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Old 13th Jun 2018, 7:12 pm   #21
nickbeer
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

Les was the ultimate (Practical) Television contributor in my opinion. All the humorous articles of his latter years were brilliantly entertaining but what was often unnoticed (but which has been reflected in this thread) is his incredible knowledge and experience which helped so many via his writing. With his excessive honesty about his fallibility in latter years he hid the brilliance.

I often re-read his articles and I am immediately taken back to the heyday of the industry - or at least my heyday which was the 80s albeit fixing stuff from the 60s onwards!
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Old 13th Jun 2018, 7:34 pm   #22
Mike Phelan
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

A brilliant and very funny man; still very much missed.
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Old 13th Jun 2018, 10:09 pm   #23
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

Quote:
Originally Posted by nickbeer View Post
I often re-read his articles and I am immediately taken back to the heyday of the industry - or at least my heyday which was the 80s albeit fixing stuff from the 60s onwards!
Alongside Mike (above) how nice to see another familiar name from the pages of Television mag on the forum!

Steve
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Old 13th Jun 2018, 11:05 pm   #24
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

Yes, great to see you here, Nick. I was just reading one of your articles the other day, and wondering what had become of you.
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Old 13th Jun 2018, 11:05 pm   #25
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

See this thread too... https://vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=40806
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Old 14th Jun 2018, 9:30 pm   #26
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

I spoke to Gareth Foster, I think it was at the NVCF. When I still had the shop he gave me a number of 9" tubes that have proved very useful and we meet up at irregular intervals. A nice guy. Regards, John.
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Old 14th Jun 2018, 10:39 pm   #27
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

Many of the PTV/Television contributors were superb. I'll include the under rated Robin D. Smith and, was it Steven Leatherbarrow (?) who told us about the Ferguson 306T he saw working in the barber's in 1981 and the trip up the garden path with a dual standard G6! November 1981 I think it was.

Les L-J was unique, then so were George Wilding and Chas E Miller.

It's well known I met George in 1983 as a customer seeking components. I was already familiar with his work, so it came as a shock to meet a hero of mine. I still have many 60's issues of PTV he passed on. A couple include letters from WN Stevens accepting his articles for publication!

While looking for the 1982 RTE transmitter list I came across a letter from him he sent in 1987.

Brian
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Old 14th Jun 2018, 11:33 pm   #28
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

I used to subscribe to 'Television' in the 1980s and when the magazine dropped through the letterbox, the first page I'd turn to was Les's article.

I was always impressed that such a clever man would treat such stupid customers and their unrealistic demands with such kindly tolerance: "...it's only a simple job, we think it's the picture valve; we'll be back in an hour to collect it..." But I suppose that [most] paid up eventually, and were Les's source of income, so he had to be nice to them!

I've noticed that I (and several others) still frequently use one of Les's favourite phrases if we ever write up an account of a challenging repair: "...Eventually I did what I should have done to start with..."
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Old 15th Jun 2018, 10:44 pm   #29
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

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Originally Posted by Phil G4SPZ View Post

I've noticed that I (and several others) still frequently use one of Les's favourite phrases if we ever write up an account of a challenging repair:
"
My favourite quote of his was "Beware the blue Tants...."
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Old 22nd Jun 2018, 3:12 pm   #30
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

My favourite one of his stories was with the sensor touch GEC TV's.
The IC and neon lights on the channel changes would go wrong and they would need replacing. Or the touch controls that worked off static from the fingers would grease up with dirt from fingers.
He had one in the shop one day and did all the work and it was waiting perfectly. So he had it up on the counter to show the owner of the set. And show it was working. The customer was impressed till he tried it himself. "It's not working for me Les"
So Les tried again and it was working for Les. But as soon as the customer pressed on the buttons nothing happened. Les couldn't work it out! Then he leaned over the counter and noticed the customer was standing on a rubber mat that had just been cleaned. So Lez blurted out to the man "the matt's robbing you of your energy". The customer leapt off the matt faster you can say!
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Old 22nd Jun 2018, 7:20 pm   #31
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

The wonderful LLJ. Wouldn't it be great if all his articles were compiled and reprinted? I used to love his writing as a nipper. Always entertaining and I often wondered and pictured who the man really was when I heard his name mentioned. I'm off in search of my stack of old 'television' magazines to reminisce!
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Old 22nd Jun 2018, 7:43 pm   #32
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

Search this forum, because somebody posted a link to an archive with all his articles in PDF format .....
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Old 22nd Jun 2018, 8:05 pm   #33
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Default Re: Who was Les Lawry-Johns?

No need to search. There is a link in the first post of this thread.
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