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'STOP GAP' DVD NEWSLETTER 4The latest news of the 'Stop Gap' DVD, being prepared to celebrate the 2010 visit to the UK of Arthur Goddard — the last-surviving member of the management team who designed, built and developed the Land-Rover in 1947-48. |
We report from the Land Rover Heritage Weekend at Gaydon, and ask why 18 people were keen to spend £17.50... on an empty box!
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by!" Douglas Adams
The May Bank Holiday Weekend has traditionally been when Land Rover fans make a pilgrimage to the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon in Warwickshire. Land Rovers of every age, and in virtually every configuration you can image, come together in a celebration of 'The Green Oval'. The highlight is the Heritage Parade from the Lode Lane Factory, through the Warwickshire lanes to Gaydon, where Richard Beddall and Lynn Bowles welcome the vehicles in their grand parade down the hill to the front door of the Museum. Having done it once in my Classic Range Rover, I can say that it's a marvellous experience. I also (sort-of) did it this year in my Filthy Freelander... but that's a story for later.
Alex Massey (left) and Mike Bishop (right) join me with Arthur.
We were, of course, delighted to welcome from Brisbane Arthur Goddard himself, to what was billed as the 'World Premiere' of the 'Stop Gap' DVD — it was a year almost to the day since I'd first met Arthur, just a few yards away in the Archive Reading Room at the Museum, so there was a great feeling of 'completeness' to the day and place. Such a pity that the DVD wasn't complete to go with it!
Yes, as those of you who joined us for the 'World Premiere' are aware, I'm afraid that even the once-optimistic May 1st deadline has 'whooshed' by. Although the DVD edit is complete (bar a couple of the little tweaks that always pop up when you view a production for the final, final time), I'm afraid I'm still frustratingly unable to release it. As you would expect, it's impossible to undertake a film of memories such as Arthur's story without illustrating those early days... and inevitably that involves a trip to the film and picture archives. And, without going into detail, the last minute discussions about how much that trip should cost me are still ongoing, and not resolved in time to complete the edit for the launch.
Naturally this has been disappointing, but 'the show much go on', and those of you who joined us in Lecture Room 3 will have seen a flavour of what 'Stop Gap' will ultimately look like, even though I had to choose extracts with no archive pictures in them. But what to do about those who had come especially to buy a copy of the DVD, signed by Arthur? Well, thank heaven for Plan B, and for my obviously honest, trustworthy face! There are now 18 people who are proud possessors of a DVD case, with the wraparound signed by Arthur... and nothing else! Bar, that is, a cash receipt and a cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die promise from me to mail the DVD when it's ultimately finished.
And I hope that will be very soon — since returning from Gaydon there have been various bits of progress, and I'm sure that we are heading towards a satisfactory conclusion to this little sticky patch. Then I'll prepare a Master Disc: watch every second of it through to make sure it's perfect, and then get it duplicated. The boxes are already prepared, with their wraps and fliers, so it's only a matter of putting the discs in and they can go in the post. I'll keep subscribers up to date by email as things progress.
And for similar image rights reasons, Mike Bishop wasn't able to sell copies of his book 'They Found Our Engineer'. But he was able to give a similarly-selective presentation about the book, and the amazing detective work he's been able to do behind the scenes since meeting Arthur. I'll be honest and say that I don't always manage to follow every twist and turn of his detective reasoning as he burrows deep into the drawings and production records, and manages to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that on the day that the thickness of the seat backs was decided, Arthur was wearing a green tie with yellow polka-dots! (joke — as if he would!) But it is certainly impressive, and we all owe Mike a debt of gratitude for his perseverance in digging out those little nuggets from 60+ years ago, and proving something that no-one (not even Arthur himself) will have remembered.
I will, of course, keep subscribers up to date on the progress of the book as well.
Arthur faces the questions.
Arthur, now 90 and still as sprightly as a man half his age, was pleased to answer questions from the floor, and all in all it was a good day.
And if you were unable to join us, perhaps I should take this opportunity to remind you that there is a Gift Voucher available for you to stake your claim to a 'Stop Gap' box, with a DVD inside it.
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If you go to the 'Stop Gap' website, you can follow the 'Buy Online' link to the voucher which will secure a copy of the DVD as soon as it's ready. The price will be the same as the ultimate cost of the DVD (£20 incl p&p), and I'll send you by First Class mail a card voucher. It will come in its own envelope, so that you can mail it on if necessary if you're buying it as a present. Just ignore the bit that says 'May 1st'. |
And why did I (sort-of) join the Heritage Parade in the Filthy Freelander? Well, the Run was very late in leaving Lode Lane — the police motorcycle escort got lost or something! — and Mike and I were setting up in the Museum when we got the call that Arthur had arrived, and was at the top end of the Processional Drive. Realising that it wasn't entirely fair to expect a man of 90 to push through the crowds watching the Parade, Mike & I set off in the Freelander to collect him. Bad mistake! The way that the Parade works, all the vehicles drive down the Processional Route, go round the back of the Museum, and then wait at the top of the site to come down the Route again — this gives time for the stragglers to catch up, and Richard Beddall to rehearse his commentary. We found ourselves jammed in the Defender section, with no way of getting through to where Arthur was (supposedly) waiting. Mike got out and ran on ahead, while I waited until I could squeeze past and take a 'long cut' to the meeting place. When I got there, Mike and Arthur were nowhere to be seen — in fact, Arthur had already set off to walk down the hill, and Mike had gone to catch him up. I had no alternative but to wait until I was allowed to squeeze back into the Parade.
So if you were at Gaydon, and wondered why Richard Beddall made no comment about the black Freelander covered with a good quarter-inch of Yorkshire topsoil that followed the AA Defender down the hill and snuck off round the back of the Museum, that was me! And what better way to spend a sunny half-hour immediately before a nerve-wracking World Premiere than to get stuck in a fruitless Defender jam? ('Fruitless'. 'Jam'... did you see what I did there?)
I hope that the next Newsletter will bring positive news of the DVD and Book going on sale, and I thank you all for your patience.
GRAEME ALDOUS
STOP PRESS: The 'sticky patch' has now been passed, largely thanks to Roger Crathorne and Land Rover, and we are in the final stages of DVD production.
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