I’ve received a number of emails about the death of David Wedgwood Benn, for many years a familiar figure in the corridors of Bush House.  Tales of his doings are legion, so I thought I’d relay these from my inbox.  Many Bushmen will also remember the writers.  The emails are in reverse order, i.e. the first is the most recent.

Andy

Shelley Gillespie

I was doing a recording with him in one of the ground floor south west studios and there was sizeable mound of tape on the floor.  He listened to the recording and suddenly pounced on the mound, extracting a few off cuts which he examined.  After discarding two or three, his face suddenly lit up.  “This is it!”  And it was!  So we put it back in.

Maureen Feavyour

My personal David W-B story:-  I was on duty in the DOA”s office one Sunday morning after a clock change.  David, at that time Yugoslav PO, rang from home.  “What time is it in Bush House?” he asked.   A courteous kindly, gentle, innocent man, indeed.

Nicola Barranger

That is such a famous story Lynne, and wondered whether it was true but as Helen says it’s lovely to have it authenticated – and we never knew who the SM was…. So it was you then!!!

It is lovely to hear all these extraordinary David W-Benn stories.

Sue Mayne/Boyd

I had to record an interview David wanted to have with Ken Dodd in Blackpool.  This had to go thru control room with Ken Dodd in a remote studio I think unmanned!  We were in S17, so an awkward studio.  David nervous and finally turned to me and said would I talk to Mr Dodd about sitting, headphones and level. Finally we were off. Ken Dodd kept telling him what diddy person he was and went into that wonderful language he had. David was completely stumped he couldn’t understand what was going on. Control Room recorded some of the interview. I had to keep trying to find things in the floor as I was laughing so much. Lovely man I sometimes travelled from Blackheath with him! Always courteous kind and amusing.  By-the-way, I think the swarf bucket, pipe story was his brother Anthony. David I think came after him.

Madeleine Seviour

I remember him arriving in the studio with an armful of tapes.  He offered to lace them up – I asked for some level when he was ready.  No sound came, so I turned round and saw the feed spool on the left-hand turntable and the take-up spool on the right…

Helen Carasso

I’d always thought this tale must be apocryphal, so it is great to have it authenticated by an eye witness (on best WS newsroom principles about sourcing stories)!

Roger Wilmut

…didn’t his brother Tony throw his cigarette away in the swarf bin – in the days of disc cutting?

That’s the legend – it was at 200 Oxford Street, and I’ve been told it was a spent match – since the bin was labelled ‘Fire’ he thought it contained sand – the match was still hot enough to ignite the swarf and it gutted the channel (according to the legend – I can’t verify this).

Swarf was nasty stuff. Someone knocked his pipe out into the swarf bin in the disk channel at the far end of the lower ground SEW corridor – Bob Hughes had the presence of mind to put his foot on it so it didn’t cause a fire but the fumes got into the ventilation system and caused the evacuation of most of the studios on that floor.

Again according to legend, some cleaner took a large handful of this nice soft black stuff home and stuffed a cushion with it… she was dissuaded. If someone had ignited it, it would have burned the house down.

Rosemary Arthy

… didn’t his brother Tony throw his cigarette away in the swarf bin – in the days of disc cutting?

On a night shift David asked me where he could plug his shaver into a light socket.  I pointed to the angle-poise above the RP2.  He said it was too high up.  Yes – I pulled it down for him.  Daffy guy – real gent.

Lynne Plummer

. . . and I remember his picking several short pieces of tape out of the waste bin, holding them to the light to look through them, rejecting most, and then at last saying “Here’s the ‘and’ we need”  – and it was!  I was impressed, if puzzled.

Martin Redfern

… and the occasion when he banged his pipe ash out into the tape waste bin.  Yes, in the days when it was acetate!  A gentleman.

Mike Price

Not sure I know the “missing insert” tale. I DO recall him asking if an interviewee could sit closer to the mic, as he was rather deaf!!! A nice man.

Roger Wilmut

Colin has pointed out his typo which got past me…  ‘just been told that David Benn died on February 2nd.

Typo…!

Colin’

Roger Wilmut

Colin Cairney has reported the death of David Benn (you will probably remember him as David Wedgewood-Benn). Colin writes:

I have been informed by Mary Raine (former H.CT&F), that David Benn died, aged 88, on the 27th February.  At one time David, after working in Current Affairs, was Yugoslav PO.  Many of us will remember the famous story (subsequently Bush legend) of the missing insert that had been mixed up with other extracts…

He was the most courteous of colleagues.

The Funeral will be held at All Saints Church, Blackheath on the 27th of February at 2 p.m.