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THREAD (on a clock panel no less). In the last few weeks, I've been broadcasting from home and lots of you have asked about BBC clock panel on our living room wall. I thought I'd tell you more about it. I'm hoping other BBC colleagues can help me as well.
2/ For many years Bush House was home to @bbcworldservice. It stands on Aldwych in London facing up Kingsway. And, for me, walking through its columns in 2003, was a dream come true. Every corridor and room contained extraordinary people and extraordinary design too.
3/ I arrived as a producer and, one day, when a presenter missed his train, I was asked to fill in. I can still remember the first script: 'BBC World Service. It's 23 hours GMT. This is the World Today.' Epic is overused by this felt epic. This was the view as I walked in.
4/ This was in 2004 and I started co-presenting with World Service giants like @ritula, Max Pearson, @FergusNicoll and the dearly missed Julian Keane. I was always bothering them for advice. And we were all looking at the same clock panel, hinged to the wall. This was the view.
5/ In 2006, I became a presenter on World Have Your Say. which used the same studio S38 and, for hundreds of editions, I still stared at the clock (in my mind the panel was changed at some point, though I can't be sure). Here's an action shot!
6/ Putting this thread together, I also found this picture from another studio, S6. What a desk this is. (And yes I am wearing a @JohnDeere t-shirt and the worst pair of glasses, and, no. I can't explain it. The journey to TV presenter was a long one.)
7/ You particularly stare at the clock on @BBCWorldService because it has what we call 'hard posts' - times that you can't talk through - the system will just cut you off. 29 & 59 mins were the hard posts (still are in fact). Once you get to, say, 10:28:57 you need to be quiet.
8/ I recall programmes on Tony Blair stepping down, on Yasser Arafat dying, on George W Bush being re-elected (with @robinlustig in DC), and many many other stories - and always I stared at these same clocks. This is the view through to the sound engineers and producers.
9/ In the early 2010s, the @bbcworldservice moved from Bush House to New Broadcasting House. And once we'd said our goodbyes, the BBC auctioned the contents of Bush House. Here's the listing I was interested in. I wasn't ready to stop looking at these clocks.
10/ I was at a radio conference in Oslo when the auction began and after 20 mins of intense bidding against (I assume) colleagues, I'd spent quite a lot more than I'd meant to. It felt a rash at the time, it feels like money very well spent now.
11/ A few days later I drove into Bush House, stuck it in the back of the car and got it home. As you can see, it had a lot of thick wires, no sides, one of the clocks didn't work, it had no power, and it duly settled in under our bed.
12/ I knew I needed help. I found a wonderful BBC engineer called Colin Neal who in return for nothing more than lunch came to my house several times as he worked out what needed to be done - and we got the parts in to do it. He still had his BBC-issue tool kit too.
13/ Colin sorted the lights and wired them each with their own switch. (I need to improve the white plastic switches which were a bad choice on my behalf.)
14/ Red as I'm sure you know means 'on air'. If this light is on, then so is your microphone. Time to pay attention. (By the way, it says GMT on the other side of the paper.)
15/ Green is for go. The sound engineers (studio managers as we call them at the BBC) have a foot pedal. When they are ready for you to start talking, they flash the green. I quickly learned, jumping the green is (quite rightly) not the thing to do...
16/ White means the phone is ringing. Which given the gallery was always staffed was never that useful to me as someone else would answer the phone before I could get to it. But it would sometimes flash.
17/ This 'alert' light flashes when you need to be aware there's an issue in the building. (Remarkably when Colin and I switched it on years after it was removed from Bush House, it flashed first time.) I'm not sure if the sound engineer controlled this or if it was centralised.
18/ If the evacuate light starts going then, well... I think that happened once during all my time and we all poured out into the car park in the middle of Bush House.
19/ Next, the analogue clock ran off a pulse to ensure it was accurate. Needless to say I don't have a pulse facility at home! I took it to a wonderful shop called Allen and Wainright (full of cuckoo clocks and grandfather clocks) and they added a battery-powered action.
20/ As you can see this clock is made by @MOBATIME which is very much still going. https://www.mobatime.com/about-us/
21/ The digital clock is made by Wharton which still manufacture loads of fantastic studio clocks. Setting it takes a little working out but I think I've mastered it now. https://www.wharton.co.uk/
22/ Which left the sides. The panel used to be hinged to a frame on the wall. But the frame didn't come with it. I asked the brilliant furniture maker Richard Wood to help. Richard did such a good job you'd never know the sides weren't original. http://rtwoodfurniture.co.uk/
23/ Finally a local electrician channelled a new socket into our living room wall. That's behind where the clock is mounted so I can plug it in without a wire running down the wall. And, several years after I first got it, there it was - my pride and joy. That's the story.
24/ It's been lovely to hear from so many people who are as keen on the panel as I am. Thanks to Colin and Richard for bringing it back to life - and to the @bbcworldservice for letting me present for many years.
25/ Thanks too for @ratemyskyperoom for a none-too-shabby 9/10. The panel will be back on @BBCOS tomorrow. https://twitter.com/ratemyskyperoom/status/1257510356227932165?s=20
