Category: Events

The Great Tartan Race: 1973

Well, who remembers the Great Tartan Race?  Other references that I’ve found also called it the Great Tartan Barrel Race, either way it seemed to involve beer! This news item from STOIC’s 8 June 1973 TOPIC programme is missed from the card index because it was shot well before the index was started. The original videotape is long gone, so this item would have been forgotten. But, once again I found this gem in the collection of 8mm films that I’m currently digitising. If you remember, film was the only way for the programme to provide coverage of events outside of the college TV studio. Sadly this film is all that now remains of the programme so I’ve had to revert to a news clipping from FELIX dated 3 May 1973. (And yes you will have noticed a month’s difference between when it was shot and actually used in the programme)

“A team consisting of two members each from City and Guilds’ Union and Royal School of Mines Union were outright winners in their class in the Great Tartan Race, run annually by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. The race involves transporting an (empty) keg of Tartan beer from Edinburgh to London, and the various classes of entry are for the most novel way of doing this, the team collecting most money for their nominated charity and for the team completing the distance in the shortest time. The IC team made the trip in a tartan-liveried Morris Minor accompanied by tartan-clad dolly birds, and collected for Action for the Crippled Child. The Tartan Race was entered by teams from universities and colleges throughout Britain.”

Coverage of the race was not only from STOIC it would seem, but also from British Movietone News. I didn’t realise that news for the cinema was still running in 1973, but at least STOIC’s was shot in colour (although seen in black and white). You’ll also spot that I found not only the used footage from the programme, but also the off cuts. These I’ve also included to show all that is still available in the archive collection. And when you look at the British Movietone News coverage does anyone recognise the voice doing the commentary? It’s the first presenter of BBC Television in 1936, Leslie Mitchell.

Colin Grimshaw May 2021

C&G Union film: 1972-1973

Once more we have a discovery from the past and in this case it’s 50 years ago. A Super8mm colour film that was only marked as “City and Guilds College STOIC records 1972-73″ has now been digitised. Some of the content was also shot on standard 8mm film and I have already used that in the previous Lord Mayor’s Show blog. This previous version is the one that I have managed to sync audio with. But the version on this Super8mm film is different and not seen before. Why was it filmed in two versions at the same time? One of the many mysteries I’m finding with these films. Sadly these were only intended to be used once in the news programme and then put to one side. So, I guess that’s because the actual videotapes were erased (weekly because of videotape costs) then no one thought it was important to index or log these 8mm films?

The C&G film contains: activities in the C&G union office, London to Brighton run, building the float for the Lord Mayor’s Show, BO and students on way into London for the show, the actual Lord Mayor’s Show from two different years, Morphy Day at Putney and Guilds Elections in Mech Eng 220. Unfortunately, actual dates for these items are not marked on the film or its reel, we only know it’s 1972-73. But even then it could be, for example, Autumn term 1971 through to Summer 1972 and so on. I’ve tried to find information on who was president during these years but sadly even the C&G web pages don’t even record presidential years or names. So, any help on naming people would be great and I’ll add anything I get to this page. It will also help in logging the actual film. Having said all of this, I CAN name just one person on a Lord Mayor’s Show sequence. It’s Cathy Gee (now Morley I recall) and she was a main presenter on the news programme TOPIC, in which the film would have been used. Cathy (seen wearing the orange coat in a frame from the Lord Mayor’s Show sequence) was in C&G (see below update) and I’m wondering if she might have been involved with this film being made in some way. What I cannot discover is exactly why it was made. There is a letter inside the film container from the then secretary of STOIC to David Barnes in the C&G office in Mech Eng. The letters says that this was the film that David Barnes was asking about etc. I did find that David Barnes was Chem Eng 1975 and that I think he was also Vice President. Clearly this film was then returned back to STOIC along with that letter inside. Why did C&G use it and when? Sadly even this letter is undated but has to be post-1973.

UPDATE: Once again, since this was posted, I have had feedback & info from Paul Jowitt and Graham Hanson. Paul starts with references to Cathy Morley (Gee) and also adds some names he can remember:-

“She (Cathy) was C&GU Hon Sec in 71-72.  I was President – and seen in the back of Bo waving a top hat in the Lord Mayor’s Show!  Brian Darling was VP, Malcolm Newman was President the year after – he’s pictured with other C&GU Exec members further down your link.  Dave Barnes was VP, and Graham ? Hon Sec.
Thanks for sharing.”

And this from Graham Hanson:-

Graham Hanson was CGCU Hon Sec in 72/73 and can be seen at the start of the video in the bright yellow IC top.
  • at the start in the office there is Malcolm Newman (CGCU President) behind the desk with on left Jane Richardson (CGCU Rep) and Michelle Fairclough (Hon Treasurer). Also there is Richard Lolley (Vice President), and note that in your current notes Paul Jowitt have wrong info in that Dave Barnes wasn’t Vice President, it was Richard Lolley.
  • I think its then Chris Webley who walks in in that first sequence.
  • At 0.34 on the tape it pans to another desk, with me on the left, and Paul Jowitt and Penny Sheppard standing plus Dave Osborne (1973-4 Pres) sitting.
  • On the Brighton run its Malcolm Newman in Bo.
  • At 6.01,6.44 and 11.30 that’s Richard Lolley in the V-P jacket and with the megaphone. 
  • I appear again briefly at 11.32 in the white hat.
  • At 13.50 (the 1973 CGCU elections) it starts with Malcolm and seated to the right is Jane and Michelle. I am at the blackboard.
  • At 14.17 you see Dave Osborne seated next to Penny Sheppard just before his election as 1973-4 President.
  • At 14.47 that’s me again on the mic.
  • At 15.20 there is a further brief appearance of Paul Jowitt.

Colin Grimshaw April 2021

IC Newsreel Number 2: 1970

The second and final IC Newsreel was recorded on 2 March 1970. It was shown, like the first programme, at lunchtime the following day in the Junior Common Room in College Block (Sherfield). This final programme was a bit different and had a scoop too. Prior to the main recording, the Yugoslavian Prime Minister was visiting Imperial College and we were able to get the departure of him, his Police escort and his entourage.  Andy Finney and Vivienne Taylor stood outside the mechanical engineering building to cover the event, even though this was not originally their intention for being there. Andy was on a very long-range radio microphone and we used the longest lens possible on the camera, which (along with a second camera) was located on the third floor of the electrical engineering building. Because we had no way of inserting the item into the actual forthcoming news programme, Andy had to pre-record the item as it was happening, and we ran the item before the main program started. Not the conventional way to make a news program, but at least it was new and it was unique for that time. The news item by Andy is then followed by what was called a ‘crash’ edit (stop recording then restart again) so there are a few wobbles on the screen before the main programme starts.

Included in the programme were interviews with the three main candidates for the election of IC Union President. The first ever recording of this type.  Judith Walker won the election and became the first female in the role. She talks to Vivienne Taylor, also seen in IC Newsreel Number 1.
Just as we had ended the main recording and faded to black, the current Union President Piers Corbyn asked to be able to say a few words. So, following yet another crash edit, we faded back up and sort-of started again. The reason for these types of stops and start edits was because we only had one Ampex Videorecorder and that could not actually edit anyway.

Sadly no photos were taken at the time of these two news programme recordings, only the videotape survives, which is rare. The upper photo is of the TV studio in the late 1960’s and the lower, is just before the Philips Videorecorder, seen in the photo, was replaced by the Ampex, which was used to record the two IC Newsreels. The opening coverage of the Yugoslavian Prime Minister’s visit also gives the original view across Dolby Court, all the way from Electrical Engineering to Mechanical Engineering, a view now lost forever with the creation of the Faculty Building.

IC Newsreel paved the way for STOIC’s; TOPIC, Lunchbreak and then News-Break.

Colin Grimshaw March 2021

AA Merger Moratorium: 1970

Negotiations were begun by the Architectural Association Council in the early 1960’s to incorporate the A.A. into the state education system by discussing the idea of merging with Imperial College. Imperial broke off negotiations in February 1970 citing concerns at the nature and intentions of the AA school community. The decision to call off the negotiations left the Architectural Association stunned and many students at I.C. and the A.A. dissatisfied. The I.C. governors raised various issues in coming to their decision. On the actual fusion of the A.A. within a composite College of Science and Technology, Lord Penney wrote that the A.A. desired the fusion “only on their own terms’.

The AA Principal and the AA Council prepared for closure and the winding up of the school. Students and staff mobilised and a search committee for a new Chairman was established, resulting in the election in 1971 of Alvin Boyarsky. Ultimately he transformed the AA into a major international cultural institution.

As part of all of this, on 10 February 1970 Imperial College Union (along with AA students) organised a Moratorium as a protest at the break-down of the talks. The Union cited this as being the first public demonstration at Imperial College. Of course this didn’t go without STOIC noticing and a film camera crew were there to capture events. By chance, on the 17 February the very first news programme called IC Newsreel was recorded; it was shown the following day in the Junior Common Room. One of the organisers John Goodman came into the TV Studio to discuss what had happened and to introduce the film that STOIC had shot. This and the next IC Newsreel are the only two programmes to survive from those early years. But the actual 8mm film also survives after 50 years. What was different was that the film was in colour and the programme was in black and white. I have therefore taken the videotape sound track and re-synced with the HD version of the 8mm film.

In re-syncing the film and audio I ran into a problem. Whatever I did, I couldn’t get the original sound and new film transfer to match. Eventually I re-watched the video and discovered that two very small sections are now missing from the 8mm film compared to what was used in the TV programme in 1970. Coming to my rescue was Andy Finney STOIC’s first chairman and producer of the programme. He was involved with the filming and told me that after the film was used in the programme it was later shown at a students union meeting. I therefore can only assume that either these sections were removed, or more likely they were damaged when being shown at the meeting and then removed. So I’ve cheated and replaced the missing sections with the 50 year old, but very poor quality, videotape. (See update below)

For the keen eyed you will see some blue hoarding when the group is in Imperial Institute Road (now Imperial College Road) and this was the start of the demolition of the old Chemistry Building. Also some staff are seem in white lab coats on the steps of the old Chemistry Building just before the blue hoarding shot.

Here then is the re-synced film in colour from 50 years ago. Oh, and also spot a miss spelling on banners.

UPDATE AUGUST 2022:
In digitising a 1971 student project film (more about that at a later point) I have found the missing footage mentioned earlier. It’s the film (in colour) that you will see inserted from the original videotape, but in black and white.

Colin Grimshaw March 2021


 

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


 

News-Break’s Rag Week: 1980

From 40 years ago see all of the delights of Rag Week in November 1980. Seen here by the black and white location camera of STOIC for their weekly programme News-Break. This is the only record of the 1980 event that still exists. There are probably reports and a few photos in Felix, but here we can see and hear the week in all of its detail. We can’t smell some of it though!

Do you remember such delights as the Raft Race or the Pram Race? Maybe some of the events are in fact seen better in just black and white? Morphy Day on the Tow path at Putney is one good example (above colour image from a later year). A large number of things that used to happen in rag week are now just history. For example, I don’t recall hearing of the Raft Race for many years. The STOIC reporters on location were: Mike Hackett, Tracy Poole (now Tracy Dudley) and Grant Richmond.

All I can say is……enjoy!

Colin Grimshaw November 2020


 

STOIC’s Lord Mayor’s Show report: 1971

Because this years 2020 event is cancelled, let’s go back nearly 50 years for an on-location report by STOIC on the 13 November 1971 Lord Mayor’s Show. This was shot on 8mm film for inclusion in their weekly news programme, then called TOPIC. I made two very important discoveries when sorting out and collating the collection of either badly or completely unlabelled 8mm films. Firstly, this particular film was actually shot in colour, but only ever seen in black and white. Secondly, I also discovered an audiotape that had a listing inside. One segment was marked “Lord Mayor’s Show – long film report”, but with no date. Fortunately, the sound track commentary has a date mentioned, which led me to finding out that it was the same as the film. And, although the film was only marked as ‘BBC; Carnival; 1973’, the content was clearly the same thing, so the date was wrong. The clincher was the mention on the audio tape of that years theme title of “students today, engineers tomorrow”.  Also, the BBC float was mentioned with ‘space men’ being located next to the C&G float, so that confirmed things. This could not have been any other year than 1971.

I’ve adjusted and corrected the film as best as possible. The audio was never intended to ‘sync’ with the actual film images, but rather to complement it with real ‘on-location’ sounds and a report with interviews. But to make this work I have had to second-guess the film speed. It could have been shot at either 16fps or 18fps, the reel doesn’t say. Also, when the film was projected did it run at the correct speed? Therefore, I’ve had to adjust the digitised film speed to attempt to match the audio duration. The person you’ll hear commentating is former STOIC Chairman Tim Dye. Were you a student on the C&G float back then and are you now retired?

I’ve also found other sound recordings, suggesting that they are linked to more 8mm film reports. I just need to do some more research and try to identify the films, that’s if I do indeed have them of course. But for now, let’s go back 50 years for the sights and sounds of the Lord Mayor’s Show 1971.

I’ve had a great comment from Paul Jowitt about this post and video (incidentally I think he meant the 1971 show):

Enjoyed the 1970 Lord Mayor’s Show video!
I was C&GU President at time and was the one standing up in the back of Bo.
Happy days!
Yours
Paul

Colin Grimshaw November 2020


 

Bo goes London to Brighton: 1977

Today I have what was another mystery film from the STOIC archives. In digitising the 8mm films that were used in their earlier programmes I found two reels of Super8 colour film marked London (to) Brighton. No date or further details were on the reels. It was a mystery as to why this was shot on film because clues lead me to believe it was perhaps around 1978 or so. By then, STOIC had their own Sony portable videorecorder for location work. I looked for clues in the actual footage but couldn’t spot anything that might give me a date. Until…..in one very small segment you will see Bo (Boanerges) has broken down outside of a cinema. This was in Streatham in South London. I could just make out, by zooming into one frame, a film title on the outside hoarding on the cinema. I looked it up on Google and it was dated as 1977. So, this was clearly the London to Brighton run on Sunday 6 November 1977.

I have no clues or idea as to why this was shot on 8mm colour film. The two reels are unedited and even look as if they were never used. If anything was indeed used it would have been in the weekly Lunchbreak programme. Was Rag week the same weekend as this event and therefore the videorecorder was not available because it was already in use?

We may never know the answer, but here anyway is the digital transfer of Bo, going from London to Brighton in 1977. Oh, and that’s Sir Hugh Ford sitting on the back seat in the middle.

Colin Grimshaw November 2020


 

Sir Douglas Bader: 1981

In December 1981 former RAF pilot Sir Douglas Bader visited Imperial College Bookshop to promote and sign copies of his new autobiography. He took part in the Battle of Britain, was imprisoned at Colditz Castle and his life was chronicled in the film Reach for the Sky.  Surrounded by copies of his books, Lawerence Windley managed to get a few words with him.

Within a year of this video, in September 1982, he had died.

Colin Grimshaw July 2020


 

Review of the Year: 1979-1980

One of the extremely useful things about STOIC’s Review of the Year programmes is that they showcased some of the most important things happening in college. In this edition from 40 years ago in June 1980, David Ghani and Paul Johnson give us a glimpse of events as seen through the lens of STOIC’s camera crew. As you will see, a large amount was still in black and white. In fact, this edition of the Review of the Year is the first to be shot in colour and that was simply because it was recorded within the confines of the College TV Studio. And if you look carefully you might spot that even the studio sequences have been shot and edited together in film style, using our single colour camera.

Look out for Rag Week events, STOIC’s 10th Anniversary and one department potentially about to go broke!

Colin Grimshaw 6 June 2020