The newspaper for BBC pensioners - with highlights from Ariel
‘Wonders’ shine through
difficult year
BBC continues to make great
programmes despite chilly
climate – Page 2
A u g u s t 2 0 11 • I s s u e 6
More from you
on the Dr. Who
howl-round
Page 4
Patten
emerging words from
the Chairman
Page 8-9
Memories of
Wood Norton
Page 10
N E W S • L i f e a f t e r A u n t i e • C l a ss i f i e d s • Y o u r le t t e r s • O b i t u a r i es • C r o s P E RO
02 GENERAL NEWS
Tough year of upheaval and ambition
– the BBC annual report summarised
For Mark Thompson, the powerful Afghanistan documentary
Our War symbolises much of the BBC’s ambition in a year of
radical change.
Brian Cox, presenting the popular Wonders of the Universe
Shot with soldiers’ helmet cameras and
voiced in their own words, the BBC
Three programme was ‘exhilarating,
disturbing, heartbreaking and utterly
gripping’, the director-general says in his
introduction to this year’s annual report.
It claimed the second highest AI of any BBC
factual programme and reached a large
young audience.
‘To me this commitment – not just to
‘preach to the choir’, but to put serious,
engaging journalism, knowledge and culture
in front of everyone, including those who
may not feel a natural appetite for it, and to
make it so compelling and inspiring that it
becomes unmissable – is at the heart of what
it means to be a public service broadcaster’,
Thompson says.
Over a period of digital growth, strong
audience approval and rising trust levels
among licence payers, he singles out
Wonders of the Universe, the most ‘exciting’
Proms season in years and the ‘brave’ drama
Five Daughters as stand-out achievements,
along with BBC coverage of massive world
events like the Japanese tsunami and the
Arab Spring.
A year of upheaval
Miriam O’Reilly’s successful suing of the BBC
for ageism was clearly a low point: ‘In 2011
we need to demonstrate that we have learned
both the specific and the more general
lessons from the case’, Thompson says. The
BBC will continue to work with the wider
industry to develop ‘a more sophisticated
BBC News Channel increases
weekly reach
Among the report’s content reviews, coverage
of seismic international events helped the
BBC News Channel increase its weekly reach
by almost a third to 12.2%, with 2010/11
Below is a short overview of
recent Government changes
and developments to
State Pensions.
State pensions
Five daughters
approach to reflecting people of different
ages in our on-air talent’.
The impact of last autumn’s licence fee
settlement and the DQF process meant that
there remained ‘many difficult questions and
trade-offs to work through’, but Thompson
concludes: ‘Now, more than ever, we are
determined to put quality first.’
For many BBC staff, the year was
characterised by upheaval. There were angry
protests at the World Service closures and the
painful pensions reform process, designed
to address a £1.6bn deficit – along with a
below inflation pay offer – led to two days of
strike action.
The Executive review recognises that the
migration of departments to Salford – now
under way, coupled with the uncertainty
over implementation of Delivering Quality
First is ‘unsettling’ for people inside
the organisation.
‘There will be fewer jobs in the new
BBC. So the coming year will see us work
with staff and unions to manage those
changes fairly, transparently and with
compassion, providing outplacement services
and redeployment wherever possible and
working to maintain staff motivation and
engagement’, management promise.
Pension news
audiences rising to 10.3m against 6.2m for
Sky News.
Audiences for regional tv news reached
a five-year high (5.5m) and local radio
audiences were up by 720,000 to 7.4m.
Network television hours from Scotland
more than doubled to 611.
Across the portfolio of BBC TV and radio
channels, reach was up. Drama output across
all channels was down year-on-year by a
hefty 630 hours, largely due to the strategic
decision to acquire fewer series, but the
year saw a drop in originated drama of just
eight hours.
An average of 20m people in the UK used
BBC Online each week, with a record 11.7m
hits to the News website on the day after
the General Election. Across the year, BBC
iPlayer averaged more than 100m requests
a month and a total of 1.6bn programmes
were played.
As the future of the BBC Asian Network
remains under review, its audience grew,
although it recorded the lowest AI score
of any BBC radio station (71%) while
continuing to cost the most per user hour.
Overall – despite a licence fee freeze,
extra future commitments including paying
for World Service, the pension deficit and
inflationary pressures – the BBC ended the
year with a balance sheet, and a net overdraft
of £16m, that demonstrates the ‘underlying
health of the BBC’, says chief financial officer,
Zarin Patel. The five-year continuous saving
programme is on target to exceed £2bn by
2012/13.
The Government’s proposals to accelerate
the planned rise in State Pension age are
expected to become law by October. The
press has reported on the estimated 300,000
women who will be most affected by the
planned changes in the Pensions Bill 2011
(those in their mid to late fifties) and who
will see a delay of up to two years in the start
of their State Pension. A number of campaign
groups have attacked the plans, claiming that
women who are affected have been left very
little time in which to re-think their finances.
Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan
Smith, last month conceded that support
must be put in place for such cases, stating
that ‘transitional arrangements’ may be made
in these circumstances.
It is important that you are aware of your
correct State Retirement date, so that you can
plan effectively for your own retirement. The
Department for Work and Pensions will be
updating its forecasting system in line with
any change in legislation; once the new ruling
is in force, the State Pension Age calculator at
www.direct.gov.uk will also be updated, and
you can check your own State Retirement
date by visiting the site (see ‘Pensions and
retirement planning’ section).
Pension liberation
In recent months, it has become
apparent that a number of companies
are claiming to be able to release pension
funds for members, contrary to the
Government’s early access rules. Known as
‘pension liberation’, methods of doing this
vary, and include loans written to the scheme
member, or the transfer of pension scheme
funds into an alternative product which
then releases money at a much earlier date
than intended. Both the TPR and the FSA
have issued warnings about the danger
of such action.
From 2012, the Government’s Automatic
Enrolment system will come into force as part
of plans to boost the number and quality of
workplace pension schemes. The National
Employment and Savings Trust (NEST) is a
new workplace pension scheme which was
created to support employers in meeting
their new duties. NEST has launched a
comprehensive website which provides detail
on how the scheme will work, how money
will be invested to enhance members’ pension
pots and also includes an interactive area
where members of the NEST scheme can log
in to access their account details and
monitor their pension fund progress.
Visit www.nestpensions.org.uk.
Editorial contributions: Write to: Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre,
Broadcasting House, Cardiff CF5 2YQ. Email: [email protected]
Please make sure that any digital pictures you send are scanned at 300 dpi.
The next issue of Prospero will appear in October
Prospero is provided free of charge to retired BBC employees,
or to their spouses and dependants. Prospero provides a source
of news on former colleagues, developments at the BBC and
pension issues, plus classified adverts.
To advertise in Prospero or the BBC Staff magazine, Ariel, please see
page 12. Subscription information for Ariel can be found to the right.
PROSPERO August 2011
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update from the bbc
The BBC Pension Scheme –
Report and Accounts
The BBC recently published its Scheme Report and Accounts
for the year ending 31 March 2011. Below is a short summary
of the main points. We plan to feature a broader breakdown of
the Pension Scheme’s report later in the year.
Overall performance
average, as measured by WM’s UK Pension
Fund Benchmark.
The BBC Pension Scheme, which is
registered with HM Revenue & Customs
and the Pensions Regulator, is established
and governed by a Trust Deed and Rules.
Members of the Scheme (other than
members of the Career Average Benefits
sections) are contracted out of the State
Second Pension.
To find out more about the BBC Pension Scheme
Report and Accounts, please visit www.bbc.co.uk/
mypension
Save your energy
with BBC lighting
guide
The BBC has launched a guide
to using low-energy lighting
(LEL) on television productions.
Introducing Quick
Response Codes (QRCs)
It is meant to act as a one-stop-shop for
lighting directors, studio managers and
production teams, helping them to cut carbon
emissions and save on energy bills. The
comprehensive 32-page guide – with graphics,
statistics and product comparisons – is to lead
the way in changing the industry’s approach to
sustainable productions. The guide is the first
of its kind in the UK television industry.
The BBC has a target of reducing its energy
consumption by 20% by 2013. LEL lamps
last longer than traditional ones and save
money and energy in the long run, although
they initially cost more to buy or hire. It’s
estimated that up to 80% of energy consumed
on a production can come from lighting
alone. By using LEL, the energy consumption
can drop substantially. BBC Three’s Mongrels
has, for example, saved 40% of its energy
consumption by using low-energy lighting,
and Silent Witness is saving around 30%.
What is a QRC?
Cardiff Bay
The membership of the Scheme rose slightly
during the year. As at 31 March 2011 the
total membership was 60,399; 1.4% more
than last year, and 5.4% more than five years
ago. The value of the Scheme’s investments
(including AVC investments) rose by 8.3%
from £8.2 billion last year to £8.9 billion as
at 31 March 2011 and the Scheme’s assets
produced a return of 8.6% in the year ended
31 March 2011. Over the last five years the
Scheme’s investments have generated an
annualised return of 3.7%. This is around
A QRC is a kind of barcode, which you
may have seen on advertising or in other
publications, and is often used for adding
web links to a printed page. Using your
Smartphone (mobile), you scan the QRC
(like you scan a barcode on a product you
buy) and, providing you have the QR Reader
application on your mobile, it instantly
takes you to the link generated by that QRC.
It could be any website, a YouTube video or
any other sort of web page. Basically, instead
of saying, say, ‘for more information on
the BBC Pension Report and Accounts, visit
www.bbc.co.uk/mypension’ at the end of an
article, a printed QRC image would take you
straight there once you had scanned it with
your mobile.
QRCs in Prospero
For the first time, readers are able to access
websites straight from Prospero, using their
Smartphones or web cams. Below are a
couple of examples of QRCs for you to try,
which will enable you to access the BBC
Pension website and Prospero online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mypension/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mypension/sites/
helpadvice/pages/documents-prospero.shtml
C rospero 1 5 9
1
4
5
6
7
Please send your answers in an envelope marked Crospero to The
Editor, Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Broadcasting
House, Cardiff CF5 2YQ by Friday, 9 September 2011.
8
9
CLUES
1. Youth (3), 2. Responded in a certain way (7), 3. Drinks counter (3),
4. Tree (3), 5. Big lake (4), 6. Having nothing to do (4), 7. Paces (5),
8. Requirements (5), 9. Cat or dog (3), 10. Kind of soup (5),
11. Antique (5), 12. American lizard (3), 13. Projections (5),
14. Take the wheel (5), 15. Abrasive tool (4), 16. Northern river (4),
17. Small pocket (3), 18. For cooking (3), 19. Forebears (7), 20. Drop off (3)
11
10
12
13
14
15
17
19
devised and compiled by Jim Palm
Complete the square by using the clues; these apply only to words
running across. Then take these words in numerical order and
extract the letters indicated by a dot. If your answers are correct,
these letters will spell out the name of a period BBC serial.
2
3
Other BBC programmes are about to
introduce LEL, including the new set of
Casualty, which will use 100% LELs when
it moves to Cardiff Bay. Studios in London
and in the buildings occupied by the BBC
at MediaCityUK will also use lights that
consume less energy for regional news
programmes, sports coverage, the News
Channel and on the new set of BBC Breakfast.
The BBC believes that, by sharing this
guide, everyone working in the industry can
find out how to reduce the carbon footprint
of their own productions.
Adrian Poole, Director of IT and Technology
Delivery, said, ‘Only by having a shared goal
of reducing our energy consumption whilst
maintaining the quality of light, have we now
got to a stage where low-energy lighting is a
reality for productions. We hope that this guide
will help move the whole industry forward in
creating a sustainable future.’
16
18
20
Solutions to Crospero 158: Stationer, Mean, Nonet, Lit, Quasi, Ulnar,
Shane, Basic, Sonar, Roles, Ducat, Radio, Sum, Haven, Eros, Landwards.
Partial down words: Umber and Egret
The programme was ANTIQUES ROADSHOW. The winner was
Mr Ray Targett.
Strike action
Strike action took place this
summer after BBC members
of the NUJ voted in favour
of industrial action over
compulsory redundancies.
Of members who voted, 72% said they were
in favour of strike action and 87% were in
favour of action short of a strike. The union
says the recent ballot could result in more
strikes unless compulsory redundancies
are halted.
NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet
said, ‘Members at the BBC are fully prepared
to stand up for their colleagues under threat.
If the BBC wants to provoke a strike over
such small numbers it would be shameful.
We call on the BBC to get round the table
with us and sort it out.’
The strike ballot was called after it
became clear that compulsory redundancies
would arise from cuts to the World Service
and BBC Monitoring, where 387 posts are
scheduled to close.
The NUJ motion reiterates the policy
of no compulsory redundancies among its
members and calls on the BBC to resolve
all outstanding cases. It also condemns the
decision not to use the £2.2 million granted
by the Foreign Office to the World Service for
the next three years to halt all compulsory
redundancies.
Low turnout
In a staff email sent in response to the
announcements, director of News,
Helen Boaden emphasised that turnout
for the ballot was less than 40%, involving
1,248 members – 6% of BBC staff.
‘We will continue with our efforts to limit
the number of compulsory redundancies
but the number of posts that have to close
means that unfortunately it is likely to be
impossible for us to avoid some compulsory
redundancies’, she said, adding that the
extra FCO funding for World Service was
‘not enough to allow us to avoid having to
continue with this process’.
She continued, ‘I understand that many
NUJ members will face a personal choice
about whether or not to take part in industrial
action. Before they make that decision I
want to stress that we will continue to do all
we can to limit the number of compulsory
redundancies though at this point we have no
other options available to us.’
PROSPERO AUGUST 2011
03
04 letters
Dr. Who building
may become
student digs
Nigel Vincent, on the ‘Local
London’ website, writes
about an old film set poised to
become accommodation.
An empty office block above Ealing
Broadway tube station that was once used as
a film location for BBC TV’s Dr.Who could be
converted into student flats because of a lack
of interest from commercial bidders.
Villiers House has been earmarked by
Imperial College and the Royal College of
Music as a suitable venue for a new hall
of residence. The landmark building has
been placed under offer with the academic
institutions willing to take on the remaining
55-year lease, currently held by the BBC,
according to reports in the latest edition of
Property Week.
‘The office market isn’t that buoyant in the
area and there is a lot of product along the
Uxbridge Road’, says Tony Fisher, head of office
agency at Lambert Smith Hampton, which is
acting for the BBC. ‘Lots of educational bodies
have looked at it. It seems an obvious move.’
The enemy of the world
The nine-storey building has been on the
market since the collapse into administration
of Glenkerrin, the Irish property
development company which failed to push
through a controversial redevelopment of
central Ealing. The plans had proposed the
erection of a 40-storey Dubai-style tower
block designed by Sir Norman Foster.
Some local residents fear that a change of
use to student digs could freeze any significant
redevelopment of the station which is widely
regarded as being long overdue for having its
poor access problems dealt with.
Villiers House was once home to the
BBC’s finance and accounting services and in
November 1967 the building’s fire escape was
used to film a scene from Dr.Who’s The Enemy
of the World, starring Patrick Troughton as the
doctor. Ealing locations were often used for
Dr.Who stories during the period that the BBC
owned Ealing Film Studios. One of the most
famous sites, close to Ealing Broadway was the
department store shop window from which
animated shop dummies, the Autons, broke
out for an alien rampage in the 1970 series
Spearhead from Space.
The commentators position and new C.P.S (Cathode Potential
Stabilisation) Emitron camera televising the Boxing Finals at the
Empire Pool, Wembley, at the 1948 Olympic Games, held in London
The howl-round continues to excite
I believe this was how it first happened!
Prospero would like to thank readers for the many letters
Whilst I believe I may have inspired Ben to
discover the effect, I do not claim to have
received on the subject of the Dr. Who ‘howl-round’. Just as it
it!
seems we are getting close to the definitive truth behind its birth, discovered
John Billett(retired Senior Studio Engineer)
someone else comes up with a recollection which keeps the
Camera tubes responsible
debate going!
for peel-off
Dr. Who Titles
Please allow me to solve the mystery of the
‘howl-round’ title sequence. On Friday,
13 September 1963, crew 1 was allocated
to Studio D, Lime Grove, 0930-1745,
programme title – ‘Dr.Who experiment’. Some
experiments involved smoke generators and
some electronic effects. Studio D still had
the old CPS-Emitron cameras which were
renowned for producing a vision ‘peel-off’
when pointed at a bright light so pointing
one at a monitor and getting a ‘howlround’ added to the effect. Five weeks later,
18 October, we recorded the first Dr.Who
in the same studio. The first series involved
cavemen in skins and because Studio D had
the old tungsten 4-lights it was very hot!
You can imagine the smell!
Dave Mundy
Down by the riverside
Could I add a little information on
this subject?
Originally I believe this was known as
the ‘Riverside Effect’. This must have been
before Dr.Who used it. Presumably it was first
discovered by Norman Taylor in these BBC
Riverside Studios.
In the early 1960s I was working as a
Vision Control Operator with either crew
4 or crew 9, in studio Riverside 1 when
Norman Taylor, our Technical Operations
Manager, asked us if we could set it up, as
the producer would possibly like to use it
at some stage. It was set up on our camera
3 Image Orthicon with the camera facing a
studio monitor with camera 3’s output on it.
Quatermass and the Pit pic
PROSPERO August 2011
Riverside studios
The distance from the monitor was very
critical, and the ‘beam focus’ on the camera
was adjusted to get ‘dynode spots’ on the
picture. If these were varied, sometimes the
Riverside or Dr.Who effect would be triggered.
However it was very fiddly to set up, and
there was no way that it could be used on the
transmission because the camera was used
elsewhere until a few minutes before the
effect was required.
Peter Jarrett, BBC Operations and Maintenance
1955-1990
Dr. Who Camera Peel
The Dr.Who howl-round, came about
(I believe) after I talked to Ben Palmer
in Riverside Studios. I said to him that a
camera taking a picture of a monitor was
not a ‘howl-round’ but a picture of a picture.
This I think, made him think about the
subject, and experiment with a camera
in Riverside 2.
I remember that he positioned the camera
so that it framed an area smaller than the
monitor raster, and adjusted the brilliance of
the picture to produce the howl-round. This
had the appearance of a CPS camera peel but
he was using an Image Orthicon Camera,
which does not peel.
We were all very excited by this, and Ben
spoke to Presentation and offered it as an
interval picture.
They declined, since he could not
guarantee what it would do. This was just
prior to Dr.Who coming on air, I don’t know
what brought it to their attention, but they
used it for the titles.
Far be it from me to disagree with the
esteemed Geoff Higgs, with whom I
eventually worked, but his memory is
playing tricks with him. The peel-off effect
was an unwanted feature of the CPS Emitron
camera tube that occurred when it looked
at a bright light. It was not used for the
Dr. Who titles. The studios at Lime Grove, D, E
and G (F was a scenery store), all had those
cameras in the early sixties when the first
series of Dr.Who was made. I actually had the
privilege of working on the first episode in
studio G shortly after I joined Tech Ops as a
camera trainee.
Apart from Dr.Who, studio G was also
famous for becoming the home of Top of the
Pops when it moved from Manchester down
to London. It was also, I believe, where
another Sci-Fi series, Quatermass, was recorded.
Ben Palmer (also no relation, although we
now live just a few miles apart) is, of course,
right in confirming the origin of the video
howl-round used for the titles as mentioned
in previous letters. The peel-off effect was
made use of, however, when the Daleks
‘zapped’ someone, giving an unworldly look
to the way they died. When the CPS Emitrons
were eventually replaced by cameras using
Image Orthicon tubes, the producers then
had to work out a new way for the Daleks to
kill their enemies!
The only studios I remember using
Vidicons were the Presentation studios Pres
A and Pres B. Pres A was then the weather
studio and Pres B was where Late Night
Line-up was based and where The Old Grey
Whistle Test originated.
Rex Palmer
Daleks made use of the ‘peel-off’ effect
LETTERS
Clear writing
I found this little gem in a recent copy of
‘Ariel’, being part of a report on a visit to
Pacific Quay, Glasgow:
‘The technology has been key for
everyone working at PQ. For example, Radio
needed a system that would link teams all
around Scotland with the main base, and
would also marry up with Audio and Music
in London. Everybody uses VCS dira to access
content, with SADIE for craft editing. The
managing editor, Radio Scotland, explains,
‘When we moved here we changed our
work flows, our job roles and the tasks
within them. The big success for us is
the interface between VCS and the digital
library. It has been a huge benefit to staff in
terms of accessing content, reversioning it,
finding and using content from different
genres. What we have on the desktop now is
incomparable, and that’s really important.’
I seem to remember attending an
Engineering Division ‘Report Writing’
course in the mid-70s, when the emphasis
was on producing clear messages, free from
ambiguities and jargon.
So, when I read statements like the one
above, some of which I freely admit I don’t
understand, I have two questions: what has
happened to clear writing, and who is trying
to impress who?
Oh – and why does this word ‘content’
appear so often these days? Surely the BBC
still produces and distributes programmes /
programme material, regardless from which
‘platform’ (more jargon) it is transmitted?
Robert Matthews
Occupational
Health pioneer
May I add a few words to your obituary of
Ann Fingret?
When Ann joined the BBC she followed in
the footsteps of a venerable and very much
respected Dr Alec Muirhead. Alec’s humanity,
understanding of the needs of the hugely
diverse staff and his ability to persuade those
who tried to use the system, meant that the
BBC had an Occupational Health department
of outstanding class. I mention this because it
was very clear very quickly that Ann brought
to the BBC a style and compassion that
moved Alec’s legacy forward.
Occupational Health was a discipline of
medicine which was still in its infancy. Ann’s
professionalism and background gave us a
head start in coping with developments in
procedures such as health analysis of staff,
health trends under stress and pressure
which were under-acknowledged but now,
some quarter of a century on, are the main
areas of the discipline.
When Ann joined, the BBC’s News
and Current affairs staff were more
mobile than ever before, given to being
sent wherever a news story was to be
covered into undeveloped countries where
medical support was less than minimal
and the occupational health hazards quite
horrendous. Thanks to her, our staff were
prepared as far as they could be, being
supplied with health advice and kits that at
the least would help protect from bush witch
doctors and untrained local support.
When I retired from the BBC and became
an Executive HR Director of one of the
biggest NHS trusts in Scotland, I inherited
responsibility for setting up a system of
Occupational Health and Safety for some
9,000 staff. My guiding light was the
example set by Ann and previously, Alec.
Personally, I owe her a great debt; she
uncovered a health problem which sent me
off to specialists rapidly. She had identified
the problem while we were having a meeting
over the changing needs of News staff.
Moving to Scotland I kept in touch with Ann
and her husband Peter and will ever regret
that distance meant little opportunity for
more than letters and cards.
Tony Austin
Ex CA News and Current Affairs Radio and Manager
Foreign Bureaux and Special Projects News and
Current Affairs.
introduced by Stuart Hall. David Davies (of
football administration fame) and the late
Nick Clarke were, I believe, Sports reporters
at that time.
Other names I remember from the
Newsroom along the corridor are Directors
Charles Farmer and Linda McDougall (wife
of veteran MP Austin Mitchell) and Hazel
Mackintosh, who was the PA for Look North.
Just to jog a few memories, the
photograph shows some of the team in the
studio gallery one afternoon circa 1970
waiting for action. Technical Manager John
Spicer (now retired in North Wales, Con
Jones (camera) and Jerry Clegg (Sound
Supervisor), also retired but active in the
restoration project of North 3.
Mike Baker
Rooting around –
can you help?
I was for some years a director/producer
with BBC TV Children’s Programmes and
when that nice Mister Birt came along I
returned to my former occupation of actor/
singer/puppeteer.
I recently met a lady (of 80 plus) who
told me that she once worked as a puppeteer
on a television puppet programme called
Vegetable Village and showed me a photograph
of herself with a veggie glove puppet.
She said the show was produced by Ian
Carmichael, Musical Director was Eric
Robinson and amongst those doing the
voices were Joan Sims, Derek Guyler and
Kenneth Connor.
I asked older members of the British
Puppet & Model Theatre Guild, some of
whom worked on early TV puppet shows,
if they knew anything about this show and
nobody had heard of it. However, it seems
that Ian Carmichael actually was a BBC
staff producer in his early career, just after
the war. The BBC must have been the only
company making TV shows in those days;
would they have made a pilot programme?
The lady also told me she had been asked
to operate ‘Mrs Mop’ in a puppet version of
ITMA, but this plan was abandoned.
I wonder if any of your older readers
have any memories of this programme.
Her son, who must be in his early 60s,
says he remembers going to Lime Grove to
watch it. I thought she might be confusing
it with WHIRLIGIG and Mr Turnip but a friend
of mine who worked on that said Mr Turnip
has a different producer. Any help would
be appreciated.
Peter Charlton
Well done, Chairman
As a pre-war television engineer, I was
delighted to see the new Chairman Chris
Patten directing the Corporation thinking
back to Reith days: a broadcast service of
great quality and standards serving the
people, with contented staff not concerned
with pay.
I was also sorry to read of the death of
my TV engineer friends like Pottinger and
Walters and one or two others. I begin to
wonder at 95 whether I am the last of the
pre-war TV engineers. I look forward to
the 75th anniversary.
Robert Mears
Picture shows Molly Blake (daughter of Annette Mills) with
Prudence Kitten in a puppet programme for young viewers
Recollections
of Studio N
Reading Martin Noble’s memories of the
newsroom in Manchester’s Broadcasting
House in the 1960s brought back my own
memories of working in Studio N, with its
vidicon cameras and its 16mm Telecine in
the back of the gallery itself.
As a junior operator at the time it was
often my duty to load the reel of 16mm
news film to play in inserts to Look North
Studio N
PROSPERO August 2011
05
06 LIFE AFTER AUNTIE
CONTACTS
Visiting Scheme
If you would like a visit or information on
how to become a volunteer visitor, please
ring 0845 712 5529. You will be charged
only as a local call.
Queries
For benefit and pension payroll queries, call
the Service Line on 029 2032 2811.
Prospero
To add or delete a name from the distribution
list, ring the Service Line (number above).
Prospero is provided free of charge to retired
BBC employees. On request, we will also
send it to spouses or dependants who want
to keep in touch with the BBC. Prospero is
also available on audio disc for those with
sight impairment.
To register, please ring the Service Line
on 029 2032 2811.
Mont Blanc, Rodney
Readers may recall our feature in the July edition of Prospero (‘Our World at the Science
Museum’) on the partnership between BBC History and the Science Museum. In that article
our contributor, Robert Seatter, of BBC History, briefly detailed some upcoming events. In this
article, he brings us up to speed with anniversary celebrations planned for more landmarks of the
BBC’s illustrious past (including for one of the UK’s most popular comedy series) and asks for
contributions from readers.
‘Unbelievably, it was almost 30 years ago,
8 Sep 1981 to be precise, that Only Fools and
Horses hit the UK’s TV screens, and went on
to be one of the most popular and best loved
comedy series ever.
‘In BBC History, we’ll be celebrating
this great comedy moment, and would
love to hear from any Prospero readers who
were involved in the show – either at the
very beginning, or at any point during its
long and successful life. Did anyone for
example work on the 1996 episode, Time
BBC Club
The BBC Club in London has a retired
category membership costing £30 a year
for members and £39 a year for family
membership. Pre-1997 life members are
not affected. Regional clubs may have
different arrangements.
Please call BBC Club London
administration office on 020 8752 6666 or
email [email protected].
Benevolent Fund
This is funded by voluntary contributions
from the BBC and its purpose is to protect
the welfare of staff, pensioners and their
families. Grants are made at the discretion
of the Trustees. They may provide
assistance in cases of unforeseen financial
hardship, for which help from other sources
is not available. Telephone: 029 2032 3772.
Only Fools and Horses, 1983 Picture shows Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney
Trotter, David Jason as Derek Trotter and Lennard Pearce as Grandad
on Our Hands, which holds the record for the
highest UK audience for a sitcom episode
(24.3 million viewers, over a third of the
then UK population)? The show of course
went on to win many awards, and was voted
Britain’s Best Sitcom in 2004.
‘Insights into what it was like working
on the show, the personalities involved, as
well as any memories and anecdotes about
scrapes, crises, successes and glories, would
all be much appreciated.
‘Coming up in October there’s the 50th
anniversary of Songs of Praise where, likewise,
we’d love to have any staff stories of working
on the show.
‘In November, it’s the big one: the 75th
anniversary of the first ever continuous
high-definition television service, when we’ll
be launching a range of partnerships and
celebration activity.
For further information on the
upcoming BBC History anniversary projects,
information on other history collaborations
or recollections for the anniversaries,
please get in touch with BBC History.
You can visit their website: www.bbc.co.uk/
historyofthebbc, or contact Robert Seatter at
[email protected].
Prospero Society
Prospero Society is the only section of the
BBC Club run by and for retired BBC staff
and their spouses. Its aim is to enable BBC
pensioners to meet on a social basis for
theatre visits, luncheons, coach outings etc.
Prospero is supported by BBC Club funds
so as to make events affordable.
The only conditions (apart from paying
a small annual subscription) are that you
must be a BBC pensioner and a member of
the BBC Club. For an application form write
to: Graham Snaith, 67 Newberries Avenue,
Radlett, Herts WD7 7EL.
Telephone: 01923 855177
Mobile: 07736 169612
Email: [email protected]
BBC products
BBC retired staff are entitled to a 30%
discount off the RRP of most products
in the BBC TV Centre shop. There is a
postage charge of £2.95 per order
(not per item). Pensioners must quote
their BBC pension number when ordering.
Contact: BBC Shop, Audience Foyer,
Television Centre, Wood Lane, London
W12 7RJ. Telephone: 020 8225 8230
Email: [email protected]
Other ways to order (quoting your
pension number when ordering): By
phone: 08700 777 001 8.30am6pm weekdays. By post: BBC Shop,
PO Box 308, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8LW.
Email: [email protected].
Or visit BBC Shops in Eastbourne,
Brighton, Leicester, Birmingham or
Liverpool. UK postage £2.45 for telephone,
post and email orders. Overseas: £4.50 for
one item and £2 for each additional product
for telephone, post and email orders.
BBC PA
For details of how to join the Pensioners’
Association, see panel on page 5.
PROSPERO August 2011
Ex-Radio Cleveland producer helps explode
myths about the origin of the Land Rover
Graeme Aldous, one-time Producer/Presenter at BBC Radio Cleveland (now BBC Tees), has
exposed as myths some of the folklore behind ‘the World’s Favourite 4x4’.
All Land Rover enthusiasts ‘know’ that the
vehicles were built of aluminium because
there was a surplus of aircraft scrap after the
War, and they were painted green because of
a stockpile of cockpit paint. Graeme’s new
DVD shows that to be a myth.
Graeme, a freelance audio-visual producer
and Land Rover enthusiast, has produced
the DVD ‘Stop Gap’, featuring the man who
can be regarded as the ‘midwife’ of the Land
Rover... Arthur Goddard. Arthur was the
Land Rover Project Engineer back in 1947,
and as such was responsible for turning the
original ideas and drawings into a viable
vehicle. But in the late 50s (and before the
history books came to be written) he moved
on to another company, eventually running
their operations in Australia. On the other
side of the world, he got forgotten.
Land Rover reunion
A couple of years ago, a chance meeting in
Brisbane with a young Land Rover enthusiast
led to a conversation with another Australian
enthusiast now living in Worcestershire. He
recognised the name ‘Arthur Goddard’ from
research he’d done in the Land Rover archives.
Realising that this was the only surviving
member of the original team, Arthur (now
90) was invited back to the UK for a fortnight
of celebratory events, including a visit to the
Solihull factory where his career started; the
recreation of some early publicity photos with
an appropriate 63-year-old Land Rover, and a
dinner in his honour.
Realising this was a unique opportunity
to document an important event, Graeme
arranged to shadow Arthur with his video
camera, and produce a DVD that allowed
enthusiasts worldwide to share in the visit.
What he didn’t realise was that Arthur was
about to explode a number of pieces of
Land Rover legend.
Myths exploded
Arthur emphatically denied the main folklore
– he said that Land Rovers were aluminium
so that they wouldn’t rust, and the metal was
a new, special formula that had nothing to do
with aircraft. Similarly, the light green was a
standard Rover car colour, which was already
set up in the paint guns. This and other,
similar myths were exploded by the only
man still alive to tell the true story.
The ‘Stop Gap’ DVD is now already selling
to enthusiasts all around the world, and the
modern Land Rover company has requested
a copy for its own archives. It’s available
from www.teeafit.co.uk/stopgap for £20,
including postage worldwide. For more
information, contact Graeme Aldous at the
address(es) below.
Teeafit Sound & Vision, South Lane Farm, Moorsholm,
SALTBURN,Yorkshire TS12 3JE 01287 660515
www.teeafit.co.uk/stopgap
LIFE AFTER AUNTIE
BBC Volunteer Visitor Scheme – an update
The BBC Volunteer Visiting Scheme is a practical method for ‘keeping in touch’ with BBC pensioners.
The scheme operates throughout the United Kingdom. Visitors are BBC pensioners themselves. They
have an aptitude for forming friendly relationships with others. Their activities are managed by the
Volunteer Visiting Scheme Co-ordinator from the Pension and Benefits Centre in Cardiff.
Each visitor is allocated a convenient
geographical area covering an agreed number
of pensioners. Visitors undertake to visit
each of their pensioners twice a year. Some
visitors organise get-togethers which take
place locally to them. Different areas have
different volunteer visitors. We have details
below of two recent events organised by the
Volunteer Visiting Scheme.
Truro
Judith Cook is the Volunteer Visitor in the
Mid Cornwall area, and she has sent in a
picture (above) of a recent get-together, held
in May at the Cathedral Cafe in Truro. Judith
is also planning to do something similar
later in the year and would love to hear from
other interested pensioners who couldn’t
make it in May.
Judith has also sent in details of the people
in the picture, which might stir up recollections
in some of our readers. On the left of the
picture at the front is Thelma Rowlands, former
BBC Visitor. Thelma joined the BBC Valve Section
at Motspur Park in 1969 and retired as head of
data processing in 1982. Her husband Geoff
Rowlands (who set up the photo) is across
the table from her, at the bottom right. Geoff
retired from the BBC in 1992 but continues
to use his BBC expertise in looking after a TV
‘studio’ system in Truro cathedral.
On Geoff’s right is Ann Keith. Ann started
at the BBC in 1963 at the Langham, working
in Finance in the post room. She also worked
at Henry Wood House, Duchess Street,
16 Langham Street, Brock House and BH.
On her right is Judy Andrews, who worked
for the BBC from 1973 – 2005, firstly as a PA
with Current Affairs and Science in London
and then as a Production Manager in Bristol.
Judith herself sits in the middle of the
picture (counting out the money!) Judith
recently attended BBC Radio Lancashire
(as Blackburn became) 40th anniversary
celebrations and retired from full-time work
in December 2010. On her right is Barbara
Martin, who joined the BBC as a shorthand
typist in October 1945.
The last member of the group is
Evelyn Knight. Evelyn was married to Tom
Knight, who joined the BBC in 1956 as a
Probationary Technician, working mostly at
Ealing Film Studios.
Kent
Maureen O’Halloran is the Volunteer Visitor
for the Kent area and is responsible for coordinating visits and get-togethers there. She
writes about a recent event held in July: ‘A
hugely successful summer lunch was held
on 7 July at the Marine hotel in Whitstable.
There were 17 attendees and people from
other areas were there too – some from
Dartford and Hertfordshire. There were three
absentees due to ill health and bereavement
who always attend – Jack Hollands, Harold
Rogers and Matilda Dourant.’
Maureen has also given us some details
of her background, her work as a Volunteer
Visitor and a guide to who’s who in the
Whitstable photo. ‘I worked at BBC Radio
Guernsey as an MA/Head of Music/producer
of Children in Need’ she says. ‘We moved to the
UK nine years ago when I retired to be near
our children. I then did a brief stint at BBC
Radio Kent helping my Guernsey boss Robert
Wallace who then had moved to Kent. (He
has now gone back to Guernsey!)
‘As a Volunteer Visitor, I visit 20-25
people (numbers do fluctuate for various
reasons) twice a year in the Thanet area
of Kent (Ramsgate, Margate, Herne Bay,
Whitstable and also the City of Canterbury
and surrounding villages – quite a big
pitch). A few years ago I decided to hold a
lunch during the summer months and it has
snowballed since then – we now have two
lunches a year, one in the summer and one at
Christmas time.
‘It is really popular and now people
attending have become old friends. It has
also reunited old colleagues who worked in
the same departments and it is very good for
some people who don’t get out very much.
Although the BBC was the introduction to
my visits we now just have a cuppa and
a chat about just about everything. I have
heard some fascinating stories and enjoy
meeting people.’
Maureen is the lady standing in the centre
of the photo (below) with the turquoise
top and glasses. The other attendees are
as follows. Left to right front row: Audrey
Flay, widow of Frederick Flay who was a
scenery supervisor at TV Centre, Bill Isaacs
– communications engineer based in Bristol
who worked all over the country, Megan
Isaacs his wife, Carol Nicolson – Production
assistant on Radio 2 and world service, carer
Zinta, Donald Holmes – World Service &
CBC broadcaster (he covered the royal tour
of Canada in 1953) and Donald’s other
carer, Ramona.
Standing: Gordon Traynor - husband of
Rosemary, Sally Kimber – Station assistant,
radio Medway which became Radio Kent
(she is also the Visitor for the Dartford area
but comes to our lunches as her old boss
Harold Rogers usually attends) Maureen,
carer Bridgitte, Barbara Jones, widow of
John Jones – Scenic operative BBCTV, Audrey
Flay’s daughter, Joan Coburn-Moon, Widow
of Anthony Coburn- Producer at BBC TV
Centre, Rosemary Traynor – PA in the History
and Archive Dept at Elstree, Mike Lucas - HR
and Development Manager BBC Medway
and London and South East.
‘As you will see’, concludes Maureen,
‘there are carers who accompany people
enabling them to come. Donald Holmes in
fact brings his three ladies with him each
time and it’s an opportunity for him to give
them a nice meal together. He is almost
blind and lives alone and they really are
amazing people.’
If you would like a visit or information on how to
become a Volunteer Visitor, please ring 0845 712
5529. You will be charged only as a local call.
Money matters
IHT: is it time to
give a little?
The Budget announced one helpful
future change, but more radical reform
could be on the horizon.
By Arnie Vashisht, Independent Financial
Adviser, AWD Chase de Vere
Before last year’s election there was
talk that the inheritance tax (IHT) nil rate
band would be raised to £1 million. During
the election campaign this idea gradually
moved into the hinterland of ‘aspirational’
policies. After the election, the formation of
the Coalition Government meant that the
£1 million goal was abandoned: increasing
the personal income tax allowance was
given priority over reducing the impact of
IHT. The June 2010 ‘emergency’ Budget
confirmed that Alistair Darling’s planned
freeze of the nil rate band at £325,000 until
at least April 2015 would be implemented.
The 2011 Budget contained a statement
which seemed to offer some easing of the
IHT burden. However, once the details
emerged it became apparent that this easing
was not as generous as it had seemed. What
has been proposed is that for wills coming
into effect from 6 April 2012, the rate of IHT
will be reduced to 36%, provided at least
10% of the taxable estate is left to charity.
This is good news if you are already
intending to make substantial charitable
donations in your will. If you are now close
to the 10% threshold, it could even pay
your beneficiaries for you to increase your
charitable bequests, once the legislation
takes effect. However, if your sole aim is
to maximise what your beneficiaries will
receive, the concession is of no use.
The charitable gift rate reduction may
not be the only revision to IHT in the next
few years. The Office of Tax Simplification
(OTS), set up by George Osborne, was
critical of the current IHT regime. The
OTS pointed out that the £3,000 annual
exemption had not been increased since
1981, nor had the exemptions for gifts on
marriage changed since 1975.
Rather than proposing these exemptions
be uprated, the OTS suggested that it
would be better ‘to consider the scope and
operation of inheritance tax with reference
to the original and desired policy rationale’.
The OTS’s conclusion was that IHT ‘is a tax
that needs a ‘top down’ review’.
For expert assistance with inheritance
tax planning aspects, call AWD Chase
de Vere on 0845 140 4014. Your initial
discussion with an adviser will be without
charge or obligation.
The value of tax reliefs depends on
your individual circumstances. Tax laws
can change. The FSA does not regulate
will writing, tax advice and some forms of
inheritance tax planning.
Arnie is an independent financial adviser
with AWD Chase de Vere. AWD Chase
de Vere is one of a panel of independent
financial advisers selected by the BBC. AWD
Chase de Vere Limited is authorised and
regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
PROSPERO August 2011
07
08 Back at the bbc
020 8752 6666
Lottery Winners
Congratulations to June’s lucky winners;
Patrick McSweeney, Katie Pollard, Stuart
Richardson, Sophie Mostyn, Antony
Jolliffe, Katie Hile, Rose Howell, Tim
Chisholm, Peter Wise, Mary Manning,
Clive Doig, Melanie Webb, Terance Peters,
Helen O’ Donnell and J Higgs.
To be in with a chance of winning next
month – email [email protected]
or log on to your account on the BBC
Club website.
Club West One
Club West One will be closing in August/
September for a refurbishment. The dates
are to be finalised but as soon as we
know, you will too!
Fly To Paris
Ariel Flying Group fly out to Paris.
AFG pilots and students will be flying
themselves to Paris for the bank holiday
weekend, 27-29 August.
For information on how you could
learn to fly with the BBC Club, contact
Chris Poole, 0303 040 9592.
10% Discount On Cottages4you
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over 15,000 holiday properties throughout
the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal
and Italy. Choose from the extensive
collection of country cottages, villas with
pools, rustic farmhouses, rural gites and
apartments.
Holiday cottages and villas are a popular
and flexible holiday choice – ideal for family
holidays, weekends away, romantic breaks
and get-togethers with friends. Cottage
facilities include open fires, enclosed
gardens, hot tubs, four-poster beds, a pub
close by, walking from the door, pet friendly
cottages and lots more.
Login to Club save for details https://
www.bbcclub.com/save.php
Phoenix Leisure Centre and Janet
Adegoke Swimming Pool
Exclusive membership for BBC Club
members. Swim only membership £19.95
or Swim and Gym membership £27.95.
£11.60 per hour for table tennis and
badminton.
£29 per hour for hall hire. T&C’s apply.
Please enquire at the centre. Facility is
operated by GLL. Bloemfontein Road,
W12 7DB
Join at the centre and show your BBC
Club card.
Live Ticket – Powered by
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Fantastic savings on events at 20 Live
Nation theatres nationwide, including 3 in
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At participating Live Nation theatres.
Follow the link below for full details.
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PROSPERO August 2011
Cut more managers, says Patten
The chairman of the BBC Trust has called for
senior management numbers to be cut to
around one percent of the total workforce by
2015, which at current staffing levels would
leave the corporation with some 200 senior
posts. Lord Patten set the target in a recent
wide-ranging speech to the Royal Television
Society. He set out his vision for the BBC as it
adjusts to a future of restricted income, and it
is a leaner, simpler organisation of fewer, less
well paid managers he has in mind.
‘There are still too many senior managers’,
he said. He’s asked the Director General to
review both senior pay and senior posts,
saying he wants ‘to create a smaller group
of people more clearly accountable for
spending the licence fee. That means further
reductions and it will also mean a re-drawing
of the boundaries around who is and is not a
senior manager.’
How it will happen
In 2009 there were 640 senior management
posts in the BBC. That figure will have
reduced to 512 by the end of this year, but
the BBC says it can’t estimate the 2015 figure
because the corporation’s size and shape will
be different, due to DQF and the out-ofLondon programme.
Senior Manager Numbers:
• August 2009 – 640
• July 2011 – 534
• 2015 – 1% of workforce
The BBC intends to achieve the reductions
through a review of the grading structure
and post closures as a result of DQF changes
and the end of strategic projects. It estimates
a third of the reductions will come from post
closures and the greater part from regrading.
Capping pay differences
Alongside that sweeping reduction, Lord
Patten also committed the BBC to being the
first UK organisation to introduce a public
‘pay multiple comparison’, so that people
can see how the pay of those at the top of
the organisation compares to that of the rank
and file. ‘This action on pay is important’,
explained Lord Patten, ‘because the BBC
must do right by the licence fee payers who
pick up the bill and by all the staff that work
throughout the organisation at every level.’
Lord Patten continued, ‘We will do this
by comparing the median pay of Executive
Board members to median pay within the
BBC.’ Median pay is the mid-point, not the
average. The current median pay of BBC staff
is £39,668. The executive level median is
£352,900, making the multiple of one to
the other 9. That ratio will be the cap on the
multiple. Lord Patten explained, ‘Although
the BBC must continue to strive to attract
and retain outstanding candidates for senior
posts, the Trust’s intention is that over time,
this multiple will fall.’
Furthermore he hopes to recruit the next
Director General at a lower multiple than
that applying to Mark Thompson’s present
remuneration which, at £613,000, is 17
times the BBC median.
‘No sense’ to sell Worldwide
Top level jobs and pay were not the only
news in the speech. Lord Patten also laid
down a marker for the future of BBC
Worldwide, saying, ‘It makes no sense to
sell Worldwide.’ Explaining the Trust’s view
that there are a core of commercial services
which are central to the BBC’s future,
including programme sales and distribution,
the international iPlayer and bbc.com,
he concluded, ‘We will not be willing to
consider any proposals for privatisation of
any of these core elements.’
And he’s asked the DG to see if Worldwide
can work with the UK’s commercial
broadcasters to sell a wide range of UK
programming abroad.
The chairman also announced that the
BBC will have a Chief Complaints Editor,
reporting directly to the DG. He or she will
be responsible for simplifying and speeding
up the complaints process which was
recently described as ‘convoluted and overly
complicated’ by a House of Lords committee.
More important issues
than pay
‘What the BBC pays its stars will become a
‘non issue’ if the corporation keeps a tight
rein on its talent pay bill’, says Lord Patten.
Addressing journalists at a press conference
to launch the BBC annual report, the Trust
chairman also reiterated that he wants the
‘toxic’ issue of executive pay dealt with as
quickly as possible, because there were more
important things to focus on.
‘The accuracy of our journalism is
endlessly more important than executive
pay, which is why I want to get it out of the
way now’, Patten said. He was speaking as
the Trust published its executive and senior
manager pay strategy for the next four years,
putting more detail on the aims set out in the
chairman’s RTS lecture last week.
‘Tidy up’ grading structure
Under the plan the BBC will:
• reduce numbers of senior managers to
around 200 (1% of total workforce) from
just over 500;
• depending on DQF and completion of
projects like Salford and W1, make a third
of those cuts in the next two years, a third
by 2013 and the remaining third by 2015;
• ‘tidy up’ the grading structure to clarify
who are the senior leaders;
• pay SMs in strictly ‘public service roles’
less than those more likely to be in
demand in the commercial sector;
• cut the SM pay bill by a further £9m by
2015, on top of the 25% reduction due to
be met by the end of 2011;
• cap the median executive director salary
at no more than nine times that of the
median BBC wage (Mark Thompson’s
salary of £671 is 17 times the current
BBC median);
• remove private health care benefits for
all new executive directors and SMs from
August 1 and equalise benefits for all staff,
with an improved health care offer by
next year;
• continue the BBC discount for senior pay –
at exec board level, a discount for between
50% and 80%.
Reduction in SM numbers would not
simply be people leaving the organisation,
Mark Thompson said, ‘As we reduce
[management] layers and simplify, there will
be clarification of who is a senior manager
and who isn’t.’
Prurience
The chairman and director general inevitably
faced questions on talent pay and why the
Lord Patten
BBC continues to stop short of identifying
its highest earning stars – those in the £500k
and above bracket, whose numbers are
aggregated in the annual report, showing
19 in that band in 2010/11 as opposed to
21 the year before.
Patten was ‘totally in favour’ of the holding
back, ‘There is a difference between public
accountability and prurience’, he said. There
was natural concern about BBC pay as a
whole, but recent pay settlements had been
below public sector and media sector levels,
and there was no doubt that executive pay
had come down.
‘Talent pay is more complicated’, Patten
said. ‘It is absolutely right that we bear down
[on it] but the question arises as to whether
we should be as open about presenter pay
as you would about a director of finance.’
The National Audit Office should have that
information, he argued, but it was ‘not a
fundamental human right’ to have access
to BBC celebrity earnings. There were legal,
data protection and contractual reasons not
to disclose, as well as the danger of driving
the best talent away and inflating the talent
market.
Fewer staff
‘But this will pretty much be a non-issue
if we can demonstrate that overall, the
figures are under control’, Patten said. The
total talent bill is down a further £9m on
2009/10, but over the last two years, the
total had come down by £25m, which with
inflation, was more like £50m, claimed Bal
Samra, director of rights and business affairs.
The annual report records BBC headcount
up by four to 17,242, but once the
organisation had completed the moves to
Salford, W1 and fully implemented Fabric,
there would be ‘significant provision
for reducing staff numbers, and they
will continue to fall over coming years’,
Thompson said.
Overall, he was ‘very proud’ of the
organisation’s achievements over a year when
97% of people in the UK used its services
every week and the time people spent with
the BBC was up to 19 hours a week.
‘In a very eventful year off air – including
the radical reform of the pensions – it would
have been easy to have been distracted’,
he said, ‘but instead the BBC had delivered
content of the quality of Sherlock, Brian Cox
on science and ‘the best ever Proms’.
back at the bbc
Pay bill cut, even before
Patten pledge
As Lord Patten places cuts to senior BBC
pay squarely centre stage, the annual report
reveals a four percent drop in the 2010/11
talent bill.
Heavily trailed in the press, the figures
show that spend on BBC presenters, artists,
actors and journalists is down by almost £9m
to £212.5m, with more than 8,000 fewer
individuals and organisations hired than in
the previous year.
As expected, the number of individuals,
as well as companies or organisations
earning more than £500k (and up to £5m)
has been aggregated to protect individuals’
confidentiality in such a small pool of top
stars. In 2010/11 there were 19 in this
category, two fewer than in 2009/10.
The bill for the £500k-plus earners still
came to £22m, with £14.6m spent on an
undisclosed number of talent fees in the
£1m to £5m bracket – a saving of £2.3m.
The BBC also saved a sizeable £3.5m in the
£50k – £100k band due to 56 fewer hirings
and £2.9m at the £150k – £250k level,
where there were 14 fewer on the talent
payroll. It’s a trend that is in line with the
strategic aim to ‘reduce rates paid, develop
new talent and work existing talent harder,
as appropriate’, says COO Caroline Thomson
in her review of how the BBC is managing
its business.
In the year that the BBC lost its One Show
hosts Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley to
ITV, Thomson notes, ‘A resurgent commercial
market has seen the departure of several
high-profile individuals to other broadcasters,
making further reductions challenging.’
Talent costs – but not as
much as it did
Talent spend over £500k, with numbers of
individuals aggregated:
Pay Band 2009/10 2010/11
Cuts
£500k-£750k£6.17m £4.08m £2.1m
£750k-£1m £2.75m £3.31m £0.5m
£1m-£5m £16.9m£14.6m £2.3m
Marcus Agius, chairman of the Executive
Remuneration Committee, adds, ‘The reality
of meeting stretching targets, within a short
timeframe, coupled with the necessity of
competing head on with highly commercial
competitors to attract and retain the very
best talent, will be an ongoing challenge
for the BBC.’
Executive pay is discounted
by an average of 58%
The 2009 executive remuneration review
recommended that executive pay was
frozen for four years and bonuses removed
indefinitely, senior manager pay frozen and
bonuses waived for two years and executive
salaries discounted by between 50-80%
of commercial market rates. Benchmarked
against the commercial sector, executive
pay is now discounted by an average of
58%, reports Marcus Agius. Payments to the
slimmed down executive board have also
been affected. From 1 April all members have
agreed to removal of pension supplements.
March 31 2010 May 1 2011
Mark Thompson
£838k
£671k
Tim Davie
£452k
£380k
Zarin Patel
£434k
£365k
Helen Boaden*
£354k
Caroline Thomson
£419k
£350k
Ralph Rivera*
£308k
George Entwistle*
£285k
*New members.
The BBC has launched a research partnership
with five UK universities that will focus
on areas such as spatial audio and speech
recognition. BBC Research & Development
will work with the University of Surrey in
the audio-visual field and the University
of Salford on acoustics. They will also
collaborate on wide-ranging audio
research with the universities of York and
Southampton and Queen Mary University
of London.
The initiative will run for at least five
years and benefits will be shared across the
industry to boost innovations such as the
online Radio Player and HD audio. Graham
Thomas, who leads BBC R&D’s Production
Magic section, said: ‘One area we are looking
at is spatial audio, which could be the next
big step beyond 5.1 surround sound. This
allows sounds to come from above and
below, providing a truly immersive audio
experience. We will look at how to make this
practical, both in a typical living room, and
also through headphones.’
Strategic importance
The partnership was launched recently at
MediaCityUK in Salford, where Tim Davie,
director of BBC Audio & Music, described it
as ‘another step towards more innovation in
radio’. Samantha Chadwick, who manages
R&D Partnerships, said: ‘It provides us with
a more structured framework for working
with world-leading universities, in an area
of strategic importance to the BBC and to
our audiences.’
Other executive directors have forgone an
additional month’s salary in 2011/2012,
which, for instance, brings Mark Thompson’s
pay down to £615,000. New Vision director
George Entwistle’s salary package of
£285,000 is 40% less than his predecessor
Jana Bennett earned, and almost £100k less
than that of his counterpart in radio, Tim
Davie - appointed just three years ago.
It was a year that saw the executive board
trimmed to seven, as well as reduced salaries
for new board members and the removal of
pension supplements (from April 2011) so
that, on paper at least, the executive director
paybill is down 43%.
In numbers: senior managers
Senior manager numbers are down by 74 on
last year, to 540, with 60 fewer in the £70,000
– £130,000 pay bracket. Numbers earning
more than £100,000 dropped by 44 to 269.
Those earning £250,000 and above remained
static at a total of nine, the review shows.
Aside of the Patten’s plan to radically scale
down SM numbers, the organisation is on
target to reduce senior manager pay by 25%
by the end of the year with a reduction to
the paybill of £20m on August 2009 levels.
The total spend has already dropped by
£14.4m in less than two years.
Members of BBC Trust submit fewer
claims for expenses
Expenses claimed by members of the
BBC Trust between October 2010 and
March 2011 were 34% down on the same
period last year.
In total, the trustees claimed £39,364,35
over the autumn, winter and early spring,
compared to £59,956 between October 2009
and March 2010. These figures show that the
largest claimant was Sir Michael Lyons, whose
term as chairman finished on April 2011.
His expenses amounted to £11,566.73 for
the final months of his tenure, compared to
£16,043 for October 09 – March 2010. The
second highest set of expenses was submitted
by Alison Hastings (£6,161.29 against a
previous figure of £7,105).
BBC launches Audio
Research Partnership
The Trust explains that Lyons’s salary of
£142,800 for three or four days’ work a week
was reduced last September to £130,950, as
part of a voluntary pay cut. When Lord Patten
took over on May 1 the chairman’s fee was
further pegged back to £110,000.
No car or driver
Under the terms of his appointment, Patten
is not eligible to receive a BBC pension, life
assurance or medical insurance and has opted
not to have a car and driver. The expenses and
hospitality details are published by the Trust
every six months as part of its commitment
to openness and transparency, demonstrating
how licence fee payers’ money is spent.
John Holmes receives his honorary degree
BBC staff presenter receives
honorary degree
John Holmes, Nottingham-based TV and
radio presenter, received the honorary
degree of Doctor of Letters at the University
of Nottingham on Friday 15 July. John
was awarded the degree for services to
broadcasting and the local community.
John has been with the BBC for over
40 years and began his career at Broadcasting
House in London, working alongside
household names like Sam Costa, Victor
Sylvester, Humphrey Lyttelton and Status
Quo. He also did a spell in Birmingham on
spot effects for The Archers. He was fortunate
to find himself at BBC Radio Nottingham as
a sports reporter during a great period for
local sport in the late 70s when Nottingham
Forest were winning European Cups under
Brian Clough, Clive Rice and Richard Hadlee
were playing for Nottinghamshire Cricket
Club and Torvil And Dean were conquering
the world with their ice dancing.
John also worked in Bristol, producing
Down Your Way with presenters/interviewees
such as Nigel Hawthorne, Spike Milligan
and Margaret Thatcher. As well as a satisfying
spell working in the world famous Natural
History Unit, he also worked on Any Questions
alongside Jonathan Dimbleby, launching Any
Answers as a phone-in. His TV work began on
Look! Hear! a youth show with Toyah Wilcox
which promoted new bands, among them
The Specials, Dexy’s Midnight Runners
and Black Sabbath. John also presented one
of the BBC’s first consumer series, BBC2’s
Inside Information, and hosted many shows
for Midlands TV.
Now back in Nottingham, John is about to
start filming another of his popular walking
series Holmes and Away for East Midlands Today.
This is series nine, and is called Innovators –
their story and their legacy. He has his own show
every Sunday morning, 9 til noon, on BBC
Radio Nottingham. Favourite interviewees
have included Joan Collins, the Duke and
Duchess of Devonshire, Alan Sillitoe and
Sir Anthony Sher.
Away from work, John’s been married
to Kate for 42 years and his three children
have so far produced five granddaughters.
He’s also a founder and Chairman of the skin
cancer charity, SKCIN and patron of the child
adoption charity, Family Care.
PROSPERO August 2011
09
10 memories
Memories of the Engineering Training Centre
Colin Pierpoint, who worked at the Engineering Training Centre in Wood Norton, has sent
in these reminiscences of the institution.
OB vehicle ‘village’
operating several VT
machines at once.
New
technology
As Course Manager with my
Studio Managers Course in 1990
‘I first worked at the Engineering Training
Centre on attachment in 1970. It was a time
when we were setting up the A course and I
worked on part 1, common to all technical
and operational categories of new staff. I had
to plan each lecture I gave, and much of my
material was still in the files when I returned
in 1975. This time I was often the Course
Manager, around A course number 35, and
I found that I could build up a repertoire
of routines which would go well. I often
particularly enjoyed demonstrations with a
Tommy Cooper impersonation, my speciality
was lighting a 5 foot fluorescent tube on the
bench with only croc clip leads (to illustrate
transformer turns ratio). Fundamental
principles in A part 1 leant itself to demos
which were real fun. At this time I also began
to see the deep appreciation of students
whom I had helped. Anyone who asked for
extra help got it.
Permanent post
‘In 1980 I got a permanent post as a lecturer.
In a class of 30 you can get some good
exchanges with the students. When I told
one group that I had accidentally sent +24
decibels to the long wave transmitter at
Droitwich, one of them asked ‘Is that why
you are here?’ You have also to go along with
the spirit of the group you are teaching or
you loose their respect. As I was coming to
the end of what I thought was a really good
technical explanation, one of the women said
‘How old are you?’ Of course the whole class
laughed, and I had to answer.
‘If they had enthusiasm for the subject, I
would give extra help to students. One was
later the camera operator for the shot of
Princess Diana arriving at Westminster Abbey
on her wedding day. I met another in the
‘When ENG came
in, we had to
retrain film camera
operators in new
technology. I was
then talking to
some of the most
experienced and
senior cameramen
in the country. One
of them appeared
on television that
evening to collect a top news award! Here my
experience on Radio OBs and Radiolinks gave
us something in common, but I also learnt a
lot from them.
‘I was asked to set up the Resource
Centre for students to use in the evening.
It contained audio-visual and video replay,
and early desktop computers, so I wrote
the first interactive programs to be used
at Wood Norton. Ironically a well known
company later gave a demonstration of
their interactive system, which crashed
completely if you entered your answer before
being told ‘select your answer now’. Mine
Programme exercises
‘There were programme exercises for some
courses. In the early days they were told
to plan it all. I was never happy with this
because in the Radio network exercise,
an announcer would say ‘now over to the
OB on the lawn’. This was followed by a
few words of description of the lawn, and
‘back to the studio.’ It left no time for a
pre-transmission test for the next source,
which then invariably failed. Over time we
built up a stock of programmes and could
run a week’s network on TO or SM courses.
While working for a talking newspaper, I
had recorded a feature called ‘Cropthorne
Walkabout’ about the village open day. I still
had the insert tapes and links which could be
used for a students’ programme, impressing
a manager from London who said it was a
“After a course had left I would go back into
the empty classroom. In my mind’s eye I could
see them all, and hear the laughs and the
enjoyment. It brings a tear to my real eye now.”
didn’t, although it was difficult preventing
students from changing the program. A
contact in Birmingham suggested a way to
make a program listing give a decoy, the real
program not being visible on the screen.
Years later, after a reorganisation, the
Resource Centre was closed down.
Senior lecturer
‘I was known by so many whom I had
trained that it was nice being recognised at
TC or BH within minutes of entering the
building. I used to time it; my longest was
five minutes before someone said hello and
asked how I was. In fact, a close friend and
colleague was surprised at a BBC retirement
party by just how many people still knew
‘Tech Ops Q course with lecturers Jill Diver and Alan Tutton’ note the
telegraph pole, used to illustrated OB lines (before ISDN!)
PROSPERO August 2011
me after I had also retired and 20 years after
their course, were very complementary about
me as Course Manager.
‘For a year I acted as Senior Lecturer and
as Duty Lecturer was responsible for solving
the clashes on the duty sheet. With 6 or 8
courses running simultaneously, 11 radio
studios, a television studio and edit suites,
not to mention classrooms, this was quite
a challenge. Resources were tight, so I used
to go round to check that what had been
booked was actually in use.
very good exercise (it caught out many tape
operators because there were three reels
running at once, and they had to decide
which one to stop!). The students called it
the ‘Cropthorne Massacre’, because so many
fell by the wayside!
‘I am not saying there were no problems;
I was the lecturer in charge of the Audio
Qualifying courses which traditionally
ended with a television programme devised
by them. I felt that this allowed some to sit
in the background, and others to take on a
lot of work (which often needed a refill of
energy in the club afterwards!). This gave
an unequal experience for audio assistants
on the course, after all, there could only be
one Sound Supervisor for the programme,
The Main Building of the Engineering Training centre,
Wood Norton, which contains classrooms, sound control
rooms and studios, laboratories and admin offices
so I devised a television studio exercise with
three sound mixing points. If done four
times, all 12 students got to do some critical
sound mixing. However, others thought I was
just trying to make a television programme,
but it was meant to be a training exercise to
set and control the foldback levels. I never
achieved the objectives before the course
duration was cut by the accountants, so they
had neither!
‘After a course had left I would go back
into the empty classroom. In my mind’s eye
I could see them all, and hear the laughs and
the enjoyment. It brings a tear to my real eye
now, typing this.
Presenting duties
‘In television studio exercises I was often the
presenter, and I learnt how to let a telecine
run up crash in the rehearsal, but to save
them in the recording. (I believe it is easier
now with short runs from still frame – then
we had 10 second run up on leaders.) My
experience in front of camera led to a video
recording to replace the old lecture session
‘Camera to Aerial’ which had been on
slides. I wrote, directed and presented this,
which followed the signal from a camera in
Lime Grove to half way up the transmitter
mast at Sutton Coldfield. It helped to have
worked in Comms in Birmingham and had
the knowledge and contacts, but we went
all over London in blocks of 20 minutes
following the signal. The recording was later
used for recruitment.
‘Relationships were never a problem
with students, and I loved being in front
of them getting a smile. Of course, there
was also serious teaching, but my aim was
to keep them interested – a bored student
remembers very little. It was quite interesting
to watch how people learn. On two
occasions a group of my students came to
me and said ‘we didn’t understand a word
of the last lecture’ so I would go over the
subject again in their lunch break. Lunch
breaks were often taken up with extra
material; the playback of Aki Kyubiama,
a sort of surround sound stereo recording
was always popular.
Many happy memories
‘IRO 89/1 was a special course. They wanted
to cook pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, but
BBC ETD could not provide anywhere due
to Health and Safety (ugh!). So I invited
them all round to my house and they did the
cooking (and washed up!). In my home was
some sound equipment which I designed
and built. It worked by remote control
from any room, and as Studio Managers
they were keen to know all about it. I still
Have the memo saying ‘…the trainees were
unanimous in their praise for your help
and commitment in making their time at
Wood Norton worthwhile and enjoyable.’
It was appreciation like that which made
my time at Wood Norton worthwhile and
enjoyable as well.
‘As we all know, the redundancies
came along. I was spared the first round
and did a year as an Engineering Section
Lecturer. When I went, I was 50, and I never
wanted to be conspicuously in training for
too long. The job had changed and so had the
BBC. There are many happy memories to
recall, and I still hear the voices, like ‘How
old are you?’ I hope not too many of my
former students are reading this in Prospero,
because that will mean that their career came
to a premature end like mine, but if any
would like to get in touch I am on
[email protected]
obituaries
‘She was like a second
mother to me’
Alannah Hensler,
who died in
April at the age
of 65, gave 40
years service to
the Corporation,
working for
the most part
as a copyright
commissioning
assistant. She was
formidable, independent-minded and no
respecter of persons.
She joined the BBC in 1964 from
secretarial college, first as secretary to Dick
Walford, head of the Copyright department,
and later as an assistant commissioning
scripted material. She worked in that
department for 32 years, until it closed in the
1990s, outlasting seven heads of department.
Over the years, Alannah worked for
television and radio but had a special
affection for radio light entertainment. She
scrupulously kept track of writers’ rates and
listened and watched their programmes,
so that she could assess the development of
their careers.
Writers’ agents were disinclined to
challenge the rates she offered, because they
knew that she could give chapter and verse
to justify the offer. One agent said that he
advised his staff they could assume what was
offered was at a discount to the real rate, but
that they should never make that assumption
with Alannah.
She could be severe. Of one Head of
Drama who sought to re-negotiate a deal
she regarded as closed, she remarked to the
agent concerned that the man was a dimwit
(though in riper language) and stuck to her
original offer. A longstanding friend was cast
off when the colleague went to work for a
rights organisation and Alannah thought that
knowledge of the BBC’s negotiating ways
was being misused.
She was much loved within the
Corporation and by the writers she
commissioned. Her secretary, Waheeda Khan,
said at her funeral ‘she was like a second
mother to me.’
One of her extramural accomplishments
was making jewellery; at the funeral almost
every woman was wearing something made
by Alannah.
Tom Rivers
Dedication to BBC
Italian Service
Luigia Vallentine died on 1 June 2011 aged
88. Her surviving sister Sylva has asked
her executor Leon Nahon to give Prospero
readers a few words about Luigia. He writes:
Luigia Vallentine came to the UK in
1940 and after working for the ministry of
agriculture (issuing ration cards for cows!)
joined the BBC whilst still a teenager, as a
monitor of Italian broadcasts during the
Second World War.
Having British nationality but being
completely fluent in Italian, she went on to
work at the BBC Italian service shortly after
the war ended. She originally started in quite
a junior capacity but as a result of her hard
work, talent and enthusiasm she moved up
the hierarchy until she became programme
organiser for all Italian broadcasts. She retired
in 1982 and lived in North West London. She
was unmarried.
Leon R Nahon
Pioneer of outside
sports broadcasts
More than 32
million people in
the UK watched
the 1966 World
Cup Final when
England beat
Germany 4-2 at
Wembley. The
man responsible
for producing the
pictures that went
round the world was Alec Weeks (1925 –
2011), who began his BBC career in 1941
as an office boy.
He became a junior engineer at
Broadcasting House during the war and
arranged the microphones for Major Glenn
Miller and his band when they recorded 28
numbers for the American Forces Network.
After a brief spell in the RAF, Weeks became
a studio manager when Eamonn Andrews
began his distinguished Sports Report
programme in 1948. But television called
and he had to go to Manchester to find
a niche.
Football – live football – was then a
rare event on television but in 1959 Weeks
directed his first match, the second half of
a European cup-tie between Burnley and
Hamburg. It was another five years before the
stubborn resistance to television emanating
from the Football League headquarters at
St.Anne’s on Sea, began to ease. In 1964
came the first Match of the Day programme,
in black and white, in London only on
BBC2. Despite the opposition of football
club directors, the programme prospered, so
much so that it was moved to BBC1 and has
remained there, with a few changes to the
present day.
Signing a contract with the football
authorities was a plus for the management
but the game still had to be got onto TV
screens. Weeks was instrumental in that. He
led his team, usually around 50 people, with
flair, clear-headedness and discipline. In his
mobile contract room, he was in charge, so
much so that when the Chairman of the BBC
Governors, George Howard visited during
a match and started chatting, he was told:
‘keep the noise down, cocker, or you’ll be
out in the car park.’
If it hadn’t been for Weeks’ alertness,
the 1966 World Cup Final would have cost
the BBC an extra £100,000 – the sum
demanded by the Musicians Union for
the massed Band of the Brigade of Guards.
He spotted a loophole in the contract; no
fees would be paid if the Band appeared
by command of the Queen. Negotiating
deftly, Weeks persuaded the director of
music of the Brigade to seek the Queen’s
approval. It came with a few hours to spare.
The 1966 Final was clearly the most
rewarding of Weeks’ productions but he
went on from there to be responsible
for 15 FA Cup Finals, nine Summer and
Winter Olympic Games, eight World Cup
tournaments and countless other outside
broadcasts. His main aim as a producer was
to give the viewer at home the best seat in
the grandstand. It sounds obvious, but Weeks
made it happen by knowing in advance what
he wanted and giving clear instructions on
how it was to be achieved.
It is unlikely that in today’s BBC someone
like Weeks would be recruited. He was just
a teenager when he joined, but no one
worked for the BBC with greater pride. He
was dedicated and regarded with affection by
colleagues at home and abroad. He retired at
the age of 60 and at home in Hove, Sussex,
wrote his autobiography which, despite
its silly title ‘Under Auntie’s skirts’ is an
enjoyable read.
He is survived by his wife Pamela, they
had no children.
Sir Paul Fox
Radio transmitter
Kenneth Shepherdson, a retired member of
our staff at Skelton, died on 10 June after a
long illness, aged 84.
Ken was born in Kingston upon Hull and
was educated at Hull Riley High School.
He was evacuated on 1 September 1939 to
Bridlington and then Doncaster.
After leaving school in 1943, he gained
a job at a BBC wartime transmitter. He was
then posted to a regional transmitter and
after a few months was conscripted under
the war regulations into the army where he
spent the next two and a half years servicing
tank radios with the Royal Signals.
He was then drafted on demob to the
Skelton transmitter and had postings to
Daventry and Hull. He also took an overseas
posting to Antigua for two years opening a
short wave transmitter, returning to Skelton
until his retirement.
His eldest son Andrew died of a brain
tumour in 2003. Ken is survived by his wife
Margaret, son Ian, who lives in Somerset,
and daughter Gillian.
Gillian Roberts
Change maker
Roy Vitty started
his career in
the BBC soon
after leaving the
King Edward’s
Grammar School
in Birmingham.
While working at
the BBC, he
enrolled at the
Hendon College
in North London and completed his three
year part time Higher National Diploma
(HND) Course. He took up his first posting
in Video Tape at TV Centre, moving on to
the BBC Outside Broadcast Unit at
Acton, London.
Roy left the BBC in 1981 and joined
Visnews for a couple of years before
rejoining the BBC to work on the Breakfast
Time, the UK’s first National breakfast show,
under the first Editor of the programme, Ron
Neil. Ron went on to become the founder
Editor of the BBC Six O’Clock News and he
brought about a new change in TV News
by appointing Roy as the Head of TV News
and Current Affairs Resources, replacing
Henry Tanner.
After John Birt set up the News and
Current affairs directorate, Roy’s first task
was to merge Lime Grove TPC operation and
TV News Resources into one, which he did
with utmost skill. He was adept at getting
both new methods of working in the BBC
and getting Inmarsat and SNG technology
into daily TV News operations. These both
brought a big benefit to the BBC on-air
coverage. His understanding of the working
of the Capital Finance system was very useful
throughout this change.
With his new systems working and
operational, Roy left to televise Parliament
on TV, before retiring in 1992. In retirement
he spent most of his time with his hobbies
- travelling, trains, theatre and walking.
He always found time to meet up with his
retired colleagues and attend local IEE/IET
meetings in High Wycombe.
Roy died after a short illness on the
28 May 2011, leaving behind his wife
Betty, two sons (David and Andrew), and
a granddaughter.
Bob Prabhu - Retired TV News Senior Cameraman
Great correspondent
Many friends and colleagues will learn with
much sadness the loss of Sheila Cundy on
5 June. She had a long and successful career
in Programme Correspondence, taking a
break to have her children. Sheila made
a welcome return as a senior member of
a busy letter-writing team, coping with
an ever-increasing volume of mail from
listeners and viewers.
A dedicated and hugely loyal supporter
of the BBC, Sheila handled difficult and
often controversial subjects with experience
and professionalism. An immensely kind
and popular member of staff, she was
outstanding at training and encouraging
new young secretaries in her office. Sheila
could be guaranteed to coax the very best
from them gently, using great patience and
understanding. Maintaining the highest
standards at all times, she produced excellent
and sometimes surprising results! Several
remained friends over the years, notably
Jenny, who kept in touch and visited her
with her own family.
In recent years Sheila suffered ill health
and coped with all the difficulties she
experienced with enormous courage. She
had good reason to be very proud of her
two successful sons, Nicholas and Philip,
and always acknowledged their wonderful
support – not only when their father died
– but throughout her suffering. Sheila was
also very quick to praise the exceptional
care she received from her Nurse and friend,
Marilyn. She loved music and enjoyed the
companionship of her two dogs. Special
thoughts and much sympathy go to her
family and to her close friend Phyllis. Sheila
will be greatly missed by all who were
fortunate to know her and now share a
deep sense of loss.
Maureen A Stevens
Formerly Head of Programme Correspondence
PROSPERO August 2011
11
12 snippets
Man on the Spot by Bill Hamilton
C lassi f ie d s
Published by Book Guild Publishing £17.99, reviewed by Rodney Greenberg
At a time when a few unscrupulous
phone-hackers have thrown the Murdoch
newspaper empire into turmoil, Bill
Hamilton’s biography comes as a beacon
of sanity and integrity. From ambitious cub
reporter to BBC special correspondent, we
are in the company of a journalist from ‘the
old school’, respecting and often assisting
the victims of misfortune he meets on
his assignments.
In 1961, Dundee-born Bill wrote to every
Scottish newspaper editor, offering to work as
a 17-year-old junior. This meant 120 letters,
garnering over 100 replies (an unlikely
response these days). But only four had
vacancies, and a trial day in the ‘organised
chaos’ of one of their editorial departments
convinced him to learn shorthand. Bill
buckled down to mastering his craft.
He progressed through Tyne Tees
Television, Border Television and various
regional newspapers. He now observes that
ITV has replaced truly local news with ‘super
regions’, calling this ‘a serious erosion of
their original public service commitment.’
He first joined the BBC as a Radio Sports
News Assistant in London, selected by the
legendary Angus Mackay to ‘join the big
boys’ (though I doubt Mackay actually used
the modern expression ‘do you think you
could cut it here?’) and rubbed shoulders
with Eamonn Andrews, Desmond Lynam,
Christopher Martin-Jenkins, John Motson
and Jack de Manio.
Prospero readers will chuckle at how,
when he joined BBC Scotland, he owned only
two suits – both blue – and a navy blazer.
These would effectively vanish on television
when backed by the blue cyclorama used for
colour-separation overlay. Told to buy two
non-blue jackets for not more than £20, Bill
almost succeeded at C&A but was £3 over.
Came a memo: the £3 would be deducted
from his wages and ‘the jackets will, of
Crumpet Goes
to Lundy
Prospero readers will recall our book review
last issue of ‘Crumpet Goes to Lundy’ by
Maggie Partington-Smith. The review, by
June Hudson, didn’t mention how to get
hold of copies of the book, so here Maggie
explains how this can be done, and also adds
a little history of how the book came into
the world.
‘Crumpet Goes to Lundy’ came about as
a result of learning how to use the wordprocessing programme on the computer.
Scorned by the few publishers I approached
but encouraged by cast, crew and colleagues,
I paid for private printing of a limited run of
200 copies to take the project to fruition in
time for Christmas presents. I now have only
about 40 copies left.
I can post these remaining copies for
£8.50 + £1.50 pp (on receipt of postal
address and a cheque for £10 made out to
M Partington-Smith) but once they are gone,
they are gone. If there is sufficient interest
course, remain the property of the BBC, and
should your employment change they must
be returned at once to our Wardrobe.’
Bill became a familiar face on BBC TV
News and was in the thick of memorable
events. In 1978, a Great Northern Express
train with 70 passengers vanished in a
terrible blizzard in the Scottish Highlands.
Bill got emergency BBC permission to hire a
helicopter and, with his cameraman, located
the train and reported on a dangerous fooddrop and rescue.
He was on the spot in the 1982 Lebanese
war and when the IRA bombed the Grand
Hotel in Brighton. In Aberdeenshire he
interviewed the mother of serial killer Dennis
Nilsen as she tearfully tried to come to terms
with her son’s crimes, and he filmed Martin
Luther King’s assassin, James Earl Ray, on
Death Row in Nashville.
His reports from Albania, filmed with the
Duchess of York, triggered huge international
aid. He accompanied Albania’s hero Norman
Wisdom on a hilarious visit to the country,
and Bill met Mother Teresa, who awarded
him the Order of Mother Teresa.
Bill’s story shows a dedicated, versatile
reporter. And there’s room for his other
career: an Association Football referee for 50
years. ‘Retirement? I don’t think so’, he says.
‘I’m not growing OLD. I’m just growing UP.’
To purchase a copy of ‘Man on the Spot’,
please visit www.bookguild.co.uk.
RELCs - Calling
all workers
however I could try once again to get
a Publisher to undertake the marketing
and distribution in shops or via Amazon.
They would of course work out cheaper if
printed in larger quantities. All advice on this
subject welcome.
Maggie Partington Smith
For any further enquiries about Crumpet, please
contact Maggie on the following email address:
[email protected]
Much merriment and countless stories
Nearly 100 communications and ex-communications staff came together for a reunion at the
George and Dragon pub in Acton on Saturday 21 May.
This was the first ever comms reunion and was attended by people of all ages, some of
whom (according to one stalwart) had not seen each other for more than 40 years. It was
a splendid do with much merriment and countless stories swapped. People came from
all over the British Isles, as well as from Madrid, France and even one brave soul from the
Falkland Islands.
Another reunion is intended for a few years time, hopefully with even more people. If
you’ve even worked in, or been attached to, Radio Links or Communications please contact
Dennis Butcher on 07860 662733 or email [email protected] to find out more.
Paul Gouldstone, Vice President, RELCs,
takes the opportunity to tell Prospero
readers about another RELC lunch,
scheduled for the Autumn.
The BBC RELCs are ‘calling all workers’
whose BBC career has been in the
broadcasting chain over the years, whether
in Radio, Television, Transmitters, Film,
Management/Secretarial (or any section I
have missed out).
Following our last very successful
lunch in Bournemouth we have booked
the Miramar Hotel again for an early
Autumn BBC RELC Lunch on Tuesday
6 September starting in the hotel bar from
10.30am and with lunch at 13.00
Lunch will be prompted by that famous
Radio tune for Workers Playtime. You will
probably remember that signature tune
from your earlier days in the BBC as you
meet up with friends for lunch.
Contact our lunch organiser Russell
Horne to book a seat in the restaurant.
Russell can be contacted on 01590
624389 or [email protected]
Annual reunion for
Design & Scenic
Services
The 31st Annual Reunion Lunch for exmembers of BBC Television Design &
Scenic Services Group, spouses, partners
and friends will take place at noon on Friday
14 October at Ealing Golf Club, Greenford,
Middlesex. For further information, please
contact Hilary Worrall (Tel: 0208 677 3067).
Seaview, Isle of Wight. Wanting to get away
for a break? Pleasant ETB 4* studio annexe,
sleeps two comfortably. Near beach and village.
For details email: [email protected];
Tel: 01983 812180
Lake District. Historic watermill, secluded in
woods and fields, sleeps 6, beautiful all year for
walking, climbing and sailing.
Tel: 020 7387 6654;
Email: [email protected]
Lagos, Algarve. Small townhouse,
2 bedrooms, roof terrace, near beach, from
£150pw. Also large apartment.
Tel: 07956 181613;
Email: [email protected]
Paphos. A/C studio apartment, sleeps 2/3,
spectacular balcony view, from £95pw.
Amenities adjacent. Taxi/car hire arranged.
Tel: 01455 635759; www.cyprusapartments.net
Brittany, Dinan. Delightful medieval riverside
town with many restaurants. Attractive
apartment in old merchant’s house; quiet,
central. Beaches, walks close. Near St Malo
channel port and Dinard airport (Ryanair).
Sleeps 2, double or twin. From £190pw.
Tel: 020 8995 8543;
Email: [email protected]
Niton, Isle of Wight. Holiday chalet for 2 in
peaceful and secluded landscaped gardens.
Ideal base for walkers.
Tel: 01372 462732;
www.ramblersretreatniton.co.uk
(Price cut) Provence. Traditional 3-bedroom
villa (sleeps 6) with pool. Near enchanting
medieval village. From £500 per week.
Email: [email protected]
for brochure.
Dordogne. Farmhouse in peaceful hamlet with
magnificent views from garden. Ideal walking,
swimming nearby, all comforts. Sleeps 4. Bargain.
Tel: 07788 940660;
Email: [email protected]
Kalkan Turkey Two bed apartment with pool
on lovely turquoise coast, SW Turkey. Owing
to medical recommendation to reduce stress,
I am proposing to sell off fortnights of the year
(like a time share) at £10,000 per fortnight (6).
Compared to a time share though, the property
would be wholly legally owned by all our families
for ever. Do give me your email / phone number
for further details, or contact me on:
Tel: 01643 841602;
Email: [email protected]
Be sure to get your copy of ‘Zoom in when
you see the tears’. 30 adventurous years at
the BBC, by Film Cameraman, Fred Hamilton.
www.fantomfilms.co.uk
Menorca. Detached holiday villa with private
pool. Sleeps 2-7. Near Es Castell, amenities
and beaches. For brochure:
Tel: 01621 741810;
www.menorcaholidayvilla.co.uk
Prospero Classifieds, BBC Pension and
Benefits Centre, Broadcasting House,
Cardiff CF5 2YQ
Please enclose a cheque made payable to:
BBC Central Directorate.
Rate: £5 for 20 words. In a covering letter
please include your pension number.
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PROSPERO August 2011