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Alexandra Palace :
BBC TV News HQ. It is here that I was initiated into the world of film & journalism of the 1960s, and to
work with many wonderful characters who had pioneered the ways in which television bulletins were produced.
One of my earliest memories at the Palace was to hold, at arm's length, a small paper target. Standing 25
feet distant, was Esmond Seal, ( a senior film operations manager ) he told me to stop shaking, and assured
me his aim was true. He proceeded to fire a few shots at the bull's eye on the target from his
.22 mm pistol. The crack-crack-crack from the fpistol echoed loudly off the corridor walls, but no one came to see
what the hell was going on. Was I dreaming? No, after all it was only 9.15 a.m., just a couple of messengers and the odd commissionaire
were doing their rounds on the other side of the Palace ( the old building was like a rabbit warren, and took a good
few weeks of exploring not to get lost.) Esmond, wearing a white tennis shirt, beige shorts and sandals,(
no socks ) strolled towards me, peered over his spectacles and examined the neat grouping of holes around the "bull".
Pleased with the results of his first task of the day, he smiled and told me I would make an excellent trainee assisstant
film editor ! Esmond's dress code was totally unique. Apparently in his youth he had
contracted tuberculosis, and after treatment at a sanitorium, his regime for fitness was now extreme. His medical advice
to keep healthy, apparently included wearing loose clothing that did not constrict the person, and allowed circulation
of fresh air to all body parts! The BBC Personel management had agreed to
Esmond's unusual dress code as recommended by his doctor. And so Esmond was the sole manager to attend the
regular meetings of "suits", looking like he'd just played a set or two of real tennis!. ..... Cars,
or rather, automobiles, as Esmond called them, were a passion in his life, along with large motor cycles, Real
Tennis (he played this sport regularly at Hampton Court), and raw chillies , which he consumed by the
bagful throughout film viewing sessions in Theatre "A", or on the odd occasion, Theatre "B" ( these
were two areas where the film "rushes" of the cameramen's coverage of daily news events were screened.
the theatres were actually mini cinemas, with the projectionist in a high booth, to where all film rushes
were delivered. In front and below, were rows of cinema seats where the editors sat, together with the
Film Operations Manager or FOM. His chair was not unlike that used by contestants on the BBC's " Mastermind"! The
FOM, with the aid of an intercom. system and lighting dimmers controls orchestrated the projecting of never-ending
rolls of the day's news film rushes. Esmond had a sharp eye for detail, as demonstrated by his firearm skills, and
any below par camerawork noticed during screening received it's just deserts, "which wanker filmed
this rubbisht", he'd enquire, crunching through a couple more red jalapinos . Not many cameramen were brave enough
to sit in on a viewing with the editors, especially in the darkness and with the possibility of Esmond offering
"a little hot one" from that ominous Indian takeaway paper bag on his desk. Once in a blue moon
a hapless journalist or assistant film editor would fall victim to Esmond's generosity, and flee, mouth and gums on
fire, to the nearest toilets, where the cold tap would come to the rescue.
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