News on Screen

Stan Crockett was a sound engineer with Universal News, who in March 1948 was involved with Ronnie Noble [qv] and John Cotter [qv] in pirating the Lincolnshire handicap from Pathe, the result being shown as ‘THE LINCOLNSHIRE HANDICAP’ in Universal News No.1843. Even Pathe congratulated them on ‘one of the best pinches ever.' Geoffrey Cox recalled that Crockett ‘had the burly physique which was so valuable...when access to the news could literally mean the capacity to shoulder your way past your competitors to get to the story.' According to Ted Candy [qv] of Gaumont British News, Crockett later joined that company, and in March 1953 he appears in the camera team that filmed ‘MARSHAL TITO IN BRITAIN’ for Gaumont British News No.2004, and ‘THE GRAND NATIONAL’ for No.2007. Crockett had by now trained as a cameraman, and in June 1953 he filmed outside Westminster Abbey for ‘THE CORONATION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH’ in Gaumont British News No.2026. In February 1954 he also filmed a rugby match for Gaumont, although it wasn’t used in the reel.

Crockett is also said to have worked for British Paramount News and Pathe, but by July 1955 he was apparently working for Movietone, and filmed ‘THE FASTEST MAN ON WATER’ for British Movietone News No.1364A. Crockett was one of the first cameramen recruited by ITN, which began work in September 1955. Geoffrey Cox remembered that Crockett ‘took readily to covering hard daily news’: ‘Ready, when asked, to speak his mind, he contributed his own share of ideas about how a story was best covered.' In July 1956 Crockett was also involved in the sound news report that helped to make ITN’s reputation, when he went with sound engineer Bill Best [qv] and reporter John Hartley to cover a strike at Longbridge. In 1958 he is credited as a cameraman for ‘NIGERIAN PRIME MINISTER’, an issue of the series Viewpoint, made by ITN for the Central Office of Information.

Sources

BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Number 2301 (Gaumont rota dopesheet, 16/3/1953), Number 2304 ('Continuity and Cutting Sequence for Grand National, 1953’ by H. W. Bishop, March 1953), Number 2323 (Crockett rota dopesheet, 2/6/1953), Number 2397 (Crockett’s dopesheet, 13/2/1954): R. Noble ‘Shoot First!: Assignments of a newsreel cameraman’ (London, 1955), pp.119-22: J. Ballantyne (ed) ‘Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels: Vol.III’ (1993), p.74: ITN 1955 Club Newsletter, May 1999, p.7, ‘Sir Geoffrey Cox Pays Tribute to Stan Crockett.': NoS Number 329710; Viewpoint Number 10; Date released 1958.