Category: People

STOIC on BBC Radio London: 1974

From my personal archive I’ve dug up yet another piece of college history. Way back in 1974 the then Chairman of STOIC Mark Caldwell (photo right) and myself, were interviewed on BBC Radio London. You may wonder what the connection is between STOIC and BBC Radio London. Well, the very first Chairman of STOIC was Andy Finney who just happened to also be heavily involved in radio. From student TV to local (and also national) radio, Andy had a very full career in many areas of broadcasting. But on this occasion, he remembered his connection with Imperial and getting STOIC off of the ground in 1970 and wanted more people to hear about it.

On 4 November 1974 Mark and I went up to the then HQ of BBC Radio London in Hanover Square. Although we did video record the interview it’s still stuck on one of the Ampex One Inch videotapes that we’re still hoping will be funded to be transferred into digital. However, I do still have the audio recording as it was broadcast live and that’s what you can hear today. Andy mentions “TOPIC” which was the very first regular news programme made by STOIC. Its name changed to Lunchbreak and finally to News-Break.

So, going back 50 years, here is Andy Finney speaking with us both, live on BBC Radio London.

Colin Grimshaw 4 November 2024

Imperial Opera Rehearsal: 1980

I must admit that I was slightly confused with this STOIC location report from 1980. I had assumed, incorrectly, that this was Op Soc, but it isn’t. I could not find any references in the STOIC card index other than to Op Soc and indeed this video, N52, is listed under Op Soc.

As you will hear in the interview, Imperial Opera is (was?) formed from ex-Imperial students who had been in Op Soc. Mike Prosser (a former STOIC Chairman) spoke with Ian Gledhill during rehearsals that were taking place in the union concert hall.

Colin Grimshaw August 2024

FELIX Editorship Drama: 1979

 

Just before the start of the 1979 Autumn term there was major controversy over who the editor of Felix (the student newspaper) should have been. John Shuttleworth was duly elected editor of Felix for 1979-1980 but was denied the sabbatical post because he had failed to meet the required academic standards of his current year of study. It ultimately ended up in the High Court after solicitors took action, and issued letters on John Shuttleworth’s behalf. In the end, Colin Palmer who had come second in the election race was appointed as acting Felix editor. When the new election for editor was run, he then won this to become the full-time sabbatical editor for that academic year.

Naturally STOIC were keen to follow all of this up and on 3 October 1979, Colin Palmer came into the studio to talk to Paul Johnson about the whole saga and what was to happen next.

Colin Grimshaw July 2024

RCSU Mascot Raid: 1978

For the first edition of Lunchbreak in January 1978, James Sinclair had something exciting to talk about with the then recent (late 1977) RCSU raid on QMC’s (Queen Mary College) Leopard mascot (Mary the Leopardess). In the studio he spoke with Pete Maltbeck (President of RCSU) about what had happened. STOIC were also quick off the mark with some location footage of the mascot being removed from the RCSU office to an unknown location. Sadly, once again, this is during a time period of missing copies of Felix (1977-1978) so I can’t get any further information on the outcome of the raid.

Unusually, this was a live edition of the programme and I suspect that this was because term had only just started. One amusing thing is that just after James Sinclair starts talking you can hear the old college bells strike 1pm, the approximate time of the transmission.

Colin Grimshaw June 2024

90 down & more to go!

Well, I’ve now worked my way through 90 videotapes that have been digitised. That’s 90 more occasions where I might find something very interesting or have something of historical significance to Imperial College. As you might well know, I’m doing all of this from home since I retired early, some 13 years ago. It can, at times, be a long process to capture content from even just a single videotape. Sticky-shed, as previously discussed, can make it impossible to play a tape back without heat treatment. But once completed (which can take a full day) a videotape might yield some interesting discoveries. Also, as discussed many times, the archive of STOIC is providing some incredible material with both interviews and also their coverage of college events. A recent discovery being that very short clip of Nobel Prize winner Abdus Salam in the Great Hall. I have also discovered a fascinating interview with previous College Secretary John Smith talking about his time as Governor of the Gilbert Islands. I’ll add this new video to my previous blog about him.

During the final few transfers, I found a very early clip of Pallab Ghosh who was standing for Felix Editor. My previous blog post included his 1981 interview about Wells Soc, but that was shot in black and white. This 1983 interview is in colour and is about him standing for Felix editor (which he became), it includes his election speech during the Hustings. He is now Science Correspondent for BBC News.

Simon Singh was elected as RCS President back in March 1983. He came into the TV Studio along with the rest of the executive and we now have those interviews digitised. He has gone on to be an author of many books and has presented several science TV programmes, so maybe his visits to our TV Studio helped him along that route. He was awarded an MBE in 2003.

 

Colin Grimshaw May 2024

Degrees of Excellence: 1984

Sadly I have very little to say about this recent rediscovery. It’s a film made by the British Council for showing overseas. Clearly it’s a promotion for UK Universities and four places are featured: The University of Edinburgh; The University of Warwick; The Polytechnic (as was) of Brighton and Imperial College. At the time, I had no idea this was being shot and only knew about it when a videotape of the film was deposited with the TV Studio. The only Imperial person I can identify in it is Prof. Brian Hartley (16 April 1926 – 3 May 2021), who was in Biochemistry. He appeared in a video that I previously posted about, when he came into the TV Studio to talk to STOIC about the Interferon Pilot Plant.

Although not credited, I’m sure that the commentary is by actor Keith Barron.

Colin Grimshaw May 2024

Lord Ron Oxburgh: 2006

The Rector prior to Sir Richard Sykes was Lord Ron Oxburgh. Like other videos of past Rectors in this series Lord Oxburgh is also reflecting on his time in that post. He was in conversation with Anne Barrett Archivist of Imperial College. We recorded the conversation in the college TV Studio in 2006, the year before Imperial’s centenary. Until now, only a few minutes of this recording were used and that was only on the centenary website.

He was Rector from 1993 until 2001 when Sir Richard Sykes took over the post. Like in Sir Richard’s conversation (to be released next in this series), he singles out 170 Queen’s Gate for particular mention. Lord and Lady Oxburgh are seen in the photo above, taken at Imperial College in 2006.

 

Colin Grimshaw April 2024

Paul Williams-Drake’s 7 Cartoon: 1980

Starting on 26 January 1979 in edition 506 of Felix the student newspaper, was Drake’s 7. The cartoon strip was the creation of Physics student Paul Williams. The first part in the Drake’s 7 story is seen above. He won a competition for his efforts and also had the entire story reprinted in a stand-alone book available for 30p from the Felix office. He also created materials for the Phoenix magazine at Imperial.

Following his success in the competition he came into the TV Studio and chatted to STOIC’s Paul Johnson.

Colin Grimshaw February 2024

Prof. Eric Laithwaite’s Lab: c1973

While going through some of the 8mm films that STOIC shot, I found this. It was part of a reel of items that included the 1973 Pan Cake Race which I featured in a previous post. Therefore I am assuming that this footage was also shot in 1973. It’s various demonstrations taking place in the lab of Professor Eric Laithwaite, who has featured many times before (and will again, I’m sure). The demonstrations are by one of his research students, whose name currently escapes me.

Firstly, but of out focus, is his office door name plate from down on level one of Electrical Engineering. Interestingly, we see some of the copper windings being installed on a levitator (might even be the ‘magnetic river‘ under construction?). I don’t recall any other photos or film of this being carried out, so this is maybe unique. Then we see the levitation of an aluminium plate, which is followed by the model train which he used very regularly in presentations. Finally we see the research student talking to some other students, but I don’t recognise them as being from STOIC. I’m not sure that the models we see in the film were actually featured in the 1974 Christmas Lectures, which would have helped me date this footage. However, it is just possible that the motor having the windings added was in Christmas Lectures programme 5.

I’ve just reviewed that lecture number 5 (around 53min into the lecture) and I’m now very sure that this is indeed the motor we see being constructed in his lab. So a date of 1973 would seem to work.

Colin Grimshaw January 2024

TV Safety Topics: 1982

Dr Gordon Hargreaves (1930-1989) was Imperial College’s first ever safety director. In conjunction with the training officer Dr Albert Courts we produced a pilot edition of Safety Topics for an on-going series. The safety unit then produced a newsletter called ‘safety topics’ and this was to be a video version of that publication. Many people got involved with the video including myself where you’ll see me demonstrating a range of fire extinguishers on what was Dalby Court. We had first aid, electrical safety, along with safety in offices.

Sadly none of this seemed to gel with people and we never did make a series. So, this is in fact a lovely record of some of those who were key figures in Imperial College in 1982. Gordon Hargreaves died very suddenly in 1989, at that time we had started making yet another safety video with him on the subject of Fume Cupboards. That video was obviously never completed. We must have been jinxed with making safety training videos.

Colin Grimshaw November 2023