Tony Newbury

Photo of Tony Newbury and the late Geoff Watts, by Ian Collins, circa 1972. No reproduction without permission.

Photo by John Williams, circa 1974. No reproduction without permission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony Newbury died 20thDec 2018 at the Q.E. Hospital.

The following information about Tony is from John Duckmanton, who was a friend of Tony’s since the early 1970s.

Tony was an electronics engineer, he was in the armed forces before he joined the BBC. He worked at the BBC in the 1960s at Carpenter Rd and Broad St, and then at Pebble Mill. He was an inventive and very practical man who built a house in Evesham with Geoff Watts. This gave him a taste for building, and so he left the BBC and became a builder, building bungalows and houses in West Midlands. Tony was a very strong man. There was a fireplace in the Evesham house which needed to be taken upstairs, about 6 of his friends, including John came round and carried it upstairs, when it was up there Tony just put it under one arm and carried it into the bedroom, as if it weighed almost nothing. He was also famous for his tables. He felt that the legs were always in the wrong place, and therefore designed a table with no legs, which was cantilevered from the wall –and incredibly strong.

John remembers an occasion when Tony built a talkback box in the early days of wireless talkback. He was given a talkback in a flimsy plastic box with batteries that lasted around 30mins and asked to rebuild it. As with many things he over specced the modification, ending up with a much bigger box about the size of a house brick, but it was much more robust and with very long-lasting batteries. On another occasion the problem was an insufficiently bright programme countdown clock, when Tony had finished with it, there were complaints that it was too bright and causing reflections on everything!

When Tony worked at the studios in Broad Street he had an old mini whose sliding windows made it very easy to break into. Tony’s solution was to install a fuel switch under the front seat, so that if it wasn’t pressed the fuel supply would cut out after a few hundred yards. He would regularly go searching for it close to Broad Street, if it wasn’t where he’d parked it, as the thieves never found the fuel switch. Once he couldn’t find it, but the police found it a few days later, but said to him that they couldn’t get it started!

Tony had a kidney removed about 20yrs ago but carried on as strong as ever. Several years back, he had problems with the other kidney and needed regular dialysis, however he didn’t get on very well with dialysis and did not have as much as the hospital thought he should. He died from complications with his kidney condition just before Christmas.

Nick Owen on Inside Out

Here is a link to Inside Out from the Midlands including a piece presented by Nick Owen about local television/film industry, as it was & as it is now, plus going forward, despite Channel 4 not coming here. Nick is outside the new hospital at the Pebble Mill site talking about the ‘old’ days, the broadcasters, the independents and film makers, and showing various clips. He interviews Joe Godwin along with Roger Shannon, Steven Knight and Colette Foster, as well as some of my Media Production students at Birmingham City University – I’m also in it very briefly, blink and you’ll miss it! Worth a watch and here is a link to the iPlayer, only available for another 16 days The piece appears at about 10 minutes into the programme.

Goodbye to Pebble Mill

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

Goodbye Pebble Mill was transmitted on BBC1 in 2004, as a tribute to production at Pebble Mill, as the building closed prior to demolition. It is introduced by Toyah Wilcox and features highlights from Pebble Mill programmes and interviews with many stars.

Nationwide visits Pebble Mill

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/videos/583616358678065/?t=0

Tom Coyne shows the viewers of Nationwide around the brand new Pebble Mill studios in 1971, including TV Studios A and B, and Radio studio 3, the home of The Archers.

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Becky Harris

Photo of Becky Harris circa 1985. Thanks to Rani Randhawa for sharing the photo.

Becky Harris sadly died in December 2017, aged 83.

Becky joined the BBC when she was only 14, and worked for the Corporation for over 40 years. Even after she retired, she went back to work for the BBC part time! She worked in different departments over the years, starting in the post room at Carpenter Road, and including working for a Miss Bastipol (sp?) in Personnel, who was apparently very strict. She also worked in the Cash Office at Pebble Mill, as a clerk in Personnel, as secretary to the canteen manager, who I think was Stephen Davies, and for Children in Need. She was never reluctant to pick up new skills – Rani Randhawa in personnel ‘got her on the computer’. Becky knew everyone, and loved working for the Corporation, she would go to work even when she was ill, and regarded the BBC as her second home. She was particularly proud when photographed for the local paper with Ross King, to celebrate her service of 40 years.

Thanks to her daughter, Mandy Scholes, for sharing Becky’s story. Mandy herself worked for the BBC, because of Becky, who introduced her to the right people!

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

Rani Randhawa: ‘Kind, hard-working and a very funny lady – I worked with her for many many years and what she didn’t know about filing – wasn’t worth knowing.’

Marie Phillips: ‘Becky was quite simply not A Gem but THE GEM and a friend. She was unusual in loving filing and establishing systems. An absolute Master of the filing cabinet ! My Children in Need paperwork was immaculate in her hands;. she could lay her hands immediately on what was wanted. Becky and I had such fun. A loyal BBC stalwart dearly loved and missed.’

Stephen Davies: ‘I’ll remember Becky for the enormous pride and pleasure she took from her work, which she did brilliantly; and for being a wonderful friend and colleague to everyone she worked with at Pebble Mill.’