chrism wrote on Today at 8:49am:


I'm pretty sure I worked with (rotund) Mike Cotton on OB's 10+ years ago. He certainly gave me a great welcome when we bumped into each other on a large OB.


Thank you very much for the excellent update to my query.

Bill Jenkin wrote on Today at 10:36am:


Thank you,
Yes Peter Levers spent a lot of time mentoring me.
John Christie, we got on very well, had some great operational chats.

Thank you very much for the excellent update to my query.

chrism wrote on Today at 8:49am:

Thanks for the info

Wonder how this will sit with Nicky Morgan's response to the DCMS Select Committee ...?

Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan has said she is “open minded” about scrapping the BBC’s licence fee and turning it into a subscription service.

Speaking at a DCMS Select Committee meeting, Morgan was asked if she would consider scrapping the licence fee and turning the BBC in to a subscription service as a possible policy for the party’s election manifesto.
Morgan replied: “I’m open minded and I will have decisions and listen to evidence on all sides. What I haven’t seen is any evidence, either way, what a subscription-based system would do in terms of the revenue.  The license fee last year raised £3.7 billion for the BBC,” continued Morgan. “They obviously have other sources of income as well ... so I would need to understand, if anything were going to change, what that would do to their income.  The UK broadcasting sector is undoubtedly changing.  I think we all know from streaming services and everything else, the way the younger generation consumes services, it is going to change.”

I think the Peter on crew 14 at that time may have been Peter Levers. He later became a floor manager. He also went to the Topical Production Centre. After retirement he went back to his home town Bodmin. I had heard that he had passed away but can't be 100% certain.
Th John in question and this just a guess might have been John Christie, he had his panning handle vertical - something encouraged by Jim Atkinson (crew 5). John Christie had spent a lot of his time on Crew 5. He later went freelance.

Hi,

I was on Crew 14 for a number of years as one of the Boom Ops, along with John Hurley.
Dave Mutton sadly passed away some years ago. He was one of the great Senior Cameramen and it was a wonderful crew to be on as there was a great relationship between sound and cameras. I think Keith Salmon went to Pebble Mill.

The SA1 (Sound Assistant 1) on the Crew was Mike Cotton. He went on to work for the Topical Programme Unit in his later years with the BBC.  We kept in touch after his retirement, but sadly he died a couple of years ago.

Ian Pennifold's funeral service will be at The Vale Crematorium, on Thursday October 31st at 1.30pm.
Dress code: Casual (socks and sandals optional); Dad hated suits so please wear something comfy.
No flowers by request, donations for Riverside Surgery, Evesham, may be sent to E Hill & Son Funeral Directors, Pershore. WR10 1HZ.

Very sad news. I also knew Ian through both hospital radio and BBC, but regrettably lost touch over the years.

"Government must help BBC fund TV licences for over-75s, say MPs"

So says The Guardian's report on "The House of Commons digital, culture, media and sport select committee"

More, here.

Fine-let's see what it's like...especially as most people would agree that it's a pretty good bit if kit anyway and does NOT NEED much FIXING.
What I suspect might happen is that the name will change. To what?...answer- BBCVision?
Sounds and Vision--get it?