Another of those unusual artefacts from days at the Mill. These diaries were sold to the public and used as gifts over several years. We actually had a studio/shop at 80 New Street for a while where people could ‘walk in and talk ‘ on air, and buy goodies as well!
Pete Simpkin
Photo from Gill Powell, no reproduction without permission.
The photo shows sound recordists Lee Harrigan and Rob Taylerson, in the Pebble Mill car park making a recording of Carl Dolan’s car engine for when Eddie Grundy went stock car racing in ‘The Archers’.
Gordon Astley adds the following comment on the Facebook Page: ‘recording Archers FX was my first job when I joined Broad Street in’69. I believe we played them in on one of the 1st Mellotrons. John Lennon had the first. Do I remember correctly? I have dined out on it ever since .’
Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.
These stills are from the visit of the Goodyear airship to ‘Pebble Mill at One’.
Please add a comment if you can add any information, or know the approximate year.
Conal O’Donnell left the message on the Facebook page: ‘I think it was in the mid -eighties.I did a piece on it for WM.We sauntered over Coventry at about 2,500 ft -it was a wonderful way to fly in ideal conditions . I wouldn’t fancy it in anything other than ordinary weather tho’.One of the most bizarre aspects of it was the ground handling crew were all Vietnamese boat people.’
Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.
This invitation was given to Stephen Martin, who was then working creating sound effects on the Radio 4 drama series, ‘The Archers’. It dates from December 1988.
Thanks to Stephen Martin for making the invitation available.
Archers' Studio, circa 1971
photo by Philip Morgan
This event was told to me about Radio Studio 3. This was the drama studio made famous by ‘The Archers’. One morning when the studio door was unlocked it would not fully open. This was due to several chairs that had been pushed against the door from the inside. This door was the only entrance so it’s a mystery how this happened. This may be a tall story told to new BBC staff. I can’t remember who told me. Has anyone else heard this story? I found another story about this studio on this website http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4602 .
This other event happened to me. It was the late 1970s and I was working alone one evening in the dubbing theatre. A little later Brian Telford came in with a tape recorded earlier in a village church. This was a recording of organ music for The Archers. The tape had a high frequency noise on it. Brian wanted to filter this noise using the dubbing theatre’s graphic equaliser. As we listened a very loud crash could be heard when the music had finished. But it sounded very strange, as if it was backwards. I played the tape backwards and the sound of a large door being slammed shut was heard. Brian said he was unaware of any such sound when the recording was made. I can’t remember what happened to the tape or if any investigations followed this event. The high frequency noise was probably due to RF induction. That is the microphone cable acting as an aerial and picking up a signal from a radio transmitter. If the church was near to the Droitwich transmitter this could happen. Maybe Brian faked the tape and it was all a practical joke. If this was the case he did a great job. But I feel this was unlikely. I’m very sceptical about the paranormal but can’t explain how this backwards door slam was recorded. Anyone have any ideas?