George Fairbrother

In July 1957, BBC News reported that a strike by regional busmen had turned nasty.

"…There have been violent scenes around Britain as the strike by busmen in the English regions enters its fourth day. In some instances strike-breaking drivers were attacked and vehicles vandalised, including those with passengers on board. In Derbyshire one driver, Basil Flint, had to be taken to hospital after being hit in the stomach with an iron bar. Another driver, Harry Davies, said he was overpowered and pulled from his bus on the road between Hemsworth and Wakefield in Yorkshire…"

Mr Davies told the BBC that, having been dragged out of his bus, he was punched in the face and kicked in the stomach, and while he was lying on the ground, his attackers smashed the bus lights and windows.

A spokesman for the Transport and General Workers’ Union distanced the union from the violence, although perhaps not all that convincingly, stating, "I have no comment on that because I have heard it only from the Press but I am sure our members are not involved…"

Around 100 000 bus employees from provincial companies were demanding a one pound per week pay rise, however employers were offering three shillings, which, they argued, in light of recent pay rises, was keeping up with cost of living increases.

Unfortunately for the strikers, their actions appeared to have little impact. Train travel increased by 25%, there was an upsurge in carpooling, and many employers provided coaches to shuttle their workers to and from railway stations.

The Manchester Guardian reported,

"...The busmen's strike erupted into outbreaks of violence in towns and villages all over Britain yesterday but it had little effect on industry. Factories, offices, and mines were virtually fully staffed almost everywhere..."

The Guardian also took a strong editorial line against the violence;

"…The men employed to drive and conduct provincial buses have the right of all free men to withdraw their labour if they want to, but anyone who wishes to take a coach or lorry load of passengers through a strike-bound town has an equal right to go about his business peaceably. The violence with which the busmen's pickets in some places have tried, and in some cases succeeded, in driving other people off the road is not only unlawful but alien to every tradition of decent trade unionism. A strike gives no man or group of men a licence for banditry…British trade unions have a long and honourable record of conducting industrial disputes without violence, and it is as much in the interests of trade unionism as of the rest of society that attempts to use violence during a strike should be put down with the utmost firmness..."

Come with me back in time to the lovely leafy north London streets of Muswell Hill, Crouch End and Hornsey in 1959, if you look closely we can even see where we left our Tardis disguised as a police box. In this film we see public transport and both private and commercial vehicles going about their business as well as people in the streets. Something I found interesting was the vehicles including a bus, failing to give way to the couple waiting at the crossing. Who said that motorists where more polite in the past.

In 1971, Columbia Pictures commissioned a cinema adaptation of the hit BBC sitcom, Dad's Army. It was directed by Norman Cohen, and written by the television series creators and writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft. The producer was John R Sloan, whose credits also included The Odessa File, No Sex Please, We're British, To Sir With Love, and Force 10 From Navarone.

The production was not an altogether happy experience for the television ensemble. Perry and Croft were frustrated that the director failed to understand that the comedy was as much in the reaction as the funny line, and the cast, Ian Lavender recalled, were upset by the treatment of the 'back row' actors, who formed the rear ranks of the Home Guard parade during the television episodes. Although they rarely had a line, the same actors were used from one series to the next, so were considered part of the cast. For the film, they were classed as extras and treated accordingly.

Mrs Pike, who was played for television by Janet Davies, was recast with Liz Fraser, who had a higher cinema profile and a 'less homely' image, against the objections of Perry and Croft and the disappointment of the cast. Another bone of contention was the location; the exteriors were shot in and around Chalfont St Giles rather than the series regular location of Thetford.

John Laurie was injured while handling a horse being used in the film, and perhaps reflecting the general mood of the cast and deteriorating relationship with the production crew, Arthur Lowe drove the prop master mad by complaining incessantly about the weight of his pistol. (He ended up taking matters into his own hands, found a local toyshop which he entered in full uniform, and purchased a plastic one).

The end result performed well at the box office, and there was talk of a sequel, Dad's Army and the Secret U-Boat Base, possibly to star Laurence Olivier, but this never eventuated.

Director Norman Cohen went on to direct three Confessions sex comedies, which probably made him one of the most financially successful directors in 1970s British Cinema. He passed away in 1983, aged 47.

He cited The Royal Train as his favourite television episode of Dad's Army, and in an interview in The Express, recalled a memorable comic caper involving a runaway train and some frantic work on a pump-trolley;

"…We didn’t do health and safety much in those days and it was a bit hazardous at times…At one point, the train seemed to be getting perilously close. We weren’t sure the driver could see us and I remember Bill (Pertwee) suggesting that if it got any nearer it would be best to jump clear…"

In this audio short, supplied by author and television historian Oliver Crocker, Frank Williams remembers arriving on location for the 1971 feature film, and marvelling that Chalfont St Giles seemed not to have changed a bit since the war…

Remembering two pioneering black British actors, who passed away within days of each other in 2020.

Earl Cameron (left) was born in Bermuda in 1917. A merchant mariner, he began acting on stage during World War Two and made his film debut in 1951, in Pool of London, which was possibly the first British film to show a mixed-race romance. He created a significant body of work in television, and was reportedly the oldest surviving cast member of Doctor Who. He was awarded the CBE in 2009. The Guardian described Earl Cameron as Britain’s first black film star. In a 2017 interview, he said; “I never saw myself as a pioneer. It was only later, looking back, that it occurred to me that I was.” He passed away on July 3rd, 2020, aged 102. Louis Mahoney (right) enjoyed a long and varied career, appearing in movies Cry Freedom and Captain Phillips, and TV shows including Fawlty Towers, Yes Prime Minister and Doctor Who. He was born in 1938 in Gambia and initially trained as a doctor before turning to acting . He was one of the first black actors in the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s and helped to establish Performers Against Racism in the 1980s, to campaign against apartheid in South Africa. He was a tireless campaigner for racial equality in his own profession, as a member of the Equity Afro-Asian Committee and as co-creator of the Black Theatre Workshop. London’s Royal Court Theatre remembered him as “a brilliant actor and the most wonderful human being; a devoted activist and extraordinary performer”. He passed away on June 28th, 2020, aged 81.

A masterclass here from late British actor and comedian Tommy Godfrey (1916-1984), in cockney rhyming slang. Or as Giovanni, played by George Camiller, might have put it; "cock-eyed slanging rhyme". Three series of Mind Your Language, made by London Weekend Television, ran through 1977-79, and there was a revival for one series in 1986, a total of 42 episodes. It was set in a night school teaching English to immigrants.

Although later controversial for its portrayal of racial stereotypes, the series enjoyed massive success internationally, and was a particular hit in South Asia.

Also featured in this clip are the late Barry Evans, playing the teacher, and students Albert Moses (1937-2017), George Camiller and Kervork Malikyan.

Remembering Tommy Godfrey, born June 20th, 1916; passed away 24th June, 1984.

He began his career as a dancer and comedian, worked in variety and panto, and went on to create a memorable body of work in British television and film. His first cinema role was in Passport to Pimlico (1949), and he later found lasting popularity and fame in iconic 1970s sitcoms Love Thy Neighbour and Mind Your Language.

Bill Brand was a 1976 political drama series in 11 parts, written by Trevor Griffiths and produced by Thames Television. Starring Jack Shepherd in the title role, it tells the story of a first-time Labour MP, Brand himself, a revolutionary socialist, elected to a northern constituency where a large amount of local employment relies on the ailing textile industry.

Bill Brand, a polytechnic lecturer in liberal studies, soon finds himself at odds with his old-school, working-class, socially conservative constituency party, and with the governing Labour Party over trade, social welfare and defence policy. He proves that he is not afraid to defy the party whips, and vote and act in accordance with his conscience and beliefs, particularly in support of his constituency textile workers. He aligns himself with a far-left party faction, the Journal Group, but at times seems even further to the left than they are.

Political integrity aside, Brand is not a totally sympathetic character; he is brazenly conducting an extramarital affair and seems aggrieved that his wife (Lynn Farleigh) is unwilling to sustain the façade of domestic stability for the purpose of his public image and for his standing within the local Party.

According to BFI online;

"...Bill Brand (ITV, 1976) was an epic attempt to lay bare the nature of political power in the UK, and more specifically to analyse if, and how, the socialist struggle could be furthered by the parliamentary Labour movement…Griffiths examines the political rifts within the Labour party, and, with uncanny foresight, dramatises the ideological conflicts that would eventually lead to the formation of the SDP..."

"...Bill Brand is a breath-taking series. Transmitted during the boiling summer of 1976, at peak-time between World in Action and News at Ten, it engaged with contemporary politics in a dramatic way, but remained consistently intelligent, and far from talking down to its viewers, assumed that they were a vital part of the political processes described, and as committed to understanding how things might therefore improve…"

There is a very strong supporting cast, including Geoffrey Palmer, Nigel Hawthorne, Rosemary Martin, Cherie Lunghi, Colin Jeavons, Allan Surtees and Alan Badel.

One of the most interesting cameos is from Arthur Lowe, a subtle and poignant performance as the exhausted and ill Labour Prime Minister, Arthur Watson, in the dying days of his leadership and on the verge of retiring on health grounds. Harold Wilson had unexpectedly resigned three months before the series went to air, but after it had been written.

When Bill Brand was transmitted, Lowe was on tour with the stage production of Dad's Army.

Mutiny On The Buses - released in 1972.

It's worth remembering that the first of the three On The Buses movies in 1971 was brought in for under 100 000 pounds and made back around 28 times its budget. It was the top grossing British movie of 1971, technically outgrossing that year's James Bond, Diamonds Are Forever, although in fairness the Bond movie wasn't released until the end of the year.

In June 1955, an unofficial strike involving seafarers was, according to BBC reporting, leaving thousands of passengers stranded owing to sailing cancellations in Southampton and Liverpool. Strikers’ demands included a 44 hour week, down from 70, improved accommodation and amenities on ships, and union shop stewards onboard. The action was not supported by the National Union of Seamen.

The influence and sustainability of the strike action became dependant on the participation of the 1200-strong crew of the Queen Elizabeth. Her Cunard sister, Queen Mary, had been caught up in the dispute and was subject to a last minute cancellation as 49 of her crew had joined the strike.

The BBC Home Service reported;

“…Striking seamen have failed to delay the sailing of the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner which left Southampton on schedule this afternoon. The 83,673 ton Cunard liner set sail for New York at 1358 (BST) with a full crew and 1,300 passengers despite last minute attempts to persuade her staff to join the industrial action…Efforts have continued in vain to gain the support of the QE's crew, including the staging of a full-scale strike meeting, attended by more than 500 strikers, in close proximity to the vessel…”

Having failed to disrupt the Queen Elizabeth’s schedule, the strike lost momentum, and seamen began returning to work, with action officially over by July 1st.

Cunard issued a statement to the effect that the Queen Elizabeth was a ‘happy ship’, although the company was not quite so happy with the 49 crewmembers who had forced the Queen Mary’s cancelled departure; all had their contracts terminated and were blacklisted from the company.

The Queen Elizabeth was retired in 1968, after 28 years of service. The dramatic circumstances of her 1940 maiden voyage were explained in the 1997 ABC Australia / Channel Four series, Liners: Ships of Destiny, with some input from legendary maritime historian John Maxtone-Graham.

Remembering actor and playwright Frank Williams, who passed away June 26th, 2022, just short of his 91st birthday. He is remembered with enormous fondness by generations of fans as Timothy Farthing, the perpetually exasperated Vicar in the BBC’s Dad’s Army; on television, radio, stage, and in two feature films separated by almost half a century.

This is a clip from our complete tribute episode which was released to coincide with the first anniversary of Frank Williams' passing. His friend, leading television historian, author, podcaster and publisher, Oliver Crocker, joined us to share some personal memories of this incredibly talented, generous and exceedingly kind gentleman.

In this clip we sample some very special audio of Mr Williams himself, reminiscing about the adventures and misadventures of a working actor as a film extra, on live television, and in Dad's Army. This was part of a longer segment on the original episode, courtesy of Oliver's personal archive.

Find the full episode here, with additional notes and links to further reading, viewing and listening.

"...The most marvellous set of people, a real cross section of everybody from old Etonians to people who'd just been let out of prison..."

This is possibly one of the best interviews with Brian Wilson - thanks to the legendary 'Whispering' Bob Harris OBE (Old Grey Whistle Test).

Bob Harris himself remains active on social media and currently hosts a country music programme of BBC Radio 2.

The Old Grey Whistle Test was a music programme that aired on BBC2 from 1971-88, and which looked beyond current chart positions and singles. Bob Harris hosted from 1972-79, and says this on his official website;

"...It was way before the advent of multi-channel TV, digital broadcasting and the internet. ‘Whistle Test’ was unique and groundbreaking, an album music magazine programme, broadcast live on BBC 2 forty- five weeks of the year...The mix was fabulous. We featured unique live studio sessions, interviews, location reports and concerts and made regular trips across the Atlantic to the cradle of rock ‘n’ roll – Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and New York - to make films and capture performances from some of the greatest rock stars in the world..."

Broadcasting legend Bob Harris has announced he is leaving BBC Radio 2, weeks after revealing his prostate cancer has spread to his spine.

The DJ, who has been on the airwaves since 1970, told listeners he was "so sorry that my health issues are forcing me to step down, but I realised that I must concentrate now on getting myself well again".

"This has been one of the hardest decisions of my entire life," he added.

Kevork Malikyan (Born June 2nd, 1943) celebrates his birthday this week.

Kevork Malikyan is a British-Armenian actor, born in Diyarbakir. He spent seven years training for the priesthood in Istanbul, and then studied acting and teaching at Rose Bruford College, South London. His first major TV series was Mind Your Language for LWT, and he also starred in a number of major cinema releases. He was later prominent in The Final Cut, last series of the original British production of House of Cards

(Top Image: Thanks to 70s Time Machine)

Porn Yesterday was a 1974 episode of Steptoe and Son, from the final series. Harold (Harry H Corbett) picks up an antique ‘What the Butler Saw’ machine on his rounds and brings it home to Oil Drum Lane. He is delightedly running the images of vintage pornography through the viewfinder, until he recognises his father featuring in a scene that also involved a woman and bath full of milk. Suddenly it’s not quite as much fun, and Harold is worried that any scandal might affect his already faltering chances of getting into the golf club.

"What my poor mother must have gone through. She didn’t know about this, did she?"

“Course she did, that was her sister in the bath.”

“Auntie Rose???”

“They were desperate times. Everything we had was in pawn.”

“So were you!”

Although being played largely for broad comedy with some great one-liners, the writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, could still bring out some intense dramatic performances with rapid changes in mood, a technique later used to great effect by John Sullivan in Only Fools and Horses.

Addressing Harold’s disgust, Albert Steptoe (Wilfrid Brambell) recalls the economic conditions of the time, the poverty and starvation, and how desperate young people were being exploited and misled with the offer of a fiver for being in what they believed would be legitimate films to be shown at the Gaumont. At times, the studio audience seems at a loss as to how to react. When Albert is reduced to tears, there is a brief laugh. The audience also laughs when Albert relates that poor Auntie Rose had died of pneumonia two weeks after being immersed in the milk bath.

There’s a happy ending; a deal is done with the local Vicar to make the machine available for the church jumble sale and split the profits. Albert becomes a celebrity in the parish, signing autographs for which the Vicar cheerfully charges two shillings each for church funds.

Steptoe and Son came about as a result of Galton and Simpson being offered a series of  ten 30 minute slots for the BBC’s anthology, Comedy Playhouse, with total creative freedom. One episode, The Offer (1962), featured father and son rag and bone men, and was innovative in that actors, rather than variety comics, were cast in the principal roles. Harry H Corbett, at that point seen as a serious dramatic actor with enormous promise, surprised and delighted Galton and Simpson with his interpretation of his role, especially crying real, hopeless tears at the end.

Steptoe and Son ran from 1962-65 and then again 1970-74; a total of 57 episodes. During the early run of the series, Harry H Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell were such big stars they co-headlined the 1963 Royal Variety Performance with the Beatles.

One of the interesting things to note about the series is the intensity of the acting through long, dialogue-heavy scenes, and with very few detectable mistakes. Retakes were frowned upon in those days due to the expense, and so as not to ruin spontaneity with the studio audience. It’s interesting to compare with Dad’s Army, for example, which retains obvious dialogue stumbles, continuity mistakes and goofs right the way through.

It’s also interesting to imagine Steptoe and Son without the audience laughter. (We get some idea from the feature films). Albert takes vindictive delight in derailing any attempts by Harold to live a life of his own, while Albert is, at times, cowering in fear in the face of Harold’s potentially violent temper. The comedic aspects aside, it would actually make a dark, confronting and occasionally frightening kitchen sink family drama.

One of the more interesting casting choices for Henry VIII (aside from Sid James), would have to be Ray Winstone for a 2003 Granada/WGBH mini-series. Winstone made the conscious decision to speak in his natural voice, and played Henry as a boisterous East-London crime-boss with a hint of fading mid-70s Elvis charisma.

He had some very strong support in terms of additional casting; Helena Bonham Carter as Anne Boleyn, David Suchet as Cardinal Wolsey, Mark Strong as the Duke of Norfolk, Assumpta Serna (Sharpe) as Katherine of Aragon, Emilia Fox as Jane Seymour, Emily Blunt as Catherine Howard, and Sean Bean as Robert Aske.

There were a few classic quotes and moments; Norfolk is not confident in portrait artist Hans Holbein’s ability to capture Anne of Cleves ('You know these artistic types, unreliable!'). During negotiations following the Pilgrimage of Grace, King Henry calls Robert Aske 'a cheeky sod', and when Thomas Cromwell (Danny Webb) turns up for his execution, the young, nervous axeman assures Cromwell that he had been practicing all night, then buries the axe twice in Cromwell’s back (complete with sound effects and audience reaction) before finally managing slice off his head, to a big cheer from the crowd.

It was originally to be written by Alan Bleasdale (Boys from the Blackstuff) but it appears that creative differences with the producers and early funding uncertainties led to him being replaced by Peter Morgan.

The series won an International Emmy for most outstanding television movie or mini-series.

Could you imagine a fleet of buses gliding around the streets of London silently running on electricity, and then replacing them with diesel buses.... Never happen you would say! Fictitious you would say! ...