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Attenborough at 90 Page 2 The newspaper for BBC pensioners Attenborough at 90 Page 2 June 2016 • Issue 3 Reporting on Life before Apollo 13 the referendum Auntie remembered Page 3 Page 6 Page 8 NEWS • MEMORIES • CLASSIFIEDS • YOUR LETTERS • OBITUARIES • CROSPERO 02 BACK AT THE BBC Attenborough at 90 Bringing back Teamwork, collaboration and the Natural History Unit some sunshine Victoria Cowan, To mark his 90th birthday, Ariel spoke to the legendary broadcaster. Senior Media Manager, Archives, talks to Ariel about two precious comic discoveries. Previously missing recordings of The Morecambe and Wise Show and The Frankie Howerd Show – both broadcast 50 years ago on the Light Programme – have recently been recovered. The items were on reel-to-reel tapes owned by listener Ken Newberry who offered a whole list of items that he had recorded in the 1960s and 70s. Victoria said: ‘Mr Newberry contacted us Sunday 24 July 1966, one week before through audience services and we asked The World Cup Final. him to send his material through. Ninety- Victoria explained that archiving policy nine per cent of what he offered us we was very different in the 1960s: ‘Back then, either already had or the information about it it was very, very selective, especially for was so vague we could not tell what it was. things like comedy. It wasn’t perceived as We can only take in material we know for important and was also quite expensive and sure we definitely broadcast. difficult to capture. The thinking then was ‘Even if we don’t have something in that it would not hold much future interest.’ our archive we have to decide whether to Victoria said she found listening to ir David Attenborough’s back It is this teamwork which has been a vital commit the time and resource to bringing the tapes ‘intriguing’ although confessed catalogue looks like a greatest ingredient in producing the consistently it in. We have to decide whether it is good that some of the Frankie Howerd material hits of documentary film-making. world class content with which Attenborough enough quality to be requested or reused in had dated and may be considered Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet is associated. Yet, modestly, he prefers to the future. offensive today. S(1984), The Trials of Life (1990), The Private Life attach the world class label to the Natural ‘But these tapes of Morecambe and ‘It was good to listen to the tapes and I of Plants (1995), The Blue Planet (2001), right History Unit. Wise and Frankie Howerd jumped out, was pleased to find that a lot of it was still up to his most recent work, constitute some ‘The Natural History Unit is a world class especially as I knew that Morecambe and very funny. For us, it’s about capturing some of the finest natural history programmes unit, no doubt,’ he says. ‘It was making Wise had not done very much radio. more of our cultural heritage. Whether this ever broadcast. wildlife and natural history programmes at a ‘Usually we only look to recover complete will get broadcast more widely again I don’t The Attenborough ‘brand’ – and he would time when no one else was and it has programmes but the iconic status of the know but we have it now, so it’s there for doubtless baulk at the term – is all over these remained a world leader in that. It represents comedians involved prompted a bit more people to listen to. programmes. He is inextricably linked with a very important part of my professional life. investigation. The metadata was a bit vague ‘The completeness of the recordings, them. They are seen as his. Yet he is quick to ‘Teamwork is vital and the fact you have a but it was just enough to do a bit of digging. their rarity and the significance of the artists stress the importance of teamwork and centre where expertise is shared, such as the ‘We found an almost complete recording have made these a valuable find and they especially the role of the Bristol-based Natural History Unit, produces a group of of the first in the series of theMorecambe have been added to our archive.’ Natural History Unit. knowledge and a set of standards which is and Wise radio show, and a number of ‘All of these were huge projects which very important. complete or partial sketches from several each involved tremendous amounts of ‘The BBC always took natural history very episodes of the Frankie Howerd radio show. Ordering TV and collaboration and camaraderie,’ he says. ‘If seriously, including a time when very few None of these were in our archive.’ Radio material you are engaged in a project of those other broadcasters did. It took it into areas Mr Newberry had not listened to any of For specific orders of TV and Radio dimensions, you are working closely with a which other people thought might not be the recordings in more than 30 years. The content please email team for a period of up to three years and very popular but they persevered and made Morecambe and Wise show in question [email protected] you certainly get to know one another.’ them popular. I think the Natural History aired on the Light Programme at 13.30 on Open: 08:00- 19:00, Monday to Friday Unit is one of the feathers in the cap of excluding Bank Holidays. the BBC.’ Please send your editorial contributions, or comments/ feedback, to: Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Prospero is provided free of charge to retired scheme Broadcasting House, Cardiff CF5 2YQ members, or to their spouses and dependants. Email: [email protected] Prospero provides a source of news on former colleagues, Please make sure that any digital pictures you send are developments at the BBC and pension issues, plus classified scanned at 300 dpi. adverts. It is available online at www.bbc.co.uk/mypension To advertise in Prospero, please see page 12. The next issue of Prospero will appear in August 2016. The copy deadline is Monday, 4 July 2016. PROSPERO JUNE 2016 03 Why impartiality stems from good editorial judgement Recent years have seen fundamental changes on the UK’s political landscape. Devolution and the emergence of new parties have seen the traditional three party map effectively redrawn. ith devolved and local political climates,’ says Ric. ‘So, we have the politics looks very different today than it did, two sides are saying so people have a better elections in May and the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, the say, ten years ago. Secondly, the old three- understanding of what’s happening and can EU referendum in June, Northern Ireland Assembly, local government party system is changing with the emergence make up their mind, but it is not our job to this is a particularly testing in England, the London Mayor, as well as the of parties like UKIP. We have to be quick to tick their homework and say what is true and andW complicated few months for the BBC, Police and Crime Commissioners in England recognise changes in electoral support because what isn’t.’ representing a crucially important reporting and Wales. that reflects what the audience is thinking.’ challenge. ‘Look at politics in Scotland at the For the past ten years, it has fallen to Ric moment and it looks completely different The EU referendum Bailey, Chief Political Adviser in Editorial to politics in England, while Wales and The EU referendum presents a new set of Children in Need Standards and Policy to draft the reporting Northern Ireland are different again. In some challenges for us. There is evidence that many guidelines specific to each election and parts of the UK, UKIP is strong, in others it people are uncertain which way to vote and chief to referendum. These are published by the BBC is not. London is quite polarised between are looking to the media for guidance: Trust and supplement our normal editorial Labour and Conservative. ‘In this instance there is a very binary leave BBC guidelines: this year is especially complex. ‘So our real challenge is looking at divide between remain and leave which, in After 10 years as Chief Executive of all these different elections and situations some cases, cuts across party lines,’ says Ric. BBC Children in Need, during which Due impartiality and considering how it affects our Something evident from Scotland’s 2014 time the Charity has raised over The BBC, of course, must display ‘due UK-wide output. referendum, and which is also emerging £400million and helped hundreds of impartiality’ at all times. As Ric explains, this ‘Broadcasting to the whole of the UK here is that, when voters are presented with thousands of disadvantaged children terminology is critical: simultaneously, we have to consider how to a barrage of statistics and arguments and and young people, David Ramsden has announced he will be leaving ‘People concentrate on the word be fair to all the parties standing in different counter-arguments, some of which seem the organisation. ‘impartiality’ and forget the word ‘due’,’ parts of the UK given that some parties completely contradictory, they turn to the David has been pivotal in growing BBC he says. ‘But ‘due’ is the key word here are standing in the whole of Britain, while BBC for guidance and help: Children in Need into not only one of the because it refers to the context in which we others may only be standing in one part. ‘It raises the question of what is our role,’ UK’s best loved and most trusted charities, are operating.
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