I'm Sure I Speak For Many Others...

by Colin Shindler

  Thank you very much for your time.

  Bon Jour,

  M. C. Jr.

  Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk

  17 February 1988

  Dear Sir,

  During an episode of Grange Hill put out on February 16th a ‘recruiting poster’ for CND is shown several times in as many seconds.

  Surely the programme is appalling enough with incipient brainwashing which I thought was against BBC rules anyway.

  Yours sincerely,

  B. P.

  Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk

  16 November 1988

  To: Director General B.B.C. London W1

  Dear Mr. Hussey,

  Jonathan Aitken M.P. for Thanet and a friend for many years has suggested I write to you over a complaint I made sometime ago about ‘Grange Hill’.

  In one of the February episodes a large C.N.D. poster was shown several times. I protested that Children’s television is no place for incipient C.N.D. propaganda.

  The producer of Grange Hill replied that ‘after a search of the February episode no trace could be found of the offending shots and that I had mistaken the CND poster for one showing the Grange Hill logo’!

  I know a CND poster when I see one but not having access to videos of the period could not take the matter further.

  A few days ago I saw the same CND poster again.

  No doubt you will wish to look into the matter from the propaganda viewpoint and the BBC’s integrity.

  I have great affection for the BBC programmes apart from those of a political nature which seem to condemn always the Conservatives who seldom merit even feint [sic] praise.

  Sincerely yours,

  B. P.

  Salisbury, Wilts.

  To: Phil Redmond, Elstree Studios, London

  Dear Phil,

  How are you?

  I am writing to you with a problem about drink. I find kids of my age drinking a lot of alcohol and unfortunatly [sic] I am one of them. I almost died twice through excessive drinking and it made me very violent and bad tempered. I started drinking from a very early age and found it hard to come to terms with the fact that I was a Alcoholic. After a lot of courage I decided to attend Alcoholics Anonomous and shortly I will be seeing a psychiatrist.

  Well to get to the point I was wondering if it would be a good idea similar to the theme on drugs in Grange Hill to have one of the Grange Hill pupils with a drink problem and the effects it has on his body. The drugs theme did really well and I think a theme about drink would also do really well. I’ve still got a lot of problems of my own, but would love to help other kids with drink problems before they damage their bodies and perhaps kill themselves.

  As I stated earlier in my letter I almost killed myself when I was 13 years old from drink and nearly died not so long ago. I am now 18 yrs of age.

  Therefore all I want to do is to help other kids and perhaps through the TV series Grange Hill it could do likewise.

  Looking forward to hearing from you.

  With love

  S. C.

  PS Will Imelda still be in G.H.?

  Southall, Middlesex

  6 July 1988

  Dear Directors, Producers and Writers of Grange Hill,

  I am writing in to ask you why isn’t there any Indian children in the Grange Hill cast? There are lots of Indian children between the ages of 10 to 16, who are great actors and actresses, and would love to be in Grange Hill. I hope to hear from you soon. My address is at the back.

  Yours hopefully,

  A. B.

  P.S I think Grange Hill is Brilliant!

  Cardonald, Glasgow

  Dear Sir/Madam,

  I am writing to give you an idea for your program Grange Hill.

  My idea is to get someone who is Scottish or maybe even Glaswegian to play a part because I would like to hear a Scottish accent amongst those London accents.

  Maybe you could make him a sort of hero who rids off all school bullies.

  I hope this idea comes in handy to your writing career.

  I myself would like to be in the T.V. series.

  Yours thankfully,

  P. M.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  THE WEATHER FORECAST

  ‘Pray do not talk to me about the weather, Mr Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else.’ But, Gwendolyn, the British love their weather. It is the one topic of conversation that strangers of all ages, classes, colours, religions, ethnic origins and sexual orientation can talk to each other about without the slightest fear of social embarrassment. In 1987, when Michael Fish got the weather forecast so badly wrong that he dismissed the very possibility of a hurricane which a few hours later devastated south east England in the worst storm for three hundred years, he was accorded instant cult hero status.

  In the days when the following selection of letters was written, the weather forecast was considerably less precise than it is today. Consequently, most forecasts consisted of ‘bright periods and scattered showers’ and other phrases designed to cover the possibility of most forms of weather – apart, of course, from hurricanes. In David Lodge’s novel Changing Places set in 1969 the American visiting lecturer Morris Zapp listens to the weather forecast on the BBC for the first time assuming it is some sort of spoof because it predicted ‘every possible combination of weather for the next twenty-four hours without actually committing itself to anything specific, not even the existing temperature.’

  Michael Kennedy, the well-known journalist and authority on matters of Elgar, Britten, the Halle Orchestra and Lancashire County Cricket Club, once told me of the single most important thing he had learned from his time as the Northern Editor of the Daily Telegraph. Recalling his experience with his outraged readers, he uttered the words of someone who had seen the foulest deeds and the darkest depths to which human beings could sink. ‘Never,’ he said with a shudder, ‘never mess around with the weather forecast.’ BBC television did it once – now look what happened …

  Boddington Hall, Leicestershire

  14 December 1956

  To: The Director General, The B.B.C., Broadcasting House,

  Sir,

  When the Television Authorities decided to discontinue the normal weather charts and forecast during the weekend the decision was no doubt taken with good reason and after careful consideration. But is it realised how dependent on this service a very large section of the community has become?

  The television service has done much to educate the public to read the charts. The result of this education is that the charts are missed more than they would have been previously.

  It is not only the agricultural community which requires full and accurate forecasts during the weekend. The vast number of people who wish to spend their Sundays in the open air are also affected. For the farmers the Sunday forecast is usually the most important. Should it be possible to reinstate this service it would clearly be an advantage if it could appear at the same time each evening.

  I felt it right to draw your attention to this matter before taking it up either in Parliament or by letter to the Press.

  I am

  Sir,

  Your obedient servant,

  [Lord] Allerton

  House of Lords

  24 October 1961

  Dear Carleton-Greene,

  I write to enquire what are the reasons for the suspension of the weather forecasts by the various meteorological experts on Television at 6.18 p.m. and the substitution of a much less complete forecast[?]

  I understand that forecast now takes place at the end of the programme in its original form. But the hour is late and is not so suitable for the agricultural community (who are amongst those most deeply interested) as the previous time of 6.18. Farmers are mostly early risers and as such are disinclined to sit up until this late hour.

  I would say that I have found the forecasts to be very valuable and that I regret very much that they are no longe
r available at their old time.

  Yours sincerely,

  [Lord] Allerton

  House of Lords

  28 November 1961

  Dear Carleton-Greene,

  You will remember that I wrote to you some weeks ago with regard to the time at which the weather map is shown on Television. The enclosed cutting from last week’s edition of the Farmer & Stockbreeder bears out my contention that the present arrangements are not universally acceptable.

  I would be glad if you would let me know whether further consideration has been given to this matter.

  Yours sincerely,

  [Lord] Allerton

  Taunton, Somerset

  21 December 1966

  To: The Director of Television, B.B.C. Television Centre, London W1

  Dear Sir,

  I feel driven to protest against the changes you have recently made to the television weather service. I do this under a number of different hats.

  Firstly I would wear the deerstalker of a Geography teacher. For very many years now I have made frequent use of the weather maps shown after the 6 o’clock news. Both for my own personal interest and to increase the interest of the boys whom I teach, I feel that the present map is difficult to comprehend on other than an infantile level.

  Secondly, as a Headmaster my Geography and Science staff have expressed their disappointment at the disappearance of a feature which they valued.

  Thirdly, as Chairman of a Steering Committee for the Somerset Schools Sailing Association, it is essential for schools to make their own assessments of the weather situation. This is only possible from the information supplied by the up-to-date synoptic charts. The newspapers form a very poor substitute.

  Lastly, as a dinghy sailor myself, I have always felt it invaluable to be able to decide from the 6 o’clock weather map whether sailing would be possible the following day or not. The information you provide at 11 o’clock is neither timely nor sufficient. I do hope you will find it possible to review your existing arrangements and give us the weather service we so valued in the past.

  Yours faithfully,

  R.H.B.

  Headmaster

  Stevenage, Herts.

  20 December 1966

  To: Sir Hugh Greene, Director General, B.B.C. Langham Place, LONDON

  Dear Sir Hugh,

  May I make a plea on behalf of Geography teachers in Secondary Schools that a full weather forecast with meteorological charts be brought back to be shown after the early evening news.

  The study of weather conditions commonly prevailing ever the British Isles and the associated charts is an essential part (as it should be) of most Geography courses including those leading H.C.E. ‘L’ AND ‘A’ level and C.S.E.

  It seems regrettable that in a time of educational enlightenment a public corporation whose programmes are seen in millions of homes throughout the land should seem to be catering for the lowest common denominator.

  The rising generation are interested in the subject, and unlike many of previous generations who did not have similar opportunities, do have some understanding of meteorology.

  Yours faithfully,

  G.L.L.

  Geography Master

  Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness, Lancs.

  17 November 1966

  To: The Director General, B.B.C. LONDON

  Dear Sir,

  I know that I am not alone in being appalled by the recent changes in weather forecast presentations on the B.B.C.

  Before these recent changes this synopsis was of the greatest value to people like myself who require to know not just what the forecasters believe to be going to happen, but also the basic weather facts.

  The approach of winter for travellers like myself who regularly cross the Pennines and other areas of high ground, knowledge of the weather situation can be essential to safety. To those of us in the maritime industries such knowledge can also be of great commercial significance, but no doubt you will already have received comments from coastal pilots, port and ship-owning organisations.

  My purpose in writing to you is to endeavour to make clear the severe loss which the recent changes have brought to viewers who have regarded in the past the excellence of BBC1’s weather programme as a major incentive to switch on. The present mockery of a programme which must be an embarrassment to those conscientious members of the Meteorological service, who have served the BBC’s viewers so well, is more likely to persuade us to switch off than switch on.

  Yours sincerely

  T.V.R.

  CHIEF NAVAL ARCHITECT

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  MISCELLANEOUS COMPLAINTS, GRUMBLES, IRRITATIONS, ARGUMENTS, WHINGES AND MOANS

  As this final selection of letters indicates, sometimes it must appear to the BBC that not only is it impossible for them to please everyone, it cannot even please anyone. Unless the programme is a gushing tribute to the work of travel agents, estate agents, doctors, dentists, male nurses, the magnificence of Torquay, Skegness, Belfast, Blackpool or Nuneaton and so on it will inevitably attract fierce criticism from those who feel that their profession, town, sport, etc., is being traduced by the manner in which the BBC has covered it – apart from those who are equally outraged that the BBC has signally failed to cover it at all. Certain actors and presenters always induce feelings of violence in a small part of the audience but unless they write to vent their loathing of (1,248 names redacted) we shall never know their identity.

  On many occasions I have listened to Test Match Special, having told my impatiently waiting female companion that I would join her as soon as I had learned the current score, only to be confronted by the idle witterings of the radio commentators which go on for minutes as they make unfunny remarks about each others’ clothes or the irrelevant arrival of a flock of pigeons and do not do what they are paid to do, which is to tell the audience what the score is! Now, I had assumed that either this was my individual obsession or that it was the result of the sad loss of the great commentators like John Arlott, Brian Johnston and Christopher Martin-Jenkins and their replacement by commentators of inferior quality. But according to a letter written in the winter of 1946, during the first post-war Ashes tour, it appears that in my intense irritation I speak for many others …

  London SW3

  26 November 1946

  To: The Director of ‘Announcers’ B.B.C. Portland Place, W1

  Dear Sir,

  Can you do something before the Test Match starts to protect Cricket lovers against the ignorant complacency and infuriating method of announcing incompletely ‘Cricket’ news?

  Between 7 and 8.30 a.m. a business man can only spend a few idle seconds waiting at the set for flashed news, especially as the general outline is found in his newspaper and to wait 10 mins. idly fidgeting for the time when the special announcement for Cricket leisurely comes through usually causes irritable tensions especially when the announcer rarely follows the first fundamental of sports recording i.e. a bald statement of the scorecard in full.

  Could I suggest a short school course for your announcers to be taught the fundamentals of Cricket news and the best teacher would be one of the innumerable school boys who attend Lord’s, who assiduously and keenly analyse the result of every ball bowled, sometimes even with diagrams – they would know how to make an intelligent and cogent announcement, with the score card repeated at the beginning and end of the announcement if necessary.

  Yours very truly,

  C.M.P.

  Crowborough, Sussex

  9 September 1950

  To: BBC Governor Barbara Wootton

  Dear Madam,

  As a Wireless License Holder I feel I am entitled to write to you – a Governor of the BBC – requesting you to use your influence in connection with that very objectionable item Any Questions. I urge that immediate action should be taken in the following order of priority:-

  (1) Terminate this item at once

  Failing that

  (2) Remove [economist,
author and Liberal Party politician] Graham Hutton permanently from this item

  Failing that

  (3) Confine this item to the West of England Programme, i.e. do not broadcast it in the Home service

  I would add that a competent Question Master would not have allowed this feature to have degenerated into the deplorable state it has reached. The audience now come prepared to shriek at the gibes against people who are not able to reply as lustily as the ancient Romans shrieked for the blood of Christian martyrs in the Arena. In the words used by Churchill in 1940 concerning the report of the actions of Leopold of the Belgians – ‘it stinks’. It has become an objectionable feature of our public life.

  Yours faithfully,

  W.E.G.

  Crowborough, Sussex

  22 September 1950

  To: the Director of the Spoken Word, Broadcasting House London W1

  Dear Mr Barnes,

  You must know as well as I do that whilst many receive this programme [Any Questions] as at present presented with acclamation there are as many who are displeased with it. Only on Monday of this week did I hear from listeners in Southampton of their disgust with the particular broadcast of Any Questions which led to my complaint. It does not become a Corporation such as the BBC to tolerate within its programmes controversial matters – unless they also invite to the microphone representatives of the opposite point of view and allow them to there and then refute obnoxious points.

  It is beyond dispute that whenever Graham Hutton is included in Any Questions the programme has a Conservative bias. His remarks concerning [Clement Attlee] the Prime Minister in the broadcast which led to my protest were such as should have caused the Question Master [Freddy Grisewood] to have immediately suspended him from the programme. Whether we and Graham Hutton like the Prime Minister or not is beside the point. The fact is that at the moment he is the elected Head of our State and as such should be given the respect due to the holder of that position. The remarks in question were such as one would not use in private conversation let alone in a public broadcast.