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Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc. |
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10th Sep 2020, 7:59 am | #1 |
Octode
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ilkeston, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 1,397
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ILEA TV station
I was very surprised to discover that some exellent quality video recordings of the ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) television service have survived and have just been uploaded to Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-V...HGRtm8Q/videos I had heard of the station and I'm sure there was an article on the subject many years ago in 405 Alive magazine, although I can't lay hands on my copies at the moment. What I do recall is that the station was equipped with a lot of ex-broadcast kit, based around EMI 203 image orthicon cameras- and had what appear to be pretty decent production facilities. The music performances are particularly well produced (albeit somewhat hard on the ear in some cases!) It's quite odd seeing programmes from the early 1970s displaying all the picture traits of classic 1960s television- black halos around bright objects etc. Can anyone fill in any more background to the station? I believe it was distributed on cable around the London area. One of the announcers mentions a Battersea address, which was presumably where the studio(s) were based. When the service start and end? Was the broadcast kit ex-BBC/ITV? Was any of it preserved or did it all end up in the skip? Did ILEA TV ever change to colour? Steve |
10th Sep 2020, 10:23 am | #2 |
Octode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 1,999
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Re: ILEA TV station
I have some early 1980s computer training videos made by ILEA that are in colour, but in one of videos a camera is in shot and looks quite large, possibly a second hand first generation unit.
PS: I've only just noticed you are also on the Missing Episodes group Steve, even though you use the Vision On avatar on both!
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10th Sep 2020, 1:41 pm | #3 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Edinburgh, UK.
Posts: 3,273
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Re: ILEA TV station
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10th Sep 2020, 2:05 pm | #4 |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Winchester, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 636
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Re: ILEA TV station
I used to work with a couple of broadcasting engineers who worked at the ILEA. If and when I next see them at a reunion I will ask the question and if they have any interesting anecdotes.
Here's a link to the excellent Martin Kempton studio website that gives some more information: http://www.tvstudiohistory.co.uk/ind...%20studios.htm Look for 'Battersea Studios". |
10th Sep 2020, 2:25 pm | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,675
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Re: ILEA TV station
Recorded on Sony Umatic at a guess.
I think my daughter will have known the son of the shoe fitting interviewee, when she was a manager at Russell & Bromley.
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10th Sep 2020, 7:40 pm | #6 |
Octode
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ilkeston, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 1,397
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Re: ILEA TV station
Excellent, thanks very much for the information and links.
Plenty of background to read up on there! Steve |
10th Sep 2020, 11:36 pm | #7 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,872
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Re: ILEA TV station
Thanks for posting this - I'm really enjoying the music (man)
What did the program makers think inner London kids were going to do when confronted by 19min 28sec of Soft Machine?!! And Robert Wyatt!! Well, there was certainly no lacking in ambition on the kids' behalf in their music lessons. ('Mr Safety's shield-of-safety offers another excellent moment like 'for viewers in black and white, the pink ball is behind the yellow'. It's all just such fun). |
11th Sep 2020, 1:18 am | #8 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,675
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Re: ILEA TV station
Quote:
Never was there a more earnest "flashing images" warning!
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12th Sep 2020, 2:14 pm | #9 |
Octode
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ilkeston, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 1,397
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Re: ILEA TV station
This is apparently their final programme, from 1979, which includes a lot of archive footage. I never knew that ILEA TV was so ambitious. Music, period drama, sci-fi... Those old EMI 203 cameras produced superb results.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=PSlAPpuK5RU (with thanks to Jeff Leach on the Missing Episodes forum for the link ) |
16th Sep 2020, 7:10 pm | #10 |
Pentode
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Northwich, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 206
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Re: ILEA TV station
Thanks Steve - unseen Roy Harper
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15th Oct 2020, 1:04 pm | #11 |
Octode
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ilkeston, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 1,397
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ILEA Battersea Studios behind the scenes
This is a wonderful programme from 1972 made by the ILEA. After a bit of preamble about the history of moving images, it goes on to feature some fantastic behind the scenes shots of the kit they were using at the time. Luckily the entire thing, shot on EMI image orthicon cameras, exists on pristine b&w videotape.
Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYf0zl9r63Q Steve |
15th Oct 2020, 4:31 pm | #12 |
Heptode
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Camberley, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 800
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Re: ILEA TV station
Forum members may be interested to know at least one of the LEA EMI 203 Image orthicon cameras still survives:-
Serial Number : 368 Origin : LWT (London Weekend TV) ILEA (Inner London Educ Auth) Condition/status : Good, conserved. Comprising of : Location : Bradford, UK Keeper : National Media Museum Notes : On display in reserve collection in 2015. Record date : 16 Nov 2016 http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/emi/203/surv-1.html near foot of page. Regards Brian |
15th Oct 2020, 5:33 pm | #13 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Winchester, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 636
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Re: ILEA TV station
Quote:
I note the VTR machine shown appears to be running 'slowly'? Normal speed was 15.625 ips but some machines were capable of operating at 7.5ips - perhaps that is the case here in order to save tape. Not important of course. |
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28th Jan 2021, 3:24 pm | #14 |
Diode
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Malvern, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 1
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Re: ILEA TV station
I was a designer/illustrator with the Educational Television Service, 1973-77 and must say that the standard of professionalism was comparable to the main broadcasting channels. It was a pity the service had to close as the programmes were very popular with pupils and students. When 'Eclair', a series on which I worked finished, we had letters of protest from teachers. Their pupils missed the characters, especially Pmf (the name derived from 'primary French'), the robot.
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1st Feb 2021, 7:28 pm | #15 | ||
Pentode
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Reigate, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 130
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Re: ILEA TV station
Quote:
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