Isfahan – designing an Formula One racetrack 1975

In April 1975, Dick Clark, my former boss, had been working as Head of News at C.B.S., in London.  His Telco company (Television Co-ordination Service), had been running since 1969 and was successful.

Dick asked me to lunch with him and his neighbour.

“Why do you drive on the left?”

One of my drinking companions during the Safari Rallies was Paul Broncard, Head of P.R, for Peugeot. Peugeot always had a big team for the rally and usually relied on local drivers for their works entries.  In the early 70s, we would make a short film for Peugeot featuring their cars in the Rally.

East African Safari Rally 1968

It was Easter time and, once again, I was on my way to Nairobi for the East African Safari Rally to cover the Datsun Team for Nissan Motors.  This time, I flew B.O.A.C. in a VC10.  Cameraman Paul Badin flew in from Paris to join me on the flight down. We stopped off in Frankfurt before going direct to Nairobi.  It was a long and boring flight.  I was never able to sleep on an aircraft and, even if I had been able to, I would have been woken by a passenger who seemed to spend most of the time walking up and down the aisle brushing all the passengers in the inside seats.

Belgian Grand Prix 1968

We had been engaged to film a series of Grand Prix on behalf of Honda Racing.  Their car was driven by John Surtees. Now, we were off to Spa Francorchamps in Belgium.  I brought in Vittorio Della Valle in to join with Piet Van Strien from Holland and  Jan Borg from Oslo.

Monte Carlo Rally 1968

January 1968 and I was off again to Monaco to film the Monte Carlo Rally for Nissan.

Before I left, Kenneth Coyte, UPITN Vice-President called me into his office in ITN House.  He said ”You have been using the “per diem” system for expenses (on location).  This has got to stop”.  I said, “It wasn’t my idea, it was introduced by UPI years ago, but it does seem to have worked well up to now”.  (We had been using the system under the instruction of the former boss Dick Clark) Coyte said “In future, I want to see receipts for hotels and meals”.

Italian Grand Prix 1968

In September 1968, we went to Milan for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Once again, I arrived early with Vittorio Della Valle.  We stayed at Hotel Duca near the railway station.

German Grand Prix 1968

In August we went to the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring. The circuit is some way from any main city and, therefore, hotels.  At the start of the summer, I had asked the Bureau in Frankfurt to arrange for accommodation for the crews.  They confirmed to me that they had done so and gave me details of the hotel which was only a few miles from the circuit.

The crew, this time, comprised Piet van Strien, Manfred Borchardt from Cologne and a freelance cameraman from Mannheim.

Colleagues: Paul Wyand

I worked with, or worked close by, Paul Wyand from 1945 to 1956 and from 1961 to 1967.  He was a gentleman and thoroughly deserved the accolade of being the finest newsreel cameraman of his day.

He specialised in the “Swing” shot whereby he would follow a fast moving vehicle, or animal, keeping a precise distance between the subject and the edge of frame.  This skill was obtained by practice and dedication.  However, he was a great cameraman in other ways at a time when there were no production managers, assistants or fixers to help and certainly no journalists.  Paul made all his own arrangements and everything required of a film crew was achieved by him and his soundman.  In that respect, it was the same for all the newsreels cameramen.

Dutch Grand Prix Zandfoort 1968

After the British Grand Prix, the next was the Dutch Grand Prix was at Zandfort near Haarlem. It took place on June 23rd 1968. I met up with local cameraman and local sports presenter, Piet van Strien.  Piet took me to a pub in Amsterdam where, for the first time, I sampled sate, pronounced satay. Which is a small kebab of shrimp or chicken covered in a peanut sauce.  It originates in Indonesia and came into Holland when Indonesia was one of their colonies.

Cameraman tales: Piet Van Strien

Piet Van Strien was UPITN’s cameraman in the Netherlands.  He was an extremely competent cameraman both in news and documentary work.  He was also a presenter of a news programme on Dutch Television.

In 1968, I travelled to Holland to direct the shooting of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandfoort.  As was my habit, I travelled to the location a few days before the event in order to organise the shooting.