Tag: Jim Knights

African World Rally

Phil Thickett, African World Rally

Photo by Jim Knights, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is from the first of four World Rally series produced by BBC Pebble Mill.  It was taken on 13 April 1995 in Kenya.

Jim Knights (camera) and Gordon Nightingale (sound), from Magpie were part of the crew on all the World Rallies done at Pebble Mill.

The vehicle was a hired 4 X4 with a wireless intercom, so that Phil Thickett, the task force producer could to talk to other three crews. The four crews produced all the on road material for the World Rally series.

They would shoot during the day and then edited in Niarobi in local production house . The crews wre responsible for 10 mins of world wide rally news each day, which was sent by satellite to Reuters for onward distribution. The production was a co-production between the BBC and Formula 1 Promotions.

There were 10 rounds of the championship – this was the 3rd – the Safari Rally. Each Rally lasted three days. The crews were on location for four days, the first being a Press Day. The recce team came a week in advance.

There were four World Championship teams: Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Subaru, with rallies taking place in all continents.

Locations included: Monte Carlo, Sweden, Kenya, San Remo, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, UK, and Corsica.

The production team included Jacque Brown as the base PA, Phil Thicket and Andrew ? co-producers. The editing was done by Pete Shannon.

Midlands at Westminster in Strasbourg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo from Sue Robinson, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is of a ‘Midlands at Westminster’ shoot in Strasbourg. Featured, left to right are: Sarah Foley, Jim Knights (camera), Naomi Goldsmith (producer), Gordon Nightingale (sound).  Merrick Simmonds was the director.

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

Sarah Foley: ‘Was great fun! In the days of a full crew. Definitely very early 1990’s. Interesting, very busy, lovely weather, and snails in garlic butter are the things I remember!’

Peter Poole: ‘Mike Greatorex and I worked on ‘The Midlands at Westminster’ from its start. It was broadcast live from the Foyer. The director was John Taylor. I think the first presenter was David Davies. Other presenters include Peter Hobday, Steve Le Fevre, Michael Collie and Naomi Goldsmith. At a later date the programme moved to Studio B. Patrick Burns always produced high quality programmes. He also seemed to manage a very happy production team. I have many happy memories of working with you all.’

Golden Oldie Picture Show – ‘After the Gold Rush’ – photos by Gail Herbert



Photos by Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

These photos are of a location shoot for the 1980’s series: ‘Golden Oldie Picture Show’, presented by Dave Lee Travis.  The show was made up of specially shot music videos, created for hits which pre-dated the advent of commercial music videos.  John King was the executive producer.

This shoot was for the 1970 Neil Young hit, ‘After the Gold Rush’.

The first photo includes Gail Herbert, with the clipboard, who was the PA on the series. Camerman, Jim Knights, is on the right hand side in the white shirt. The third photo shows Gail testing out the racing car!

Please add a comment if you can identify the other people in the photos.

Regional Top Gear – Jim Knight’s photos

Photos by Jim Knights, no reproduction without permission.

These photos date from the early days of a regional Top Gear programme.  It was a film shoot somewhere in Europe.  The director is Derek Smith, the PA is Claire (surname not remembered), Jim Knights is the camerman.

It looks like a good time was had by all – and the crew was certainly well fed and watered, even if the crew car wasn’t very impressive!

crew trying it on with the PA

Regional News Opt-Out – photos by Jim Knights

Photos by Jim Knights, no reproduction without permission.

These photos are of a regional news opt out programme recorded in Berlin, and presumably about the Berlin Wall.  Jim Knights was the cameraman, and appears in most of the programmes.  The programme was probably produced at Pebble Mill, although it may pre-date the Pebble Mill years, and be from when the Birmingham newsroom was in Broad Street.

Please add a comment if you can identify other people in the photos, can date it, or add more information.