From Paul Kay

One of the great characters of Tech-Ops in the fifties and sixties was Frank Rose. Frank was mostly a technical manager, sitting at the end of the production desk as first point of contact for all things technical. A while back - page 131 - Derek Brady supplied pictures which included Frank - This is Frank - And here's Paul on Frank..... Frank bore resemblance to a Horse hence his nick name, which he gave himself. He had the uncanny gift of naming various tech-op members after animals and insects. He also had look- alikes e.g. Jim Atkinson was Burl Ives, I think Burl would be flattered. Another was Remus (This was the late Cyril Wilkins and he hated it so Frank stopped) There were also Trade names e.g. Auctioneer, Bishop, Dentist, Lamplighter, Estate Agent, Lay Preacher. Kensington Virgin, Directorial Dormouse. I am not going to name names, but we had an Anteater, Boxer Dog, Camel, Cob Nut, Cod, Emu, Fuzzy Bear, Green Fly, Giraffe, Hedgehog, March Hare, Porcupine, Stick Insect, Praying Mantis, Stoat, Water Boatman. There were dozens more I just cannot remember them all. Imagine arriving one Sunday morning through a Snow storm and an unofficial rail strike, Frank is in the Control Room and says "Watch'yer Bash, glad you made it, (I was 'Basher' not a horse name - but that is another story). The Stick insect has rung up, he has to take his lad to hospital, but should be in for rehearsals. Greenfly is sick. The Boxer has already collared one of the duty standbys. Ah! Here is the Lay Preacher. And so it would go on. Frank who I believe had worked with Baird, coined the phrase " Effing Bastorial Neo Baird System" about any piece of equipment, however new which had the slightest fault. (Frank never used the F word always effing) Frank was a gentleman through and through, he also loved playing parts he had seen on TV movies. Peter Loire, Charles Laughton were his favourites. He was also an excellent clarinettist, and would play in the studio in lunch breaks, especially if there was an orchestra set. Frank bought a new humour into the Studios - only a couple of weeks ago at the May "disorganised lunch" we were talking about him and using 'horse' names. RIP Horse - I expect that you are naming many in the Great Studio in the Sky ..and more, this from Ray Angel - "I worked with Frank Rose for some while in 1955 when he was a racks supervisor. He then called everyone who he addressed in friendly manner "old horse". It came about in time that everybody else referred to him himself as "the old horse" and from there he started his great and ever expanding menagerie of nicknames for everyone else. Any resemblence Frank had to any animal was not simply due to others simply considering that he looked like that animal. I myself was later, and quite early in his menagerie, called "The Panda"." ...and here are many Horse names, collated by Paul Kay - Gerry Millerson     -     The Moose Don Cowie     -     The Yak Ron Pottinger     -     By and Large Peter Murray     -     The Estate Agent Alan Arbuthnot     -     The Wasp Jack Gray     -     The Anteater Terry Wild     -     The Woolly Bear Brian Hawkins     -     The Boxer Dog Derek Thopson     -     The Evangilist also The Lay Preacher and Punch Len Broadbent     -     The Bison Laurie Macdonald     -     The Antique Dealer Sam Neeter     -     Arf a mo Kaiser Ron Koplick     -     Herr Himmler Tommy Holmes     -     The Stoat Bill Watters     -     The Otter Monty Moncrieff     -     The Bookmakers Clerk Mike Jefferies     -     The Pony also The Teenage Tom Dicky Higham     -     The March Hare Clive Leighton     -     The Poet Dave Bull     -     Larry Adler Jeff Jeffery     -     Planet of the Apes George Prince     -     The Wood Pigeon Jim Atkinson     -     Burl Ives Ray Butt     -     The Cob Nut Eddie Stuart     -     The Piglet Heather Gilder     -     The Kensington Virgin Mary Kellerher     -     The Dormouse Derek Donague     -     The Ostrich Ian Gibb     -     The Emu Otis Eddy     -     The Praying Mantis Cyril Wilkins     -     Remus Wilkie hated this Frank Cresswell     -     The Dentist Len Shorey     -     The Lamplighter also Hollyhock Ron Meager     -     The Hobbler Pam Meager     -     (Make up) Bambi John Dixon     -     The Scoutmaster Bruce Armstrong     -     The Ox Keith Sileance     -     The Bishop Derek Hartop     -     The Beaver Vince Campbell     -     The Porcupine Mike Barrett     -     The Green Fly Steve Blatchford Chris Wickham     -     Stick Insect/ Water Boatman Don’t remember who was who Mike Bond     -     The Camel. (Mike told Frank that “You give me the hump” so Frank never used it again Douglas Routledge     -    Whoops also Horlicks Tommy Dawson     -     The Badger Cliff White     -     The Gnat Mike Cotton     -     The Sultan Jack Walsh     -     The Opium Smuggler Tim Healy     -     The Old Owl Clive Doig     -     Spadger Trevor Webster     -     The Barnsley Mill Apprentice Rodney Taylor Graham Arnold     -    Gomez and Mendoza I don’t remember who was who Tim Healey     -    Old Owl Clive Doig     -    Spadger Pete Leverick     -    The Hyena Brian Roberts     -     The Owl Chris Eames     -     Aristotle Chris Penny    -     The Great White Hunter John Holmes     -     The Pastry Cook Adrian Bishop Leggat     -     The Pilchard Alan Kerridge     -     Max Bygraves Jnr Chris Glass     -     The Onion Seller Tony Youngman     -    Jackboot ( When he was i/c staff training the trainees all agreed!! John Dixon     -     The Scout Master