When I was 17 I wanted to change the world. I couldn’t understand why starvation existed in some parts of the world, why some people swore all the time, why there were fights at football matches, why Television was obsessed with programmes about Murder and why I wasn’t 6′ tall, dark and good looking.
I am now 61 years of age and realise that the history of mankind is still so immature in relation to the great age of this wonderful planet and this immaturity is going to take many more centuries to develop.
I allowed the Media and The Politicians to totally dominate my thinking last week which resulted in the use of insulting language and disparaging Facebook Posts due to my frustration at the views being aired by individuals that are as different from me as can be.
I am taking a break from social media to try and rekindle my humour and the fun side of trying to make folks laugh.
In 1965 Edward Bond wrote a play called ‘Saved’. It dealt with working class Londoners, leading desperate, dead-end lives. It includes a scene where a gang of youths stone a baby to death.
One of the tag lines read “The poor are still poor but now have televisions”. in 2017 (52 years later), one could say “The poor are still poor but now have smart phones and social media”.
Today’s issues have been the same issues for eons.
There have been many great changes for good and yet the lowest common denominator descends ever lower each passing month (led by Television programmes that harken back to the horrible Victorian ‘Freak’ shows).
Sadly the never ending cycle of 5 years with one party not really delivering is replaced with the other party not delivering for the next 5.
The only difference between being Young and wanting to change the world and being older is that as an older Person I am angry about not been able to change the world.
I want to pass on the great benefits i’ve enjoyed in my career and love the idea of teaching, lecturing and running workshops to encourage the next wave of Youngsters but even with this ambition I have learned that I was terribly naive in believing that everyone actually had the same aims, rather than trying to live through the Youngsters a film or TV career they wouldn’t necessarily have enjoyed themselves.
I won’t name names but this year has really brought home that LUCK is such an important player in all our lives.
In 2014 I gave an incredible amount of my time and effort for a cause I believed in. In 2017 I discovered I was not the ‘Force for good’ I had hoped to be and in fact was just ‘another Tool’.
One must always look for the good in others and learn to be tough enough to realise that sometimes the good can be hidden far, far away.
In fact an awful lot of good can be achieved by people with selfish motives. Through their selfishness they can push to help others achieve their dreams (and indirectly inspire the Youngsters they are exploiting).
I still believe the same ideals I had when I was 17 and hope today’s Youngsters will raise the Lowest Common Denominator but I struggle to fight the insidious cynicism that “They will learn, they will learn…….just as I had to”.
World wide there are good, good people.
We must hope that the good, good people will want to become Politicians and Leaders, not just the callously ambitious and arrogant ones we tend to be lumbered with.

And i’m still only 5′ 7″  but now with considerably less hair and only good looking the other way.

Exciting Projects and plans.

Sometimes the waiting for the green light seems to last a life time. I am very much looking forward to help complete Principal photography on “The Flood’ which is a film that deserves a very large audience when it is ready for release.
I am preparing for a Master Class on Third Assistant Directing at Pinewood Studios, the week after next and working on schedules and budgets for 2 projects that I hope will go into production in 2018.
There is a project which i hope will go into production in the Autumn of this year. i am crossing everything possible that we will be able to disclose more very soon.
I am still planning my trip to America and Susie and I have another Amex BA voucher to use up before the end of the year.
The sales of Dad’s books have reached 380 and we have helped make £4000 for Linden Bridge school with the book sales and the sales of the Bamber DVD “A Night to Forget” (still available if anybody needs a chair leg propped up to stop any wobbling).
I am working on the script for the Comeback show and it is just a matter of the correct timing before it is unleashed on an unsuspecting public.
We have lost some wonderful people over the past couple of years but 2 weeks ago today I received a phone call from Harvey Harrison to let me know “The Duke”, Steve Foster, had passed away.
I’m afraid I don’t possess the vocabulary to do justice to this Work colleague and friend.
The Man From Uncle was the last film I worked with Steve on. Well, it wasn’t like work. Paul Jennings, 2nd Unit Director, Harvey Harrison, Kenny Atherfold, Steve and the other wonderful Steve. Roberts.
It was a a mini reunion of the crew from 102 Dalmatians.
We filmed the film and we filmed the Crew Awards ceremonies every week and we filmed special shows performed by the crew to reflect the whole world.
When we were filming on the Thames I believe the crew had paid Steve a certain amount of money to push me in the Thames (because I had refused to agree an overtime payment). In the end he didn’t have to push me because we had Dave Evans and Jason Horwood as our Armourers who were supposed to be shooting at the secret agents but were such terrible shots, I was the only person in danger of being hit.
To honour Steve we have renamed the “Alice Evans, I don’t want to be here anymore award” the “Alice Evans, I don’t want to be here anymore, Steve Foster memorial award”.

We were there when the London Eye was erected

I could write about the adventures of working on 101 and 102 Dalmatians every day. The most exciting and rewarding experiences. Just fantastic experiences.

101 Dalmatians 2nd Unit started work in 1995 and completed in 1996. We shot for 101 Days

102 Dalmatians 2nd Unit started work in 1999 and completed in 2000. We shot for 102 Days.

Kenny Atherfold was Entertainments Manager for both films and during 102 we would have Supper parties on the last day of the week where we would give out the Crew Weekly awards, watch a show put on by various crew members and not want to go home!! We had awards for The Crew member of the week, The Best Creep of the Week, The Paolo Wanchope Useless Git of the week (awarded for an outstanding act of stupidity). Paolo Wanchope was a gifted footballer who could do amazing things and then fall over his boot lace!

There was the Pink Tutu Most amazing achievement of the week award but the funniest was the Alice Evans “I don’t want to be here anymore award”. This was created after the lovely Alice had had enough of the Stevie Foster and Stevie Roberts attempts at light changes (This was before Dimmer boards). We had tried for about an hour to make it work before Alice had had enough. Funnily enough one of the first winners of the prize was the Unit Toaster which some said was stolen but I think it had had enough of  over 100 people thrusting over sized bread doorstops into it.

The word “legend” is so over used nowadays but Micky Moore represented everything that a legend should be.

I am beginning to take the trials and tribulations of life quite personally now. My Sat Nav on the iphone (Google maps) this morning wanted to me to take the route with the most number of Speed traps and cameras. This must be a conspiracy because every other day it takes me via the by-pass. I read a lot about how our lives are monitored and being on the internet opens us to all sorts of spyware. I can see it now. The Sat Nav sets me up to get caught speeding because my records show that with my early morning starts i often stray just about the 30mph limit, this in turn creates revenue for the local councils and my Insurance Premium is increased every time 3 points are added to my licence. The resulting depression means i have to visit the Doctor who will prescribe some soppy tablet at a ridiculously inflated price to keep me calm. The trouble is the tablets only work if I indulge in large volumes of Malibu (which at the moment cost a small fortune) and this leads to crates of Diet coke to clear my head enough ready for work.

The amount of money made out of me for straying 3mph over the allowed margin for error on roads that are deserted, apart from lost late night hedgehogs, is an unbelievable boost to the UK economy. Will I get thanks for this? Will I get an OBE or a Knighthood? No!! if i keep rushing nowhere i will end up banned from driving and then the Government and the country will make a fortune out of me trying to navigate the rail and bus network.

Worse still, I might have to bring my bicycle out of retirement!! And i look awful in Lycra and hate Helmet hair.

A good Production Manager will always surround him/herself with Experts. I remember once trying to order some film stock for a Training film. We had Studio Interiors, Exterior locations, both day and night scenes. I wanted to impress the Producer so i obtained the Kodak Stock Guide and studiously pored over all the confusing numbers. I phoned Hugh Whittaker, convinced I had all the correct facts. “Hello, Mr Whittaker, Sir. I’d like to order some Super 16mm Film stock for our Rank Training Film please. I reeled off a load of quite meaningless numbers that i had learned parrot fashion.

There was a long, long pause. “Terence, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Why don’t you wait until the Director of Photography starts and let him tell you the stock he wants to use. You can then ring me back to negotiate as good a deal as possible to suit your budget.”

There is no such thing as a stupid question. If you do not know what something means ASK!!

Another little point today. If you working a  Production Manager as part of your ambition to become a Producer make sure you are nice to the people you meet on the way up as you may need the same people to be nice to you on your way back down.

I think it is imperative that the Production Manager goes through the time sheets with a representative of each department ‘face to face’ to discuss any discrepancies or issues that may arise. I don’t think it is good enough just to go through the sheets and ‘scrub’ out any overtime that might not seem correct with the Daily Wrap logs etc.

Hopefully all the overtime claimed will have be been properly sanctioned ahead of time but sometimes crew members have to work beyond the agreed period.

This can sometimes lead to lively (and sometimes, raucous) debate but in the long run it shows the human side of the Production Office and proper respect for the work that ALL Crew provide to make a film/ TV/ Short/ etc etc.

My second tip with regard to this policy is have a large baseball bat and protective head gear.

In my search for a new career I am going to try and keep a better blog of the ins and outs of being a Bamber in this wonderful world.

I am hoping that the “After Effect, The Comeback Tour” show will take place on or around 23rd April, 2017. It is vital that this show is well rehearsed, well researched and well, just better than the first effort of 2014.

I hope to book The John Barry Theatre, Pinewood Studios again.

Suggested Running Order

1. Q the music to play intro music from The Persuaders.
2. On screen – Playback the interview at Derby University.
3. TB to enter from the back of the Theatre. Music to accompany the entry.
4. Good evening. Thank you very much for giving me another chance to showcase my abilities as an Honorary Professor in Films and TV, an Assistant Director/Production Manager and, most contentious of all, as an Actor. I want to take you on a journey through time and space. From the time I was born and to explore the space between my ears. I have had a career and life that has taken me from Southall Gas works to the wonderful Water Tank at Rosarito, Baja California and to the beautiful Fijian islands. Let me paint you a picture of the 1950s.
5. CUE PHOTO of Dad holding a few months old Terence Richard Bamber. As you can see I was quite an acquisition. Some might say an advert for Contraception.
6. I was born on the 3rd June, 1956. It was a sunday and I arrived at 7.00pm in the evening. Dad had been working at Shepperton Studios that day on the Charlie Chaplin film “A King in New York”. I often wondered if it was due to this that I have such a funny little walk. Let me demonstrate.
7. On screen – Playback the Rissington airfield James Bond opening sequence we shot for the Golf video. (check copyright etc). Q the Music to play the Bond theme.
8. Tell the story of the Suit, the John Barry tribute at Stoke Poges, the auction, the cost.

More to follow:

Today I have rediscovered my BamberBlog. I have decided to make a real effort to update and to learn how to communicate with humour and a sense of style.

Today Susie and and I are in Barbados. It is weird I keep saying The Bahamas. When we were filming in The Bahamas in 2006 and Barbara Broccoli and the Main Unit arrived at the airport, in the effort to seem in charge and on top of the situation I welcomed her to Barbabos. Hmmm. I have an issue with Bs I think.

The weather is not so sunny today so we are catching up on writing postcards and making plans for our holiday next week.

It has been a rollercoaster of a first week as I have been working on a Filming schedule for a film I hope to work on in October and November, “Ghost Stories”.

 I have promised my wife to make a real effort with the Bamber Blog and learn to compose witty and enjoyable posts for people to enjoy. I am  going to do my utmost.

I wonder if one can access old Facebook posts. I could edit the best ones together as a brief history of my life

What is fairness? If someone tries to trip another person and actually trips him or herself up instead. Is this fair? Is it fair that a person who murders many others is imprisoned for life rather than pay with his or her own life? Is it fair that one supports a football team only concerned with the profit margin generated by the merchandise and their long suffering fans?

Is it fair that I am moaning when there there are so many people worse off than me?

So what is fairness?