Misplaced Pages

#879120

71-406: Formed as a joint company, it merged the television interests of British Electric Traction (trading as Associated-Rediffusion ) owning 49%, and Associated British Picture Corporation —soon taken over by EMI —owning 51%. Like all ITV franchisees at that time, it was a broadcaster, a producer and a commissioner of television programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered and, as one of

142-459: A gentlemen's agreement between the two sides not to poach each other's imported shows. Thames paid £55,000 a show compared to the £29,000 of the BBC. The deal brought condemnation from the BBC and from other ITV stations, who feared the BBC would poach their imports, pushing up prices. The BBC planned to delay transmission of the episodes of Dallas that it already had, with the hope to broadcast them at

213-529: A 13-part documentary series about the era of the America silent cinema. This series, produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill , was followed by the company sponsoring Thames Silents , a project undertaken by Brownlow and Gill of the restoration and screenings (in a limited number of cinemas and on television) of major films from the silent era. The two men followed Hollywood with series dedicated to leading comics of

284-491: A 35% pay rise. Two years later in May 1977, another strike occurred when production assistants at Thames refused to operate new video equipment. Thames proceeded to sack all the technicians for breach of contract. The following month, both sides backed down over the issues, with all technicians returning to work. The worst strike to hit the network originated at Thames. Failure to reach agreement on pay increases and shift allowances in

355-556: A British military ceremony in Gibraltar . The documentary was regarded almost as treason by many Conservative politicians, and The Sunday Times made claims about one of the witnesses interviewed which were later found to be libellous. The following year, in 1989, Thames ended the contract of Benny Hill , a stalwart at the station since 1969. It was believed that the comedian was dismissed because his shows were considered offensive and politically incorrect , but John Howard Davies said

426-486: A Thames subsidiary founded in 1976 which made animated series for children. During the hours after Rainbow and before the children's slot, Good Afternoon was transmitted, a magazine programme. It began after the IBA allowed non-schools broadcasting in this period of the day, when the government relaxed the regulations around daytime television and featured interview editions undertaken by such broadcasters as Mavis Nicholson , and

497-431: A broad spectrum of commercial public-service television, with a strong mix of drama, current affairs and comedy. After Thames was acquired by FremantleMedia it was merged with another Fremantle company, Talkback , to form a new independent production company, Talkback Thames ; consequently, Thames ceased to exist as a separate entity, but it, along with Talkback's own logo continued to be used separately until 2006, when

568-425: A contract with Morecambe & Wise . The comedians had worked for the BBC since 1968 with major national success, but the decisive factor leading the duo to leave the corporation was Thames's offer to feature them as main leads in a film made by the company's Euston Films subsidiary. The comedy duo's leading scriptwriter, Eddie Braben , did not initially move to ITV with them, and with Eric Morecambe's failing health,

639-546: A joint arrangement with ABC Weekend TV , the holder of the weekend Midlands and North of England franchises, to form Thames Television . As a result of this re-allocation of interests, ABC took a controlling 51% interest in Thames Television, although the profits were split 50/50 between ABC and Rediffusion. Thames Television was given the new weekday London franchise. BET sold its interest in Thames Television in 1985. Between 1955 and 1968 BET made other acquisitions in

710-528: A new holding company , Thames Television (Holdings) Ltd. ABC's parent, the Associated British Picture Corporation was taken over by EMI in 1969, and in 1979 became part of Thorn EMI . The ITA ordered ABC's managing director Howard Thomas and its director of programmes Brian Tesler to be appointed in similar capacities at the new station, the only individuals named or specified in all 15 franchise awards. ABC had majority control of

781-617: A new logo for Talkback Thames was introduced. However, on 1 January 2012, the Thames brand was revived and Talkback Thames has now been split into four different labels: Boundless, Retort, Talkback and Thames , within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm. From its formation in 1954, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) offered broadcasting licences to different companies for weekday and weekend service in its first three Independent Television network locations,

SECTION 10

#1732851525880

852-631: A regular social phenomenon and because a successfully conducted Middle Eastern shotgun wedding is generally unknown to the guests. In some Persian Gulf nations, the term "police station marriage" ( Arabic : زواج مخفر) may be the closest colloquial analogue for the concept of a "shotgun wedding". Because of the sexual revolution beginning in the 1960s, the concepts of love, sexuality, procreation and marriage began to separate after being intimately entangled in social consciousness for centuries. However, sexual practice had not always followed social convention , resulting in shotgun or Knobstick weddings . In

923-460: A reputation for drama with such series as Jenny, Lady Randolph Churchill (1974), with Lee Remick as the mother of Winston Churchill . It won an Emmy as the best series in its category, as Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978), about the abdication crisis , did later. Other successful series in the genre from this period include Shades of Greene (1975–76), Rock Follies (1976), and Armchair Thriller (1978–80). These programmes were made in

994-564: A shotgun wedding without explicit outside encouragement, and some religious groups consider it a moral imperative to marry in that situation. Premarital sexual relations remain taboo across all social strata throughout the Arab world . In many cases, fornication is illegal and even a criminal offence under Sharia law . Even when it is not, the social response can be extreme, especially against women who have lost their virginity prior to marriage. In Arabic culture, shotgun weddings serve to obscure

1065-556: A subsidiary in 1955. In 1950 BET took a 10% interest in Initial. The stake was gradually increased until 1985, when BET took over Initial. In 1971 BET acquired Biffa , and also acquired Re-Chem International, which specialised in toxic industrial waste processing. In the 1980s conglomerates such as BET fell out of favour, and BET extracted itself from some business sectors. Its interests in Thames Television were sold in 1985, and

1136-530: A substantial minority interest in Broadcast Relay Service Ltd, trading as Rediffusion , which distributed radio and television signals though wired relay networks. BET acquired a controlling interest in 1967, and the remaining 36% in 1983. When ITV commercial television started in the UK in 1955, Rediffusion formed Associated-Rediffusion with Associated Newspapers with BET's financial backing, and won

1207-487: A weekly consumer programme, which eventually became a programme in its own right; Money-Go-Round . Thames also produced The World at War (1973–74), a 26-part history of the Second World War using unseen footage and interviews, often of high-level participants. The series, narrated by Laurence Olivier , was commissioned in 1969, took four years to produce, and cost a record £4m (approx £47m in 2018). Thames gained

1278-468: The "Big Five" ITV companies, for networking nationally across the ITV regions. After its loss of franchise in 1992, it continued as an independent production company until 2006. The British Film Institute describes Thames as having "served the capital and the network with a long-running, broad-based and extensive series of programmes, several of which either continue or are well-remembered today." Thames covered

1349-558: The Sid James vehicle Bless This House (1971–76), and Love Thy Neighbour (1972-76), with a controversial take on race relations. Another sitcom, Man About the House (1973–76), was successful enough for two spin-offs, George and Mildred (1976–80) and Robin's Nest (1977-81). The company took over the This Is Your Life format in 1969, several years after the BBC had dropped

1420-570: The Tower of London —it was named Thames Television, after the River Thames . This name had been previously considered and rejected by London Weekend Television. On 30 July 1968, Thames began broadcasting to London. The opening week was disrupted by sporadic strike action; the following week, the action had spread to all of ITV and resulted in the creation of a management-run ITV Emergency National Service for some two weeks. Each week Thames broadcast from

1491-589: The Transport Holding Company ) held minority interests in many of BET's UK bus subsidiaries, and in late 1967 BET sold its UK bus interests to the Transport Holding Company , to become part of the National Bus Company . United Transport had passenger transport and freight interests in southern Africa. BET owned and operated Jamaica Omnibus Service , a 600-bus operation in Kingston, Jamaica, until it

SECTION 20

#1732851525880

1562-467: The United States and Canada , the use of duress or violent coercion to marry is no longer common, although many anecdotal stories and folk songs record instances of such coercion in 18th- and 19th-century America and Canada. Pressure to marry immediately due to pregnancy has become less common as the stigma associated with out-of-wedlock births has declined and the number of such births has increased. As

1633-584: The 1979 pay round resulted in technicians switching off power to the transmission facilities at the Euston Road centre on 6 August. After management restored power, the technicians walked out. Within four days, all but one ITV station had gone off-air after the ACTT asked members at other companies to walk out in claim for a 15% pay rise. The network was off the air for 10 weeks. Other Thames shows included This Week (known as TV Eye between 1979 and 1985), Rumpole of

1704-454: The BBC, via the IBA, £300,000 in compensation to make up the shortfall in additional cost for new episodes of Dallas . The most controversial programme Thames broadcast was the documentary " Death on the Rock ", part of the current affairs This Week series. The programme questioned the authority of British troops who had shot dead suspected IRA members allegedly planning a terrorist attack on

1775-610: The Bailey , the game shows Strike It Lucky , Give Us a Clue and Name That Tune , and the drama Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest . Thames sitcoms during the 1980s and early 1990s included Keep it in the Family , Never the Twain , After Henry , and Mr. Bean . The Mr. Bean pilot episode , starring Rowan Atkinson as the titular character, was first broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990, and

1846-553: The London area, the Midlands, and the North. The initial six contracts were parcelled out to different companies. Associated-Rediffusion (Rediffusion) won the London weekday service while Associated Television (ATV) operated weekends. ATV also won the weekday service in the Midlands, while ABC Weekend TV operated the weekend service. Granada Television won daytime service in the North, and ABC

1917-417: The London weekday broadcast franchise. In the beginning, Associated Rediffusion lost money. By the end of 1956 Associated Newspapers sold 80% of its stake back to BET and Rediffusion at a severe loss. Around that same time, Associated Rediffusion struck a very favourable deal with Granada Television , the franchise holder for weekday broadcasts in the North of England. Granada was also losing money, and lacked

1988-572: The Potteries, Rossendale Valley, Sheerness, South Staffordshire, Southport, South Shields, Taunton, Tynemouth, Weston-Super-Mare, Wolverhampton District, Worcester, and Yorkshire (Woollen District). In Wales In Scotland In Northern Ireland The last BET tram ran on 4 August 1951, when the Gateshead and District Tramways Company replaced its trams with buses. In 1905 a subsidiary was formed to operate motor buses, which became increasingly important to

2059-415: The children's show Magpie (1968–80), intended as a rival for Blue Peter on BBC1 , and The Tomorrow People (1973–79), a science fiction series commissioned as an answer to the BBC's Doctor Who . For preschool children there was Rainbow , which started in 1972 and ran for 20 years. The programme used animation and graphics created by Stop Frame Productions, which later became Cosgrove Hall ,

2130-465: The collapse of other companies, particularly Granada. It was reported that Rediffusion's chairman Sir John Spencer Wills felt the ITA owed his company a 'debt of gratitude' for this, a comment which particularly annoyed the authority. During the interview process, several members of Rediffusion management also appeared in interviews for applicants for other regions, principally the consortium of which David Frost

2201-475: The company would be awarded the London weekend franchise. Instead, after an impressive application by a consortium led by David Frost and others, this market was awarded to what became London Weekend Television . This led to a serious problem for the ITA as ABC was a popular station, whose productions earned vital foreign currency - one such series was The Avengers . Its station management and presentation style were also well-admired. While they were still in

Thames Television - Misplaced Pages Continue

2272-490: The contract to serve London on weekdays. Control of the new company would be given to ABC, a move unpopular with Rediffusion. Questioning the ITA's decision, Rediffusion attempted to slow down the merger: only the threat of giving the licence solely to ABC made it relent. To assist Rediffusion financially, the ITA insisted that the new company have two sets of shares: voting shares which would allow ABC to have control (with 51%) and 'B' shares which were to be split equally between

2343-488: The crime from 1998 and its return to the hour long slot and then became much more a soap opera in 2002 (when individual story titles were dropped) until coming full circle dealing predominantly with crime again in about 2007 for the last few years of its existence. In January 1985, the company made a deal with international distributors for US production company Lorimar to purchase the UK broadcasting rights for US drama Dallas , at that time transmitted on BBC1 . This broke

2414-433: The cultural changes of the time, with its output altered accordingly. By the time of the 1967 negotiations, Rediffusion believed that its contract renewal for London weekday service was a formality, and its application reflected this complacency: the company had treated the ITA high-handedly in interviews. In the early days of ITV, the company had worked hard to keep the network on-air during financial crises that threatened

2485-465: The decision was taken because of falling ratings, very high production costs and Hill was looking tired. The show at its peak had 21 million viewers, while the last episode had nine million. Through the early 1980s, Thames experienced a series of local disputes while management deliberately confronted contractual ‘rackets’, and pursued the introduction of new technologies based on operational requirements rather than precedent. For Thames’s management, this

2556-539: The end of its ITV franchise. These included Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983), Jack the Ripper (1988), Capital City (1989–1990), Selling Hitler (1991), and Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1992). The Bill (1984–2010) began as a one-hour series of separate stories in 1984, but from 1989 until 1998 was broadcast several times a week, usually in a 30 minute slot. Its storylines became overly melodramatic and focussed far more directly on particular police characters rather than

2627-567: The eventual run lasted beyond Thames holding of its franchise. Less well-known is its adaptation of Andy Capp (1988), starring James Bolam . Two of its post-franchise sitcoms found more success when they transferred away from ITV – Men Behaving Badly , which moved to the BBC in 1994 and Is It Legal? , which moved to Channel 4 in 1998. Both were written by Simon Nye and co-produced by independent company Hartswood Films . A few years after The World at War , Thames broadcast Hollywood (1980),

2698-478: The fact that a baby was conceived prior to marriage. When that proves impossible, the social standing of the couple involved is irreparably damaged. Nevertheless, shotgun weddings help prevent the individuals involved, especially the women, from becoming social pariahs . Apart from instances of regional slang, there is no universal, specific term for "shotgun weddings" in Arabic. This is because they are not recognised as

2769-433: The financial resources of BET; the deal guaranteed Granada a certain level of financial security, at the cost of Associated-Rediffusion receiving the vast majority of future profits from their arrangement. By 1964, when Associated Rediffusion changed its name to Rediffusion London, its efforts had left it sitting on a mountain of cash. But in 1967 the Independent Television Authority ordered Rediffusion London to enter into

2840-571: The group as many municipalities were compulsorily acquiring company-owned tram networks in their areas. Nationalisation of BET's electricity generation and distribution activities took place in 1947 leaving BET with a portfolio of bus companies, a number of miscellaneous investments, and a cash pile. The company embarked on a programme of acquisitions, with particular emphases on transport, leisure and entertainment, printing and publishing, construction and plant hire, textile maintenance and waste management. From 1949 until 1967 BET continued to be one of

2911-597: The last appearance of Nigel Kneale 's best known creation in Quatermass (1979). In this era, Euston also made single one-off dramas such as The Naked Civil Servant (1975). On 1 December 1976, the punk band the Sex Pistols were interviewed live on Thames's regional news magazine programme, Today . Members of the group uttered obscenities during their interview with Bill Grundy . Grundy, in his introduction, said they are "as drunk as I am", but later claimed his comment

Thames Television - Misplaced Pages Continue

2982-566: The leisure sector, including a controlling interest in Wembley Stadium Ltd, which was sold in 1985. BET acquired the Argus Press group in 1966. BET acquired Eddison Plant Ltd in 1949, and expanded into construction after the sale of its bus interests in 1968. It acquired Boulton & Paul Ltd and Grayston Ltd. Murphy Bros. Limited with interests in civil engineering, opencast coal mining, building materials production and plant hire

3053-404: The marriage occurs early enough in the gestation period, to conceal the fact that conception had already occurred prior to marriage. In some societies, the stigma attached to pregnancy out of wedlock can be enormous, and coercive means (in spite of the legal defense of undue influence ) for gaining recourse are often seen as the prospective father-in-law's "right". Often, a couple will arrange

3124-465: The new company and the make-up of its board predominantly (and eventually fully) came from ABC. The use of ABC's old studios at Teddington meant the workforce was predominantly ex-ABC, although those at Kingsway were ex-Rediffusion. After some discussion as to the name of the new company—some directors favoured ABC London, while others suggested Tower Television to reflect the Post Office Tower and

3195-486: The new shows never gained the audiences or matched the esteem they had previously enjoyed. One of the early anchor presenters was radio DJ Tom Edwards . Like most of ITV, Thames was beset by conflicts with trade unions, notably the Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians ( ACTT ). A two-week technicians strike in the summer of 1975 shut down the whole of ITV with the technicians being bought off with

3266-886: The purchase of Brush Electrical Engineering Company in 1901. The BET became the largest of the private owners of tramways in the British Isles. During its history, it gained control in England of the Metropolitan Electric and South Metropolitan systems in London, as well as systems in Barnsley, Barrow-in-Furness, Birmingham, Birmingham and Midland, Brighton and Shoreham, Cambridge, Devonport and District, Dewsbury Ossett and Soothill Nether, Dudley and Stourbridge, Gateshead, Gravesend, Great Yarmouth, Hartlepool, Jarrow, Kidderminster and Stourport, Leamington and Warwick, Mexborough and Swinton, Middleton, Oldham Ashton and Hyde, Peterborough, Poole,

3337-516: The rest of Rediffusion soon followed. BET sold its 75 per cent shareholding in Humphries Holdings PLC to Lee International PLC for £2.5 million in 1985. Rediffusion Simulation was sold in 1988 to Hughes Aircraft . In 1991 Biffa was sold to Severn Trent Water plc. BET also sold its construction interests. BET retained the profitable laundry and linen rental businesses, and also the shipping businesses of United Transport. In 1996 BET

3408-472: The running for the seven-day service in the Midlands, it was clear this would be won by ATV, who was also a large earner of overseas revenue, having won the Queen's Award for Export in 1966. In programming, Rediffusion was originally considered stuffy but in the previous contract round of 1964, it had re-invented itself, dropping the name Associated-Rediffusion in favour of the trendier Rediffusion London, to reflect

3479-408: The same time Thames broadcast its new purchases. Ultimately, pressure from several ITV companies (especially Yorkshire Television ) to the IBA, forced Thames to sell the series back to the BBC at a loss. Bryan Cowgill , the managing director of Thames left the company, as he believed his position was untenable since the board was unwilling to support his plans to buy the series. In October, Thames paid

3550-468: The show in 1964. Another BBC favourite was comedian Benny Hill , the star of The Benny Hill Show (1969–89), who was placed under contract. Hill spent most of the rest of his career with Thames. The Sooty Show , cancelled in 1967 by the BBC, now aired on Thames and began on the first day of transmission. It continued after Harry Corbett 's retirement in 1975 with his son, Matthew Corbett , and lasted on Thames until late 1992. The company also produced

3621-617: The silent era, Unknown Chaplin (1983) and Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987). A programme on Harold Lloyd ( The Third Genius ) followed in 1989. Hollywood and the Chaplin series were narrated by the actor James Mason . Unusually for a commercial broadcaster, Thames also produced lavish versions of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . Thames's subsidiary production company Euston Films continued to produce many of Thames's highest-profile drama contributions to ITV network programming to

SECTION 50

#1732851525880

3692-569: The start of transmissions on Monday until its handover to London Weekend Television at 19:00 on Friday. (From 1982, the handover time was 17:15.) The former ABC studios at Teddington became Thames's main production base. Thames's corporate base moved to its newly constructed studios and offices on Euston Road (next to Euston Tower ) in 1970, when it relinquished Television House , Rediffusion's former London headquarters. The Teddington studios were highly desirable, as they had participated in colour experiments and were already partially converted by

3763-518: The then standard 'hybrid' studio video/location film format, but the British industry was in the slow process of dropping the multi-camera studio format for drama, excepting soaps, to making the genre entirely on film. The Thames offshoot Euston Films was founded in 1971 to specialise in drama output made entirely on film, then still a rare practice. Euston made the police series The Sweeney (1975–78), Danger UXB (1979), and Minder (1979–94), plus

3834-494: The time of the franchise change, and as such had been sought after by both Thames and LWT. When Thames was formed, the new company acquired numerous other properties of the former franchise holders. Rediffusion's main studio complex at Wembley was leased to London Weekend Television by order of the ITA before being sold to Lee International in 1977. ABC's Midlands base in Aston, Birmingham (see Alpha Television ), co-owned with ATV,

3905-665: The two major bus groups in the UK, alongside the state-owned Tilling Group (owned by the British Transport Commission and from 1963 by the Transport Holding Company ). In 1956 BET acquired a 20% interest in United Transport Company, the rump of the old Red & White company, increased to 100% in 1971. United Transport continued with its freight road haulage business (Bulwark Transport), and also moved into shipping, particularly containers and tank containers. The British Transport Commission (and later

3976-407: The two, thus sharing profits fairly. The structure of the new company was also a problem. A merger between the two existing contract holders A.B.C. Television Limited and Rediffusion Television Limited was impossible, owing to internal politics, as was a merger between their respective parent companies Associated British Picture Corporation and British Electric Traction . The answer was found to be

4047-499: The union agreed to rostering according to need, while the management dropped plans for ending six-day working fortnights. Bryan Cowgill said: "The need for sensible change in the way we conduct our operations has been at the heart of this dispute. The outcome of a damaging and costly dispute has resulted in substantial progress towards a more realistic and effective way of working". British Electric Traction British Electric Traction Company Limited , renamed BET plc in 1985,

4118-476: The variety show Opportunity Knocks , Armchair Theatre , the last series of The Avengers , and the detective thrillers Callan and Public Eye , all inherited from ABC. The comedy Do Not Adjust Your Set , though, originated with Rediffusion, and if nominally a children's show, was one of the forerunners of Monty Python's Flying Circus . More conventional sitcoms, all of which began in Thames's early years, included Father, Dear Father (1968–73),

4189-417: The weekend contract was extended to include Friday evenings, but was opened to new applicants. As a result of the changes to the schedule, ABC was at risk of losing both of its existing franchises, the weekend services that would be going away. Consequently, ABC applied for both the Midlands seven-day operation and the contract to serve London at the weekend, preferring the latter. It was widely expected that

4260-404: The weekends. Geographical and structural changes to the network led to the first significant shakeups of the network, a process that started in 1967 to take effect from 1968. As part of these changes, the separate weekend service was eliminated in the Midlands and North, who would instead be served by a single seven-day schedule. The London weekday/weekend split schedule remained the same, although

4331-457: The woman. One purpose of such a wedding can be to get recourse from the man for the act of impregnation ; another reason is trying to ensure that the child is raised by both parents. In some cases, as in early U.S. and in the Middle East , a major objective was restoring the social honor of the mother. The practice is a loophole method of preventing the birth of illegitimate children , or if

SECTION 60

#1732851525880

4402-404: Was a joke, and had allowed the bad language to illustrate the character of the individuals in the group. The interview filled two minutes at the end of the programme, but the production team feared trouble in the studio if they stopped the programme mid-air. Thames's telephone switchboard was jammed by complaining viewers. Responding to the incident, Thames said in a statement: "Because the programme

4473-718: Was a large British industrial conglomerate . It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial . The company was founded in 1895 as British Electric Traction Company Ltd, with Sir Charles Rivers Wilson as chairman and Emile Garcke as managing director. It was involved in the electrification of tramways in British towns and cities, and also in Australia and New Zealand , for example in Auckland . From operating trams, BET moved on to manufacturing them with

4544-457: Was a materialist operation with a clear dimension, and to weed out unscrupulous bargaining and working practices. In the summer of 1984 a major strike was called, this time, over Thames's management unilaterally issuing new rostering schedules (overtime payments for transmission staff), and the use of new cameras and editing equipment. There were no internal discussions of the potential savings that could be derived from new shift patterns, but there

4615-459: Was a member, as well as the interview for Rediffusion, leading the ITA to question the loyalty at the company. The outcome proposed by the ITA was a " shotgun marriage " between ABC and Rediffusion. "The combination of these two companies," announced ITA Chairman Lord Hill , "seemed to the Authority to offer the possibility of a programme company of real excellence." The resultant company was awarded

4686-423: Was a strong sense that union controls had to be removed before the company embarked on increasing its operations. The technicians walked for a few hours on Monday 30 July, but the station was able to return just one day as management and administration staff took over their roles. On Monday 27 August, ATTC technicians walked out again over the new shift patterns; the strike ended on 3 September 1984, at 1p.m. after

4757-430: Was acquired by the much smaller Rentokil , after a hostile take-over bid. The merged company was named Rentokil Initial. Shotgun wedding A shotgun wedding is a wedding arranged in response to pregnancy resulting from premarital sex . The phrase comes from the supposed implication that the relatives of the pregnant bride threaten the reluctant male groom with a shotgun in order to ensure that he marries

4828-591: Was acquired in 1968. BET acquired Shifnal, Shropshire based Wrekin Construction Company Limited in 1972 and divested the business to its founder Tom Frain in 1983 for £3 million. In 1985 BET acquired the crane company G W Sparrow & Sons plc, and combined its craneage interests into a new subsidiary, Grayston White and Sparrow. BET entered the laundry business in 1934, and in 1935 acquired an interest in Advance Linen Services, which became

4899-411: Was live, it was impossible to foresee the language that would be used." The press continued to be interested in the incident for several days. Grundy was suspended and Today ended soon afterwards; his career never recovered. Over time, Thames replaced Today with a more conventional news offering as seen on other ITV stations. Thames at Six was launched, later Thames News . In 1978, Thames secured

4970-752: Was nationalised by the Jamaican Government in 1974. In January 1987 BET briefly reentered the UK bus market, when United Transport formed the Bee Line Buzz Company to operate minibus services in the Manchester area, and started a similar operation in Preston called Zippy. The company was headquartered in Didcot, South Oxfordshire. However, in 1988 United sold Bee Line and Zippy to Ribble Motor Services (coincidentally once owned by BET). In 1947 BET acquired

5041-520: Was sold in 1971 when ATV moved to new colour television facilities. Its northern base in Didsbury , Manchester , was used by Yorkshire Television prior to its Kirkstall Road studios in Leeds being completed, and eventually sold to Manchester Polytechnic in 1970, with a lease on sales offices in central Manchester being surrendered. The station continued formats inherited from its predecessors. These included

#879120