Re: Crystal Palace Fire TPTV 12-20pm
 

Thanks for putting up those frames Peter-excellent. It's my ambition to visit the CP site Dave so I will check out the museum Peter mentioned. I went to "Ally Pally" some years back and I was very impressed so the other Radio high spot [of the day] is a must. I found Alexandra Palace and the general area strangely moving but there is more of it [as mentioned]. I was standing out side the main entrance which still had a BBC sign on it at the time and got mistaken for a security guard for some reason by some teenagers looking for the entrance:Da

On the way we visited Muswell Hill and the Irish Pub featured on the centre spread of the Kink's LP of the same name. It's only a small part of the giant building these days but there is a tiled memorial to it's musical link at the front.

Dave W

Re: Crystal Palace Fire TPTV 12-20pm
 

Fascinating: I went to Crystal Palace on quite a few occasions back when it was a motor-racing circuit.

[Also vintage-related: some of the scenes for "The Italian Job" were filmed there]

Re: What's on TPTV
 

I see why on my visits I didn't go into the museum, it is only open on Sundays (and not at all at the moment of course). I found the whole area fascinating, was there while walking the Capital Ring where one of its sections ends. One visit was not enough, I spent a second hour when I continued the next section. Not just the palace remains but also the dinosaurs and of course that huge tower in the background. Those interested in sports have a huge arena in the middle to ogle at as well.

Dave

Re: Crystal Palace Fire TPTV 12-20pm
 

BTL did recover from their insurers a large part of their financial loss resulting from the fire. It's probably true that by that date they could see the writing on the wall for the supply of equipment to the BBC but reports suggest that the fire started some distance away from their part of the building.

Peter

Re: What's on TPTV
 

Well that's new to me Peter. I'll try to look it up but my files are a bit disorganised at present to say the least;) Your balanced and scholarly approach to JLB matters is always welcome!

Dave W

[Anchored down on the south coast!]

Re: What's on TPTV
 

The cause of the fire has been attributed to a broken boiler flue in the central heating system that supplied the offices in the main transept and Tomes and other BTL staff managed to salvage some important files and equipment whilst the heat started to become apparent at the far end of their premises and eventually progressed above them until the fire brigade directed them out of the area. Szegho who was in charge of the CRT development got there and ensured that oxygen and other gas cylinders had been removed.

Peter.

Re: What's on TPTV
 

My old Mum actually watched the Crystal Palace fire. I always wondered how a building of metal and glass could be destroyed by fire, but I guess there was lots of wood around?

Re: What's on TPTV
 

As I understand it there were gaps between the wooden floorboards to permit easy sweeping and if the wood caught fire in the large undivided halls there was very good ventilation to promote the spread of the fire. Many of the large exhibits were also constructed of wood and flammable fabrics.

Peter

Re: What's on TPTV
 

It looks like the ironwork softened in the fire and collapsed.

Re: What's on TPTV
 

My late father was a Londoner and I remember him saying that as a teenager he went to Crystal Palace and you could still find bits of melted glass lying around in the grass.

Re: What's on TPTV
 

I’ve only ever been on the site once. I was a passenger in a car with someone who lived locally, it was dark, and remember seeing the terracing and being told where I was. It looked decidely eerie.

I have wondered often about it recently as I was reading a book about Elgar and how as a young man (late 1800s) he used to commute from Worcester to hear orchestral concerts. I do wonder what the accoustics were like for such events.

Re: What's on TPTV
 

Apparently Farnsworth on a visit to BTL the following January found one of his own image dissectors suitably deformed in the wreckage.

Peter

Re: What's on TPTV
 

If anyone interested in the long-defunct British space race TPTV are showing

a nice doc on the Blue Streak Rocket

Sunday 24 January 3:40am
IWM: THE BLUE STREAK ROCKET (1962)

For trivia fans, it was one of these rockets or descendants featured in the launch sequence
of the final episode of TV show 'The Prisoner'

Re: What's on TPTV
 

Thanks for the "heads up". Although I think I've seen this before, I would consider it worth watching again.

Re: What's on TPTV
 

I caught "The Net" [1951] yesterday but not early enough to flag up. It only rated 2 stars and was described as an Espionage Drama in the schedule but there was the usual stiff upper lip romantic story to go with the setting which involved experimental trials with a new [swish] Aircraft that used "Atomic" Engines to go beyond the sound barrier, alternating between on board and "Ground Control" systems [I wondered if David Bowie had ever seen it?]. They tested pressure suits at Mach 5.

A bit clunky but like a lot of these films [surprisingly there does seem to have been quite a few that I've never come across before] a great deal must have been spent on the sets at least!
Were they supressed in some way? I've not seen a lot of them before either on TV or in the cinema. I found this one surprisingly enjoyable overall-there was some technical content and I would have rated it higher perhaps! When Close Encounters and all the subsequent new types of Sci-Fi films came out [post 1979] there was a suggestion that someone was trying to tell us something! It looks the same back then in a way! I've a feeling that these post war productions might have disappeared altogether without TPTV intervening. Herbert Lom is his usual smooth self, while Robert Beatty is the Security Man, a similar role to the one he plays at the Space Station in "2001 A Space Odyssey" [1968]. Wikki hardly mentions that which surprises me? Bowies "A Space Oddity" single came out in June 1969, in time for the Moon Launch.

Dave W

Re: What's on TPTV
 

I have added a little more to my website about the BTL labs and studios that were destroyed.

Below is the melted remains of the Farnsworth Image Dissector.

Peter

Re: What's on TPTV
 

Further to my search for information about BTL's premises at the Crystal Palace I came across a rather interesting photo showing the South Tower that BTL used for their aerials when testing the experimental 180 line and 240 line transmissions. What do you think is happening in the photo?

The answer is not obvious but none the less interesting.

Peter

Re: What's on TPTV
 

No takers?

Well when I first saw it I couldn't think what was happening until I discovered that the Crystal Palace was home to the Imperial War Museum from WW1 until 1924 when it moved to Bedlam. The mystery photo predates the BTL occupation at the Palace and shows one of the more extreme tools for observing the enemy's position. It is a very long periscope. Also in the Museum's collection is a more down to earth tool for the same purpose, the camouflage tree.

Peter

Re: What's on TPTV
 

My father lived at Havelock Road Wimbledon in 1936. He told me he could see a huge orange glow in the sky and within minutes the radio announced that the Crystal Palace was burning.

He cycled to the Palace in a nightmare of traffic and watched as it burnt to the ground. He told me he was amazed at the molten glass running into the gutters.

I wish he was with us now to maybe give some more details. He died in 1963. John.

Re: What's on TPTV
 

Ordinarily you might think an Iron and Glass construction was counterintuitive in terms of a major fire that could melt glass John but I suppose it's the cumulative effect of the contents:shrug: My father died early at 53 [in 1979]. Questions Questions eh! I printed that photo out for close examination Peter but of course I felt certain that it MUST be something to do with an aerial array??? It's all about context I suppose.

Dave W