Murray Clarke – What Was Pebble Mill?

Derek Smith – Obituary, from John Williams

Derek Smith, directing regional Top Gear. Photo from Jim Knights, no reproduction without permission

I have much to thank Derek Smith for. He was the one who gave me my career in the BBC with the chance to join the Film Unit in Carpenter Road. It was him who took me around the world to Singapore and a story on Bishop Wilson. A wonderful story of wonderful people that matched man’s inhumanity to man, with man’s humanity. On to Malaya and a brand-new army base cut into the middle of the jungle complete with married quarters, school, swimming pools and sixty bed hospital, now to be closed by the then Wilson government and left to be devoured by the jungle. When university students were getting very bad press of their happenings during vacations we followed them and found them in Andorra working on the Forna and then on to a farm, living above the cattle in a barn high up in the Austrian mountains giving a holiday to a group of German orphans. We got bored one night and climbed halfway down to a cafe which we expected to be empty, it was packed full of people on some sort of pilgrimage already well awash on the beer and in full song. There was no escape, we were dragged in and expected to sing. My song went well. Derek let us down by singing Lilly Marlene, which was greeted with stunned silence, and he was very seriously asked where did he learn that song. Evidently it was something to do with his time in the Eighth Army, Rommel and the desert during the Second World War. As penance we were each made to drink an enormous glass of beer where upon everyone cheered and laughed and joined in. I don’t remember the rest of the evening!! !!

Then there was Top Gear, not sure if one should mention that, because I think it was Derek who introduced ‘you know who’ and it was me who did the first story, but there is so much more. I like to think Now Get Out of That, was a programme based on a chat Derek and I had together on the reliability and initiative tests we faced whilst training in the forces, and was the forerunner of the many celebrity shows developed along the same lines that are now so successful. My chance to live and fly with the Harrier Jet fighters of One Squadron was all down to Derek, you don’t forget that in a hurry!

Plenty of us should have lots to tell of Derek’s contribution to broadcasting. He was a maverick that thought outside the box and I feel fortunate to have been allowed to work with him. My condolences to all the family.

John Williams

John Williams, cameraman

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

Murray Clarke:’Yes – a great director, never afraid to blow the budget and make interesting programmes that viewers really enjoyed watching. And yes, the original Top Gear was his creation.’

Derek Smith Obituary

(Photos from Jim Knights, of the regional Top Gear show, somewhere in Europe, no reproduction without permission)

(The following obituary for director, Derek Smith, has been written by his son, Graham Smith).

Derek Smith joined the BBC in Birmingham 1957, working as an assistant producer on the newly created Farming magazine programme. He worked at Gosta Green studios and Carpenter Road.
In the early 1960s he moved on to general programming, as director and producer. He made a number of films about the armed services, including Soldier In The Sun, a film looking at the Royal Anglian Regiment in Aden and Yemen (1964) (The film can viewed on BBC Four Army Collection and i-Player). Singapore Twilight (1965), The Last Outpost, (1965); Men Of Action, (1966); They Speak The Language Anyway (life at a US Air Force base.) (1967).
From the Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham, he made a number of single network documentaries. For The Flight Deck Story, the history of the aircraft carrier, he filmed on board both HMS Eagle and on USS Enterprise off the coast of Vietnam. The film was narrated by actor Kenneth More. (BBC1, Tuesday Documentary 1969)
Mission To Hell followed the Bishop of Birmingham, Leonard Wilson, returning to Singapore to tell his story of war time imprisonment by the Japanese. In the film, he met his former torturer. (BBC 2 1969)
Another military history film Derek made at this time was Jump Jet, the history of the Hawker Harrier. (BBC 1 1970).
A film for the series “The World About Us”, The Lost River Of Gaping Gill showed cavers Sid Perou, Mike Wooding and Tom Brown as they sought to discover the route of an underground river in the Yorkshire Dales. (BBC 2 1970)
Journey Through Summer was a series of six films with actor and writer P.J. Kavanagh, as he viewed Britain through long distance walks. (1974)
Four In Hand was a one-off film with HRH Duke of Edinburgh, demonstrating Carriage Driving. (1974)
A studio based programme Derek devised was Major Minor, a piano competition for 10-13 year-olds. A BBC Midlands programme, repeated on the network, it ran for three seasons and was presented by musician Steve Race.
In 1975, Derek returned to military matters with Return To Dunkirk. On the 35th. anniversary of the evacuation, the film told the story of the men who escaped from a massacre at Esquelbecq. (BBC 2 1975)
Just A Year was a film that followed three of the survivors of the Birmingham pub bombs in November 1974, on their long recovery from injury. (BBC 2 1976)
In March 1977, Derek created a new series for BBC Midlands, Top Gear. The programme ran for nine monthly episodes shown only in the Midlands region. It was presented by Angela Rippon with Tom Coyne. The following year, it became a network show, on BBC 2. Derek continued as series producer until 1986.
An original programme devised by Derek was Now Get Out Of That. It was a competition between two teams testing their survival abilities along with problem solving mental tests over two days. It was filmed on location, with documentary film crews on 16mm. The first two seasons used teams from Cambridge and Oxford Universities, while series three and four were a contest between Britain and the USA. The programmes spanned 1981-84.
After leaving the BBC, Derek spent two years in Saudi Arabia working as a programme controller. He then lived in Spain for five years before returning to Sutton Coldfield. Well into his 70s, he continued to work part-time, as historian on tours to the sites of the Normandy Landings.

Derek Smith. April 16, 1927 – March 17, 2015.

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

Murray Clarke: ‘A very talented director – never afraid to stick his neck out and make interesting programme that really entertained. Yes, I was there with him at the birth of Top Gear in 1977. Love and condolences to his family.’

Conal O’Donnell: ‘A marvellous tribute to the kind of person who made the BBC & pebble Mill ..’

Derek Smith RIP

Derek Smith, a producer of Top Gear at BBC Pebble Mill sadly died in hospital yesterday (17th March 2015). He never properly recovered following a serious stroke, which he suffered over a year ago.

Derek is seen in this photograph, directing on a programme called Four in Hand. It featured carriage driving, and featured the Duke of Edinburgh. The crew includes Jim Knights on camera and Murray Clarke on sound. It was taken around 1974.

Thanks to Jim Knights for sharing the photograph.

Dave Baumber

Photo by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission

Dubbing mixer, Dave Baumber, sadly died on Wednesday 6th August, of a brain tumour.

Dave was a legendary dubbing mixer, and one of the best in the business. He had great skills, and if he said something couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done. Anyone working in any production team was always delighted if Dave was available to mix their programme. Dave worked originally for the BBC in London, and was head hunted, when Pebble Mill opened, to move up to Birmingham and work primarily on drama.

I was talking today to Phil Thickett and he told me a story of working with Dave. Phil, was seconded from cameras to find out more about different departments and spent a couple of weeks with Dave, in dubbing, on Boys from the Blackstuff. Apparently what used to happen at the beginning of each day of the mix was that director, Philip Saville, would come in to the dubbing area and run his hand along the entire collection of BBC sound effects on disc, and select one at random. He would then hand the disc to Dave, and give him a side and track number. The challenge was for Dave to incorporate the chosen sound effect into the final mix. Dave was extremely creative about how to use the sound effect – sometimes slowing it down or speeding it up, or even playing it backwards, but he always managed to get the effect in, and for it not to stand out to anyone listening to the mix – the sign of a real professional!

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

Peter Poole: ‘Dave was at the top of his craft. He was a lovely man and a perfect gentleman. I will never forget his help when I joined the BBC. He was an inspiration to me. He will not be forgotten.’

Andrew Godsall: ‘I worked with Dave on and off between 1978 and 1981. He was a positive, ‘can do’ person who had that great mix of positive criticism of the institution we all worked for. He was forward thinking and looking, and respected by all his colleagues. He knew about team work and knew when to work and when to play. The dubbing theatre at Pebble Mill was a creative and fun place to be around.
Around that time Dave had just moved out to the country and loved growing veg and living the Good Life. What a great guy. May he rest peace.’

Philip Morgan: ‘I was honoured to work in the record room for Dave at Pebble Mill and at Oxford Road when he came up to mix a dub there as well. He was a real professional and always helpful and (reasonably) tolerant of my mistakes and lack of knowledge. In the 1970’s film dubbing was very much a mechanical and analogue process. The bays (Perfectone) would rock’n’roll and stop and start with a “graunching” sound – the Assistant Recordist in the record room hoping that all the splices on the mag tracks held and that ‘drop-ins’ on the record track would be imperceptible. When Dave was faced with inferior soundtrack materials he would grumble that editors would go out with the same standard they came in with – but then he would somehow work his mixing magic and raise the standard anyway!’

Ray Lee: ‘I first met Dave at Lime Grove when I was in Film Maintenance, and I believe Alan Dyke was the senior dubbing mixer. Dave one day rang down to say the fuses had blown in the “Keller” a flatbed 16mm trnasport with 6 sepmag tracks and two optical tracks. It was a 50min programme due to be aired later, that day, and about half way in. I went armed with a pocket full of fuses, powered down and replaced them. Fortunately when repowered all appeared to be well, and the tracks still appeared to be in sync when the transport was relocked. If they had had to wind back to the top and resync on the leaders, there was some doubt as to whether the programme would be ready in time for transmission.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘I remember particularly working with Dave on location in Morecambe bay. He was fun and professional. Great guy.’

Eurwyn Jones: ‘I also worked with Dave in the Dubbing theatre as a projectionist along with Stan Treasurer. He was a true professional and perfectionist and tackled heavy drama dubbing with such skill. Film editors came from different regions just to have him dub their productions. If Stan was still with us I’m sure he would agree with all the comments here wholeheartedly . It was a pleasure to know him.’

Murray Clarke senior: ‘So very sad. On my first television drama All Creatures Great and Small, Pebble Mill gave me Dave as a BOOM SWINGER – just to keep an eye on me and advise me!!! He’d been a Dubbing Mixer for years by this time. A lovely gentle man.’

Ainsley Harriott – Good Morning with Anne and Nick

Photo from Kathryn Shuttleworth, no reproduction without permission.

This photo of celebrity chef, Ainsley Harriott, was taken on the set of ‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’. Ainsley was one of the resident experts on the live, morning show, which ran from 1992-6, using Pebble Mill’s Studio C.

The photo was taken with a panoramic camera, being demonstrated on the morning magazine show. They were left on set at the end of the show, and Kathryn kept them safe.

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

Murray Clarke: ‘A lovely man. What you see is what you get! Great chef to work with. I worked with Ainsley on location shoots only (not in the studio). One programme saw him dressed as Superman on a bicycle to secretly cook dinner parties for hosts with zero culinary talents – and then to pop out of the kitchen at the very end to reveal the truth to the amazed guests!!! ‘

Denny Hodge: ‘I worked with Ainsley on ‘Ready Steady Cook’ we had great fun.’