Persona Granada: Some Memories of Sidney Bernstein and The Early Years of Independent Television by Denis Forman soon to be presented for sale on the wonderful BookLovers of Bath web site!
Published: London: Andre Deutsch, 1997, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Contains: Black & white photographs;
From the cover: When ITV first went on air in 1955, Granada Television soon established itself as the most innovative of the new independent television companies. Granada took risks, ignored conventions, and challenged conventional notions of how television programmes should be made. Coronation Street, the hard-hitting World in Action, adventurous drama productions this was television that made people sit up and watch.
Denis Forman was there from the start, and in this richly detailed and compelling memoir he combines an affectionate portrait of Granadas prime mover, the extraordinary Sidney Bernstein, with an insiders account of the personalities behind the scenes and the triumphs and occasional disasters of this remarkable television company.
They were heady days. Granada defied the antiquated rules of political broadcasting with its ground-breaking coverage of a by-election which was to change the course of televisions relationship with politicians. There were frequent battles with the Independent Television Authority over investigative reports thought to have gone too far in exposing scandal and corruption. It was a time of creative ferment, a time when Granadas team of talented programme-makers earned the company its enduring reputation.
Denis Forman charts the history of Granada with abundant wit and a refreshing candour. His own contribution to the Granada success story, culminating in his close personal involvement in the universally acclaimed The Jewel in the Crown, was immense. He is modest about his own achievements, and generous in his appreciation of the many colleagues some of them later to become senior figures in television who made Granada what it was. But as this engrossing memoir reveals, none of it could have happened without the towering presence of the original persona Granada, Sidney Bernstein: founding father, guiding spirit, and one of the most remarkable men of our century.
Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. Slightest lean otherwise a very well presented copy.
Black boards with Silver titling to the Spine. 333 pages. Index. 9½” x 6¼”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I entrance you with a variety of books within my Biography catalogue?
BookLovers of Bath 