FIFTY years ago this month an outstanding work of local history was launched as a then state-of-the-art tape/slide presentation.

In updated and expanded form you can enjoy it today as a DVD.

This was The Story of Basingstoke that architect and staunch Willis Museum supporter Derek Wren made for the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA). First shown to a packed audience at Queen Mary’s Grammar School on November 11, 1964, it was greeted with thunderous applause.

The presentation covered the town’s whole history from pre-historic times to the threshold of its transformation to a London Overspill Town, and what were seen as this transformation’s likely effects.

Success was instant and lasting, due firstly to the high quality of the slides, mostly Derek’s own photos of the local places mentioned, secondly to his authoritative but easy to follow script, and thirdly because the script reader was none other than Basingstoke’s famous broadcaster, John Arlott, then at the height of his long career as a test match commentator.

In this form, The Story was enjoyed by a wide variety of audiences over the next 27 years. Then in 1991, it was made into a VHS video at Queen Mary College, and copies went on sale at local outlets. 

Derek sent one of the first copies to John Arlott, who received it with pleasure shortly before he died.

In 2008, the presentation was digitally re-mastered by David Mann, and reissued as a DVD sponsored by the Friends of the Willis Museum. Derek enhanced the story by adding more archive illustrations and by re-drawing the maps, and David Mann produced a second part to bring the history up to date.

There is no spoken narrative here - for who indeed could compete with the distinctive voice of John Arlott? Instead we have more of Derek’s photos, with captions this time, and background music; together they serve to convey a most evocative impression of the before, during and after of the re-development period.

This part ends optimistically with a look at features mentioned in part one that survive and are now well cared for.

With its 1964 photos, some of areas of the town that have changed almost beyond recognition, part one has become a real period piece and a valuable archive in itself; John Arlott’s distinctive voice and rich Hampshire accent are a splendid period piece, too.

Copies of the DVD, price £10, can be bought at Waterstones and the Discovery Centre in Festival Place, in the Willis Museum, Market Place, and at Milestones Museum.

All profits are used by the Friends of the Willis, a registered charity, to fund improvements to the museum.

John Hollands