Tag: Midlands Today

Milton Hainsworth – News film editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Jim Gregory, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is of Pebble Mill, News film editor, Milton Hainsworth.

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

Jonathan Dick: ‘Great pic! I remember Milton well, as he was on the board that gave me my first proper BBC job, as a Station Assistant at Pebble Mill in 1987’

Peter Poole: ‘Milton was a legend in news editing!’

Jane Green: ‘Loved Milton. He was my boss too in the newsroom. He tried very hard to be grumpy about everything – it was a challenge to make him smile but you could.’

Liz Munro: ‘Even though we barely overlapped at Pebble Mill, I remember the unforgettably named Milton with a personality to match…’

Maureen Carter: ‘Milton was THE editor to head for if you were arriving back late with the top story. My favourite Milton quote? Why’s a BBC film editor like a sheriff in the wild west? Because he clears up the s**t after the shooting.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘Yes, I remember milton…such a character and I liked him.’

Royal Show for Midlands Today – Sue Robinson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo from director Sue Robinson, no reproduction without permission.

The photo dates from 1982 or 3.  It was taken at the Royal Show, in Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, at an outside broadcast for ‘Midlands Today’.

The photo includes, back row: Dave Brazier (floor manager), Jane Green, Kay Alexander (presenter), Jacqueline Jones (newsroom journalist, who went on to work in news in London), Brian Conway,  front row: Sue Robinson, Tom Brisley.

Peter Poole added the following comment on the Facebook Group: ‘I remember Midlands Today broadcasting from the Royal Show. It was always a great show. I worked on the ‘Farming’ programme covering the Royal Show many years ago. I think the producer was John Kenyon. The sound recordist was Bill Barker. Bill was a great teacher and taught me many tricks of the trade. Sadly Bill passed away shortly after retiring.’

Sony Hi8 recorder

Photos by Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.

VT editor, Ian Collins took photos of obsolete post-production kit before the 2004 auction of equipment when Pebble Mill was cleared prior to being demolished.

These photos are of a Sony Hi8 video recorder.

Hi8 was an 8mm video format, which had better resolution than the earlier Video8, but pre-dated the introduction of Digi8.  It was an analogue format, and the ‘Hi’ stands for high-band, as opposed to low-band.

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

John Duckmanton: ‘This machine is still in the bay at The Mailbox and is still used occasionally.’

Peter Poole:  ‘I think it was sometimes used for ‘Midlands Today’. The reporter may have used it before the crew arrived.’

 

Studio B – Peter Poole

Studio B 1990

Photos by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

I probably took these photos some time about 1990. A few years later a major refurbishment took place updating all equipment except the sound desk. I did all I could to get a new mixer but due to lack of money it was not possible. The old mixer was kept in good working order by Pebble Mill’s excellent engineers. These men and women are the unsung heroes of the BBC and without them no programmes could be made or broadcast. During the gallery refurbishment we moved to Studio C’s gallery while still using Studio B’s studio area. When the studio area was refurbished the Foyer and later radio Studio 1 was used. Studio 1 was designed for classical music recording so had quite a long reverberation time. This was not ideal for a news programme and a few people asked why ‘Midlands Today’ sounded different. After another few years a new sound desk was fitted.

Deferred Facilities

If Television Centre or Broadcasting House encountered a major event and were unable to produce its network output Pebble Mill could take over. In the pre-digital TV and radio era network radio and TV would be routed via Pebble Mill’s Communications Centre and then distributed to the transmitter network. Radios 1 to 4 would be allocated their own studios to ensure network output was maintained. BBC 1 and 2 would also be allocated TV studios.  Studio B would become Network News. The regional presentation studio would become network TV presentation.

I worked on the rehearsals for Network News.  The News production team and presenters would travel from London to Pebble Mill. A full 6 pm News programme would then take place as if for real. The London team always seemed impressed by Pebble Mill’s professional staff and facilities. I don’t think Pebble Mill was ever called to do this for real.

Peter Poole

Mike Workman added the following information on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:

‘just to clear up the contingency plans:
BBC One pres to come from Gallery-C and VT-B
BBC Two pres to come from Pres and VT-F
BBC Choice and Knowledge fold to One.
BBC World pres to come from an Edit C and VT-D
Domestic News was to set up in Studio-B (the Midlands Today studio)
BBC World News was to set up in Studio-A and VT-A
News 24 was to collapse into BBC World.
Weather used Birmingham’s regional weather facilities in Studio-B and Studio-B Annex/Pres.

I’ll also add, at the time lots more digital widescreen material was being made and transmitted by the BBC and Pebble Mill didn’t have any DigiBeta decks, so they had to order more of these to facilitate the Disaster Recovery Plans, Anything coming from B going to NET1 would be routed via A (which had been refurbed at this point) where it’d be ARCd to 14:9 Ratio (that horrid half widescreen thing the BBC did in the late 90s and early 00s) before transmission – this way it didn’t look like it was coming from an antiquated 13/14 year old gallery! BBC World got Studio and Gallery A, both widescreen which was funny as at this time BBC World wasn’t widescreen, Network BBC One was. The source for all this is somebody I know only as ‘deejay’ from a TV presentation site…’

Midlands Today – TV Ark link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a link to ‘TV Ark’, a site which includes short clips from a number of ‘Midlands Today’ episodes.  Clips include the first Midlands Today from 1971, as well as excerpts from presenters David Stevens, Alan Towers, Kathy Rochford, Nick Owen, Sue Beardsmore, Kay Alexander, Brian Conway, David Davies, Bernadette Kearney, Andy Knowles, Richard Uridge, Lawrence Lee, Michael Collie, Stuart Linnell and Suzanne Virdee.  The last ‘Midlands Today’ to be broadcast from Pebble Mill is also included.

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/bbc_midlands/news.html

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

Jane Ward: ‘I vision-mixed that last 6.30 prog….an honour to do it, but very emotional….’

Stuart Gandy: ‘If you spend a few minutes looking at TV ark, you will find quite a lot from pebble Mill. After all we did make a lot of programmes there, probably more than the average viewer realised’

Ewan Kiel: ‘That is great. I probably spent far longer than I should have done on Midlands Today … but looking back, it was really fun and hey, it was where I met my wife – and now I list people people who were – to me – cool: Kay, Brian, Darren, Fiona Barton, Richard (Uridge), Steve (Lee), Pete Lowe, Patrick (thank you, Patrick), Cathy, Martin Dowell, David Davies, Fiona (again), Steph, Pam, Gary (yes, Hudson), Will Trotter, Mike Johnston, Paul Freeman, Ian (Pedersen – very cool man), John Carney, Kathy Rochford (always had a crush), Liz (camera diary – huge crush… huge), Harvinder ( coolest guy in the office), Fiona ( the memory won ‘t go away), Barbara Steele (were the rumours true?), Darren (again coz he is my abiding friend from that time, and I honestly love him … although nothing gay has happened yet!), Jane Green (aaah), Julie (Etchingham … didn’t she do well), Pete Wilson (cool), John McLeod (very, very cool), Peter Poole (loved him), Howard (HOWARD!!?), Sue Beardsmore (especially in that button up the front grey dress), Nick Patten (and his tendency to direct standing up), Merrick Simmonds, Mel and her stockings, Lindsay, Ian Bellion (and his gorgeous sideburns) …and christ, I spent too long there.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘yep, worked on that….gallery flush as we called it always evident as things went wrong and you had to be on your toes! Dear david stevens too – dont think he is any longer with us. kay alexander too – she is lovely. oh many many names….oh yes geoffrey green – i loved him and he was so funny. Wonder if he is with us still?’

Peter Poole: ‘I will never forget Alan Towers resigning on air and his comments about BBC management. What a great presenter.’