Month: December 2020

Christmas on STOIC: 1981

How was Christmas celebrated around Imperial College in years past? Very little remains in terms of records and archives of what happened or indeed what the campus actually looked like. We do have a glimpse of what people saw through the lens of STOIC and via the videotapes that remain. For the weeks leading up to Christmas of 1981 it was a time to announce that this particular year was the first that STOIC would be in full colour (better late than never). What better way for them to celebrate this, than to ‘make festive’ their very own logo. If anyone remembers the original BBC One moving logo, then this Imperial College version by its students gives a feel from the period. This only exists because it was archived on videotape and has remained unseen for these nearly 40 years. Interestingly, this would not now be possible to make. The shot was taken from the TV Studio window and that’s Mech Eng in the background. The Faculty Building would now block the entire view and besides, the college closed the studio anyway! The trees (now gone) of Dalby Court had genuine snow on them back in December 1981, so this gave a festive feel for a few days at least. The TV monitors in the Junior Common Room, Southside, Union and Weeks Hall all displayed “Christmas in Colour” prior to, and after STOIC’s transmissions on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1pm and 6pm.

STOIC’s Christmas 1981 didn’t end with just this logo. They were prompted to replicate Blue Peters very own Advent Crown. But don’t worry, this was far from being sensible and indeed is typical of “silly” students at their best. Martin Cowan was the main leader of silliness that year and he’s emailed me to say that he has fond memories of his time at Imperial. A lot of effort was put into this sequence including shots outside around the Queens Tower and in (what was) the workshop area of the college TV Studio on the main campus walkway. Even at the end of the programme there were still laughs to be had from the presenters. Oh well it was Christmas I guess and a time when we still had a Rector! The picture of the Christmas studio crew was taken at the end of the 1981 recording. Sadly though, two of that crew pictured here have since died, but their contributions can still be seen today in the saved STOIC videotape and film archive.

And finally, something a little different. Martin Cowan was also involved in a music group called SSIK. The last video we’re going to see was their contribution to the Christmas programme. In a somewhat complicated and psychedelic production that they filmed all around Imperial. Can you spot the obvious Albert Memorial and steps leading to the Albert Hall? Also. eagle-eyed might also spot the sequence from the top of the Union Building along with some interior corridor shots too. The editing was very involved when they were trying to match-up the music track to what had been shot outside. I was asked to help on the editing and to also add the colourising, and we might have gone a little over the top with that perhaps? Anyway, it’s a bit unusual and something to cheer us all up these 40 years later with various UK restrictions in place (Covid-19).

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and let’s hope it will be a better year in 2021.

Colin Grimshaw 16 December 2020


 

City and Guilds A to Z Rally: 1971

Some of the 8mm films that I re-discovered, and have since digitised in HD, are for the 1971 Christmas edition of TOPIC. This was the weekly news programme made by STOIC and shown in the Junior Common Room. There are several items that were featured in the programme that originated on 8mm film, some in colour and some not. As previously discussed, very few videotapes still exist from the early years of recording in the TV Studio. It was mainly the cost of the actual videotapes that prohibited us from keeping them for archiving. However, a way to keep something of a programme was to copy the audio onto a relatively cheap audio tape. Fortunately this was done for a few programmes made by STOIC the student TV service. I also have some extracts from various TOPIC programmes that I kept myself. However, the interesting thing about TOPIC from Christmas 1971 is that not only does the audio from the programme still exist, but the film inserts do too. So, I am recreating some of the items as they would have been seen some 50 years ago. The only difference is that many of the filmed items were actually shot in colour, even though we ran in black and white until 1979.

The first item to be recreated in HD is the City and Guilds Motor Club’s A to Z Rally. I have slight confusion over the date though. Dave Willis who you’ll hear on the soundtrack says Sunday 4th December, but the Sunday was the 5th. I’m assuming, from looking at the film, that this was indeed a Sunday because the roads look very quiet and that he was simply given the wrong date.

Either way, we know that it’s December 1971 regardless of the actual date. So here then is what would have been seen nearly 50 years ago, along with the original studio commentary and background sounds.

Colin Grimshaw December 2020


 

QEC Integration into Imperial? – 1981

FELIX Dated Friday 4 December 1981

In December 1981 and January 1982 STOIC’s news programme had reports on the proposed integration of Queen Elizabeth College in Kensington, INTO Imperial College. The main theme of the proposal was that Q.E.C would have been incorporated into IC as a fourth constituent college.

So, in December 1981 the college statement said; the bioscience part of Q.E.C is proposed to be physically moved to the IC site, which would require a new building (probably on the site next to new Chemistry). The physical sciences at Q.E.C would be “accommodated elsewhere within the university”. Joint planning and consultative committees would be set up to achieve a closer working relationship prior to the eventual integration. The timescale of the proposal is approximately five years, but major developments might be expected before that time. The proposal is in response to the problems of finance and student numbers facing London University (that Imperial was then part of). It is not clear however just what financial savings would be made, and no mention is made of this in the statement. Student numbers would presumably fall, although the new ‘super IC’ would be larger than it is now.

Of course this all came to nothing, here though are STOIC reports from 2 & 9 December 1981.

And on the first edition of News-Break for 1982, Nick Morton the ICU President came into the TV Studio. He spoke with Lawrence Windley and gave his view and opinion on the situation. He also corrected various misunderstandings on these proposals that were currently going around the college and also printed in Felix (the student newspaper). Students kept talking of this as a ‘merger’, but this was never the proposal, but rather an ‘integration’ of Q.E.C into Imperial College. Once again, the saved videotape archive of STOIC has rescued the news and voices of Imperial College, which would have otherwise been lost for ever.

Colin Grimshaw 2 December 2020