COLLAGE

In 1976 I got a call from a brilliant film editor called Brian Tagg who was well known for cutting episodes of ‘A Family At War’ and many of the great ‘World In Action’ documentaries for Granada Television. He had also edited for Denis Mitchell, one of the unsung heroes of British documentary film making. I think on ‘Never And Always’, I recall one critic commenting that the film had been ‘sensitively cut together by Brian Tagg’. I remember it because it was rare that an editor ever got any credit from a critic. He later went on to edit films for Ken Russell including ‘Crimes Of Passion’ starring Kathleen Turner and Anthony Perkins, and later ‘Whore’ starring Theresa Russell. He took me on as his assistant at Granada to work on ‘The XYY Man’ and so my career in film editing began, learning from a master film technician. Subsequently I was taken on by the legendary Ray Millichope who had made a name for himself editing 39 episodes of ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ and many of ‘The Two Ronnies’ shows, along with hundreds of other leading light entertainment series. I look back at the years spent learning the craft from these exceptional film editors with gratitude and affection. Over the years I was assisted in turn by three great assistants, Xavier Russell (left), David Bosley, and Glen Steggles. Happy days.