More TOTP on e-bay

[Christopher Perry]

I have spoken to the collector. He appears to be a genuine trader who has resisted other ebay buyers who have offered to do him a cash deal on the quiet. He has no playback facilities, indeed few people can play these obsolete formats.

If the material is genuine, and he does not have any way of playing it, he is really glad if we can buy it to return to the BBC.

We have been aware of this collection for 8 years and the BBC did have a chance to borrow it in the year 2000, but the previous owner - the guy who died - was told that the BBC could not play the tapes AND they lost 2 of them!!!

If this collection is playable and watchable then rest assured we will make sure that all lovers of TOTP can get to see these recordings again.

Thanks

Chris

[Paul Rumbol]

Chris best of luck with this. This is not a personal dig at you but it does sound rather incompetant and unenterprising that a 'known' collection like this could be allowed to languish for 8 years without any kind of deal being forged. Now youll have to pay over the odds -plus theres no guarantee itll end up in the right hands.

[hartley967]

Have the prospective buyers now established what exactly they would be buying?
2inch quad? or a domestic format for example?

[Tim Brown]

Blimey!!?
I know I don't trade in your circles but count me in somewhere, especially if there is any Bowie or related material involved in this gem of an archive!

Tim Again

wasitwasm @ yahoo dot com

[Christopher Perry]

Rumbers

The guy died. Its hard to trace stuff after someone passes away. We left it to the BBC to sort out 8 years ago, but if someone dies then it would be inappropriate to hassle the relatives.

The BBC did have 2 tapes, they were returned to TOTP and never got to the archive. They have never been played, I have now traced where they are. TOTP Production Office sat on them for 8 years. It is now closed.

Now we will try to get this collection returned to the BBC. Whoever buys it I hope they will seek professional help to master the material. Early reel-to-reel video stuff is notorius hard to remaster properly - as people will see at our BAFTA event next Saturday.

I knew where A for Andromeda was for 15 years, before it was returned, but I could do nothing to help it get returned, and I never speculate on message boards because if someone does not wish to return something there is nothing you can do. Me printing their name or posting a 'rumour' story does nothing to put you in their good books and does not speed up the process.

Thanks

Chris

[Mick A]

chrisperry said:

If this collection is playable and watchable then rest assured we will make sure that all lovers of TOTP can get to see these recordings again.

Thanks

Chris

Chris

I wasn't very familiar with Kaleidoscope until I started reading this thread. Having had a brief look at your website you've obviously had many years of experience in retrieving lost archive so I wish you sincere good luck in this quest.
If you are successful how do you intend to allow TOTP lovers like myself to get hold of this kind of material ? Will other folk allow this ?
How can I see other lost material that you have retrieved ?

A few years ago I made several costly phone calls to the BBC to see if they were interested in some lost TOTP footage. Their interest was annoyingly minimal & this showed when week in week out we were served the same old trash on TOTP2. It is they who are at fault in the first place and should have been snapping folks hands off to get at lost material.

Appreciated.

HT.

[Christopher Perry]

Hi Hugh

We run events four times a year in Stourbridge, the event last March was packed full of music rarities.

We are doing a one-off event in London this Sat at Bafta, which is now fully booked, but we may do others in the future.

If these tapes play there are many other ways that the public will see them - Missing Believed Wiped being just one. The digibetas will be available to any event organiser that wishes to use them, and because of the poor quality of the recordings the BBC will be more flexible about allowing their use, I'm sure.

c

[Paul Rumbol]

Chris i understand your point and good luck next Sunday night when the auction ends. However its guaranteed if you make a maximum bid of £400 it will fail. This is going to reach thousands.
The guy does sound sincere and seems frightened of breaking ebay rules saying that he cant end the auction because several have already bid. Is that strictly true? I thought the seller could withdraw at any time. Even if it does violate ebay rules... what in actuality would they do about it? They have billions of listings- they must get this situation every day and accept it as a loss.
Also re. bereavements and archive material falling into unknown hands, didnt the same situation happen about 6-7 years ago with a large Rediffussion archive owned by Brian Sams (not completely sure if that was his name so apologies to the guy if he is still alive). I heard that a lot of the archive founds its way into the hands of record dealers etc out to make a quick buck. I know of one 16mm telerecording from 68 that found its way to a dealer on the south coast which he consequently sold on.

[garyjordanbrum]

Surely the main object is to have this stuff, which is why Chris, LP have requested fellow board members not to bid on it, most of the artists fan sites also hold a vested interest, not to mention the artists themselves.

It is obvious to anyone who has been to a Kal event, that Kal know their onions and are perhaps in the best position to aquire this.

My only worry is that if it does get returned we will never see it again (on TV) even if it is tranfered to a format the BBC can use, or only to be ruined by the depressing Steve Wright and those bloody captions.

Chris, LP If you do secure this amazing archive could I use the digibetas (just the Slade ones) for next years Sladefest?

[Adrian Gregg]

A collector of sorts of these things. ( a broadcaster and an acrhive audio engineer to boot) I coulden't Help but notice that the tapes in the ebay photo are Audio Not video.. Ok OK you may say that he had quater inch vtr from that period ( i have 2) the Reels are much to big to go on the rig.. the quater inch variety (mine are akai) used 5 inch spools. not the 7-10 ones in the photos.

Hey im not trying to dis they guy either, respect and all. but i thought it was worth mentoning

[Christopher Perry]

Sladefest is more than welcome, Gary.

As for the audio or video tape discussion - I am still getting this veririfed 100% before spending any money.

The guy genuinely thinks they are video and the 2 returned to the BBC were genuine VT tapes.

c

[Paul Rumbol]

Ade thats one question that needs to be addressed straight away. Perhaps he mistakenly believes they are videos when they are just audios after all. On a few of the tapes he comments about fuzzy lines, snow and good definition. Why put that on an audio box? Surely the BBC could settle that point once and for all.
Chris the BBC already have copies of the later Cliff shows from 1974 & 75 mentioned on tapes 6, 22,31. Its anything from the 1970-71-72 seasons we are after. In this collection there are 5 listed shows from the 72 season.
Tape 28 looks like BBCs '50 Years of Music' to me, broadcast 6th November 1972. This survives at the BBC.

[lpmoderator]

chrisperry said:

If its in hand Laurence I'm happy to drop out and let you guys take over.

I just offer you the access to full digital restoration on to digibeta should you guys need it, courtesy of us.

:-)

Have fun.

c[/quote

Hi Chris! Phew! Apologies for not visiting this site for a day or so but there appears to be a huge misunderstanding that I was bidding for the tapes, which I definitely was not. I was referring to the Kal bid when I said it was already in hand (the best people to be bidding for missing TV, in my opinion)! Heh... amusing how things are read into your words...

[Koen Br]

ade42 said:

A collector of sorts of these things. ( a broadcaster and an acrhive audio engineer to boot) I coulden't Help but notice that the tapes in the ebay photo are Audio Not video.. Ok OK you may say that he had quater inch vtr from that period ( i have 2) the Reels are much to big to go on the rig.. the quater inch variety (mine are akai) used 5 inch spools. not the 7-10 ones in the photos.

Hey im not trying to dis they guy either, respect and all. but i thought it was worth mentoning

He says in the description it's 1/2", not 1/4", and that's also what the tapes look like (see the second picture). Have there ever been (domestic or professional) 1/2" audio tapes? If so, I've never heard of that particular variety (which doesn't mean much, mind you!).

For what it's worth, this looks pretty genuine to me. He has a very healthy feedback, and it's not like he's claiming to be absolutely sure about the contents of the tapes. Let's hope they'll find the right home...

[Brian Evans]

A collector of sorts of these things. ( a broadcaster and an acrhive audio engineer to boot) I couldn't Help but notice that the tapes in the ebay photo are Audio Not video.. Ok OK you may say that he had quater inch vtr from that period ( i have 2) the Reels are much to big to go on the rig.. the quater inch variety (mine are akai) used 5 inch spools. not the 7-10 ones in the photos.

Hey im not trying to dis they guy either, respect and all. but i thought it was worth mentoning

I noticed this to, but in the sellers info it does say that there are both audio and video reels in this collection and he would get to the audio's at a later date. Maybe he has taken a picture of the audio's for the e-bay ad??