Independent TV finally reached the north east of England when Tyne Tees Television went on air at 5.00pm on 15 January 1959, broadcast from a disused warehouse in City Road on Newcastle’s historic quayside, transformed into state-of-the-art studios. A quarter of a million viewers watched on the first night. They broadcast from this base for more than 45 years until the studios shut down in 2005. In time, the station aimed to create a portrait of the north-east, “a land of wide skies, bent...

Independent TV finally reached the north east of England when Tyne Tees Television went on air at 5.00pm on 15 January 1959, broadcast from a disused warehouse in City Road on Newcastle’s historic quayside, transformed into state-of-the-art studios. A quarter of a million viewers watched on the first night. They broadcast from this base for more than 45 years until the studios shut down in 2005.

In time, the station aimed to create a portrait of the north-east, “a land of wide skies, bent vowels, saints, footballers, shipyards and an inventive tradition which has produced the finest engineers in England: its landscape swings from wild moorland to industrial cities and back again to the sea-fretted coast of Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire” as author Antony Brown eulogizes in his book Tyne Tees Television: the first 20 years, a portrait (1978) “The north-east is as far as you can go from the centres of power in southern England.” Many of the Tyne Tees documentaries sprang from these regional roots.

Exploiting the crowd pull of celebrity and a return to roots or major influences in the north east became the focus of many Tyne Tees documentaries of the 1960s and 70s. One such series, the wonderful A World of My Own, followed writers James Mitchell and Catherine Cookson back to a Tyneside childhood, and the politician Manny Shinwell back to a career in County Durham. In the 1971 production Big Jack’s Other World, football celebrity Jack Charlton (still playing for Leeds and England at the time) turned out to be a natural for television when he spent a weekend back home with family and friends in Ashington, Northumberland, followed by Tyne Tees cameras. Charlton’s rise as a popular national TV personality can surely be traced back to this fascinating autobiographical programme, a big hit with leading critics when it was networked. The regional cameras returned to follow Charlton’s 1974 first season as manager of Middlesbrough FC. And Tyne Tees milked his TV charisma on Challenge, What Fettle and his presenting skills in the series of programmes Big Jack’s British in the early 1980s. Durham-born Head of News and Features, Leslie Barrett, claimed the credit for Tyne Tees as Charlton’s TV stardom grew: ‘You long bugger, we’ve helped make you the personality you are’ he’d tell the former footballer.

‘Big Jack’ Charlton, born on 8 May 1935 in the Northumberland village of Ashington, was the first of the two famous Charltons to grace the footballing scene, the other, his kid brother Bobby. Jack Charlton was the son of a miner and followed his father down the pit for a short period. But it was perhaps presumed that he would eventually get into the footballing field because of others in his extended family following the same path. His mother’s cousin ‘Wor Jackie’ Milburn was Newcastle’s legendary centre forward during the 1940s and 50s and set the record for the fastest FA Cup final goal at Wembley during the 1955 final against Manchester City. His other uncles, Jack, George, Jimmy (all playing for Leeds) and Stan (Chesterfield, Leicester), were professional footballers in the top two divisions.

Despite growing up in Ashington, Jack Charlton played for Leeds United between 1952 and 1973. His breakthrough in football came when in 1950, at the age of 15, he was scouted by Leeds United, and asked to go for a trial. Charlton played against the Newcastle youth team, rather than going to an interview he had the same day to join the police cadets. He would’ve been hired to Leeds United there and then, however, due to his age, he had to wait till he turned 17. Sticking to this rule, Charlton turned up to the Leeds United Club Secretary’s office at noon on 8 May 1952, and was offered a contract, with a £10 signing on fee, £18 per week in season, and £14 per week off season, which was at the time the equivalent of senior team money. Stopping off at a newsagents opposite Elland Road, the guy behind the counter was curious as to whether he was signed, particularly because he’d had ‘half the scouts in the Football League in here this morning, wanting to know what you were doing.' That day sparked the teenager’s impressive career in football.

Charlton was mentored by centre half John Charles in his early years at Leeds and went through a notoriously rebellious period after Charles was signed to Italian team Juventus at the end of the 1956-57 season, keenly feeling frustration at Elland Road as United spiraled downwards to the bottom half of Division Two. But Charlton’s football career (and attitude) soon transformed after he settled into married life with Pat Kemp in 1958, and Don Revie took charge as Leeds manager in March 1961. Over time, Jack Charlton appeared in 629 League games for Leeds United, gathering different accolades, such as Footballer of the Year in 1967. He would eventually play for England in 35 matches between 1965 and 1970, on the losing side only twice. Both he and his brother were in the England team during the momentous win against Germany in the 1966 World Cup.

After retiring just short of his 38th birthday, Jack Charlton became a successful manager. Firstly he agreed to manage Second Division team Middlesbrough FC in 1973, refusing to sign a contract, drawing a salary of just £10,000 a year, and taking three days off a week for fishing and shooting. His first move was to paint the club stadium at Ayresome Park. Charlton supervised Boro’s remarkable 1973-74 Division Two campaign, when the team stormed to promotion after winning the league by a record 15 point margin. In 1974 Jackie Charlton was also named Manager of the Year, the first time that a manager outside of the top-flight had been given such an honour. He enjoyed spells at Sheffield Wednesday and, briefly, Newcastle United, the club he’d supported since a child, where he signed Paul Gascoigne. He also led the Republic of Ireland to three major tournaments in the space of ten years, including their first ever World Cup in 1990 “The Irish people are very close in character to the Geordie,” Charlton said. “They are very welcoming to strangers, they’re not false, they like a pint and a laugh and a party.” Charlton attained an OBE, became Freeman of the City of Dublin, and was made an honorary Irish citizen.

The town in which Jack Charlton grew up was developed from a small hamlet in the 1840’s with help from the Duke of Portland building houses, in order to encourage people to come work at his nearby collieries. The year 1867 is significant for the town as the Bothal Mining Shaft was sunk and coal mining expanded. Five collieries were developed in the Ashington area. Ashington Coal Company built parallel rows of colliery housing and newcomers came from the countryside and as far away as Ireland and Cornwall. The town became a centre for the coal mining industry, and was considered to be the ‘world’s largest coal mining village’ with many inhabitants having a distinctive dialect know as ‘Pitmatic’. In 1888, Ashington became a separate parish and the town’s main shopping area Station Road developed. Station Road housed several department stores and five cinemas, being described at one point as the largest shopping area between Edinburgh and Newcastle upon Tyne. There were landmark buildings around the area such as the Grand Hotel, Town Hall, Central Arcade, Holy Sepulchre Church, and Central Hall Methodist Church.

Jack Charlton visits a local whippet race meet during his stay in Ashington. This style of event had been long identified with the working class and the mining communities of Lancashire and the North East – and with gambling. Reforming groups of the 1900s criticised it for emptying the pockets of the poor, hence the term ‘going to the dogs’. In the 1920s bookmakers helped encourage a ‘whippet revival’ and invested in new electric stadiums. The last real boom time for the sport was the early 1940s. Informal meets, such as the one seen within this documentary still draw local breeders and families from Northumberland towns and villages into a shared, participatory weekend ritual with a bet on the side.

In 1934, some of the Ashington miners enrolled in Workers Educational Authorities (WEA) painting classes as an alternative pastime, tutored at first by Robert Lyon. They began to produce paintings to sell at the local markets to supplement their wages. They achieved unexpected success and approval from the art community, including Julian Trevelyan and Henry Moore, being given prestigious gallery exhibitions under the name ‘The Pitmen Painters’, although the group dubbed themselves the ‘Ashington Group’. The Ashington Group produced fascinating paintings that captured aspects of life in and around their mining lives. After the war, this group continued to meet weekly, gaining new members and producing new art until disbanding in 1984. They had such significance in the area that they came to the attention of Billy Elliot creator, Lee Hall, who based his play The Pitmen Painters loosely on the group.

Related films:

http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/charltons-champions

http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/big-jacks-british-durham-miners-gala

http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/about-britain-coast-king-jack

References:

Tyne Tees Television: the first 20 years, a portrait, Antony Brown (Tyne Tees Television, 1978)

http://www.ashingtontowncouncil.gov.uk/ashington-history

The Mighty Mighty Whites: the definitive history of Leeds United http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/players/charlton1.htm

https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/tribute-jack-charltons-republic-ireland-memorable-era/

https://www.northumberlandarchives.com/exhibitions/treasures/10.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/10962809/Lee-Hall-Its-very-difficult-for-a-working-class-boy-to-work-in-the-arts-now.html