FOR the first time, a British television news programme is to cover the world from the world.

In The World Tonight starting on Tuesday, an international television link-up will put on your screens a running news documentary that has never been attempted before.

It will show the world to Britain as the world sees itself — not simply as a snap report from camera crews who dash in and out from one news area to another.

In the past, as the programme’s executive producer Tim Hewat points out: “British TV has covered the world from London. This, apart from other disadvantages, has led to producing stories that are exclusively British orientated. We see things happening in, say, Tokyo, as through British eyes. We will show them happening as seen through the eyes of people in their particular part of the world.”

To achieve this global flavour The World Tonight has set up a complex network of five key bureaux where permanent representatives will compile their reports.

As in London, there will be a The World Tonight team in Rome, and Tokyo. Paris and New York, plus roving producers Dietrich Koch and Russell Spurr. We introduce to you here these highly specialised people and take you into the environments from which they work to bring you The World Tonight.

Over to Tokyo and Australian journalist John Maher. Tucked away on the ground floor of a four-storey building of Fuji Telecasting Company is the cramped but efficient nerve centre of The World Tonight‘s Japanese bureau.

Space in this building, which houses most of the throbbing soul of Japanese TV, is at a premium. But John opted for his tiny, 10ft. square, pastel green office with its duck-egg blue Venetian blinds right here next to the cameramen and technicians, rather than select a more spacious apartment away from all the action.

To New York: Imagine Wardour Street, running like a spine through London’s Soho — spiritual home of British film-makers. Now imagine it blown out, big and broad and wide. That’s 53rd Street where nearly every door leads to a film studio, a cutting room, a producer’s plush office, a script writer’s den.

Here, for the new programme, work producer John McDonald and reporter Bill Biery in a comfortable atmosphere of controlled luxury. Off-white, deep-pile carpets, a Telex machine mumbling quietly to itself in a corner, leather chairs, coloured telephones. Efficiency — American style.

To Rome: Producer on the spot is Hugh Pitt. His beat ranges from the entire Mediterranean coast to the troubled oil kingdoms of the Middle East.

London: Reporter Jo Durden-Smith is 23, one year down from Oxford. He works from West End offices with live con tradictory clocks, a massive wall chart and an ordered confusion of scripts.

Paris: Sparkling, magic, feminine city. Appropriately, a woman-on-the-spot — Producer Joan Harrison, chooses to work from her sedate apartment a stroll from the Champs Elysées. In this fashionable part of the city she sits with French reporter: Denise Fabré sifting material.

All aiming to bring the world to you.

The post Watch on the world appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

At 11.50 a.m. on Wednesday Granado presents a live out-side broadcast of the opening by the Queen of Manchester’s new Courts of Justice. On Wednesday and Thursday the Northern newscast will include film of other highlights of the two-day tour.

Here TV TIMES looks at some of the Northern Royal tours of the past.

MILLIONS of Northerners will be able to see the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh being received on the steps of Manchester’s new £1,250,000 [£23.5m in today’s money, allowing for inflation – Ed] Courts of Justice by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Alderman Arthur Donovan, on Wednesday.

Among the people they will see in Court dress, robes, or ceremonial uniforms, will be the Earl of Derby (Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire); Dr. Charles Hill (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster); Lord Parker (the Lord Chief Justice); a number of High Court judges; Col. W. M. Musgrave-Hoyle (High Sheriff of Lancashire), and civic heads from many parts of the North.

It will be a brilliant occasion as the long procession moves to the great hall inside the building, where the Queen will unveil a commemorative tablet.

Granada cameras will be strategically placed to bring viewers close-ups of the Queen and other members of the Royal party as commentator Bill Grundy describes the ceremony.

This will be a vastly different Royal visit to those made by the Queen’s ancestors.

Until Queen Victoria’s visit in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition, Manchester — and Lancashire generally — had been sadly overlooked by England’s monarchs.

True, Manchester can claim to have had a visit from King Ina of Wessex and his Queen, Ethelburga, in 689 (he made it his headquarters for several months while repelling Irish and Welsh foes) and Canute the Dane marched in on his way to Cumberland in 1031, but the first real visit as such by a reigning sovereign was that of Henry VII in 1495.

James I passed by on his way from Edinburgh to London and Charles II is said to have slept at a house just off Market Street, Manchester, in 1651 while journeying to battle at Worcester.

But these were only fleeting glimpses of Royalty and it was Queen Victoria’s memorable visit that set the pattern of Royal visits as we know them today.

Queen Victoria was most impressed, too, for she wrote in her diary: “The day was fine and mild. The mechanics and workpeople dressed in their best were ranged along the streets with white rosettes in their button holes.

“We went into Peel Park before leaving Salford and saw a most extraordinary and, I suppose, unprecedented sight — 82,000 schoolchildren.

“All the children sang ‘God Save The Queen’ extremely well together.

“The streets were immensely filled and the cheering and enthusiasm was most gratifying.”

When the Queen wrote of the 82,000 children in Peel Park singing the National Anthem she was not quite correct. It was intended that they should and they did, in fact, get through the first verse.

But at that point their surging enthusiasm broke free and, completely ignoring the conductor, they cheered the Royal party until they were hoarse.

It was the sort of enthusiasm, affection and loyalty that has marked every Royal visit since and for which Lancashire is now famous, for since the turn of the century, Manchester has many times welcomed Royal guests and can no longer complain of feeling neglected.

Now excitement is in the air again as Lancashire prepares for next week’s two-day tour by the Queen and Prince Philip, a tour that has links with visits made by the Queen’s grandfather, King George V, and her great-grandfather, King Edward VII, at the be ginning of the century.

The Queen’s first engagement when she arrives in Manchester on Wednesday will be to present a new guidon to the Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry at a ceremonial parade at Belle Vue Stadium. This replaces the old guidon presented to the regiment by King Edward VII at Worsley Park in 1909.

Another link is provided by the Queen’s visit on Thursday to a vast glassworks at St. Helens, for King George V toured the plant in 1913 and in the powerhouse started the 6,000 H.P. turbo generator which was named the King George.

These events, the opening of the new Royal Technical College and the Dockers’ Social Centre in Salford and the Royal visit to a charity theatre performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Ice in Liverpool, will be covered in special Northern newscast reports.

The post Royal pageantry comes North appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

HUFFING, harassed Mr. Swindley of Coronation Street has always tickled viewers pink. Only right, therefore, that he should be given a comedy show of his own – the Wednesday programme Pardon the Expression. Arthur Lowe’s portrait of a funny little man reminds us of Charlie Chaplin of old-always coming to grief. Still, Swindley is Swindley, upon my soul. And setbacks in business – whether in the small-time shop of Gamma Garments or the big-time store of Dobson and Hawks just spur him on … if you’ll pardon the expression

The post Pardon the Expression… that’s business appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

GRANADA Television have opened a news studio right in the heart of Leeds.

And that means a vast improvement in news coverage in an area where reporters and cameramen have previously had to race the clock to get material back to Granada’s Manchester TV Centre.

The accent is very much on speed and efficiency. Granada are right now installing automatic equipment which will enable them to control the studio from Manchester.

A programme director sitting at a control panel 40 miles away in the TV Centre, will be able to operate the studio lights and a remote-controlled camera by the flick of a switch.

Then, by pressing one of 10 buttons, he can control the position of the camera during an interview or news bulletin. This will give him 10 different camera shots ranging from a close-up to a profile or a shot of two or three interviewees.

This studio, in Headrow House, is part of Granada’s national TV link-up. They have a similar automatically controlled studio in London, which is operated from Manchester.

The Leeds team will contribute directly to programmes like Scene at 6.30, and Granada in the North.

It will improve election coverage from Yorkshire and be available for national use.

Executive producer David Plowright told me: “The Leeds project is something which we have wanted to launch for a considerable time.

“It will enable us to bring news and interviews from Yorkshire at any time of the day, instead of sending outside broadcast crews there, or having to rush film back to Manchester.

“We have always attempted to give Yorkshire comparable coverage with Lancashire. But in the physical sense, the people of Lancashire have been much more aware of our presence because of the Manchester TV Centre.”

Granada’s robot eye in Leeds is watching Yorkshire closer than it has ever done.

The post Instant news for Yorkshire appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

A SERIES of six one-hour plays, each with savage undertones and a bitter twist in its sardonic tale, starts on Friday under the over-all title Six Shades of Black.

The plays are based on an intriguing new drama technique exploited by author-producer Peter Wildeblood. The hero of one play will be the villain of the next.

You will see the character’s good and bad sides and be able to draw your own conclusions on which is the dominant side of their personality.

The first play, “The Good Woman of Chester Square,” at 9.40 on Friday, shows social reform worker Lady Masterman (played by Pamela Brown), being toppled from her public pedestal.

Lady Masterman, a parliamentary beauty, is celebrated for her humanitarian principles. A leading Queen’s Counsel, she refused to become a judge because of her opposition to capital punishment.

But young reporter B. J. Skipwith (played by Barry Warren), thinks her reputation is too good to be true.

You’ll have to wait until next week to see Wildeblood’s new drama technique at work. Then it will be the reporter’s turn to face moral disapproval.

In Friday’s play, Thorley Walters plays Lionel Sparrow, an ex-prisoner looking for a job, and Fredric Abbott plays Swithin, Lady Masterman’s chauffeur, who holds the key to this week’s intrigue.

The post Drama break-through appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

This is Anne Reid (left), a carefree, eager little girl with her mum. And the hasn’t a worry in the world. The woman above it also Anne Reid. An actress now. But as Valerie Barlow in Coronation Street she looks a little anxious, a little worn. And no wonder. As Valerie, she’s waiting for a taxi to take her to the maternity home. Which would be reason enough for her to look anxious … she’s expecting TWINS … and on Monday a tired stork flies over Coronation Street

The post Woman in waiting appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

A WOMAN whose actions would echo round the world in a few hours’ time, drove her car up to the gates of Wakefield prison.

“Friend or relative?” asked a warder.

“Friend,” she replied.

“OK,” he said and led her to a visiting room.

Inside, a pale man sat at a bare table. His face had been prominently featured in newspapers and magazines throughout the world. He wore a navy-blue, battledress-style uniform and white shirt. He fingered round-lensed, steel-rimmed spectacles. He had been “inside” for eight years.

They exchanged pleasantries and she handed him the book he had asked her to bring. Boris Pasternak’s “Doctor Zhivago.” They talked earnestly for half an-hour, the woman memorising everything he said. A warder stood stolidly a few feet away.

Daily Express reporter Esther Rose had become the first journalist to interview Dr. Klaus Fuchs, after the atom scientist had been sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment in 1950 for revealing atom secrets to the Russians.

Next day, Esther’s paper splashed a banner headline across its front-page: “FUCHS SPEAKS IN JAIL”. That headline went round the world. It was printed in nearly every language except Russian.

Esther, now editor of Granada’s The Headliners (Wednesdays), recalled: “They raised hell in the House of Commons. Everybody wanted to know how I’d got away with it. It was dynamite. It’s still a trade secret. They never even asked me why, if I was a friend, I’d suddenly shown up after eight years. They never examined the book. For all they knew, I might have been someone from ‘the other side’.”

Corridors of power buzzed with speculation. The Fuchs’ case had been one of the biggest spy trials of the first half of the 20th century and British security services hoped that the fuss was all over. In fact, it had begun again.

Fuchs told Esther: “I am going to East Germany when I am free.”

A year later, he did so. Esther Rose remains the only reporter to have spoken at length with him. Her persistence at Wakefield paid off.

Similar application stamps her work as editor of The Headliners. She retains her flair for inspiring confidences and obtaining colourful material. She defined the art of editing: “It’s a sort of seventh sense about what can be done about what will make compulsive viewing. It’s a question of picking the right stories, hammering them into shape and presenting them in the best way.

“Television and newspaper editing are equally difficult but in different ways. In television you must explain to the eye — you must let people see as much as possible. What you do must be seen to be done.”

Esther is amused by the fact that she had to leave newspapers to become an editor. Her uncle was Henry Rose, Northern Sports Editor of the Daily Express, who died in the Munich air crash, and her husband, Harry Whewell, is News Editor of The Guardian.

But she consoles herself with the thought that it was an ex-newspaper man, Tim Hewat, formerly of the Daily Express, who made her editor of The Headliners.

“He proved himself equally at home with the Press and television,” she said.

There are two other Tims in this energetic woman’s life: Tim Thomas, the young graduate who introduces The Headliners, and, most important of all, her three year old son Tim. “Mine’s called Tim-Tim to distinguish him from the others,” she said.

Esther manages to preserve a nice balance between her home life and work with The Headliners — proving that “editing can be a woman’s world, despite what some of the men say.”

The post Woman behind the headlines appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

A MILLION friends and neighbours make life bearable for each other every week in countless Coronation Streets up and down Britain.

And that’s the case in ITV’s famous Coronation Street, where two of the oldest neighbours and longest residents there are the beady-eyed Ena Sharpies and do-good pensioner Albert Tatlock.

Just how long they have lived in the district is uncertain except to say that Albert can tell you a tale or two about Ena’s schooldays.

Could. Would is a different matter, for even Albert has been around long enough to know that if he starts spoutin’ about Ena’s early life, he’ll feel the sting of that famous whiplash tongue of hers.

But though they are temperaments apart, they are still friends and neighbours.

Away from the Street, they are, of course, Violet Carson and Jack Howarth.

The post Neighbours appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

ROUGH, tough Northern realism returns to Granada screens on Friday night with the start of the second series of The Villains. Authentic situations, accurately reported dialogue, and minutely detailed character studies of the criminal elements of Northern society were the factors which made the first series such a success a few months ago.

And they are the ingredients which producer Harrv Kershaw intends to maintain this time. The tone is set with this week’s story.

Much of the action of “Big Fleas Have Little Fleas” takes place in a factory work-room. So to capture the right atmosphere, five girl “workers” in the cast spent an afternoon in a garment factory in Salford with studio floor manager John Tiffin.

“The girls were machinists,” he explained. “We went along primarily to watch the workers at their job, and see how well we could copy their methods.

“The factory workers were so interested in us that they stayed behind — without pay — to make sure we got everything right.”

Friday’s story is about Cyril Battersby (Richard Butler), a small time operator and boss of See Bee Garments in Cheetham Hill, Manchester’s clothing mecca. He turns out a garment which catches the eye of a multiple store. He takes on a big overdraft, expands his business, and everything looks rosy until he finds himself in difficulties.

Harry Kershaw and his team will continue their policy of realism in later episodes. They will visit bars, greyhound tracks and dance halls in the North to get background for a story of a young boy whose father is cruelly assaulted in a robbery, and the uneasv romance of a young shop girl and a crook.

He said of the series: “We are sticking to our policy of localising stories in the North and its cities. If it is Deansgate, in Manchester, or Leeds, then we use these names and locations. We don’t invent place names.

“Our stories will be slanted towards criminal lives rather than crimes. We are, in fact, interested in that part of a criminal’s day when he isn’t engaged in his particular profession.”

There is a major breakthrough in TV series production in two later episodes. Both are being produced on location.

One, the story of a boy on the run from the Army, is being shot at a farm high up in the Pennines. The other will be produced on a caravan site and in disused copper mines at Alderley Edge, Cheshire.

“It is impossible to tell some stories in the studio because they are so closely bound up with a location,” Kershaw said “These episodes were written and developed after we had found a suitable spot.”

The post Proper villains! appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

Usually you find him sitting behind a desk, immaculately dressed and not a hair out of place, interviewing anyone from Cabinet Ministers and Archbishops to coal miners and artists. But this week Mike Scott, of Granada’s Scene at 6.30, has changed his lounge suit for sweater and slacks to bring viewers a breath of the great outdoors as he travels by canal barge from Lincoln to the Wash. And between programmes, as this picture shows, Mike shares the bargee’s chores with the rest of the Granada production team.

The post New role for Mike Scott appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

The singer who commanded the biggest “fee” of 1963 for a single appearance — £85,700 [£1.5m in today’s money, allowing for inflation – Ed] — is in England to sing in the ITV show, Sentimental Over You, on Wednesday. Name? Frank Sinatra Jr. The sum, you will remember, was the ransom money Frank Sinatra Sr. paid out after his son had been kidnapped. Sinatra Jr. will be singing with the “new” Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. It was with Tommy Dorsey that Sinatra Sr. learnt that not only did moon rhyme with June, but that croon went pretty well with swoon. This is a profile of Sinatra, Sr. and Jr., by singer and guitarist Clark Yocum, who worked with Dad in the Forties and will be working with Son on Wednesday. He talks here to TV Times

I’LL never smile again … until I smile at you …

The thin young man concludes the last phrase of the old song, the Pied Pipers vocal group blending softly in, and suddenly there is an overwhelming round of applause to fill the room.

The young man, still a bit lost in the song, bows: “Thank you, thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I’m happy you enjoyed that.”

Somehow, the applause is always mixed with nostalgia, for Frank Sinatra Jr., who was 20 years old on January 12, brings back happy memories to fans of the great Tommy Dorsey Orchestra of the Forties, the band that used to boast another Frank Sinatra as vocalist.

But if the audience is nostalgic and in a happy frame of mind, it is no more so than a singer-guitarist named Clark Yocum, a member of the Pied Pipers who sang with Frank Sinatra back in the Forties and who will be blending his voice with Frank Jr.’s during Wednesday’s Sentimental Over You on ITV.

“I met Sinatra for the first time in April of 1940 when I joined the Dorsey band,” said Yocum. “I’ve always remembered our association with pleasure because I don’t know any more talented man…

“However, I’ll have to admit,” Yocum continued, “that another April, 23 years later, is equally meaningful to me.”

April, 1963, is when Yocum met Frank Jr., just signed as a member of the “new” Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, led by saxophonist Sam Donahue. “We rehearsed in Los Angeles, and it was great to be doing the wonderful Dorsey tunes again.

“And knowing that Sinatra’s son would be with us made it even better. He’s such a nice fellow, and so like his father. He has the same poise, the same intensity, the same way of moving, of gesturing…

“And, I believe, the same talent.

“Frank Jr. was more quiet and reserved than his father at first. But then he was only 19, and this was a pretty important step for a sheltered young boy to be taking. His father was three or four years older when he joined the band—was married and was used to being on his own.”

Yocum laughed as he added: “And then, too, Frank Jr. could hardly be expected to have as much confidence as his father. After all, look who he’s following – just about the most popular singer in the world!”

One thing young Frank definitely has confidence in, though, is knowing what he wants in a song. “He knows how he wants to sound, how he wants the arrangement to back him up, and he’s willing to work hard to make each number as good as possible. “His father was and is exactly the same way. Sinatra has high standards, and he is as much of a perfectionist as you can find. Temperamentally, the two Sinatras are very alike. However, Frank Jr. has far more technical knowledge of music, and that’s something his father is very proud about.”

Frank Jr. has studied music since childhood, is a talented pianist, has written a concerto and conducted and arranged two tunes which have been recorded on the Sinatra Reprise label.

“Frank Jr. spends most of his time working on his voice,” said Yocum. “He travels with a tape recorder, tapes some of his numbers and listens to them, trying to improve rough spots.

“This has paid off,” Yocum pointed out. “Frank’s much more at ease now, although he has always had an extra amount of poise. He loves to sing, and no matter how tired he gets he never complains. We’ve been working non-stop since last May, and it’s gotten a bit rough at times.

“For instance, when we appeared at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, we were through at midnight. When we worked in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe, our last show wasn’t over until six in the morning. That’s a crazy schedule for a young boy.

“When he’s not working on his voice, he spends most of his spare time listening to his father’s records. But he does date occasionally during our engagements. He’s got no time to get serious yet, though he does have a picture of Hayley Mills hanging in his room at home.” Frank Jr. told me in a recent interview: “I don’t want to get serious with any girl yet.

“The sort of opportunity I have only comes once in a lifetime and I want to prove I can be worthy of it.”

He may not have much time for girls but they are devoting more and more to him. When he played in Phoenix, Arizona, local police cordoned off his motel to protect him from a besieging horde of girl fans.

How do the various audiences react to young Frank? “They love him,” said Yocum. “We’ve had good crowds every place we’ve been, and when it’s Frank’s turn to step into the spotlight, he impresses them.

“They like the old songs such as “I’ll Never Smile Again,” and “There Are Such Nice Things,” and they like hearing the old arrangements and the familiar voice. But more than that, they seem to like Frank for his obvious sincerity and lack of pretence.

“He’s a nice boy, and it shows.

“Sinatra and young Frank are very similar when they sing … even to using the microphone the same way. They move about the stage in the same way, and they both sing so that the song is directed to each member of the audience, and they sing as though they believed every word of the lyric.”

Some of Frank Jr.’s new fans like the way he handles a tune called “The Rules of the Road.”

“A song of a lost loser,” as Sinatra might say, it is written by the same team who composed “Witchcraft.” One critic termed it: “The kind of song Sinatra might sing, but hasn’t, a song that shows his boy has inherited all the Sinatra talent in making a lyric come alive.”

“Sinatra is justifiably proud of his son,” Yocum said, “and has often been a member of the audience when the Tommy Dorsey band was performing.

“Sinatra doesn’t like to take the spotlight away from Frank though,” Yocum added. “He tries to be as inconspicuous as possible, and Frank Jr. tries to be as good as possible.

“He is so proud of his father, and he’s always especially happy when he’s in the audience.”

Yocum revealed that Sinatra has quietly made a great number of expensive arrangements available to the band, including many highly praised Nelson Riddle backgrounds.

Despite the stories of Sinatra’s outbursts of temperament during his stay with the Dorsey band, Yocum’s reply to the question “did you ever see Sinatra ill-tempered?” was: “I don’t remember an occasion.”

“Sinatra seems to think well of this new Dorsey band,” added Yocum.

“In fact, he told Frank Jr. that this would be the best experience he could ever get if he really seriously wanted to make singing a career.

“And he definitely does want to be a singer. His experience shows already. He likes the singing, but also the fact that he has a chance to meet many of his father’s friends and fellow musicians. And Sinatra has friends everywhere.

“Frank Jr. has been looking forward to coming to England ever since he heard that we’d been signed to appear here. We’ve all looked forward to coming, I might add.

“And we’re especially happy that Frank came back safe and sound to come with us.”

There are those who doubt that anyone will ever be able to follow in the footsteps of Frank Sinatra, but Clark Yocum is one who believes if anyone can, it will be … Frank Sinatra Jr.

The post Sinatra Jr… the swinging image of dad appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

BENEATH that blonde champagne bubble exterior Barbara Kelly has more driving force than a Blue Streak rocket after countdown.

As well as hostessing Criss Cross Quiz, she finds time to cope with the large demanding Braden flat in Knightsbridge and the demanding Braden family. To put the seal on her capabilities. she successfully stepped in for her husband, Bernard Braden, on The Braden Beat when he was on holiday.

But after working-hours, when she gets home and kicks off her shoes, how does Barbara Kelly relax?

When she’s comfortably settled in a chair, putting on a cigarette she’ll probably reach for a science fiction novel. “I love them,” she said. “For their sheer escapism. When I sink into the fantasy world of, say, a Bradbury book, all the cares and concerns of the day seem a million miles away.”

But this Canadian bom actress who arrived in England 17 years ago doesn’t stay idle long.

She’s soon out of that chair, pursuing her latest hobby, painting. Not houses, but pictures. Recently two of her oils were shown in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square.

Can anything stop this 5ft. 6in. blonde dynamo in her tracks? For a moment I thought so when I mentioned the prospect of her shortly becoming a grandmother. “It’s a bit shattering,” said Barbara, then she shrugged and finished. “But I’m sure I shall get used to it like anything else.”

The post Criss Cross Kelly has the answer appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

Jerry and Myra’s wedding day — TV Times captures the happy moment they will remember all their lives. Outside Broadcast cameras were on hand on Wednesday to show Jerry and Myra (Graham Haberfleld and Susan Jameson) arriving for the ceremony at St. Paul’s. In real life the church is St. Clement’s at Salford. The vicar, the Rev. Edward Forrester, gave the production team every co-operation. “As we are right next to the street which was the original model for Coronation Street I would have been disappointed if you had picked any other church for your wedding, he told them.

Here, for Coronation Street’s 20 million viewers, are the scenes following the arrival of the bride and groom — scenes recorded exclusively by photographer Warwick Bedford and pictured here and on the next two pages

The post The wedding album appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

‣ Introduction by TONY WARREN who brought the street to television

WHERE is Coronation Street? My unfavourite question and one I am asked every day. Why my unfavourite question? Because I simply don’t know the answer.

I’ve been told for a fact that it’s in Salford, Manchester, Leeds — even Birmingham. I am always meeting someone who knows someone who lived there.

Seven terraced houses, a pub, a comer shop and a whole lot of people.

Everyone knows their own Elsie Tanner, half-admires their Ena Sharpies, makes excuses for the Minnie Caidwell in their lives: “When all’s said an’ done she’s very good to ’er mother.”

A canal, a viaduct, the memory of a tram, the reality of the bus-stop at the corner.

You can borrow a cup of sugar, get someone to lay a bet and if you’re ill you can be sure your windows will never go dirty and someone will stone your step. You’ll belong. Belonging, however, can have its drawbacks. Everyone will know all your business though they’d never admit it, and should such a thing as a plain van draw up at your front door there’ll be a stirring of seven pairs of lace curtains.

On bonfire nights there’s parkin and treacle toffee, at Christmas port and sherry and the same at funerals with ham and tongue, tinned cling peaches and cream horns.

This then is the Coronation Street that is being featured on this page.

But where IS Coronation Street?

The answer: Just where ever you want it to be.

All their yesterdays

‣ A glimpse into the past… what was Coronation Street like 25 years ago… what were your favourite inhabitants like… in 1936

CATCH a 181 bus outside the Town Hall and fourpence will take you to Coronation Street. Look out for the stop outside Bessie Street School, walk 100 yds., turn left and you’re in the street that millions visit twice a week.

But it’s only during the past year that it’s become well, overcrowded!

What was it like 25 years ago? What sort of picture would you have seen back in 1936?

You’d have come by tram, of course. You’d have turned left at the Rover’s Return — and you wouldn’t have known the difference.

The bricks and mortar were the same … the houses, the factory, the Mission.

The forest of TV aerials hadn’t even been planted, of course, and there wasn’t a frozen food locker in the corner shop or plastic piping in the pub — but they were on the way.

It was only a question of time.

On the way too were Christine Hardman, the Barlow boys, Doreen Lostock and Dennis Tanner.

Mind, if you’d told this to Elsie Tanner, the child-bride at No. 11, she’d have said you were flamin’ mad! As far as she was concerned young Linda, sucking her dummy in the pram outside, was the first — and the last!

Bored stiff, not caring much for the neighbours, Elsie sat and smoked and waited for the sea to wash her sailor husband home again — or at least for something to happen.

And, 1,000 miles away, a boy named Ivan Cheveski ran around the streets of Warsaw where they hadn’t any TV aerials either. He’d heard of England — vaguely.

Down the street at the Rover’s Return, Jack and Annie Walker were in their first year as landlords. It wasn’t what Annie was used to, but she tried to think it had possibilities.

Some of the customers weren’t up to her standard, particularly some of the women who came in the snug, but she had ideas about that, too.

She didn’t say anything to Jack, of course, because there were other things to be got out of the way first — like starting a family. It could all be dealt with in good time.

Down the other end of the street, at No. 1, Albert Tatlock struggled hard to keep a wife and two daughters on a municipal clerk’s wage of under £4 a week.

His wife didn’t like the street very much, and he wondered sometimes if she wasn’t giving the girls ideas, but he supposed it would all work out in the end.

A bit of a philosopher, Albert, they all said, and a big reader. They respected him for it but he didn’t have many close friends.

A family called Leeming lived next door at the time — the Barlows didn’t move in until 1940. Sam Leeming died at Dunkirk and his wife went back to her parents.

It was Mary Hewitt, Harry’s mother, who persuaded Ida Barlow to get husband Frank interested in the empty house. Twenty-five years later, Harry Hewitt stood in the rain and watched them carry Ida out.

The Hayes were at No. 5.

Mr. Hayes, a quiet scholarly man who had obviously come down in the world, lived in the street but never really became a part of it.

Neither did his wife, who was an invalid and seldom seen outside the house. It was Esther the daughter, then a quiet 12-year-old who represented the family to the street, along with her brother Tom.

“A good little lass that,” they would say, watching Esther hanging out the washing in the backyard, or scouring the front step.

But when Tom’s name was mentioned they merely shook their heads, sadly, and predicted a sorry future for this wild, undisciplined boy.

It was like that in the street in 1936. They lived the present vigorously, or placidly, according to their natures, and predicted the future as they saw, or hoped, or feared it would be.

Flashback

‣ Births, deaths, weddings, trips, crises … they all made up the first exciting year of television’s most famous street. Here in next week’s supplement, we recall some of the dramatic highlights as viewers saw them at the time.

DECEMBER

Trouble at the comer shop where Florrie Lindley, who has just taken over the business from Elsie Lappin and is determined to make a success of it, has her first brush with the law. She finds she’s been committing an offence by selling a packet of fire-lighters after hours — to a policewoman, too?

JANUARY

Tragedy has come to the street with the death of Christine Hardman’s widowed mother. But it is not long before a new face comes into her life when she meets a handsome plumber called Joe Makinson. In Snape’s Cafe a romance begins to develop that has everyone in the neighbourhood taking notice.

FEBRUARY

Memories of the blitz come flooding back to the people of Coronation Street when a gas main explodes and the order goes out that all the houses have to be evacuated. The Mission Hall is turned into a temporary shelter where the homeless families spend a sleepless night until the danger is over.

MARCH

There’s an even greater crisis when Ena Sharpies overhears a chance remark and spreads the scare that the street is scheduled for demolition. Only when old Albert Tatlock calls in a council official (centre) is it found that the rumour is unfounded — and all the residents can breathe easily again.

APRIL

Ena is out of favour with everyone and gets her marching orders from Mission Hall secretary Leonard Swindley. It’s a highly emotional moment for the doting Miss Nugent when he asks her if she would like to take over the caretaker’s job. But they soon discover Ena is not to be dislodged so easily.

MAY

The sun comes out again and the people of Coronation Street patch up their differences and take an away-from-it-all coach trip — to Blackpool. Even Ena has to smile when her old cronies from the Rover’s Return, Martha and Minnie, invite her to join them for an afternoon paddle.

No. 13 – with the lid off

ONCE you’ve taken away the pub and the corner shop, the Mission Hall and the back wall of the raincoat factory, all that’s left of Coronation Street are seven very ordinary-looking terraced houses.

From the outside they are distinguished from each other only by the pattern of the curtains and the ways some of the doorsteps and windowsills have been subjected to more donkey-stoning than others.

But what are they like inside? Christine Hardman, who lives alone at No. 13, invites you in to see for yourself.

“I’m one of the lucky ones,” she says. “Most of the houses haven’t been touched since they were built, and that means when you want a bath you have to have it in a tin tub in the living room, and the only toilet is in that little outhouse at the back of the yard.

“But a few years ago my landlord had one of the three bedrooms converted into a bathroom, and it’s quite a posh affair.”

Besides the living room and the bedrooms, there are two other rooms — the front parlour, which is only used on very special occasions and, at the back of the house, the tiny scullery with a window looking out on to the yard.

For all this Christine pays a rent of 19s. a week.

‣ You don’t need o passport to visit Coronation Street. But to understand better what the natives are saying — especially in their more heated moments — non-Northerners would be well advised to study this TV Times digest of the local dialect. It has been specially compiled by Mrs. Elsie Tanner, who also posed for the pictures

Where they good old days?

‣ Continuing a glimpse into the past… what was Coronation Street like 25 years ago… and what were people doing… back in 1936.

THE cobbled streets of Lancashire, have worn well — and Coronation Street as well as any.

The bricks of the houses were soot-blackened in 1936. Today they are even blacker. But in the warm, steamy kitchens there was a sense of security which was a protection against grimmer happenings in the world outside.

Take the Hewitts at Number Seven. Matt Hewitt had a wife, daughter, and a stocky dark haired son Harr y— and none or them was very much aware of the changes going on in the world around them. If hard times came they probably couldn’t be any harder than those they’d already been through, especially in the depression years.

Matt had a steady job as a warehouse foreman. He earned enough to keep his family respectable and allow him the odd pint at the Rover’s Return.

Any night in the week, barring Sundays, Harry would be seen delivering papers in the streets round about. He shared the round with a pal of his from Mawdsley Street, a fair haired lad by the name of Len Fairclough.

On Saturdays, if they couldn’t get in without paying, they used part of the proceeds for football. The rest went on comics or pictures at the local Hippodrome. But they couldn’t wait to leave school and get working.

A few doors from the Faircloughs in Mawdsley Street lived Martha Longhurst. She lives there still, but in those days she had a railwayman husband and a daughter, Lily. The happiest day in Martha’s life was the day Lily got married. This was partly because they didn’t get on very well — Martha had never been one to suffer fools gladly — and partly because she’d made up her mind that Lily would get married the day her son-in-law-to-be put his feet under the front room table.

Martha’s husband didn’t long survive the wedding. But as Martha never tired of pointing out, he lived to see his life’s mission completed.

A friend of Martha’s, already a widow for some years, was Minnie Caldwell. She kept house for her mother in Jubilee Terrace. Because she had never had any children she took to loving cats — black cats, grey cats, smooth cats, in fact any cats in the neighbourhood that drifted her way.

Minnie might have married again, despite her mother (and the cats) but by the time her friends had convinced her of the reason for her Mr. Williams’ regular visits, he had long departed from the world.

Minnie’s great friend in 1936, and at indeterminate intervals ever since, was a rather fearsome woman by the name of Ena Sharpies.

“Whatever do them two see in each other?” people used to ask. They said exactly the same thing about Ena and her husband, Alfred, a frail man employed as timekeeper at a tailoring factory.

Alfred Sharpies died in 1937, and some said it was a merciful release. At the funeral Ena’s face was rigid as the stones which surrounded her, and remained so thereafter — at least in public.

A fortnight after his funeral she went to the Glad Tidings Mission for the first time. Two days later she moved in as caretaker.

If you ask people in Coronation Street which is the most important sound in their lives, some will say the distant hooters of the ships on the canal, others the church bells on Rosamund Street on a Sunday.

But in fact it is the bell on the door of the corner shop, which has jangled there so long and so often that everyone forgets it now. In 1936 a girl named Florrie who was staying with an aunt nearby called in the shop — she didn’t particularly notice it either.

The years went by and the faces in the street changed.

Some were born, and some died, and some just went away. Albert Tatlock will remember most of them and all their comings and goings. The arrival of Florrie and Concepta, Jed Stone and Jean, Doreen and Sheila. The departures of Billy Walker, Nancy Leathers, David Barlow … and his mother.

“Aye well,” says Tatlock, “that’s life…”

‣ The 25-year-old photographs appearing in on this page are from the albums of Violet Carson (Ena), Lynne Carol (Martha), Margot Bryant (Minnie), Ivan Beavis (Harry), Peter Adamson (Len), Pat Phoenix (Elsie), Doris Speed (Annie), Arthur Leslie (Jock), Daphne Oxenford (Esther), Jack Howarth (Albert).

NEVER before photographed – Coronation Street as it is on a typical Saturday morning. Everyone is here. Well, almost everyone. Kenneth Barlow shows his dad, Frank, a letter he’s just received from brother David. Len Fairclough, riding to work, stops outside the Hewitts’ to say hullo to Concepta and sympathise with Harry on his weekly window cleaning chore. Jack and Annie Walker are on their way back to the Rover’s Return after their early morning stroll while Elsie Tanner, collecting the milk, has a few choice words to say to Dennis on the perils of oversleeping. Christine Hardman, who is another late starter most Saturdays, gets a polite greeting from Leonard Swindley and his ever-faithful Miss Nugent. Florrie Lindley rests from brushing the pavement outside her shop to pass the time of day with Esther Hayes and Albert Tatlock, and on the corner Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst are gossiping as usual. No prizes for guessing the missing face. Our photographer was told that Ena Sharples was away on a day trip, making one of her rare visits to her daughter and grandson.

Flashback

‣ Continuing a month-by-month review of some of the dramatic highlights in the lives of the people you meet in television’s most famous street. The pictures reproduced here show scenes as viewers saw them at the time.

JUNE

A happy event is awaited by Linda Cheveski and her Polish husband Ivan, who are now happily settled in No. 9. Before the month is out the street is celebrating the arrival of baby Paul — and Elsie Tanner, enjoying the idea of being a grandmother is seen in a novel light — as an expert on baby care.

JULY

Dennis Tanner, Elsie’s layabout son, is hypnotised by the overnight successes of young men with the same haircut as himself and decides it’s time he earned a living. Fixing his sights on fame among the bright lights he buys a guitar and keeps the street awake at night as he gets to grips with the mysteries of the pulsating rhythm of rock ’n’ roll.

AUGUST

After a quarter of a century in Coronation Street, Annie and Jack Walker are asked to leave to take over a new hotel. But they turn it down when they find plush furnishings and taped music a poor substitute for the beer-stained tables and homely gossip they are so used to in the Rover’s Return.

SEPTEMBER

The world of post-office sorter Frank Barlow and his university-educated son Kenneth is shattered when news is broken that well-loved Ida Barlow has been killed in a bus accident, and Frank’s sorrow is further deepened by the non-appearance at the funeral of his other son, David. The whole street goes into mourning.

OCTOBER

Smiles again at the wedding of widower Harry Hewitt and the perky Irish barmaid from the Rover, Concepta Riley. Harry’s 11-year-old daughter, Lucille, is bridesmaid and his dart-playing pal Len Fairclough acts as best man. For the honeymoon they fly off to spend a fortnight in the Isle of Man.

NOVEMBER

Tempers rise in a kerbside brawl and Ena Sharpies goes on the offensive after Elsie Tanner publicly accuses her of being the writer of a poison pen letter she has received. Doors and windows fly open and the whole street comes out to watch as the long expected battle finally gets going.

See what their lucky stars foretell

‣ Ever since Ena Sharples had her hand read at Blackpool during the summer, fortune-telling has been the top talking-point among the women of Coronation Street. To find out what the stars have in store for them in 1962, TV Times has called in JOHN NAYLOR the world famous astrologer. Here are his predictions starting with Ena herself

ENA SHARPLES

Birthday: Nov 14. Number: nine. Stone: bloodstone. Colour: violet.

The Spring of 962 brings benefits which result from changes made around your 1961 birthday. Do-it-yourself talents are put to good use and lead to the development of a new hobby or interest because others admire your work.

MARTHA LONGHURST

Birthday: Sept. 2. Number: two and five. Stone: topaz. Colour: grey.

Sudden and unexpected events next March affect future prospects. Despite a stroke of luck in July a discontent prevails which stems from two causes, lack of ready cash and envy of successes others achieve! Late 1962 early 1963 brings an increase in income however.

MINNIE CALDWELL

Birthday: Sept. 30. Number: six. Stone: sapphire. Colour: rose.

Usually gentle and long-suffering, you’ll become impatient with two people, both much loved, whose demands and quarrels make life a burden. Health may give trouble during May. A delightful spending spree becomes possible late in 1962 — due to an unexpected windfall.

ESTHER HAYES

Birthday: May 10. Number: six. Stone: turquoise. Colour: light-blue.

A long-held business ambition will be achieved April-June. This helps you push recent emotional up-sets into the background. April brings a chance to undertake a trip with someone you get on well with; late in 1962 you spend heavily on your home.

ANNIE WALKER

Birthday: Aug. 11. Number: one. Stone: diamond. Colour: gold.

A critical year; a hard-working year. Psychologically, you experience a feeling of loneliness, are easily depressed. Early 1962 brings business problems, much responsibility, troublesome holdups. Prospects brighten mid-1962. A new relationship transforms your life late in the summer months.

ELSIE TANNER

Birthday: March 5. Number: seven. Stone: amethyst. Colour: green.

Everything goes with a swing! More money, better prospects, a relationship now growing in important to you is put on a lasting basis next spring. A fortunate meeting with someone important brings benefits because they take to you.

CONCEPTA RILEY

Birthday: Jan. 15. Number: eight. Stone: garnet. Colour: chocolate brown.

An enjoyable success to start the year off and it stems from something you have done in the past! The achievements of a loved one give much pleasure in the summer. July-September sees much coming and going involving a relative.

FLORRIE LINDLEY

Birthday: June 12. Number: five. Stone: Topaz. Colour: primrose-yellow.

More prosperous conditions, a favourable decision, quickly disperse late 1961 anxieties. The autumn finds you deeply involved in a relationship which starts in May. In November an ambitious venture is started which necessitates a heavy outlay but offers glittering prospects.

The post TV Times guide to Coronation Street appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.

STARS twinkle in the night sky, and the light from the full moon makes the snow glisten high up on the mighty Rockies. From the brilliantly illuminated ranch-house, constructed of local stone and timber from the encircling forests, comes the gay music of a square-dance. And a rough wooden sign nearby proclaims that we are exactly 5,993 miles from London.

It could be Alberta, Canada. But. in fact, the stars are sequins, the mountains cardboard. And the ranch-house, made from matchwood and paper, is in a television studio only a stone’s throw from Manchester’s muddy Irwell.

But if the scaled down model screened at the opening of Melody Ranch is only make-believe, the atmosphere inside the full-size ranch-house built on the studio floor is 100 per cent authentic.

The place itself has been designed by a Canadian, Tom Spaulding. The moose’s head on the wall may have been borrowed from a Salford museum — but it is, after all, a genuine North American moose.

And most of the artists appearing in the show are Canadians, too. Bill O’Connor, the host, and comedy-singer Libby Morris, who have both appeared in a similar show on Canadian TV, tell me: “This is just like the real thing.”

It was in a building something like the Melody Ranch set that Libby started on her show business career. “It was back in Winnipeg,” she said. “There was a stable, and a man bought it and made it into a night club, while maintaining the Western setting. I was 17 and working my way through college, and I used to sing there at night.

“After that I moved to Toronto, broke into radio and television, and then came to Britain.”

Libby is no stranger to the Manchester studios. She used to sing in Two’s Company until she had a breakdown and flew back to Canada to recuperate.

Melody Ranch also brings diminutive Jackie Lee back to the studios where she scored so much success in magazine programmes like Sharp at Four and People and Places. Since she was last in Manchester she’s had a busy time. Much of it has been taken up with troop concerts in Cyprus, Germany, North Africa and Malta.

But she also found time to get engaged. Her fiance is Len Beadle, one of The Four Others singing group. They plan to be married in August.

Jackie is one member of the Melody Ranch team who has no connection with Canada. She is Irish, and proud of it. “But,” she told me, “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything. There is such a happy atmosphere, and everyone is so friendly and helpful.”

The leader of the Melody Ranch group of musicians is Danny Levan, whose “talking violin” has a lot to say during the show’s 30 minutes. “I like to specialise in the novelty jazz type of fiddle playing,” he said, “but for some years now I have been typed as a Western-style fiddler. I don’t mind. I love this kind of music.”

He was introduced to “this kind of music” when he came out of the Army after the war and teamed up with the late Big Bill Campbell.

It was a post war meeting that created the Maple Leaf Four. This singing group consists of Al Harvey, brothers Norman and Johnnie MacLeod and Joe Melia. None of them had any show business experience before the war. They came to Britain as Canadian servicemen, and met after the war.

Of the four, only Al Harvey, tall and immaculate in his black and white cowboy outfit, can claim any knowledge of real ranch life. “I have ridden in the Calgary Stampede,” he told me. “It’s the biggest in the world — an unforgettable experience.”

Melody Ranch should make Al feel at home. According to the script its location is in the foothills of the Rockies, midway between Calgary and Banff.

Derek Meakin

– And Bill O’Connor ties the show together

BILL O’CONNOR stopped shouting “Mr Props, Mr Props,” and gave me an engaging smile. “I’m looking for a piece of string,” he explained. “I’ve just had this Western outfit made and the belt’s too long. It looks untidy. A piece of string would tie it nicely.”

This he said in an accent that was born in Sault Sainte Marie, Canada, where Bill grew up. As an actor he has used many others, but his home-town accent has come out again for Melody Ranch, where square-dances and songs from the guests set the style.

I met him at a rehearsal to talk about his role as “the owner of this spread.” He is tall — almost 6ft — has dark brown curly hair, hazel eyes and a welcoming smile.

His figure is athletic, which is hardly surprising, for he lists baseball, squash and ice hockey among his leisure activities.

He looks a real rancher in his Western outfit of brown and white leather boots, brown and white checked trousers, yellow ochre embroidered shirt and ribbon tie with a matching waistcoat.

“I’m certainly enjoying this show,” said Bill. “I think it’s fun. I hope it’s popular. We have the same sort of show in Canada. That’s been running for more than five years and is so popular that viewers won’t let it be replaced.” He has just returned from Canada, where he is known as Larry O’Connor. ” There’s another Bill O’Connor in Canadian show business,” he explained.

Bill, who is 38, came to England with the Canadian Navy and stayed on to become a well-established leading man in West End musical comedy. He played in Cage Me A Peacock, Brigadoon and Love From Judy.

His films include They Made Me A Fugitive, Meet the Navy, No Orchids For Miss Blandish and The Happiness of Three Women. He has had two weekly radio programmes, and taken part in variety broadcasts and straight plays, but he plays host for the first time on television in Melody Ranch.

Bill does more than introduce the other artists; his easy-going, relaxed personality welds the show together He welcomes the viewers to the timbered, wide-windowed ranch house. He cracks the jokes that lead from song to song, and, of course, he sings.

“I like the happy atmosphere of Melody Ranch,” Bill told me. “I like the gay songs we sing.”

There was no more time to talk, for the last rehearsal was due to begin. Director Philip Jones walked on the set to give his last-minute instructions.

Bill was saying goodbye to me when a blue-sweatered character who had heard his appeal for string arrived with a piece. Bill tied his belt tightly. “I think that looks better,” he said. And he slipped back to the set in time to join the rest of the cast in the welcoming song that introduces Melody Ranch.

Pamela Hodgson

The post They’re real pardners at Melody Ranch appeared first on THIS IS GRANADA from Transdiffusion.