Simon Anthony

I am an ex Broadcast TV engineer in the area of what used to be called 'Video Tape'. In all the time I spent recording Studio output I wondered if I could be in front of the cameras rather than be at the deep down missed and ignored recording end. I eventually became an IT lecturer and started making web sites. I did that for almost twenty years until the world stopped giving me work. It was then that I finally decided to push for publicity - and became an actor at 60. The rest is yet to come... I started working at the BBC in London on Quadruplex 2 inch Video tape recording engines - made by Ampex and RCA, the VR2000/1200 and the RCA TR70C. Technology moved on to 1 inch video tape machines ( smaller than engines :-) made again by Ampex and then also SONY. Finally the machines in the Shib Shed took over - and the SONY Umatic and SONY BetaCam became the mainstay of ENG - Electronic News Gathering - rather than just being used as a production tool. As I left, the DigiBeta machines came in. In all the time I spent recording Studio output I wondered if I could be in front of the cameras rather than be at the deep down missed and ignored recording end. As I sat and wondered - the micro Computer was born and I started programming on - first the Compukit UK101, then the BBC Micro and then the Archimedes range of Acorn machines. I published articles in Acorn User and Archimedes World showing how to do it - then had to stop doing it when Acorn went under. I then progressed via a Windows system to my new love, the Apple range. After living in Sydney Australia for almost five years - where I did my first stage work, my wife and I returned to the UK. We now live in Barking London.