Jack Hargreaves ~ Visiting the countryside

"A lady wrote to me and said 'We love the country. We'd like to drive down to the country at the weekend, but can you tell us what to do when we get there?' And I said 'Yes I can.'"
An episode of 'Old Country', broadcast on Channel 4 in the early 1980s by Jack Hargreaves, who, for twenty one years between 1960-1981, had been presenting 'Out of Town' on Southern Television. 'Old Country' has the same formula as 'Out of Town' and even the same theme tune, but with Southern Television losing its franchise (Jack left before that happened) he was invited by Jeremy Isaacs to transfer 'Out of Town' - a programme of proven success - to C4, which he did for three years with a new cameraman called Steve Wagstaff (Stan Bréhaut having decided to retire), and a new director, David Knowles, who on leaving Southern had started a small film company called Lacewing. They put 'Old Country' together in the school house at Meonstoke in Hampshire, setting up Jack's studio shed there and visiting many of the people, places and subjects that had featured in Out of Town.
In 1986 Jack employed many of those with whom he'd worked at Lacewing to put together a compilation of old 'Out of Town' films by Stan for domestic viewing on videotape and later DVD.

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• breweries
• Old Country
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[Sibadd]

Nor me! It's a gift I'd love to have. That said I'm not sure you're being fair on yourself. It takes two to tango.

[Stereolabdream]

Very rare for me to see these clips without learning something new. Didn't know the story of brambles/briars for example.

I tend to bore my walking partner on our wanderings with these bits of knowledge because, of course, I do not have the same calm and authoritative but friendly tone as Jack Hargreaves!

Thanks as ever Sibadd.