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chalkhill-blue
14th Sep 2007, 09:36
A TV documentary on the late Alex Henshaw will be shown at 8pm tomorrow (Saturday Sept 15) on The History Channel (Sky channel 529). It will be repeated on Sunday at 10am. The programme is called "The Extraordinary Mr Spitfire" and takes the primetime slot in a whole day of Spitfire programmes to mark Battle of Britain day.
The Henshaw programme is a one-hour biography of Alex which has been made with the cooperation of his family and the RAF Museum. It includes film of his Cape record flight, flight testing the Spitfire at Castle Bromwich, meeting Churchill and various other footage from the 30s and 40s. There are also interviews with Alex which have not been screened before. Of particular interest is some colour film which shows German aircaft adorned with swastikas competing in the 1938 Isle of Man Air Race. This comes from a private collection and has been sitting in a film canister for nearly 70 years! There is also contemporary footage of the Mew Gull and Arrow Active which was shot at Breighton and Duxford, plus off-cuts from The 1969 movie "The Battle of Britain."
"The Extraordinary Mr Spitfire" was made by Red Admiral Productions.

BEagle
14th Sep 2007, 10:08
There's a lot of BoB stuff on the History Channel on Sat 15th!

Including the story behind the Spitfire at 1700 and the behind-the-scenes look at the BBMF at 1800.

Which clashes with 'Mosquito Squadron' on BBC2 at 1830....

Still, I'll be out for most of the day.

Saab Dastard
14th Sep 2007, 15:26
chalkhill-blue,

Many thanks for the heads-up!

I hope to fit it in around the RWC :)

SD

Flying Lawyer
15th Sep 2007, 10:22
Thanks for the heads-up.

I know there was a documentary being created from many hours of interviews Tony Edwards did with Alex Henshaw. It was intended to be Alex's 'video autobiography'.
He died just before the interviews were completed but, fortunately, not before he'd talked about all the main stages of his life.
I wonder if this is it. Hope so.



FL

brumbear
3rd Feb 2008, 11:47
Hiya

The tapes that Tony Edwards has, are still in his posession. They are in my opinion very good, though not all are of broadcast quality ( sound being the biggest problem...Mostly Ben grumbling away on Alex' lap :)).
As you now know. Red Admiral didn't use any of Tony's material. We on the other hand are ever closer to realising the financial deal that will enable XF the feature movie to be made. I intend to use a lot of the q/a sessions that Tony has...well over 16 hours worth. If any of you would like more info, please contact me. The address below is web mail, but it will get to me direct rather than going through my company J6.

Jon Carver

[email protected]

PontiusPilote
10th Feb 2009, 00:46
So Jon; - What films have you made before..? You must have a great portfolio to be taking this on...? What motion pictures have you produced or scripted before..? Can we see an example of what you have done before? You know, just to get a feel for the audio-visual feast we have in store...?
PP.