Midlands Today – Page 9 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Voice of the Listener and Viewer visit 1992

Photo copyright Robin Vanags, 1992. No reproduction without permission.

Here are Robin Vanags recollections of visiting Pebble Mill in 1992, around the time that the 21st anniversary of the building was being celebrated:

‘Those of us visiting BBC Pebble Mill from ‘Voice of the Listener & Viewer’ in November 1992 were guided by a gentleman who had worked for the BBC in Birmingham from before the centre was built & who recalled masses of cabling, visible in large apertures in the floors, before the studios opened in 1971.

In addition to the network & local radio facilities, we visited a very smart BBC Midlands Today set, in television studio B, and, after a live broadcast of Pebble Mill (no longer ‘at One’) from television studio A (where the new Sony cameras were in action), we toured studio A’s 3 control rooms (production, lighting & sound) which appeared to me, as sophisticated & impressive as those I’d seen at BBC Television Centre in London. Good Morning with Anne and Nick occupied the foyer – previously home to Pebble Mill At One.’

Robin Vanags

Noel Ford on Bob Monkhouse

Copyright Noel Ford, no reproduction without permission

[Cartoonist Noel Ford wrote the following memories of his trips to BBC Pebble Mill]

“I do remember going there [Pebble Mill] on several occasions for various broadcasts. I did a TV chat about my cartoon work (Midlands Today?). What I remember most about that is that I really don’t like rehearsing – the spontaneous responses to questions lose something vital when re-hashed for the recording. I was also a guest on Woman’s Hour on one occasion and recall being surprised at the melting effect another guest, a particularly handsome, macho bloke, had on some of those otherwise hard-nosed, professional ladies. And I was also a little jealous, if truth be told!

I do remember, much more clearly, that Morning Story [Radio 4] recording session. I wrote two stories that Bob recorded (though the Radio Times Genome only appears to list one). They were both broadcast around the same time, so it would actually have been in 1976-7). I hadn’t met Bob before and was pleasantly surprised to find he was exactly the same off and on the air, a thoroughly nice man. And so professional. He recorded the fifteen minute story with only a couple of tiny re-takes. I had presented him with a cartoon I had drawn for the occasion (I do have a copy, somewhere) and he unhesitatingly produced pen and paper and drew one right back for me. I have attached a copy, below. It was also the first time I had met that other lovely bloke, producer, David Shute – a meeting that led to us doing a lot of work together after he left the BBC.”

Noel Ford

Noel Ford (left), Peter Belham? (SM), Bob Monkhouse (in the studio), David Shute (right)

Here are the entries from the Radio Times, of the two episodes of Morning Story written by Noel Ford and read by Bob Monkhouse, from the BBC Genome project:

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/97ba2076043b4814bb4a343c181909ce

Driving Lesson by NOEL FORD Read by Bob Monkhouse
‘ When you go to a party with a good line in chat to impress the ladies, make sure you know the thickness of the ice you’re skating on.’ Producer DAVID SHUTE BBC Birmingham

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/dc5215a22fa74123b1b854a4349bc6dd

Security Risk by NOEL FORD
Read by Bob Monkhouse
No he wasn’t a nocturnal delivery man for a chocolate manufacturer. The midnight prowler had something else on his mind which wasn’t as dubious as it first appeared. Producer DAVID SHUTE BBC Birmingham

Midlands Today from the Conservatory

Photo by Philip Morgan, no reproduction without permission

In the final weeks of Pebble Mill in autumn 2004, different areas of the building were decommissioned at different times, as technical equipment was transferred to the Mailbox. I suspect that Studio B, the Midlands Today studio must have been decommissioned, leaving the regional news programme temporarily homeless, and having to find a short-term location – the Pebble Mill Conservatory. Hence the need for the notice, asking for quiet!

The Conservatory was originally built for Good Morning with Anne and Nick in 1992.

Thanks to Andy Walters for photographing the sign, and to Philip Morgan for photographing much of the Pebble Mill building, including the Conservatory.

Roy Ronnie – Midlands at Six

16mm frame of Roy Ronnie. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

Yesterday, 29th September 2015, Roy Ronnie’s funeral was held in Gloucestershire. Here is a still of Roy Ronnie, dating from the 1960s, from Jim Gregory. This frame is from a small film clip Jim found in a film can recently, Jim thinks that it must be an offcut from an item he was doing for Midlands at Six, the precursor to Midlands Today, which was made at the BBC studios in Broad Street, before Pebble Mill opened.

Tom Coyne RIP

Midlands Today presenters, 1977. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Former Midlands Today presenter, Tom Coyne (back row, right, in the photo), sadly died over the 2015 Easter weekend, in the Wolverhampton Nursing Home, aged 84.

Tom joined the Midlands Today team when the show started in 1964, at its Broad Street studios, before the building of Pebble Mill. He presented over 4,000 editions of the regional news magazine programme by the time he left the series in 1980. This video is of Tom’s last appearance on Midlands Today, in October 2014:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152742761389761

Tom Coyne also presented on Pebble Mill at One in the 1970s, as well as Songs of Praise, Come Dancing, and was even one of the founding presenters on Top Gear, with Angela Rippon in 1977.

Tom also appeared in the Radio 4 drama series, The Archers, for three years, as a Geordie gamekeeper called Gordon Armstrong.

An obituary for Tom Coyne is on the ATV Today website: http://www.atvtoday.co.uk/66995-coyne/.