THE news has leaked out. The dreadful truth is known. The boys of Battersea Grammar School in South London have at last learned that their 29-year-old schoolmaster, A.B.C. TV announcer John Edmunds, wears a GREEN suit during his evening transmissions.

The boys show do mercy on him. They call him “Le Beau” – and who wouldn’t after seeing his magnificent suit.

It is of Lovat green [a yellowish-green or bluish-green mixture named after Lovat in Inverness-shire, according to the Collins English Dictionary – Ed] with dark bottle green lapels. His bow-tie is also bottle green and his shirt is stone coloured.

This oddly-coloured get-up was specially made for John because the small, fixed-position TV camera in front of his announcer’s desk makes a better picture from greens and off-white mon from the violently contrasting black and white of conventional evening dress.

John was hoping that the boys of Battersea Grammar School, where he teaches from Monday to Friday, would never get to hear about his suit. And there was a sporting chance that they wouldn’t have done so, for his TV appearances are seen only in the Midlands and the North.

But — poor fellow – the secret is out.

While correcting an English composition the other day. he opened a youngster’s exercise book and there, slipped between the pages, found these verses, headed “The Beau”:

Lovat green, it is his shade;
Lovat green, with shoes of suede.
His fans are numbered by the score
Waiting patiently at the door
His fame is spreading far and wide
This fact I won’t attempt to hide,
But!
If your fans knew what he’s like at school
Lashing about with his cane and rule,
You wouldn’t cry “Oh Hero Mine”
Or fill your hearts with love divine.
You’d stop and think of the Battersea Band
Who suffer and squirm ‘neath his iron hand.

Poor John! They’re much kinder to him at the TV studio at Birmingham where he’s known as “Smiler” and at Leicester where he’s the favourite of many a housewife.

The post John Edmunds (poor chap) is now ‘Le Beau’ appeared first on THIS IS ABC WEEKEND from Transdiffusion.

LEICESTER’S 70-year-old Mrs. Stella Sharman has had the greatest thrill of her life. Visiting the A.B.C. television studio at Aston, Birmingham, last Sunday, she spent the whole afternoon with her favourite TV personality, the 29-year-old announcer, John Edmunds.

The visit, specially arranged for her by the “Illustrated Chronicle,” was a great success, ending with Mrs. Sharman and John kissing each other as they said goodbye

Mrs. Sharman made the happy discovery that John, who works a seven-day week, five as a schoolmaster, two as an announcer, was even nicer than she expected. And. believe me, she had expected a great deal!

John has the knack of putting people at ease, says Mrs. Sharman. “If you had a trouble he would be the sort of person you would like to meet,” she says.

At her home, 8, Bradbourne Road, Mrs. Sharman had waited excitedly for the red letter day. Keyed up with happy anticipation, she and her husband, 68-year-old Mr. Robert Sharman, were taken by car to a luxury hotel in Birmingham, where they lunched with John Edmunds.

ARM IN ARM

Mrs. Sharman and John were like mother and son in no time. Later, at the studio. John walked arm in arm with her. Nothing was too much trouble for him. Everything he did quickly confirmed Mrs Sharman in her belief that his “gentle, kindly manner’ on TV was far from being skin deep.

She was sure he made an excellent schoolmaster. If her grown-up daughter and sons were children he would be just the kind of teacher she would like them to have.

TINY STUDIO

First thing John showed Mrs. Sharman was the tiny studio from which he made his announcements. She sat at his announcer’s desk, saw herself in his monitor screen, and examined his control switches.

Mrs. Sharman also saw the small fixed-position TV camera a few feet in front of John’s desk. This camera is similar to those used for televising programme titles.

She was particularly interested in John’s green dinner jacket and cream-coloured shirt, which he wears when announcing in the evening. “This camera does not like strong contrasts.” he says. Viewers see the green as black and the cream as white.

Later, John took Mrs. Sharman and her husband to the make-up room and the other studios, introducing her to the seemingly chaotic, overpopulated world of TV in the making.

Mrs. Sharman watched a rehearsal and had tea with John. He signed her autograph book as a souvenir of a very pleasant afternoon.

The post Leicester woman (70) kisses ITV announcer – at Birmingham studio appeared first on THIS IS ABC WEEKEND from Transdiffusion.