Cameraman tales: Breakdown in Bahrain

In 1978, I went with a crew to Bahrain to make a documentary film about the island state.

The cameraman was John Barnard.  John was an Australian resident in London.  He was one of the best.

John hired his equipment from Samuelson’s, the main item being an Arriflex camera.

1973 Safari Rally

Easter 1973 and we were off to the East African Safari Rally.  I understand that the word Safari is an Arabic/Swahili word meaning the distance that a caravan can travel in one day.  In the Rally, they would be covering over 800 miles each day.

The locals had started the Rally as a competition for local amateurs at the time of the Queen‘s Coronation.  This was to be the 21st Rally.  At one time, most of the rally was run over Murrum tracks, which were a real test for car and driver.   Now, the major part of the Rally was run over tarmac roads and the locals complained about it.  However, The Safari Rally now formed part of the World Rally Championship and the rules were laid down by the International governing body. Speed was everything.

Sir Mohinder Dhillon: Terry Gallacher – Loss of a friend and brother

Terry would always live in our hearts. As a person one can’t find a better friend. I lived in London for a while and Terry helped in many ways, bought me friends car, advised me in buying a house overnight.

Terence Gallacher 1928 – 2014

Terence Michael Gallacher died on the 3rd October 2014, almost 69 years to the day he entered British Movietone News for the first time in 1945, he was eighty five.

1972 Safari Rally

Easter came round again and we made the long flight down to Nairobi.  There had been no rain and there would be no rain while the Rally was being staged.

This would make things very difficult for the crews in the rally and for us.  The cars would be speeding across the Murrum blowing up huge plumes of dust which flew into the air to about forty feet and trailing away as a tail two hundred yards long.

Fashion Programme – “Style”

In April 1984, we were due to go to MIP in Cannes once again.  For some years, the company had gone to MIP, taken a display stand, but offered no additional product. All their customers already received the news service.  I had persuaded UPITN’S President, Kenneth Coyte, that we should go with something to sell.   I had pondered the problem for some time after the previous MIP.  I came to the conclusion that the missing programme should be concerned with fashions.  At that time, there was no regular programme concerning fashions among the major broadcasters in the world.  There were also few specialist women’s programmes that might include fashions.

Colleagues: Vittorio Della Valle

Vittorio Della Valle was a colleague of mine from 1961 to 1972.

He was born in 1917 in Rome.  His father was a cinematographer who had accompanied one of  the Italian Airship Expeditions to the North Pole.

Monte Carlo Rally 1972

January 1972, we were off again to Monaco for the Monte Carlo Rally.  The team consisted of Paul Badin, Julian Botras, Vittorio Della Valle, Jacques Hubinet and his soundman Monsieur Corsi.   Pierre Deus was handling the UPITN News coverage, but he was invariably working alongside us during the Rally.   He was the great provider.  He knew everyone in Monte Carlo and they knew him.  He obtained our passes and permissions.   He arranged for a police motor-cyclist to take our rushes to Nice Airport for shipment back to England. He is also well remembered for his crew lunches where we could partake of tuna and anchovies that he had caught in the Med the previous year and bottled for the winter.

The Emirates in 1976 – Abu Dhabi from the air

This article follows on from the previous article: The Emirates in 1976 – The Bedouin family.

Back in Abu Dhabi, we were given the chance to get a flight in a helicopter. We took the chance.  Early in the morning, we attended the helicopter base where we were introduced to our Pakistani pilot.  We had him for three hours and we made the most of it.

The Emirates in 1976 – The Bedouin family

This article follows on from the previous article: The Emirates in 1976 – A “time bomb” and a Bedouin village

The day after we had filmed the distribution of food rations at Al Kaznah, we followed the rice ration into the desert.  We drove about ten miles into the wilderness to a small camp .   We got stuck in the sand several times, but now, we knew how to get out of it.  (Which is more than our driver did).