Coventry Cathedral BBC interview

Today Friday, 25th May 2012 is the fiftieth anniversary of the consecration of the new part of St Michael’s Cathedral, designed by Sir Basil Spence, which forms part of Coventry Cathedral.

I have already written an article on filming the consecration of Coventry Cathedral.  Click here to read the article.

A month at Movietone 1948

I had been called into the Army in November 1946, just as I was getting used to working for Movietone.  It was expected that I would serve for two years, but the start of the Cold War and the Berlin Airlift, ensured that I would spend another five months waiting to get demobbed.

Colleagues: Ian Grant – Movietone

Ian Grant came to British Movietone News in 1962, he was my colleague until I left the company in 1964.  We remained friends until he died in 1981.  Ian James Grant was born in Edinburgh in 1917 and was called up for military service in 1940, initially spending two and a half years with the Royal Scots as a Lance-Corporal.  He saw action in Northern France shortly after his conscription and was at Dunkirk in June 1940.

Colleagues: Greville Kent – Movietone

Greville Maud Lingard Kent was an assistant editor (Cutter) at British Movietone News.  He was conscripted into the Royal Navy early in the war and served on board the Armed Merchant Cruiser the RMS Dunottar Castle which had been converted in 1942.  The ship was used on the notorious Murmansk convoy route where very heavy losses were incurred.

Meeting a future Prime Minister 1965

In July 1965, Edward Heath was elected as leader of the Conservative Party. In a party election, he had defeated Enoch Powell and Reginald Maudling. Soon afterwards, Dick Clark, my boss at United Press International Newsfilm, arranged a meeting with him to discuss a filmed interview at some convenient time in the future.  Dick asked me to go along with him to meet Ted Heath.

I was asked to decide if the apartment was suitable for filming the interview.

The Birth of United Press Movietone Television

In the early 50s, we only had one television broadcaster.  The Conservative Government had approved the establishment of a commercial television broadcaster.  This was due to start in September of 1955.  However, in 1954, BBC television did not have a news bulletin as we know them today.  They assumed that most people would gather their news from the radio, and this was probably true.

At some stage they introduced a television news programme that consisted of the Ten O’clock News from BBC radio with a caption card.

Knowing that ITV was on the horizon and ITN was to be created, the BBC decided to do something about it.

Programme Distribution in Australia: 1960

I was approached by the Head of Presentation at the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Ron White, he said that the prospect of sending copies of programmes to all the States was going to prove a real problem.  At that time, programmes broadcast live were telerecorded and the only other interested party was either Melbourne or Sydney, depending where the original recording was made.  The other States had not yet started broadcasting.

The problem would arise when Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, the BAPH states, came on the scene.  It would mean that the last station in the line could wait six weeks for a programme.

Cameraman tales: Paul Wyand

In 1928, Paul Wyand was working as a cameraman for Fox Movietone of New York. He was based in London.  He was cabled with some outrageous demands to obtain pictures that were virtually unobtainable.  He gives one example “Vital we have pix of Prince of Wales wearing kilt with close-up of knees”.

However, he did receive one demand that he thought he might be able to obtain.

Cameraman tales: Anon at Rediffusion

Sir Francis Chichester arrived in Plymouth on May 28th 1967, in his yacht, Gypsy Moth IV, after completing his epic single-handed voyage around the world.

He crossed the finishing line at 8.58 in the evening, nine months and one day after setting off from the historic port. Sir Francis was the first person to race around the world, solo, with only one port of call, and that was Sydney.

Dawson’s Field 1970

In 1970 I had been Head of UPITN Productions for three years.  UPITN was a company formed by United Press International and Independent Television News.  I was always close to the News Room of UPITN and kept myself informed about what was going on.

In 1974 while in Amman, I met Hassan Dalal for lunch and he told me the whole story of filming the explosions at Dawson’s Field. Dalal was our cameraman in Amman.