Roundabout, Carousel and Parade These series sat a little oddly within the Overseas Television Services, since they were produced for use in cinemas and wholly contracted out to the newsreel company Associated British Pathe from 1961 to 1969 and then by Movietone News until 1974. The genesis for the programs followed a visit by Charles de VereBeauclerk of Film Division to South East Asia in 1960 to assess the prospects for television programs inthe area. His report concluded that television was still in its infancy, so the prospects of finding a useful audience by this means were slim. However cinemas were thriving so he recommended a monthly cinema magazine in colour since estimated audiences of around 12 million might be possible. While the costs of such monthly films were high the Foreign Office agreed to the production of a pilot issue to test themarket. The pilot was well received by local cinema distributors and audiences in Indonesia and Thailand. Thus despite the high costof making magazine programs in colour arrangements were made with the Pathe Pictorial news company to build up a reserve of suitable items with a view to monthly production of the series. The stockpile of stories recognized that to produce a monthly issue consisting of up to six items wouldrapidly use up material that might meet Foreign Office information objectives. The first issue of Roundabout went into distribution in 1963 with wide distribution in South East Asia. There were foreign language versions in French, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai and Malay. By the end of the year, the estimated audience for the first issue was around 2 million with an expectation that this would double once distribution was extended to India, Pakistan and Ceylon. The positive reception lead to some ‘sister’ productions at the beginning of 1963, Carrouselintended for Latin America.
Parade following the successful launch of Roundabout in South and South-East Asia it was decided to pilot a similar magazine for distribution in English-speaking Commonwealth territories in Africa, the Caribbean, the South Pacific and the Mediterranean . The first issue was launched in March 1963 and was distributed to cinemas and non-theatrical outlets on a bi-monthly basis until June 1964 and then monthly until July 1973. Each issue carried topical stories about developments in Britain and the Commonwealth, as well as items focused on the territories in which it circulated.
Initially both Roundabout and Parade were made by Associated British Pathe but in 1970 the contract passed to British Movietonews.
There follows information about a small selection of the some 150 issues of Roundabout and Parade produced between 1963 and 1974 when the two series were discontinued by the Foreign Office.
1966
Roundabout 58 included items about the 12th Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, an item about he manufacture of fluorescent lighting and one about the Red Arrows flying display team of the Royal Air Force NFA ID 9911
!967
Parade 46 the issue consisted of five stories including Nigerian students undergoing adventure training ,a demonstration of the Howard rotator at an International Rice Conference in Britain. NFA ID60201
Parade 47 the lead story was about the installation on Ascension Island of a British built tracking station for the reception of signals from outer space. NFA ID1367
Parade 52 included items on the Royal Agricultural show. Training overseas police personnel in the West riding Detective training School and the Jamaica Regiment at the Edinburgh Tattoo NFA ID 2075
Parade 53 included an item about the manufacture of pianos NFA ID 1366
Roundabout 60 included items about Indias coconut fibre industry, closed circuit television to train students Guys Hospital . Ayub Kahn welcomes the Queen to the Commonwealth Institute. NFA ID 60202
Roundabout 67 included items about oil palm plantations on newly developed land in Malaysia , Laotian visitors to the Tropical Products Institute in London and the construction of the Severn Bridge . NFA ID60203
1968
Roundabout 75 items included the inauguration of the Mangla Dam by Ayub Khan.Testing new computers at the Burroughs Wellcome Research Labs and mobile medical units for Thailands Roving doctor scheme. NFA ID3843
Parade 112 (click here to view from BFI) a fascinating snapshot of the power of steel across the Commonwealth, following iron ore mined from the majestic Liberian Mount Nimba to the smelting plant at Corby steelworks in Northamptonshire. The products of these impressive industrial processes have a wondrous array of uses, from colourful titanium watches to the instrumental steel strings of the African kora.
1973
Roundabout 128 included items about navigation and air traffic control courses in Britain , the Nuffield Surgical Transplant Unit in Edinburgh .. NFA ID1375 The format of Roundabout remained consistent. Each issue contained some six items about current developments in Britain and Asia. Some of the items came from on going issues of the Pathe Pictorial newsreel together with a number of stories that were commissioned by COI. The items were not greatly different to those in the television series such as This Week In Britain though taken a much faster pace and benefiting from being in colour and the large screens of the cinema. The series were contracted out to Pathe until 1969 when Pathe closed down their newsreel operation. The series was then taken over by Movietone News. The series was produced by COI Producer Roseanne (Rossie) Brownriggfor a number of years until her retirement.
All three cinema magazine series would remain in production until 1974when the series was concluded due to financial constraints within the Foreign Office. If anyone has any information about other editions of Roundabout please use "Contact Us" section on the Navigation Bar to let us know.
For details of all those programs for which information exists please go to the Films We Made section on the Navigation Bar.