Description
Object description
British driver and NCO served with Royal Army Service Corps, 42nd (East Lancashire) Div in GB, France and Belgium, 5/1939-12/1942; NCO cameraman trained with Army Film and Photographic Unit at Pinewood Studios in GB, 1/1943-4/1943; served with No 3 Army Film and Photographic Unit in GB, 4/1943-6/1944; served with No 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit in North West Europe, 6/1944-9/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Manchester and Hale, GB, 1909-1926: family; early interest in photography; attitude to initial employment on leaving school. Aspects of period as employee with J T Chapman Ltd in Manchester, GB, 1926-1939: employment as photographic apprentice; marriage in 1929; work as technical consultant in company shop in Albert Square, Manchester; learning about cinematography; attitude to prospect to making medical training films; character of company; nature of company's photographic and film work, Aspects of background in Manchester and Hale, GB, 1909-1926: childhood hobbies; education.
REEL 2 Continues: family move to Hale; mother's lifestyle and occupation; his amateur photography; family holidays; reasons for leaving school at sixteen. Aspects of period as employee with J T Chapman Ltd in Manchester, GB, 1926-1939: cinema visits; financial constraints during early period of marriage, 1929; background to learning about cinematography; question of moving away from Manchester; background to working as technical consultant in company shop in Albert Square, Manchester; returning to work for company after Second World War; question of becoming as manager with company.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as driver with Royal Army Service Corps, 42nd (East Lancashire) Div in GB, 5/1939-9/1939: background to joining Territorial Army, 5/1939; allocation to Royal Army Service Corps element of division; attitude to service; mobilisation, 2/9/1939. Aspects of operations as driver and NCO with Royal Army Service Corps, 42nd (East Lancashire) Div in GB, France and Belgium, 9/1939-12/1942: initial basing of unit at Lancashire County Cricket Club at Old Trafford, Manchester; move to Morpeth; role as driver/mechanic; move to France, 3/1940; move to La Bassée Canal, France; start of German offensive, 10/5/1945; move into Belgium; start of retreat and abandoning vehicles; evacuation by destroyer from beaches at Dunkirk, France, 5/1940; applying to become Royal Air Force observer, 1942. Recollections of enlistment and training as cameraman No 3 Army Film and Photographic Unit at Pinewood Studios in GB, 1/1943-4/1943: interview at Grand Central Hotel, Marylebone, London, 12/1942; selection procedure; background of photographers; basic training at Pinewood Studios, 1/1943.
REEL 4 Continues: training as cine cameraman; work with experimental Vinten cine camera; character of DeVry Standard 35mm Cine Camera; description of Bell & Howell Eyemo 35mm Cine Camera; use of Vinten Model K 'Normandy' 35mm Cine Camera; story of cameraman using a noisy DeVry Standard 35mm Cine Camera to film General Bernard Montgomery; question of trade tests; opinion of his skills as news film cameraman; accommodation at Pinewood Studios; spirit of cameraman; discipline and independent nature of three man camera units; attending junior officers course with Irish Guards at Guards Regimental Depot, Caterham; failure rate; promotion to sergeant at end of training and importance of rank; relations with war correspondents and sources of intelligences.
REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of period as cameraman with No 3 Army Film and Photographic Unit in GB, 4/1943-6/1944: selection for service in India; question of taking commission; filming 'Rough Weather Landing' with commandos in St Ives area, 1943; background to attachment as cameraman to General Miles Dempsey. Recollections of period as cameraman with No 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit in North West Europe, 6/1944-9/1945: story of landing with General Miles Dempsey's staff in Normandy, 7/6/1944; problems of filming General Miles Dempsey; amusing story of filming King George VI in Normandy beach-head, 16/6/1944; how General Bernard Montgomery provided Willys Jeep for cameramen; filming return of General Charles De Gaulle to Bayeux, Normandy, 14/6/1944; filming Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
REEL 6 Continues: filming Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Normandy, 12/6/1944; rules for and attitude to filming Very Important Persons (VIPs); ; attachment to British 12th Corps and forming partnership with Gordon 'Jock' Walker; method of filming stories; degree of contact with Headquarters, Army Film and Photographic Unit; incident of being surrounded; chain of command; film stock supplies; independent nature of role and liaison with Headquarters, Army Film and Photographic Unit; question of lack of coverage; relations within unit; degree of contact with commanding officer Major Hugh Stewart.
REEL 7 Continues: transfer of cameramen between different units; unit casualties; filming action films; filming crossing of Albert Canal, Belgium, 9/9/1944; filming flame throwing Churchill Crocodile Flame Throwing Tanks; problems with Vinten Model K 'Normandy' 35mm Cine Camera in cold weather; attitude towards reports sent from War Office; need to reconstruct scenes and use close ups; question of recreating battle scenes; attitude of troops to being filmed; initial problems encountered with officer when trying to film troops entering Hamburg, Germany; filming flame throwing Churchill Crocodile Flame Throwing Tanks in Netherlands; reaction to filming aftermath of Battle of Falaise Gap, France; lack of self-censorship; obtaining intelligence from different units; question of behaviour on being captured.
REEL 8 Continues: dangers of filming at Blerick in Netherlands, 3/12/1944; filming in Berlin, Germany, 7/1945; source of cine film stories in Berlin, Germany, 7/1945; attitude towards Germans; filming Sandbostel Subcamp, Neuengamme Concentration Camp, Germany; dispersal of unit, 8/1945-9/1945; demobilisation, 9/1945; determination to enter film industry after service; joining ATC Films Limited, 1945; opinion of importance of service with Army Film and Photographic Unit; preference for documentary film making.
