Monday 6 July 2015

173 How


First  watched : Uncertain

How  was  the  brainchild  of  Jack  Hargreaves,  the  Deputy  Programme  Controller  of  Southern  Television, an  avuncular  character,  already  halfway  through  his  fifties,  with  some  idiosyncratic  ideas  on  what  made  riveting  television.  Accordingly  How  as first  envisaged, was  targeted  at  people  like  himself, middle-aged  bores  coming  home  from  the  pub , to  settle  arguments  or  teach  tricks. After  the  late  night  pilot  in  1966 , Hargreaves  felt  it  was  better  aimed  at  inquisitive  children   and  viewing  figures  soon  proved  him  right.

There  were  occasional  temporary  changes  in  the  line  up  but  for  most  of  the  time  the  quartet  of  presenters  were  eager  Fred  Dineange, dry  scientist  Jon  Miller, jolly  Bunty  James  and  of  course  bearded, pipe-smoking  Jack  himself. They  usually  each  got  one  question  to  answer  per  show  and  there  was  some  jovial  banter  between  them  especially  as  it  was  broadcast  live  with  frequent  mistakes  and  mishaps. As  with  all  magazine  shows  you  were  lucky  if  you  were  interested  in  every  item; in  fact  with  this  show  I  felt  lucky  if  I  was  interested  in  one although  compared  to  Jack's  other  contemporary  offering  ,Out  of  Town  , a  weekly  tour  of  his  garden  shed , it  was  always  enthralling.

The  series  came  to  a  halt  in  1981  when  Southern  lost its  franchise  to  TVS. They  waited  nine  years  before  reviving  it  as  How  2  in  1990. Dineange  had  graduated  to  senior  presenter  and  stayed  with  the  revived  show  until   its  end  in  2006.

Jack  went  over  to  Channel  4  and  presented  a  show  called  Old  Country  until  1985. He  retired  to  Dorset  and  died  in  1994. Miller  was  60  when  the show  ended; he  did  not  appear  on  TV again  and  spent  his  retirement  in  Cornwall  writing  erudite  letters  to  newspapers  and  magazines. He  died  in  2008 . James  left  the  show  in  1977  and  vanished  into  obscurity  apart  from  a  brief  reappearance  as  herself   in  the  nostalgic TV film  The  Happening  in  1991. She  is  now  in  her  eighties  and  thought  to  be  living  in  Scotland.


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