Those were Mary’s days
QUESTION What became of Welsh singer Mary Hopkin after she represented the UK at the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest?
After appearing on ItV talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1968, the Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin was spotted by fashion model twiggy, who phoned Paul McCartney. He signed her to the Beatles’ new Apple record label and the single those Were the Days was a massive hit.
It was a six-week UK chart-topper and was only kept off the U.S. Number One spot by the Beatles’ Hey Jude.
Hopkin’s 1970 eurovision entry, Knock, Knock, Who’s there? was beaten by Irish singer Dana’s All Kinds Of everything, but still made Number two in the charts.
Hopkin later admitted she loathed the song. ‘I was so embarrassed about it. Standing on a stage singing a song you hate is awful,’ she said.
this was followed by two minor hits: think About Your Children, which reached No. 19 in 1970, and Let My Name Be Sorrow, which got to No. 46 in 1971.
that year, Hopkin married American record producer tony Visconti, who became famous for producing David Bowie and t. rex.
She left the music business to raise her two children, cutting ties with Apple a year later. However, she continued to make music and recorded a BBC tV special on July 29, 1972. Signed to Good earth, her single If You Love Me reached No. 32 in March 1976. She and Visconti divorced in 1981.
Mary Hopkin has continued to produce music sporadically. She joined 1980s group Oasis with Peter Skellern and Julian Lloyd Webber, and their self-titled album reached No. 23 in the charts.
In 1990 and 1999, she toured with Irish folk band the Chieftains. She released the albums Valentine in 2001, retrospective in 2008 and Now And then in 2009, which largely consisted of unreleased old recordings. She recorded new material for 2013’s Painting By Numbers.
In 2018, she brought out an eP that included a new version of those Were the Days to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Hopkin is famously private, living ‘a nomadic life, flitting between countries’.
Tim Mickleburgh, Grimsby, Lincs.
QUESTION How did actors and film crews get exemption from call-up when making films such as Brief Encounter during World War II?
IN APrIL 1939, single men aged between 20 and 22 were required to register for military training for service of up to six months. On the declaration of war in September, the National Service Act was passed, allowing all men aged between 18 and 41 to be conscripted to serve for the duration of the war.
However, there was a lengthy list of reserved occupations and some of these were limited by age. for example, an accountant under 30 could be called up, but not one over 30.
film-making was an important part of the Government’s strategy to maintain morale, so the industry was granted considerable leeway.
Acting wasn’t made a reserved occupation, but cinematic and theatrical electricians and sound engineers were listed. Other reserved occupations didn’t specify the industries in which the tradesmen worked, so a jobbing carpenter in films was a reserved occupation.
Actors under the age of 18 and over 40 were exempt from conscription. Noel Coward, who played Capt Kinross rN in the 1942 film In Which We Serve, was 40 at the outbreak of war and so was exempt.
Some actors called up for military service continued to shoot films while on leave. they included Jack Hawkins, who made the Next Of Kin in 1942.
Peter Ustinov not only made films, but got himself appointed as batman (personal servant) to David Niven, who was a Lieutenant Colonel, so they could work on film scripts. the Army film and Photographic Unit could call on military personnel who were actors. Under its auspices, Niven made the first Of the few in 1942 and the Way Ahead in 1944. John Mills joined the Army in 1939. After he was invalided out in 1942, he made In Which We Serve and other World War II films. Alec Guinness served in the royal Naval Volunteer reserve, captaining a landing craft in the Allied landings in Sicily. He was granted leave to appear on Broadway in the terence rattigan play flare Path, playing an rAf pilot.
Actors who had served in the forces were much in demand because they wouldn’t be conscripted again and knew how the military worked and so could portray it accurately on screen. Other stars were exempt on medical grounds.
trevor Howard, of Brief encounter fame, qualifies on both counts. He was a Second Lieutenant in the South Staffordshire regiment, but was discharged due to ill health in 1943.
Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.
QUESTION Why does the TV volume vary from programme to programme and channel to channel, from barely audible to deafening?
BrOADCASt media over air, satellite or cable distributes tV shows as received from programme makers. the quality of sound can depend on the recording media, sound engineering and mixing.
International tV standards organisations have established an algorithm to measure perceived loudness.
However, within these parameters, programme makers can play about with sound modulation, manipulating the amplitude, frequency, phase and pulse duration of the carrier wave.
An orchestra playing a waltz and a heavy metal band thrashing out a song at the same audio power level will give you a sense of sound modulation.
Advertisers have been accused of manipulating the audio modulation of commercials so they are much louder than programmes.
films shown on tV can be an issue because they have been mixed to be heard in a cinema.
flat-screen tVs are so thin there is not enough interior volume to produce sufficient sound quality, hence the popularity of stand-alone sound bars.
Paul Smith, Basingstoke, Hants.