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ALEXANDRA PALACE TELEVISION SOCIETY | |||||
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 Before joining the Baird Television Company, Campbell ("Cam" to his friends and colleagues) earned his living as a photographer in Dublin and spent much of his time taking scenes around Ireland for use as postcards. He had also been interested in early radio reception. When Baird's advertised for television staff "Cam" thought the mixture of pictures with electronics could prove useful and applied for a position with the Company. "Cam" transferred from the Baird Company to become an employee of the British Broadcasting Corporation in September 1932 as Assistant Maintenance Engineer with the 30-line (low-definition) television service, when the BBC assumed television programme production for themselves. This service was then housed in the basement of Broadcasting House. Following the announcement by the Government of the establishment of a high-defintion television service by the BBC, and the subsequent decision on its home, "Cam" was transferred, in March 1936, to Alexandra Palace as Maintenance Engineer. A month before the official opening of the BBC Television Service he was promoted to Senior Maintenance Engineer. Due to his extensive work in television lighting, he was promoted again in September 1937 to Senior Maintenance Engineer (Lighting). Upon the close-down of the Television Service on 1st September 1939, BBC personnel were despatched to their pre-arranged war-time occupations. This saw "Cam" arrive at the Daventry transmitting station on 3rd September where he was to remain for the duration of the war. His main job at Daventry was the training of female operators who were being recruited to fill the jobs of men who were being called into the Services. "Cam" returned to Alexandra Palace in November 1945 in order to get the station ready for its post-war re-opening (7th June 1946). In March 1946 "Cam" was promoted to the post of Planning Assistant, Engineering - Television, in which he remained until 1951, when he became Assistant (Productions) to Senior Executive Television. "Cam" retired from the Television Service in August 1961, and died in September 1982. In 1998 "Cam's" son Neil, contacted APTS with regard to his father's collection of negatives . Subsequently this collection was kindly donated to the Alexandra Palace Television Society and provides a unique insight into the pre-war (and immediate post-war) high-definition BBC Television Service. The collection consists over 1,200 negatives taken by Cam as a record of his own work in television lighting. Examples of these photographs can be found by following the link below. For more information
concerning any of the above, please contact
© A.P.T.S. 2000 |
