Behp0372-malcolm-brown-summary
SIDE ONE [n.b. Source notes do not indicate where Side 2 begins or ends]
Born 1910 in Bradford, moved to Nelson, talks about his schooling in the North, then the family moved to Dorset. Poole Grammar School (war years). Got a scholarship to St John’s Oxford doing history, but with difficulty changed over to do English and got a first. Was cox of St John’s rowing eight; whilst there joined the RNVR [Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve] also took Russian language course, trained at Portsmouth; then sent to Coulsden Camp for intensive Russian course; became a “coder”, promoted to Midshipman and became an interpreter. Spent three months in Germany, tapping phones. On demob saw an advert in The Times for BBC wanting general trainees. Spent the next two years working in various departments of the General Overseas Service, then sent to Television script department, attached to Gil Calder on his Tear Away series. Then moved to Talks Department.
He talks about a lunch he had with Leonard Miall and Grace Wyndham Goldie. He was offered a 15 minute slot on Saturday night by Huw Wheldon, and his idea cost £500 and was with the cartoonist Fougasse. Talks at some length about Huw Wheldon; he worked on Portraits of Power, with Terasa Denny.
SIDE THREE
He talks about the Lloyd George Portrait of Power. He applied for and got a job as Producer. He talks about his programme with General Horrocks on the Zeebrugge Incident. In 1960 he joined with David Wheeler to make The Uncrowned King, then in 1961 he made a programme about the Berlin Wall, with Philip Donellan, which was greatly liked by the pundits. He then embarked on a programme about Nehru, Man of Two Worlds. His next programme of substance was Man Alone, about T.E.Lawrence. He also talks about the tensions within the Talks Dept.
SIDE FOUR
After the Lawrence programme, he and Donnellan went their separate ways, but he said he learned a great deal from him. His next assignment was to make something out of a whole lot of rushes, shot by Andrew Miller Jones on High Places of the Mind; together with Pamela Wilcox Bower, they produced a programme using C P Snow; then a programme about Ireland, I’m a Stranger Here Myself; then a programme about Japan, A Place in the Sun; he then goes on to talk about a programme with Frank O’Connor on Yeats, Horseman Pass By.
SIDE FIVE
Still talking about Horseman Pass By, then his programme with Ludovic Kennedy Scapa Flow (1966). His first colour was shot on 16mm (1967) World Turned Upside Down with Fitzroy MacLean. He then made Battle of the Somme, with Leo McKern reading the commentary voiceover (1975-6). His next was a series of programmes, One Pair of Eyes, which he produced until 1975. He then made a programme about Willy Brandt, A Man called Willy Brandt, with Lord Chalfont, and then embarked on a series of programmes, Mrs Ghandi, Sadat of Egypt, The Shah of Iran, King Hussein of Jordan.
SIDE SIX
Continuing with One Pair of Eyes, publication of a book based on his research for the Western Front programmme. With the twentieth anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, he made the programme Checkpoint Charlie after which he made another programme about Berlin dealing with relations between British, French and American troops, Flashpoint Berlin. He then returned to the UK, by which time Talks Features had moved from the East Tower to Kensington House and he talks about the problems he faced getting his programme suggestions dealt with. He was able to make Gordon of Khartoum with Robert Hardy in the leading role. Another of his programmes was The Shetland Bus.
SIDE SEVEN
He talks about the BBC ethos, the relations between the presenters and himself; he then talks about Experiences of War, about working with Philip Donnellan and the two books about T.E. Lawrence, again from his own research.
SIDE EIGHT
He had now become an academician with the Imperial War Museum asking him to look into the possibility of further publications; now working as a consultant on a forthcoming series on war for the BBC. He then talks about the changes he has seen since he first started.
This interview although perhaps a bit disorganised, nevertheless gives a very clear idea of the difficulties and advantages of working within the BBC
