My mom, Alma Participant, who has died aged 90, was an assistant producer on the BBC2 music programme The Previous Gray Whistle Check, engaged on the present from its first broadcast in 1971 to the final, in 1988.
She was available to supply assist to a number of the younger, up-and-coming musicians making their first look on reside tv on the present. Many had been to grow to be family names, amongst them David Bowie, Meat Loaf, the Police and Elton John. Alma was there at the start with a smile and phrases of encouragement.
The present’s government producer Mike Appleton mentioned: “Alma was the rock, she made everybody comfy.” The longtime presenter and Alma’s good buddy, Bob Harris, mentioned: “Once I wanted recommendation Alma was there, offering calm assist that meant a lot.”
Born in Holborn, central London, Alma was the daughter of Vera (nee Craig), an actor, theatre producer and costume designer who had been a part of a performing troupe managed by Sir Henry Irving, and Jack Montgomery, a chef. A lot of her household had been concerned to a point with the leisure trade, and so Alma grew up in a inventive setting, used to placing individuals at their ease.
After faculty, Alma labored as a secretary in Fleet Avenue. She married Ernie Participant, a screenwriter and freelance journalist writing for Picturegoer and Selection magazines, in 1958. A 12 months after my start, in 1960, Ernie died from rheumatic fever. Aged 44, Alma turned a single guardian, supported by Vera.
When she was in a position to face the world once more she joined an company as a secretary and was despatched to the BBC. There she was lucky sufficient to work for the producers Rowan Ayers and Richard Drewett.
When Rowan created the basic evaluate programme Line Up, then Late Evening Line Up, in 1964, he took Alma with him. Out of that got here the music exhibits Color Me Pop (1968-69), Disco 2 (1970-71), and The Previous Gray Whistle Check, on which Alma turned a researcher, after which, in 1980, an assistant producer. She stayed with the workforce headed by Appleton for greater than 25 years.
Different programmes she labored on throughout this time embody Riverside, Rock Goes to Faculty, Sight and Sound (an progressive sequence of pop and rock live shows that had been broadcast concurrently on tv and radio), and, in 1982, Stay Help.
She retired in 1988 and settled in Thornton Le Dale, North Yorkshire, the place she walked the moors and Dalby Forest along with her beloved golden retrievers, and made many pals.
Alma all the time approached individuals with an open coronary heart and thoughts. She discovered time for everybody, was all the time keen to hear, eager to share tales, and provide recommendation and assist.
She is survived by me and her grandson, Alex.
