With highlights from Ariel

April 2011 Number 3

World Service cuts biteClosure of Caribbean Service page 8

VolunteerVisitorspage 3

Pensionschemeshortfallpage 2

Genderequalityrulingpage 7

BBC Pensions

PROSPEROApril 2011

2 • • April • 2011

Editorial contributions

Write to: ProsperoBBC Pension and Benefits CentreBroadcasting HouseCardiff, CF5 2YQTel: 020 7765 1414

Email: prospero@bbc.co.uk

Please make sure that any digitalpictures you send are scannedat 300 dpi.

Prospero is provided free toretired BBC employees. It canalso be sent to spouses ordependants who want to keepin touch with the BBC. It includes news aboutformer colleagues, pensionissues, and developments atthe BBC. Prospero includesclassified advertisements. To advertise in Prospero orthe BBC Staff magazine,Ariel, see page 12.

Subscription information forAriel is on page 12.

A summary of the 2010 Schemevaluation made known

Throughout it all, many people asked why theBBC didn’t just wait until the results of the2010 valuation, which was under way at thetime, were known before proceeding withchanges to the Scheme. In the interests of transparency, the Trusteespromised that the valuation results would showthe Scheme’s funding position had no changesbeen made, and also what it would look like ifthe changes went ahead in April 2011.Shortly before this issue of Prospero went toprint, the valuation results were released, withmembers being sent a news update from theTrustees. This article summarises the mainpoints from that communication.

Size of the deficitThe valuation showed that the Scheme’sfunding deficit was £1.6bn (if no changes weremade to the Scheme) and £1.1bn (after thechanges are taken into account).This means the Scheme is 87.9% funded. (Thefunding level shows the relationship between thecost of providing pensions now and in the future,

and the money that the Scheme actually has at aparticular point in time – its assets.)

Why is there a deficit?The deficit has grown over the last two yearsbecause the Scheme’s investments returns havebeen lower than previously anticipated, in largepart due to the 2008/09 financial crisis. The longer terms trends for lower investment returns (in real terms) and increases in life expectancy have added to the cost of providing pensions. (In other words,the actuary expects that the Scheme’sinvestments won’t generate as much real incomein future, due to the erosive effect of inflation,and also because people are living longer the Scheme will need more money to pay their pensions.)

The Recovery PlanThe Pensions Regulator requires pensionsschemes that have a funding shortfall to drawup a recovery plan which sets out how thesponsoring employer will make good the deficit.

The plan needs to strike a balance betweenwhat is appropriate for the members, and whatis needed to ensure that the BBC’s covenant isnot damaged (ie, its support and financialhealth).The Trustees and the BBC have now agreed arecovery plan which sets out how the deficit willbe made good. This sees the BBC makingdeficit contributions over and above its normalpensions contributions, of £0.9bn over the next11 years. The first deficit payment of £110 million will be made this year. The Trustees appreciate that this has been aworrying time for members. Pensioners anddeferred members may have also found theBBC’s proposals for change unsettling, althoughtheir pensions are not affected by the changes.The Scheme, with the support of the BBC, iscommitted to pay pensions until the lastpensioner or dependant dies or leaves theScheme. This is not likely to happen untilaround the end of this century.

Complete the square by using the clues; these apply only to wordsrunning across. Then take these words in numerical order and extractthe letters indicated by a dot. If your answers are correct, these letterswill spell out a recent BBC success.

Please send your answers in an envelope marked Crospero to TheEditor, Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, BroadcastingHouse, Cardiff CF5 2YQ by Friday, 13 May 2011.

Clues: 1. Great! (5); 2. At the peak (4); 3. Direction (4); 4. A smalldrum (5); 5. Wireless (5); 6. Ill-will (5); 7. Eat away (5); 8. Take food (3);9. Sag (5); 10. Willow (5); 11. Female sheep (3); 12. Bedlam (5); 13. Preclude in law (5); 14. To the left at sea (5); 15. Personal book (5);16. Nymph (4); 17. Perennial (4); 18. Move on ice (5)

Solution to Crospero 155: Ruin; Meaner; Scar; Won; Deer; Herds;Ryde; Lido; Roche; Water; Avast; Ages; Omen; Datum; Gala; Car;Rely; Cereus; Seem.

The programme was I’m sorry I haven’t a clue.

The winner was Mr Ray Targett.

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CROSPERO 156Devised and compiled by Jim Palm

It has been a turbulent year for the BBC PensionScheme, with the corporation’s consultation onproposed pension changes for active memberslast summer leading to strikes by staff,renegotiations and, finally, arrival at a compromise deal.

Pension increases and payment datesInflation, as measured by the Retail Prices Index (RPI) was 4.8% for the year toDecember 2010. In line with the Scheme rules, pensions in payment for a year or more (Old and NewBenefits members) were increased by 4.8% from 1 April 2011. Your BBC pension is paid directly into your bank account. Payments are made intoyour bank or building society account on the 16th of the month. (If the 16th falls on aweekend, then the payment is made on the Friday before.)

Here are the pension payment datesfrom April 2011 to March 2012:Friday, 15 April 2011Monday, 16 May 2011Thursday, 16 June 2011Friday, 15 July 2011Wednesday, 16 August 2011Friday, 16 September 2011Friday, 14 October 2011Wednesday, 16 November 2011Friday, 16 December 2011Monday, 16 January 2012Thursday, 16 February 2012Friday, 16 March 2012

Payslip printing Currently, if you receive a payslip, you only get one in months where the net amountpaid varies by £1 or more. However, please note that from April 2011 this thresholdwill change to £10. For benefit and pension payroll queries, call the Service Line on 029 2032 2811.

If you didn’t receive therecent valuation report,please contact the Pensionand Benefits Centre torequest a copy, or you candownload a copy frombbc.co.uk/mypension

April • 2011 • • 3

Volunteer Visiting Scheme

The BBC Volunteer Visiting Scheme plays animportant part in the lives of many retired BBCstaff – not only for the visitors themselves, whofind it enriches their retirement, but also for thepeople they befriend. The scheme offers a vitallink for those people who become isolatedthrough ill-health or, sadly, who outlive theirfriends and former BBC colleagues.

Keeping thelinks alive

A richer retirement

A fond farewell to ChristineThe Pension and Benefits Centre said afond farewell to Christine Geen, the BBCWelfare Coordinator, who retired at theend of March. Christine was the mainpoint of contact for anyone involved withthe Volunteer Visiting Scheme,organising roadshows and the annualconference, and also dealing with theday-to-day administration of Prospero.Christine started with BBC Wales inApril 1987 and joined the Pension andBenefits Centre in September 1992. Sheand Alison Crowley set up the BBCVolunteer Visiting Scheme in 1994 andhave seen it grow from strength tostrength. When the scheme was set up,there were just under 6,700 BBCpensioners over the age of 70. In 2010,there were just over 10,000. Shecoordinates the activities of 185 visitors,with over 1,000 visits carried out a year.Visitor John Dunstan says: ‘I will missChristine greatly. She has a great gift formaking you feel that you are important toher and a friend. ‘I have had to consult her on severaloccasions to seek her guidance aboutsome aspect of visiting or a particularcircumstance and she has always comeback with decisive and precise advice.‘She is brilliant at chairing meetings,getting through the agenda in a timelyfashion but without denying a fair crackof the whip to those who wish to put apoint across. She seems to have the giftof remembering names and faces and ofabsorbing information. She also has agreat sense of humour and it is always apleasure to have a social chat with her.

I also believe Christine, as befits herpost, is a very caring person. In short,she’ll be a very hard act to follow but ofcourse I also wish her successor well.’Sybil Jenazian adds: ‘I have been apensioner visitor since virtually the start,so I have known Christine from when sheand Alison set the scheme up. A greatdeal of hard work has gone into makingit the success it is. Since Alison’sretirement, Christine has carried on alone– she will be greatly missed and a hardact to follow. I wish her good health andgood luck in her retirement – I shall miss her.’

Cheryl Miles, a long-serving member ofthe Pension and Benefits Centre, hastaken over from Christine as theVolunteer Visiting Scheme Coordinatorand can be contacted on 029 20323772 or email cheryl.miles@bbc.co.uk

I have been a visitor for over five-and-a-halfyears and have found it a rewarding experience.I cover the St Albans area in Hertfordshire,which includes the surrounding area to a radiusof about six miles of the city. There are currently 40 pensioners on my listand I visit 10 of them. (I also see three otherssocially from time to time but they don’t wishor need formal visits.) Of the 10 I visit, eightare themselves retired members of staff and theother two are widows of ex-members of staff.In the case of the retired members of staff, itis of course a pleasure to hear their stories, toreminisce with them about our sharedknowledge of BBC premises and to swapanecdotes if we have any mutual ex-colleaguesor ‘superiors’ like Heads of Department. Their service tends to go further back than

mine of course and it is fascinating to listen, asI have, to someone who knew, for instance,Lord Reith. It happens that quite a few of my ‘visitees’ hadbeen involved in transmitter installations(maybe because this area is not too far fromBrookman’s Park). This is a subject I know verylittle about but I can still enjoy the accounts Ihave heard. Indeed, I have found it just as interesting tolisten to a pensioner who used to be adistinguished commentator on radio for bothsport (cricket and rugby) and State occasions asone who used to be a graphic artist at AlexandraPalace, painting captions by hand. I find thereis such a wide spectrum of experiences.In the case of widows, I have found thatgenerally they don’t know a great deal about thedetail of what their husbands had done in theirday-to-day work but without fail they have allremarked on how enormously happy they hadbeen at the BBC and how they had loved theirwork – indeed this is echoed by all thepensioners I meet. The other side of this coin,however, is that they also all think that in recentyears the BBC output has become seriouslydumbed-down!

It is a great pleasure to be so warmlywelcomed when I arrive for a visit and I amprivileged to enjoy the friendships forged. Thesefriendships often extend to spouses and partnerstoo who, in my experience, usually like to bepart of the occasion. I am constantly astonishedby the wealth of information I pick up – muchof it nothing to do with the BBC at all. I havelearnt about local history, researching familytrees, collecting minerals, photojournalism, thenatural world and all manner of things. Thereis also the fascination of hearing about familybackgrounds and how chance encounters orevents have come to shape people’s lives.My biggest blunder so far (unless I’m blissfullyunaware of a worse one!) was when I said to agentleman when leaving after about my fourthvisit, by which time I felt we were getting toknow each other quite well, ‘By the way may Icall you Bill?’ He looked at me and repliedslightly awkwardly, ‘Well you can if you’d liketo but my name’s actually Chris!’As for the material rewards for visiting – well,I’m often plied with tea or coffee, very oftenwith lovely biscuits and sometimes withdelicious home-made cakes!

I still do some freelance work and my wife andI spend a fair amount of time helping out withour eight grandchildren, particularly in schoolholidays, but I am very fortunate to be able alsoto do the volunteer visiting and I believe my lifeis the richer for it.

John Dunstan shares his experiences of being a BBCvisitor with Prospero…

‘…it is fascinating to listen to someone who knew Lord Reith…’

‘they have all remarked on

how enormously happy they

had been at the BBC and how

they had loved their work.’

Visiting Scheme

January was RayLakeland’s 90thbirthday and heinvited colleagueswhom he hadworked with to lunchand drinks as a‘thank you’.

Among the guestswas BBC pensionervisitor, SybilJenezian. She toldProspero: ‘Being avisitor gives me asmuch pleasure andenjoyment as I’mtold it does to my‘visitees’. I arrange aget-together twice ayear, one in thespring/summer and one prior to Christmas, for many of my ex-OB colleagues, whomI’m fortunate to have on my list – others I either visit in their homes, or if they prefer,chat on the telephone. A number of people living alone prefer a Sunday visit which Imanage to fit in – this can be a long and lonely day for some.’

Ray was a senior Tel OB producer based in Manchester where he worked on the firsttelevised Grand National in 1960 as well as rugby league, golf, cricket and football,plus many major events.

Nine months earlier, Ray had organised a 90th birthday party for his wife Muriel (neeSchofield), which was also celebrated with colleagues. Broadcaster GeoffreyWheeler spoke of Muriel’s days in Variety Department Manchester, prior to working inTV drama and Tel OBs. Pat Lawrence (nee Lamont) reminisced on meeting Muriel onarrival from Variety Department London to Variety Department Manchester.

Ray and Muriel Lakeland

If you would like a visit orinformation on how to become avolunteer visitor, please ring 0845 712 5529. You will becharged only as a local call.

Photo by Don Groom, retired Tel OB cameraman

90th birthdays celebrated nine months apart

Letters

Visiting SchemeIf you would like a visit or information onhow to become a volunteer visitor, pleasering 0845 712 5529. You will be chargedonly as a local call.

QueriesFor benefit and pension payroll queries,call the Service Line on 029 2032 2811.

ProsperoTo add or delete a name from the distribution list, ring the Service Line(number above). Prospero is provided freeof charge to retired BBC employees. Onrequest, we will also send it to spouses ordependants who want to keep in touchwith the BBC. Prospero is also available onaudio disc for those with sight impairment. To register, please ring the Service Line

on 029 2032 2811.

BBC ClubThe BBC Club in London has a retired category membership costing £30 a yearfor members and £39 a year for familymembership. Pre-1997 life members arenot affected. Regional clubs may have different arrangements. Please call BBC Club London

administration office on 020 8752 6666 or email member.relations@bbcclub.com.

Benevolent FundThis is funded by voluntary contributionsfrom the BBC and its purpose is to protectthe welfare of staff, pensioners and theirfamilies. Grants are made at the discretionof the Trustees. They may provideassistance in cases of unforeseen financialhardship, for which help from othersources is not available. Telephone: 029 2032 3772.

Prospero SocietyProspero Society is the only section of theBBC Club run by and for retired BBC staffand their spouses. Its aim is to enable BBCpensioners to meet on a social basis fortheatre visits, luncheons, coach outingsetc. Prospero is supported by BBC Clubfunds so as to make events affordable.The only conditions (apart from paying a

small annual subscription) are that youmust be a BBC pensioner and a memberof the BBC Club. For an application formwrite to: Graham Snaith, 67 NewberriesAvenue, Radlett, Herts WD7 7EL. Telephone: 01923 855177 Mobile: 07736 169612 Email: graham.snaith@yahoo.co.uk

BBC productsBBC retired staff are entitled to a 30% discount off the RRP of most productsin the BBC TV Centre shop. There is apostage charge of £2.95 per order (notper item). Pensioners must quote theirBBC pension number when ordering.Contact: BBC Shop, Audience Foyer,Television Centre, Wood Lane, LondonW12 7RJ. Telephone: 020 8225 8230. Email: tvc.shop@bbc.co.uk.Other ways to order (quoting yourpension number when ordering):By phone: 08700 777 001

8.30am-6pm weekdays. By post: BBCShop, PO Box 308, Sittingbourne, KentME9 8LW. Email: bbcshop@bbc.co.uk. Or visit BBC Shops in Eastbourne,

Brighton, Leicester, Birmingham orLiverpool. UK postage £2.45 for telephone, post and email orders.Overseas: £4.50 for one item and £2 foreach additional product for telephone,post and email orders.

BBC PAFor details of how to join the Pensioners’Association, see panel on page 5.

Contacts This issue… more compla ints about match coverage;

4 • • April • 2011

A right royal mistakeSurely the title of the article on page 8 of theMarch issue of Prospero – TH and HRH – isincorrect? The title of His Majesty King GeorgeVI was HM. HRH is the title of the RoyalPrinces and Princesses.Peter Legate

Palace of ArtsWith reference to the Palace of Arts I first went there when it was known as theBroadcasting Centre. Television OBs used anold building, the Palace of Industry – anotherpart of the 1924 Exhibition. The maintenancedepartments were in an old large roadman’s tentusing a flood lamp for illumination. Once allthe studios in the PoA had been removed, TelOBs moved in until the 60s when BBC 2started and OBs were doubled in size with extraunits. Acton, an old toffee factory, was the nextOB base with more space and plenty of parkingfor staff and now that has all been cleared. Ron Chown

Grrrrugby coverageI so agreed with Mark Rowlinson’s views onrugby coverage in ProsperoMarch 2011.I and many of my rugby watching friends think that the television coverage ofrugby union has been getting worse and worseover the last few years. Instead of viewing thegame as it happens from two cameras placed inthe stand on the halfway line giving variable shotsizes, the producers now cut to cameraspositioned anywhere that gives a good image.The trouble is that the viewer loses the flow ofthe game. I often find that I don’t really knowwhat happened when a try is scored until I see areplay, and I get fed up with seeing the back of the linesman instead of the action. I’m sure if football was covered in this way there wouldbe riots.By all means use all the extra camera anglesfor replays and 4th umpire decisions. But keepto the two halfway line cameras while play is active.Jack Leathem

I AGREE TOTALLY with Mark Rowlinsonover the BBC’s match coverage of the SixNations, having myself bombarded SportsDepartment and Radio Times for the last fouror five with exactly the same complaints.Regarding the France-Scotland match, weturned off the sound during the first half to ridourselves of Jonathan Davies, and turned off theTV completely during the second half, since thematch coverage was obviously being directed bysomebody with no knowledge of rugby, andeven less of television.Surely with the facility of the red button itshould be possible to provide a feed of the mainmatch coverage (free of replays and meaninglessgraphics) together with clean sound effects forthose viewers who just want to watch the match.In the ‘golden age’ of television we could covera rugby match with four or five cameras, withthe added bonus of the wonderful BillMcClaren commentating.Phil Thomas

‘Singing’ SavidgerememberedI was saddened to learn of the death of KennethSavidge (ProsperoMarch 2011). I had the pleasure of working with Ken asstage manager on an OB from Brighton in theearly 60s, which may have been a forerunner ofthe Songs of Praise series.Apart from being a highly respected andskilful producer, he had the unique talent ofsinging his camera directions to the tune of thehymn being sung by the congregation. A much loved personality who will be sadlymissed by many. Peter Page

Tony Byers’s piece on Plymouth’s‘cocoa tin’ studio revived manymemories for me.I directed the News Magazineprogramme in Plymouth from February1964 until my retirement in August 1987. Its title in those days was South West

at Six and the unique animated openingcaption was a mechanical metal‘contraption’ contrived by George Wilson– one of our engineers. Measuring thestandard 9” by 12” and resting on acaption stand in the studio, it wasoperated by the floor manager using aseries of levers, and it made such aclatter that it could only be used whenthere were no open mics.Incidentally, I was directing on the nightreferred to, when the gardener’s bonfirevery nearly wrecked the programme. Hisactual reply to our irate News EditorJohn Tanton was, ‘Well Mr Tanton, I doalways burns my rubbish, I don’t put iton th’ air for everybody else to look at.’Happy days!Peter Page

IN 1973 I was the engineer who relocatedthe transmitters so the colour studiocould operate without interference. Inthose days the lighting generated toomuch heat for the ‘cocoa tin’!I had good fun playing table tennis with Sue L and the other presenters.Happy days.Peter Cleminson

Further notes on the‘cocoa tin’ studio

Reading the obituary to Norman Taylor in theMarch Prospero there was a reference to the DrWho opening title sequence. This brought backmemories of actually making it in TC3 in 1963. At this time TC3 was equipped with MK IVMarconi video cameras fitted with 4.5” ImageOrthicon 405 line monochrome camera tubes.The Dr Who production team wanted aninteresting new title sequence, and a videohowl-round was suggested. I was one of the three-man engineering teamin the VAR (Vision Apparatus Room) so we setup a spare camera channel to look at a previewmonitor switched to its own video output. Nextwas the really high-tech operation – a candle

was lit and quickly flashed in front of thecamera, and hey presto! A video howl-roundwas created. I think it was recorded on film atLime Grove, and used for many years as a DrWho opening title sequence.Clive South

WITH REFERENCE TO Norman Taylor’sobituary in the March 2011 issue, I had alwaysbeen under the impression that it was BenPalmer in his capacity of S.Tel.E (Investigations)who was the originator of the famous video‘howl-round’ of Dr Who. Or perhaps I’m wrong?RG Matthews.

Creating the Dr Who ‘howl-round’

I am currently researching for a PhD at theUniversity of Huddersfield’s Cricket ResearchCentre, with a particular focus on the clubcricket played in Surrey and the wider South ofEngland. One of the major forces in club cricketfrom 1915 up until the 1970s was anorganisation called the Club CricketConference who were captained in theimmediate post-WW2 period by the BBC’sskipper, Major ACL ‘Leo’ Bennett. Bennett, who wrote the book The Weekend

Cricketer in 1951 (Sir Donald Bradman no-lesswriting the foreword), is actually the subject ofSurrey County Cricket folklore, as he was to beasked to captain the County only for anamesake, NH Bennett (who happened to have

a rare pre-war SCCC blazer) to be (allegedly)asked mistakenly. Bennett (ACL), who was a farsuperior cricketer, went on to play forNorthamptonshire, but it is his exploits for theBBC club and the Conference that are ofrelevance to my study. Would any of yourreadership remember ‘Leo’ Bennett, or indeedknow the whereabouts of the BBC Cricket Clubminute books? I’m sure these would be afascinating and informative read (to me ifnobody else).Duncan Stone, University of Huddersfield,Cricket Research Centrehttp://www2.hud.ac.uk/mhm/history/research/cricket/dstone38@hotmail.com

Cricket buffs – can you help?

Letters

music leve ls ; announcers not enuncia t ing; former co l leagues. . .

April • 2011 • • 5

Interest in BBCPA ison the increase. It maybe because of concernsat the dire generalpensions landscape. Itmay be interest in theAssociation’s plans towork with the BBC tocapture our members’unpublished history. Itmay be our growing

website bbcpa.org.uk, with its links to otherBBC specialist groups. Whatever the reason,we have already recruited as many members inthe first quarter of the year as the whole of2010. Membership only costs £10.At Christmas we sent a questionnaire outwith our annual newsletter to judge thesupport for the ‘history’ initiative. We called itWorking at the BBC. There have beenhundreds of replies and a lot of support for theidea of linking with the BBC’s GenomeProject (which includes digitising the whole ofRadio Times from 1923). A small group drawnfrom our respondents met in late March todiscuss what form an online database mighttake and how recollections might be captured– especially from elderly or frail pensionerswith important stories to tell about work in theearly days.

Among the morsels of information thrownup by the questionnaire was that the Clubonce sold its own brand of cigarettes as well aswine, that the black and white minstrels worered and green make up. Secretarial courses inthe Langham once taught young ladies how toopen and serve a bottle of champagne. Weheard about the first person to job share andthe tech. op. whose career was set on course bythe TV Toppers (the fishnets and feathershelped) and from the man who hired a hearseto move a transmitter.If you want to hear more about what’s planned, come to our AGM at SmallHall, Friends Meeting House, 173 EustonRoad, London (opposite Euston Station), onThursday, 21 April at 2pm. Roly Keating, ex controller BBC 2 (pictured left) and the member of the Executive Board and in charge of the Archive will talk about theBBC’s plans. But of course the main concernswill be – as usual – pensions issues and GeoffJones, the pensioner-elected trustee will also speak about the state of the BBC pensionfund. Members and potential members will bevery welcome. For more information go to www.bbcpa.org.uk.David AllenChairman BBCPA

Feedback on BBCPA questionnaire

The more things change…

Voice trainingAm I alone in wondering just why today’syoung announcers appear to have had little orno voice training? In ITV’s case, they so oftensound as if they’ve just been taken off thestreets. (This, as some readers will doubtlessnote, being the view of an 85 year old!)I was delighted at war’s end to be posted to Forces Broadcasting, Hamburg, and tobecome an announcer and producer. Upondemob, the BBC then put me on an Announcer’s Course, doubtless in order to greatly improve standards. I found my new 6ft 3” pal, John Dunn, in a slightly tearfulstate on the one occasion – but then, on beingposted to Manchester, I fully understood why.When announcing Children’s Hour, theLondon Course instructor would be on the‘phone the moment I came off air. ‘Mr Hill,Children’s Hour prayers were conducted by theReverenD Peter Brookes – NOT ReverenT!’(Ring-Ring) ‘Mr Hill, the current month isFe-BREW-ary – not Feb-YOU-ary! And she’dhave registered at least ‘Point Nine’ on thePPM. Ah me, happy days.Trevor Hill

Chris Cherry’s letter to Prospero in Februarywas timely; shortly afterwards the BBCreceived over 100 complaints about musiclevels in the scientific series Wonders of theUniverse. The BBC agreed to lower the soundafter receiving the complaints, but thepresenter Brian Cox then entered the fray bysaying that he thought the BBC had made amistake, being ‘too responsive to the minorityof people that complain’. Prospero wasinundated by letters on the same issue;unfortunately due to space constraints we areunable to publish them all.

So the debate about the levels of backgroundmusic accompanying television programmesrumbles on, with three letters in last month’sProspero. They are still at it however and nomatter how much we complain no one seemsto listen. A perfect example which epitomisesthese concerns was provided by the firstinstalment of the Wonders of the Universeprogramme broadcast on Sunday 5 March. Themusic was far too loud, intrusive anddistracting, making it stressful to concentrateon the challenging content of the programmewith poor Brian Cox (from the awesome silenceof the desert) fighting to be heard clearly. Geoffrey Manuel

THE LETTER FROM Chris Cherry(Prospero, February) would find an accord inmany homes, and not just those of retiredBBC staff. According to the letters editor ofRadio Times, complaints about intrusivemusic are among the most numerous in themagazine’s postbag. Yet nothing is done about it. It is, however, not just a question ofloudness. Not only are the music and effectsfrequently too loud but the sound quality ofthe recorded dialogue, upon which these areoverlaid, is often poor. I too am familiar withthe edge of seat posture in trying to catchunintelligible dialogue.In Film Department we were usually able todeliver intelligible dialogue even though the

audience was hearing a third-generationanalogue copy of the original sound recording,after editing, dubbing and the final transfer tovideotape before transmission; and studio and OB sound was seldom less than excellent. Repeats of programmes made in the70s or 80s bear this out. The crafts of setdesign, lighting, camerawork, costume andmake-up etc seem to me largely unchanged, sowhy, in this age of digital recording, is the craftof the sound recordist (always under-valued)in apparent decline? It is well over 20 years since I had any directinvolvement with professional soundrecording but perhaps one of my formercolleagues with recent experience of theindependent sector, but now retired, couldenlighten us? Graham Hare

THIS IS NOT the first time that this matterhas been raised in Prospero and I believe it hasbeen discussed with senior technical staff inthe past.However, nothing changes. So are we tounderstand that either the technical andproduction staff don’t believe what is beingsaid or that they don’t care?Chris Humphreys

Parrott in the pitI too was saddened to learn from the FebruaryProspero of the death of Ralph Parrott. He wasindeed an innovative and resourceful engineer.One incident in particular, however, stays inmy memory.In 1961 the TV Outside Broadcast coverageof Wimbledon tennis was achieved by thecomplete de-rig of equipment into two largewooden huts on the old hard courts just belowthe Somerset Road groundsmen’s houses.June that year was very hot and, in the daysbefore effective air conditioning, the conditioninside the huts soon became insufferable.Ralph and the other vision control engineers(racks) were in a sort of pit out of sight belowthe production desks. Led by Ralph, one byone the engineers discarded shirts, then shoes,sock and trousers. All was well until thetransmission monitor above his head went ‘onthe blink’. Ralph, without thinking, leapt uponto his seat to thump it with his fist; thescream from the vision mixer (female) as thisnaked man suddenly appeared in front of her,could be heard throughout the compound.Ken Moir

Music levels

I came across the following recently, which was written in the 1980s, when I hadworked at the BBC for 25 years in Manchester. I wonder what would be written todayon their move to Salford Quays?

From black & white to colourFrom Peter House to PiccadillyFrom Piccadilly to NBHFrom Dickie Road to St AFrom banda to faxFrom celluloid to videoFrom abacus to calculatorFrom flimsies to photocopiesFrom letraset to astonFrom CNR to HOBFrom The Archers to The BillFrom crisis to crisisPlus ça change?

Sue Jennings

Brian Cox

Memories

6 • • April • 2011

I recently had one of those experiences that sendstingles and shivers down the spine: I visitedSavoy Hill and walked in the footsteps of thepioneers of the BBC. For nine years, fromMarch 1923, the staff of the British BroadcastingCompany, later the British BroadcastingCorporation, were based in offices rented fromthe Institution of Electrical Engineers at No 2Savoy Place, next to the Savoy Hotel. At first thesmall staff of 30 were housed in a few rooms inthe main IEE building but as the BBC grew,more offices were acquired until the organisationexpanded to fill the entirety of Savoy Mansions,a large office block to the rear, on Savoy Hill. InApril 1932 the Savoy Hill era ended when,bursting at the seams, around 900 BBCemployees migrated to the sparkling new,purpose built Broadcasting House. I’m currently finishing a PhD thesis onwomen in the BBC in the 1920s and 1930s soto see where it all actually happened was a realboon. The early BBC was a pioneering place towork and from the very beginning the BritishBroadcasting Company employed largenumbers of women, not just as cleaners andtypists but as programme makers, pianists,librarians, advertising canvassers, sub-editors,cashiers and press officers. Two women weredepartment heads, Hilda Matheson as directorof talks and Mary Somerville as director ofschool broadcasting. During my visit, I stood inwhat would have been their offices on the thirdfloor of Savoy Mansions, looking out over SavoyChapel with its tiny tree-filled churchyard.Apparently the racket from starlings gatheringthere before migrating made work almostimpossible for those who overlooked the churchyard.I was able to have this view because, shortlybefore Christmas, the IET (the new name forthe IEE) organised a tour of Savoy Hill. SavoyMansions was about to be refurbished and thecorridors, the rooms, the stairways were all

stripped bare. Walking around the dusty, emptyrooms I got a real sense of daily life and activity.I could imagine Hilda Matheson, who I’vedeveloped a special passion for, making her wayfrom her office to the intimate Talks Studio onthe first floor. She might have beenaccompanied by her dog; she was the onlyperson allowed to bring a canine pet to work. Itcould have been very noisy in the corridors withnine studios potentially on the go at the sametime, none of which had perfectsound-proofing. All programmes were broadcast‘live’ so it was important that staff and visitorsremembered to be quiet, and you can still seethe ghostly remains of a large sign that says‘SILENCE’. There were so many rooms and so manystories to tell, it’s difficult to know what to pickout. For example, the fourth floor housed the

BBC libraries. Here, Florence Milnes was busyaccumulating a comprehensive reference librarywhile Kathleen Lines was the grand dame of thephoto library, which provided stills fornewspapers and for all the BBC’s internalpublications. The photos that adorn these pagesof life at Savoy Hill were probably organised byher. One of her regular customers would havebeen Maurice Gorham, then art editor of theRadio Times. In his memoirs he described howhis office, on the same floor, had a windowwhich opened out on to a wide cornice that ranalong the corner of the building. He used thisto great effect to terrify Miss Bryant whoworked on the layout of the Radio Times in an

adjacent room. By climbing onto the cornice hecould walk round to her window and tap on theglass to be let in. Health and Safety hadobviously yet to be inventedMaurice Gorham was one of the Bright YoungMen who populated the BBC in this period.Another was Val Gielgud, who headed theBBC’s drama department. It was while he wasat Savoy Hill that engineers perfected theDramatic Control Panel. This was a sort ofprototype mixing desk that made it possible tobroadcast, simultaneously if needed, differentdramatic activities that were taking place indifferent studios. So, there could have beenactors in Studio 8, a string quartet in Studio 9and technicians in the echo and effects roomsin the basement, all being co-ordinatedtogether. This would have been a remarkableachievement for the times.

At first the BBC found it difficult to persuadepeople to broadcast, but as the popularity ofradio grew, increasingly eminent individualsgraced the corridors of Savoy Hill. Performersand grandees would have arrived at the NorthEntrance of Savoy Mansions and been shown tothe artistes drawing room. Then, when theirtime came to go on air, they would havesqueezed into the lift with Joe, a burleyex-policeman, and gone to one of the studioson the upper floors. Studio 7 was vast;wood-panelled and double-height, it couldaccommodate a full orchestra or choir. Sittinghere I could almost hear the music waftingaround me. Music was one of the mainstays of

Research for an academic work on women at the BBC led senior producer Kate Murphy to a timecapsule beside the Thames, as she explains here.

Lingering echoes the broadcasting day as were variety, drama,news and talks. Although the BBC’s regionalstations might occasionally allow a woman tointroduce a programme, at Savoy Hill allannouncers were male, attired in full eveningdress. However, staff accompanists could befemale and Cecil [yes, that was her name]Dixon became one of the earliest wireless stars.Her piano playing could often be heard fillingthe pauses between transmissions. While the offices in Savoy Mansions weresmall and cramped, those in Savoy Place couldbe far grander. This was where the directorgeneral John Reith and his controllers werebased, with Reith’s office directly overlookingthe Thames. The room plans for Savoy Placeshow that from very early on the BBC had aGeneral Office which was where the typing poolwas based; a post room, where thousands ofletters were dealt with each week and aswitchboard, operated from the beginning byOlive May. She and Reith became great friends.Miss May recalled how he would often visit herfor a cup of cocoa, once the evening’sprogrammes had finished, on one occasionbringing with him the First Lord of theAdmiralty. Reith was devastated when sheannounced that she was leaving to be married,threatening disciplinary action against herfiancé, Mr Bottle, an engineer in Leeds. He didforgive her, though, and presented her with asilver inkstand as a parting gift.The walls of Savoy Hill have fallen silentagain. The builders are now in and there maynever be another time when the original layoutwill be revealed. How extraordinary to have hadthe chance to get so close to the birthplace of broadcasting.Kate Murphy is a senior producer at Woman’s Hour.

This article originally appeared in Ariel.

‘All programmes were broadcast ‘live’ so it was important thatstaff and visitors remembered to be quiet, and you can still seethe ghostly remains of a large sign that says ‘SILENCE’

of radio days

Lord Reith at Savoy Hill Sorting the post at Savoy Hill

Memories

April • 2011 • • 7

At the start of World War 2, I was working inOrpington Kent as a lowly laboratory assistant,working on the design of VHF transceivers andtelephone scrambling equipment.Imagine my surprise when I received a letterasking me to join the BBC at Wood Norton inJanuary 1941. The salary, something like 30 shillings a week, was quite an improvementon my previous occupation. I had quiteforgotten that I had applied and certainly didn’texpect to get a post.It was quite exciting, as a young lad of 19, to join such a world. There was noimmediate training – we were just told to geton with it, with brief guidance from the oldermembers of staff. At that time there were anumber of young lads recruited and we becamefirm friends.We worked through the night as well asdaytime as we covered the overseas services. Iwell remember one of our more strenuous taskswas to be wide-awake at 06:00 hours totransmit the Koran. This was on a roll of filmof just a few minutes’ duration. One day, whenI was feeling particularly tired, and havingtransmitted the six-minute item, we wereinstructed to rewind the film and leave it readyfor the next day. Having done this, I found thatthe film was then tail out – which meant it hadbeen transmitted in reverse! Imagine my horror– the Koran transmitted backwards! Luckily itdid not increase the chances of another worldwar; perhaps many other people were alsohalf-asleep.In 1947, after having served in North Africaand Italy, I found myself in BroadcastingHouse, renewing old friendships. Most of uswere still unmarried, and we enjoyed ahappy-go-lucky lifestyle in London.

My familyIn 1948, we were all roped in to staff thefacilities provided by the BBC at Wembley forthe Olympic Games. It was here that I first metAudrey, who had worked in BroadcastingHouse since the early part of the war. Wemarried in 1949, with our sons Roger andNicholas being born in 1953 and 1955respectively – and so began my BBC family!Naturally they both grew up in an atmospherecontrolled by BBC interests, and it was notsurprising that Roger was sure that he would liketo follow Dad and Mum. He was very muchagainst proceeding to University. Like mostyoungsters, he wanted to get on with his chosenprofession. However, by using the influence ofJohn Esler from personnel, whom I had known inearlier years, he was persuaded to study at ChelseaUniversity before joining Videotape Department.After 34 years, he took early retirement.Nicholas was also keen to join the ‘family’ buthad no qualifications and was told he must waituntil he was 21. At about this time I had a25-year bonus interview with Hugh Wheldonand during this we discussed the ‘family’ aspect.I told him about Roger and Nicholas and theirdesire to be part of the BBC family.He assured me that this spirit of belonging wasexactly what he sought to encourage. Thisreassured me that my use of the comradeshipangle should be exploited, and Nicholas wasrecruited into Videotape Library. He has madeexcellent progress and has been very involved withthe introduction of systems for handling digitalrecordings for multi-channel transmissions. Hewill soon be celebrating his 25th year.Our two sons are a great help in listening to the grapevine and that is what links us all together.

Still in the familyIn retirement, Audrey and I participated inmany reunions to keep in touch with oldcolleagues. It involved a lot of travelling, and sowhen one of our friends suggested we arrange alunch closer to home, we did so – and selectedthe facilities at Motspur Park as suitable. In March 1991 we held our ‘BBC family’reunion. There were 36 of us. The cost wasabout £10! The news spread like wildfire and we wereasked to include all the staff who wereconcerned with making radio programmes,mainly in the London area, but includinganyone who recognised an old colleague. At thenext lunch we had 60 guests. These were peoplewho had worked together some 40 years before– it was very exciting.This was the beginning, not the end of thestory, because most of the people present hadgravitated to Television in later years. Weeventually had to run two lunches – one forRadio and one for Television.The spirit of the BBC family is still beingnurtured today amongst past staff, bringingmuch pleasure to so many friends.

For the nth year in succession, members of thenow extinct BBC Rugby Club held a reunionin celebration of their many successful and notto be forgotten tours to Guernsey over theValentine’s weekends. Held again at 12.30pm on the Monday closestto 14 February at the King’s Arms, RoupelleStreet, just off Waterloo Station, 13 ex-touriststurned up, with excuses from others, for onereason and another.A great time was had by all, but it was thefamiliarity of the faces and the memories of themany great games and times that we all had thatmakes it worth being there. Unfortunately, afew of the lads are no longer with us, and somewho are unable to be with us for health reasons,in particular the initiator and ‘Ead ‘Itter of‘Over the Bar’ – Brian Keyser, who isremembered by all and Sends His Regardswhilst hoping to make it again, one day.A number of the well-known lads from thepast are also missing without trace. For example,where are: Tom Palmer, Norman Goody, DaveFilkin, Chris Bridge, Alan Wareing, AlanMansey, Bruce Messenger, Mike Johnson, JohnBarker and all those lost souls with whom wehad such good times? Lawrie de Whalley turnedup, so where are you lads?George Haley, now in Germany, provided thecost of a barrel of beer (at 1967 prices ofcourse), which amounted to £16 and ninepence. Because of his current affluence, hekindly donated £20 to the kitty (Aye! TwentyPoonds!) (Perhaps some of those mentionedabove would like to make a similar gesture ifthey are unable to attend.)

The next meeting will be held at the sametime and place on Monday, 13 February 2012,so put it in your diary now. The member withthe current furthest distance to travel appears tobe Rom Meager, who comes up from Dorset.Pete Osborne is the general co-ordinator, butany queries can be addressed toleighton.dyer@yahoo.co.uk

Still a teenager when he joined the BBC, John Martin could hardly haveimagined at that time what a central force the Beeb would become – notonly in his life but also in the lives of his children.

Keep it in the family

Touch rugby!Sue Sharpe, Local Radio Administratorat BBC Radio Derby, writes:

BBC Radio Derby celebrates its 40thbirthday this year and four decades onit is in rude health, with not a wrinkle in sight! It is the current Sony radio station ofthe year and one of the top performingEnglish BBC local radio stations.The station went on air early in 1971when news broke that Rolls-Royce inDerby had called in the receivers. Withwork on the building still being finished,programmes were recorded on tape anddriven to the transmitter for broadcast. It all started officially from a former motorshowroom in Derby on 29 April 1971.To celebrate being ‘Fabulous atForty’, BBC Radio Derby is invitingex-staff to join them for an informalget-together from 7pm on Sunday, 8 May at the Pitcher and Piano bar, 20Friargate, Derby (near the radio station). For more details and to let them knowyou can make it, call 01332 361111(office hours) or emailsue.sharpe@bbc.co.uk. A station tour is offered to ex-staff at 6pm (booking required).Food will be available to order off themenu on the night and there will be abar open to buy drinks.

Join Radio Derby forits 40th birthday

MONEYMATTERSA matter of equality

The ruling ofthe EuropeanCourt ofJustice,announced on2 March 2011,to prohibit theuse of genderas a criteria inpricinginsurance

products has been met with mixedfeelings.In theory, that has been the casesince 21 December 2007. However,Member States have been able to applyexemptions where actuarial andstatistical data is reliable, updatedregularly and available to the public. So why has this come up now?A requirement of the exemption wasthat Member States would have beenobliged to re-examine the situation asat 21 December 2012 and submit, ineffect, an updated justification tocontinue. This was intended to be a transitionalmeasure but the Court was of theopinion that, because there was nospecific date for the transition to cease,there was a danger that the differenttreatment of the sexes could go onindefinitely. It has therefore revoked theexemption from 21 December 2012. What does this mean?In plain terms, no gender bias meansthat insurance rates (which includethings like pension annuities) will allhave to move to ‘unisex’ rates and ofcourse that brings potential winnersand losers. Arguably, women gain from animprovement in annuity rates for thembut men lose because rates for themworsen.It is anticipated that younger womenwill lose out in terms of car insurancebut that there will not be much changefor men.The impact on pension savings,especially in relation to definedcontribution schemes, is likely to besignificant. Many men who havesavings in personal pensionarrangements, or Additional VoluntaryContributions, may wish to look atbringing forward the date at which theyconvert their funds to pension income,in order to get a better conversion rate. However, such decisions are seldomstraightforward, and annuity providersmay well move to make changes wellbefore 21 December 2012. We can alsoexpect providers to look at othercriteria to maintain a competitivelypriced product and it remains to beseen how they will do that.One thing is for certain, it is moreimportant than ever to shop around forthe best rates available and to seekindependent advice.

Bob Perkins DipPFSTechnical ManagerOrigen Financial Services

MONEYMATTERS

Graham Bradley, John Burke, Ron Clark, Lawriede Whalley, Leigh Dyer, Brian Elliott, Mike Hill,John King, Rom Meager, Gerry Morris, PeteOsborne, Jim Tebby and Pete Thomas.

8 • • April • 2011

Back at the BBC

LotteryWinnersCongratulations toFebruary’s lucky

winners: Frances Tait, Albert Willis,Annakia Everitt, Evelyn Conway, StanleyAppel, Hassan Rumani, Jenny Legg,Bruce Vander, Simon Pinkus, SarahDaley, Peter Mann, Lesley Taylor, PeterRanyard, John Gibson and CharlesChilton. To be in with a chance ofwinning next month, emailsachin.gangwal@bbc.co.uk or log on toyour account on the BBC Club website.

Young At Heart BBC Club’s next retired members lunchday is Tuesday 5 April at Club WestOne. As always we will be serving upsome tasty treats. Enjoy a main, desertand a cup of tea all for just £5. Formore details please contactbbcclub.events@bbc.co.uk.

April food offersEaster Offer: From 28 Feb to 22 Aprilget a hot cross bun and a cup ofBlighty’s best brew (tea) for just £1.40at ALL the Club sites.Time For Thai: At West One on 7 Aprilfrom 12-3pm Thai buffet and a drink forjust £6.95.There will also be our monthly coffeepromotion, the ale loyalty card at WestOne AND food and coffee loyalty cards.All in all it’s going to be a GORGEousmonth.

April Section PromotionJoin a Section before 16 May and get£5 off your annual subscriptions.Already a Section member? Refer anew member to a Section or join a newSection yourself and we will give you a£5 meal voucher for the Club. Offer only available to new Sectionmembers. This offer cannot be usedtowards membership renewals. Youmust become a Full Club member. IfSection annual subscription is less than£5, BBC Club will only contribute thevalue of the annual subscription.Contact wai.man@bbc.co.uk ext 26547.

Gliding Open WeekendsTrial lessons and group membership willbe available for £50 (compares with thepublic rate of £95). Hourly time slots arebookable. 25 April Booker Gliding Club,High Wycombe, Bucks, SL7 3DP ANDDunstable Open Day 7 May at LondonGliding Club, Dunstable, Beds, LU6 2JP.Contact Roger Limb on 020 8342 7016or email glidinggroup@bbcclub.

Homeopathy at the ClubHomeopathy appointments lasting45mins - 1 hour are currently beingoffered to BBC Club members for £55(non-members for £60), including allremedies prescribed. Most healthinsurance companies accept claims forhomeopathic treatment. Carolyn is amember of the Society of Homeopaths,CRB checked and fully insured topractice. To enquire about anappointment please contact her directlyon 07931 905818 or emailcarolynhowgego@gmail.com.

020 8752 6666 Help the BBC create a ‘mood map’

Musical Moods is a five-minute online quiz (atwww.musicalmoods.org.uk) that could help ateam at Research and Development find a newway of classifying TV programmes in the BBC’smassive digital archive.The idea is that people might come to theonline archive not knowing precisely what theywant to watch or how to find it – there are fourmillion items for TV and radio, close to onemillion hours of material. If you were able tosearch the archive with not just key wordsrelating to specific programmes, but also on themood or tone of a show, it could help you findprogrammes you didn’t even know existed.

Guess the genreThe experiment randomly selects five themetunes from a catalogue of about 150. There arecontemporary theme tunes such as This Life,the new Doctor Who and the current BBCnews, and older tunes such as Eldorado,Challenge Anneka and Billy Bunter, a children’sprogramme from the 1950s. Respondents willbe asked to rate these according to their mood– playful, serious, heavy, etc – and decide if theylike what they heard. They will also be asked toguess the genre the theme tune comes from.At the end of the short quiz, people will betold what programmes the songs came from andthe year they aired on the BBC.

The results will be used to train computers toanalyse a programme and predict the mood ofthe theme music automatically.

‘Emotion catalogue’Sam Davies, a research engineer at R&D, says:‘We are looking to classify all TV programmesin the archive by mood and emotion. At themoment we are looking at the video, audio andspeech within a TV programme and classifyingthat in a similar way to the theme tunes.‘Hopefully we’ll be able to build up a bigmood and emotion catalogue. When the BBCarchives go online, it will be a new way forpeople to browse and search them.’The survey, which has been launched inassociation with the British Science Associationand the University of Salford for NationalScience and Engineering Week, is availablethrough the Musical Moods website.The BBC needs 20,000 people to respond inorder to make it a valid scientific study. Theresults will be analysed by R&D and theUniversity of Salford to determine whether itwill be possible to classify TV programmes inthis pioneering way.www.musicalmoods.org.uk

The BBC is looking for people to help them witha survey about the moods we associate with TVprogrammes.

BBC Chinese (Mandarin) and BBC Azerialso stopped broadcasting on radio,followed by BBC Russian on 26 March(ending 65 years on air).The head of the Caribbean Service,Debbie Ransome, believes that the end ofthe service will leave a gap that will behard to fill. ‘Given what we know BBCCaribbean means for providingpan-Caribbean coverage for a strongradio audience, plus the online links itprovides between the Caribbean and itsDiaspora, and the amount of goodwill itbrought for the BBC from a loyalaudience, clearly a void will be left.’The roots of the Caribbean Servicebegan in 1939 with Calling The WestIndies, featuring West Indian troops onactive service during World War Tworeading letters on air to their families back home.In 1943 the programme became

Caribbean Voices, focusing on WestIndian writers including VS Naipaul,George Lamming, Andrew Salkey andSamuel Selvon.The service also nurtured the talent ofproducers and presenters such as LouiseBennett, Jones P Madeira and TrevorMacDonald.The BBC Caribbean website will not bemaintained and will only include highlightsfrom the archive.Copies of the sound and text content ofthe BBC Caribbean’s radio and online

archives will be donated to the Universityof the West Indies.

Unique heritageThe BBC’s Russian-language broadcastsbegan in March 1946. The servicecovered a huge array of stories includingthe Cold War, the collapse of the SovietUnion, two Chechen wars and Beslanand the Russia-Georgia conflict.Head of Russian, Sarah Gibson, said:‘We are proud of the unique heritage ourbroadcasts have left behind - in the heartsand minds of millions of radio listeners.

‘As we move on, we will continue toserve our audiences through online andmobile services.’The BBC Russian website will continueto be updated with regular stories for itsaudience which put Russia in a globalcontext. Three Russian-language radioprogrammes have closed, but a furtherthree will be available on the website as well.The BBC will also cease short- andmedium-wave broadcasts to Russia in English.

Caribbean Service ceases transmissionThe Caribbean Service in English finished broadcasting on Friday 25 March, after seven decades. Its closure is the result of the cuts to the World Service announced this January.

McDonald Bailey (left), former West Indian athlete andcoach, and Trevor McDonald, sports commentator

April • 2011 • • 9

Back at the BBC

Difficulty in hearing TV dialogue is notjust down to background music,according to the findings of Vision’s TVaudibility project.The study looked at the facts behindthe sound complaints received by theBBC in relation to its TV shows.Launched by Jay Hunt in 2009, itinvolved a panel of 20,000 viewers,much technical experimentation, andwork with Channel 4, Voice of theListener and Viewer and the RoyalNational Institute for Deaf People.Writing about the findings on the TVBlog, BBC One controller Danny Cohensays issues range from the clarity of theactors’ speech to unfamiliar accentsand noisy background environments,as well as the prevalence and volumeof background music.Combining these factors onlycompounds the difficulty, somethingwhich contributed to recent audienceresearch that showed nearly 60% ofviewers had some trouble hearing whatwas being said in TV programmes.To help programme makers to place more emphasis on clear sound‘before a single frame is shot’, thefindings have been used to form a bestpractice guide.

Why soundmatters

Production costs on EastEnders,Casualty and the BBC’s four othercontinuing dramas are tightly controlledand largely within budget, a NationalAudit Office report has found.

The NAO’s value for money studycovered EastEnders, Casualty, HolbyCity, Doctors, Welsh soap Pobol y Cwmand BBC Scotland’s River City.It found that while average cost perviewer hour had risen by almost 9% inthe last eight years, total productioncosts had fallen by 20% over the period,and most steeply in the last two yearswhen the BBC has been implementingits five-year efficiency programme.Over the last four years, audienceapproval rating for the programmes hadclimbed by an average of 6.5%.All of the dramas had strong, ifinconsistent systems for setting andmonitoring budgets, with 33 out of 46series coming in on, or under budget,the report notes.But it recommends that the BBCshould set formal objectives for whatindividual series are expected todeliver, in the same way it currently setssuch targets for channels and genres.Without those measures, the NAOwas unable to say whether value formoney was being achieved.Such a move would ‘make decisionmaking more transparent and provide aclear baseline against which tomeasure the impact of cost reductions’,the report says.Other recommendations include thatthe BBC should seek competitivetenders for all its continuing dramacontracts. Of contracts examined,£6.4m worth of business had beenprocured competitively, but £4.3m hadbeen awarded without competition. TheBBC should also benchmark its costsagainst competitors, the report says.In an email to Vision colleagues, NickBrown, director of Drama Production,questioned whether ‘the publication forthe first time of the total cost of eachshow, without any context orcomparison, is helpful in improvingclarity and understanding about how the licence fee is spent’.

The BBC Asian Network, earmarked for closureby the end of the year, could remain on air as anational digital station.The possible reprieve has arisen from detailedwork done at the behest of the BBC Trust toexplore how best to serve Asian audiences infuture. After approving the plan to close thenetwork as a national station, put forward aspart of Mark Thompson’s wide-ranging strategyreview last year, the Trust tasked managementwith finding more effective ways of reaching thisaudience. The idea will now go to the radioworkstream of the Delivering Quality Firstprocess, led by Today editor Ceri Thomas. A BBC spokesperson said: ‘Following thestrategy review in February 2010, the BBCTrust asked the BBC to produce more detailedplans for the best ways to serve Asian audiences.‘We are exploring whether the Asian Networkshould remain on the national DAB and thework around this is being done as part of theDelivering Quality First process. No decisionshave been made and any proposals will besubject to approval by the BBC Trust.’Radio 1 and Asian Network controller AndyParfitt outlined the proposal in a briefing to

staff. It is reported that the plan would includehalving the station’s £12.1m budget.At the same time the station would beexpected to draw even more listeners. In thepast year audiences have climbed by a third to477,000 and last month the network posted itsfourth quarterly rise in a row, up 3.2% since theautumn and 32.5% year on year.It was just over a year ago that the BBCannounced its intention of closing AsianNetwork, replacing it with part-time localservices in areas where there were large BritishAsian communities.At the time, the Asian Network audience hadfallen from 18% of Asian adults to 12%, withthe biggest drop among young listeners.The dramatic reversal of that decline over thepast 12 months, coinciding with morefamily-targeted output, may be a factor in there-think.A campaign to keep the station open won thebacking of high profile Asians like actor andwriter Meera Syal and Olympic boxer AmirKhan, as well as many in the British Asianmusic industry, including Jay Sean.

Our next reunion lunch will be held on Wednesday, 15 June 2011 at the Oaklands Hotel, Yarmouth Road, Norwich.

Everyone who attended the 2009reunion should automatically havebeen sent a booking form around lateMarch. (If you’ve changed either yourhome or email address since our lastmeeting, then please let us know.) Allformer BBC East staff and freelancersare welcome.

For further information contact JohnLewis on 01603 715850 or emailjelewisuk@btinternet.com

BBC East reunion

This year’s reunion will be held on 2 June 2011.

This year it is 75 years since theservice first started, and 65 years sincethe reopening after World War 2, sothis will be a special reunion. Everyonewho worked at AP is welcome.

Notices will be sent to regularattendees during April, but if you havenot received yours by the end of Aprilplease contact Yvonne Littlewood on020 79359170.

Alexandra PalaceTV Society

Audience Services was wrong to ceasehandling a case because thecomplainant was excessively rude, theBBC Trust Editorial StandardsCommittee has ruled.In its latest Bulletin, the committee,chaired by Alison Hastings, saysalthough it has sympathy with the viewthat Audience Services staff weresubjected to offensive language andpersonal slurs, that was no reason tostop corresponding with the perpetrator.The decision has disappointed theAudiences Services team, which is at thefrontline of dealing with the public.‘There is no need for people to beimpolite and strident but we havespotted a trend among those whocontact the BBC – particularly online andon message boards – to be rude andconfrontational,’ says Keith Jones, headof Communications and Complaints,Audiences Services. ‘It presents us witha real challenge.’The complainant at the heart of thisparticular case first contacted thecorporation last July, claiming that twoonline articles regarding a report from theScientific Advisory Committee on

Nutrition were misleading.Unhappy with the BBC’s reply to hismisgivings, the complainant thenembarked on an exchange ofcorrespondence with Audience Servicesstaff, making various allegations againstthem, such as ‘Mr…seems rather tiredand emotional’, ‘Mr…is either stupid ordishonest’ and ‘if you refuse to see thisyou are stupid’.A request by Audience Services for thecomplainant to moderate his languagewas ignored and, deciding that enoughwas enough, a member of the teamdecided it could no longer continue withthe case in good faith – a decisionbacked by Keith Jones.‘The complainant seemed to think thatbecause he wasn’t using swear words,he wasn’t being offensive,’ says Jones.‘Even though it was made clear to himthat his language and behaviour wereunacceptable, he just carried on.’

Mutual respectHowever, although the EditorialStandards Committee points out thatAudience Services staff are owed ‘a dutyof care’ while carrying out their work, it

does not believe the decision to stopdealing with the complaint wasappropriate.‘The Committee agreed that aneffective complaints process requiresmutual respect between complainantsand BBC staff, and that in hiscorrespondence with Audience Servicesthe complainant had not displayed thelevel of courtesy and civility that wouldbe expected,’ it says in its bulletin.While it does not agree with thedecision to cease handling thecomplaint, it is the Committee’s view thatthe complainant ‘should consider theeffect of the tone of his correspondence’.

Audiences Services should havecontinued to handle case

Soap costsmostly on budget

Possible reprieve for Asian Network

Current year’s budgets:EastEnders - £29.8mCasualty - £21.8mHolby City - £18.6mDoctors - £11.1mPobol y Cwm - £10.1mRiver City - £8.1m

Obituaries

10 • • April • 2011

RobbieRobinson

On 30 January, Ronald Neil (Robbie)Robinson passed away at his home atthe age of 92. Robbie was one of thetechnical pioneers at BBC television,later transferring to lighting. Born in Gillingham, Kent, in July 1918,Ron joined the Marconi InternationalMarine Communications Company in1936 as a Radio Telegraphy operatoron merchant ships. The job was not justabout sending Morse Code radiosignals but involved maintaining theradios at a time when they wereunreliable and temperamental. For thenext two years he travelled to Australiaand back and then shuttled betweenBombay, Calcutta, Colombo, Karachiand Rangoon.It was when in Rangoon in February1938, aged 20, that he fell seriously illwith dysentery and was eventuallyhospitalised in Calcutta. It wasprobably this event that made himreluctant to travel abroad again (andnever to eat curry); when he returned toEngland a few months later he resigned from Marconi.Being a trained radio engineer madehim an ideal recruit to the engineeringstaff at the BBC, where he started workin June 1939 as a junior maintenanceengineer. However, by November ofthat year he had been called up to jointhe RAF to support the country’swartime Radar operations. At the end of the war, in late 1945 andnow aged 27, Ron was able to rejointhe BBC. Four years later, in 1949, hewas transferred to work with theembryonic television service atAlexandra Palace. He was one of thevery first Technical OperationsManagers ever appointed by BBC Television.For the last ten years of his workinglife at the BBC he changed to televisionlighting, working primarily on lightentertainment programmes (perhaps askill he inherited from his photographerfather). His name, ‘Robbie Robinson’would frequently be seen on the creditsroll at the end of TV shows. This was aperiod that Ron always recalled withgreat enthusiasm.To quote from a BBC publication atthe time of his retirement: ‘Hegenerated enthusiasm and setprofessional standards that have beenretained by all those people who werefortunate to have worked with him.’Sadly Ron’s wife and childhoodsweetheart, Dolly, died in 2005, a lossfrom which he never fully recovered.They had no children.Bob Mariner

Cameraman famous fortripping up to get the best shot

Journalist jailed for editorial freedom

Selwyn Cox sadly died on 23 January followingan illness which included a couple of strokes.He had been receiving daily care at home forsome weeks. He joined the BBC after his National Serviceduring which he was a radio instructor in theRAF. Selwyn worked initially in transmitters,including Ally Pally, before becoming a racksengineer at Lime Grove; a colleague remembershim there in 1959. The 1960s saw him remustering as acameraman with Television Outside Broadcastsat Palace of Arts, Wembley. In 1964 when I joined OBs as a trainee onUnit One, Selwyn was No. 2 and enthusiasticallyshared his expertise, which he always did withrookies such as myself. Generous to a fault heengendered his passion for excellence. Selwynwas an enthusiast and threw himself into a seriesof hobbies as well as work. Over the years heaccumulated an array of paraphernalia resultingfrom this, which became a subject for teasing.He was among other things a rally driver,mountaineer, watchmaker, circus clown,ornithologist, astronomer, falconer, beekeeper,fisherman and yachtsman. He and his rallyingpartner (together Selchin Instruments) designedand built a prototype rally computer for hissouped up Mini. He never lost his interest inradio and was an active radio amateur well intoretirement. He had call signs for his home, hisyacht and his car.

Selwyn was seconded briefly to Cardiff in theearly 60s during which time his skills as amountaineer were used in broadcasts fromSnowdonia. A few years later he was a key figurein the success of several live broadcast climbingprogrammes, notably the Red Wall on SouthStack, Holy Island (off Anglesey) in 1966, andthe more famous Old Man of Hoy (1967). Heclimbed with elite climbers such as ChrisBonnington, Joe Brown and Hamish McInnes,rigging and operating cameras as well asinstructing the climbers in camerawork. He hadbeen promoted to Camera Supervisor by 1982when he returned to Hoy to supervise anothermajor live OB from The Old Man. Theprogramme was acclaimed as a technical andproduction success, much of that down toSelwyn’s planning input, which covered everyaspect from camera positions and lenses downto ensuring that adequate supplies of decentbeer were available in The Stromness Inn wherehe had booked the crew in. In recognition hewas awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Guildof Television Cameramen.In 1983 his work on The Old Men at the Zoowas recognised when he and Dave Gautier werenominated for a Bafta in the Video cameramancategory. Selwyn is well remembered for an incident atMeadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh. During thefield events, operating a hand held camera, hewas following a competitor across the grass

when he encountered a low bench. Tripping uphe tumbled on shot. ITN later broadcast shotsof this incident with the immortal commentary‘And BBC cameramen are tripping overthemselves to get the shots…’ Selwyn was quitecross at first but soon saw the funny side of itand is sure to have dined out on his moment offame many times.He was sad to retire in 1996 but took theopportunity to buy himself a yacht. He bought‘Rhapsody’, a Westerly Centaur, in the WestCountry and on his maiden voyage sailed hersinglehanded to his mooring in Keyhaven. Aswith previous pursuits Selwyn threw himselfinto every aspect of sailing and ended up with anew mooring in Cherbourg.Selwyn was a colourful eccentric who strove for perfection and could get very grumpy with himself and others when standards fellshort. He was a father of two boys whoinherited his love of outdoor activity. Sympathygoes to those he leaves behind, Anne, Neal,Jeremy and Natasha. Peter Cook and Robin Sutherland

There can’t be too manyBBC local radio managerswho have faced Christmasin gaol because agovernment objected toone of their station’sprogrammes. But that isthe dubious distinctionthat was held by RegBrookes, former manager

of Radio Guernsey, who died in Plymouth aged 76. The former Head of Local Programmes forBBC South and West, Derek Woodcock,recalled that a major story broke for the islandstation when the captain and officers of a cargoship abandoned the vessel in the harbourbecause they hadn’t been paid and they couldn’tpay the harbour fees. None of them spokeEnglish. ‘The harbour authority impounded the shipand local people provided food for the crewuntil decisions could be reached aboutownership, liability and who would pay forrepatriation.‘There was some confusion about the legal

position so Radio Guernsey interviewed amaritime lawyer from Southampton to try toclarify the situation.‘Things happened fast after that. The policeseized the tape and Reg and the reporter wereaccused of contempt by the Bailiff in hiscapacity as senior judge on the island. ‘Christmas was approaching and there was areal threat that Reg could be held in custodyuntil a trial in January. But BBC lawyersstepped in and he was released immediately on bail. ‘There was a real issue here about BBCeditorial freedom which Reg was determined touphold. And he did so stoically like the realprofessional that he was.‘We went to trial and the presiding judgeturned out to be none other than the personwho brought the charge, the Bailiff, sitting withother States members. ‘There was no clear Guernsey case law to drawon so we sat through hours of legal argument,referring at times to bits of French law, Normanlaw and UK law. ‘Consequently, Reg and the reporter weredischarged but the BBC was found guilty and

ordered to pay a nominal fine of a few hundredpounds. This was later quashed on appeal.’Before his appointment to Guernsey, Reg hada varied journalistic career on the mainland. Hestarted out as a weekly newspaper reporter in hisnative Crewe and then joined the LiverpoolDaily Post and Echo as a district reporter.From there he moved to BBC RadioMerseyside as a producer in 1969 and helped tolaunch the broadcasting careers of a number ofpeople including comedian Tom O’Connor(then a local schoolteacher) and Robert KilroySilk who later became a Merseyside MP. In 1983, with the launch of BBC RadioDevon, Reg was appointed senior producer incharge of the Plymouth studios and pioneeredprogramme sharing in the area with AfternoonSou’West, a phone-in show which was broadcasteach weekday afternoon on Radio Devon andRadio Cornwall.Reg was a thoughtful, patient sort of chapwho would quietly offer a helping hand or apiece of well-timed advice to younger, ofteninexperienced, staff. He leaves a wife, Freda anda married daughter, Linda. Roy Corlett

BBC engineer who shared technical skills with the worldKen Mossman, who died on 16 January 2011,joined the BBC in 1944, and apart from NationalService with the Fleet Air Arm, remained with‘Auntie’ until his retirement in 1987.Ken trained in-house at Evesham beforejoining Outside Broadcasts based at AlexanderPalace, where he became Head of Radio LinksOBs. Ken was involved in the forefront ofinnovative engineering techniques thatfacilitated broadcasts of events such as the StateFuneral of Winston Churchill and the maidenvoyage from mid-Atlantic of the Queen Mary,and many other similar ground-breakingventures. During this time he met and marriedBetty and the couple had two children. In the early 1960s Ken transferred to ProjectEngineering at the newly established TelevisionCentre Studios. Here he liaised in theproduction of TV drama and programmes inorder to ensure reliable broadcasts at a time

when new processes in technology meant hugechangeovers such as from Film to ENG. Kenadvised London-based BBC productionfacilities, and also many other BBC studios inthe UK. He also travelled abroad on behalf ofthe BBC to share his skills with organisationsseeking to establish television broadcasting. Ken had a discerning and brilliant technicalability that led to his involvement in new projectssuch as the first broadcasts from the OpenUniversity facility, the Houses of Parliament andthe introduction of computerised weatherbroadcasting and other significant changesrequired by the advent of the computer age. Heretired as a much respected colleague and wellknown individual within the organisation. He is sadly missed by his son Christopher and partner Lynda, daughter Janet and his three grandchildren.Jan Robinson (daughter)

Selwyn on Wimbledon Centre Courtlining up a camera during the pioneeringcolour broadcasts in July 1967.

Obituaries

April • 2011 • • 11

Talks Departmentto radio producerMichael Bell had three careers in broadcasting,beginning in August 1946 when he joined theBBC as a talks producer. He was engagedprincipally as an assistant to Alec Robertson onmusic talks, but he had time for a fairly widerange of other subjects – book reviews, shortstories, the cinema, ballet, cricket.When he was on holiday in Scarboroughduring the cricket festival in 1948, he heardBradman was to be presented with thehonorary life membership of YorkshireCounty Cricket Club during the matchbetween Australia and the MCC. At veryshort notice he arranged for a recording carto be sent over from Leeds, and it arrived justin time for the microphone to be set up inthe marquee as the players were coming infor lunch. Edited versions of Bradman’sacceptance speech went out that evening inthe North Region, and down the line toRadio Newsreel in London.After four years with Talks Department heresigned and for the next year and a half heworked on the other side of the microphone.He ran a Music Club for young listeners,introduced a number of programmes forSchools Broadcasting, a series about animalsin music for a children’s programmeproduced by Lionel Gambin and adaptedbooks for serial reading in Women’s Hour.He was then asked to join GramaphoneDepartment and he stayed there until the bigchanges that took place when Radios 1, 2, 3and 4 came into existence. His range ofsubjects was pretty wide, and at one time hewas engaged simultaneously on a featurecelebrating the centenary of Covent GardenOpera House, and a series of recordprogrammes introduced by Tommy Steele.Other presenters he worked with were EamonAndrews, Alan Melville, Larry Adler and DirkBogarde, and he produced a feature calledReluctant Star about Bogarde’s 10-year risefrom discovery to stardom. As an executiveproducer he was responsible for the launch ofAlan Keith’s Your Hundred Best Tunes.On the break-up of GramaphoneDepartment he found himself in AeolianHall as an executive producer for Radio 2.But now the range of programmes was farmore limited and in 1971 at the age of 55 hetook early retirement.He said that if he had had his time again,he would have stayed with the TalksDepartment, in spite of the rather irksomeschoolmasterly way it was run in those days. Mrs AC Upjohn

Radio producer and prolific composer

‘Anonymous soldier’ who spoke at the Guildhall Tonmeister’ to ‘The Good Old Days’ When my father, Edward Percy Stuart, leftschool in 1934, he joined the BBC atBroadcasting House as a messenger/page boy.He was then appointed as a junior clerk in1936, and was at the opening of Television atAlexandra Palace during that year. Promoted toclerk in 1939, he was called up for militaryservice in 1940, and joined the Royal Corp ofSignals for the duration of the Second WorldWar, serving in Lord Montgomery’s EighthArmy. He came home unexpectedly on leave in1943 and married my mother, Emily Seymour,before returning to his regiment to take part inthe landings on the Normandy Beaches. Afterthe war he came back to the BBC as AssistantHead of the Messaging Service. In 1947, Lord Mackintosh (for whom mygrandfather worked as a chauffeur) and LordMontgomery joined Hugh Dalton, theChancellor of the Exchequer, in a campaign topromote National Savings. This campaign,known as the Silver Lining Campaign, waslaunched at the Guildhall in London on 29April. They needed an anonymous soldier, whohad served under Field Marshall Montgomery,to speak at this event. Lord Mackintosh knewthat his chauffeur had a son who had been in

the Eighth Army, and so it was that my fatherwas asked to speak at the Guildhall. This speechwas recorded by the BBC, and put on a 78rpmgramophone disc. I can recall, as a child, playingthis disc on our gramophone at home.Over the next 25 years, Dad worked invarious posts in the BBC, from catering storesauditor (which involved travelling to variousoffices throughout the UK), to other positionsin Shepherd’s Bush, Television Centre andfinally Wood Norton in Worcestershire. In1976, at the age of 58, Dad took earlyretirement and spent the last 34 years of his lifebeing involved in various local, church andvillage activities (having moved to Bloxham in Oxfordshire from Finchley North London in 1974).During the years that we lived in Finchley,Dad secured employment not only for membersof our family, but also our neighbours. Out ofnine people who lived in both houses, only twoof us had not worked at the BBC!Dad led a busy and active life, with fourchildren, five grandchildren and sevengreat-grandchildren to his name. He will besadly missed by a great many people.Colin Stuart

Passionate choristerGeoff Timms joined the BBC from Mercers’school, had a short spell in the navy, andreturned to the BBC after demobilisation,spending most of his career at the forefront ofclassical music broadcasting. His whole life was devoted to choral singing, a passion instilled in him as a boychorister at Exeter Cathedral, and his workpatterns as a Music Studio Manager allowedhim time to sing as a deputy bass inWestminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedralchoirs. On one occasion he went with a seniorBBC colleague to record a choir at St ClementDanes Church in London, only to be foundsinging in the choir himself. As a music balancer he could be described asconservative, using a minimum number ofmicrophones, usually one, rather than the dozenand more used by some of his contemporaries.He was not limited to vocal music; he workedon Proms, Royal Festival Hall concerts, CoventGarden, Glyndebourne and many other outside

broadcasts, including a visit to the BolshoiTheatre in Moscow. Retiring in 1986, he and his wife Josephineleft their North Finchley home and his belovedgarden for Reydon, near Southwold on theSuffolk coast, where he quickly became involvedwith vocal groups, bell-ringing and churchcommittees. The London Consort of Voices(secularly known as The Seven Deadly Sins),The Blyth Consort and The Reydon Consortall benefited from Geoff’s artistry, knowledgeand enthusiasm; in all, he was loved for hisintegrity, warmth and sense of fun. His character, courage and determination wereepitomised by a dogged refusal to allow MotorNeurone Disease to get the better of him, andhis fight to try and maintain some sort ofmobility was eventually too much for his heart. He died on 29 November 2010 leaving his wife, Josephine and sons, Graham and Malcolm.Keith Wilson

Alan Owen, who has died at the age of 82, wasa distinguished music producer for BBC Radioand, under the name Alan Langford, a prolificcomposer of light music. The pinnacle of hisradio career was 11 series of programmes onRadio Three about America’s finest songwritersand jazz musicians, written and presented byAlistair Cooke, better remembered for hislong-running Letter from America on the HomeService and later on Radio Four. Besides his light music, which has recentlyenjoyed a resurgence of interest, he wrotemood music for commercial recording librariesand many avant-garde pieces, chiefly for hisown enjoyment.

Born in 1928, Alan attended the GuildhallSchool of Music and Drama and joined theBBC as a clerk in the Music Library. He and acolleague, John Meloy, tested the patience oftheir superiors by singing out loud the dozensof new pieces of sheet music that arrived dailyfrom the publishers. Also at work, he honed histalent for mimicry, frequently giving vent tolengthy impersonations of his favouritecomedian, Max Wall.Alan was the cousin of both Clive Dunn,who played Lance Corporal Jones in Dad’sArmy, and Gretchen Franklin, better known asEthel Skinner in EastEnders. As each actor wasbecoming well-known in the 1940s, it isperhaps unsurprising that Alan’s show businessconnections led to him making his onlyappearance as a performer in a small role in theFrank Loesser film, Where’s Charley? [1952],based on the farce, Charley’s Aunt.Once he was promoted to music producer,he worked across the radio networks,something that was encouraged in the lessstratified years of the BBC. His work with Cooke began in 1974.Between then and 1987, they worked on nofewer than 74 programmes that culminated ina six-part series, The Life and Music of GeorgeGershwin. Besides Cooke, Owen regularlyproduced such Radio Two stalwarts as David

Jacobs, Alan Keith and Robin Boyle; he gavethe King’s Singers their first broadcast on aprogramme presented by Steve Race; and heproduced the writer, Richard Anthony Baker,in two music hall series.When he retired at the age of 60, a radiosuddenly appeared at his farewell party. Whenit was switched on, there was a recordedreminiscence of him by Alistair Cooke, who,by then, had become a close friend. Hedescribed how committed Owen was to hiswork and how difficult it was to divert himinto anything relaxing. Away from the music,Owen was an antiques dealer with a regularSaturday stall in the Portobello Road market,specialising in old clock and watch parts; heindulged his passion for art house movies; and,as a member of the Performing Right Society,the organisation that distributes copyrightpayments to composers, he took his place on acommittee that considered the plight ofmembers facing financial difficulties. In retirement, he recorded books for theblind, enormously assisted by his perfectenunciation and his ability to assume differentvoices. He married twice, but both marriagesended in divorce. He is survived by his twodaughters from his first marriage, Fanny and Carey. Richard Anthony Baker

John Drake,who died athome on 22February after abrave fight withcancer, was aSenior AudioSupervisor basedin Manchesterfor most of his career. Hewas 73.

John was brought up in Saltdean, just to theeast of Brighton, and studied electricalengineering at Brighton Technical College. Hequalified as a member of the Institution ofElectrical Engineers. He joined the BBC in 1960 as a GraduateApprentice Engineer. He spent two years inLondon on a fast-track scheme, spending twomonths in each of a number of departments, aperiod he much enjoyed. At the end of that timehe elected to continue his career in ProgrammeOperations rather than Engineering and he thenspent two years in Cardiff before beingappointed Sound Supervisor in the NorthTelevision Unit in Manchester.

His duties were almost exclusively on outsidebroadcasts although he did some programmesin the studio as well. The Oxford Road Show,which he did in the 70s, was a sometimescontroversial live youth-culture programme andBrass Tacks was a complex live current affairsprogramme hosted by Eric Robson, which hedid from the then new Studio A in Manchester.On OBs, as well as all the usual sportscoverage, John did most of the It’s a Knockoutand Jeux sans Frontieres programmes and heparticularly enjoyed his association with OneMan and his Dog. Life was never dull working with John. Heinsisted on high standards and he was alwaysready to try out innovative techniques. Onesuch innovation was to fit radio mic collars tosheep on One Man and his Dog. This gave riseto some high quality renditions of what sheepdo best, apart from baaing and eating grass!John never forgot to make work enjoyable and he took a delight in practical jokes. Hiscrew always had to be on their toes for his latestwind-up. To his wife, Margaret and his family weextend our sincere condolences.Jerry Clegg

12 • • April • 2011

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There have been rumours (not sure where they havecome from) regarding the future of Prospero, withsome readers believing that the publication is on thebrink of being axed.The BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, which hasresponsibility for Prospero on behalf of the Trustees,can confirm that this is not the case. The Trusteesrecently appointed a specialist pensioncommunications agency called Wordshop to helpproduce Prospero.The small company in Dorset prides itself onproviding a high level of service to its clients, whichinclude BAE Systems, British American Tobacco,Sainsbury’s, Whitbread and the House of Commons,to name but a few! The company has been shortlisted in this year’s UKPensions Awards, in the category CommunicationsProvider of the Year, as well as winning numerousindustry awards over the 20+ years it has been in existence.Jeff Webley, Pension Communications Manager atthe BBC, says: ‘We have been impressed with the way

that Wordshop has helped out with Prospero over thelast year on an interim basis. I believe they havealready improved the look and structure of thepublication, and we look forward to making furtherdesign improvements, which you will begin to seefrom the next issue.’Jeff adds: ‘People who wish to submit articles andobituaries to Prospero should continue to send themvia the Pension and Benefits Centre, as we have finaleditorial control over what goes into Prospero, buthaving Wordshop to help us has certainly made it amuch easier, smoother process, as well as costingconsiderably less than we used to pay.’You can find out more about Wordshop on theirwebsite, www.wordshop.co.uk

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Classifieds– the future

Can you help?James Gilman sent in this photo taken inside the old TelediphonesDepartment at Broadcasting House in the 1950s. He writes: ‘Theperson in the foreground is my late sister, Joan Gilman (later JoanRatcliffe). I wonder if you could print this and ask any former membersof the Telediphones Department if they would care to contact me onjames.gilman@btinternet.com or by writing to Prospero.’

Arthur Radley MBE (Farrand to his Quaker friendsand some organisations to which he belonged) diedat the impressive age of 94. His latter years weresadly overshadowed by illness but he was devotedlycared for by his wife Laura whom he married at 81and to whom we all send our deepest sympathy.After leaving Friends School, Saffron Walden,with which he had long family connections, hewent to St Edmund Hall, Oxford to study ModernLanguages (French and German) and it was therethat we first met.He was already a Territorial when war broke outand he enlisted in the Lancashire Fusiliers. From1941 – 1944 he served in Malta and for a periodwas ADC to Lord Gort VC, the General OfficerCommanding. He then joined Special OperationsExecutive (SOE) in the Mediterranean area and inMay 1945 became a senior staff officer in theBritish Military Government in occupied Austria,a country to which he became closely attached andwhich honoured him with a decoration, as did theBritish Government, for his military services.Arthur joined the BBC in 1950 in Organisationand Methods Department, and in 1960 moved toTelevision. He retired in 1976 as ManagementServices Organiser. He was a founder member ofthe British Computer Society and represented theBBC on metrification mattes affecting both radioand television. During his retirement he sat on anumber of national committees, as often as not asChairman or Chief Executive, as for example theInstitute of Personnel Management, the Inland

Waterways Association, the Alumni Associations offormer members of both his old school and hiscollege. In all these bodies he played a verysignificant role. He also lectured widely on manysubjects which held a special interest for him.Arthur was a unique personality – a man of manyparts – and who touched the lives of many people.He had a great sense of humour as well as keenattention to detail, a strong streak of spontaneityand invariably the ability to rise to the occasion. I remember once travelling by car with him andarriving at the Norwegian-Swedish border behinda long queue of cars. Never one to waste time,Arthur persuaded the official at the passport controlthat the third member of our party, Alastair Watson,was in fact the grandson of the famous Dr Watson.Happily for us, the official turned out to be a keenfan of Sherlock Holmes and we were wavedmajestically on ahead of the queue of waiting cars.Arthur’s general knowledge was immense and hisinterests and pursuits of a very varied nature. Theyincluded choral music, playing the cello, rivers andcanals, industrial archaeology, Georgian andbaroque architecture, chess, archiving and protocol, etc.He was supported by a vast research machine inhis attic cabinets of files, documents of every sortincluding postcards – to say nothing of his vastcollection of 10,000 slides.So you see that he needed 94 years to fiteverything in!Denys Salt

Founder member of British Computer Society

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