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Presenter cards for Radio WM husband and wife duo, Tony Wadsworth and Julie Mayer, dating from the 1990s.
Tony and Julie presented the Breakfast show, and Drive. Tony was appointed Radio WM Programme Organiser in 1991, and joined the management team. The couple also presented the regional Late Show, which was shared by the nine midlands BBC Local Radio stations.
Thanks to Tony Wadsworth for sharing the cards.
Copyright resides with the original holder, no production without permission.
This obituary for Pebble Mill Engineering House Services Manager, Keith Jones, written by Tony Pilgrim, appeared in Prospero, the BBC retirees’ magazine, in August 2013.
Thanks to Peter Poole for sharing it.
The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:
Lynn Cullimore: ‘Yes of course I remember Keith. I worked in Engineering as it was my first job at the BBC. I am sad to hear he has passed away. He was always nice to me, always kind and helpful which as a young lass then i appreciated. He was known as HSE – House Services Engineer.’
Keith Brook: ‘Keith was a lovely man and did a great job, not only with the building but as chairman of the club.’
Negative, Basement Plan, 1971. This digital resource is available under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 license, with kind permission of the Birmingham & Five Counties Architectural Association Trust, thanks to the Architectus project (part of the Jisc Content Programme 2011-13).
Plan of Pebble Mill’s basement from 1971, by architect John Madin.
The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook group about the basement:
Stuart Gandy: ‘We had an engineering store room down there. It was right beneath studio A, and quite a trek to get to up some steps and down some others. It was quite an Aladdin’s cave of stuff that had been pensioned off never to be seen again. Every now and again attempts were made to sort it out and it was at it its best just before we moved out!’
Peter Poole: ‘The echo plate room was down there. Also two sub-stations to ensure mains power. If this failed batteries would give a limited supply until the generator started.’
Andrew Hewkin: ‘I went down, with permission, after most staff had left, to see if there was anything worth salvaging. There were literally thousands of sound effects discs, some 78s, many 7-inch. Enough to fill several skips, which is probably what happened.’
Diane Reid: ‘Used as a music location on more than one occasion’
Charles White: ‘it was always rumoured there was a nuclear bunker down there, and a shooting range, true or false ?’
Peter Poole: ‘I fully explored the basement and found no evidence of a nuclear bunker.’
Giles Herbert: ‘The range was not purpose built: It was the passage that ran under to corridor from the bottom of the goods lift by Studio A scene door and ended up near the steps up to the approach to the loading bay outside the security office.’
Copyright resides with the original holders, no reproduction without permission.
Rally Report was a BBC 2 series dating from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s, consisting of coverage of the Lombard RAC Rally of Great Britain, which was held annually in the autumn. The show went out each evening, and was quick turnaround. It was presented by Top Gear’s, William Woollard, from Rally headquarters with previews, live stages and twice nightly reports. It was shot on location, edited and transmitted from site. It was often a challenging production logistically. Tony Mason, presented the Rally stage reports. Rally Report was unusual as a sports programme, not made by BBC Sport. In later years it was renamed Top Gear Rally Report, to emphasise the fact that it wasn’t made by Sport, and that a lot of the Top Gear team were involved.
The producers included Phil Franklin, Brian Strachan (until 1986) and Tony Rayner with the executive producers including Derek Smith, Dennis Adams and Tom Ross.
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What sacrifices presenters have to make to appear on television! Alastair Yates had to lose his facial hair in order to appear on Midlands Today. Alastair started as a presenter at Radio Derby, and beards were ok on radio – but not on television in the late 1970s! Viewers prefer a clean shave.