Thanks to Alec’s son, Michael for sharing these photos. They are of cameraman Alec Robson’s retirement party at BBC Pebble Mill. Alec sadly died in 2020.
L-R: Jim Dumighan, Glyn Elledge, Ruby Robson, Alec, Fred Hale (house services), Don Cooper in glasses on the right.
L-R Chris Howard (studio sparks), Alec Robson, Keith Moreton
Alec Robson with Derek Price
Copyright, Keith Warrender, no reproduction without permission
Here is a photo from Keith Warrender of the landing of the Harrier in 1982, during an episode of Pebble Mill at One. It was one of director John Smith’s episodes. You’ll see the new club building visible on the right of the picture, which hadn’t been open long. Keith thinks he must have popped in to the Club for a lunchtime drink after taking this picture on an off-shift day from TAR (Technical Apparatus Room).
Marian Foster with Steve Weddle
Today [8th April 2020] is Steve Weddle’s funeral and from a distance I mourn the shocking devastating loss of a lifetime friend. In 1976 we were both new researchers, desk to desk in the hairy scary Dobson days of PM@1. All the producers and directors were male and all the researchers except Steve were female – that’s what it was like in those days. Never macho, Steve quickly became one of the girls to the extent that his name was on the office PMT wall-chart.
First and foremost, Steve was fun. He was of course talented and creative, wacky and wonderful and super sociable but he also had great empathy and kindness and was friends with one and all. He gave my daughter her TV break and passed on his Spurs programmes to my grandson.
Recently we had two lovely holidays at the Exotic Marigold Hotel in Menorca. Steve, a great holiday companion, suggested that we should travel as Hinge and Bracket.
Post Beeb we met up every month with our fellow Sagalouts to wine and dine down Memory Lane. In January we celebrated his 70th birthday. In February Steve talked about his latest book, not an autobiography exactly but drawing on his life in television.
That would have been a good read.
Stephanie Silk
Photo from Susi Lightfoot, no reproduction without permission
Here is the original On The House production team, circa 1987. Included left to right are: Stephen Lockwood, Andy Meikle, Steph Silk, Bob Davies, Susi Lightfoot, Carol Sparrow & Jayne Owen. It looks like it was taken in the On The House, House, in the back garden of Pebble Mill.
Thanks to Susi Lightfoot for sharing the photo.
Daytime Live special 1990, ‘My Name is Jane’, audience photo. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.
The whole country is in a state of shock, but shock associated with the sudden loss of losing someone close concentrates the mind wonderfully and I recognise all the comments that have poured out on Facebook regarding Steve Weddle’s death. They do tick all the boxes. This is what happened to me when our son had a stroke and ended up in Worcester hospital fighting for his life. As a therapy I used the time to write, “Shoot First No Ordinary life,” the story of my BBC career at Pebble Mill which many of you have read.
What a character Steve was and yes taken far too young, for he had much more to offer this life. There were things about him I could never get my head round, like rushing off to London with only the flimsiest of reasons to find time with Hot Spurs or some name like that. There were his books of course, and BBC pensioners meeting every month will certainly not be the same without him, especially as he always dominated the Raffle presentations. But there was much more to this larger than life character than meets the eye, especially for me personally.
As editor of Daytime Live behind all the facade and bonhomie was someone who was deep, showed great courage in his work, often moving where many ‘feared to tread’, even prepared to gamble. Continue reading