Vanity Fair – Publicity Brochure

This is the publicity brochure produced to promote the Pebble Mill drama serial adaptation of Thackeray’s ‘Vanity Fair’. The serial received investment from BBC Enterprises, and this brochure would have been used to sell the serial abroad or to other broadcasters.

Radio Gan

Here’s a great story from Karen Davies from 1972 about ‘Radio Gan’. Karen was a PA in the Asian Programme Unit at the time.
Here is a transcript of the ‘Around the Mill’ Newsletter from June 1972:
‘Faces to Voices
It seems that the recorded voices of our secretaries have been going down a bomb on the lonely island of Gan in the Indian Ocean. A recent visitor to the Mill was Dick Emerson a Senior Aircraftsman from Radio Gan who came through, apparently, to pay us a courtesy visit, but in fact his priority request on behalf of the 600 RAF lads on Gan was for photographs of our girls whose voices have been floating over the early morning air to get the lads up in time for first parade.
Apparently, they’ve been besieging the Radio Gan building wanting to put faces to voices. Well, I.O.M.’s department were able to supply pictures of all the girls; now we’re waiting for a threatened mass incursion from the island in the Maldives 4000 miles down the road from Pebble Mill.’
Here is an Ariel article about the initiative, and a photo of Karen Davies with producer David Shute.

Mahendra Kaul receiving his OBE

Here is a photo from Karen Davies of Mahendra Kaul receiving his OBE in 1975. It was the Duke of Edinburgh who awarded him the tribute. He was the face of the Asian Programme Unit for around 20 years. Members of staff from the Unit travelled down with him to Buckingham Palace. He died in 2018, aged 95.

 

The Archers – 1976

I came across this 1976 behind the scenes video of The Archers on the BBC Archive site, as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations. I hope you enjoy watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mZVwXTUBLdo?feature=share