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Old 17th Feb 2020, 12:58 am   #1
Graham G3ZVT
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Default BBC Public Information Films

To compliment the "La Cote D'Hiver" thread, here's one about BBC PIF's
Do you have any particular memories of them?

The one I am struggling with starts with a man carefully taking a new 78 out of it's sleeve and putting it on the radiogram turntable.
As it begins to play, the narrator begins "We all like new things..."

But the new record is just a metaphor for something else, but quite what, I have forgotten. Perhaps not driving your new car with its new tyres too fast.

Mid 60s. Certainly late enough for a "new 78" to be far from credible.
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 1:39 am   #2
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

I can't help you with the 78 metaphor I'm afraid but I must say that my far and away favourite public information films of all time were the series featuring the young boy and Charlie his cat, always ending with the line Charlie says.... and then a warning about not doing whatever daft thing they'd been getting up to: going with strangers, playing with matches, playing near water etc. etc. The cat Charlie was truly brilliant as was the wonky animation.

Steve.

PS since posting I just found this lot - absolutely superb!
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...page_water.htm
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...ge_matches.htm
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...ge_kitchen.htm
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...page_mummy.htm
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/..._strangers.htm
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Last edited by fetteler; 17th Feb 2020 at 1:46 am. Reason: extras!!!!! :-)
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 1:39 am   #3
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

My favourite was always

Isaac Newton tells us why
an apple falls down from the sky...

I used to be able to rhyme it off word for word.

Al
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 1:56 am   #4
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Sir Isaac Newton told us why, an apple falls down from the sky;
and from this fact it’s very plain, all other objects do the same,
A brick, a bar, a bolt, a cup, invariably fall down not up;
and every common working tool is governed by the self-same rule.
So if at work you drop a spanner, it travels in a downward manner.
At work, a fifth of accidents and more celebrate old Newtons law.

I love this stuff

Steve.
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 4:11 am   #5
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

As a kid in the sixties, they had a whiff of 'nanny knows best', though maybe that ought to be 'auntie'

Nicer than the ones a decade earlier showing how, using only treacle and brown paper, you could stave off the effects of atomic war.

David
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 9:11 am   #6
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Indeed. Protect and Survive, with creepy sound effects every time it showed fallout.

I absolutely prefer Charlie the weird vocalising cat!
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 9:39 am   #7
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

I liked the 'Charlie says' ones too, and I recall it was Kenny Everrett voicing the cat! My faves were the 'Tronk' ones. Tronk was the robot friend of two young playmates who would get up to dangerous antics (climbing inside old fridges etc) and Tronk would turn up with a warning such as 'Don't play in old fridges, you might get shut in!' I'm not sure if Tronk had his own voice or if he was just done in reported speech.
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 10:02 am   #8
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

About 200 available on this DVD

https://networkonair.com/all-products/23-charley-says

However, it is believed that 'Reginald Molehusband' (the idiotic driver) is one of the lost ones I think?

Although mocked a bit now, I reckon PIFs actually worked... but were perhaps absorbed more by the younger generation of the time due to the times they came on.

Last edited by cheerfulcharlie; 17th Feb 2020 at 10:11 am.
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 11:00 am   #9
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Quote:
Originally Posted by fetteler View Post
Sir Isaac Newton told us why, an apple falls down from the sky;
and from this fact it’s very plain, all other objects do the same,
A brick, a bar, a bolt, a cup, invariably fall down not up;
and every common working tool is governed by the self-same rule.
So if at work you drop a spanner, it travels in a downward manner.
At work, a fifth of accidents and more celebrate old Newtons law.
The full version.

https://www.monologues.co.uk/Public_...ty_at_Work.htm

Al
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 12:51 pm   #10
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
As a kid in the sixties, they had a whiff of 'nanny knows best', though maybe that ought to be 'auntie'

Nicer than the ones a decade earlier showing how, using only treacle and brown paper, you could stave off the effects of atomic war.

David
Although they were indeed shown on dear old 'Auntie' Beeb the films were produced for the government by the Central Office of Information. In those days was the government and not your Auntie who knew best!

Steve.
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 1:47 pm   #11
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

They are the stuff that nightmares are made of, particularly the ones about fire......
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 2:55 pm   #12
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
To compliment the "La Cote D'Hiver" thread, here's one about BBC PIF's
Do you have any particular memories of them?

The one I am struggling with starts with a man carefully taking a new 78 out of it's sleeve and putting it on the radiogram turntable.
As it begins to play, the narrator begins "We all like new things..."

But the new record is just a metaphor for something else, but quite what, I have forgotten. Perhaps not driving your new car with its new tyres too fast.
I'm sure it was a car. I seem to remember it went something like "We all love new things and treat them with infinite care....' (cue the record being placed on the turntable carefully and some classical music starting....) then the dialogue continues, '.....so with a new car.....' but I can't remember the rest of it.
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 3:09 pm   #13
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

I remember the "Charlie says..." movies - but largely because some of the vocals were ripped by The Prodigy in the very-early-90s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charly_(song)#Background

which is truly a club classic!
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 8:14 pm   #14
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sideband View Post
I'm sure it was a car. I seem to remember it went something like "We all love new things and treat them with infinite care....' (cue the record being placed on the turntable carefully and some classical music starting....) then the dialogue continues, '.....so with a new car.....' but I can't remember the rest of it.
Thanks for that confirmation SB, it was just an educated guess, but I suppose it was stored in "RAM" but as the years go by it's becoming more "Random".
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Old 17th Feb 2020, 11:45 pm   #15
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Quote:
Originally Posted by steptoesyard View Post
They are the stuff that nightmares are made of, particularly the ones about fire......
I remember one where someone playing with matches dropped one on a doll's face, which started to melt in slow motion like something from a horror film.
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Old 18th Feb 2020, 9:39 am   #16
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Quote:
Originally Posted by steptoesyard View Post
They are the stuff that nightmares are made of, particularly the ones about fire......
They certainly knew how to make a point!
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Old 18th Feb 2020, 10:19 am   #17
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

Quote:
Originally Posted by cheerfulcharlie View Post
About 200 available on this DVD

https://networkonair.com/all-products/23-charley-says

However, it is believed that 'Reginald Molehusband' (the idiotic driver) is one of the lost ones I think?

Although mocked a bit now, I reckon PIFs actually worked... but were perhaps absorbed more by the younger generation of the time due to the times they came on.
There's a few omitted. Another that appears to be lost is an older Crime Prevention Officer, "You asked me to call" one.

Omitted from the Network set but available on You Tube are the Amber Gambler twins and Joe Brown with the Green Cross code.
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Old 18th Feb 2020, 10:46 am   #18
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

The really creepy one in hindsight was "clunk, click, every trip" with the serial paedophile DJ. It has been long removed from the National Archives.
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Old 18th Feb 2020, 6:17 pm   #19
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

As someone who has always had 'issues' with closely-enclosed spaces, the one about not letting kids climb into abandoned fridges/freezers always struck home.

Thankfully, for the last half-century, fridges/freezers have had magnetically-clingy door-closures rather than positive-lock only-releasable-by-someone-working-the-outside-handle locks.
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Old 18th Feb 2020, 11:27 pm   #20
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Default Re: BBC Public Information Films

The one that use to frighten me as a youngster was the one with the kids flying the kite near over head power lines.

Alan.
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