RIP Cliff Michelmore

[Beef Oven!]

RIP

I remember him very well from the late 1960s but was too young to grasp just how good all these guys were. Another childhood memory passes away.

[Petrushka]

My late father used to mention that Cliff Michelmore was stationed near here during his wartime service in the RAF. I'm not sure whether my father knew him but he always mentioned this whenever Michelmore came on screen. My father was also in RAF ground crew so it's my guess that he'd come across him at some point.

[Dermot]

The Tonight programme his co presenters/reporters also included Alan Whicker, Brian Redhead and Kenneth Allsop, to say nothing of Derek Hart, Geoffrey Johnson-Smith, Chris Brasher and Polly Elwes.

And ending with Cy Grant and his Caribbean calypso. It was during Tonight that the news of the death of President Kennedy broke. I also remember that at the end of one edition, a visibly upset Michelmore announced ''We have received some very sad news in the last few moments''. He did not say what it was and the programme ended. There was then a brief news bulletin to announce the death of Gilbert Harding.

[french frank]

I also remember that at the end of one edition, a visibly upset Michelmore announced ''We have received some very sad news in the last few moments''. He did not say what it was and the programme ended. There was then a brief news bulletin to announce the death of Gilbert Harding.

He was not a lot younger than GH but outlived him by well over 50 years.

As well as Cy Grant - Noel Harrison (son of Rex), Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor, occasionally Lance Percival (!), a mandolin player called Hugo D'Alton. The age when most BBC entertainment programmes had musical interludes - pre-pop.

[ahinton]

I heard/saw very little of Cliff Michelmore's work, but all reports that I've read here and elsewhere suggest strongly that he was widely recognised not only as a distinguished member of his profession one but also as one of those rare people for whom no one seems ever to have a bad word; fending off detractors until one's mid-90s would seem to be quite an achievement in itself, especially in his particular field and the only other example that springs immediately to mind is his slightly (not to say sprightly) younger contemporary Nicholas Parsons who, of course, is still very much with us.

[Richard Tarleton]

As well as Cy Grant - Noel Harrison (son of Rex), Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor, occasionally Lance Percival (!), a mandolin player called Hugo D'Alton. The age when most BBC entertainment programmes had musical interludes - pre-pop.

Well remembered. Yes, Lance Percival had a talent for improvised calypsos. There were also a few unknowns - I remember (#5) one hapless female folk singer forgetting her words, grinding to a halt, Cliff M's amused reaction.

[cloughie]

He was not a lot younger than GH but outlived him by well over 50 years.

But then GH was one of those people that was born old!

[BBMmk2]

An unflappable reporter and tv presenter. RIP

[Conchis]

Cliff Michelmore reports from Aberfan, October 1966:

https://youtu.be/FvBq5ucFw90

[Lat-Literal]

Cliff Michelmore is currently on BBC Parliament in the 1966 General Election night programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcparliament

(Who was the, quote "very formidable Dr Katherine Rogers (Labour)" who just lost Brierley Hill after the Finchley result? - I've never heard of her!)

[Keraulophone]

BBC coverage of 1966 General Election:

Entertaining interview of Quentin Hogg by Robin Day, who asks what QH's role will be in opposition.
Hogg: 'You'll have to ask God'.
Day: 'As far as I know, God is not on the list of those to be interviewed.'

Another memorable moment was Alan Whicker getting reaction to the likely election result from a very diverse mix of late nighters in Trafalgar Square, the first being a communist supporter. Back in the studio Cliff asked a young-looking David Butler what were the odds of AW finding someone who had just voted communist - 150 to 1 apparently.

What dated the programme above all were Cliff's repeated references to 'pretty girls'. At one point they appeared in a grinning row behind him, looking even more flattered when he told them they were even prettier and younger than at the previous election coverage!

[Lat-Literal]

BBC coverage of 1966 General Election:

Entertaining interview of Quentin Hogg by Robin Day, who asks what QH's role will be in opposition.
Hogg: 'You'll have to ask God'.
Day: 'As far as I know, God is not on the list of those to be interviewed.'

Another memorable moment was Alan Whicker getting reaction to the likely election result from a very diverse mix of late nighters in Trafalgar Square, the first being a communist supporter. Back in the studio Cliff asked a young-looking David Butler what were the odds of AW finding someone who had just voted communist - 150 to 1 apparently.

What dated the programme above all were Cliff's repeated references to 'pretty girls'. At one point they appeared in a grinning row behind him, looking even more flattered when he told them they were even prettier and younger than at the previous election coverage!

Yes indeed. A fascinating bit of social history but the similarities in the coverage with that of today are most impressive. This is early days for the televising of elections. It really sets the standard. Michelmore at the helm - he influenced some of David Dimbleby's mannerisms - and Day in the interviewing. Certainly they could have managed a programme in the modern era. The psephology is advanced. There are even references to a "computer" calculating the projected result although presumably it was the size of a big building.

The "people" seem only marginally less informed than in 2016 even though we now live in "the information age". The polar nature of opinion in line with stereotypical cohorts does not appear to have shifted hugely since. Given that Douglas-Home struggled so badly with his televised performances a couple of years earlier, most MPs seem media savvy and, just as now, a bit too clever-clever with answers. Lawson, Hattersley and Walden......I've never seen or imagined them so young. I've hardly ever heard Grimond speak before.

I loved the woman in the Glasgow fruit market who was leading the brigade to bring back the death penalty and the birch. A real character - interviewed by Magnus Magnusson - like a north-of-the-border Mary Whitehouse but only had the latter been less tame. Along with the Communists, there is a "BNP" candidate in the East End of London but oddly little sign of the National Front who I thought preceded them. Racists are racialists. Fyfe Robertson at the Ford plant in Dagenham stopping men in their work to ask them how they voted. Similarly, employees at Euston Station being stopped by Alan Whicker. Imagine employers letting that sort of thing happen today ie open political speech to BBC viewers.

Elsewhere, a man having his cap lifted above his eyes by a reporter as he was mumbling an answer. Another man describes himself as a liberal fascist before the cameras are quickly removed from him. The biggest concern of old and young is the economic plight of "the old people" for whom "nothing" has been done. Anyone who is over 55 identifies as old. A surprisingly high number of folk are looking forward to joining "the Common Market". The Tories lost but - this is really different - Heath wasn't ditched for nearly a decade.