[WillPS]

www.youtube.com 

For those who haven't seen it - a 2014 visit to Lenton Lane/Kings Meadow. Annoyingly, it has been reuploaded in a picture-in-picture format but I originally came across this on TV Forum. The visit to the Anglo American vehicles company about half way through - the last part of the old operation still on site - is a particular highlight.

Still there in Dec 2021. Always wondered how many of them were/are runners...

[Mike]

This may be of interest, though I cannot find the source - a Central News (West) VT clock from an SNG edited story, dated March 2006 that is (by that time) 7 styles out of date:
up.metropol247.co.uk 

Surviving the Carltonisation, Dan Barton's numerous rebrands and the ITV plc corporate looks from 2004 and 2006. Posted it here as it seemed semi-relevant to the discussion, in so far as even the most rigidly enforced rebrands have stragglers that survive.

[Spencer]

This may be of interest, though I cannot find the source - a Central News (West) VT clock from an SNG edited story, dated March 2006 that is (by that time) 7 styles out of date:
up.metropol247.co.uk 

Surviving the Carltonisation, Dan Barton's numerous rebrands and the ITV plc corporate looks from 2004 and 2006. Posted it here as it seemed semi-relevant to the discussion, in so far as even the most rigidly enforced rebrands have stragglers that survive.

Are you sure that’s from Central News West? I’m assuming Ken G is Ken Goodwin who was a Central News South reporter.

Clutching at straws here, but I seem to remember he was based in their office at Gloucester Docks. I’ve no idea if he still was by 2006, or indeed how long the Gloucester office lasted, but assuming he was, perhaps they never remembered to send the VT clock to Gloucester.

Or maybe it’s just a case that keeping branding on VT clocks, which wouldn’t normally be seen by the public, up to date wasn’t a priority.

[James2001]

Considering mechanical VT clocks with logos from the 50s and 60s were still being used in the 80s, it's not surprising if there wasn't seen to be any need to update electronic ones either. After all, as you said, it's not as if they're supposed to be seen on air.

[Mike]

Are you sure that’s from Central News West? I’m assuming Ken G is Ken Goodwin who was a Central News South reporter.

Clutching at straws here, but I seem to remember he was based in their office at Gloucester Docks. I’ve no idea if he still was by 2006, or indeed how long the Gloucester office lasted, but assuming he was, perhaps they never remembered to send the VT clock to Gloucester.

Or maybe it’s just a case that keeping branding on VT clocks, which wouldn’t normally be seen by the public, up to date wasn’t a priority.

So I've found the package: vimeo.com 

While it is Ken Goodwin, the package (and the location of the subject) are from just north of Worcester and between there and Droitwich which may be why a CNS reporter was used, but it's still closer to Birmingham than Abingdon and Gloucester.

It's most likely the latter, but it does strike me as strange given that Carlton went to the effort of rebranding all VT clocks at Gas Street and Lenton Lane with 'Carlton Birmingham/Nottingham' legends rather than 'Central', while this is different as it's for the specific programme - you'd have thought that by 2006, ITV were using Avid (or similar) for reports on regional news and such a clock would be standardised.

Edit: I think it is a CNS VT clock now having seen the below Flickr page; CNW appear to have dropped the strange iconography (which they had used for their 1997 titles) by 2000.

Random aside, did anyone ever work out what the 'squiggle' was meant to signify on the CN titles in the late 90s?

www.flickr.com 

cn_2000_logos_arrow_squiggle_excl | Dexters Tech Lab | Flickr
Explore Recent Photos Trending Events The Commons Flickr Galleries World Map Cam…
  Source: www.flickr.com

[TVHead]

Random aside, did anyone ever work out what the 'squiggle' was meant to signify on the CN titles in the late 90s?

www.flickr.com 

I thought it meant something like connections or contacting people. The part of the titles with the squiggle wasn't very clear in the 1997 CNW titles as the part was only some person's eyes and people walking behind frosted glass in the background.

So I've found the package: vimeo.com 

That small section on the top left looks like the start of the 1998 CNW titles, but it has the odd squiggly symbol, something that I don't recall being on those titles as I think it was only Central South that were using the symbols during the Carlton squares era, so could that small section be part of an unused title sequence?    

[IndigoTucker]

I thought it meant something like connections or contacting people. The part of the titles with the squiggle wasn't very clear in the 1997 CNW titles as the part was only some person's eyes and people walking behind frosted glass in the background.

I *think* the squiggle is a stylised nose and lips? The first peak is the nose, and the bottom two are the lips.

[Mike]

I *think* the squiggle is a stylised nose and lips? The first peak is the nose, and the bottom two are the lips.

I thought that too, but it looks more like a landline telephone cord.

This thread inspired me to try and recreate some of the Central/Carlton branding from 1996/8 - I also realised that the 'A' in both is modified ever so slightly. I've tried 4 different cuts of Gill Sans and the cross bar is lower by a fraction than the respective logos.