OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
In my youth, well before daytime TV and when colour TV broadcasting was being rolled out, the BBC2 test card used to be rudely interrupted by "Trade Test Transmissions" - short films for sales demonstrations and setting up new-fangled colour TV receivers (BBC2 went colour before BBC1 and ITV, we're talking around 1968). Research indicates these were sourced from commercial libraries, often made by organisations for promotional and PR purposes.
As a child, these must have appealed to me (like the Potter's Wheel intermission) because of repetition and familiarity. I have a distinct recollection of a film with boats (power boats, I thought), and a soundtrack tune which is permanently burned into my mind - the music known as Classical Gas:
(Mason Williams has to be one of the most emotionless musicians I have ever seen play an instrument - ignoring Sparks!)
Being at a loose end, and the tune running in my head yet again, I thought I would try to track down that trade test film - everything is on the Internet now, right? (Legally or otherwise)
Well, it turns out there were actually 180-odd of these films (I find that hard to believe, the same ones seemed to repeat often enough unless I formed this memory from just one showing), and none of the published details mention "classical gas":
In those lists is mention of a film called Powerboat '66, made by BP. After an extensive search I found it in the BP Video Library (who knew BP has a video library?).
www.bpvideolibrary.com
If you have 24 mins to kill you might like to watch Powerboat '66 (but it's a red herring - the most interesting thing about it is discovering the BP Video Library), one of the boats is piloted by Peter Twiss, the test pilot for the Fairey Delta 2 and the first man to break 1,000mph (beware: the film starts with a long black section which looks like it isn't working):
www.bpvideolibrary.com
Another film listed by testcardcircle.org is made by Ford, called Ride the White Horses (25 mins). This is more like it, as it is (as I remember) a round-Britain race (again with a Fairey team boat piloted by Twiss)... but although this one has a musical accompaniment it isn't the right one (credited to Jeff Wayne):
So I've drawn a blank. How I came to associate the Mason Williams track with the Ride the White Horses film remains a mystery.
As a child, these must have appealed to me (like the Potter's Wheel intermission) because of repetition and familiarity. I have a distinct recollection of a film with boats (power boats, I thought), and a soundtrack tune which is permanently burned into my mind - the music known as Classical Gas:
(Mason Williams has to be one of the most emotionless musicians I have ever seen play an instrument - ignoring Sparks!)
Being at a loose end, and the tune running in my head yet again, I thought I would try to track down that trade test film - everything is on the Internet now, right? (Legally or otherwise)
Well, it turns out there were actually 180-odd of these films (I find that hard to believe, the same ones seemed to repeat often enough unless I formed this memory from just one showing), and none of the published details mention "classical gas":
TRADE TEST COLOUR FILM A TO Z
www.testcardcircle.org.uk
In those lists is mention of a film called Powerboat '66, made by BP. After an extensive search I found it in the BP Video Library (who knew BP has a video library?).
BP's Trade Test Films | bpvideolibrary
www.bpvideolibrary.com
If you have 24 mins to kill you might like to watch Powerboat '66 (but it's a red herring - the most interesting thing about it is discovering the BP Video Library), one of the boats is piloted by Peter Twiss, the test pilot for the Fairey Delta 2 and the first man to break 1,000mph (beware: the film starts with a long black section which looks like it isn't working):
Powerboat 66 (1966)
BBC2 Trade Test film A film about power boating; its excitement and its enthusiasts. First Shown August 12 1968 Last Shown May 13 1970
www.bpvideolibrary.com
Another film listed by testcardcircle.org is made by Ford, called Ride the White Horses (25 mins). This is more like it, as it is (as I remember) a round-Britain race (again with a Fairey team boat piloted by Twiss)... but although this one has a musical accompaniment it isn't the right one (credited to Jeff Wayne):
So I've drawn a blank. How I came to associate the Mason Williams track with the Ride the White Horses film remains a mystery.
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