Bob Langley – Page 3 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Pebble Mill at One book

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

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Thanks to cameraman Robin Sunderland for sharing his copy of this 1980’s Pebble Mill at One book. The front cover features presenters, Marian Foster, Bob Langley and Paul Coia, stood outside BBC Pebble Mill, whilst the back cover shows Marian in front of the Pebble Mill Heritage Tapestry, ‘Count Your Blessings’. The tapestry was very large, and was hung at one time in Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, although I remember it adorning one wall of the courtyard corridor outside Studio A at Pebble Mill in the 1990s.

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Danger in the Ice – John Williams

The article above is from John Williams memoirs, Shoot First, No Ordinary Life. It tells the story of a dangerous and highly memoriable shoot in Antarctica, for a Pebble Mill at One documentary, Langley South. It was published in the October 2016 issue of the BBC pensioners online magazine – Prospero. The link to the article is here: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mypension/en/prospero_oct_2016.pdf

The documentary was transmitted as inserts in 1981, as part of Pebble Mill at One, and as a four part documentary series on BBC2 in April 1982. Here are the Radio Times entries, courtesy of the BBC Genome project:

Monday 19th April 1982

“The first of four films in which
Bob Langley journeys to the White continent of Antarctica and examines its potential for mankind. The Falkland Islands are his first staging post. a last outpost of the British Empire in the South Atlantic. In recent weeks this tiny colony has been the centre of world attention as neighbouring Argentina has laid claim to the islands.
Against this background some of the 1,800 islanders talk of their hopes for the future.
Editor PETER HERCOMBE”

Tuesday 20th April 1982

“On the second leg of his journey to the Antarctic, Bob Langley embarks on the Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship Endurance for the voyage from the Falkland Islands to the southern ice cap. The journey takes him across the notorious Drake Passage off the tip of Cape Horn, through a mine-field of icebergs and after a brief respite at an abandoned whaling station, onward to a dangerous and uncharted corner of the Antarctic peninsula.”

Wednesday 21st April 1982

“In the third film report from British Antarctica Bob Langley, aboard the Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol ship Endurance, becomes trapped in the ice in the Weddell Sea. It is like history repeating itself. In 1915 another Endurance, under the command of Sir Ernest Shackleton , was trapped in these very waters, triggering off a feat of survival which rates as one of the greatest of all escape stories”

Thursday 22nd April 1982

“In this final film report from Antarctica, Bob Langley visits British and American scientific bases and meets the. modern pioneers. Antarctica is known to contain vast mineral riches. Its seas are teeming with protein. It could be vital to our future as other continents exhaust their own resources.”

John’s book is A4, 216 pages full colour, 96,500 words; it is being sold at cost £14, plus postage or can be collected.If you would like a copy please contact John on john@willbriar.myzen.co

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Pebble Mill at One titles from 1979

Titles sequence from the lunchtime magazine programme: Pebble Mill at One from 1979.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Jane Green: ‘The last PM@One!! Makes me sad 🙁 I was looking after Bob with the helicopters in the field. Couldn’t hear a darn thing – even with ear defenders on!’

Margaret Waine: ‘Oh what memories it brings back.’

Ann Gumbley-Williams: ‘What can I say!? ….,. My youth! My life! Nostalgia……! ? Counting out of titles…’

Jane Mclean: ‘God that music makes me cack myself!! Marian with the bike and think the sparks could be Keith Morton?’

It was alright in the 70s – Pebble Mill at One clip

There is a clip of a Pebble Mill at One programme from 1976, about 32 mins in, to this archive clip show It was alright int he 70s on Channel 4 recently.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/it-was-alright-in-the/on-demand/61558-001

The clip illustrates the casual sexism that was inherent in 1970s society, including television coverage. It features presenter Bob Langley, at the Spring Show at the NEC, surrounded by what he calls, ‘dolly birds’ – glamorous girls promoting various products at the Show. Bob is sitting rather higher up than the sometimes scantily clad lovelies, who include Miss World, promoting saucepans. It appears like a rather sexist set-up, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have been deliberately planned with that in mind – I suspect that it probably just seemed normal at the time. Jenny Eclair, watching with the benefit of hindsight, is suitably shocked! Definitely a product of its time.

Thanks to Dharmesh Rajput for pointing out the clip.

Here is a link to the same clip on YouTube.

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Keith Brook: ‘I think I vision-mixed that programme!!’

Langley Country

This still is from the titles of the series, Langley Country. Bob Langley presented the 30 minute, BBC 2 countryside programme, which was transmitted circa 2000. It seems to have formed half of ‘The Countryside’, a lunchtime hour of rural programming shown on BBC 2.

Thanks to Ian Collins for making this titles grab available.

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Andrew Chorlton: ‘Did a couple of shoots on this, Isle of Man and Somerset both with Robert Pike on camera. I Know the IOM shoot was 1997 or thereabouts because we shared our digs with the cast of Waking Ned which was being shot on the island.’