Bill Jenkin

[Ron Peverall] will be 90 this month and [he and his wife Adrienne]  live in Cornwall. Apparently Ron is still bright as a button but his eyesight isn’t so good.   Adrienne thought we might be interested in this photo of Ron. Ron can’t remember which show but thought it was at Lime Grove. If so,  I reckon it was probably TOTP in G.

Any ideas?

 

Tony Grant

[I] worked on Ron’s crew for a few years, especially on “Blankety Blank” and “The Generation Game”. I think the photos below are in TVT, so almost certainly “The Generation Game”.

We did the first series of “Blankety Blank”, and used to record two shows, one after the other. Having recorded the first two, the following week Marcus Plantin met us at the beginning of rehearsals to tell us to ‘slow down’ because we were too slick, making the show look rehearsed. Ron and I were doing the celebrity CUs, and of course, with one celeb framed up, we were looking round the camera to see if one of the others was more likely to chip in. VM Bill Morton was used to fluid situations such as this, and sat in the gallery with his pipe clenched firmly between his teeth, and cut to each and every shot the moment it was correctly framed and static. A tribute to the professionalism displayed by the whole of Tech Ops and terribly difficult to ‘slow down’, akin to the working-to-rule shooting of several years previously. I have some photos from the programme, if I can find them, but that could take……………add your own timescale!

 

Vernon Dyer

I, too, was on Ron’s Crew 3, at first when he was Ed Stuart’s no.2, then he took over as senior when Ed went to Production.  This was in 1964-67, so before “Blankety Blank” and “The Generation Game” days.

My regards to Ron and I wish him a very happy birthday..

 

Robin Sutherland

[Ron Peverall] was my very first senior cameraman at TC when I arrived in August 1966 fresh from Evesham. I joined Crew 3 as a trainee and still have many great memories of my earliest days doing TOTP in G, “The Black and White Minstrel Show”  etc.

Vernon Dyer was on it then, DO1 Vern?

 

Vernon Dyer

Yep!  I regularly swung both Ed and Ron on the Mole

 

Robin Sutherland

I remember thinking at the time that Ron was rather hard on me, but looking back he was spot on, and I benefited greatly from his constructive comments! 

There is still a great Crew 3 photo on the Tech Ops website, taken after one TOTP by Harry Goodwin.

Ron came out on several attachments to OBs, and I last saw him when we were doing the bike coverage of The Milk Race in 1990. It started in Penzance and Chris Wickham, Nick Jordan and I [who had all been on his crew at various times] rang him and we spent a very jolly evening at his house. 

 

Dave Newbitt

I was on the crew with Ed, Ron et al. for quite some time and like all of you thought Ron was a great guy.

 

Adrienne Peverall

Ron is amazed at how many people remember him, and he thanks everyone for their good wishes!  It’s really great to hear from old colleagues and hear their memories of the shows, and yes, Ron remembers  Robin’s visit here in 1990 when he was doing the Milk Race with OBs! Sadly, Chris Wickham died last December.