This morning’s newspaper carries the obituary of Mary Malcolm who died on 13 October aged 92.
For folk of my generation, Mary was one of three television presenters, along with Sylvia Peters and McDonald Hobley, who fronted programmes throughout the 50s. Presenters were properly dressed in those days and wore evening dress after six o’clock which seems very odd these days but was quite normal then when some folk dressed for dinner in their own homes.
The public were fascinated with the presenters, and I remember the ‘discussion’ that followed when Sylvia Peters, having introduced some programme or other, rose from her desk to reveal that her ‘evening dress’ was just a top; she was wearing slacks from the waist down.
Similarly with Mary Malcolm who would often lapse into Spoonerisms. ‘My biggest fear [when reading the weather forecast] was ‘drain and rizzle’, which I said more than once’, she said. She also came up with ‘shattered scowers’.
These were the days of live television and mistakes could not be covered over. Now and again there would be a fault of some sort and everything would grind to a standstill and the presenter would be called upon to say something while engineers tried to fix the problem. Sometimes we would be treated to a short film of a potter at his wheel (my favourite), horses ploughing a field, fish gliding about or a kitten playing with wool.
Even when programmes were taped, cock-ups could occur. In a voice test Mary once said, ‘Good afternoon, here is a programme mainly for morons,’ which to some amusement was accidentally broadcast.
Happy days!
For folk of my generation, Mary was one of three television presenters, along with Sylvia Peters and McDonald Hobley, who fronted programmes throughout the 50s. Presenters were properly dressed in those days and wore evening dress after six o’clock which seems very odd these days but was quite normal then when some folk dressed for dinner in their own homes.
The public were fascinated with the presenters, and I remember the ‘discussion’ that followed when Sylvia Peters, having introduced some programme or other, rose from her desk to reveal that her ‘evening dress’ was just a top; she was wearing slacks from the waist down.
Similarly with Mary Malcolm who would often lapse into Spoonerisms. ‘My biggest fear [when reading the weather forecast] was ‘drain and rizzle’, which I said more than once’, she said. She also came up with ‘shattered scowers’.
These were the days of live television and mistakes could not be covered over. Now and again there would be a fault of some sort and everything would grind to a standstill and the presenter would be called upon to say something while engineers tried to fix the problem. Sometimes we would be treated to a short film of a potter at his wheel (my favourite), horses ploughing a field, fish gliding about or a kitten playing with wool.
Even when programmes were taped, cock-ups could occur. In a voice test Mary once said, ‘Good afternoon, here is a programme mainly for morons,’ which to some amusement was accidentally broadcast.
Happy days!
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