The newspaper for retired BBC Pension Scheme members • October 2017 • Issue 5 PROSPERO

JIMMY GRANT & THE SATURDAY CLUB PAGE 8

PENSION SCHEME | PENSIONS FRIENDSHIPS AND FRAUD: THE 2017 BBC VOLUNTEER VISITOR CONFERENCE

A thoroughly enjoyable BBC Volunteer Visitor Conference closed in Cardiff on 8 August, with the 100 visitors who attended generally agreeing that it was one of the best yet.

drawing up either of these important legal documents. Interestingly, she said that people these days also need to consider their digital assets in a Will – so, for example, if you have an Amazon account or a Netflix subscription what happens to those on your death?

Hear hear The next presentation was by Clare Kewney, an audiologist working with UK Hearing Care, who spoke about the importance of getting your hearing tested.

‘Hearing loss is an important contributor to social isolation because our hearing is our link to the world,’ she said. ‘From a safety point of view, too, hearing loss sometimes means that people can’t hear higher frequency sounds like fire alarms.’

Clare thinks that we should all have our hearing tested regularly, just like we have regular check-ups on our teeth or eyes.

heryl Miles, the Volunteer Visitor Scheme The Act also changes the means test that is used to On average people take 10 years before taking action on co-ordinator and organiser of the conference, decide how much a person should pay towards their hearing loss – so it’s important that when they do go for Csays she was delighted to have recruited new care costs. Currently, a person’s capital and savings help they get the help they need, or else they might give visitors in several areas, including Birmingham, which below £14,250 are disregarded in the means test. up and struggle on for another 10 years! Someone with between £14,250 and £23,250 in capital had been without a visitor for a long time. The two new The UK Hearing Care website has a lot more visitors for Birmingham have had a great response to and savings will get some help from the local authority information: ukhearingcare.co.uk, or for more the letters of introduction sent to the pensioners in towards care costs; capital and savings above £23,250 information call Freephone 0808 120 6621. their areas. means a person has to fund all of their own social care. Ageing well: tackling loneliness After April 2020 the £23,250 upper limit will be raised The visitors are retired BBC employees who provide The next speaker, Dr Allison Smith, Head of Strategy to £118,000; the lower limit will be raised to £17,000; and friendship to BBC pensioners aged 70 and above, those and Development at the Royal Voluntary Service, looked anyone with assets of between £17,000 and £118,000 recently bereaved or anyone in poor health. at the growing problem of loneliness in older people will be entitled to some financial support according to The conference aims to enhance the visitors’ and what the Service is doing to help. a sliding scale. understanding of the issues that affect their ‘visitees’, so First, Allison outlined the scale of the problem: around Scam awareness they can offer a better service to these people, many of 10% of older people are chronically lonely (which means As recent issues of Prospero have highlighted, whom may be in a vulnerable position. The conference they often feel lonely). also gives the visitors an opportunity to network with scammers are increasingly targeting older people. others and share tips and ideas – great for the eight The second speaker of Day One was Tony Blake, a Met Older people who are lonely are 3.4 times more likely to first-time visitors who attended this year. police officer of 30 years’ standing, who impressed the suffer from depression, 1.9 times more likely to develop audience with an energetic presentation highlighting dementia, and have an increased risk of developing This year’s agenda included a varied mix of speakers the various clever ways that fraudsters have of conning heart disease or having a stroke. from a number of different organisations who deal with you out of your money. Older people who are lonely are, on average: issues affecting older people, including fraud awareness, ‘You can’t trust anyone anymore,’ he said, bluntly, and hearing loss and estate planning. • 1.8 times more likely to visit their GP then he showed how easy it is for fraudsters to get hold The first speaker of the opening day was Roger of your personal data. • 1.6 times more likely to visit A&E Hatherell, a senior financial consultant who has a regular • 1.3 times more likely to have emergency admissions, spot at the conference, looking at benefits for the Tony has provided an article for us, on the next page, and elderly and the issue of long-term care. which covers the main points raised in his presentation. • 3.5 times more likely to enter local authority-funded Care Act 2020 Scheme branding residential care. As we all know, the issue of long-term care (‘dementia After an evening of networking and sharing stories, tax’) was a thorny issue during the recent general Ian Cutter opened Day 2 with an update from the The final presentation of the day was by Rostam Kilgour, election. As Roger pointed out, the legislation is due to BBC Pensions & Benefits Centre. This included a ‘grand the newest member-nominated Trustee (MNT) to join change in 2020 anyway, with the introduction of the reveal’ of the BBC Pension Scheme’s new brand, which the board of the BBC Pension Scheme. Rostam gave a Care Act (which was pushed back from its original had only just been seen for the first time in the August brief introduction to his day job as an editor on TV issue of Prospero. implementation date of April 2016). News, explained how and why he became a Scheme Ian also reminded the delegates that BBC pensioners Trustee, and also spoke movingly about why he The Care Act will set a cap of £72,000, which means can now access all their pension information online, at supports voluntary organisations like the BBC Visiting that no one will have to pay any more for their eligible . Anyone who has lost their Scheme, having personally experienced the huge impact care needs to be met once they have spent a total of bbc.co.uk/mypension registration details can call the pension service line on that volunteers can make on people’s lives. £72,000. It does not include someone’s ‘hotel costs’ 029 2032 2811. (i.e. bed and board) if they are living in a care home. Rostam then closed the 2017 conference, These would still be charged separately even after He was followed by a solicitor, Claire Binnersley, who thanking Cheryl for her hard work in reaching the cap, but hotel costs will also be capped, spoke about Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney, organising what was an interesting at £12,000 a year. highlighting some key issues to consider before and informative two days.

2 PROSPERO Take Five to Stop Fraud Prospero is provided free of charge to retired Scheme members, or to their spouses and dependants.

by Tony Blake, Senior Fraud Prevention Officer, Prospero provides a source of news on former Dedicated Card & Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) colleagues, developments at the BBC and pension issues, plus classified adverts. It is available online at bbc.co.uk/mypension Last year, £2 million was lost to financial fraud every day. Fraudsters often want you to feel panicked, rushed, It’s a staggering statistic, but it might not be a surprise frustrated and flustered and that’s exactly where you To advertise in Prospero, please see page 12. given the amount of scam phone calls and emails that don’t want to be. The banking industry, in partnership constantly bombard us all. In fact, official figures reveal with government and police, launched a campaign Please send your editorial contributions, or that financial fraud and cyber-crime are now the most called Take Five to Stop Fraud. comments/feedback, to: prevalent crimes in the UK. Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Our central message is whenever you receive an Broadcasting House, Cardiff CF5 2YQ The fraudsters and their scams are getting more unexpected phone call, email or text, STOP and TAKE sophisticated and more believable, so we can’t just bury FIVE to think whether they really are who they claim to Email: [email protected] our heads in the sand and pretend it won’t happen to be. Often the only way to check is by contacting them Please make sure that any digital pictures you send us. And we should never assume we are too clever to fall back on a phone number you know to be correct, not are scanned at 300dpi. Please also note that the for such frauds. Gone are the days when most scam one you are given. maximum word count for obituaries is 350 words. emails had terrible grammar and poor English. Take Five is about knowing it is fine to stop a While fraudsters use a wide range of scams, often these conversation or not to respond to an email or text so employ a tactic called ‘social engineering’, a new term for you can take a moment to think and take back control Contents a method used by confidence tricksters for centuries. My of the situation. By doing so, we can all help to beat favourite definition for it is the clever manipulation of the the fraudsters. natural human tendency to trust. The key word being The Take Five campaign is asking everyone to help ‘trust’ – it’s what many of us naturally do and it’s exactly Pensions 2-3 protect themselves from financial fraud by remembering where the fraudster wants us. some simple advice: - Volunteer Visitor Conference As honest and polite people, we want to believe others - Take Five 1. Never disclose security details, such as your are the same. I regularly speak to bank staff as part of PIN or full password – it’s never right to reveal my job and they tell me that when they call customers, a these details clear majority would answer security questions and discuss their account if they are given three pieces of 2. Don’t assume an email request or caller Letters 4-5 fairly accessible information: their name, who they bank is genuine – people aren’t always who they with and a phone number. say they are

If a fraudster has access to those three pieces of 3. Don’t be rushed – a bank or genuine organisation information, and most can, and they sound like they are won’t mind waiting to give you time to stop Memories 6-8 from our bank, many of us would reveal the answers to and think - Memories of a videotape clerk security questions giving them full access to our bank 4. Listen to your instincts – if something feels - BBC Club Summer Festival accounts. The weak point is not the bank systems, often wrong then it is usually right to pause and - Jimmy Grant and the Saturday Club it is us and the fraudsters know it. question it All this means it’s vital for everyone to be wary of any 5. Stay in control – have the confidence to refuse phone call out of the blue, even if they already know unusual requests for information some information about you. We need to be certain who we are dealing with, particularly if they are asking for More information about the Take Five campaign can be Back at the BBC 9 personal details or it concerns our finances in any way. found at takefive-stopfraud.org.uk - Cricket, lovely cricket - Greatest comedies 2017 PENSIONERS’ LIAISON MEETING - BH architect honoured

This year’s Pensioners’ Liaison Meeting will be held on 26 October 2017 from 11:00 to 13:00 at: The Council Chamber, Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA Obituaries 10-11 If you attend, you can put questions about the BBC Pension Scheme to the Chief Executive Officer, a Scheme Trustee and members of the pension executive. Spaces are limited and will be booked on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. To book a place, call the pension service line on 029 2032 2811. Odds and ends 12

- Radio Scotland appeal - Reunions Mystery Sudoku H O D E - Classifieds - Caption competition T M H - Contacts Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains the letters ADEHLMOTY in some T E order. One row or column contains a five or more letter word, title or name with a BBC connection. Y O Solve the sudoku to discover what it is and send The next issue of Prospero will appear your answer to: The Editor, Prospero, M A O H E in December 2017. The copy deadline BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, is Wednesday 1 November 2017. Broadcasting House, Cardiff CF5 2YQ A M by 6 November. The winner gets WIN a £10 voucher. Many thanks to £10 L T Neil Somerville for providing this puzzle. D Y L The sudoku winner in August was Errol Ryan, who A T Y E correctly identified the BBC connection was Reith.

PROSPERO OCTOBER 2017 | 3 | LETTERS

Al Read & Programme Jack Hollinshead – the BBC’s Call Boys makers’ music Just like Graeme and Ralph I was excited I read your letters complaining about oldest active pensioner? to read about the Al Read scripts. I was a music in documentaries, and it reminds As mentioned in the August edition of big fan of his, not only on the radio; me that I have been reading similar Prospero, Jack was taken out for a I often sat in the circle at Morecambe complaints for decades now. I worked for celebratory lunch, then to Eve Studios Winter Gardens enjoying his act. In fact, 30 years at the Beeb, as film editor and in Bredbury as a birthday treat by me I still use one of his gags in my act to this then as producer on Current Affairs and and my wife. day – and it always gets a laugh! then Science programmes, and used Sadly when my article was written, the music where it seemed to me to be I did try to contact the man with the photographs were not available, but I relevant. Over shots of VE Day celebrants memorabilia to see if I could get at least feel sure that readers will be amazed I used ‘My Guy’s Come Back’ because it some of it for our archive – but never got to see a 102-year-old sitting at a was relevant, contemporary, but mostly a reply. I do hope it finds a loving home! vintage audio mixing desk ready to because it was a jolly good piece of Swing record. This, however, is no ordinary Incidentally, regarding another Prospero that made the programme work better. letter, the term ‘Call Boy’ is still being mixing desk, but was designed for the These decisions are made by the honoured today as it is the title of the legendary audiophile Angus McKenzie programme maker, it’s their decision house magazine of the British Music by Calrec of Hebden Bridge – based on many criteria which will include Hall Society. analogue really does not get any what feedback they have had over the better than this! Peter Charlton course of their career. Jack has corrected me for saying that the BBC cut their disks to shellac – he When I was working, I always felt that the says that they were actually cellulose on an Aluminium substrate, and he should BBC philosophy was that when they know – he was there! The answer to the chose somebody to do a job, they trusted Happy 102nd Jack, from all those who had the pleasure of working with you. elephant question them to do it well. I reckon that it was a splendid philosophy that made for better Ian C Reed I read with interest and nostalgia Trevor programmes, and I hope it still applies. Neilsen’s Tale in the August 2017 issue. I was never interfered with, although The trick question he asked was: all the programmes I made were in Jag-owning Nick ‘What is the one thing you must not combination with my programme editors, I send my sister Margaret (Brassington), from Muswell Hill Roundabout at 9am allow an elephant to do in a studio?’ people like Michael Bunce, John Dekker who used to work at the BBC in and drive us to TVC, returning to Muswell The answer is: You must not allow or Jana Bennett. Alexandra Palace, my copy of Prospero Hill at 5.30pm. I think we would have had the elephant to stand on one foot. each month. Here is part of what she the free travel for evermore but the The relationship was a source of emailed me back: Union at TVC complained about the This was because of the fears the immense pleasure, but none of them special treatment the News Department elephant might exceed the load ever affected my choice of music. ‘…noticed the obituary for young Nick were getting, so the free transport was bearing capacity of the studio floors. Or over much else, if it comes to that. who owned a Jaguar and worked in stopped and we had to use our cars or Trevor occasionally said, with a glint News while I was there. When we did the Peter Ceresole public transport. in his eye, that the elephant might big move from Ally Pally to Television end up in the extras’ dressing Centre at White City, we all went into We were allowed to park our very few rooms below the studio. work (in our old clothes) on the Sunday cars in the special car park right by the and put stickers on all our equipment front entrance to TVC (the film crew cars Gavin Birkett A home for with our new room numbers at TVC. were kept at the back of TVC in the TVC my BBC book One of the ‘boys’ from my department compound). Eventually the rest of TVC put a sticker on Nick’s Jag for it to be complained about our special treatment Giant Dougal collection? delivered to our Film Library at TVC. with this parking. I was very amused to see the giant We are downsizing and need to dispose The entire contents were transported in We then had to park our cars at White Dougal from the Goodies comedy of some of our vast collection of books. the BBC Scenery vans to TVC. We moved City Stadium. Then White City Stadium series in the caption competition in Some of these may be of interest to to the Spur at TVC occupying the six was sold and we had to park our cars the August issue of Prospero. BBC pensioners as they concern the floors. The bit in the obit about the in a grotty open-air car park just under I was a member of the Visual BBC. The collection was started by managers looking down on Nick’s Jag the bridge from the front of TVC. It took Effects Department and was part John Humphries (former member of were the managers looking down from me exactly 25 minutes to drive there, of the team that constructed and BBC Contracts Department) and his the fourth and sixth floors of our new cutting through Primrose Hill and back operated the Dougal; in fact, I sat father-in-law EG Chadder (a senior offices at TVC, which was immediately streets. The North Circular was a inside the head to steer it whilst engineer in Transmitter Department). in front of the main entrance. nightmare with all the roadworks at filming on location. that time.’ Over time I have added a few contributions For six months after the move, we had As a department we provided all too. A major part of the collection a coach pick up everyone who wanted Don Eddowes the trick props for this series (and comprises BBC Handbooks/Yearbooks many others!) for both location and from 1928 to 1985. Only the years 1953, studio for live performances and it 1954, 1982 and 1983 are missing. dates from a time when it was still New BBC Pension Scheme brand In addition I have copies of the Asa enjoyable to work at the BBC. Briggs History of Broadcasting Volumes Congratulations on the latest edition I’m not sure what to make of those Sadly I suspect no longer. 1 & 2 (1961) and many books and booklets of Prospero. Well done to all. The less subtle ‘Pension Friend’ figures. whole remake over seems to offer When they appeared again, wandering Tony Harding about the early days of television and broadcasting in the regions. The list is far much to the pensioner reader. around the pages of the Summary Pensions Report, I’m afraid I felt a too long to include here but I can give Albert Barber details to anyone interested who strong urge to shake them onto YOUR NEW LAYOUT looks quite neat, contacts me on [email protected] the floor! but I’m sad to see we’ve lost the John Robinson The collection could be split up as imagery of the ‘R’s kicking the ‘o’s’ into required. I am not looking for payment the air in the Prospero banner. That and delivery would have to be arranged always made me smile, with its subtle as mutually convenient. implication that we pensioners still had a bit of life left in us! Geoff Dawe

4 DEBRA and the mystery Mrs Brilliant goes to Chicago of the missing squash ball Yes, it comes to most of us. I’m 77 and I use the subtitles on everything possible. I’m not sure whether DEBRA was a with a grain of blemish – and it took the But if David Daborn is watching them on News programmes, he’s watching similar blemish-removing system as editor and myself a few minutes to realise a category that simply doesn’t work on live programmes. They use voice the DVASC system mentioned by Dave what was going on, and stop using recognition software, and the systems simply aren’t up to the job yet. They will always lag the voice, and will be caught out by homonyms – as in ‘Chicago’ for Hawley and Geoff Higgs (August 2017 DEBRA for that sequence. ‘She can’t go’ which he cites. issue 4) but I do remember it managing A contributory factor may have been to delete some rather crucial details from the slightly nerve-racking process of Human speech involves a great deal of ambiguity in the sounds, which is a sequence I’d directed for a Schools TV producing the transmission copy of the resolved by the context. Brains, evolved over millennia and trained over a series called Science Topics (early 1980s). programmes directly from the negative. lifetime, can resolve this kind of thing quite quickly, but for a machine it requires a great deal of computing power – more than is available to News. It was a programme about the ‘Senses’, That particular series (early 1980s) was and we were illustrating the importance shot on film but transferred to (analogue) It’ll come eventually; it’s getting better, is creeping towards acceptability, but it’s of sound alongside vision, for VT for TX and – given Schools TV often a supremely hard nut to crack. Best right now is to avoid programmes that use anticipating the position of the ball in a worked with challenging budgets – a neg voice recognition subtitles. The trouble is that it’s relatively cheap, and human very fast-moving game like squash. So transfer avoided the costs of a show print. typists can’t hope to type in real time, so it’s spreading before it’s really ready. our squash player was listening to heavy The same series (produced by Peter So switch off the subtitles and turn up the sound... rock music on her headphones, while Bratt) also took the ground-breaking Peter Ceresole struggling to react as rapidly as usual step of utilising the BBC micro to to the ball’s trajectory. generate some of the illustrative graphic sequences, so the viewers were able to Unfortunately, in the finished sequence, access the same graphics as the TV DEBRA managed to take out the squash Black to the future programmes, on their school computers ball in nearly every shot! Admittedly Am I alone in getting more and more annoyed at the more and more output (via the accompanying pupil resources). squash balls are pretty small, particularly on the BBC that is letterboxed on a 16:9 raster? in long shot, so probably easily confused Clare Elstow We all did it occasionally in the 4:3 days to pretend the item, usually quite short, was a special cinema version. This of course meant sacrificing some of the picture content to achieve the effect. The Dynasts 1967 These days, however, with widescreen as the norm, item after item is presented I vividly remember the BBC radio as if it is cinemascope. What I think is beyond the pale, is the hospital drama Sunday Play production of Thomas on BBC 1, Trust Me. This would appear to be a domestic production for home Hardy’s The Dynasts in 1967. Does consumption. Why then is it transmitted in deep letterbox format? Surely a question anyone know if it was ever sold on of style over substance here, where the style in my view has no substance. tape or CD? I suspect it is still in the Does anybody else think along these lines or am I missing something? If things progress archives, but I doubt it will be put in this fashion we could end up with a screen that looks as if the PCL 85 frame output on sale. valve has died back in the monochrome days. A thin bright line in the middle of the Stephen Redburn cathode ray tube, with the rest of the screen dark. The future could indeed be black? Ross Archer

Telephone scammers Neville Withers and Colin Pierpoint both make good comments about defeating telephone scammers. As it is possible for scammers to fake a dial tone, a further check of dialling your own number before making another call is wise. This should result in an engaged tone.

In Warwickshire, our council has a scam awareness email service which alerts participating residents to any scam (telephone or doorstep) that has been reported in the area. Often it advises on the best check/action to take. Perhaps this service is also available in other areas.

Ken Turner

Asian Programming on BBC local radio I am researching a PhD at the University of Leicester on the important but neglected story of Asian programming on BBC local radio stations from 1967 – 1990, and I am keen to hear from people who worked on these programmes, helped to set them up or managed them.

The first programmes appeared on BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Radio Sheffield in 1968 and launched a steady increase in hours across local radio – by 1989 BBC Radio Leicester alone was broadcasting 32 hours a week on medium wave.

One of the most difficult aspects of my research is the attempt to find recordings of early programmes, I have some – but most are missing. For example, in 1969 after Enoch Powell made his second speech on immigration, BBC Radio Leeds broadcast a series called Black Rose which was praised in Parliament. I am sure these recordings are out there. Can anyone help with any recollections of Asian programming, recordings or photographs?

Liam McCarthy (ex BBC local radio) Email: [email protected]

PROSPERO OCTOBER 2017 | 5 | MEMORIES MEMORIES OF A VIDEOTAPE CLERK (CIRCA 1973-75) By Nigel Taylor Who wiped the BBCs videotapes? The BBC has lost many classic comedy episodes and music performances from the 1960s and 70s and the search goes on to uncover them. Some of these long-lost tapes are occasionally found in attics and in foreign broadcasters’ archives but we hear little about how they came to be lost in the first place and who was responsible. So here is the full story of the lost tapes from someone who knows!

rom the late 1950s the BBC Running out of space recorded its TV shows on 2” Each output department had a manager, Fvideotape – the latest technology in those days called ‘organisers’. Every from Ampex in the USA – funded in part week they would receive a computer by the crooner Bing Crosby! printout of all the tapes held in the library for their department. The Television These were huge reels in plastic boxes. Centre was fast running out of space so They could be lifted, just about, one in if tapes could be recycled it would save each hand. They were trundled around space and even more importantly, money. the BBC basement at White City on These huge tapes cost hundreds of huge trolleys. pounds each. So the pressure was on. Shows were recorded both on location Once reels had been identified and and in studios, and the huge quad (four selected for re-using, they were moved recording heads) videotape recorders to a room that contained an electronic were sited in the basement at Television dropout reader and a huge caged Centre, under Eros in the central fountain guillotine. The tapes were loaded onto or in mobile Outside Broadcast units. the reader and spun very quickly to be Before Top of the Pops is recorded, a session in an editing suite is needed to compile two As the mountain of tapes grew, videotape checked for dropout. Dropout is when ‘play-in’ videotapes of promotional material and other elements needed for the show. libraries were becoming full. These were the metallic oxide comes away from the vast rooms with sliding racks from floor plastic backing tape and causes sparkle broadcast live and a telerecording was The old videotapes were transferred to to ceiling – each tape was numbered and renders the tape unusable for further made of the live show. The machine, digits too and now everything can be and referenced by an index card in the recording. If the readings were okay, then called a telecine, was simply a film kept – material available to be videotape library. In here tapes were the tape would be loaded onto a bulk camera pointing at a television monitor. reversioned, bloopers to be trawled prepared for the following day’s eraser and a powerful magnetic field A film record of the live show would be through, and no more forests of tapes transmissions and editing sessions, would wipe the tape entirely ready for made, both in order to be repeated and which occasionally went missing. placed on trolleys and trundled to the for archive purposes. Once these shows re-use. Those that did not make the grade Some of the staff who worked in the edit and transmission suites. had been broadcast and repeated, who ended up on the guillotine where the video library were appalled at having to would ever want to see them again. heavy blade cut through the plastic tape, junk original recordings, particularly those Television was making huge amounts of allowing it to fall into a bin at the bottom. from Top of the Pops. So instead of new material each week. In time, many of At 9pm the first tape This bin is where many lost classic junking the tape, they removed it to a the film recordings degraded or were lost productions ended up. safer place. That is partly why so much went on air! We scoured – and even after the advent of videotape, Reduce, reuse, recycle… archive footage is still available of bands mistakes were made – edited masters the libraries, checked So what was the problem? The pressure of the 1970s – although of course many wrongly marked up were junked or just tomorrow’s tapes… to recycle was intense. But many classic can no longer be shown in entirety as recorded over. nothing… 15 minutes shows had already been lost even before the famous presenters are persona videotape recording began. Before the With the advent of digital technology, non grata! to go! days of videotape, programmes were all BBC output is stored on servers. Play of the Month Each programme was recorded on two In 1975 on Sunday evenings the BBC ran master videotapes. One was a backing a drama series called Play of the Month. copy, not only for safety but because the This two-hour recording required two editing process required two tapes to be master videotapes requiring a duplex ‘assembly edited’ onto a third tape called changeover (basically a seamless change the edited master. Programmes also from one machine to another). One required insert tapes and some required Sunday the transmission engineer had several processes of editing, each opened the box to load up the second generation a new edit master. So each tape to find the wrong tape inside. production might produce dozens of He came into the library to ask for the tapes. Imagine how many tapes a single correct tape. Plenty of time – but it could event such as Wimbledon might use? not be found. Panic!

The number of tapes was growing rapidly At 9pm the first tape went on air! and every few months, new libraries were We scoured the libraries, checked required. Surely once a programme had tomorrow’s tapes… nothing… 15 minutes been edited and transmitted, all the insert to go! As I came back into the room I and unedited master tapes could be noticed a videotape being used to wedge recycled? This then is really the start the door open. You guessed – the show of the story… Videotape library. did go on. 6 THE BBC CLUB SUMMER FESTIVAL My 94-year-old Mum, life member of the BBC Club, lives at Motspur Park – a name from the past for many, I’m sure, who have fond memories of the various events held at the BBC Club sports ground there and particularly, perhaps, Wednesday night was riding night. My Dad – complete novice to quite expert. the Summer Festival. And total pleasure.

fter many years of neglect, We were the very first people we knew travellers, arson and rumour, we to see colour TV – the year the Wimbledon For a while he worked in Bush House and Ahear that the sports ground has finals were shown in the TV tent. We’d been sold to the Fulham Football Club queue for an autograph or a word brought home loads of foreign stamps; (FFC), who bought the University of from a famous face, and then, as the my brother and I would spend our saved London sports ground, on the other side evening wore on there would be music of the road, some years ago. This news and dancing in the marquees – as we up pocket money in the magical Philately tent. brought back lots of memories of those got older we were allowed to go to the summer days many years ago. more modern marquee – and then, My Mum played tennis, my dad played Mention of the Summer Festival brings when it was finally properly dark…the snooker and they celebrated their huge smiles and a tranche of ‘Do you My Dad, Danny Mahoney, started working firework display! I had never ever seen Ruby Wedding in the Pavilion, and remember…?’ conversations. I’m sure many for the BBC in the mid-1950s and among my anything like it in my life. Tired, probably later my Mum’s 80th birthday in the readers have similar memories. earliest memories are getting the train from whinging, we would trudge back over restaurant/conservatory. Earlsfield on hot sunny Saturdays and going My husband and sons are great FFC fans the steps to the station and train back to this exciting place with music, stalls, and Their grandchildren and great- so there is a gentle sigh that it’s a good to Earlsfield. carousel, with tickets for the children’s tea granddaughter all have happy, happy place, going to good use – hope this trip tent and the chance to see some of the stars In the late 60s, my dad had been memories of those Saturdays. down memory lane has triggered some that we had seen or heard on TV or radio. promoted enough and my parents could of those thoughts for others. Over the years I have come across many My Dad learned to ride with the Riding afford to buy their own house. They knew people who either worked themselves Elaine McCormack Section – and I got to go too, sometimes; at where they wanted to live and bought a for the BBC or whose parents did. the summer festival he ran up and down for house in Motspur Park; the other side of an hour or so with the children’s pony rides the railway and we didn’t see the sight of and I got to go behind the scenes a little the gasometers over to the right as and pet the horses. anything other than a blessing.

For a while he worked in Bush House Dad used to have to visit the valve store and brought home loads of foreign regularly too – and he may have combined stamps; my brother and I would spend our that with lunch in the Club on occasion. So saved up pocket money in the magical we continued going to the festivals – and Philately tent. to the firework displays on Bonfire Night.

The BBC Club Summer Festival at Motspur Park. One of the many heats for the Derby in progress. This popular sideshow was run by Peter Bond.

Children (and others) enjoying a My son on the bouncy castle – with Ann Esplin showing Beryl and Bobo a thing or two on the trampoline at the BBC Club Punch and Judy show by entertainer gasometer in the background. Summer Festival, Motspur Park in 1959. Sydney de Hempsey. PROSPERO OCTOBER 2017 | 7 | MEMORIES JIMMY GRANT AND THE

Lottery News BBC Club held its first lottery evening SATURDAY CLUB By Bill Aitken event in July with a glass of fizz on arrival, spot prizes on the night as well as the presentation of the lottery During the summer of 1957, two teenagers called Paul and cheques and a goody bag for all those attending. We hope to make this a John – fellow members of a skiffle group called the quarterly event so do check the website for the details of the next event. There Quarrymen – loved to lie in on a Saturday morning listening were six lucky retired winners in the BBC Club Extra July lottery draw avidly to a new show on the BBC Light Programme called (the last before publication submission deadline). To be in with a chance Saturday Skiffle Club. of winning, join via the website: bbcclub.com, select Club Extra, Lottery and click ‘join the Lottery’ ome six years later, by which time been equalled – even by visiting royalty, Club listeners considered themselves, or call Michelle on 020 8752 6666. the name had been shortened to religious leaders or heads of state. rightly, to be at the very centre of the pop There is a monthly draw with 11 cash Saturday Club, Paul and John music universe. prizes of £100 and £1,000 PLUS a S As a result, Jimmy Grant was soon appeared on the show as members of quarterly jackpot prize of £10,000. arranging for Brian Matthew (whose Jimmy’s creation is still fondly the biggest band the world has ever obituary appears on page 10) to host remembered by millions of aging seen – the Beatles. BBC Club, Connect Groups Saturday Club interviews with the Beatles baby-boomers. It was the base on Ariel Wine and Beer Society Jimmy Grant, who died last October via transatlantic telecoms links direct which a succession of BBC radio The Society aims to teach about wine, aged 96, was the first BBC Radio music from America – a technological miracle in programmes was founded, and which, beer and related topics in a fun and producer savvy enough to recognise that days when the idea of a smartphone was to this day, continue to champion interesting way at regular informal today’s minority interest might become only to be imagined in a comic strip the cause of minority interests and tasting evenings. Visit BBCClub.com/ tomorrow’s mainstream phenomenon. called Dick Tracy. For a while, Saturday alternative music. connect/wine-and-beer or contact His canny instinct led him to create the Andrew Latham: andrew@georges- hut.fsworld.co.uk for more details. first BBC Radio programme aimed specifically at teenagers. At 10:00 am From modest beginnings, the show’s popularity grew, Photography Club annual exhibition every Saturday morning, Saturday Club eventually topping 10 million listeners at its peak. This November event is the highlight of sounded the clarion call for legions of the Photography Club’s calendar. If you young music fans, eager to hear not just would like to attend, details can be the latest records, but also live radio found on the website: bbcclub.com/ performances by the biggest names connect/photography in popular music – from the era of Lonnie Donegan in the late 50s, through Prospero and retired members’ events the salad days of Cliff Richard and the The trip to the Steinway piano factory Shadows in the 60s, and then the proved so popular that this tour and phenomenal rise of the Beatles and the lunch is being repeated this month Rolling Stones and on to the psychedelic (October). November sees a visit to rock of Jimi Hendrix. one of London’s best kept secrets, the Beefeater Gin Distillery where the gin Given the paucity of pop music on the is still handcrafted to a secret recipe BBC at the time, Saturday Club was a virtually unchanged since the 1800s. precious two-hour slot where a youthful Other events include a chocolate audience, always eager for something making workshop, a matinee trip to the new, could find welcome respite from theatre and our annual Christmas Lunch the monotonous diet of mainstream light in BBC Club W1. Details of our trips are music and dance band covers which available in the Prospero newsletter. dominated the BBC airwaves at the time. This can be viewed on the website or The Beatles in 1963, performing live on Saturday Club – John Lennon (left), Paul From modest beginnings, the show’s Prospero Society members can have McCartney (centre), George Harrison (right). Copyright: BBC popularity grew, eventually topping it posted to their home address. 10 million listeners at its peak. bbcclub.com/connect/prospero/ newsletters On the fifth birthday edition of Saturday Club, the Beatles headlined a bill The Prospero Society is BBC Club’s featuring exclusive performances by the Connect group for retired members. Everly Brothers, Joe Brown, Tommy Roe, It is totally separate from the Prospero Frank Ifield, Kathy Kirby and Clinton Ford. newspaper! Membership is £15 per year Cliff Richard phoned in his birthday and membership is growing as the greetings from Tel Aviv and there were advantages of an extended range of studio interviews and pre-recorded activities and subsidised prices are realised. The Society is a great way congratulations from Ricky Nelson, to meet up with friends old and new! Acker Bilk, Roy Orbison, Brenda Lee, You need to be a BBC Club member Del Shannon and Bobby Vee. Jimmy’s to join Prospero Society. For details presenter, Brian Matthew, even read out or to join, contact the Club. a special message sent by telegram from Frank, Dean and Sammy (Sinatra, Martin and Davis Jr, that is). BBC Club Broadcast Centre, BC2 B3, Just a few months later, the Beatles 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TP 020 8752 6666 would receive a public welcome in the Jimmy Grant (left) with singer Matt Monro and actress Carol White – a photo taken [email protected] USA, the likes of which have still never during the heyday of Saturday Club in the 1960s. Copyright: Bill Aitken

8 | BACK AT THE BBC Is this the greatest comedy CRICKET, film of all time? A new poll by BBC Culture ‘As well as being a romantic comedy, LOVELY CRICKET has revealed the 100 greatest a buddy movie, a crime caper, and a comedy films ever made, musical, Some Like It Hot is an anthem On the back of the tremendous news that live cricket is returning according to an expert panel in praise of tolerance, acceptance, and to the BBC for the first time in a generation, Radio Cumbria of over 250 film critics. the possibility of transformation. It’s an anthem that we need to hear now more Senior Broadcast Journalist, Gordon Swindlehurst, gives his Each critic ranked their top 10 favourite than ever.’ personal memories of watching cricket on the Beeb. comedies, with the international panel nominating films from Hollywood, Other comedy classics in the top 10 yjamas, Ovaltine, and allowed whose nickname ‘Whispering Death’ Bollywood and Nollywood. The included Terry Jones’s Life of Brian to stay up late...Lancashire, barely hinted at the beauty of his celebration of comedy follows last (1979), Airplane! (1980), Playtime (1967), Pbatting in the Mancunian dark, rhythmic run-up and the shatteringly year’s poll of the 21st Century’s This is Spinal Tap (1984) and in the semi-final of the Gillette Cup, brutal damage caused to batsmen and 100 greatest films. The General (1926). 28 July 1971: the most exciting game their wickets just 22 yards away. Taking the top spot was Billy Wilder’s The legendary Charlie Chaplin made the of cricket ANYONE ever saw...to It was their captain, Clive Lloyd, and his 1959 hit Some Like It Hot, which pipped biggest impact, appearing four times in paraphrase Max Boyce, I know, contribution to cricket in the Red Rose Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove (1964). the top 100 with Modern Times (1936) at because I wasn’t there... County, which made the palest of pallid Annie Hall (1977), Groundhog Day (1993) number 12; The Great Dictator (1940) at Thousands of us remember it, kids, from ethnically-deprived Posh and Duck Soup (1933) came in third, number 16; City Lights (1931) at 21 and vividly, even though we weren’t at Lancashire, want to be a black West fourth and fifth respectively. The Gold Rush (1925) at 25. Old Trafford for the victory over Indian from mainland South America. Nicholas Barber, film critic for BBC You can find the full list on the BBC the ferocious Mike Procter’s If only one could field with such lithe Culture, discussing the winning film said: Culture website: bbc.com/culture workmanlike Gloucestershire. athleticism, throw a ball so fast with so Why? Because Old Trafford was there, little effort – hit the thing so far into the in the corner of our living room. baying boys who crowded into Lord’s for final after final because they’d seen Cricket on the Beeb, back then, did you, on TV, Clive. BH architect honoured more than fan the flames of fandom which saw Lancastrians flock, That’s why it’s so good to have cricket thereafter, to watch county games back on the small-screen, where with plaque close-up at such exotic venues as everyone can watch and be sucked in Broadcasting House underwent a major reinvention at the Southport, Aigburth and Blackpool. by its charms – not just those whose beginning of the 2000s, spurred by the desire to reinvent existing love of the game makes them It also shaped a generation’s view BBC Radio digitally (and give it an appropriate fit-for-purpose ready to fork out more for the pleasure of the world, and the cricket-lover’s home), to bring our news teams together in one combined of watching it. position in it. centre, and to create a brand new public space linking the More than that, it will, once again, bring Test matches brought the really exotic BBC to Regent Street and the wider capital. new heroes into their lives. How sad, into the house for half a century. Yet for our progeny, to have missed the awestruck youngsters last found their company of the likes of Sri Lanka’s heroes, terrestrially, in the Ashes of Kumar Sangakkarra or Pakistan’s 2005 – colourful fellows, they were, Misbah-ul-Haq. These aren’t just great too: Flintoff, Petersen, Warne... cricketers – they’re great ambassadors But the idols of a previous vintage for humanity, men worth seeking were – even for middle-class white to emulate. boys – men of a different colour: And that’s why it’s important for the Garry Sobers, and the great West BBC to win a bid for bits of bat and Indians of 1976 and beyond. ball on the box. And not only for us. Take Baron Patel That, and the fact that there’s little of Bradford, a Kenyan-born, Yorkshire more aesthetically, astonishingly,

lad, of Indian descent, now charged / BBC Jeff Overs Copyright electric than a Moeen Ali cover-drive, with opening up the white-flannel a Jimmy Anderson away-swinger Recently we honoured the architect of of short-term criticism from a hostile game to wider communities. or a Joe Root grin. The heart lifts. that vision, Sir Richard MacCormac, by press. He left the project unhappily, He lately admitted, on the gift to the unveiling a plaque in the entrance of but returned to visit the building just When David Hughes batted Lancashire globe which is Test Match Special, Old Broadcasting House (OBH). before his death in 2014, reconciled to an unlikely victory at a quarter-past that he’d happily have failed the to the project and its realisation. 9 that July night in 1971, it was, for It’s there below the plaque to the so-called ‘Tebbit Test’. many of us, the greatest TV moment, original architect, George Val Myer As Sir Stuart Lipton, who ran the Had the former Home Secretary’s quite possibly, in the history of and the sculptor Eric Gill (who did the competition for the new BH architect, theory been based in cricketing – well, anything. statues of Ariel and Prospero on the said at the plaque’s unveiling: ‘Look reality, the young Kamlesh Patel might exterior façade and the statue of The around you when you leave, the But it was just a small part of the have followed India, South Africa, Sower inside the art deco reception of essence of Richard’s design is here: service done to sport and the real or, possibly, England. OBH), and facing the two royal plaques the extraordinary precinct, the layered world outside it by allowing littl’uns to marking the formal opening of the façades, the materials, the detailed Instead, like so many of us, witness it and want to be part of it. original building by George V1 and its he worshipped at the altar of design – they all reflect one of I know. I wasn’t there. But BBC TV was. later re-opening by the current Queen Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge, London’s architectural masterpieces.’ in 2006. Andy Roberts and Michael Holding, To find out more about the history of Sir Richard did not have an altogether Broadcasting House and other aspects easy time working with the BBC – of BBC History, visit bbc.co.uk/ few architects do – as there is often historyofthebbc an understandable tension between artistic ambition and public Robert Seatter expenditure, as well as a context BBC Head of History

PROSPERO OCTOBER 2017 | 9 | OBITUARIES

Saturday Skiffle Club in 1958 which later developed into Pioneering Saturday Club, where he soon established a reputation Head of Legal Radio 1 producer for introducing the purveyors of ‘pop’ music to an Anthony Bostock was born in London in 1931 but spent increasingly young generation of listeners. A Sunday his early childhood in Cairo, Egypt, a place he loved and John F Muir was born on programme, Easy Beat, was established by him in 1960 often spoke of with extremely fond memories. 25 April 1937 and educated and then, becoming a freelance in the following year, he at Dunfermline High School. After returning to England, he attended Cheltenham additionally moved over to ITV for Thank Your After a spell in the RAF, he Junior College and Westminster School. He declined a Lucky Stars. joined the BBC in 1961 as place at Oxford to take up a legal apprenticeship with a Technical Operator. On I became co-producer of Saturday Club in 1964 and what was then Coward Chance (now Clifford Chance – becoming a producer in 1968, for two years I was very aware of his voice quality a global law firm). Here he was young solicitor of the John’s first notable radio and brilliance with ‘ad lib’ announcements and so was year in his first year of work. However, instead of taking creation was John Peel’s Night Ride, an amalgam of later delighted to employ him regularly for the daily the legal Partner route, he decided instead to take up a folky/acoustic music and poetry. This programme Roundabout drive-time programme during the late career within the legal department of the BBC. It was at strongly divided critical opinion, but earned cult status 1960s. For me he was the voice of the Radio Two of my the BBC where he ultimately spent most of his career as from loyal members of the increasingly influential hippy/ time and his contribution was recognised many times, Head of Legal for both TV and Radio and also running underground scene. John Peel once told John Muir that culminating in the SONY Gold Award in 2008. their legal departments across England, Scotland, his Night Ride programmes were among the best things Sounds of the 60s commenced in 1990 and Brian’s Ireland and Wales (no mean achievement considering he ever did. remarkable 60 years of broadcasting ended in February the massive complexities and legal differences between At Radio 1, during the late 60s and early 70s, John this year. Fit and healthy throughout his life he entered the jurisdictions). hospital at the end of last year. Returning home he worked with many inspirational figures on the nascent By 1987, after around 30 years’ service, Anthony rallied for a while until a severe chest infection led to UK rock scene, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, retired from the BBC and embarked upon a legal his sudden but peaceful death on 8 April, aged 88. Our Jeff Beck, Syd Barrett, Jack Bruce, Curved Air, Genesis, writing career. Humble Pie, Yes, Wishbone Ash and Peter Green’s sincere condolences go to his wife and family. In July 1994 he had a very serious head injury. Defying Fleetwood Mac. While working on Bob Harris’s strand Brian Willey all the odds, he pulled through. Although his quality of Sounds of the Seventies, John booked Roxy Music, producing their first BBC session before they even had a of life was clearly impaired, his loving wife and in recording contract, and was the first to air David Bowie particular son Angus worked tirelessly to give him the in his Ziggy Stardust avatar – five months before the Head of Technical best quality of life they could. And in the last three years eponymous album was released. one of his full-time carers – Amanda – completed what Investigations could only be described as a ‘first class/six star’ service! John fully deserves to be remembered as someone who John Wardle, who was born Without this his life would have been dull and probably was openly critical of the ‘tabloid’ mentality of early in Nottingham, died on very short! daytime Radio 1 programming and who stood up for 30 May aged 74 from cancer. Anthony was a talented linguist (speaking eight good music: rock, jazz, blues, folk, ethnic – or whatever! His demeanour and outlook languages), a keen camper and caravaner, and a very These attitudes probably didn’t go down too well with was an example to all who good chef! He loved trains and for many years had the powers that were, and probably contributed to the knew him during this time. He a fully operating train set in his attic well into his 50s. fact that John’s contract as a Radio 1 producer was joined the BBC in 1965 having abruptly terminated for no apparent reason in 1974. qualified with a first class As a husband he was kind and thoughtful, and as a father to three boys he was fantastically loving, wise After his BBC career, John spent 12 years at the Arts honours degree in physics from the University of Leeds. and caring, passing on manners, compassion and Council as Jazz/Music Officer, and later moved on He worked initially in Film Recording in Lime Grove intellect (with varying degrees of success!) to work for the Bhavan Centre, an Indian cultural Studios, joining Studio Engineering at the end of organisation which encourages and sponsors the 1967. This was a time of huge investment in broadcast Anna, Richard, Andrew and Angus performing arts of the Indian sub-continent. John engineering to support the colour television service continued to work for the Bhavan Centre until his which opened officially on 2 December. late 70s. In 1972 John was recruited into Technical Investigations, P & ID Engineer John died of cancer on 10 May 2017. He is survived by his comprising a small group of television engineers David Dunmall (born 24 son, Gregor, his daughter, Lucie, and his grand-daughter, whose remit was to evaluate new technology, seek March 1940) died peacefully Charlotte Rose. solutions to recurring technical problems, and to at home on 29 May 2017 provide support in meeting some of the special Bill Aitken after being diagnosed with needs and developing techniques in London and the prostate cancer. Regions on behalf of the Operations and Maintenance departments to meet the programme need. One of David’s BBC career began at The voice of Radio 2 his first achievements was to build an adapter to Daventry transmitting station allow a colour TV camera to interface with a microscope. in 1958, followed in 1967 at the Brian Matthew was born in He went on to support many programme requirements BBC’s relay station on Ascension Island accompanied Coventry in September 1928 including the Royal Institution Christmas lectures. by his wife, Wendy, and their child, Kate. They were into a musical family – his father the first BBC family to live and work on Ascension and being conductor of the City of He was at the forefront of evaluation of all new TV their second child, Mary, was born on the Island. The Coventry Silver Band and his cameras and the associated introduction of new family returned to the UK in September 1970 where mother a professional singer. camera pick up tube technology, which changed in David worked in Lime Grove Studios, before moving to ever-decreasing size, leading on, with his close Educated at Coventry’s Plymouth as a station engineer. involvement, to the use of solid state sensors which are Bablake School, he was then the standard of today. A further part of his remit was to In 1984 he moved to London to a post in P&ID, working conscripted for National Service in the army which support the change in picture size to the wide-screen for some years in TVC on L/TC36 replacing Network immediately took him into radio in Germany with the TV receiver format which we enjoy today. Control 1 and NC2. After the completion of the network British Forces Broadcasting Service. John had a high level of interpersonal skill and nothing control rooms, David built up ‘Showcable’ in the same Upon demobilisation, a talent for acting led him to study was ever too much trouble in his dealings with everyone. area, an early BBC venture into cable TV, built up with at RADA, later joining the Old Vic company where he recovered equipment from a redundant OB truck. He met his future wife, Pamela. Married in 1951 they moved In 1987 he became Head of Technical Investigations. He really enjoyed that! to Hilversum where Brian had obtained a contract with retired in 2000, ran his own consultancy, remained very While working for Eric Taylor, he was asked to arrange the English service of Radio Nederland. active in his Methodist church and was a volunteer with the RSPB. the packing and shipping of equipment to the USA When their son, Christopher, was born the family for the Olympic Games. This equipment was stored at John was a consummate broadcast engineer. To his wife, returned to Coventry, where Brian worked as a milkman Western Avenue, the former BBC scenery stores, and Jill (they were together for 50 years), Mark, Sarah and for a while until, in late 1954, the BBC recruited him as just for a bit of fun David put in the centre of one of the their families, we offer our condolences. a Home Service news reader before moving over to cases that contained reeled cables, a realistic severed the Light Programme as an announcer. Brian hosted John Warner hand that he acquired from Props.

10 He had some awkward explaining to do when Eric After leaving the BBC, Alan lived quietly in Greenwich, returned home as he’d not reckoned on the humourless Head of Religious pursuing his interest in the arts. He was a prominent US officials who discovered the ‘prop hand’ and had Broadcasting, World member of the Arts Club in Piccadilly where he summoned Eric explain. Service 1979-87 introduced film showings and gave lectures. Having survived that, David started Regional work, BBC colleagues remember Alan as a strong editor, calm working firstly in BH Bristol, followed by a long period Dr Pauline Webb joined the under pressure and clear in his instructions. Bob Doran in BBC Wales rebuilding the television continuities. World Service after a long and recalls Alan editing the Radio Four 1800 on the day of the distinguished career within Queen’s Silver Jubilee: ‘Alan told us what he wanted...and After early retirement in 1992 he spent a lot of time the Methodist Church and as then told us to get on with it. And that was it. No constant on his hobbies, in particular refurbishing old television a leading figure in the World interference, no shilly-shallying, no constant mind- equipment and arranging music for a large Dutch Street Council of Churches where as changing. I think he was happy with the end product.’ Organ which he’d had made and kept in their bungalow Vice President of the Central in Cheltenham. Committee, she had been a Alan was a champion of the Newsroom’s values and principles and a defender of its role in delivering them. He never lost his calm, methodical approach to founder member of the Programme to Combat Racism. He was particularly determined to maintain the BBC’s engineering and kept in contact with a number of Between 1952 and 1979 she had been a seminal voice impartiality. He would report that whenever canvassers BBC friends and colleagues throughout his retirement. in world Methodism editing its publications and taking responsibility for work and personnel in the Caribbean. knocked on his door he sent them away without a hint Bob Head of his voting intentions. An advocate for the ordination of women, she maintained a passionate commitment to the ministry of lay people Rupert Dickens herself. A gifted broadcaster and eloquent advocate of her Award-winning corner, she became an accomplished producer, enabling film editor contributors to make the most of their arguments, however Head Draughtsman much she may have disagreed with them! Clare Douglas, who has died (Training) while on holiday in France, was She loved the interaction with colleagues, proved able passed responsible for crafting some of to argue her editorial policies at every level and enjoyed John David Mitchell away suddenly on 3 June 2017 in the most memorable television the international climate of Bush House. Unlike her Eastbourne, at the age of 84. He dramas of our time. predecessors she was neither male nor ordained and did not see broadcasting as a step to clerical preferment was born in Hastings but grew From John Irvin’s Tinker, Tailor, but realized that for the world, religious broadcasting up in Malmesbury, where he Soldier, Spy in 1979, to Stephen was just that – ‘broad’ – catering for a global audience attended the Grammar School Poliakoff’s The Lost Prince which represented every religious position. At the followed by an engineering (2003) and beyond, she never failed to be in demand. forefront of inter faith discussions, she brought to apprenticeship at E.K Cole She left the BBC to edit the writer Denis Potter’s last the airwaves a huge variety of voices reflecting these (ECKO), where he learned his films, which he directed. These were Blackeyes (1989) various religious traditions. draughting skills. He joined the BBC in 1955, initially in the and Secret Friends (1991), but she had edited some Equipment Department based in Clapham, later moving Her global experiences and contacts enabled her to call of his earlier work, directed by Renney Rye – Karaoke to Chiswick. on internationally recognised names and ensure that, in (1996), Cold Lazarus (1996) and Lipstick On Your the World Service, at least, religions were able to speak Reports from senior managers remarked on his natural Collar (1993). peace to religions. aptitude for leadership and organisation and the major She later won two Emmys and worked with Paul part he played in training and encouraging junior staff, After her retirement she continued to lead the Daily Greengrass on The Murder of Stephen Lawrence (1999), instilling into them his own high standards. Service, present Thought for the Day and presented Bloody Sunday (2002) and his feature film, United 93 a series of Songs of Praise. She continued training When Engineering Personnel Department set up a new (2006), for which she was nominated for an Oscar – Methodist lay preachers well into her eighties. Her training scheme for young draughtsmen and -women, although she disagreed with the final version of autobiography, Pauline Webb; World wide Webb John was the obvious choice to lead it. He was appointed that film. was published in 2006 and is available from Amazon. Head Draughtsman (Training) in 1979. He flourished in this The list of her awards are many, but it is for her warmth role. He had great empathy with young people and was David Craig and humanity that she will be remembered. With Clare able to encourage and support them as individuals whilst there was no ego and she was deeply concerned for imparting his knowledge and experience with a quiet, those less fortunate. good-humoured authority.

She had a special talent – that rare gift to understand Alan Beecham After retirement from the BBC, John did similar work film and edit dialogue – which she combined with deep Alan Beecham, a mainstay of the Radio Newsroom at Kingston College of FE, before moving to Eastbourne sensitivity and a passion for her work that was only for more than 20 years, died in June at the age of 82. in 1996. surpassed by her love for her friends and family. Clare As an assistant editor in the 1980s, he played a prominent John’s most obvious characteristics were his lovely helped many young editors in their careers with advice role in covering many major stories including the Iranian smile, his sense of humour and his beautiful head of hair and carefully crafted references. Embassy siege, the wedding of Charles and Diana and (envied by women as well as men!) which he always several budgets and general elections. After reading English, Drama and Philosophy at Bristol kept. His generosity was legendary: no one in John’s University, she took a Film and Photography course at Alan grew up in Boston, Lincolnshire, attended Boston company would be allowed to pull out a wallet or purse. No account of John would be complete without mention Hornsey College of Art. She trained as an editor at the Grammar School and joined the Boston Standard. His of his lifelong love of literature and poetry. John never left BBC, working on many documentaries before moving early career as a journalist included stints on the Salisbury the house without a book in his pocket, even on a visit to to drama. Journal, the Surrey Comet and the News Chronicle, the supermarket, on the basis that he could always ‘find interrupted by national service in what was then Malaya. During her time at the BBC, she met and married the five minutes in which to carry on reading’. He was also a BBC filmmaker and journalist, Michael Barnes. They had He joined the BBC as a Bush House sub-editor in 1961 lover of art and music, much enjoying his annual visits no children, but Clare was always there for Mike’s two before moving two years later to the domestic Radio to Glyndebourne. daughters from his first marriage, Suzy and Mandy, and Newsroom. He was promoted to duty editor in 1969, John was a quiet man of gentle manners, unpretentious, she adored their three grandchildren, Isabelle, Josie became the first editor of the General News Service and and Barney. modest and caring. He will be very much missed by all then one of two assistant editors of the Newsroom. He who knew and loved him. It was on the last night of their holiday in France left the BBC in 1989 after a reorganisation of senior roles. that she fell backwards down a stairwell in their hotel Dorothy May Alan met his wife, Valerie, at the BBC, and they had two room and died. Mike and her sisters, Tina and Oriel, boys, Jonathan and Christopher. Alan was immensely survive her. proud that he was able to send them to one of the best Obituaries for Ron Bloomfield and Christine Whittaker David Boardman schools near the family home in the Chilterns. will appear in the next issue of Prospero.

PROSPERO OCTOBER 2017 | 11 | ODDS & ENDS

SPECIAL APPEAL: Radio CONTACTS

Scotland 40th anniversary Visiting Scheme Benevolent Fund Available to BBC pensioners over 70, This is funded by voluntary Some readers may recall my interest in those recently bereaved, and anyone contributions from the BBC and its broadcasting history, and notably with in poor health, the scheme is a method purpose is to protect the welfare of Pat Walker on the subject of ‘The First of keeping in touch and operates staff, pensioners and their families. 50 Years of the BBC in Scotland’. throughout the UK. Visitors are BBC Grants are made at the discretion of I subsequently gave many rewarding talks pensioners themselves. If you want to the Trustees. They may provide on the subject, the feedback confirming be visited, receive a phone call or meet assistance in cases of unforeseen the affection audiences still retained for up somewhere mutually convenient, financial hardship, for which help the Scottish and UK services. call 029 2032 2811. The contact is the from other sources is not available. same if you would like to become Tel: 029 2032 2811. Whatever, it has still come as something past four decades or so. For example, the a visitor. of a shock to realise that the 40th photograph accompanying this article Prospero Society anniversary of Radio Scotland is now only shows (a part of) the team headed by Queries Prospero Society is the only section of a little more than a year away – on James Boyle that won for Scotland the For benefit and pension payroll queries, the BBC Club run by and for retired 23 November 2018, to be precise. ‘Sony UK Station of the Year’ in 1994. It call the Service Line on 029 2032 2811 BBC staff and their spouses. Its aim was also an image from pre-smart phone or email . is to enable BBC pensioners to meet Hence this special appeal to Prospero [email protected] days, tracked down to a wee noticeboard on a social basis for theatre visits, readers to open old photograph albums Prospero outside the drama office in a top corner luncheons, coach outings etc. to see if they have pictures that could be To delete a name from the distribution of that rabbit warren of fond memory used to commemorate the 40 years of the list, ring the Service Line on 029 2032 Prospero Society is supported by once known as BBC, 5, Queen Street, Radio Scotland service. These might have 2811. Prospero is provided free of BBC Club funds so as to make events Edinburgh! been taken at special events, or simply charge to retired BBC Scheme affordable. If you would like an at regular programmes across the range So I look forward to hearing from retired members only. Prospero is also application form, please contact: of the station’s mixed output. There have staff who just might be able to help with available on audio disc for those Gayner Leach, BBC Club, BC2 B3 been many fine achievements over these the search. with sight impairment. To register, Broadcast Centre, 201 Wood Lane, please ring the Service Line. Mike Shaw London W12 7TP Alternatively, it is also available Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 8752 6666 online at bbc.co.uk/mypension, REUNIONS Email: [email protected] under ‘Documents’. BBCPA BBC Club BBC Scotland Light Entertainment Television reunion The BBCPA was founded in 1988 to The BBC Club in London has a retired The annual BBC Scotland retired staff Open to all who have worked in and promote and safeguard the interests membership costing £3 per month or lunchtime reunion will take place on for Light Entertainment Television. of BBC pensioners. It is independent £36 per year. Members can also add Friday 17 November in the Crowne An opportunity to meet up with former of the BBC. For details of how to friends and family to their membership Plaza Hotel in Glasgow, just across the colleagues. To be held at Club W1 at join, see the panel on page 5 for a small additional cost. Regional River Clyde from BBC Scotland’s Wogan House (formerly BBC Club at or download a membership form clubs may have different arrangements. headquarters at Pacific Quay. Western House), 99 Great Portland at bbcpa.org.uk. Please call the BBC Club London Street W1A 1AA on Wednesday If you haven’t already received an office on 020 8752 6666 or email 17 January 2018, from noon onwards. email notification of this, you’re [email protected] for details or missing from our list – so please RSVP Tony Newman to join. email: [email protected], (email: [email protected]) or [email protected], or andrew. or Lesley Begley WIN [email protected] for (email: [email protected]) £10 further details. BBC Design & Scenic Services Pebble Mill Xmas Rum Punch Reunion Lunch Tickets now on sale for Pebble Mill This will take place at Ealing Golf Club Caption Competition Xmas Rum Punch. Wednesday Function Room, Perivale, West London. 6 December, 12 noon - 4pm at Friday 20 October from noon onwards. The winner of a £10 shopping voucher is John Robinson who submitted the Tally Ho Conference Centre, ‘This dog eats all the goodies he can get – let’s run!’ Thanks also to John Dean For a booking form, contact Birmingham B5 7RN. for: ‘Children, if you try LSD this is what happens’ and Peter Harrison: Roz Johnston (Tel: 01 277 214666; ‘It keeps ordering us to throw a stick’. £10 buffet to include a rum punch. Email: [email protected]) or Order buffet by 24 November. Contact Matt Conway (Tel: 01323 740071; Post your entry to Prospero by Monday, 6 November 2017. Or, you can email Ann: [email protected] Email: [email protected]). your entry to [email protected], with with ‘caption competition 5’ in the subject line. Please include your BBC pension number. Good luck! Turn up on the day £2.00 entrance but For advice about local transport to get no buffet. All welcome. to the venue, ring Matt Conway. …This dog eats all the goodies he can get – let’s run! CLASSIFIEDS

Majorca. Venice, Giudecca. Stunning townhouse. Pedestrianised Beautiful apartment in quiet, private beautiful old town Alcudia. Close to courtyard, sleeps 5, fully equipped. beaches. Ex-BBC owned. Sleeps 12. Experience the real Venice. 20% discount for BBC. Tel: 07513 455655 www.cangrandealcudia.com Email: [email protected] Picture shows Ernie Wise Prospero Classifieds, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Broadcasting House, and Eric Morecambe. Cardiff CF5 2YQ. Please enclose a cheque made payable to: BBC Central Directorate. Rate: £6 for 20 words. In a covering letter please include your pension number.

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