Monday, December 31, 2012

Sproxton and Lord and Wallace and Gromit

An interview from the Guardian in 2005 with Dave Sproxton who together with fellow Old Wokingian Pete Lord created Wallace and Gromit.


Dave Sproxton is scuttling around darkened studios near the Bristol dockside urgently looking for a colleague. "Have you seen Kieran?" he calls out to shadowy figures hunched over stage sets in the former banana store. No reply, so he calls his own switchboard for help and then sits there quiet in the semi-light, seemingly lost in his own headquarters.
With his slight frame and self-effacing manner, it's tempting to see the co-founder of Aardman Animations as one of his company's cartoon characters.
Sproxton would be the suburban boy who arranges clay models on his parent's kitchen table one day and takes phone calls from Steven Spielberg the next.
He expected to be a town planner but found a childhood hobby mushroomed into a global business with 300 on the payroll and an annual turnover of £10m.
Aardman has taken off like the rocket in A Grand Day Out, the first Wallace & Gromit short film. The Wensleydale cheese-loving heroes brought acclaim in the UK but Aardman hit the big time with its first feature film, Chicken Run, marketed in the US by Spielberg's Dreamworks. The movie grossed £29m in the UK and $224m (£117m) worldwide. Now the British firm is engaged in the first Wallace & Gromit feature film as part of a continuing partnership with Dreamworks that provides cash as well as distribution.
Despite Oscars and other successes at Aardman, Sproxton remains a down-to-earth bloke who points out his firm's financial existence is still ultimately based on smart, but routine, advertising work.
Chicken and crackers
Winning the job of promoting Jacob's Cream Crackers in Britain or Wrigley's Hubba Bubba Max gum in the US must have been made easier by Chicken Run though? Sproxton - ever reticent - is unsure. "Yes, well, it did, ah, um. It certainly put us on the map," he says. "We were on the map pretty much already but it put us on the map in a different way.
"Curiously, it had a big negative impact also because a lot of agencies thought the entire studio was wrapped up doing feature films and was unavailable for commercial work.
"Now we do the commercial work here and do feature work 12 miles away at another self-contained unit. We had to work quite hard to persuade the ad industry that, actually guys, the place was still open for business and keep phoning us."
Squashed into a tiny windowless room at his strictly functional headquarters, Sproxton is happy to dispel any suggestions that the business is swilling with money. "There is the presumption that we made millions of pounds out of [Chicken Run]. But if you actually analyse the breakdown of distribution and box office you will see that actually we haven't ... We learned a great deal from it, a vast amount from taking on that endeavour in all sorts of areas - people skills, development - so the Wallace & Gromit film is now being made much more smoothly."
In his checked shirt and worn black jeans, it is easy to understand that Sproxton's idea of fun is a walk on Exmoor rather than cracking open bottles of champers at a glitzy movie party in LA.
"I'm not one for the trappings of success. I drive a one-year-old Citroën Xantia and I hate shopping. I did have a share in a glider - that is as far as it goes."
The animator did recently celebrate his 50th birthday with a sizable party but it was done in tandem with his soulmate and co-owner of Aardman, Pete Lord.
It has been this 40-year-old friendship - mirrored by Sproxton's romance of a similar vintage with personal partner Sue - around which Aardman has been built.
Lord was actually born in Bristol but the two sons of BBC staff - one in sales and the other in production - were raised in Walton-on-Thames and attended Woking grammar together.
They had found a mutual interest messing around with models on that kitchen table, cutting out figures from colour supplements, moving them around and photographing them in different positions.
"It's difficult to describe the joy I felt when I got them [the photographs] back from the labs," he explains.
It was not long before the two teenagers were working for the BBC themselves. "My father knew this producer from Vision On, which used quite a lot of what could be called advanced amateurs. The first drawn piece we did was this Aardman character, an idiotic superman, and they actually liked it. And we did 13 Aardman sequences for Vision On.
"We had a year off before going to university and during holidays we started drawing stuff and that became quite tedious so we moved on to Plasticine and clay stuff, which seemed more fun and spontaneous. The slot we aspired to was the Magic Roundabout, at a quarter to six just before the news. That's where we thought the zenith of stock animation was seen. That half-children, half-adult buffer before the news."
He was drawn further into this world at Durham University, where he studied geography and had a chance to experiment with theatre lighting. At home his creative side was encouraged by having access to his father's darkroom and by his mother, an art teacher. "I was probably the least talented of my siblings but something about light, the influence of light on shape and form to create different emotional feelings, I found fascinating."
Later, his friend Lord directed and animated characters while Sproxton also directed as well as doing the lighting and camera work.
Possibly the key event for Aardman - a spoof on "Hardman" but also Dutch for man of the earth - was bumping into the creative genius Nick Park. He had been working on A Grand Day Out for many years without getting it finished. Lord and Sproxton offered to help him complete this labour of love in return for harnessing Park's skills to other Aardman projects.
As the business grew Sproxton found himself being drawn further away from the creative side to taking care of a growing bureaucracy. He took on the managing director's role for a while but, as with many small businesses, struggled to balance the administrative demands with his desire to remain on the creative side.
Local connection
This pressure has since eased through employing a full-time MD and allowed Sproxton to become executive chairman.
He has also been called on by outside bodies wanting his skills and influence. Sproxton was chairman of the Bristol Old Vic theatre for a while, has recently been appointed as a regional voice on the UK Film Council board and still helps with various Bristol film festivals.
The local connection is important to him - and Aardman. Not being in London has, Sproxton feels, given the firm an edge, a curiosity value in the US and perhaps a reputation for being more quirky.
Being in the south-west was, in many ways, just a matter of chance, explains the Aardman boss. "We got this BBC contract and we were asked to create this character , which became Morph, for a show that was created in Bristol.
"My girlfriend lived in Bristol and Pete was born here and had contacts here but also came here to tag on to the apron strings of the BBC. For the first few years we were seriously skint."
Sproxton might still be happy to drive a relatively dull saloon car but has the success of the business never triggered thoughts of capitalising on a flotation, like the recent one at Dreamworks?
"In the mid-80s a number of ad agencies went public and kind of lost the plot because their creative energies were subsumed to shareholder value," he says.
"One section of DreamWorks - the animation section - has just gone public but the board power is still held as before so it won't have a massive influence on the creative side. But it could have eventually. Because we shoot commercials they provide the cashflow we need to invest in the creative side. They buy us time ... At the moment it [a float] is not on the cards."
If a stock market listing were to arrive, you could visualise Wallace & Gromit celebrating in the City with an extra helping of cheese crackers. Sproxton would probably opt for a quiet walk on the moors.
The CV
Born Liverpool, January 6, 1954
Educated Ashley Road junior school, Walton-on-Thames; Woking grammar; Durham University - geography degree
Employment Established Aardman with his friend Pete Lord in 1972; has worked there ever since
Status Partner, Sue; no children
Interests Walking, cycling and gliding

Roll of Honour: Frank Collins


Flying Officer F. G. Collins
45 Sqn. Royal Air Force
40992
Killed in action, 18 April 1941, Egypt. Aged 25.
______________________________________________________

Francis Godfrey Collins was born in 1916, the younger of two sons born to Arthur and Edith Collins (nee Brothers) of Ferndale Road, Woking. He attended the County School from 1926 to 1932 and later married Doris from Mount Florida, Lanarkshire in Scotland.

Francis served with 45 Squadron RAF. They were based in the Western Desert and operated Bristol Blenheims against the Italians and Germans.

Francis was posted as missing, presumed killed in action on the night of 18 April 1941. It was his 53rd mission.

Francis Collins has no known grave and is remembered on the Alamein Memorial (column 241). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking and Horsell Village war memorial.
______________________________________________________

Last updated 25 August 2011

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Woking News and Mail

Roll of Honour: William Champion



Pilot Officer W. J. Champion
75 Sqn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
53774
Killed in action, 4 November 1943, Denmark. Aged 24.
______________________________________________________

William Champion was born in 1919 in West Byfleet, the son of Edward and Mary Champion (nee Ford) of Woking and attended the County School 1931-1935. Edward was verger of West Byfleet Church. He was married to Edna Champion.

William received an emergency commission to the RAFVR on 23 September 1943.

Stirling Mk. III BF461 had flown 30 missions when it took to the air at 1601 from RAF Mepal in Cambridgeshire on 4 November 1943 headed for the Kattegat Sea between Sweden and Denmark on a ‘gardening’ mission to lay mines in the Silverthorn Sector. Pilot Officer Champion aged 25, was Wireless Operator/Air Gunner.


Stirling Mk III’s

The other members of the crew were Pilot Officer G. K. Williams (RNZAF), Sgt. H. Moffat, Flt. Sgt. W. F. Morice (RNZAF), Sgt. F. E. McGregor (RNZAF), Flt. Sgt. J. A. Black (RAAF) and Sgt. Reggie Ingrey.

Over Denmark and on its way to the target area BF461 was attacked by a German night fighter. During the exchange of fire tail gunner Sgt. Reggie Ingray wounded the fighter pilot in the thigh and forced him to call off the attack and land his damaged plane at Fliegerhorst Grove. But meanwhile a fire had taken hold in the rear of the Stirling and it soon became evident that the controls had been damaged. Pilot Officer Gordon (Bill) Williams ordered the crew to bail out. The bomber was left to crash into a hillside near Kallerup.

William Champion jumped from the doomed aircraft but his parachute failed to deploy and he fell to his death. His body was discovered the next day lying beneath his parachute.

Of the other six crew members, five were captured and one walked to Sweden from where he was repatriated.

William Champion was buried in Frederikshaven Cemetery, northern Denmark on 13 November 1943 (allied plot 48). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking and the West Byfleet war memorial.                                                    
______________________________________________________

Last updated 4 July 2010

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
London Gazette
Woking News and Mail
Woking County School magazine

First team football 1977




Roll of Honour: Conan Carter



Flight Sergeant C. F. Carter
Royal Air Force
566959
Died on active service, 29 December 1945, England. Aged 27.
______________________________________________________

Conan Frampton Carter was born in Norfolk in 1918, the son of William Frampton (an engineer from Plymouth) and Maggie Louise Carter (nee Turner). He was married to Gwyneth and lived in Caterham.

He died 29 December 1945 and was cremated at Croydon (Mitcham Road) Crematorium in Surrey.

Conan Carter is remembered on Panel 1 of Croydon Cemetery is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.
______________________________________________________

Last updated 3 April 2010

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Roll of Honour: Gordon Carden


 


Sergeant (Pilot) G. E. Carden
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
1292442
Died on active service, 26 May 1942, England. Aged 20.
______________________________________________________

Gordon Edward Carden was born in 1921, the son of Mr and Mrs E. W. Carden of Wood View, West Weybridge who later stayed at The Ship Hotel in Weybridge. Mr Carden was assistant Contracts Manager at a branch of Vickers having spent ten years at their Weybridge factory.

At the County School from 1930-1939 Gordon was a keen sportsman playing rugby, cricket and football. After leaving school he followed in his fathers footsteps by taking an apprenticeship at Vickers. In September 1940 he volunteered for the RAFVR and went to America where he learned to fly. Whilst in service his nickname was ‘Oaf’.

Gordon died on active service on 26 May 1942 aged just 20.

Gordon Carden is buried in Addlestone Burial Ground, Surrey (sec. 23 grave 33). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.
______________________________________________________

Last updated 24 July 2010

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Woking News and Mail
Woking County School magazine
Germany Quivers by Derek Lord (1942)

Roll of Honour: Arthur Burgess




Sergeant (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) A. Burgess
77 Sqn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
1270390
Killed in action, 31 August 1943, Germany. Aged 31.
______________________________________________________

Arthur Burgess was the son of John and May Burgess of West End, Woking.

He served with 77 Squadron RAF which was equipped with Halifax bombers and was based at RAF Elvington near York in August 1943. Apart from bombing missions over Germany the squadron was active in ‘Gardening’ missions laying mines in the North Sea.

On 31 August 1943 a raid by 622 bombers was launched on Berlin. Halifax JB851 took to the air at 2040 from Elvington. Arthur Burgess was on board manning both the radio and guns. The plane was flown by Pilot Officer Harold Gawler (aged 20 from Taunton), the remainder of the crew were Sgt. Douglas Reid (aged 22 from Alwoodley in Yorkshire), Sgt. Arthur Cotterill (aged 26 from Willenhall, Staffs who was married), Flt. Sgt. William Homersham (aged 22 from London), Flt. Sgt. Stanley Langston (aged 21 from Belvedere, Kent), Sgt. Peter Kitchen (aged 20 from London) and Sgt. T. Todd.
 
Halifax B2

It was a bad night for the RAF. The Pathfinder flares were dropped many miles short of their target and enemy fighters were active over a cloudy Berlin and accounted for 47 aircraft. Three Halifax bombers of 77 Squadron failed to return.

Halifax JB851 was lost over Berlin that night in unknown circumstances. Seven of the crew were killed and now lie together in Berlin 1939-1945 cemetery. Sgt. Todd bailed out and was captured. He was interned in Stalag 4B, a PoW camp north of Dresden.

Arthur Burgess is buried in Berlin 1939-1945 Cemetery, Germany (coll. grave 6.L.23-28). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.
______________________________________________________

Last updated 4 July 2010

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Woking News and Mail

Roll of Honour: John Bragg


Gunner J. H. Bragg
5 Searchlight Regt. Royal Artillery
1718501
Died in enemy hands, Solomon Islands.
______________________________________________________

John Hall Bragg was born in 1907 in Woking, the eldest son of John Lane Bragg and Louisa Bragg. John senior was a baker from Camberwell in London and Louisa was from County Kildare in Ireland. John had two older sisters (probably twins), Constance and Louise. In 1911 the family were living in Elm Road, Woking.

John later married Frances who was from Kenton in Middlesex. 

Before the war John was manager of the Sports House in Fleet. Johns younger brother Arthur also served in the war, in North Africa having also served for a year with the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil war.

John was stationed in Singapore and captured by the Japanese when the country fell in February 1942. He was probably then held in the notorious Changi prison camp.

On 18 October 1942 John was put aboard the transport ship ‘Masta Maru’ headed for an unknown destination. Also aboard were 599 other men of the Royal Artillery. They arrived in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea on 5 November, one man having died of dysentery on the voyage. The men were then put to work on the dusty volcanic island where they suffered regular beatings from their captors.

At the end of November the ‘Masta Maru’ set sail once more this time destined for Ballale in the Solomon Islands. 82 Men were left behind in Rabaul, all deemed too sick to travel. Of the men left on Rabaul only 18 were to survive to the end of the war.

Once on Ballale Island John and his comrades were immediately put to work constructing an airfield.

Construction of the airfield on the 4 mile long Ballale Island was brought to the attention of the allies in January 1943 and it was bombed on a regular basis. During these raids the allied prisoners were forced to stay in the open, not allowed to take cover or even dig slit trenches. They were also deprived of all medical care and fed only starvation rations.

It is unclear how many prisoners were killed during the construction of the airfield either during the bombing raids or due to illness and malnutrition. What is known is that on 5 March 1943, fearing an allied landing on the island the order was given to kill all the remaining prisoners.

No witnesses to this massacre have ever come forward but it is believed the order was given by the commanding officer Lt. Comd. Osaki. Most of the men were buried on the island but some were thrown into the lagoon in rice sacks. Solomon Islanders were told by the Japanese the graves were of their own soldiers and the Japanese authorities lied to the allies claiming the men had been lost at sea during transportation.

John Bragg is remembered on the Singapore memorial (column 14). He is not remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour probably due to lack of information on him in the year following the war. He is also remembered in the Woking library World War Two book of remembrance.
______________________________________________________

Last updated 30 August 2009

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Woking News and Mail

Roll of Honour: Sydney Bradshaw




Sergeant S. E. Bradshaw
61 Sqn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
1168179
Killed in action, 23 June 1942, Germany. Aged 20.
______________________________________________________

Sydney Bradshaw was the eldest son of Oliver and Lily Bradshaw of ‘Minera’, Westfield in Woking. Oliver was chief accountant at Woking Council.

Sydney left school in 1938 and went to work for the Commercial Union Insurance Co. in London. He volunteered for service in July 1940. 

Sydney took part in many missions over occupied Europe with 61 Sqn. which operated as part of No. 5 Group, Bomber Command. The squadron has a proud history. They were the first to bomb Berlin and the first to sink a U-boat, four of its Lancasters made over 100 bombing missions and Flt. Lt. William Reid was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1943. 

61 Sqn. received its first Lancasters in the spring of 1942 and in May moved from RAF Woolfox Lodge in Rutland to RAF Syerston near Nottingham.

On the night of 22 June 1942 Sydney and his crew mates boarded Lancaster Mk 1 R5517. Their mission that night was a raid on the port of Emden in north-west Germany.

The crew of Lancaster R5517 were young, even by the standards of the day. The age of six of the crew members is known and ranges from 20 to just 22. R5517 was piloted that night by Sqn. Leader Ian McNaughton, aged 22 from Ontario (the son of General Andrew McNaughton, commander in chief of the Canadian forces). His crew were Sgt. John Dryden, aged 22 from Galashiels in Scotland, Flying Officer William McCulloch, aged 22 from British Columbia, Sgt. Colin Parker, aged 20 from Oldham, Lancs., Pilot Officer James McKeown, aged 22 from Auckland, New Zealand (who was already married), Sgt. James Fallon and Sgt. Sydney Bradshaw, aged just 20.

Lancaster R5517 failed to return from its mission, the cause of its loss is unknown. The bodies of six of the crew including Sydney were recovered and lie in Sage cemetery, near Bremen in northern Germany. Sgt. Dryden’s body was never recovered and he is remembered on the RAF memorial at Runnymede.

Sydney Bradshaw is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking and the Woking library World War Two book of remembrance.
______________________________________________________

Last updated 4 July 2010

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Woking News and Mail

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Roll of Honour: Walter Boon


Flight Sergeant W. H. Boon
252 Sqn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
1192418
Killed in action, 9 February 1944, Greece.
______________________________________________________

Walter Boon trained in Canada before serving with Coastal command. He joined 252 Squadron, RAF on 26 September 1943. The squadron mostly flew anti-shipping sorties over Greece and Crete from its base at Mersa Matruh in Egypt and was equipped with two man Bristol Beaufighter Mark X heavy fighters.

On 9 February 1944 Walter Boon was navigator of a Beaufighter on a mission over the Greek island of Kalymnos, north of Kos. His pilot that day was 23 year old Flt. Sgt. Fred Squires from Middlesex. Their plane was shot down by a German Me-109, one of three Beaufighters lost on the four plane mission. Neither Walter or Fred’s bodies were ever recovered.

                                         
Bristol Beaufighter of 252 Squadron

Walter Boon has no known grave and is remembered on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt (column 279) and on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.
______________________________________________________

Last updated 10 January 2013

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Paul Boon personal research.

Page views by country...

Top blog views by country... I'm not sure if it reflects the Old Wokingian diaspora though...

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Hockey

A brief history of hockey at the school.


Roll of Honour: Phillip Black


  


Sergeant (Observer) H. P. Black
90 Sqn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
915945
Killed on active service, 22 June 1941, England. Aged 19.
______________________________________________________

Horace (better known as Phillip) was born near Dorking in 1922, the son of Horace Simpson Black and Evelyn May Black (nee Pike) who later lived in New Haw, Surrey.

In March 1941 prior to entering the war at the end of the year, the US government passed the Land-Lease law empowering their War Department to lend or lease war material to ‘the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital for the defense of the United States’. The RAF quickly ordered twenty Boeing B-17C Flying Fortress’s . They were keen to acquire them because their defensive fire power was considered suitable for high altitude unescorted daylight bombing raids.

The USAAF did not consider the B-17C to be combat ready. During high altitude tests the guns had a tendency to freeze up but the RAF considered them to be relatively easy to fly and  replaced all but one of the machine guns with British made Brownings.

The aircraft (known as Fortress 1 by the RAF) were to be flown by 90 Sqn. based at West Raynham in Norfolk (part on No. 3 Bomber Group). Things got off to a bad start when the first Fortress crashed off the end of the runway on its delivery flight. Its undercarriage was destroyed and the plane sat on the grass for the rest of the war, slowly being dismantled for spare parts.

The first raids using the Fortress 1 were planned for July 1941 and 90 Sqn. spent June testing and training.

On 22 June 1941 Fortress AN-522 J-Johnny was prepared for a stratospheric test flight. The crew that day were Flying Officer J. ‘Mike’ Hawley (RAF pilot), Sgt. Thomas Wills (20 year old Canadian second pilot who had recently graduated from Yale), Lt. Foley ‘Jim’ Bradley (USAAF instructor), Sqn. Leader David Robson (West Raynhams chief medical officer, 32 years old), Flying Officer Tony Barwood (90 Sqn. medical officer, 26 years old), Flt. Sgt. George Garwood (22 year old wireless operator from Dagenham) and Horace Black who was just 19 years old.

For Tony Barwood this was to be his first ever training flight aboard a Fortress but just as he was about to board two specialists arrived from Farnborough and ‘pulled rank’ requesting a priority flight. Barwood stood aside as his place was taken by Flt. Lt. William Steward (medical officer at Farnborough) and Flt. Lt. J. B. Henderson (test pilot).

After the final pre flight checks the Fortress with its 100 foot wingspan lifted off from the grass runway. The operational ceiling of the B-17 was a little over 35,000 feet. The aircraft had reached 33,000 feet over Catterick in Yorkshire when it entered a cloud and disaster struck. The cloud was filled with hail ‘the size of golf balls’. The Flying Fortress immediately broke into pieces. William Steward was in the tail section as it broke away and plummeted towards the ground. At 3,000 feet he managed to pull himself free and bailed out. He parachuted to safety, the only crew member to survive.

The planes wreckage covered a radius of some ten miles around the area of Catterick Bridge.

Mike Hawley is buried at Dishforth cemetery in Yorkshire. Thomas Wills, George Garwood and David Robson are buried in Catterick Cemetery. Jim Bradley was the first American in the USAAF to be killed on active service in WW2. William Steward went on to become head of the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine. Group Captain Tony Barwood who was taken off the flight at the last minute died in 2008 having dedicated his career to aircraft safety, particularly ejection seats.

Horace Black is buried in Catterick Cemetery, Yorkshire (CoE row M, grave 24). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.
______________________________________________________

Last updated 30 December 2009

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
London Gazette
Woking County School magazine
Woking News and Mail
Daily Telegraph

Thursday, December 27, 2012

School v Charterhouse

A photo of a football match against Charterhouse 2nd team at Loop Road in 1953, and possibly the most difficult spot the ball competition ever.