The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse

[Mark Leech]

Jan 8, 2011 19:12:53 GMT Rich Cornock said:

Chris. you mention on the radio that you recovered a missing copy of a 1976 TOTP episode only 2 weeks ago on ebay. Can you give us some more details about that, its the first ive heard of this recovery

wasn't this the 12-2-76 edition? I noted recently that a performance by Guys And Dolls from this show was on YouTube in decent quality

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir6jyaXaa14

Regards

Mark

[Deleted]

I wish Bob had been a fan of Doctor Who and Doomwatch... Oh, well. Anyway, what an excellent documentary this was, although the Narrator probably said Bob Monkhouse once to often for my liking.

[Tim Disney]

For anyone who missed Chris' chat on BBC Radio Solent about the Monkhouse archive and TOTP recovery, it's been posted for posterity on the Findaclip site: bit.ly/gig3RA

[Peter Marshall]

Yes - a tremendous documentary and after watching this I had a new found respect for Bob Monkhouse. The consummate professional in everything he put his mind to. Also - it seems quite clearly that he was an obsessive collector of almost all things: from ordinary whiskey glasses to tinned cans of beef and spam. An incredible man - warts and all!

Talking of obsessive collecting - it got me thinking back to an edition of BBC's Let's Go Nationwide - probably in the seventies - which featured a gentlemen who collected radio shows and recorded them on compact cassettes. The filmed report showed him indulging in his 'hobby' in his house which was packed to the rafters with thousands of audio tapes that he had obsessively collected over the years. I think - like Bob Monkhouse - he also had an out house which was overflowing with the same.

Apparently most of the filmed reports that were inserted into Let's Go Nationwide survive - so maybe this particular report from one of the BBC regions does as well. Anyone remember this?

And I would imagine that most of the non-BBC Radio stuff would be totally unique now and a tremendous find if this collection has managed to survive somehow.

[LanceM]

Thanks for that great Radio posting Tim.Was great to hear in regards there.Agreed,an truely unique and incredible human being.

Very interesting indeed Peter in regards to the remembered edition of "Let's Go Nationwide" audio collector-enthusiast.Would think BBC Written records may posess such information in regards to this mentioned material-edition.Possibly someone may be able to assist here in looking into this matter further.Of course,in hoping he kept on with his hobby,fingers crossed there as they say.

Cheers,Lance.

[johnstewart]

I thought the documentary was excellent; just wondered though what the main criteria for the GOLDEN SHOT clips shown were? There only appeared to be one brief B+W clip; probably 1968 as it seemed to show Anne Astons predecessor Carol Dilworth. This was only seen without sound.

The choice of Bobs last 1971 - 72 show was appropriate as was the first of his return shows in 1974. With the B+W material I wonder if the Carol Dilworth is the only early one recorded (presumably on the Sony 2000); and there were problems clearing Carol Dilworth material? I guess I'm curious as to why most clips shown were from the 74 - 75 run. Were the shows chosen limited to those which had been transferred at the time of making; and that the B+W show tapes require more extensive restoration before they can be used?

[Deleted]

More clips from the '74 / '75 editions were probably shown as there are more of them existing. Apart from the last Bob show in his first run, there are only about four on b/w t/r before that, plus a couple (?) that Bob recorded on domestic video from around 1968. The BFI book "A For Andromeda To Zoo Time" lists an edition from 1968 in their archive. I've never seen anything from this one though so maybe (as with the 1969 Crossroads edition that they also were supposed to hold at one point) this is another error.

[johnstewart]

Jan 18, 2011 19:14:42 GMT @laurencepiper said:

More clips from the '74 / '75 editions were probably shown as there are more of them existing. Apart from the last Bob show in his first run, there are only about four on b/w t/r before that, plus a couple (?) that Bob recorded on domestic video from around 1968. The BFI book "A For Andromeda To Zoo Time" lists an edition from 1968 in their archive. I've never seen anything from this one though so maybe (as with the 1969 Crossroads edition that they also were supposed to hold at one point) this is another error.

Yes - I suppose my main curiosity is why they didn't show the B+W edition clip full screen with sound if it exists.

[Peter Stirling]

Jan 18, 2011 17:47:34 GMT johnstewart said:

I thought the documentary was excellent; just wondered though what the main criteria for the GOLDEN SHOT clips shown were? There only appeared to be one brief B+W clip; probably 1968 as it seemed to show Anne Astons predecessor Carol Dilworth. This was only seen without sound.

The choice of Bobs last 1971 - 72 show was appropriate as was the first of his return shows in 1974. With the B+W material I wonder if the Carol Dilworth is the only early one recorded (presumably on the Sony 2000); and there were problems clearing Carol Dilworth material? I guess I'm curious as to why most clips shown were from the 74 - 75 run. Were the shows chosen limited to those which had been transferred at the time of making; and that the B+W show tapes require more extensive restoration before they can be used?

I think (maybe wrong) that the 74-75 season was pre-recorded with the phone in part, that was part of the live 67-74 show dispensed with and that is why many more of those editions exist?

[Deleted]

No, the reason why more exist in colour from the '74 - '75 period is because Bob taped them at home on Philips 1500!

[johnstewart]

Jan 28, 2011 21:55:19 GMT Peter Stirling said:

Jan 18, 2011 17:47:34 GMT johnstewart said:

I thought the documentary was excellent; just wondered though what the main criteria for the GOLDEN SHOT clips shown were? There only appeared to be one brief B+W clip; probably 1968 as it seemed to show Anne Astons predecessor Carol Dilworth. This was only seen without sound.

The choice of Bobs last 1971 - 72 show was appropriate as was the first of his return shows in 1974. With the B+W material I wonder if the Carol Dilworth is the only early one recorded (presumably on the Sony 2000); and there were problems clearing Carol Dilworth material? I guess I'm curious as to why most clips shown were from the 74 - 75 run. Were the shows chosen limited to those which had been transferred at the time of making; and that the B+W show tapes require more extensive restoration before they can be used?

I think (maybe wrong) that the 74-75 season was pre-recorded with the phone in part, that was part of the live 67-74 show dispensed with and that is why many more of those editions exist?

What Laurence says is right; but I too had heard something like what you say in the past Peter. I thought there has been mention some material for Charlie Williams though; c. 1973. the industry has often worked in mysterious ways so it's feasible.

However I also recall Bob Monkhouse in interview saying 'the show had to go out live so viewers could phone in'. That doesn't remove the possibility that the whole show could have been pretaped at times; but as I think about it; maybe just the end and taget shoots could be pre recorded but then again the audience would not match up to any new material. Which might not notice I guess anyway.

It's interesting to note though that ITC enterprises appeared to have made prints for some purpose. Perhaps only one Jackie Rae was recorded so they could sell the British version of the format back to the Germans?

I would guess maybe there is some kind of copyright or playback problem with Bob Monkhouses CV2000 editions that doesn't affect the later colour VT. (Hence why the B+W wasn't shown properly).