ops announce system is currently unreliable, so I have forwarded this directly as an email to all those who have emails registered with this group. (I have also copied this to Tech Ops as a few emails occasionally get through.)
Personally I find this very sad news, my thoughts are with those left behind.
Thank you Paul for relaying Pauline’s sad message about Bernie.
Yet another unwanted milestone.
Many of the Tech Ops people sent email tributes directly to Bernie’s family. A selection of these, together with many messages from other groups of people with whom Bernie worked with or played with, were put together and formed a lovely tribute – or Eulogy – read by Alan Dedicoat at Bernie’s funeral.
With the permission of Bernie’s family and permission from Alan Dedicoat, here is the Eulogy based on your fond thoughts.
When the clip has finished, please click your Browser’s BACK button to return to this page
(a lower resolution version, which may be quicker to load from YouTube,
is available here:)
Currently, Bernie’s Funeral Service can be seen in full here.
What a joyous delight to see Paddington Bear at tea with the Queen – and eating marmalade sandwiches.
There was a rumour that the Queen herself was to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars.
It was Mike Bond, of course, late of this parish, who created the lovable bear.
March 1919 … One hundred and three years ago … they knew what personal phones would be do to our lives …
All the drama series on TV and many films have been set in London – but where would their tube stations be?
Halyna Hutchins was shot while working on the set of the 19th Century western “Rust” as director of photography when actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on this New Mexico film set
There were guns and gunshots in many TV productions over the years – here are your comments.
BBC News moved to a new studio in New Broadcasting House with new robotic cameras and a new wide screed and also adopted a new style of presentation. There were comments…
And there was a new distraction: what shoes are the weatherperson wearing today?
What are the odds on your reading this?
Dave Newbitt visited Fishguard, and he found a plaque identifying the town as the setting for a 1971 film of “Under Milk Wood”, set in a large irregular block of stone at the head of the Quay. It turns out that the plaque is one of 126 erected by the British Film Institute (BFI).
The comics we read as children.
Bernie found lots and lots of stuff at the back of a cupboard, and here is just one photo – Bernie thinks that it is at Evesham…
Whenever it is time for the Eurovision Song Contest, it’s impossible for the British media to cover it without mentioning ABBA winning in 1974 – and Alan Taylor was there, scanning for suitable washers to get his mic stands vertical.
Mike Jordan was at Wembley Conference Centre 1n 1977 with, yes, Stewart Morris producing.
Bernie blazed the trial for Bucks Fizz in 1988, when the juries took no time in making their minds up – and of course, the BBC had to host Eurovision the next year, 1982, and Colin Hassell was there.
And so we will go directly from one set of music outside broadcasts to another music festival outside broadcast event and discussions as to scanners and their placements.
A picture came by way of Facebook of a cameraman perched on the control tower at Farnborough Air Show in 1953 – and by the looks of it, it had a zoom lens.
Of course, there was an historic, more famous outside broadcast in June 1953 – the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Another picture came our way: this is MCR 21 at Wembley for the 1966 World Cup. MCR 21 has been restored: Wembley has been completely rebuilt.
“Gemini” (or the similar 35mm film version “Add-A-Vision” ) was a system that aimed to combine the speed and ease of video recording with the quality of 16mm film. Essentially, a 16mm film camera was mounted alongside a standard television electronic camera. Edit marks were automatically added to the film by a remote feed from the vision mixer’s desk, enabling a film editor to exactly match the video version of the show. This page discusses the Beeb’s cautious approach to this technology and the TO response to it.
Some tales of some people’s life after leaving the BBC.
we now have TWO numbered photographs Of the crew in TC1 and TC2 for the live transmission of “Our World”, but still less than half of the people in the photos have bEen identified as yet. This is the latest list!
More of Roger Bunce’s art and wit! Beware, it is of it’s time …
Triumph Heralds and Courier vans, moonlighting and more.
John Howell (Hibou) set a puzzle: which year was this photograph taken at Wimbledon?
There should be enough information in the picture for you to make a decision. There are (unfortunately) no prizes for a correct answer – but the topic provoked some lively discussion.
The first electronic builds made by some BBC Technical Operators, and discussion abut the first tape recorders that they used.
Some of us felt that we had been assigned to the wrong job when we first joined the Beeb, and then were able to transfer within the BBC to a position which seemed correct for us.
Also, when we look to see what money others were making using the skills we possessed – well, we were definitely in the wrong job!
[Ed: sometimes it takes until later in life before you fall into a job which simply is just made for you …]
A page of two halves. The first is Roger taking the mickey out of Management. The seconf half is a collection of pictures found by his son, Robin, showing Roger at work with a model set.
As one of our correspondents says, “…[Roger] was clearly in a class of his own for inventiveness, use of language, sharp observation and all-round ability to make a point in an incredibly effective way. It is humbling to see such ability..”
Back in the mid nineteen-eighties BBC research invented a digital sound system – NICAM. France and Italy produced similar stereo line transmission systems at the same time, and they were all to do with digital transmission of audio.
Following a lot of discussion about “The Blue Peter Book of Television” on a Facebook group (and not all very accurate), comments centred on who was on the front of the camera crane.
After some nearly 55 years, it is tricky to remember everything that was part of Technical Operations inthe studioes when going live with a weekly theatrical style, multicamera drama seriessuch as “Z Cars”, “Dixon” or “Softly Softly”, Here are some responses to a quick questionnaire sent out to te Tech Ops group.
It was the time of the World Cup and the new MCR 21 was there to show it. It was also the year of (yet)(another) General Election, and this is the start of the coverage on the Friday morning after the Thursday night before.
An very interesting picture came Alasdair Lawrance’s way – the problem being to identify the type of Camera in use!
The M.P. , TV interviewer, author – “Misleading Cases” – and some quotes from Winston Churchill and Herbert.
An interesting idea may not be supported by the existing technology. Only when the technology has evolved sufficiently can the idea find that its time has come, can be implemented, and so improve the experiences for everyone involved.
Technical Operators used the equipment, and their skills in using that equipment, to help tell a story for the viewers, to communicate an idea, to turn the director’s, actors , authors, designers vision into coherent pictures and sound in the viewers’ living rooms.…
Expenses – to some, it is petty cash, to some it is pretty cash. Is there anyone who has not, at some time or another, tried it on with the expense claim? Thought not…
The Motion Picture Research Council Camera Crane, manufactured by Mole-Richardson under licence, known as the MPRC Crane in official documents but universally known as the Mole Crane, was generally confined to the studios and never saw the light of day. What a surprise to see one in broad daylight in a Sky Atlantic production! Mind you, it was only as a prop!
Most of us learnt how to swing a Mole by watching, learning, and getting it wrong. Later, the BBC establishment instituted some training for the Mole crews, and here are some examples.
There was also a BBC film about Manual Handling – and this shows a Nike Crane and a Vinten ped in use, but there seems to be little in the way of manual handling training.
The episode for Thursday 28th April 2022 showed Jean Slater, who is bipolar, suffering with delusions in a manic phase, and chases round a funfair in Southend and then heads out to sea.
Karl Neilson was the director, and here he shares some insights into how the episode was conceived and shot.
First TO: What’s an Eido for?
Second TO: Ei dunno!
It wasn’t funny then, and certainly isn’t now
In the mid nineteen sixties, scheduled for the theatre, spending all afternoon and evening sitting in the circle next to a great grey-green greasy oily smelly smoky machine while a couple of worthy but dull old ladies are the subject of “This Is Your Life” – memories are made of this…
More in connection with the start of BBC 2.
A booklet about the Gaumont-British studios (previously Gainsborough Studios) at Lime Grove surfaced a second time, this time provoking some interesting comments.
Roger Bunce was a studio cameraman (including on Crew 14) but was also a talented artist, animator and writer of satirical comedy. Roger drew some excellent cartoons for the Guild of Television Cameramen’s early magazine.
Roger was fascinated by the weird and wonderful work of the Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), and wondered what he would have made of a TV Studio as source of Earthly Delights
Bernie set a quiz question…Spot the Error!
Once again, a piece of historic television equipment was being used as a prop in the new television programme – but could it have worked?
Television Technical Operations Staff List for August 1974.
Mike DuBoulay has found the course schedule for T.O. 16
With this schedule, it is possible to give some sort of idea of what it was like at Wood Norton Hall at the time of T.O. 16. This page gathers together some existing images and material from around the Tech Ops site – and includes the Wood Norton Canteen Menu for the start of the course!
Yet another day doing something to do with current affairs down in Lime Grove… it was only more than half a century later I realised who we had been working with that day!
