Back in 2019, I released the video that STOIC had recorded at the 1980 Lord Mayor’s Show. However, that was not the first time it was covered. An earlier report was shot on 8mm colour film in 1971. Now, we are able to see the very first report covered on videotape, dating from 14 November 1979. It was featured, as always, in the weekly news programme News-Break.
The on-location STOIC reporter was Tracy Poole (Tracy Dudley). The picture is not amazing because it was recorded using an early video camera and recording system, but it did at least allow for synced audio. And of course, everything was still in black and white, although the studio had just purchased its first piece of colour equipment.
The videotape card index for STOIC’s coverage of the ‘London to Brighton run’ covers three cards, starting in November 1979. That first date would have been coverage in black and white, but today we have it in colour and on videotape. A previous 1977 run was shot on 8mm colour film, but that was silent. In this 1986 coverage we have an on-location interview with Adrian the driver of Boanerges (Bo). But what is even more interesting is footage of Sir Hugh Ford and also Lady Ford both speaking at the evening dinner event. Please note the incorrect title that STOIC gave to him, he was not a Lord. This is the only recording that we have of him, so this is yet another archive gem. He was President of the Motor Club and here, in his own words (from 2007), are his memories of that time:
“…one of my great moments was that when, having acted as President of the Motor Club for many years, the Club presented to me on the half century of Bo’s service, this delightful and most accurate silver model of our James and Brown. It took three silversmiths to achieve it: the first died on the job, the second gave up because he found it too difficult, and the third became so fascinated with the project that the Club had the greatest difficulty in getting him to surrender it in time for presentation to me at Brighton! I have decided that when I pass on, it shall be left to the City & Guilds Motor Club though, I suggest, for safety reasons, it should be housed elsewhere. Mind you, don’t expect it too soon – there are a few years in me yet!”
Sir Hugh died in May 2010 aged 96, and I’d be interested to hear about that silver model’s whereabouts now.
There was quite a full studio back in March 1986 when STOIC interviewed the following year’s RCS(U) Executive Committee (seen on the right from Felix dated March 1986). Well, almost all of them as it was minus Judith Hackney on the day. Notable of course is the appearance of Simon Singh who had been voted in as RCS(U) President. Simon has gone on to greater things after leaving Imperial and you can find out more on his own website.
If you wade through the archive of Felix you’ll find loads of references to Simon including some criticism of his role as President. This was in Felix dated December 1986.
“The Royal College of Science Union will be holding an ‘Extraordinary General Meeting’ today. The meeting has been called at the request of more than 50 members of RCSU, who have signed a petition criticising President Simon Singh’s leadership of the Union“
But all of this didn’t stop him from going on to better things after Imperial. So, if you take the ‘rough with the smooth’ it seems you can come out on top in the end.
There are no actual videos in this blog post, but rather a link to a lovely web article from the Student Television Alumni Network. Dom Kullander wrote this article with input from me, and with photos from my collection. Of course, because it’s the student TV network the piece is specifically about the archive of STOIC and the efforts to preserve and digitise it. That’s me (here at home) seen over on the right, doing just that! Dom had been in contact with me last July (so nearly a year ago) and to be honest, I’d forgotten all about this article.
For how much longer I’ll be able to continue the restoration and digitisation of these tapes all depends on the videotape machines (U-matic machine with its cover off for cleaning, over on the left). These were made in the 70-90’s, and genuine spares are now unavailable. In most cases, service engineers (if you can find one) obtain parts by using older machines as a source of spares. Video heads are another matter—once they’re gone, it would be almost impossible to source replacements. As I’ve mentioned before, the Ampex One Inch A format video recorders are no longer available, so tapes made on that format are simply stuck in boxes in the archives. Time (and especially money) are not on our side…
Here’s yet another video that I had completely forgotten about. It was when we were recently packing up the TV Studio videotape archive (not STOIC’s) for relocation, that I came across this video again. Bryan Steele was in fact a member of STOIC and had presented many items on their weekly news programme, hence his on-camera confidence. I do wish I could remember all of the details as to why we made this video in February 1980, but that’s over 45 years ago now!
Irrespective of why it was made, I’m glad we did. It features many of the demonstrations that were famously linked to Professor Eric Laithwaite. In the TV Studio we had a large number of his demonstrations, like the ‘jumping ring’ and down in his Electrical Engineering lab Bryan runs the ‘Magnetic River’ with the model train on it. However, I have never seen it in this strange brown colour. It’s usually painted something like blue or even white which shows up well on TV or film. If you search this blog you’ll find a few examples of these different colours. Guess who appears from behind the camera to return the model train to Bryan after each run!
I’m assuming that Bryan was linked in some way to the “Pimlico Connection” that did undergrad outreach visits to schools and hence this video. I’d marked the videotape with “a video made for schools’, but that’s not in the actual title sequence. The video was made within the first 6 months or so of having moved into colour and we’d not even created a TV Studio logo in colour by that time.
I chose this interview because it’s the earliest STOIC recording that discusses overseas students. David Ghani was the presenter of this particular item, and he was talking to Kumar Singarji, who was then the Vice-President of the Overseas Students Committee. This interview is from the Lunchbreak series and is also one of the first in colour, recorded on 6 June 1979. We had to be creative when recording this because we still only had one colour camera, so we shot it in a single-camera style, similar to how films are shot.
Two years before today’s video was made, STOIC was still operating in black and white. So, it’s a pleasure to release this 1982 video in colour. Lawrence Windley went around Freshers’ Fair and spoke to a few people taking part. And we once again meet Tim Bell from City and Guilds, who appeared in a previous video all about Pedal Cars. Some of the freshers do look a little dazed, I must say. Maybe the afternoon was a little too early for them, or perhaps the cheap beer was kicking in?
A regular feature on the Imperial calendar was the appearance of the Imperial Wind Band, but as in this video, it had just been renamed as the Imperial Concert Band. Strangely though, back some 10 years (Felix advert above) in 1976 they were called the Imperial College Wind Ensemble. Maybe changing some instruments required a name change?
Andy Mitchell spoke with Don Monro about all of this just after a performance had been given in the original Mech Eng main entrance. Right at the end we get to see the 1985 performance of the 1812 overture on the steps of the Queens Tower recorded in colour.
Another gem from the archives of STOIC’s News-Break programme. This time we go back to Spring 1986 when they went on location to report on the Imperial College Sailing Club. This is the only time that the Sailing Club was featured in the archive. I am pleased to see that the club is still going strong (unlike STOIC) and can be found on the Union website and also on their own Facebook page.
I’ve done my usual troll through the archive issues of Felix and the earliest item about the club can be found in issue number 62 from May 1954. The report tells us that the Sailing Club won the University of London Championship for the fourth year in a run! It also tells us an intriguing story about having to buy a lorry to transport the boats when they went to Ireland. You can read that Felix report in full if you go to the issue which is linked up above.
Back in 2010 I posted a blog about Silwood Park and I included the small joint documentary that we made between STOIC and the TV Studio. In a recent batch of tapes being digitised I found a short promotional clip for the documentary that Tracy Dudley (Poole) had made; the clip was in an edition of News-Break on 29 April 1981 . The interesting thing about this clip is that there are shots that were not used in the final edited version that’s linked up above.
So, let’s go back some 43 years to see that short footage, unseen until now.
