We turned up shortly before the scheduled start time. We were greeted with a display case with various Anderson memorabilia and a couple of Anderson experts observing "That one's not original". Ten minutes after the scheduled start time, a rather official looking figure who appeared and said "Sylvia is in the building, but she's adjusting her dress". Given our earlier speculation, we chortled. Sadly no talk on financial planning from Arthur. Then Sylvia arrived.
A short preamble was given. A rundown of her post Gerry era work, including boxing for HBO. Then a clip of the highlights of her work. It's fair to say that whenever I hear the opening sequence of Thunderbirds, I always feel a tingle of excitement. As a boy, Thunderbirds had everything. Rockets, explosions, actions, humour. The goodies always won and the day was always saved. I often speculated what the relationship between Jeff Tracey and Lady Penelope. Perhaps my favourite character was Parker, lady Penelope's butler. In one episode, he saves the day by picking the lock of a safe at the Bank of England, to release some trapped officials, just before the oxygen ran out. The bank decide to revert to the old safe, because it took Parker 2 hours to crack it, rather than the 30 seconds it took to crack the new one. Parker wryly observes to Lady Penelope that the other one only took 2 hours, because he was "putting on a show".
Sylvia talked us through how she joined the company to earn some spare cash, whilst studying at the LSE. She explained how they'd got into puppetry by accident. They had got some work because they were cheap. She explained how each series was a progression from the previous. Clips were shown of the early work, such as Supercar and fireball XL5. She explained how Stingray became the first colour TV show on UK television, as Lou Grade wanted to sell it to the USA.
She explained that to her, Thunderbirds was the pinnacle of the Anderson work. She told how Barry Gray, the composer of the music, lived at home with his mum and used to compose the scores in his head. I'd say that the music from the Anderson series were probably the finest theme music of all. She explained how they improved the process of puppetry, by installing a TV monitor, so the puppeteers could watch their work.
She then went on to discuss Captain Scarlett and Joe 90. She clearly didn't hold them in quite the same affection as Thunderbirds. She did make the point that one of the groundbreaking points in Captain Scarlett was that the Angles (fighter pilots) were all women. She also stated that they always had a multi racial aspect to the casts, as they wanted a global appeal.
Then onto the later series with actors. Some clips were shown of UFO. Sylvia commented that the costumes were very dated looking. She also noted that Ed Bishop (who played Commander Ed Straker) had to wear a blond wig and make up. She said he'd play his role, whip off the wig, scrub off the make up and no one would recognise him. She told how Lou Grade got her to dispense with the services of Peter Gordeno (original Skydiver pilot) because he didn't think it was right to have a dancer playing the role. She also explained how Michael Billington got the role as Gordino's replacement.
She then went on to discuss Space 1999. She commented that Michael Landau and Barbera Bain were at times "difficult", noting that they required a chauffeur to drive them the 5 minute walk from their trailers to the film sets.
Then there was a Q&A session. One punter asked if there was any reason why so many characters in Anderson series were single parent families "No, you are reading too much into it". One member of the audience told how they'd hired a pay as you go colour telly from Rediffusion, purely to watch Stingray in colour. Half way through, the money ran out and no one had another thruppence.
Afterwards, Boz & myself bumped into another ex Polecat, Tim, who is also an Anderson nut. Tim lives in the USA, but had noticed the event at the last minute. Tim is into film production and was made up to meet Sylvia. We had a drink at the museum bar and did a quick tour of the exhibits. As both Boz and myself had dad's who were in the RAF in the second world war, we have a special affection for the museum. Both our Dads were shot down & Boz's spent five days in a liferaft (which there is an example of in the museum). Sadly my Dad's old plane, the Wellington, is away for repairs.
The idea of such events at the museum is brilliant. After we bought Sylvia's book and got them signed by Sylvia, we adjourned to the pub. It was a very different way to spend a Saturday evening. I have a confession to make. UFO by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, is my favourite ever TV series. It was made in 1969, the year Manchester City last won the FA Cup. As a City fan, I really couldn't think of a more perfect way to celebrate the success of the team. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were a massive part of my childhood. I cannot imagine growing up without series such as Thunderbirds. When Sylvia signed my book, I forgot to thank her for that, so if you are reading Sylvia, thanks.
One final note : The RAF museum is one of the worlds greatest museums and it's on our doorstep. I urge everyone to support it and oppose any attempts to charge an entrance fee. In our efforts to support and promote the museum, the Mill Hill Music Festival organising committee have booked Jacqui Dankworth to play at the museum on Friday 1st July. Please click the link in the sidebar for more details.
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