Adam Fullarton

Adam Fullarton

[Start of Recording]

[00:20]

I2: I think I am ready.

R: Right. OK.

I2: That's fine. I think we are there.

I: Right! Totally informal. Relaxed. Adam Fullarton, when did you start with STV?

R: I think I started in 1962.

I: Right. This interviewer, John Frame, and, first of all, Adam, before you came to STV, what was your, kind of, background before then?

R: Well, I was in the Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer and I got fed up with that so I did my National Service and then I went to ATV and I was two years with ATV where I was in the film unit first of all then tele-recording on Film and then Ampex Video Recorders appeared and the Ampex machines were very scarce then so ABC and ATV joined forces to form Alpha London. It was a joint company between ATV and ABC and so we had about six Ampex machines and no one had actually seen one before. they just brought out the crate, sat there and we kind of looked bewildered at them! But we managed to get them going.

I: They were video recording machines, weren't they?

R: Yes. Ah ha. The original. You know, STV had the original versions, too, when I first started there. And then I went to, well no, after that I was at ABC then I went to Granada and I came up here quite by accident because - I don't know if it's interesting or not but - STV really started with a firm called High Definition Films and I can't remember people's names now but High Definition Films was a thousand line recording system on 16mm film but the idea was (I've forgotten his name, which is terrible!) but it was to get chief engineers ready to start ITV, if they got the Government go-ahead to start ITV. And they did and Fred Becker became the Chief Engineer of STV, MacNamarr became the Chief Engineer of ATV and they were all High Definition Films and ABC, Bernard Greenhead, I think, he was, they were all, so they all came from High Definition Films and I came up here because everyone said, "Oh, you'll need to go in and see Fred Becker" but I got to AR and Fred Becker was just about to leave. In fact, he'd gone on holiday or something so I never did see him. But I wasn't looking for a job or anything but I got back to Manchester, where I was staying, and I got a phone call saying, "Would you like to come and work for STV?" which was, kind of, unfortunate because we'd stripped all the wallpaper and everything off the house! But that's how I arrived here.

I: At that time, it was 405 line, wasn't it?

R: Yes.

I: What did you think when you came in at first about the equipment which was available and what STV had in terms of, you know, the ironmongery, if you like?

R: Well!

I: Come on!

R: It was a bit of a shock! But it was a very, it really was a nice place to work. Granada was a big business, you know. It felt like a big business! It was like going to work in the Mills! They had six studios or something. I thought it was quite surprising that the back staircase for STV had a toilet basin sitting in the landing with nothing round it and it functioned! Sitting on the staircase!

I: Was that in case the Queen turned up?!

R: I don't know! But, you know, I was very happy to have been to Granada.

[05:46]

I: Oh yeah! I think it was new to a lot of people who were starting at STV, you know, television itself. You'd a lot of experience but what was the general feeling about the people who had never been in television before as you started working with them?

R: Well I don't find, they'd all been there two years I suppose. I didn't notice it! They all knew more than I did so...!

I: I'm sure that's not true! But the actual equipment that you were having to start dealing with?

R: It was much the same. The VTR [Video Tape Recorders] were the same although the, master control equipment particularly the Video Mixer was a bit primitive! [Master Control was the control room which transmitted the programmes to the Transmitters.] The switching Uni-Selecter was just like a Post Office Telephone exchange.

I: Oh, right!

R: But it worked alright! I do remember the cue dot though! [Cue Dot was an electronically generated tiny box which appeared top left or top right of the picture] There's a, a hanging basket with, not even a printed, sort of, condensers and bits of equipment and a battery and that was the cue dot! Hanging on a chain in a basket!

I: That's the little dot that appeared on screen to let everyone know that the commercials were coming up!

R: Yes.

I: Oh yeah! Obviously the progress in equipment and standards was constantly increasing. Were you kind of caught up in redevelopment and more development?

R: No, I was at Central Control.

I: Central Control. The nerve centre of the Television Station

R: And it just happened!

I: Oh right!

R: Well, strangely enough, the guy Len Holt, who was Chief Engineer at Granada, after I left, he resigned from Granada and started a company with - I've forgotten his colleague's name - but they actually came up and designed and installed the new Master Control.

I: And just for anybody who doesn't know, Master Control was the kind of Central Control room where everything was, that came into it and it was repositioned and re-sent, yes, aye.

R: Yes.

I: The technical hub in other words. Some would argue it is the heart of the place.

R: Well, it's still a nice quiet place to sit and...in the afternoon! I was quite pleased at Granada because money was quite short then for, well, I was just recovering from National Service and so we worked a shift one day on, two days off but I would work one day in Master Control and then because they were short of people in VT, I would go to VT for the day or whatever.

I: Oh, fine.

R: For money, I mean!

I: Of course! [09:13] Did you stay with just Master Control and with your trips to VT - was that how your career progressed?

R: No, Bob Potts, who'd really masterminded outside broadcast, and was a very, sort of, well-liked pagan, I think fed up with outside broadcast and said to me one day, "Do you want to swap?" So I swapped with Bob and I went to outside broadcast and Bob went to be in charge of Edinburgh actually. For Edinburgh had just started then.

I: How was the switch for you?

R: I liked outside broadcast because out in the big city suited me fine then.

I: I can understand that.

R: But it was changed days there, I mean the cameras took ages to line up and whether it was worth bothering lining them up sometimes and you would try it with a test card that was sort of maybe eight feet by five feet and out in the rain with a huge test card out in the middle of a football field!

I: Are we still talking about black and white at that time?

R: Yes, it would be.

I: Aye.

R: And the start of colour.

I: Right, yeah.

R: The start of colour was rather unfortunate for the floodlighting wasn't very good and, of course, all the Directors wanted it in colour and all the engineers said, "There's not enough light for this!" but you can start off in colour and it can get worse and worse and worse and the lights go off and on and I remember, you began to get a huge trail behind the ball and one thing, I think we were at Easter Road and the lights were not good and somebody kicked the ball up in the air and it was just at the time of the early spaceships and there was such a trail after the white ball that it went out of shot but then came down vertically and it just left a trail like a rocket coming down and stuck in the middle of the pitch!

I: Oh God! I wish I'd seen that! That's quite something. I suppose it was pushing too far too early with the early colour cameras.

R: Well it was, the early days of colour, it was just marvellous that it was colour! It didn't matter too much!

I: Yeah, right! What was the next progression with the colour cameras after these first ones? Was it still three-tube or was it, did it...

R: Oh well, they were four-tube.

I: Four-tube, right.

R: I've forgotten what sort of cameras we got after that in the O.B. [outside broadcast] Unit. What were they? Och, I don't remember now. We had a Hitachi. A creepy PP! The film actually called it the creepy PP and of course the Union demanded that you couldn't operate a colour camera without a Racks Engineer. So we had a Racks Engineer and a length of cable along with the creepy PP!

I: A Racks Engineer is the one who actually controlled the picture quality?

R: Ah ha.

I: Oh right. So the cameraman didn't set up the Pictures in those days. It was the Racks Engineer.

R: That's right. Of course I don't know now but as alert, it was still the Racks Engineer who...

I: Who took...

R: The grass looks a different colour on different cameras if you don't have a Racks Engineer!

I: Yes, you can see that! [13:35] What was the variety of outside broadcast that you were involved in?

R: Well, we sort of did football every weekend and we'd do a variety of things maybe middle of the week.

I: Anything special jump out at you?

R: Oh, we did a royal, oh that was quite interesting, we did a Royal Command performance and we had to go and find a venue for it. It was in the King's Theatre in Glasgow and parking for the scanner (Large Vehicle containing all the electronics and operational staff) and things wasn't going to be so easy and, also, ITN wanted to make a deal of it for it was the Queen's Jubilee of some sort. I've forgotten which Jubilee it was but we looked around and a chap from ITN, well their outside broadcast engineer came up, Mike Newston, and we looked around and we saw this building across the street from the King's and we thought 'that would be ideal if they would let us in there!' ITN wanted to make a studio, you see, to present their TV Programme from. That Day, We were doing an outside broadcast, first of all, from Glasgow Cathedral of the ceremonies and things and then we had to move the lot to the King's Theatre but, of course, we wanted to pre-rig the cables and everything so we went over to see if we could get into this building. If they would let us use an office or something in the building. And we walked round it and we didn't find a door in! We thought, 'that's funny!' and we went round it again and (this story's getting too long!)

I: No! Carry on!

R: But no, we couldn't find a door in then we saw someone coming out what looked like a window so we rushed up there and, sort of, dodged in to be met by heavy security men who said, "What do you want?! How did you find your way in here?!" And we still didn't know what this was about but it turned out that this was the Royal Navy department who designed submarines and sort of things! All very quiet.

I: Oh right!

R: Well, we told them what we wanted and they then sent us on to a different, more powerful, security lot on the first floor and they stopped us and we said what we were looking for and could we speak to anyone about having the use of an office as a studio and they said, "Oh yes! Your names?" So I gave my name but, unfortunately, well we said it was for News at Ten, really but when Mike Newston said his name was Mike Newsten they thought, 'wait a minute! This is a set-up! This is candid camera, sort of thing!' But anyway, we persuaded them that Mike Newston just happened to be his name for real and we got up to see the man in charge anyway! But we were taken up there and that was quite an experience too for as we came to each room, they rang a bell outside, and we could see umpteen, well maybe forty drawing boards or something, and they all pulled a blind down over the drawing boards in case Mike and I pinched their submarine drawings! When we got to the Manager - I don't know what title he would have - but he was very keen on it and he gave us virtually the whole top office of the building and we ran cables across.

[18:05]

I: Oh gosh. That's the kind of thing about outside broadcasts, setting them up, it's like the, the underground, the underside of a swan! Everything's going like crazy but the front just sails through! There must have been more experiences like that over the years when you've been doing outside broadcasts?

R: Well we went, I forget where it was now, oh, I've forgotten the name of the film, team, but all the, football was cancelled everywhere except one ground. Don Cumming was the Director so, off we went, with a scanner, sort of, chasing behind us, and we got there but there was virtually nothing, you know, and we needed to get a camera somewhere so there's a lot of fence around the ground, you know, just about so high, and we cut down a set of spare goalposts with a saw and laid them and got some sheets of corrugated iron and sat them on top of the flattened goalposts and that was our centre camera! And I think we'd one on top of the scanner and one on top of the rolling recorder (a vehicle containing the Video Recording Equipment) and so on but that's how we did it then!

I: Oh wow! But what seems to be very obvious is that you were kind of, almost a hit and run in the sense that you were presented with something and somehow you got it to work!

R: Well, the other one that I remember that was quite odd when we were at Hamilton and it was going to be the only game that was on and, of course, it was real money for them! It was a saviour if we went there and they got some, a fee! So, but we got there because they said "Our game is going to be on." But we got there and it was snow-bound! You know, there was a foot, well, two or three inches of snow but we thought, 'oh no, no! We'll have it alright, we'll sand it, we'll get the snow out, we'll get an army of volunteers and we'll get the snow out and we'll put some sand down and there was still quite a lot around the side and we'll get a yellow ball!' That was unheard of in these days! So, "you can get a yellow ball?!" I'd never heard of that, you see. And so that was fine. So, we arrived there and, sure enough, there's the pitch looking like the desert and I thought 'they've really put out a tremendous amount of sand!' And their team ran out and then they kicked the ball out. A bright yellow ball and bright yellow sand!! Oh God!

I: Their intentions were there! I do remember Knockhill, the, what was it, motorbike racing.

R: Oh yes. Ah ha, in the fog!

I: I remember that incident, oh yes, in the fog!

R: I remember these ones too! These are the ones to remember!

I: Oh aye! Have you got any more? [21:36] Were you involved in the Queen's visit to Northern Ireland?!

R: Yes.

I: That's a wealth of stories!

R: Well, we'd arrived at, oh, I can't remember which one of the venues.

I: Hillsborough House?

R: The one on the coast. What was it?

I: Oh yeah, aye! Coleraine.

R: Coleraine, yeah, I think it was. We arrived there and they stopped us and they'd changed all the passes the night before as a security arrangement but they hadn't told anyone so we had to fight our way in there too! A small bomb went off, too!

I: Was that in the Europa?

R: Oh, we'd been in the Europa the night before. We were, it was the last night of anyone staying in the Europa before they decided to shut it down. They decided we were expendable and we were there the last night.

I: Oh, right!

R: I looked out the window of my bedroom for those bangs and things. It was a very lively night around the town with, the fact that it was the Queen's Silver Jubilee and that didn't go down all that well everywhere. And I could hear these bangs and things and we had big, heavy curtains in the window and I opened them to look out and then I realised the place was black-out except for me looking out this window and I thought, 'Wait a minute! This isn't a good idea!' You could see flashes about the place, too!

I: Oh yeah! Yes, it was quite an active time.

R: Yes. Were you there, John?

I: I was there!

R: Did you go to their dinner at another place down in the country? Alistair took us there.

I: Yes, I did.

R: And we thought it was rather odd, the tiny room with a series of little alcoves like as if they were editing suites or something! And we said, "You know, that's an unusual sort of dining room!" And they explained, no, a bomb had gone off in the corridor and took a whole wall down! It was the, bedrooms or something so they just made that the dining room with no wall there so you had all these alcoves all the way down the side!

I: That's right! Yes! Oh yeah, that's right! The whole thing was quite an experience! Particularly the trip to Guinness!

R: Oh, I missed that!

I: Oh, sorry, Adam!

R: No one told me about that! I thought it was funny too when we were going from one venue to another and there we were. We had an army escort fore and aft and we stopped. "Why have we stopped?" And an army guy comes along and says, you know, "There's just a bit of something suspicious ahead - we're just taking precautions." And we're stopped out in the country beside maybe two houses and there's a little phone box there and, as we sat there, about ten seconds later, up popped about ten soldiers with big guns, out of the ditch! They'd been hiding there all along! We never saw them! The thing was, there was this old lady came along, completely unperturbed about all these soldiers, went in to the phone box, made a phone call, and there's all this army outside all waving guns about! It didn't bother her!

I: I know about these! It's amazing how they just accepted it at the time as part of it. The Hillsborough House set up in the grounds - were you aware of all the soldiers hiding in the bushes as security as well?!

R: Yes, it was one of the other O.B. guys, oh, gosh, I've forgotten. I forget people's names, I'm sorry, John! But we wandered down, there's a sort of, there was a big lawn as you say, and about half way down it there was a sort of ornamental pond, I think, and some bushes and (I'll remember his name in a minute!) but we wandered down there just passing the time and we got about half way down when two soldiers stand up and point the rifles at us and we think, 'what do we do? Do we run?!' But we thought, 'No, we can't beat...this is not how it happens!' So we thought, 'Well, we'll stand still!' And they came up and we waited for, we weren't quite sure whether they were Germans or Japanese or...! But they did look friendly. But then they said, "Are you Scottish Television?" And we said, "Yes!" And they said, "Ah! We tried to read it on the side of the van through our telescopes!" So! There you are!

I: They had you in their sights! Oh God! It was quite an event! [27:45] Progressing on from that, Adam, how did you feel about working within STV? You know, to do what you're doing as the outside broadcast stuff that was unfolding?

R: Oh, I always liked STV. Yes, I couldn't say anything bad at all about STV!

I: Oh, that's good to hear!

R: Well, I don't mean bad but it was a nice company to work for!

I: Oh aye, yeah! So, when did you eventually decide to part with STV?

R: Well, I was offered, as we all were, early retirement when I was sixty, maybe, for I think you had to go to sixty-five then. So, I said, "Oh yes! I'll take that!" And so I left and two days later Russell Galbraith came up with the idea of doing Sidney Devine at, across the road, what's that? The theatre!

I: Oh, the Pavilion!

R: The Pavilion! That's it! So, virtually the whole independent production staffing, anyone we hired, oh well, Russell hired, STV's O.B. Unit and we did the Sidney Devine show there, which was a laugh. They said to the soundman showing the sort of line up, "Sidney, could you stand a bit back from the microphone, we're picking up your heart monitor!" But then we came lunchtime on a rehearsal day and Russell and I wandered in to STV and went up to the canteen and we'd completely forgotten we hadn't worked, we didn't work there any longer!! "Wait a minute! We shouldn't be here!"

I: Well, in those days there weren't the security problems there are nowadays, yes!

I2: Are we taking a break?

I: There's so much variety in outside broadcasting in general and particularly the experiences that you've had over the years. How do you actually work out what's your best memory of being involved with outside broadcast? Is that an impossible task?

R: It is in a way. I just feel it's quite good to go home after every one and think, 'Thank God, that worked!' You know! That's my best memories!

I: Oh aye! So, you retired? Did you regret retiring?

R: No, as I say, we immediately did the Sidney Devine show then the BBC guys asked me if I wanted to do the Edinburgh Mile so we did the Edinburgh Mile and then Sky phoned me so I never actually retired!

I: No! That's more or less...

R: And I was with Sky for fifteen years, I think.

[31:34]

I: Yeah. I mean, of the two companies I don't want you to, sort of, you know, feel pressured but which did you prefer working with - the STV set-up or the Sky set-up?

R: Well, it's hard to say, John, because it's a different thing altogether, you know, I was on my own up here with Sky! I was the office, I was the everything, I was the lines booking! You had, you were very isolated! You knew who to blame! But what was great about Sky was, I know the Union has its good points but the Union was what was the only terrible thing about STV. The riggers, I try not to mention the riggers, but the riggers' attitude from the moment I got there, apart from one or two exceptions, was they get paid their wages for turning up, anything else was negotiable!

I: Hmm!

R: And that was virtually the start of every O.B. - there was a negotiation with a rigger. You know, absolute ridiculous things they wanted to do!

I: I don't think we can go into particular details, no, it's wise to leave that as...!

R: One thing I've got to say, it took me a little while before I discovered how I always seemed to be in trouble with the Union before Cup Finals or International Matches. You know, they'd brought up some petty complaint, well, one, a complaint about me anyway and the National Union Representatives would come up from London Soho to hear my case but, of course, it was to see the football! The riggers were sneaking them in to the football! So, I knew that I was in trouble with the Union if there's any big football match up here! Maybe that wasn't true but it did appear that way!

I: Well, one could put two and two together! Right.

R: The various troubles I was in was the opera because the cameramen and the riggers, of course, they got on. To put it mildly. And they demanded that the riggers would carry the cameras to and from the base of the tripod or the scaffold thing. And that seemed alright at the time but the cameramen insisted that the riggers weren't qualified to lift the camera off the tripod so you see where this goes!

I: Yeah.

R: The last thing the riggers would de-rig was lift the camera off the tripod so the cameramen were standing there after the riggers had taken out all the cables and everything else and, anyway, that was sort of getting away from the Theatre Royal bit but it was the cameramen this time said it had been a long day and they weren't going to de-rig the cameras. Well, they weren't going to lift them down!

I: No.

R: So I was really cheesed off so I lifted them down and I knew, I think I was going to be chucked out of the Union for that one because the theatre needed the thing for the next day and what this was all about was to get a notional (Overtime) the next day so I lifted them down and, of course, that brought the light of Soho off my back! But that's the sort of a thing that went on with STV, the continual fight with the riggers!

I: Ah ha. Everything else kind of integrated and so on.

R: Yes.

I: Well.

R: There's so many things too that, house electricians and electricians and one would touch the other's job and...

I: I think that was one of the reasons why a certain Prime Minister who wore high heels was determined to try and sort that out.

R: Yes, ah ha. But it kind of went too far in a way.

I: Aye.

R: Now I think a bit of Union might help!

I: I think you are probably right actually, yeah, there's, the Unions did tend to spend a lot of times fighting for their Members but, at other times, they were a kind of conscience to the Management.

R: Yes.

I: Yes, but that seems to have gone now. [37:27] Right, Adam, it's been a pleasure!

R: Don't tell the riggers I said that!

I: I doubt if the riggers will want to get involved with the National Archives! [37:42] Now, we've got three little bites that they are looking for, for the, they're going to try and do a 60th Anniversary programme for STV and they're looking for your reaction to three separate points. So...

I2: Before you do that, Adam, could you do this for me?

R: Oh yes!

I2: [Unintelligible] One, two, three.

R: Oh, I think I could do that!

I: I think you bloody well could! You coped with the security guard!

R: This won't interfere with anything the Union's doing because I've had them up from Soho if I've touched any of their props!

I2: Could you turn it just towards the light a bit. There we go. And, yes, just the other way round. Perfect.

I: And flip!

I2: Perfect! Thanks very much!

R: Right! Cheers!

I: The first one that they're looking for is what was your most memorable moment from your time at STV?

R: Well, we had some very good trips to the curling, you know, when Russell Galbraith got the franchise for about six curling matches and we went through the hiring, you know, of foreign scanners and it's very interesting to see how the Canadians and the Americans and the Swiss and all these guys worked. That's quite memorable.

I: Excellent! What do you think was the most important contribution STV made to Scotland and why do you think that?

R: Well, it really did have quite a good, local input then. It seemed more Scottish than it is now but then I know some of the things that went wrong like, that killed the evening news, one of the evening newspapers because it survived on the dog results, you know, people bought it at night to know the dog results and because we did a late night studio thing, that killed the evening newspaper so! But it was much more - I didn't mind the straw bales! I thought the straw bales were fine!

I: You've given us lots and lots of your memories, what do you think is the funniest memory from your days at STV?

R: Oh...

I: I mean you've covered lots of, lots...

R: I was just coming up in the lift there and, as I said, the last time I was in the STV lift, I was stuck in it with Vernie and no one would let us out! We were shouting "Let us out! Let us out!" You can stay in there!

I: Vernie was head of, Vernie Coyle, what was his position in STV at the time?

R: Well he was a Director, a Company Director.

I: Aye. Right! Excellent! Right, I think that's it. [41:52]

[41:54]

R: We were going to do two O.B.'s in the one day. A Ranger's match and a Celtic match and, of course, we didn't have the facilities for that so we were going to hire Anglia TV and through the week the O.B., Head of O.B.'s at Anglia came up and I was going to show him round Parkhead to see where, to bring their equipment and how to rig it and where the cables would go and things like that so that was fine but on the day he was due to come up to be shown round Parkhead he - I've forgotten his name just at the moment but he had a very Scottish name but he'd never been in Scotland in his life before but anyway, he came up there and he said to Reception that he was here to see Adam Fullarton and, so they asked him to sit down in Reception and, let's say his name was Neil Munro! It wasn't but it was a Scottish name like that. And so he sat down in Reception and there were several other people sitting down in Reception, too, and Colin Waters and the studio guys, I think, were interviewing people for a job in Racks and Colin Water's secretary came along and said, "Could we please have Mr..." and it was the same name - Munro! Well he got up confidently, you see, and shoots off and the other guy, he's sitting, well he seems to know what he'd doing so he goes along for the interview for the Racks job! And they started and said, "Where have you come from?" "Oh, Anglia." "Oh, you've had a long journey up!" You know. "Can we get you a coffee or anything?" And he said, "Oh no but", he said, "I would die for a bacon butty!" And they thought this was a bit odd and the interview went on quite a bit before they started asking him, "How do you think you'll like working in Glasgow?" And he's thinking, 'Well, I'm only going to be here for a day!' And, eventually, my secretary went down to see where he'd gone to and traced him back to...! And, after that, we did several other jobs, golf and things and he always said, "Tell me! Would I have got the job?!"

I: Oh that's magic, Adam, thank you!

I2: Could we take that again? There was a bit of fidgeting going on!

I: Could you run through it again?

R: Ah ha.

I: Oh, that's great!

R: I wish I could remember his name!

I: Aye, Yeah. Trying to think if, thinking it back, on, it was a Racks job they were looking for. I'm trying to think of, no, there's no way I can think of thinking it round that way, no. Och well. And are you ready? And this is Adam's funniest moment.

R: Yes, well, we were going to do two outside broadcasts in the one day - Rangers at Ibrox and Celtic at Parkhead but we didn't have the facilities for both for they were both big games and so we had Anglia to come up and do it for us and, during the week, their outside broadcast Leader came up and I was going to show him round Parkhead to see where they could park and put the cables and that was all fine. So, he went back down to Anglia and the day arrived and no, sorry, I've messed that one up now! When he came up for me to show him round Parkhead, he arrived at the foyer of STV and said "I'm here to see Adam Fullarton." And they said, "Oh yes, take a seat." And so he sat down there and he'd actually phoned my office first of all and told Elaine, who was the secretary, that this man was waiting for him but Elaine said, "Could you just hang on a minute?" I was doing something else. "I'll come down and get him." So, meanwhile, they were interviewing people for a Racks job at Colin Waters' (Head of HR) office and they sent along for the next person and Colin Waters' secretary came along and said, "Could I have Mr so-and-so?" I can't quite remember his name now but it was a Scottish name and it was the same name as the guy who had applied for the Racks job and he stood up first and scampered down the corridor and the other guy thought, 'oh, well, he must know what he's doing, he seems very confident!' so he sat and said nothing! And he arrived in Colin's office and they welcomed him and sat him down and said, "Where have you come from?" And he said, "Oh, I came from Norwich." "Oh, right, oh that's a long way!" You know, "Can we get you a coffee or anything?" "Oh no," he said, "but I would die for a bacon butty! I've nothing since four o' clock this morning!" or something! "Oh, right!" And then they proceeded to ask him, "How would you like working in Glasgow? Have you been in Glasgow very much? Would you like working in Glasgow?" And he's thinking, 'Well, I'm only going to be here for about six hours so I don't quite know what all the fuss is!' But eventually Elaine came looking for him down there to discover he'd gone and she traced him back and rescued him out of the interview! Any time I met the Anglia crew after that, at the golf and things, they said, "Tell me, would he have got the job?!"

I: Excellent information for that insert between takes one and two. Magic stuff! Right, thank you Adam!

R: Oh, good!

[47:18]

 

[End of Recording]