Gongman

[TimberWolf]

Doesn't ring a bell. Great detective work though! I've just emailed my brother asking him to forward me the details of the text that's written on the back of it and how his common law wife came to own it.

Got a reply back now.

Written on the back of the tam tam is:
Steve Whittaker. Field end. 8417.

Steve Whittaker was a percussionist for either the London symphony or the philharmonic orchestra and owned the gong. He's the grandfather of my brother's common law wife, who now owns it.

Boonnnngggggggggg.

[TimberWolf]

Not "Britten" by any chance?

Blades and Benjamin Britten were good friends.

Doesn't ring a bell. Great detective work though! I've just emailed my brother asking him to forward me the details of the text that's written on the back of it and how his common law wife came to own it.

[Sysman]

And Youtube is now giving me this:

500 Internal Server Error

Sorry, something went wrong.

A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.

Also, please include the following information in your error report:

<loads of technical looking gibberish deleted>

[Sysman]

A true classic:

J. Arthur Rank on Gong

[NickFitz]

I was too busy making bong sounds on it

Wow, does it make bubbling noises too?

Oh, hang on, different definition of "bong"...

[NickFitz]

Unfortunately I forgot the name of the guy printed on the back of the gong, it did have a double t in it though, perhaps Whittaker. Not Blades. I'll get the full story next time I meet up with her. I was too busy making bong sounds on it

Not "Britten" by any chance?

Blades and Benjamin Britten were good friends.

[NickFitz]

A relative who was a nurse in London in the 50's & 60's told me that the guy who did the gong hit on film came in for some surgery, apparently he was too tall and wide for the normal surgical beds, something like 6'9".

Bombardier Billy Wells, who was 6'3" and boxed between 182 and 192 lbs, according to Wikipedia, which is never, ever wrong

Of course people were smaller in those days. A chap who was 6'3" in the Fifties would have towered over the rest of the population as someone who's 6'8" does these days (Hi Churchill ).

[TykeMerc]

A relative who was a nurse in London in the 50's & 60's told me that the guy who did the gong hit on film came in for some surgery, apparently he was too tall and wide for the normal surgical beds, something like 6'9".

[Paddy]

Anyone recall the gong that was hit before the start of oldish Rank films? I've just discovered one of my relatives has it! Or so she claims. She's quite matter-of-fact about owning it, but I was incredulous and couldn't stop banging it. I should have bought my loin cloth. It's actually a tam tam; the one you see being hit in the opening sequences was papier-mâché model that wasn't actually hit. I wonder if it's worth a few quid?

Gonnnngggggggggggggg.

Sorry to disappoint you but the J A Rank gong was made from papier-mâché and the sound was added afterwards.

"If you hit that gong, you would have gone straight through,".

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...nk-410952.html

[xoggoth]

I remember it well. An expression that us, erm, 32 year olds, liked to use was "a quick J Arthur". Nobody knows what it means anymore.

[TimberWolf]

Cool!

The chap who actually played the tam-tam for that ident was James Blades, who also did the African drum Morse code "V for Victory" used by the BBC during WWII. He came to my school sometime in the mid-Seventies and gave a lecture with demonstrations of a vast array of different percussion instruments (including the Rank gong sound). It lasted about two hours, and was hugely entertaining

Unfortunately I forgot the name of the guy printed on the back of the gong, it did have a double t in it though, perhaps Whittaker. Not Blades. I'll get the full story next time I meet up with her. I was too busy making bong sounds on it

[NickFitz]

Cool!

The chap who actually played the tam-tam for that ident was James Blades, who also did the African drum Morse code "V for Victory" used by the BBC during WWII. He came to my school sometime in the mid-Seventies and gave a lecture with demonstrations of a vast array of different percussion instruments (including the Rank gong sound). It lasted about two hours, and was hugely entertaining

[TimberWolf]

Anyone recall the gong that was hit before the start of oldish Rank films? I've just discovered one of my relatives has it! Or so she claims. She's quite matter-of-fact about owning it, but I was incredulous and couldn't stop banging it. I should have bought my loin cloth. It's actually a tam tam; the one you see being hit in the opening sequences was papier-mâché model that wasn't actually hit. I wonder if it's worth a few quid?

Gonnnngggggggggggggg.