A brand new biography of Lew Grade has just been published, and TV Cream has a copy that it is giving away in a manner at which the great man would have scowled, i.e. for free.
It’s the work of former Sunday Times journalist Lewis Chester, and takes its name from one of the many Lew-isms that may or may not be true: “All of my shows are great. Some of them are bad. But all of them are great.”
So if you want to find out more about the man who only had time to read one newspaper a day (the Daily Express), the man who built ATV by ringing up his mates to say “Hello, you’re in the television business”, the man who began his career fixing bookings for the likes of John Ringling North of the Ringling Barnum and Bailey Circus, and the man who believed the secret to the perfect Sunday night’s telly was to “start off with a half-hour comedy show; then an hour of variety; then an hour drama; and then finish with a film” – and, above all, want to do this all without spending a penny, you need to answer this question:
What was the vision that Lew had while flying to the US to ask for money to make Jesus of Nazareth?
Send your answer to competition@tvcreamtest.co.uk – we’ll announce the winner at the weekend.
If you fancy another chance at nabbing the book, there’s a different competition in this week’s Creamguide; not the old Yahoo version that’s been running for flipping years, but the brand new version to which you can subscribe via the TV Cream website. If you haven’t yet signed up for this mailout, enter your details in the box in the right hand column of this page where it says, er, subscribe to Creamguide.
And if you’re still unsure about this whole business, remember Lew’s cry to a recalcitrant Roger Moore when he was in two minds over whether to do The Persuaders: “The country needs money! Think of the Queen!”
TV Cream
February 14, 2010 at 9:27 pm
And the winner is… Daniel Box! Congratulations Dan, and thanks also the rest of you who took part. As for the answer, Lew had a vision of the number 25. He took this to mean that he should ask the US networks not for $2,500, or $25,000, but a whopping 25 million dollars to fund Jesus of Nazareth. And, being Lew, that’s what he got.