Media Parents

In order to maximise your opportunity in an online interview, make everything as easy as possible for a potentially tired, zoomed out, busy employer, writes Zoe Russell-Stretten, Head of Talent at Brinkworth. Ahead of Media Parents’ How to Ace a Job Interview Online workshop this Friday, Zoe has kindly shared some tips on online interviews.

Zoe Russell-Stretten from Brinkworth (left) at Media Parents CV Event in the days when we could all go out

We always interview people in pairs at Brinkworth, or even sometimes in threes. An interview with an AP or more junior will last approximately half an hour. Anyone more senior is typically an hour.

Tech:

Almost everyone uses either Zoom or Teams. If you don’t have a basic working knowledge of both, practise using the features before the interview. Always download the application prior to the interview, so you don’t waste the first ten minutes of precious time. It will work!

Maximise your broadband. There’s nothing more frustrating than a poor quality picture, one that is lagging, out of sync or other symptom of poor broadband. This is your first impression, and the interviewer should be able to both see and hear you in real time. Some people do genuinely suffer from poor broadband speeds, but often, this can be improved. Turn off the wifi on all of your other devices in the house; your mobile, other laptops, possibly your TV, an Alexa or Google hub. Beg or bribe other householders to withhold from using the internet for that one sacred hour. If an employer has to work extra hard to connect with you, it’s hard to make a good impression. Test this with a friend beforehand.

Audio. Again, do a test beforehand. Turn off radios. Shut windows. Explain to children, partners or housemates that there’s a lot of chocolate in this for them if they don’t make a noise for an hour. If your audio is unreliable, learn how to use the mute function. Mute yourself when you’re not speaking, to avoid the speaker getting feedback. To avoid most problems, it’s usually easier to use headphones.

Presentation:

Because we’re all at home now, you are technically inviting a prospective employer into your home. So take a look at what the employer can see. Laundry? Clutter all over the carpet? Questionable art on the wall? Something on the shelf (eg that BBC interview)? A lot of people have their home workstation set up in their bedroom. If all else fails, use a filter on your background but make it a professional looking one.

Even if your CV is brilliant, if your house presents as a mess, employers might be worried about entrusting a complex project to someone who can’t present a sense of order and calm. Unfortunately, first impressions really do count, and your home/environment says so much about you.

Also – unless absolutely necessary, avoid taking the call on your mobile. Wherever possible, use a static device. An hour of watching someone’s own shaky hand-cam is extremely draining (especially when you’re doing it hour after hour).

Lighting! We work in a visual industry. If you are anything above a researcher, you should be able to demonstrate that your mind considers things in a visual way. So make sure you’re not backlit, that your face can be seen clearly, and that again, the interviewer isn’t having to mentally work hard to piece together information about you because you’ve set up your interview poorly. It’s amazing the number of shooting PDs who interview for a job but fail to think about setting up the shot of their own face!

Framing. Test with a friend how your framing works. Set your monitor or laptop up so that it’s level with your face. So many people look down into their computer – and it gives the interviewer an excellent view up your nose.  Also, learn how far back you should be to your screen – another frustration is people who sit too close and you are left interviewing their forehead, or just the top half of their face. It’s just extra mental work for the interviewer, and in the TV industry, isn’t really a great first impression. Everyone should be able to frame a basic shot.

Our next event, How to Ace a Job Interview Online, is on Friday 3rd March, email via the contact button above for details

Personal Presentation:

Just because this is an interview taking place in your home, it doesn’t mean that you should dress like you’re at home. Think about how you personally present, and apply the same rules that you would if you were meeting in an office. Dress the part, secure your hair off your face, don’t wear dodgy slogan clothing or something that a child or pet has just been sick upon.

A note about make up – depending upon your camera – some more modern cameras allow a lot of detail. So it can mean a little less is more. One of the strange things about online interviews is you can literally see yourself and how you come across, and if you have any insecurities about your appearance, this can be really distracting. You want to be able to stay confident and focused on what you’re saying. Both Zoom and Teams have filters that allow you to optimise your image (not cat filters, just gentle improvements). If you’re feeling a bit less confident in your appearance (as so many of us do right now!), then these filters are well worth knowing about as they can give just a little boost of self-confidence and stop people from focusing too much on their own face.

Prep:

Now that we are all stuck at home, but with tools to access all of the information on the planet literally sitting in our pockets, there’s just no excuse for not preparing for an interview. Watch. The. Employer’s. Output. This isn’t the early naughties – everything is available on demand, and if it’s not, it will be somewhere on YouTube or Vimeo or similar. Familiarise yourself with the style of programmes. It will empower you so much more in an interview, and there may be opportunities to demonstrate that you’re so invested in getting the job, that you’ve taken time out of your day to do this kind of research. It really really impresses. Every time.

Also – come prepared with questions. Thoughtful, editorially focused questions. Try to make sure they don’t sound critical of the employer or previous output. Practical, logistical and rate-related questions relating to the job itself can be dealt with post interview with either the TM or PM, so don’t waste this opportunity by asking ‘how much will I get paid’ at this juncture. Ask about editorial steer, tone, use of music, access, casting, overall production schedule etc… anything that shows that you’re thinking the way you would if you were already in the job. This is just another way to show that you care about getting the job.

Etiquette:

There may be some people on the call that don’t do much speaking. The people that don’t speak are doing a lot of thinking… and almost definitely they are there because their opinions about you impact on your ability to get the job. So don’t forget to acknowledge them or include them in your greeting, farewell, and of course – if the opportunity arises to reference something they may have said or be involved in. If you’re really at a loss, just use your eyeline to make sure you’re looking at everyone at different stages in the call. Most often, they can see that you’re doing this and that you’re being inclusive.  Regardless of your level of seniority, this portrays you as a respectful team member, and everyone wants that!

Back in the good old days of offices, this same rule applied. People who failed to acknowledge others in the meeting performed poorly, and were less likely to get the job as it was an indication as to how they perceived a) their own status and b) how they would behave on a team.

Some Positives:

Online interviews, and homeworking, are brilliant for opening up more opportunities to work. As a Talent Exec, I can now hire people based purely on their skills, without having to take their geographical locations into consideration. I can hire people who are juggling childcare, or other caring responsibilities – where previously more exceptions would have needed to have been made, these issues are no longer something to be ‘solved’ or agreed upon. People can work far more flexibly.

The same goes for access in general – for those with other access to work challenges. The removal of a commute to an office instantly broadens the talent pool in a positive and exciting way. We have always tried to make jobs as accessible as possible, but we are able to do so with far more ease and success now.

And finally…

Just a general note for interviews in any situation. Please don’t tell me that you’re great. Just be great. The individuals that are at great pains to describe themselves using the adjectives on their personal statements on their CV come across as insincere – and I sometimes suspect they are doing it out of nervousness. Try not to let nerves get in the way, but if they’re there, it’s much more acceptable to acknowledge those by saying ‘ah… it doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been in this job, I still get nervous in interviews!’. That shows you care. Going hard the other way to cover up your fears is off putting and makes it very hard for the interviewer to see through the self-advertising which can come over as egotistical.

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk. Our latest event is on Friday 5th March

Media Parents Series Producer Gaby Koppel has made a series of Rip Off Britain during lockdown (to read more click here). Here are Gaby and her team’s tips for producing remotely.

SP Gaby Koppel, bottom left, at a Media Parents zoom session. Our next event, a CV Masterclass is on Friday 26th Feb, email via the contact button above for details

8 tips for producing TV remotely, by Gaby Koppel

1. The daily Zoom team meeting is the most important moment of the day.  It’s your chance to see everybody, gauge the mood, make sure they are doing OK and do something about it if they aren’t.  If somebody’s not contributing much, maybe they are struggling.
2. However important the Zoom meeting is, don’t let it drag on too long. Short and sharp is better.
3. Don’t just talk about work – even if you are busy, find some space in the day to chat, use Whatsapp for some fun not just business.  Part of what helps to lighten the atmosphere in the office are conversations  about what was on telly last night and the all-important office gossip. Try to create some water cooler moments.
4. It’s toughest for the juniors and newbies, and we needed to work hard to keep their spirits up. When I was new in the industry I learnt by osmosis from overhearing more senior people speaking on the phone or between each other.   You can never replicate that, so make sure that somebody on the team is keeping a careful eye on them.
5. Home schooling: I could see what a struggle it was for parents with school age children. They’d apologise about have to take time out in the middle of the day, and you could tell from the time stamp on their emails that they were making it up at silly o’clock.  Huge credit to them for their dedication to both family and work.
6. You can produce remotely at a pinch, but edit producing is a whole other ball game.  It meant that instead of watching a cut with an editor you’d have to wait for them to send over the whole thing when it would have been so much faster to whizz through a cut side by side to make sure all changes had been applied before it was due to go to an exec.  It wasn’t possible to spin through archive quickly, or to riffle through a selection of music options – often they’d be laid in and sent over before you had a chance to say ‘Nah.’  There are technical solutions on stream now but we worked without them for most of the year.  In future I’d say to maximise the gains from a remote edit you need to spend money on any technical solution available from day one.  They say if all else fails, try Zoom on the editor’s phone, though I didn’t have to resort to that myself.
7. The changing rules of lockdown could feel like standing on quicksand – you are having to react more like a daily production than one which is produced over five months.  When that happens and you are changing key bits of commentary or  even coming up with new films at short notice it’s best if you can enjoy the ride and relish the taste of adrenaline.
8. And finally, on a personal note you need to get out of the house at least once a day or you will go mad. I started running every morning – something I hadn’t done for years.

Gaby Koppel is available now as Series Producer/ Edit Producer:

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/314/gaby-koppel

Series Producer Gaby Koppel remotely surveys her Pop Up Shop team in Manchester

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk. Our latest event is a CV masterclass on Feb 26th

It was the moment that I really did take my eye off the ball. Up in the back bedroom of my Hackney home I was supposed to be ‘eyeballing’ the latest series of consumer programme Rip-Off Britain: Holidays, which meant I should have been checking every frame for mistakes and corrections – it’s the final safety net before transmission.  But my focus had wandered and mentally I floated off to the North of England’s glitziest shopping mall, writes Series Producer Gaby Koppel.

Series Producer Gaby Koppel remotely surveys her Pop Up Shop team in Manchester

But this was no fantasy shopping trip – I’d stopped the video on a sequence showing our production team at work on our annual Pop Up Shop at Manchester’s Trafford Centre.  It’s  a chance for presenters and experts to meet the public, and what’s unusual about Pop Up is that the crews are there on screen, so in the wide shots I could see all our producers, film makers and researchers.  By now the clock was ticking – up in Salford our facilities house was on tenterhooks for me to green light delivery, but instead of getting on with the job of checking captions and scripts and blurring, I was thinking ‘Oo there’s Natalie – and is that Steve?’  I let it play on a few more seconds and stopped again, ‘There’s Sherry and Kirk and even from behind I can tell that’s Ian’.

Suddenly reality kicked in, and with a jump I realised my mind wasn’t just wandering because I was tired – it was because I’d missed simply being physically in the room with people.  Being there with them, not on a screen, a phone or an email. This was my first time series producing remotely.

Right at the beginning of lockdown I worked on a quickly assembled daily daytime show for BBC1 One.  Healthcheck UK Live presented by Dr Xand van Tulleken, Michelle Ackerley, Angela Rippon and Mr Motivator scored a huge hit with the viewing public.  A small part of a large team, I was producing series of film inserts remotely instead of my weekly routine of getting on the train at Euston and heading north for three nights a week.  When my kids were younger I’d have leapt at the opportunity to do a TV job from home, but by now they’ve flown the nest I was more concerned about missing out on seeing my Manchester Uni student son.

At first the idea of running a team I’d never met in person while producing TV from our distant bedrooms and kitchens seemed like a ridiculous novelty.  But like TV people all around the country we discovered how adaptable we were.  Of course it was fascinating to see the rails of kids clothes, the geography course-work displays and the type of bedspreads favoured by my colleagues, but it could also feel like working in slow motion – initially all of us racked up huge hours to get the job done.  That’s because we work in a world greased by communication – a nod, a smile, even a joke around the long desk we share can move a production forward without having to send round a group email or schedule in a Zoom meeting.

SP Gaby Koppel, bottom left, at a Media Parents zoom session. Our next event, a CV Masterclass is on Friday 26th Feb, email via the contact button above for details

But it proved to be like learning a complicated yoga move – as time went on we picked up momentum and surprised ourselves by our agility as we learnt how to juggle Zooms, phone calls, Whatsapp messages and emails to get the team dynamics right and move things on. Even when you are 200 miles away you can sense when a one-to-one chat will boost somebody whose motivation is flagging, or when you can straighten out a film that has gone off course by summoning 5 key people to join an ad hoc video conference.

A team spread all over the UK was soon working efficiently. Of course the only people actually leaving home were the film makers, DITs and runners – their jobs made significantly  more laborious by the wiping , the distancing, the masks, the having to film outdoors if you can despite the weather, the constant reference to health and safety advisors, and a maximum travel time of 90 minutes.  Yet some of the results were astonishingly good because we had adapted to the circumstances, and because we were able to call on some top class PDs at short notice.

Julia Somerville and some of Gaby Koppel's Rip Off Britain team

We made a series of cookery films at chef Ellis Barrie’s Anglesey kitchen – with the restaurant shut we had the place to ourselves, and it was roomy enough to keep our distance.  Ground Force veteran Tommy Walsh made over his garden for us,  and Jay Blades worked his magic on an old chair in his airy workshop.  All credit to PDs Anneliese Edwards, Debbie Martin and Josh Newman.

Sometimes it is true that we had to lower our standards both technically and in terms of content – but the audience forgave us as if it was an imperfect hand-knitted sweater that had been made with love. When Gregg Wallace was good enough to film something on his phone for us – I’m sure he would have  had the grace to admit that he was somewhat out of his depth –  we were just grateful to him for being so game. I produced a two part interior design feature where the film maker remained outside the house (high five to PD Charlie Preston) , and we got endless mileage out of the contents of Chris Bavin’s fridge.  To achieve it we were innovating and problem solving every day, because that’s what we do.

By the time we went into production with Rip Off Britain: Holidays in August a lot of the lessons about how to make it work had been learned.  And though it could sometimes still feel like walking through quicksand in oversize wellies, we were beginning to find those magic moments all over again.   With thanks to my fabulous team, click here for some thoughts:

8 tips for producing TV in lockdown from SP Gaby Koppel

There’s been a lot of talk about the world of work being permanently changed by what we’ve learnt during lockdown. Though I personally cannot wait to get back to the office, I have to grudgingly admit that we’ve learned stuff that is transformational, like being able to recruit researchers and producers regardless of where they are based geographically.  I predict that video conferencing is going to be an essential part of our toolkit for the foreseeable future and some of our Zoom interviews have turned out to be high spec enough to use even when we don’t have to.

Those of us who have been lucky enough to work through this year will never forget it. I hope that everybody in the industry will eventually benefit from some of the innovations that have been forced out of us  – the progress may have been painful, but in retrospect it was nothing short of remarkable.

Gaby Koppel is available as Series Producer/ Edit Producer

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/314/gaby-koppel

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk. Our latest event is a CV masterclass on Feb 26th

It was February 2020, and it was Prince Harry’s final engagement. With Lewis Hamilton, HRH was set to open a motor museum before a new life awaited in America. For me it was the shoot that would be the final tick in the box for my development to get its long-awaited greenlight, writes Media Parents Producer Jodie Chillery.

Development Producer Jodie Chillery works on access to Prince Harry.

Two years I’d been working on access to secure a new series that would see me directing shoots at the Isle of Man TT, the Silverstone GrandPrix and Manchester’s Parklife Festival. The positive parley with Prince Harry’s people to allow me to cover this event was definitely going to guarantee 2020 as a career highlight…

…And then it was March 2020.

The green light turned to amber.

The amber light has since dimmed so much it’ll require more than a battery change to resurrect the pitch.

Today, I’m teacher to a 9 year old boy who, for the most part, is more intelligent than I, loves a debate and is very strong willed in working on doing his own thing in his own time.  I don’t have the relevant qualifications, patience, resilience, willpower, skill, experience or desire to be a teacher.

Despite my obvious love for all things filming and TV, I’ve grown to hate You Tube and its inane content with such ferocity that most days I come close to doing a Kirstie Allsopp and threaten to smash any screen that dares to air its jaunty little red and white logo.

If you thought two years for access was a long time, that was a doddle compared to the two and a half hours to complete one 12 X tables worksheet. I cried. He cried. The video wouldn’t play. The printer told us to f*ck off. He demanded 84 counters so he could work out how many times 12 goes into 84. I dutifully cut up and coloured 84 tiny, floaty, bits of paper only for this unintentional confetti to end up under the bed, behind the cupboard and in my underwear. Ultimately I screamed “SEVEN, it’s seven!”

This was not the career highlight I had been hoping for.

Producer Jodie Chillery at the TV day job that's definitely easier than homeschooling!

For respite, we make a regular trip to the pharmacy and paper shop for a shielding neighbour. Over the months, we’ve watched a Barn Owl nest, hunt and hope to spot its owlets fledge. We’ve watched the trilogies of Back to the Future, The Karate Kid and Short Circuit. And when school was briefly open I coached a teacher in basic camera skills and edited his footage for a Remembrance film and their Christmas performance.

Isolation, sickness, death, the darkness of winter, the 12 times table, fronted adverbials and what the Vikings at Lindisfarne ate will all, I‘m sure, make me a better producer, and a more grateful workmate.

It’ll soon be March again. March the 8th precisely (International Women’s Day!), I’m led to believe is when I’ll be available for work. Give me posturing princes, apprehensive police officers and sensitive scripts any day, I’m more than ready to take them on!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/4945/jodie-chillery

If you’re looking for work after homeschooling join us for How to Ace a Job Interview Online.

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Face any online interview fearlessly with Media Parents Director Amy Walker’s TV industry tips at Media Parents’ February event.

Get Prepared, Feel Confident. See the Media Parents watercooler for tickets. (Photo: Clare Lawrence http://www.loveseen.co.uk/)

Join us from 12 – 1pm on Friday 12th February 2021 for an interactive online workshop: How to Ace A Job Interview Online. Sign up for your ticket via the Media Parents watercooler or non-members click here to email us for details.

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

I drifted into user research from my media work, writes Media Parents’ Jonathan Richardson. Back in the day of BBC iPlayer’s launch I gathered feedback and worked with the development team to prioritise improvements and test new ideas.

Since then I’ve been working on a range of websites and services to uncover audience insights. While I’ve mainly worked in government and academia, I’m looking to pivot back to focus on media organisations. There’s a clear opportunity for organisations to get into user research to understand their audiences.

User research is a mix of roles: combine journalism with anthropology, academic research and a lot of project management. And it makes for a highly interesting job.

I ensure that organisations understand their audiences by creating research to understand user motivation and behaviour. Once we have a good working knowledge I then lead teams to create new designs to determine if these improve the user experience.

This can be making a website be clearer and flow better. For example, so students find the right course for them. Or I map out journeys and processes to understand where the pain points and opportunities are.

My work has mainly been remote based, even before lockdown. I can spend most of my day interviewing people then documenting and analysing it. Interviews can be like therapy to some as I listen to them vent or talk their troubles out. My journalism background definitely helps with interviewing.

User Researcher Jonathan Richardson https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/collaborator/16592/jonathan-richardson

I also combine my freelance work with my own start-up plans for a remote writers’ room using Agile project management methods. I’ve been running this for the past year and we recently completed our goal of having a proof-of-concept that shows the process works.

I’m fortunate in that my wife was taking 2020 as maternity leave for our daughter so we haven’t had fights over who got to use the home office. Our son started school in September and we’re thankful that he’s enjoying it and is back with friends.

The amount of work has reduced slightly since Covid but there’s still plenty of demand. I use any free time to work on my own projects and train others in user research.

So if you’re looking to find out more about working in Agile and user research, or want to let me know about problems in your organisation, do get in touch. Likewise connect if you want to find out more about the remote writers room.

Get in touch here or via Media Parents https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/collaborator/16592/jonathan-richardson

Steve Wynne, MD of  production company Strawberry Blond, winner of Broadcast’s Best Place to Work in TV 2019, is compering a Christmas Quiz on December 10th – so join us! The quiz supports Mental Health Resource charity, and costs £10 per family. It starts at 8pm on December 10th so mobilise your team and sign up below: www.mentalhealthresource.org.uk/event/christmas-quiz

Thanks to Steve Wynne for supporting Media Parents over the years!

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

I would love to call on your help, writes Exec Producer Meriel Beale.

I’ve recently become the Anti Bullying and Harassment officer for Bectu Unscripted. I’m putting together an awareness raising campaign for anti bullying week (16th November) and I’m asking for stories of bullying & harassment in the TV industry.

I have already been sent many stories, sadly, but it would be good to have some more.

If you have an experience that you would be happy to share, you can do so anonymously without identifying any parties, via the form below.

Your testimonies will form part of the campaign from Bectu and the Film & TV Charity under the hashtag #UnseenOnScreen, so you should be aware & happy that your anonymous experiences may appear on social media.

The idea is to show how many people are affected by bullying and harassment, and to reinforce that we are stronger together.

This is the first step in the campaign, more will be revealed to try to deal with this industry-wide issue.

I hope this is ok, many thanks for your help.
Meriel

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjVtiDlaE_uRbYe-P8VG7XX7w4LfEVnwT-KgvEpDWxpLf1Kw/viewform?fbclid=IwAR14VkUyuCBFibQkk-kEOZQuYZjw45b3tLMLgJ69kcLhUHnzkKqx-VxxjGo

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/10695/meriel-beale

Meriel Beale (centre)

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Returning PD Kate Dooley writes: Art imitates life imitates art. Having had a baby in February, Kate is now looking for a job share partner as she returns to work. Her latest series Becoming You, narrated by Olivia Colman, TXes tonight, 13th November on Apple TV. Read on…

I’m great in a pub quiz (remember those?). It’s down to years of working on tv shows about anything and everything. Scouring the internet for surprising yet accessible take home facts and stories which can visually delight and emotionally entertain both an exec and a viewer.

When was the first 747 flight? I filmed aboard the pilot 747 plane in Seattle. Which is the only British Town with an exclamation mark? Shot there for Escape to the Country. Why are humans the only mammals with visible eye whites? Edit produced a show on child development.

PD Kate Dooley at work

But this information has never been truly useful until now… On Friday 13th November “Becoming You” will air on Apple TV+ https://tv.apple.com/us/show/becoming-you/umc.cmc.2eln6544k8wo99s3vrdl5amwf . An epic documentary following children around the globe grow and develop from birth to age 5. Beautifully shot, sweet and informative – even more so for me as I gave birth to my first child just after working on the show.

8 months later and I’m still looking back at my research notes to help guide and inform me, by which I mean not spend hours googling things which tell me I should take my child to A&E immediately. The most useful info for having a baby in the age of covid-19 is understanding why after months of lockdown baby’s first reaction to her grandparents was fierce tears when before lockdown she was all smiles with any old Tom, Dick or Harry.

It turns out babies around 8 months develop the capacity to compare faces to the handful of people they know. If they don’t recognise them their developing emotion of fear kicks in to let them know this person might not be safe. Of course stranger danger is a hugely important development step but it’s very comforting to know her reaction to her grandparents is perfectly normal and can be reversed with time spent together.
This fact is illustrated in the show in a scene with a cute Mexican boy which I edit produced. The children in the series are real life examples from across the world of the amazing steps in development we all go through, but it’s not often that my real life then imitates my job!

I’m now looking to return to work perhaps through a job share and the series has helped me here too by working with a range of inspiring mums.

With ex Channel 4 head and ex BBC controller Jay Hunt as the Apple TV+ commissioner, talented MD of Wall to Wall Leanne Klein to guide us, knowledgable Edit Series Producer Helen Sage and ever hardworking producer Victoria Weaver to help find the amazing characters that were featured. Working on this doc has shown me that it really is possible to have children and keep producing exciting programming and progress my career.

So if you’re interested in job sharing or forming an unbeatable pub quiz team let me know!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/16924/kate-dooley

PD Kate Dooley

Pub Quiz Answers:
1969 though Pan Am only starting flying them commercially in 1970.
Westward Ho!
Human babies are born with poor eyesight so eye whites help them make eye contact easily. Eye contact triggers the release of the love hormone which helps to bond parent and baby.

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

If you’re looking for ways to extend the summer, artist Ben Fenton’s coastal works are reasonably priced and will lift a room. Currently exhibiting at the Electric Palace Cinema in Hastings, Ben also sells paintings and commissions direct from his facebook page and website.

“I grew up in Dungeness, and Greatstone, and Rye, and Winchelsea Beach, writes Ben Fenton. I grew up on and beside the Romney Marsh. My father was a fisherman and I was putting to sea with him from the age of four. I grew up with the sound of saltwater dragging shingle away to someplace else. I grew up with the weight of an uninterrupted sky pressing down upon me. I grew up in a land that had been borrowed from the deep. A land that built structures from wood, and stone, and concrete to celebrate it, and to keep from giving it back. I am now returned to the coast of Kent and Sussex and I am painting the souvenirs of my past.”

Artist Ben Fenton, originally from Dungeness, has forged out a successful career in London for more than 12 years, but wanted to return to the Romney Marsh to get away from the distractions of living in the capital and seek new inspiration and challenges for his work. Ben’s stunning paintings can be found in private collections all over Europe and the UK and he continues to exhibit in diverse spaces in London, Kent and East Sussex.

http://benfentonartist.moonfruit.com/