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Derek Brady (Read 4953 times)
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Derek Brady
Aug 16th, 2015, 4:07pm
 
The family of Derek Brady believe he worked as a cameraman at Lime Grove or Alexander Palace from 1955 to around 1960.

The family then think he moved back to Newcastle in 1960 to work as a cameraman for Tyne Tees. In 1966 it is thought he moved to London to work for ILEA studios in Battersea as a cameraman and retired in 1991.

Derek has died, aged 82. His family are trying to gather information about his BBC career as a cameraman.

If you have anything that might help the family, please post here or 'PM' "Admin".

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Re: Derek Brady
Reply #1 - Aug 20th, 2015, 7:42am
 
I am John Brady,
Dereks Brady's son.
Dereks Funeral is to be held at 12:30 on Wednesday 26th August at St Andrews Church, Church Road, Ham,Richmond, TW10 5HG and afterwards some drinks to remember dad at The Terrace Room  Petersham Hotel, Nightingale Lane,Petersham, Richmond Surrey TW10 6UZ from 1:30 to 4pm.
Anyone who knew dad is more than welcome to attend if the can make it.

We have had some lovely information given through various sources and now know dad worked at Lime Grove in December 1955 joining at the same time as Roy Lomas and Mike Pontin. He was possibly in Crew 3 or 8, was a keen sailor and member of Ariel Sailing Club at Teddington. Dad also worked at Alexander Palace, for a time on News, then possibly at  Riverside and Television Theatre. In 1959 Derek left The BBC and joined Tyne Tees Television as a cameraman until 1966 when he became Head of Cameras at Inner London Education Authority Battersea Studios. He stayed here until his retirement in 1990. We have had many replies from TV personnel still working in the business who remember my dad giving them their first job in TV whilst being Head of Cameras at ILEA.
I am in the process of writing up a more detailed account of dads TV history and am now a member of this forum.
Anyone with any memories of Dad is most welcome to message me here over the coming days, months and years.
John Brady
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Re: Derek Brady
Reply #2 - Aug 25th, 2015, 9:40am
 
Derek Brady Cameraman 1932-2015

Derek Brady was born in 1932 and brought up in Newcastle upon Tyne.
At 14 Derek Brady started his working life as a telegraph delivery boy around the quayside area of Newcastle upon Tyne, then progressing on to Telephone Lines and Exchange engineer for The GPO from 1950 to 1956. It was common in the early days of TV for technical operators to be recruited from The Post Office and his co-worker, Brian Ranger, was told about job vacancies in London at The BBC for trainee Technical Operators.
After passing his Training course at Evesham in March 1957 he became a Technical Operator working in Sound, Racks and Cameras based at Lime Grove. Even In those days you were expected to work across a multitude of skills!  He was quite embarrassed when working in sound and had to drop a mic cable down the front of Shirley Bassey’s evening gown (Shirley, by the way wasn’t fazed by the idea) Dad became more specialised in Camera operation and was part of Crew 3. Most junior staff at some point “condemned” to a stint at Alexander Palace in the news studio.

In 1959 he was transferred to BBC Manchester OB’s (He wasn’t keen on this as he complained about the rain) and from there he moved back to the North East with a job for the newly formed Tyne Tees Television.
He doubled his salary when he joined Tyne Tees and stayed there as a studio cameraman from 1959 to 1966. He was on a crew known as "The three Derek's" (Derek Flanagan senior cameraman, Derek Brady and Derek Nicholson).

My favourite story about dad comes from David Petrie, Senior Cameraman at Tyne Tees 1960’s
“Derek joined Tyne Tees sometime in the 1960 and at that point the Marconi Mk 3 camera was still in use in the studios. On the back of those cameras was a small raised panel which provided a ledge that, by accident, proved a useful place to keep a pencil for making notes on the shot cards.
The panel also contained a four-pin F & E (films & equipment) mains socket that allowed engineers a means of powering line-up equipment or even a soldering iron.
One day during rehearsal for a fairly serious religious discussion programme Derek had made some notes with his new silver propelling pencil and was returning it to its resting place on the camera, when by some accident he managed to insert it into the one live pin socket on the back panel – the air was blue when he received the full 240 volts, much to the consternation of the programme participants, who of course did not understand what had occurred.
Naturally the rest of the camera crew, ever supportive at times of need, never allowed him to forget it, with presents of wooden pencils on string, dummy plugs and helpful notices about dangerous live parts”


In 1966 we moved to Richmond Upon Thames and my father became Head of Cameras for the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) Battersea TV Studios making educational TV for the London schools. In its early days ILEA was well funded by the government and I remember my dad saying they had one of the first 1 inch VTR machines in the country and Betacam ENG cameras. There were 3 studios in Thackeray Road Battersea, 2 TV studios a Training Studio, Film and OB unit. As Head of Cameras, dad interviewed many budding trainee Cameramen whilst at ILEA in the 70's and gave them their first job in TV. During the 1980's he became more involved in training Directors and camera operators and also professional drama students from LAMDA and RADA in the craft of acting for TV, until 1990 when he retired from ILEA and Camerawork.

Travel was a passion for dad and since retiring in 1990 he had numerous holidays with his wife of 25 years Beth, including New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Antarctica.
He loved foreign travel and sometimes went on 3 holidays a year, right up to his passing away. They were inseparable during their time together and had so much fun.
Dad was instrumental in starting me off on the path of working in TV, I was a slightly "wild child" in the early eighties and dad steadied the ship, suggesting I followed him into the TV business and getting me into Ravensbourne College to complete an HND in TV operations specialising in Sound.
I ended up getting my dream job in 1986 at Thames TV Teddington in the sound department and have had a varied and successful career these past 30 years, having travelled the world, and still working on some of the most famous TV shows and feature films being made in the UK.
Dad's passion for the TV industry obviously ran deep; His grandson Ryan (my son) has also followed grandpa into TV and works as a camera assistant for the largest TV studios in London, Fountain Studios making many popular Light Entertainment shows. If Ryan carries onto retirement in the business it would equate to 3 generations of Brady's working in TV and spanning over 100 years!

My father sadly passed away on 14th August 2015
I would like to thank the multitude of stories and well wishes that have come in from BBC members who remember working with my dad. It has been a great comfort and we have managed to fill in the gaps and dates in his TV history. Are you in contact with anyone who knew my dad? Any of his history or anecdotes would be gratefully received? Do please get in touch with me

Derek Brady leaves behind his loving family wife Beth and children Anne and John. Grandchildren, Katherine, Charlotte, Sam, Imogen, Ryan and Lucy.

John Brady
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