Steve Preston passed away on 21st November 2020. He worked with me on LMVT4 at Kendal Ave Tel OB’s for a while as part of his training. We covered many OBs with one memorable one parked on the deck of the Ark Royal for a ‘Pebble Mill at One’ sailing around the Solent, where Steve almost managed to bring down a Harrier with a coffee pot lid. Most of his training came from Roger White which was why he was soon promoted to VT Editor. He was the new generation who immediately took to the rapidly changing technology of not just electronic editing but all the special effects being made possible by digitisation. He was much requested by producers, especially for the ‘Music Item’ popular in most sport programmes and by pushing the barriers of what was possible in VT editing greatly enhanced the reputation of the BBC. Ian Rutter
“”It’s with great sadness that i have to tell you this, but i received a phone call a short while ago from Andy Jackson informing me that Steve Preston (OB VT editor extraordinaire) passed away earlier today, 21st November (2020)
Steve was a big influence on mine and many of the VT teams careers, he was a character larger than life – and certainly lived life to the full.
Sorry to bring you this sad news, but I thought you would appreciate knowing. Dave Hume Telobians Organiser
I’ve just been preparing things for the change to GMT and thought I had better mention that the FUTURE EVENTS section remains discontinued until we can safely meet again. Until then you can always revisit the Pre Covid days in PAST EVENTS! CB
Bit of sad news I’m afraid………..Mike Turner, who I started work with in BBC FR in 1970, died last week after a short battle with cancer. He left the Beeb in the late 70s.
The VT Oldboys & Girls Lunch at Wraysbury on Thursday March 19th has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. There could well be problems with the Summer Lunch at Pyrford which is now on hold.
It is with great sadness that I convey news that Richard
Yeoman-Clark passed away on September 17th following a short illness, age
75.
Richard joined BBC Radio direct from school as a Technical Operator
at Broadcasting House, moving to the Experimental Stereo Unit as the Recording
Engineer a couple of years later. There he was involved with the integration of
Stereo Operations from just test transmissions into the regular output of Radio
3 in the late 1960s. As stereo proliferated across BBC Radio he transferred to
the Music Department as a Studio Manager. There his technical expertise was in
demand for the presentation of electronic music concerts working with
contemporary composers such as Stockhausen, Berio, Boulez etc. This experience
led him to join the BBC Radiophonic Workshop where he produced the special sound
for the science fiction series Blake’s Seven, amongst other programmes. Later he
became the Technical Coordinator for the Workshop when electronic synthesizers
started taking over from Musique Concrete.
Richard left the BBC in 1978 to become the Chief Technical
Engineer at Roundhouse Recording Studios and oversaw the installation and
operation of one of the first 3M Digital Multitrack Mastering System in the UK.
Leaving Roundhouse Studios in the early 1980s he joined F.W.O.Bauch as a field
service engineer, later becoming Service Manager for their Professional
Broadcast products.
In 2002, Richard was recruited to the BFI
National Archive where his vast knowledge and experience of sound and digital
techniques transformed the audio department’s capabilities to cater for sound
restoration of the optical soundtracks of films being restored by the BFI for
both theatrical and DVD release. Perhaps most notably, Richard led the sound
restoration project for a special David Lean Centenary collection of ten of the
best known Lean films which were re-released in 2008.
Since his retirement from the BFI in 2012, Richard has been
the technical powerhouse behind the Church Stretton Arts Festival, quietly
providing a dazzling array of skills, knowledge and equipment each year to
numerous artists and audiences.
There will be a service to remember Richard at the Silvester
Horne Institute in Church Stretton on October 14th 2019 at
10:30am.
