“Newsworthiness” and Charlie Drake

In the mid sixties, United Press and British Movietone News parted company from the enterprise known as UPMT.   This was the first British newsfilm agency based in London.  It commenced operations in June 1955.  Its first customer was the B.B.C.

One of the problems that beset the two companies was that they had different interests in terms of news coverage.  Movietone were producing a newsreel twice a week and, where possible, they chose stories that were interesting in terms of what was happening in front of the camera.  They were also aware that certain stories would not be suitable for the reel because of the delay in distribution.