Happy Birthday OU - uploaded to YouTube

[Simon Vaughan - Archivist APTS]

Happy Birthday OU - 40 Years On has recently been uploaded to YouTube by the Alexandra Palace Television Society.

In 1969 change was in the air. Man stepped on the moon and Britain launched a revolutionary new kind of university - one where the lectures were televised and the students could study at home. It was greeted with scepticism, both by politicians and academics, but went on to become a much loved, and often spoofed, British institution.

All six parts have been placed on a playlist and can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/user/aptsarchive#grid/user/E724DFC9EE0E66AA

[Peter Stirling]

Thanks Simon.
certainly missed now from the BBC2 after 12 slot.

my favourite OU programme was Hotel Hilbert.

[Greg Glenn]

As an American, I had not heard of OU. But that documentary was most interesting. And yes I watched all 6 parts. It was really interesting to see the dedication some had in seeking a degree.

[davemachin]

This is an interesting watch and told me a lot of things I didn't know. Thanks for drawing our attention to it, Simon.

I wonder how complete the OU archive is? A few clips are featured in the programme but although they seem like early examples it may be deceiving as the programmes went on in black and white for a long time into the seventies after regular programmes all were colour. I don't like the current trend in programmes looking back to denigrate their subject either. A lot of easy jokes were made about dull boffins boring the audience but this tends to disguise what a good idea the OU was and what it achieved. A bit more respect for the subject please.

Dave

[markboulton]

Although it's a fairly decent documentary, it stays far too firmly in the 'social study' angle whereas I would have liked it to celebrate the genre of television programme that it spawned. Only scant references (and very scant clips) featured, and it was in the usual "I Love 19xx" style of "interview contributor making derogatory/laughing comment about how crap things were" accompanied 1.5 seconds later by a 1.5 second-long clip chosen specifically to make mockery of itself. No investigation of the graphic designers who worked on the formula and graph animations, how they were done in the days before computer graphics, content editors, videotape editors, other technicians, what it was like to work on OU programmes as opposed to other types of TV programmes, any technological barriers they had, and more importantly, the inventive ways in which they were able to overcome them. I would have liked something a bit more sympathetic, and a bit more charitable, than simply showing a corkscrew contraption and saying "it was all a bit crude". No classic title sequences like the "Foundation in Mathematics" - remember, the spinning orange shapes and mathematical symbols accompanied with that catchy Radiophonic tune. How that (and similar) came to be. Why was all of that angle of things completely missed? All to cram a few more 'laughs at how backward we all were back then' and clips of tenuous relationality like "The Good Life".

It's almost as if the TV side of thing is being deliberately sidelined in this documentary to make people "realise it wasn't really about TV programmes, it was about being a proper University". And I'm not knocking or denying that - but that 'aim' was undertaken a little bit too earnestly, and the whole thing comes across as an hour-long PR corporate video for the OU rather than an affectionate tribute to what most people remember of it.

[markboulton]

...and now this has got me thinking... isn't it about time a documentary was made about the wonderful TV maths and science programmes that used to be made in the 70s and 80s, particularly anything with Fred Harris in it? With plenty of clips?!

[Deleted]

The OU documentary you outlined in your post is the one that programme SHOULD have been, Mark! It was disappointing and contained too many of the easy derisory remarks.

I'd also like to see the history of educational and schools programmes recognised properly. These get sidlined in TV history too often, are taken for granted and never considered for archive DVD release, which i'd like to see very much!

[davemachin]

I too would like too see some of that sort of television out on to dvd. Some early schools programmes and adult education would make very interesting viewing. Surely the B.F.I. should be bringing out these types of things as examples of how we were taught and educated? Those sort of programmes can be just as interesting as drama and comedy releases (which are well catered for) as they formed a large part of what our television viewing consisted of in the sixties and seventies.

Dave