Pebble Mill at One

Photos by Ian Collins, Jim Gregory and John Burkill, no reproduction without permission.

These photos show various memorable episodes of Pebble Mill at One, and date from 1974 with the drag racing shots. Notable amongst them are the studio camera which has fallen off the curb and smashed lens first! Also included are the American College band performing on the front lawn, the arrival of a Harrier jump jet over Pebble Mill, the landing of a Royal Navy helicopter and Tom Coyne interviewing at the front of the building. There are also a number of photographs of location shoots for Pebble Mill at One. The skiing ones are a shoot by producer Tony Rayner.

Please post a comment, if you can add to the information here.

Harrier over Birmingham

Pebble Mill at One on the Severn Valley Railway

Photos from Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

These photos were taken at a location recording for Pebble Mill At One. We spent all day at The Severn Valley Railway. I can’t remember the date but we all had a very good day. The singer is Ralph McTell.

Amongst the photos I can spot Pebble Mill at One Editor, Steve Weddle with presenter Marian Foster; multi camera director, Sue Robinson; producer, Clare Stride.

Please post a comment if you can identify other people in the photos, or give a date!

Roy Castle Beats Time – Paul Balmer

Stephane Grappelli on 'Roy Castle Beats Time'

Stephane Grappelli on ‘Roy Castle Beats Time’ with The Suzuki Children.

The Story;

I met Stephane the day before this photo at ‘Pebble Mill at One’ – with Diz Disley and John Etheridge – he was riding high with a new Hot Club Trio and platinum selling albums with Yehudi Menuhin. I’d always been a fan of the original 1930’s HCQ line up with Django Reinhardt.

He wanted somewhere to warm up and I took him to Studio 1 which was empty as usual! – he was in seventh heaven.

He had just acquired his wonderful Galiano violin (he had never had money before!) he played non stop for the next two days and refused to stand under the notoriously hot Pebble Mill lighting in case the Galiano dried out – this caused big problems as he stood in the gloom.

The next day for Roy Castle the producer had prepared a surprise – ‘The Suzuki Children’ came on as a treat and formed a circle around Stephane playing their tiny violins. Stephane was very moved and wanted a souvenir photo – I rushed off and found a freelance who took the snap.

Stephane gave me his address and I posted it to him. Astonishingly he wrote back!

This was the beginning of a friendship of 20 years. I eventually wrote his biography, produced a one hour feature for BBC Radio 2 and directed a three hour DECCA DVD ‘A Life In The Jazz Century’ which was nominated for a BAFTA in 2002.

When we cleared Stephane’s Paris flat in 1997 the photo was still amongst his souvenirs.

Pebble Mill was full of surprises!

Paul Balmer

Paul Balmer on Pebble Mill at One

‘Paul Balmer on the ‘Pebble Mill at One’ Set – with cameraman Howard Dartnall and Link 125 camera, taken around 1983′

Note all the joins in the set! The daily design budget was probably a couple of hundred quid! The floor was also full of joins so the Vinten pedestals would jolt as they crossed these giving the familiar ‘Pebble Mill Bump!’ to any tracking shots.

(Paul Balmer http://www.musiconearth.co.uk/ http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Balmer)

Pebble Mill at One rehearsal

Photos by Robin Sunderland, no reproduction without permission

Photos taken by Robin Sunderland, not to be reproduced without permission. Cameraman Robin Sunderland took these photos of a Pebble Mill at One rehearsal shortly after completing his camera training in the 1980s. They feature presenters Marion Foster and Donny Mcleod, and a young looking Nick Patten (now Head of BBC Birmingham and Manchester Factual Programmes – Vision Productions) is floor managing. The cameramen are: Brian Cave, Jim Gray and Dave Lawson with Alan Duxbury doing ‘Captions’ up on camera 5. Please add a comment if you recognise other people in the photographs – thanks!