<div dir="auto">Lovely to read this Martin. And heartwarming that so many here have such fond memories of working with Geoff.<div dir="auto">I have written about my, albeit short time, voicing promos in Pres A, alongside Ray Moore, John Braben and others in the 80's in my forthcoming book "Voiceover Man". It it will be published and available from the 25th September. When writing it, I counted my blessings that I was around during that golden period. Such strong, forthright, intelligent, eccentric characters. Who can forget using the speaking clock to sync video and the mostly live voicing of promos involving live play-in of both TK and VT with 10 - 15 second run up? Try telling that to those who followed and they look at you with open eyed disbelief!</div><div dir="auto">We were the fortunate.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Peter <br><div dir="auto"><br><br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="auto">Peter Dickson</div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, 10 Aug 2020, 13:17 MARTIN EVERARD via Pres, <<a href="mailto:pres@tech-ops.co.uk">pres@tech-ops.co.uk</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u> <div><div dir="auto" style="unicode-bidi:embed"><p>Hi,</p><p><br></p><p>Peter J recalled the 80's and 90's as decades of 'happy families' decades. I responded but intended to my reaction for all to read r=ather than Peter alone. So I have pasted the email here. If however, it did circulate to everyone and this is the second reading, please accept my apologies - blame it on the heat and an 80 year olds temerity.</p><p><br></p><div>Peter,</div><p><br></p><p>Can
I add the 70's to that period of 'happy families'? One of the reasons
for that is the enormous development and creativity that were both
explored and encouraged in Pres and in the wider BBC TV output during
those decades. Once the universal introduction of computer programs in
Network Control was actioned and inventiveness in promotions and trailer
making was contracted out, the originality of input of those
individuals who followed was seriously diminished, changed and rendered
unnecessary. <br></p><p><br></p><p>Who in Pres today would make the sort
of decisions that Geoff, you and others were making in their time, on
many occasions on the seat of their pants, with all that adrenaline and
an Editor, a voice box instruction away if not actually standing behind
you? If that wasn't exciting,if that didn't make you think, if that
didn't test your ingenuity, reactions, objectivity, tell me what was.
Arguing with the Biddy Baxter's of this world not to mention Jonathan
Martin and Bryan Cowgill, Alan Yentob and numerous News editors over
their 'live' running times certainly tested one's nerve.<br></p><p><br></p><p>I
had two careers in Pres and can vouch for the above. In the second
period, with Pam Masters (and a few other faces!) running things, the
responsibiliy of Network Directors in particular changed dramatically.
Little or no live input, channels delivered by pre-programmed transition
sequences and recorded continuity, need I go on. The most creative and
adrenaline-fuellled activity that I experienced in the early 2000's,
thanks to Dr Brown, was re-editing Newsnight while it was still on air
and running the self-editied Beta tapes along to BBC World. And Pam
couldn't see the future in that little bit of responsible creative input
(it was reported to me that editing programmes wasn't a Pres
responsibity - maybe she was right!) but it was a long way from the good
old Pres B days of programme making and so I set up the Versioning Unit
in General Features. I think that it is stiil running but, if not, the
principle of re-editing and rebroadcasting archive programming has come
into its own in the last 6 months. <br></p><p><br></p><p>I think that I
almost took this to the extreme in The Business Channel, where nothing
was live and was run effectively from a jumped-up PC. Not even a NC or
Pres Control in the chain.</p><p><br></p><p>And all the responses to
Geoff's sad and, as I put it, untimely, death seem to endorse your
description of Pres's 'happy family'.</p><p><br></p><p>Best wishes,</p><p><br></p><p>Martin</p><p><br></p><p>PS. Is there anyone, who would like to put all these wonderful experiences of working with Geoof into a single document - an obit and distribute it? Ariel, if it still exists? Prospero?<br></p><p> </p><br><br><div id="m_8379961071503104562"><div style="font-family:garamond,times,serif;font-size:16px"><div id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyiv5587042507yui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_97640">Martin Everard<br clear="none">Mob: +44 (0)7590 444 854</div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:13px" id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_104043">LinkedIn: <a rel="nofollow noreferrer" shape="rect" href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/martin13/" id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_104048" target="_blank">http://uk.linkedin.com/in/martin13/</a> </div><div id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyiv5587042507yui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_97642"> </div>For a self-catering stay in London, whether for business or vacation, try this:<br id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyiv5587042507yui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_97692" clear="none"><br><div id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyiv5587042507yui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_97647"><a href="http://www.vrbo.com/1017372" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">www.vrbo.com/1017372</a> - Executive 5*, sleeps 2</div><div><br>Or this super 2 bedroom apartment:<br><a href="http://www.vrbo.com/1016626" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">www.vrbo.com/1016626</a> Sleeps 2 to 4<br></div><div><br clear="none"></div><div><span id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyiv5587042507yui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_97796" style="line-height:1.22">Be a Friend of Barbara Everard on Facebook: <a rel="nofollow noreferrer" href="http://www.facebook.com/barbara.everard.3" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/barbara.everard.3</a><br></span></div><div><br></div><div dir="ltr"><div><a rel="nofollow noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Everard" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Everard</a></div><span id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyiv5587042507yui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_97796" style="line-height:1.22"></span></div><div><span id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyiv5587042507yui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_97796" style="line-height:1.22"></span><br></div><div dir="ltr">View her paintings on Flickr and <a rel="nofollow noreferrer" href="http://www.barabar-everard.com" target="_blank">www.barbara-everard.com</a> <br></div><span id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyiv5587042507yui_3_16_0_1_1497255908614_97796" style="line-height:1.22"><br clear="none">"Call Them the Happy Years", Barbara Everard's colourful memoirs are now on sale and can be ordered on </span><a rel="nofollow noreferrer" shape="rect" href="http://www.barbara-everard.com/" style="line-height:1.22" target="_blank">www.barbara-everard.com</a><span style="line-height:1.22"> or </span><a rel="nofollow noreferrer" shape="rect" href="http://www.fast-print.net/bookshop" style="line-height:1.22" target="_blank">http://www.fast-print.net/bookshop</a><span style="line-height:1.22"> and insert the ISBN number: 9781844269877 in the Search box.</span><font size="1"><br></font><div><var id="m_8379961071503104562ydp4d61926eyui-ie-cursor"></var><br></div></div></div></div></div>-- <br>
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