Three decades of our history in YouTube film
IGOT an unexpected bonus among my emails. A link to a Huddersfield Daily Examiner Archive film on YouTube showing how the newspaper covered events in the town and district from 1970 to 2000.
How the memories came flooding back. The office in Ramsden Street and flared trousers. Snippets of performance from the brilliant Roy Castle at the Town Hall, appearances by celebrities such as Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, writer Deric Longden as well as local folk, as it traces not only the events of the time, but the transition of the Examiner from a hot metal newspaper to a fully integrated computer system in a media revolution. “From reporter to reader at the click of a button,” narrator Paul Clark says. “Or maybe two.”
The Fun Run of 1989 with Harry Gration leading the way, Fashion Shows and concerts, Royal visits, mill fires, town hall meetings, choirs and brass bands, local sport and Town’s triumphs: First Division for two seasons and the first game in the new stadium against Wycombe Wanderers.
And daredevil chief photographer John Watson at the top of Emley Moor Mast as construction neared its end. Smart in a two-piece suit, and perhaps a little chubby for the task, he climbed out over the safety nets to get gravity-defying pictures for the Examiner.
Some years later, I went up the completed tower to stand on the glass-sided observation deck and take in the 360-degree view only to discover my photographer Colin Bond suffered from vertigo. He took his pictures sitting on the floor and refusing to move.
The film is a great trip into nostalgia with, what was then a broadsheet newspaper, being distributed to newsagents in town and villages far and wide in the fleet of distinctive Examiner vans. I even got to see my daughter Siobhan, although no one else would recognise her. While a student, she was the Examiner News Hound, wearing the full costume and giant head.
This is a compilation of the films and videos the Examiner made over those 30 years. It’s in three 10-minute parts and available on YouTube under Huddersfield Daily Examiner Archives. It shows the ring road developments, creation of Kingsgate, the changing face of the town and a cast of thousands of local people.
Former Examiner journalist Paul
Clark says in his narration: “Looking back it’s amazing how quickly things look out of date.”
A front-page story in 1970 was the £100,000 damage caused by a fire at a clothing mill. Which doesn’t sound much in today’s money, until you realise a three-bedroom semi cost £3,500.
This is a wonderful archive film of the Examiner and the town it serves.
And we even let in people from Batley. Well we do, when they’re as funny as comedy writer the late Mike Craig, who had Doddy and Morecambe and Wise on his CV. At an Examiner Literary Lunch, he told a story of two chaps from Batley meeting in the street.
“What have you got in that sack?” said Albert.
“Ducks,” said Arthur.
“Aye. I thought it was ducks. If I guess how many ducks you’ve got in that sack, will you give me one?” said Albert.
“If you can guess how many ducks I’ve got in this sack, I’ll give you both of ‘em,” said Arthur.
“Seven,” said Albert.
Happy memories with a smile.