Stuart Gandy – Page 12 – What Was Pebble Mill?

‘A’ Course at Wood Norton – 1970

The photo is of ‘A’ Course trainees at Wood Norton in July 1970. Note in the front row Pebble Mill’s Mark Kershaw, and Keith Brook (5th and 6th from the left). Mark worked at Pebble Mill as a cameraman, multi-camera director, series producer and deputy editor until the early 2000s. Keith left Pebble Mill in the early 1980s, and worked as a cameraman, vision mixer and director.

Thanks to Keith Brook (Scouse) for sharing the photo.

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

Stuart Gandy: ‘The engineers A course was the introduction to the BBC for all those engineers that started without having first gone to university. It was split into two parts each 6 weeks long. The first part was basic electronics needed to prepare us for broadcast engineering. The second part was operational and much more interesting. It was effectively the first time we had chance to get our hands on the equipment. Depending on which section you were destined for, you would probably be grouped off to a more specific area of training, such as TV ops, or radio etc. Most of the A course students would have stayed in the ubiquitous D block, back when I started back in 1979. An experience not to be forgotten!’

Alan Miller: ‘For what it’s worth on the second row from the left John Lunn went to Belfast , Richard Elkin to Glasgow from where he recently retired from the audio department and Rob Hastie also went to Glasgow but became a radio sports producer in London.’

What’s Your Story

These photos are from a 1988 children’s live drama, recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill, called What’s Your Story, with Crew 3. Included in the photos are Keith Salmon, James French, Derek Hallworth, Simon Bennett, Richard Stevenson, Adrian Kelly, Nigel Beaumont, Noel Paley, Karen Lamb and Dave Ballantyne.

What’s Your Story was a drama series with the storyline continued daily with ideas phoned in by viewers.

Christopher Pilkington was the exec producer, Richard Simkin the director and Richard Simon the producer. Dave Bushell was the lighting director.

The series featured: Sylvester McCoy (narrator), Bill Stewart, Susie Baster, Ben Benson, Tim Diggle, Lisa Rose (Laura), Stephen Tredre and Grace Wilkinson.

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

Stuart Gandy: ‘I remember this well. It was quite a challenge from an engineering point of view, but it worked well. I think this was the programme that I got my name on the credits. Engineers usually didn’t unless they were directly driving the gallery. In this case the credits included absolutely everybody that had been involved, however slight.’

Paul Grice: ‘I think it also held the record for the number of phonecalls generated at one time. As a fairly new Comms manager at the time it was my responsibility although I think Mike Day did the real work!’

Tales from the Archive – Princess Anne prefers Coca Cola!

Princess Anne touring the Pebble Mill studios

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

I had a trip down to the BBC Archives at Caversham on Thursday to get more of an insight into the history of Pebble Mill.

If you haven’t been to the BBC Archives, it’s a fascinating experience. You make contact by email, and you are assigned a researcher, who then gets back to you confirming whether or not they have files for you to search through. You then arrange a day when there is a spare desk, and go down to have a look through the files. All the information you’ve requested is on a trolley waiting for you.

The files themselves are pink card folders, carefully catalogued with a reference number and dates. The files I’d asked for were mainly full of memos, often from the Controller of the Midland Region, to other BBC Staff, including the Director General. Each file had been certified by my researcher as suitable for me to look through, i.e. not containing any very sensitive or confidential material. I suspect that the vast majority of the memos hadn’t been read since they were filed away!

One file I came across was all about the Opening Ceremony of Pebble Mill in 1971. There were some fascinating insights into the politics of the occasion. ATV had secured Princess Alexandra to open their Birmingham television centre, and Pebble Mill did not want to be upstaged! There were discussions with the Director General about whether to ask Prince Charles or Princess Anne. It was felt that a Royal from the younger generation was more appropriate for a forward looking broadcasting centre. Princess Anne was agreed upon, and then there was a strategy of how and when to make the approach. Letters flew backwards and forwards to Buckingham Palace, and, after the original date was rearranged to avoid the Princess’s holiday in Scotland, the 10th November 1971 was confirmed.

The timetable and itinerary for the visit were also interesting. The Princess was to arrive at midday in a Wessex helicopter and land at the Police Training Centre across the Pershore Road. A BBC car would then take her over to Pebble Mill, whilst the Royal car carried her Personal Standard. The Personal Standard would be raised up the flagpole on arrival. A bouquet was to be given to the Princess by the eight year old daughter of the Controller of the English Regions, Patrick Beech, following which the Princess would unveil the plaque in the foyer, which read:

“This Broadcasting Centre was opened by Her Royal
Highness the Princess Anne on 10th November, 1971.”

Lunch for 150 guests was to follow at 12.45, after which there was a tour of both the television and radio studios. A highlight of the tour was to be the presentation of a gold-minted Archers’ medallion to commemorate 21 years of the drama! Signing the Visitors’ Book was to end the visit, with Princess Anne’s helicopter departing at 14.50.

I also found a memo about the menu for lunch, the food was to consist of:

Melon with Parma ham,
Steak chasseur,
French beans,
Parmentier potatoes,
Norwegian Cream,
Cheese and coffee.

A rather inferior buffet lunch was available for members of the Press, with a special roast turkey dinner being laid on for staff in the restaurant. Members of staff had to fill out a form, requesting the lunch, and they were then issued with a special ticket.

lunch ticket from Gail Herbert

There was also a note about protocol on the day, about how to address the Princess, that she doesn’t smoke, and doesn’t want to be offered cigarettes, and about the fact that she would drink wine only when a toast was involved, and that otherwise she would like a soft drink, preferably Coca Cola! When people were to be presented to her, husbands would go first and shake hands, followed by wives, and ladies must always curtsey!

Vanessa Jackson

The following comments were added on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Stuart Gandy: ‘It was great positive time for Birmingham to get this great new broadcasting centre, and it became so well known thanks to PM @1, nationally too. sadly, it’s a very different story today.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘A fascinating piece of research, well done Vanessa. how far away it all seems now when the Mill was all sparkling new and clean and full of enterprising management and teams ready to make the place famous. As Stuart says what a different story for Birmingham today.’

Jean Thomas: ‘Yes I remember the day very well. Remember Prince Charles, Diana, Margaret Thatcher visiting also. John Smith the new Labour leader a lovely man, he passed away not long after his visit. Those occasions will always stand out to me.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘Re the Margaret Thatcher visit I remember ending my shift at about 4pm when she was in the building and being unable to get out of the front doors and guided by Security all the way round to the back followed by men in suits until I exited the North road. Overhead a sombre looking aeroplane was circling round and round on ‘secret security duty’ apparently according to a bobby on patrol.’

Jean Thomas: ‘I didn’t notice the plane. But special branch with their guns in the roof. I was at the front when she came in. You’ve guessed she headed straight for me. Cameras popping all over the place. I just wanted to disappear…’.

News Gathering Technology

Thanks to Pete Simpkin for making this cutting from the BBC in-house newspaper, Ariel, available.

The article from 1985 is about how the BBC Micro computer has been helping the editing and transmission of News stories shot on portable single camera, instead of on other formats, like reversal film.

The following information was added by the members of the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:

Stuart Gandy: ‘I remember it well. The BBC Micro was put to good use here and was a software control system that was in use at Pebble Mill well before many of the later systems that have become the norm over the years. The system was designed and built mostly by John Macavoy and Ian Sykes and the other engineers who were based in G41, who at that time mostly concentrated on the Post Prod systems. (I’m not sure if we even called it post prod then?)’

Keith Brook: ‘John Macavoy told me that when the ‘boffins’ at SP&ID talked to him about interfacing his system with the 1″ machines, all they could come up with was a system controlled by relays!! They were decades behind John. Brilliant man!!’ SP&ID stood for ‘Special Projects and something Department. It was a bunch of technicians who designed equipment in-house for the BBC. They made vision mixers, edit suites and stuff like that before the era of buying gear off the shelf. Eventually, I suppose the regime of the awful John Birt closed them down because they couldn’t afford to pay an accountant. They designed the original vision mixing desks in both studios. They also designed the successor to the ‘Studio A’ type desk that was installed at TC and Oxford Road. It was a disaster and kept cutting to black. Not good for live ‘Brass Tacks’.’

Ray Lee: ‘I think a confusion of 2 names for the department have been made. Originally when colour started there were insufficient engineers to equip all the studios. A specialist department was set up called P&ID which was for Planning and Installation Department (known by some as Panic and Indecision Department) . All the first generation colour equipment was made in house by the BBC’s own manufacturing unit, which was part of the Research and Development unit. Later I think after the Phillips report in the late 70’s some re-organisation was done and the P&ID was renamed SCPD. (Studio Capital Projects Department). By this time the BBC was buying in some commercially produced equipment, and quite a lot of BBC designs were licenced out to third party companies.’

Stuart Gandy: ‘As well as SCPD, which was mostly concerned with TV there was also a section called RCPD, which was Radio Capitol Projects. At Pebble Mill, a projects department was set up in the mid 80s and run by John Macavoy and Ian Sykes, together with other engineers who rotated through. They were responsible for many of the bigger home done projects as well as becoming very adept at making the scoring systems for most of the game and quiz shows we did. I can remember working on a few of these quiz systems which usually consisted of a computer, often the BBC micro connected to big buttons for the contestants to press and lamps to show the scores.’

Pebble Mill Rifle Range

Photo by Ben Peissel

In the basement of BBC Pebble Mill there was, apparently, a fully functional rifle range. Journalist, Maurice Blisson used to shoot there most nights after Midlands Today went off air around 7pm. Peter Gower remembers using the range in the mid 1980s, along with fellow film editor, Roger Mulliner. Nigel Mercer remembers competing, as part of a Central TV team, against some Pebble Mill Staff, at pistol shooting, at the Police Range, in about 1983. It was a fairly informal occasion. Steve Dellow remembers going down in the basement to see the room with the ‘echo plates’. And Stuart Gandy also remembers seeing the door to the rifle range, but never went in. He thinks it was near the photographic dark room.

Thanks to everyone who posted their memories of the rifle range on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group.

Ann Gumbley-Williams added the following comment on the Pebble Mill Facebook group: I was a member and used to shoot at the rifle range on the basement. When I was there it was run by Pip Allkins who was the son of Maisie Allkins who worked on the old telephone system where you had to plug the phones in to connect! Maisie, her husband John and Pip also helped on the BBC pantomimes that used top take place every year. They were put on in the theatre at Cadburys.