News on Screen

Bill McConville was born in Cardiff, and started work as a reporter on the South Wales Echo. However, he proved more successful as a press photographer, and after the outbreak of war in 1939 joined the Army Film and Photographic Unit, where he took film. McConville covered the Italian campaign, filming the capture of Ortona and the landings at Anzio in January 1944, the Battle of Monte Cassino which followed, and the entry of the Allied armies into Rome in June 1944. He also covered D-Day in June 1944 but then, according to a later account, ‘while filming with the Rifle Brigade, he was blown up by a mine and was badly wounded, resulting in an artificial leg.' McConville recovered sufficiently to carry a camera without assistance, and after the war he joined Pathe as a cameraman. McConville was adept at getting difficult stories, one colleague recalling that ‘he would ooze Welsh charm and put on a sheepish grin which could quickly come close to tears when officialdom barred his way.' In November 1948 McConville and John Rudkin [qv] appeared in Pathe News No.48/88, photographing the Taylor quads for ‘MRS TAYLOR TALKS ABOUT THE QUADS.' However, McConville’s first credit on the issue sheets is for ‘WHO’S FOR THE CUP’ in No.49/04 of January 1949.

In April 1950 McConville was shown being vaccinated against smallpox in ‘SMALLPOX CITY QUEUES FOR VACCINATION’ for Pathe News No.50/29. In January 1952 he covered the wreck of the ‘Flying Enterprise,' and was shown in Pathe News No.52/4 filming from the window of a plane for ‘CAPTAIN CARLSEN ON THE WAY.' In February 1952 McConville covered the funeral of George VI for Pathe News No.52/15, filming at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor for ‘THE LAST JOURNEY (KING’S FUNERAL).' In July 1952 McConville appeared with Frank Binney [qv] in a comic item ‘HEAT WAVE’ in Pathe News No.52/54. According to the Pathe card this item showed ‘Mr McConville stripped to waist, wearing tie, with knob of ice on head and drinking lemonade and waiting for bus.' In May 1953 McConville covered the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, and was shown boarding a plane at London Airport for ‘ASSIGNMENT MAU-MAU’ in Pathe News No.53/33. He appeared later in the item with his camera, and wearing a revolver.

McConville was also shown visiting a hospital and talking to the Kenyan police in ‘THE MARK OF THE MAU-MAU’ in No.53/34. He was shown adjusting the lens of his camera in ‘CORONATION REHEARSAL’ in Pathe News No.53/37, and McConville appeared again in No.53/60, climbing into a plane to cover ‘GIANT BOMBER IN ATLANTIC.' His last credit is for ‘NEWS FLASHES: Duke and Duchess of Windsor’ in No.53/93 of December 1953, but he subsequently became Pathe’s news editor. From Pathe McConville went to the BBC, and then to ITN, before joining the British Commonwealth International Newsfilm Agency, which later became Visnews and afterwards Reuters Television. One colleague recalled that ‘Mac was a joy to work with’: ‘Whenever you asked his advice, he would fill you with confidence. Whatever the subject, he would say ‘Of course you can do it’, and give every good reason why.' In June 1965 McConville was apparently in the camera team which supplied ‘THE DERBY’ for British Movietone News No.1878A.

Sources

ZERB: The Journal for the Guild of Television Cameramen, Autumn 1997, pp.34-5, ‘Bill McConville 1917-1997’.