PEBBLE MILL AT ONE...

BBC Pebble Mill Studios, Birmingham

About six years or so ago, I accompanied a friend on a business trip to Birmingham and, whilst there, took the opportunity to visit the famous BBC PEBBLE MILL studios.  PEBBLE MILL AT ONE was a daily lunchtime show that originally ran from around 1972 or '73 until 1986.  (It was revived in 1991 to 1996 - simply titled "Pebble Mill" - with a new cast of presenters).

I remember watching the original incarnation back in the '70s, either on my dinner-break during school or work, and there was usually at least one feature or interview which was interesting enough to delay me from stirring from my chair when I should have.  The four original presenters (I think - no research spared) were MARION FOSTER, BOB LANGLEY, DAVID SEYMOUR and DONNY MacLEOD.  In fact, big Donny once presented a programme about the MOD (a huge festival about Scottish and Gaelic music) from my hometown, and - if memory serves - I think I actually saw him wandering about my local shopping centre at the time.

Donny MacLeod

Anyway, there I was, sitting in my friend's car, outside the now nearly deserted studios.  (Though there still seemed to be a trickle of traffic in and out the main gates, suggesting that it was not yet completely abandoned.)  Parked in the very street that I (and a significant portion of the population) had hitherto only ever seen through the studio windows as Marion, Bob, Dave or Donny interviewed some second-rate celebrity eager to plug his or her latest book or record.

I couldn't miss the opportunity.  Leaving my friend in the car (he was too scared to accompany me), I got out and wandered over to the unmanned security booth outside the main gates of the entrance to the car park.  I smiled into the camera, gave a thumbs-up, and - open sesame - the gates swung inward to allow me access.  I was in.  I spent the next 20 minutes wandering around the back of the studio, exploring the famous gardens from which PETER SEABROOK had presented his segment of the show.  (I now wish I'd lifted that abandoned plastic watering jug as a memento.)

Pebble Mill logo

Emboldened by my easy invasion of the Mill, I made my way around to the front of the building, just in time to see a security guard returning with his lunch from a nearby cafe or snack van.  "Any chance of seeing inside, mate?" I ventured.  "Sure, c'mon in", he replied.  (Friendly lot, those Brummie natives.)  And so it was that I found myself in the actual reception area of those iconic studios - the same reception area that absolutely every major star (and quite a few minor ones) who had ever appeared on the show would have had to pass through on entering the building.  I spent the next 10 minutes chatting with the guard and his colleague, and then - remembering that my timid friend would probably be wondering what had happened to me - prepared to take my leave.  However, not for nothing am I known as "Gordie the Bold" amongst my compatriots - I wasn't finished pushing my luck yet.  "Any chance of a souvenir?" I asked.

And that, dear readers, is how a magnificent, two foot long BBC RESOURCES magnetic-strip sign came to adorn the door of my fridge.  I came, I saw, I conquered - and I left with a trophy.  A trophy, I might add, which now resides in the very house in which I originally viewed the show back in the '70s.  Anyone who regularly watched the programme was as familiar with that Birmingham street (a cul-de-sac) as the one outside their own window - unlike most viewers, however, I was actually there.  Sadly, the building was demolished in 2006 - and thus vanished yet another iconic landmark from the '70s.

Excuse the reflection of the camera flash

The Pebble Mill site as it is today (2010)

WHO CREATED The SURFER? (Or: The SIMPLY SENSATIONAL SILVER SURFER SILENTLY, SOFTLY, And SMOOTHLY SOARS And SKIMS O'ER The SUPERBLY SPARKLING STARRY SKYWAYS Of STARTLINGLY STUNNING And SPECTACULAR SPACE...)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Who created The SILVER SURFER?  If you know anything about comics you'll probably reply "JACK KIRBY" - but you'd be wrong!  Well, you'd be right - but you'd also be wrong.  Confused?  You soon will be!

Truly it was Jack who originated and introduced the idea of GALACTUS having a silver-skinned herald on a surfboard who searched for suitable planets to supply his master's need to feed off their energy - no argument there. However, a char-acter does not really come to "life" until he is presented in his fullest and final form to the panting public. In other words, it's not necessarily just the initial, basic idea in someone's mind which defines a character (or concept) - it's what appears on the printed pages of the published magazine which establishes how he (or it) is perceived by the world at large.

  

So - who is the Surfer?  The Silver Surfer, formerly NORRIN RADD of the planet ZENN-LA, sacrificed himself to Galactus by swearing to serve him if he would only spare the Surfer's home planet from destruction.  That was all STAN LEE's idea - even the name "Silver Surfer" is said to have sprung from Stan's fertile mind. (Apparently Jack had only referred to the character as "the Surfer" in his margin notes.)

Jack obviously envisaged the Surfer as having had no prior existence before Galactus created him by means of his "power cosmic".  That's why the Surfer had seemingly never considered the consequences of his actions on the millions of beings who had perished as a result of him serving "the big G".  It wasn't until his encounter with BEN GRIMM's blind girlfriend, ALICIA MASTERS, that he developed a sense of empathy for other living creatures - it was only then that he discovered he had a "soul".

Stan, on the other hand, thought the Surfer would work better as a noble, tragic figure if he had made some kind of heart-rending sacrifice on a quasi-religious scale.  Norrin Radd had essentially "died" in order to save every living person on his world - the comparisons to CHRIST are obvious - and serve to elevate the Surfer to an almost saint-like status - a "saviour" even.

True, there's an inherent dichotomy in this concept of Surfy's origin.  Surely one who cared thus for the inhabitants of his own world would not so randomly and recklessly doom countless billions of other intelligent life-forms to cosmic destruction?  We are left to assume that Galactus has exerted a subtle influence on the mind of his herald, clouding his conscious mind to the fate he inflicts on hapless planets as he scours the cosmos.  Galactus has caused the Surfer to forget his past, enabling him to act as his official "food-finder" with a clear and untroubled conscience. Until, of course, Alicia's tenderness helps reawaken his former and forgotten "humanity".

Well, it's arguable, I suppose, as to what version of the Surfer works best, but it's Stan's concept of the character which has permeated and defined the comic-buying public's perception of who the silver-skinned sky-rider is and how he came to be.  So, who created the Silver Surfer?

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby - but not necessarily in that order.