Can anyone shed any light on these photos?<\/p>\n
I found them in an old paperback about TV Drama I bought in a secondhand book shop.<\/p>\n The first photo is from \u201cHamlet\u201d (leading up to the ghost scene). \u00a0I have checked the DVD: the photo is definitely of \u201cHamlet\u201d.<\/p>\n The PA speakers on the booms suggest it’s an opera with the orchestra in another studio.<\/p>\n I reckon the this is ” The Tempest” (1980, Director John Gorrie, Producer Cedric Messina, starring Michael Horden. Written by William Shakespeare – loosely based on ‘Forbidden Planet’ – and featuring\u00a0Ford Prefect dressed in a worryingly skimpy bikini bottom!)<\/p>\n My claim is based purely on recognising the stylised rock formation and cave in the background.<\/p>\n “The Tempest” was one of the plays my granddaughter was doing for her ‘O’ Levels and, rather than read the whole thing with her, we bought the DVD. So, we’ve seen it fairly recently.<\/p>\n This features James Bolam dancing with a young lady \u2013 it looks like “When The Boat Comes In ” – but which studio and which crew?<\/p>\n I wondered if it was Rod Taylor half hidden by the boom, the trade mark vertical pan-bar.<\/p>\n The cameraman on 4 appears to have a beard and, possibly, glasses. \u00a0Could it be Mark Hatcher or John Bradberry?<\/p>\n Dave White is credited on IMDB with the 1981 series and I may have been with him at that time…. I’d have to check my personal file for any clues!<\/p>\n If this picture is “When the Boat Comes In ” then it’s almost certainly Crew 2, as I did quite a few of these in 1980\/1981.<\/p>\n It’s funny you should mention the vertical pan bar – I’m almost certain that’s me! I too used to work like that (having been an early ‘Jim’ convert) and I found it more comfortable to operate in tight situations (with a boom at your backside), as you could get closer to the carcass. Geoff Feld had moved over to production at this stage, and Mike Harrison was acting Senior Cameraman on Crew 2 for quite a long while.<\/p>\n But I’m afraid I don’t recognise anyone else in the picture. With me on the crew at the time were Mike Harrison and Chris Glass. \u00a0We also did “Old Grey Whistle Test ” and “Swap Shop ” during the same period. \u00a0I don’t think it’s John Bradbury on the other ped, and although Chris Glass was hirsuite, and often used glasses when working, it doesn’t look a lot like him either.<\/p>\n This looks a bit like the TV Theatre but to get that angle you would have to be where the Band Room (booth) was located. Interesting combination of camera and lens\u00a0– Marconi Mk.3 and Angenieux? An early Mole too.<\/p>\n This could be TVT. I think the booth was built when it was re-equipped with the Pye Mk 5. That was in progress when I joined in 1963.<\/p>\n I don’t think it was TVT – the circle wasn’t that far forward, and the prompt side of the audience stalls was without seating and floored in to provide a tracking platform for the Mole (and an orchestra booth under the circle).<\/p>\n In 1962, the Mole in the theatre had a driver’s platform (as featured in my 8mm colour film of the Minstrels!).<\/p>\n I never worked at the GG Hippodrome, but could the photo be the Greenwood?<\/p>\n The TVT control rooms were moved from backstage to the circle round about the time I left, around 1968\/9, maybe a bit earlier as the Hippodrome filled in while the TVT was out of service?<\/p>\n Referring to my film again, 1962\/3 still had the Marconi cams I think \u2013 requiring constant tweaking by the engineers, they sometimes didn’t bother to fully fasten the side covers back!, but I have some shots showing\u00a0the Pye cameras, probably 1965 ish.<\/p>\n The TVT as I knew it (1963 \u2013 1967) had a wide space between the stage and the front row of the stalls. \u00a0This area often had a Vinten Motorised crane.<\/p>\n Copy of image from tech-ops.co.uk<\/p>\n Can we identify the studio and anyone in the picture?<\/p>\n It’s a still from “This is the BBC” (1959) (The best specialised film of 1959). Watch on YouTube, courtesy Simon of the APTS – https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4K37_naDSEA<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I realise that it is me on the front of the motorised dolly being driven to the next set toward the end of that shot. As usual showing my best side! \u00a0Pretty sure it was Studio G if memory serves. I can\u2019t remember any of the other crew. I know it was a Richard Cawson production shot on film.<\/p>\n Could that be Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine of Visual Effects at far left? And the chap pushing Camera 3 looks like Doug Routledge.<\/p>\n A likeness to Jack Kine but I’d like to suggest Sound Assistant Ken Twitchen.<\/p>\n Could that be Tony Abbey (on camera 3) standing next to Maurice? \u00a0(agreed by Hugh Sheppard).<\/p>\n I’ve just had a look at the BBC’s newly launched Genome Project website, an interesting archive of Radio Times programme listings. The title page has a photo of a studio scene from monochrome days featuring Marconi Mk 4 cameras.<\/p>\n I wondered who was the featured cameraman wearing a rather lurid shirt. \u00a0Not the normal collar and tie and jacket attire I seem to recall from those days.<\/p>\n <h3>Peter Hider<\/strong><\/p>\n This, I’m pretty sure, is my very good friend Mike Du Boulay, sporting a very typical 1960’s\u00a0Canadian shirt. I shared a room with him in a house in Acton along with, among others, Pat Hubbard and\u00a0Garth Tucker although this Colonial \u00a0has lived back in Canada these last 50 years.<\/p>\n (David Hunter agrees that the cameraman is Mike Du Boulay.)<\/p>\n Here is a photo of Mike and his wife Nancy\u00a0on their honeymoon in England\u00a0with me in 1964.<\/p>\n \u2026 and another one of him at a Jazz Festival with me and our wives\u00a0in Florida in 2012. The hair and the dress\u00a0are now more sober.<\/p>\n I am going to hazard a guess that the title page photo was taken in \u00a0TC2 and that the programme is “Juke Box Jury”.<\/p>\n Camera 4 is (definitely) pointing at the audience:<\/p>\n The cue light is at the front of the Marconi Mk IVs and there is no sign of \u00a0any camera Cue Card or Viewfinder hood, \u00a0which there should be if the camera is pointing away from the audience.<\/p>\n A third camera is also pointing at the audience (hiding behind the main cameraman):<\/p>\n The Cue Card \u2013 correctly on the left hand side of the camera \u2013 is on\u00a0 the set side of the studio space.<\/p>\n Of the four cameras shown, only one is pointing at the set:<\/p>\n The only studios to have Marconi Mk IVs in my time at the Beeb were TC2 and TC3.<\/p>\n So what program, shot in TC2 or TC3, would have three cameras pointing at the audience at one time?\u00a0 One answer is certainly\u00a0“Juke Box Jury”.<\/p>\n Camera 1 was cleared to David Jacobs about half a minute before the other cameras were cleared back to the Jury (so David could comment on the record and introduce the first member of the panel), and normally all other cameras were cleared back to the Jury at the same time as soon as Camera 1 was on air, although sometimes the cameras would be cleared individually.<\/p>\n We had done the first “Juke Box Jury” live on one Saturday \u2013 all fine \u2013 then shuffled the audience and then recorded the episode for the next Saturday.\u00a0 Towards the end of (the edit of) one particular record, I had quite a nice shot.\u00a0 There was a lad in one of the front rows moving his head from side to side, and as he did this, another lad a few rows back came into vision \u2013 out of focus, so it was a focus pull. So the front lad rocked to the side on the beat, pull focus on the lad behind, front lad swung back into shot, pull focus on him.\u00a0 Nice comments came from the gallery.\u00a0 But it was at the end of grams playout: Camera 1 was already cleared.\u00a0 There were then two voices at the same time down talkback “Cut to Camera 4” and “Clear Camera … to Jury”.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you which camera was actually released, but as I was expecting to be cleared to the Jury what I (thought I) heard was “Clear Camera 4”.\u00a0 The Vision Mixer heard “Cut to Camera 4”, \u00a0so instead of a nice arty farty shot there are legs and cables and the audience rostrum bottom …. And it all went out the next Saturday …<\/p>\n As I didn’t get a telling off about this, I guess the Gallery knew that there had been some element of confusion …<\/p>\n I\u00a0called Mike Du Boulay\u00a0and sent him an email to which he replied:<\/p>\n Thanks for the head\u2019s-up call Peter; So “Juke Box Jury” was correct.<\/p>\n I worked on “Juke Box Jury” many times in 1966\/1967 in TC2 on Crew 4 \u00a0(Reg Poulter, Peter Ware, Peter Phipp, Jack Gardner).<\/p>\n Saturday: one live, then one recorded for TX the next week. I always did Camera 4. Shots for Camera 4 were something like this: If the artist was live in the Studio, then that would give the game away as Camera 4 had the shot behind the screen!<\/p>\n It seemed an easy show, but I remember it was quite hard work, especially the live show. The\u00a0pace was quick finding the audience shots.<\/p>\n That show was the start of my ‘Cameraman’s Back’!<\/p>\n One Saturday evening after the 2 off \u00a0 “Juke Box Jury”s, I was excited to take a lovely Make-Up girl (Jean MacMillan, remember her?) to the Festival Hall to see Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. I still remember it, wonderful! When the show was over I couldn’t get out of the seat; my back had completely seized up!<\/p>\n How to impress a lady!<\/p>\n I, too, went to that concert, it was absolutely brilliant, although I was there by myself. I would have loved to have helped you out with Jean had I but known!<\/p>\n I don\u2019t recall a Jean MacMillan, possibly after I had left, but I did have the hots for a gorgeous make-up girl named Natalie Calfe.<\/p>\n I remember seeing Ella with Count Basie (Norman Grant\u2019s tours) at the Gaumont Kilburn if I recall correctly, and was fortunate enough to cover an interview with Duke Ellington at LG where he had the whole studio crew laughing aloud at his droll remarks.<\/p>\n I was lucky to be scheduled with Hugh Barker when the Duke Ellington Orchestra were in TC4.<\/p>\n Amazing to listen to Hugh’s balance in the gallery and then open the door to the studio and hear them for real!<\/p>\n I gathered up all the spare TR90s I could find and made as many first generation 1\/4″ recordings as I could. I still have one!<\/p>\n Going round the desks before the show, to check that the mikes were all in position, I noticed that on the stand for Cootie Williams (I think) who played the trumpet ‘screamers’ there was a full page Playboy centrefold, obviously to give him inspiration!<\/p>\n +++++++<\/p>\n Robin said, in respect of the photo \u00a0\u201c… Not the normal collar and tie and jacket attire I seem to recall from those days…<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n I normally worked in shirtsleeves \u2013 with the mandatory tie, of course.\u00a0One day I was doing Cameras on Eric Sykes (can\u2019t remember the exact series).\u00a0 I was on a camera that was looking through the front door onto the set \u2013 there was to be some business with Corky, I believe. \u00a0The front door was to the side of the side.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the other cameras on set could see the bright white of my nice white shirt through the window in the door, and I was asked (very nicely, If I remember) if I could wear my jacket to prevent the glare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Background Evening meal break \u2013 to the canteen for pork pie, chips and beans \u2013 back to the studio. Some time to go before line-up and then TX or recording. \u00a0Many of the crew sat in the Production Gallery \u2013 … Continue reading ![\"which_prog_01\"](\"http:\/\/tech-ops.co.uk\/next\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/which_prog_01.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto 1<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nIan Norman<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Photo 2<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBarry Bonner<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Roger Bunce<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Photo 3<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nGeoff Fletcher<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Graeme Wall<\/strong><\/h3>\n
David Carter<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Tony Grant<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Photo 4<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nGeoff Fletcher<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Dave Lawson<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Pat Heigham<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Alec Bray<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Another Photo!<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHugh Sheppard<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Bernard Newnham<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Maurice Fleisher<\/strong><\/h3>\n
David Brunt, Roger Bunce<\/strong><\/h3>\n
John Howell<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Robin Sutherland<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nAlec Bray<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPeter Hider<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nWell . . . yes it does look like me.\u00a0 I think that was when I did one Juke Box Jury show when Pat Boone was the guest !\u00a0 One of my \u201csummer\u201d tops that I came over with. Thanks for sending.<\/p>\nSteve Jellyman<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
\nWS Jury (David J ROF)<\/span>
\n(Record plays)<\/span>
\nCUs audience<\/span>
\nMS Jury member 1<\/span>
\nMS Jury member 3<\/span>
\n4S Jury for vote.<\/span><\/p>\nTony Grant<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Maurice Fleisher<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Patrick Heigham<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Alec Bray<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n