| This from Paul Kay... One day in the summer of 1970 Crew 9 were expecting a standby. This meant we did not have to come in. The phone rang and we were scheduled to do a show. We all moaned like hell, then the vision mixer (Ron Istead) said “It’s a nude ballet” - “Yeah pull the other one Ron” In the event it was a nude ballet, just as Ron had mentioned. It was called THE RELAY and featured the New York Contemporary Ballet, director/chorographer, Alwyn Nicholi. Apparently, the BBC was the only broadcasting organisation that was willing and able to televise it, and had the technical facilities that Alwyn required. Viewing and observation rooms were sealed off, there were commissionaires on all doors and our day commenced, starting with the directors briefing to the crew. There was a film made of us making the programme, I`ll call it a trailer (this was also transmitted), the Studio Director was Bill Fitzwalter, a really talented and great guy. There were several never to be forgotten moments, just before we started a female dancer did a flashing routine jumping out from behind a flat showing all. Whilst she was behind the set I asked my tracker, Dave Skerry (I was on the NIKE) to track in. When she appeared again there was a huge fully frontal! We then pursued her for a short distance. The rest of the cast roared with laughter, they had not approved of her antics. From that moment we had it made, there was great rapport between the cast and crew, more importantly no embarrassment. Bill’s briefing was full of useful info, again increasing the rapport with all in the studio. I think we were in a Rehearse/Record situation. The show was recorded without embarrassment or incident. We were all working so hard that after twenty minutes we hardly noticed the nudity. although I can vividly remember calling one of the dancers over to give her a note, saying to myself “Look at her face! Don’t look down”. I think a make-up girl summed things up quite nicely “I’ve no problem with full body make ups, but not at this time of day!” I think one of the male dancers ‘tried it on’ we were quite prepared to Mole him. Fortunately for him, it was not necessary. My crew on Cam 1 NIKE was Dave Carter swinger, Dave Skerry tracker. John Dean on Cam2 MPRC (Mole) Dave Jervis swinger Pete Langford tracker. I cannot remember who else was on cameras, possibly Brian Parker and Dave Whitaker. I think Clive Thomas was lighting, Ron Istead Vision Mixer. There was a controlled photo-call and all visiting photographers were given a chance, however they only had limited viewpoints, so I volunteered my services from the NIKE and took many shots for them, I believe that John Dean did so from the MPRC several were published in photo mags, but only one gave me a credit The Relay and the filmed trailer was shown on Whit Sunday. We had guests from America staying with us, they made no comment. However I became quite notorious in quiet Marlow Bottom, I received several dinner invites, and had to relate Bill’s briefing, slightly embellished. Several shop-keepers in Marlow and High Wycombe commented to Pauline my wife “Your husbands got a ****** good job aint he?” and “I’m surprised you let him go to work!” Those were the days. A really great show! I was talking to someone at the IBC last Sept, whilst manning the Guild stand. He gave me his card, it named him as William Fitzwalter, Charle Sturt University Australia. I mentioned that I had made a programme called the Relay with a Bill Fitzwalter in the seventies “Stone me!! Paul” we embraced each other and chatted about our ground-braking show, after thirty years it seemed like yesterday. |
| And from Howard Michaels' pov... Many years ago-1969 to be precise, when I was a very young camera assistant I worked on a BBC2 arts programme - I think it was Arena, but I am not sure as it was so long ago. Anyway there was I a fairly innocent young man who had not seen that many nude women, confronted by a studio full of nude ballet dancers .Although half of them were men, the other half were very attractive young women, and I can tell you it was pretty difficult concentrating on being part of the Nike crew! We were very jealous of Paul Kaye, who was on the front of the crane as he got to take some photos of the dancers for the photographers, as he had the best view of the whole ensemble. There was a humorous moment when one of the male dancers got a bit too excited and revealed the full glory of his manhood, at which moment all the girl dancers crowded round him and started to laugh! Boy was I glad I kept my trousers on that day! |
| And now for something completely different... There were lots of trainees in the late '60's, including me, and we all made screw-ups - I broke an antique pram on Adam Adamant - but I think the most accident prone and ineffectual was a chap I'll call James (because that wasn't his name). James first came to notice on an arts show in Studio D. On one side of the studio a modern jazz group played against a chromakey blue background, whilst on the other side were the things to be keyed in. James was tracking the Heron on the group, but kept losing interest and looking the other way - not surprising, as one of the keyed-in objects was a naked girl having gearwheels painted on her breasts. At lunch, the senior cameraman said "Look, you must concentrate - haven't you seen a naked woman before?" James replied "Yes, I have - now" At the Golders Green Hippodrome, James managed to step backwards off the stage whilst cable-bashing. The stage was much higher than at TVT, but luckily for him, his belt caught on the Mole cable bollard and he hung there as the crew fell about laughing, and the floor manager rushed to help whilst looking daggers at the crew. James's crowning glory was during a schools programme - finally allowed to operate a camera, he managed to zoom in on an object on a table - and miss. He left tech ops soon after, and persued a long career in another part of the BBC - he may still be there... |
| From Dave Pattison - "just retired from flying after more than 31 years with BOAC/BA. But seems
like only yesterday I was cable-bashing at the BBC." John Henshall and the BBC canteen: In days gone by, the BBC canteen lunch-time menu was typed on cards and copies were displayed on top of the service counter. On this particular day, one of the items on the menu was "Two Rissoles." Unfortunately the quality of the printing was not good. A certain John Henshall perused the menu for a moment, turned to the lady behind the counter and ordered "Two Pissoles, please." Somewhat taken aback, the lady said, "I beg you're pardon?" "Two Pissoles," replied John. "Look, it says here 'Two Pissoles.'" "Oh, that's not a "P" it's an "R", she explained. Quick as a flash, John said, "OK in that case I'll have two "R"soles! And it's absolutely true! |
| Even more from Mike Cotton... I only drink now for medicinal purposes - the beer flushes out the kidneys and the red wine is good for the heart, in fact the diabetic diet sheet I was given allows me more alcohol then I normally drink! I have given up drinking and driving as I spilt so much going round the corners! Which reminds me of the 1 1/2 hour bladder syndrome. After a good supper break we returned to the Greenwood Theatre for a recording of "Question Time" which normally was all over in about an hour and a half, but a fault on the recording VT which was at an outside company meant a late start to the recording. It was with great relief that after 2 hours we finally managed to make a dash for the loo. |
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