The BBC have taken down the “Here Comes the Boss” series by Patrick Wright, mentioned by Ken Craddock in his excellent bibliography on Requisite Organization related writings. I’ve been trying to track down a copy for weeks now.
And then I remembered: the Internet Archive Wayback Machine!
They have collected the transcripts of the series. Not as good as having the complete series, but still good.
Wright “quotes” Haddy Rendal, an inspector at Glacier Metal Company, recored in 1951 during an earlier BBC show on the factory:
Ten or twelve years ago, this was a lousy firm to work for. In those days the foreman cracked the whip and if your face didn’t fit you’d had it. As time went on, things began to improve; foremen were chosen from the chaps on the floor and it made a big difference. Nowadays our relations with the managers are pretty good. It pays them to see that they are and it pays us too — we get more in wages and they get more in profit.
There are also lots of interesting points from people who worked with Brown. Great for those of us who are Wilfred Brown nuts.
Bill Morton, secretary of the Works Council for 26 years, said of Brown:
I say, he was a bloody con man…. I mean I dealt with him, I knew what a bastard he was.
Fun fact: Like our friend Al Gorman, Brown also stood for election to Parliament, although for a weird party (Common Wealth Party).