Eric Wise – What Was Pebble Mill?

34 years since Torvill and Dean’s Gold Medal

With the opening of the 2018 Winter Olympics today, it is 34 years since the Pebble Mill crew brought Torvill and Dean’s Gold Medal winning performance of Bolero to millions of viewers. The action was caught on Eric Wise’s single camera, when the Yugoslav pictures proved disappointing. Besides Eric, the team included Roger Guest on sound; Bill Youel, vision recording; and John Allinson, Engineering Manager.

The article above is from the internal BBC newsletter, Midlands News from March 1984. It gives the audience for the broadcast as 17.5 million, whilst the BBC today was listing it as 24 million.

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

Marie Phillips: ‘I remember this. I had tickets for their Show that night and was able to get them signed. I asked if they would be performing Bolero and Christopher Dean said “You will have to wait and see !” and of course, they did – wonderful.’

James Lund: ‘”Bad luck had led to disappointing coverage from the Yugoslav’s six rink-side cameras” – seems a strange way to describe things. Is it put diplomatically? Does anyone have further details? I assume the Pebble Mill camera was only for UK viewers, and not fed back to host broadcaster, JRT.’

Pebble Mill Camera Crews

Photo from Karen Lamb, no reproduction without permission.

The photo shows the Pebble Mill camera crews and dates from the early 1990s, probably from the leaving do of Robin Sunderland, and perhaps Dave Wilkins.

Included are:

Back row, Phil Wilson, Doug Smith, Noel Paley, James French, Adrian Kelly, Don Cooper, Dave Lawson (far left)

Middle row, Karen Lamb, Eric Wise, Dave Farline, Dave Wilkins, Dave Ballantyne,

Front row, Keith Salmon, Robin Sunderland, Andy Payne, John Moorcroft.

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GTC Award to Pebble Mill Camera Department

Copyright resides with the original holders no reproduction without permission

This was the presentation of the GTC’s (Guild of Television Camermen) TiCA (Television Cameraman’s Award) to the Pebble Mill camera department for Pebble Mill at One circa 1979.

The names are as follows:

Back (L to R): Doug Smith, Robin Sunderland, Bob Meikle, Don Cooper, Paul Woolston, Tony Wigley, Phil Wilson, Mike Solomons (GTC Chairman from Thames TV), Brian Cave, Jim Gray, Bob Hubbard, Chris Allen, not sure (perhaps Phil Sidey?), Jack Rooke, Keith Salmon, Dave Lawson, Dave Doogood, Dave Wilkins, Pete Edwards, Tim Konewko, Bhasker Solanki.

Kneeling down (L to R): Barrie Foster, Keith ‘Scouse’ Brook, Roger Mulliner, Dave Ballantyne, John Couzens, Eric Wise

(Thanks to James French for providing the names, Annie Gumbley Williams for sending me the photo and to Roger Mulliner for sharing it in the first place).

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

Richard Stevenson: ‘That is an amazing picture! I have never seen so many cameramen in ties! Brilliant.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘They all look so young and thats because they were – then. hah.’

Bob Bishop: ‘There are no women in the photograph, would that be the same today.’

Keith Brook (Scouse): ‘We were told to dress up by management. Bhaskar Solanki, far right (physically, not politically) went on to be a very, very successful news cameraman and is now a senior producer. Good for him!! I should also mention that I’m the only one wearing a waistcoat. Even then, standards were sloppy!!’

Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Olympics

This article is from Pebble Mill News, March 1984. It tells how a Pebble Mill single camera crew comprising of Eric Wise, Roger Guest, Bill Youel and John Allinson, brought Torvill and Dean’s, Bolero performance to 17.5 million viewers of the Winter Olympics, when the six Yugoslav rink-side cameras gave disappointing coverage!

The second article is about Nigel Pargeter’s drinking habits in The Archers.

Thanks to Robin Sunderland, for sharing this newsletter, and keeping it safe in his loft for many years!

Here is a link to a clip on YouTube of Torvill and Dean’s gold medal winning performance. Notice that consists of just one shot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcCj0xfO3H8

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Stuart Gandy: ‘Wow, how amazing that Robin has still got this after all these years. Funny thing is memories come flooding back, I can remember myself and my engineering collogues standing in TAR reading that very article back in 1984 and thinking what a coup it was that a Pebble Mill team got this coverage. Good stuff.’

Superstars – photos James French

Photos by James French, no reproduction without permission.

The photos were taken during a recording of Superstars in Nottingham in 1983. This was a London production, but used Pebble Mill scanners, if the recording was in the Midlands and a PM truck was available – in this case CM1.

Crew 3 was on CM1 at the time. The cameras are Philips LDK 5s with Schneider lenses.

The pics show:

Dave Ballantyne sitting on the Elemac dolly with, I think, George Stevenson tracking him.
Dave again, sitting on a Vinten Kestrel crane (though you can’t see it)
Dave again, Bob Meikle and Eric Wise relaxing at lunchtime
James French, standing on the platform of the Moonshot hoist, shown in the last pic.

Crew 3’s Supervisor was Keith Salmon but he was on leave, so Dave B was acting.

Thanks to James French for sharing the photos.