User:Pdebee/Oliver Bayldon

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Oliver Bayldon
Born
Richard Oliver Maxwell Bayldon

(1938-09-12)12 September 1938[1]
Leicester
Died23 December 2019(2019-12-23) (aged 81)[1]
London
OccupationProduction designer
Years active1961–1997

Oliver Bayldon FRSA, FCSD (12 September 1938 – 23 December 2019) was a London-based, British production designer best known for his work with the BBC and Royal Academy of Music to create environments for the stage and the screen. He is related to the actor Geoffrey Bayldon.

Early life[edit]

  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 15 Jan. 1954; p. 1; col.3–6[2]
  • Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 8 Dec. 1959; p. 11; col.1[3]
  • Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 20 May 1960; p. 2; col.5.[4]
  • Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 17 Aug. 1960; p. 2; col.4–5[5]
  • Ref for Birmingham Daily Post; 10 Nov. 1960; p. 7; col.1[6]
  • Ref for Leicester Daily Mercury; 19 Nov. 1960; p. 7; col.5–6[7]
  • Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 13 Jan. 1961; p. 6; col.5–6[8]
  • Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 11 Aug. 1961; p. 5; col.1–2[9]

From August to November 1961, Bayldon spent his RSA bursary undertaking a 14-weeks study tour to the United States, travelling through 13 states to study arts and design.[10] On his return, he relayed his experiences in four articles published in the Stamford Mercury on successive Fridays from 15 December 1961.[10][11][12][13]


  • Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 16 Feb. 1962; p. 4; col.3–4[14]
  • Ref for The Stage; 7 Jun. 1962; p. 16; col.4[15]
  • Ref for The Stage; 2 Aug. 1962; p. 5; col.6[16]
  • Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.14; col.2[17]
  • Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.15; col.2-4[18]
  • Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.25; col.1-4[19]

Career[edit]

During 1962 and 1963, Bayldon and John Page stood in for the theatre’s long-serving regular designer, Osbourne Robinson.[20]

In 1965, Bayldon designed sets and costumes for Glyn Idris Jones's Cupid & Psyche,[21] a play that was never staged.[22]

In 1972, he designed costumes for the Goths and Bulgars in Donizetti's Belisario,[23] which was produced by the Royal Academy of Music on the occasion of its 150th anniversary celebrations and performed at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre, on 8 to 11 March of that year.[24]

In 1977, he designed costumes and/or sets for three short operas produced by the Royal Academy of Music for the Gala Opera Performance organised on the occasion of the opening of the Sir Jack Lyons Theatre on 26 October 1977. These three pieces were: The Fairy Queen Act IV: The Masque of the Seasons,[25] Tobermory,[26] and Trial by Jury[27] after an interval.[28] This performance was repeated on 28 and 31 October, and 1 November of that year.[28]

Writing about The Dark Angel for The Los Angeles Times in March 1991, Ray Loynd wrote: "Don MacPherson's script is wafer-thin, genre period melodrama. But the nightmare is salvaged by O’Toole and production designer Oliver Bayldon's sickly rich decay."[29]

  • Ref for Wolverton Express; 28 Dec. 1962; p.6; col.5[30]
  • Ref for The Stage; 3 Jan. 1963; p.29; col.3[31]
  • Ref for The Stage; 7 Mar. 1963; p.16; col.6 [32]
  • Ref for The Stage; 28 Mar. 1963; p.32; col.4[33]
  • Ref for The Stage; 18 Jul. 1963; p.16; col.5–6[34]
  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 6 Dec. 1963; p.10; col.5[35]
  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 20 Mar. 1964; p.2; col.7[36]
  • Ref for The Stage; 31 Dec. 1964; p.6; col.6[37]
  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 5 Mar. 1965; p.1; col.8[38]
  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 9 Sep. 1966; p. 8; col.6[39]
  • Ref for Manchester Evening News; 10 May 1969; p. 8; col.6[40]
  • Ref for Nottingham Evening Post; 26 Jan. 1970; p. 9; col.2[41]
  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 6 Aug. 1971; p. 3; col.6[42]
  • Ref for Belfast News-Letter; 19 Nov. 1971; p 4; col.4–5[43]
  • Ref for Leicester Daily Mercury; 15 Feb. 1972; p. 16; col.6[44]
  • Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.14; col.2[17]
  • Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.15; col.2–4[18]
  • Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.25; col.1–4[45]
  • Ref for The Stage; 15 Feb. 1973; p. 11; col.1[46]
  • Ref for Leicester Daily Mercury; 22 Feb. 1973; p. 24; col.3–4[47]
  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 12 Dec. 1975; p. 16; col.6[48]
  • Ref for Leicester Daily Mercury; 14 Mar. 1977; p. 16; col.3–4[49]
  • Ref for The Stage; 4 Jan. 1979; p. 16; col.3–4[50]
  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 16 May 1980; p. 16; col.2–4[51]
  • Ref for The Stage; 16 Oct. 1980; p. 23; col.4[52]
  • Ref for Stamford Mercury; 17 Dec. 1982; p. 8; col.5–6[53]
  • Ref for Leicester Daily Mercury; 12 Mar. 1990; p. 15; col.1–2[54]
  • Ref for Southall Gazette; 26 Oct. 1990; p. 6; col.7[55]
  • Ref for The Stage; 25 Feb. 1993; p. 20; col.5[56]
  • Ref for Nottingham Evening Post; 8 Mar. 1993; p. 3; col.4[57]
  • Ref for Middlesex County Times; 12 Mar. 1993; p. 3; col.1[58]

Selected works[edit]

Stage[edit]

While at Stamford School in the 1950s, Bayldon designed sets for plays performed at the School Hall:

In the 1960s, Bayldon designed costumes and sets for the Northampton Repertory Theatre:

In the 1970s, Bayldon designed costumes and sets for four operas produced by the Royal Academy of Music:

Television[edit]

Bayldon was Production Designer for the following television programmes (except where indicated):

Radio[edit]

Bayldon wrote the following short stories, read on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Morning Story:[72]

Exhibitions[edit]

  • 1959 – Paintings and Stage Designs. Bookshop, King Street, Leicester (August 1959)[73]
  • 1963 – Costume and Theatre Designs. Museum and Art Gallery, Guildhall Road, Northampton (23 February 1963 – 23 March 1963)[74]
  • 1972 – Stage and Television Designs. Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry (25 August 1972 – 17 September 1972)[75][21][17]
  • 1995 – Oliver Bayldon at 195. The British Academy of Film & Television Arts, 195 Piccadilly, London W1 (9 October 1995 – 11 November 1995)[76][77]
  • 1996 – Arts in the Vaults. Royal Society of Arts, 8 John Adam Street, London WC2 (26 April 1996 – 26 July 1996)[78]

Collections[edit]

Bayldon’s designs for opera are held in the public collections of the Royal Academy of Music, London. A collection of 45 costume and set designs by Bayldon from the 1970s can also be viewed on the Academy’s website.[79]

Publications[edit]

Books[edit]

  • The Paper Makers Craft (1965)[80][81]
  • Enigma I (1969) – Collective work, including four poems by Bayldon[82]
  • Acts of Defiance (2013)[83]
  • Darkly Blows the Harmattan: Short Stories (2015)[84]

Articles[edit]

  • Four articles about his 14-weeks US study tour (1961); published in the Stamford Mercury[10][11][12][13]
  • Creating a Visual Style (2013); published in The Veteran[85][86]
  • Filming in Perspective (2014); published in The Veteran[87]
  • Memories: Ealing Studios remembered (2015); published in Prospero[88]
  • Obituaries: John Hurst (2016); published in Prospero[89]

Awards and fellowships[edit]

Family connections[edit]

He is related to the actor Geoffrey Bayldon.

I don't really have a theatrical background, although I have a cousin Geoffrey Bayldon who's a well-known actor — but somehow the whole concept of creating sets appealed to me.

—Oliver Bayldon, in Man behind the scenes...behind the scenes by Pete Barraclough (1972)[18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The award nomination was shared with the Design Team.[94]
  2. ^ The award nomination was shared with Richard Morris, Bernard Lloyd-Jones, Sue Spence, and Peter Brachacki.[95]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b BAFTA; In Memory.
  2. ^ Stamford Mercury; 15 Jan. 1954.
  3. ^ Leicester Evening Mail; 8 Dec. 1959.
  4. ^ Leicester Evening Mail; 20 May 1960.
  5. ^ Leicester Evening Mail; 17 Aug. 1960.
  6. ^ Birmingham Daily Post; 10 Nov. 1960.
  7. ^ Leicester Daily Mercury; 19 Nov. 1960.
  8. ^ Leicester Evening Mail; 13 Jan. 1961.
  9. ^ Leicester Evening Mail; 11 Aug. 1961.
  10. ^ a b c Stamford Mercury; 15 Dec. 1961.
  11. ^ a b Stamford Mercury; 22 Dec. 1961.
  12. ^ a b Stamford Mercury; 29 Dec. 1961.
  13. ^ a b Stamford Mercury; 5 Jan. 1962.
  14. ^ Leicester Chronicle; 16 Feb. 1962.
  15. ^ The Stage; 7 Jun. 1962.
  16. ^ The Stage; 2 Aug. 1962.
  17. ^ a b c Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972, p. 14; col.2.
  18. ^ a b c Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972, p. 15; col.2-4.
  19. ^ Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972, p. 25; col.1-4.
  20. ^ Foulkes 1992, p. 119.
  21. ^ a b Birmingham Daily Post; 2 Sep. 1972.
  22. ^ Jones 2008, p. 103.
  23. ^ Musical Times; Mar. 1972.
  24. ^ a b RAM1972; p.1.
  25. ^ a b RAM1977; p.6.
  26. ^ a b RAM1977; p.8.
  27. ^ a b RAM1977; p.12.
  28. ^ a b RAM1977; Front cover.
  29. ^ Los Angeles Times; 21 Mar. 1991.
  30. ^ a b Wolverton Express; 28 Dec. 1962.
  31. ^ a b The Stage; 3 Jan. 1963.
  32. ^ The Stage; 7 Mar. 1963.
  33. ^ a b The Stage; 28 Mar. 1963.
  34. ^ The Stage; 18 Jul. 1963.
  35. ^ Stamford Mercury; 6 Dec. 1963.
  36. ^ Stamford Mercury; 20 Mar. 1964.
  37. ^ The Stage; 31 Dec. 1964.
  38. ^ Stamford Mercury; 5 Mar. 1965.
  39. ^ Stamford Mercury; 9 Sep. 1966.
  40. ^ Manchester Evening News; 10 May 1969.
  41. ^ Nottingham Evening Post; 26 Jan. 1970.
  42. ^ Stamford Mercury; 6 Aug. 1971.
  43. ^ Belfast News-Letter; 19 Nov. 1971.
  44. ^ Leicester Daily Mercury; 15 Feb. 1972.
  45. ^ Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972, p. 25; col.1-4.
  46. ^ The Stage; 15 Feb. 1973.
  47. ^ Leicester Daily Mercury; 22 Feb. 1973.
  48. ^ Stamford Mercury; 12 Dec. 1975.
  49. ^ Leicester Daily Mercury; 14 Mar. 1977.
  50. ^ The Stage; 4 Jan. 1979.
  51. ^ Stamford Mercury; 16 May 1980.
  52. ^ The Stage; 16 Oct. 1980.
  53. ^ Stamford Mercury; 17 Dec. 1982.
  54. ^ Leicester Daily Mercury; 12 Mar. 1990.
  55. ^ Southall Gazette; 26 Oct. 1990.
  56. ^ The Stage; 25 Feb. 1993.
  57. ^ Nottingham Evening Post; 8 Mar. 1993.
  58. ^ Middlesex County Times; 12 Mar. 1993.
  59. ^ Stamford Mercury; 18 Dec. 1953.
  60. ^ Stamford Mercury; 17 Dec. 1954.
  61. ^ Stamford School; Mar. 1955.
  62. ^ Stamford Mercury; 16 Dec. 1955.
  63. ^ Stamford Mercury; 2 Nov. 1956.
  64. ^ Stamford Mercury; 20 Dec. 1957.
  65. ^ NRT; Sep. 1962.
  66. ^ NRT; Nov. 1962.
  67. ^ NRT; Mar. 1963.
  68. ^ NRT; Jun. 1963.
  69. ^ Shakespeare Quarterly; 1 Oct. 1983.
  70. ^ Prouty 1994, p. 30.
  71. ^ BFI 1992.
  72. ^ BBC Archive; R4.
  73. ^ Leicester Daily Mercury; 8 Aug. 1959.
  74. ^ Stamford Mercury; 25 Jan. 1963.
  75. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph; 25 Aug. 1972.
  76. ^ BAFTA News; Oct. 1995.
  77. ^ RSA Journal; Nov. 1995.
  78. ^ RSA Journal; Apr. 1996.
  79. ^ RAM; Collections.
  80. ^ Bayldon 1965.
  81. ^ KOAF.
  82. ^ Cotton & Rigby 1969.
  83. ^ Bayldon 2013.
  84. ^ Bayldon 2015.
  85. ^ The Veteran; 2013.
  86. ^ a b CSD; 2014.
  87. ^ The Veteran; 2014.
  88. ^ Prospero; 2015.
  89. ^ Prospero; 2016.
  90. ^ RSA Journal; Apr. 1961.
  91. ^ RSA; List of Members; 1967.
  92. ^ RSA; Fellowship.
  93. ^ BAFTA; 1972.
  94. ^ a b BAFTA; 1973.
  95. ^ a b BAFTA; 1977.
  96. ^ RTS Archive; 1989.
  97. ^ BAFTA; 1993.

Sources[edit]

Books by Bayldon[edit]

  • Bayldon, Oliver (1965). The Paper Makers Craft (softcover; small 8vo., hand-made self-paper wrappers. 4 pages. Printed on Mason's handmade paper.) (1st ed.). Leicester: Twelve by Eight Paper Mill & Private Press. The verse by Oliver Bayldon and the illustrations by Rigby Graham.
  • Bayldon, Oliver (2013). Acts of Defiance (softcover) (1st ed.). London: Willow eBooks. ISBN 978-1-909473-00-3.
  • Bayldon, Oliver (2015). Darkly Blows the Harmattan: Short Stories (softcover) (1st ed.). London. ASIN B00WRGN6SS.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Books by other authors[edit]

  • Cotton, John; Rigby, Graham; et al. (John Cotton, Graham Rigby, Patrick Bridgewater, John Minton, Margaret McCord, Oliver Bayldon) (1969). Enigma I (softcover) (1st ed.). Leicester: Cog Press. (...) Five Poems by John Cotton; Two Typograms by Patrick Bridgewater; Three Drawings by John Minton; Two Screen Prints by Margaret McCord; Four Poems by Oliver Bayldon; Priapus the Growth of a Magazine by John Cotton; and (...) T. E. Lawrence & the Seizin Press of Robert Graves, by Rigby Graham.
  • Dollimore, Jonathan; Sinfield, Alan, eds. (1994) [1985]. Political Shakespeare: Essays in Cultural Materialism (hardcover) (2nd Revised ed.). Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-7190-4352-9. The set [of Jane Howell's productions of the first historical tetralogy], modelled on an adventure playground in Fulham, was designed to suggest the locations of popular drama - 'we thought of fairgrounds and circuses and mystery plays' as well as familiar modern environments, a children's playground or a burnt-out building site. It was constructed to appear deliberately non-naturalistic: thus allowing the play to express both historical and contemporary meanings. Oliver Bayldon, the set-designer, explained his decision to use a modern parquet floor as a deliberate violation of illusionist representation: 'It stops the set from literally representing... it reminds us we are in a modern television studio'. Stanley Wells commended this aspect of the production: 'Jane Howell has dared to encourage us to remember that the action is taking place in a studio'.
  • Foulkes, Richard (1992). Repertory at The Royal. Sixty-Five Years of Theatre in Northampton 1927-92 (hardcover) (1st ed.). Northampton, UK: Northampton Repertory Players. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-9505442-1-2. The theatre had been without the services of Osbourne Robinson during 1962–1963 when he was teaching at Vanderbilt University in the United Sates. Oliver Bayldon and John Page were scenic designers in his absence.
  • Jones, Glyn Idris (2008). No Official Umbrella (softcover) (1st ed.). Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland: DCG Publications. p. 103. ISBN 978-960-98418-0-1. Retrieved 2 October 2023 – via books.google.co.uk. I tried a few years back (...) to get them interested in Cupid & Psyche, but they all thought it was too rude. Oliver Bayldon, a designer with the BBC, loved the idea and rendered some beautiful costumes and set designs.
  • May, Thomas William (January 2023). "3.9.1. 'Lovely scenery' or 'all depressing from a visual angle': aesthetics and production style". A history and interpretive analysis of play for today, (BBC1, 1970-84) (PDF) (PhD thesis). Newcastle upon Tyne: Northumbria University. p. 143. [The viewers] loved the designs Barrie Dobbins, Susan Spence, Oliver Bayldon and Richard Henry produced for Rocky Marciano is Dead, Housewives' Choice (both 1976), A Choice of Evils and The Country Party (both 1977), respectively (...).
  • Prouty (1994). Variety Television Reviews, Vol. 17 (1991-92) (hardcover) (1st ed.). Abingdon-on-Thames, UK: Routledge. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-8240-3796-3. Retrieved 24 November 2023 – via books.google.co.uk. The Dark Angel. Filmed in England by the BBC and TV New Zealand. Producer, Joe Waters; (...) production designer, Oliver Bayldon; (...). Oliver Bayldon's rich design gives the production substance and finality.
  • Studley, Vance (2012). The Art & Craft of Handmade Paper (softcover) (New ed.). Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-486-26421-9. Retrieved 18 December 2023 – via books.google.co.uk. Oliver Bayldon has freely translated a papermaker's Latin poem from the seventeenth century, that in part reads: "The blocks begin their hobnail dance (...). The poem is highly flavored with the kind of activity which is so essential to good paper beating (...).

Theatre programs/playbills[edit]

  • The Boy With A Cart (Theatre program/playbill). Tuesday 22 March & Wednesday 23 March 1955. Stamford: Stamford School. p. 1. Costumes designed by R. O. M. Bayldon
  • Guilty Party (Theatre program/playbill). Monday 3 September 1962 For Two Weeks. Northampton: Northampton Repertory Theatre. p. 1. Setting by Oliver Bayldon
  • Murder at Quay Cottage (Theatre program/playbill). Monday 5 November 1962 For Two Weeks. Northampton: Northampton Repertory Theatre. p. 1. Setting by Oliver Bayldon
  • Write Me A Murder (Theatre program/playbill). Monday 4 March 1963 For Two Weeks. Northampton: Northampton Repertory Theatre. p. 1. Setting by Oliver Bayldon
  • Go Back For Murder (Theatre program/playbill). Monday 17 June 1963 For Two Weeks. Northampton: Northampton Repertory Theatre. p. 1. Settings by Oliver Bayldon
  • Belisario (Theatre program/playbill). Wednesday 8 March to Saturday 11 March 1972 (Royal Academy of Music 150th Anniversary Celebrations ed.). London: Sadler's Wells Foundation. p. 1. Costumes: Oliver Bayldon
  • Sir Jack Lyons Theatre (Theatre program/playbill) (Official opening of Sir Jack Lyons Theatre ed.). London: Royal Academy of Music. October 1977. Front cover. Official Opening by HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, President of the RAM. Wednesday 26th October 1977 at 8.0 p.m. Further performances on Friday 28th October, Monday 31st October, and Tuesday 1st November, at 7.30 p.m.
  • The Fairy Queen Act IV: The Masque of the Seasons (Theatre program/playbill) (Official opening of Sir Jack Lyons Theatre ed.). London: Royal Academy of Music. October 1977. p. 6. Set: Oliver Bayldon
  • Tobermory (Theatre program/playbill) (Official opening of Sir Jack Lyons Theatre ed.). London: Royal Academy of Music. October 1977. p. 8. Set and Costumes: Oliver Bayldon
  • Trial by Jury (Theatre program/playbill) (Official opening of Sir Jack Lyons Theatre ed.). London: Royal Academy of Music. October 1977. p. 12. Set and Costumes: Oliver Bayldon

Magazines and newspapers[edit]

  • "IMAGINATIVE PRODUCTION - Stamford School Presents Shakespearean Roman Tragedy". Stamford Mercury. No. 12, 595. Stamford, UK. 18 December 1953. p. 8; col.5–6. Retrieved 19 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. The Stamford School Dramatic Society's presentation of Coriolanus, the last of Shakespeare's three Roman tragedies, performed in the School-hall Friday and Saturday, was notable for the imagination shown in its production, and there seemed no end to the artifice and effect on which Mr. H. B. Sharp, the producer, was able to draw in giving the players and audience a rewarding two hours. Coriolanus has been described as "rather tedious". Little wonder, therefore, that it has probably never before been acted in Stamford, for it is a play with little attraction to the professional theatre, let alone the amateur stage. Consequently, the School society showed commendable courage in tackling the work, and the success they achieved was due to the vigorous, forthright manner in which they addressed themselves to their task. A free and well-timed use of the stage, an ingenious employment of lighting and the excellence of the grouping of the players revealed a high standard of stage-craft. For the most part the costumes were colourfully simple, and there was no elaborate scenery. The production succeeded or failed by its method of presentation and by the performances of the boys themselves. And the latter matched the inventiveness of the production. They handled long and involved speeches remarkably well, were at their best when war-like, threatening or scheming and entered into everything with an engaging enthusiasm. (...) Mrs B. L. Deed and Miss Fawkes helped with the soldiers' and crowd's costumes, which had been designed and stencilled bv R. O. M. Bayldon. (...).
  • "BIRTH OF "MORCOTT DUSTBINS" - A Crazy Story About a Litter Basket". Stamford Mercury. No. 12, 599. Stamford, UK. 15 January 1954. p. 1; col.3–6. Retrieved 8 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. This unusual story began a few months ago, when, as a joke, Oliver [Bayldon] conjured up his "Morcott Dustbin Society." (... ) Said Oliver: "The village gets a bit untidy during the summer, what with ice cream papers and that sort of thing." (...) Oliver, besides being an artist of no mean ability—he hopes to become a scenery designer—is also keenly interested in theatricals. He has been staging children's shows since he was nine. "I was about to put on a show anyway," said Oliver, so I thought it would be a good idea to do one for a litter basket". The show was put on in the New Barn on Friday. "It seems to have been a great success," said Oliver. "We got £2 8s. and this will go towards a litter basket." (...) The young artistes had the benefit of costumes from the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Recently, Oliver paid a visit to the theatre and was promised a batch of costumes which are no longer used. Later his father picked them up. The show, a variety entertainment, was given the title of To-night's the Night. It included ballet, sketches and songs (...).
  • "AMUSING STORY BY SCHOLARS - Russian play chosen". Stamford Mercury. No. 12, 647. Stamford, UK. 17 December 1954. p. 5; col.5–6. Retrieved 19 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Nicola Gogol's The Government Inspector proved to be an excellent choice for this year's Stamford School production, providing many colourful small parts for untried actors. Many new actors who came forward to show their merits, made these small parts live. The play was presented on Friday and Saturday. The performers enjoyed the humorous situations and the many possibilities of character portrayal that the play affords, and the audiences responded warmly. (...) [T]he audience could enjoy the Victorian décor skilfully designed and painted by R. O. M. Bayldon, who also acted the leading female part with fine control of voice and features. (...).
  • "Boys made Shakespeare so enjoyable". Stamford Mercury. No. 12, 699. Stamford, UK. 16 December 1955. p. 9; col.8. Retrieved 19 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. It is not the function of a school to entertain, and when boys of Stamford School presented the first part of Shakespeare's King Henry the Fourth on Friday and Saturday, the only visitors to see them were a limited number of parents and friends. It is a tribute in itself to pass on the view of more than one of them that the preparation and the presentation deserved wider audiences. (...) Mr. M. J. Henley fully deserved the curtain call he took at the end as producer, and costumes and scenery left nothing to be desired. Other characters were: (...) Archbishop of York, R. O. M. Bayldon; (...) The scenery was designed and painted by R. O. M. Bayldon (...).
  • "We must see more of this talent - 'Charley's Aunt'". Stamford Mercury. No. 12, 745. Stamford, UK. 2 November 1956. p. 7; col.1–2. Retrieved 20 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. There was a wonderful sense of satisfaction in the production of Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas, a well-known favourite, last week in Stamford School Hall. It was a relish to remember. "The talented company of local actors" which gave the performances was, in fact, a group of masters from the School, aided by wives and friends, finding this an enjoyable way of raising money for new stage equipment. The producers, Messrs. H. B. Sharp and J. H. S. Mowat, had rehearsed their cast thoroughly, and the whole company worked as a team to gain full benefit from this opportunity for a piece of clowning. Schoolmasters know how to act the fool! The scene of Charley's Aunt is Oxford during the Commemoration Week of 1892. The plot centres on a man in skirts. (...) Responsible for the scenery, property and lighting (...) were R. O. M. Bayldon, R. Foster and P. J. Snelson. It is to be hoped that the same talented company will once again demonstrate its powers. All too seldom is the public allowed to see schoolmasters clowning; such sites are reserved for their pupils.
  • "A Greek Play at School - 'The Frogs'". Stamford Mercury. No. 12, 804. Stamford, UK. 20 December 1957. p. 13; col.4–5. Retrieved 20 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. For their end-of-term play, the boys of Stamford School performed The Frogs of Aristophanes, a Greek comedy produced at Athens in 405 B.C. The translation used, a new one by Dudley Fitts, was given its first public performance was given under the imaginative and scholarly guidance of Mr. Chapman, senior classics master. It may have surprised the audience that so many of the jokes could be appreciated today. (...) This highly entertaining and polished production will rank among the most notable dramatic enterprises of the school. (...) Gateway painted by R. O. M. Bayldon.
  • "ONE-MAN SHOW". Leicester Daily Mercury. Leicester, UK. 8 August 1959. p. 6; col.3–5. Retrieved 25 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. A one-man exhibition of paintings and stage designs by a Leicester College of Art student, Mr. Oliver Bayldon, will be opened on Monday. [...] He has designed many of the sets for the Leicester University Drama Society and the French Circle. His exhibits at a bookshop in King's Street and Regent Road include many of the original model set designs. On display, too, will be drawings and paintings of characters for costumer purposes, paintings and monotones, with printed fabrics decorating the walls.
  • "Merry medieval moments". Leicester Evening Mail. No. 15, 267. Leicester, UK. 8 December 1959. p. 11; col.1. Retrieved 12 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. After spending weeks on what was to have been the pride of their Arts Ball at Leicester Palais last night, students found themselves in trouble with fire brigade authorities. They had constructed a huge dragon from tin and cardboard. Gaily painted, it was place inside the main entrance at the dancehall. Then a fire officer ordered them to take it away. He said it was obstructing a fire exit. The students argued that there were several fire exits around the hall and that it was not causing a troublesome obstruction. But the officer was adamant. The 30-feet long, 10-ft. high dragon had to be dismantled. Parts of it were used to decorate the corners of the hall. Theme of the ball, attended by about 800, was "Medieval", but many students either had a bad sense of history or could not find suitable costumes. (...) Organiser Mr. Oliver Bayldon, led the authentic array in magnificent knight's mailed armour, with plumed helmet. Knights of St. George, having no dragon to fight, did mock battle with Saracens, whose survivors were led to the gallows which formed a motif.
  • "Two poems". Leicester Evening Mail. No. 15, 405. Leicester, UK. 20 May 1960. p. 2; col.5. Retrieved 12 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Every few weeks something new and interesting comes from Leicester's private Press movement. There are two such interests now operating. (...) Another St. Anthony Press publication, also devoted to one poem, is entitled "Morning". This is a poem by Oliver Bayldon, illustrated by Chris Shorten. Mr Bayldon is a young Leicester student who has had poems broadcast on the BBC Third Programme, and who is likely to have a successful career as a stage designer.
  • "Twice a year now". Leicester Evening Mail. No. 15, 481. Leicester, UK. 17 August 1960. p. 2; col.4–5. Retrieved 13 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Leicester's two privately published magazines—one devoted to the arts and general topics, the other to poetry—are to appear less frequently. When Crescent made its first appearance towards the end of last year, editor Brian de L'Throat wanted to bring it out every two months. Now he has decided it shall appear only twice a year. (...) The current issue of Crescent, first to be printed professionally, is well illustrated and has some lively articles. Writers discuss the artist's place in modern society, and there is a plea from John S. Clarke to poets with formal education not to be overcome by technique. Oliver Bayldon, an articulate and perceptive writer, whose work has found favour with the BBC, tries to define art and says society must come to terms with it.
  • "Students' Hoax Reveals Real Relics". Birmingham Daily Post. No. 31, 846. Birmingham, UK. 10 November 1960. p. 7; col.1. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Students at Leicester College of Arts, as a hoax to publicise their arts ball, began digging trenches on ground near the college in a bogus search for antiquities and suddenly unearthed a medieval wall, bones, and pieces of ancient pottery. Officials of Leicester Museum became interested, so Mr Oliver Bayldon, one of the students, has called off the hoax and decided to continue with serious excavations.
  • Almey, Kaye (19 November 1960). "Designs for Living: 2–YOUNG IDEA". Leicester Daily Mercury. Leicester, UK. p. 7; col.5–6. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. (...) Bearded twenty-one-year-old Leicester College of Art student, Oliver Bayldon, acquired his first close contact with modern domestic furniture when a local store, eager to test a young reaction to a trade show, invited him along to the Furniture Exhibition in Manchester earlier this year. His comments so impressed experienced viewers that Mr. Bayldon was invited, with a carte blanche selection of store stock, to assemble and decorate a living room and bedroom to his individual taste. Mr. Bayldon's creed for young homes is built on areas of warm colours—he carpeted his living room with vermilion, sharpened up the bedroom with citron yellow—and the gradual collection, when money is tight, of good pieces of furniture rather than making a more complete start with cheaper lines. He showed marked enthusiasm for fireplaces in the centre of a living room rather than attached to a wall. [Photo caption:] The young idea of what a living room should look like. Leicester College of Art student, Mr. Oliver Bayldon, who planned it, chose a curved settee in charcoal and deep blue, vermilion carpet and scatter cushion, a round supper table, room dividers and a low long sideboard. His own pictures on the wall.
  • "FINE STAGE: NO SOCIETY". Leicester Evening Mail. No. 15, 607. Leicester, UK. 13 January 1961. p. 6; col.5–6. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. It seems strange that no amateur drama society exists at Leicester College of Art and Technology where there is a fine stage. Oliver Bayldon, a student who organises the arts ball, said: "Attempts have often made to get one going, but one or two people have been left to do all the work. So many students are committed to evening study that it is hard to organise a group." At the university, Sartre plays are being read to see which one the students could best produce.
  • "Industrial Art Bursaries: 1960 Competition" (PDF). RSA Journal. 109 (5057). London: Royal Society of Arts: 328–338, 330. April 1961. JSTOR 41366885. Retrieved 2 October 2023 – via JSTOR. FILM, STAGE AND TELEVISION SETTINGS. Bursaries: Richard Bayldon (Leicester College of Art: age 22).
  • "CITY EXAM SUCCESSES". Leicester Evening Mail. No. 15, 786. Leicester, UK. 11 August 1961. p. 5; col.1–2. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Fifty-eight students at Leicester College of Art were successful in the recent Ministry of Education art examinations. Of this number, 19 gained their intermediate examination in art and crafts, while the other 39 were awarded national diplomas in design. (...) National Diploma in Design: (...) Richard Oliver M. Bayldon, 2 Lexham Street; (...).
  • "OLD BOY IN THE STATES - He finds their traffic a terrifying nightmare". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 012. Stamford, UK. 15 December 1961. p. 8; col.2–3. Retrieved 8 February 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive. Old Stamfordian, Mr. Oliver M. Bayldon, of Barrowden, who recently took an appointment with the Northampton Repertory Company, has recently returned from the United States of America where he spent about 14 weeks studying art and design on a Royal Society of Arts Industrial Design Bursary. He gained some interesting insights into life there and relates them in this and other articles to follow. (...)
  • "WHY HE DOES NTO WANT TO LIVE THERE - Mr. Oliver Bayldon explains". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 013. Stamford, UK. 22 December 1961. p. 6; col.3–6. Retrieved 8 February 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive. Mr. R. O. M. Bayldon, the old Stamfordian, whose home is at Barrowden, recently visited America, and in this, his second article, he tells why he would not care to live there. (...)
  • "Mr. BAYLDON SEES THE FALL-OUT SHELTERS GO UP IN USA - Fear and insecurity felt there". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 014. Stamford, UK. 29 December 1961. p. 6; col.2–5. Retrieved 8 February 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive. Will there be a war? That was the great question in America a few weeks ago when Mr. Oliver Bayldon, whose home is at Barrowden, and who is an Old Stamfordian, was there. He has already written on this page in previous issues, articles in which he spoke generally of his travels. This week he discusses America's attitude to world affairs, which, he says, is a difficult problem and is affected by so many aspects. (...)



  • "ART IN THE HOME AND STREET: Leicester Students Can Provide It". Leicester Chronicle. No. 1, 928. Leicester, UK. 16 February 1962. p. 4; col.3–4. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. (...) The banners at St. Mary's Church, Glenfield, came from the drawing board of Mr. Oliver Bayldon, one of the college's top students last year. He won the Arts Council award for drama and stage design and toured the United States on the bursary. He is now the stage designer for Northampton Repertory Company. (...)
  • "Talented Young Men in the Paint-Shop". The Stage. No. 4, 234. London, UK. 7 June 1962. p. 16; col.4. Retrieved 28 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Two talented young men are to be found in Osborne Robinson's paint-shop at Northampton Repertory. They are Oliver Bayldon and John Page, both aged 22. Oliver, who has been training under Mr. Robinson since last November, holds one of the first three bursaries for stage design to be presented by the Arts Council. A former art student of Leicester School of Art, he spent three months last year touring the United States by means of a bursary awarded by the Royal Society of Arts.
  • "Taking Over from Osborne Robinson". The Stage. No. 4, 242. London, UK. 2 August 1962. p. 5; col.6. Retrieved 28 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. When Osborne Robinson, scenic designer at Northampton Repertory since 1928, leaves for a stay in the United States in September, his job will be taken over temporarily by his present assistant, 22-year-old John Page, who has been with him for the past three years. Mr. Page will be assisted by Oliver Bayldon, who is also 22. He holds one of the first three bursaries for stage design to be presented by the Arts Council.
  • "Babes in the Wood - Northampton Repertory Theatre". Wolverton Express. No. 3, 220. Wolverton, UK. 28 December 1962. p. 6; col.5. Retrieved 30 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Costumes designed by Oliver Bayldon
  • "NORTHAMPTON - Babes in the Wood". The Stage. No. 4, 264. London, UK. 3 January 1963. p. 29; col.3. Retrieved 30 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. The Northampton Repertory Company pantomime, Babes in the Wood, looks like being one of the "best-ever", for there is something for everyone to enjoy in this spirited, well-presented and melodious entertainment. There is a well-written book by Alan and K. Brown and the expensively mounted sets by John Page closely blend with elaborate costumes designed by Oliver Bayldon and made in the theatre workshop by Emily Tuckley and staff. The smooth production is a credit to Terry Craig-Browne and his back stage helpers.
  • "About people". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 070. Northampton, UK. 25 January 1963. p. 12; col.2. Retrieved 25 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Old Stamfordian Mr. Oliver M. Bayldon, of Barrowden, designed the costumes and is playing a small part in the Northampton Repertory pantomime Babes in the Wood. Mr. Bayldon is employed as co-designer at the theatre and is to have an exhibition of stage and costume designs at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery starting on February 23.
  • "Designs on show at Northampton". The Stage. No. 4, 273. London, UK. 7 March 1963. p. 16; col.6. Retrieved 30 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Assistant prop designer at the Northampton Repertory Theatre, Oliver Bayldon is holding his first public exhibition of costumes and scenic designs at the Art Gallery, Northampton. The exhibition was opened by Lionel Hamilton, director of productions. Mr. Bayldon came to Northampton under an Arts Council bursary in November 1961 to train under Osborne Robinson and stayed as assistant to John Page who has taken over for a period while Mr. Robinson is in America.
  • "Blackmail underlies". The Stage. No. 4, 276. London, UK. 28 March 1963. p. 32; col.4. Retrieved 1 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. What lies under the shiny surface of TV personality Elliott Marshall is shown in a few very important days in his home life in this new play by Roy Plomley. (...) Lionel Hamilton's direction maintains a steady pace with the tension well built up particularly in the final act. The double set by Oliver Bayldon is important to the atmosphere of the play as well as being attractive.
  • "Looking back at Northampton". The Stage. No. 4, 292. London, UK. 18 July 1963. p. 16; col.5–6. Retrieved 1 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. (...) Of this season's productions outstanding were The Party, with Valeric Bland and Johnathan Adams, Storm Lantern, in which David Lyn played Lloyd George, Photo Finish, with Johnathan Adams, John Cheflins, Alan Brown and Mark Llwes as the four Sams, the musical Love From Judy, with Yvonne Marlowe as a captivating Judy, Babes in the Wood, one of the best-ever pantomimes in which Lionel Hamilton again excelled as the Dame, The Rivals, with Vera Lennox as Mrs. Mala-prop, Jean Anouilh's The Rehearsal, and A Passage To India. The company's second revue Summer Heyday was a big disappointment as it was nowhere up to the standard of last year's All of a Twist. The premiere of Roy Plomley's The Shiny Surface was notable for the appearance of Vic Oliver as guest star. Other guest artists included Tenniel Evans (a former member of the company) with Chairmain Eyre in The Keep. Peter Vernon in Babes in the Wood and Love from Judy, Diana Scougall, Peggy Aitchison, Eleanor McCready, Pamela Sholto and William Gidley (in pantomime). Trainee director Kenneth Loach, who came to Northampton under the sponsorship of A.B.C. T V., left in November and his place was taken by Ronald Hayman. During the absence of scenic designer Osborne Robinson, in America, John Page and Oliver Bayldon have kept up the high standard associated with this company. (...) The company finished the season with an elegant production of Somerset Maugham's The Circle.
  • "A television designer". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 115. Stamford, UK. 6 December 1963. p. 10; col.5. Retrieved 1 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. R. Oliver Bayldon, of 13 Cranley Gardens, South Kensington, an Old Stamfordian whose parents live at Barrowden, has joined the BBC Television design department as an assistant designer. Mr. Bayldon spent two years at Northampton Repertory Theatre, the first on an Arts Council Scholarship and the second as a designer, and he believes that these two years are standing him in good stead for his work in television. He has already worked on programmes as varied as Compact and Dr. Findlay's Casebook and various drama presentations. Mr. Bayldon had yet another of his poems, "A man in a crowd", broadcast on BBC radio (Midland Region) in the programme Midland Poets, on Wednesday (Dec. 4). Mr. Bayldon, who hopes to eventually become a designer in his own right, told the Mercury: 'Looking back, I think I was very fortunate in getting the right sort of grounding from Mr. Walter Douglas at Stamford School.'
  • "About people". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 130. Northampton, UK. 20 March 1964. p. 2; col.7. Retrieved 1 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Oliver Bayldon, the Barrowden BBC television designer, will have poetry read in T. D. Tosswill's programme Midland Poets in the BBC Home Service at 9 p.m. this evening.
  • "Chit Chat - 'Cupid'". The Stage. No. 4, 368. London, UK. 31 December 1964. p. 6; col.6. Retrieved 1 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. (...) About March or April of next year Durwell Productions Ltd. are planning to present a new musical, Cupid, with book and lyrics by Glyn Jones and music by Kenny Clayton. The book is based on the Cupid and Psyche legend, reset in Edwardian London. The designer is Oliver Bayldon.
  • "Paper making inspires local poet". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 180. Northampton, UK. 5 March 1965. p. 1; col.8. Retrieved 1 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Mr. Oliver Bayldon, who was at Stamford School from 1946 to 1957 (his home is at Barrowden) has had published a book of verse, The Paper Makers Craft. Mr. Bayldon, who has had verse broadcast and published over a number of years, chanced one day to visit a small paper mill, and he watched entranced the transmutation of growing things into sheets of textured paper. He subsequently returned to the mill at Leicester with sacks of stalks, roots and leaves, and stayed to turn them into paper. Later he brought to the paper maker verses, his own free translation of a 17th century Latin poem "Papyrus" by Father Imberdis S.J. of Ambert, the papermaking district of the Auvergne in France. Some of the coloured paper in the book (price £5 5s.) was made at the Twelve by Eight mill in Leicester, the only place in England where paper is still made by hand. Mr. Bayldon, a designer for BBC television in London, recently designed at the Theatre Royal, Northampton. He a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
  • "Designs for television". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 259. Northampton, UK. 9 September 1966. p. 8; col.6. Retrieved 5 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Old Stamfordian Mr. Oliver Bayldon, of 13, Cranley Gardens, South Kensington, who tells me he just enjoyed a holiday at Barrowden and recommends the Rutland air, has stage designed four episodes of Quick Before They Catch Us in the BBC television series and these episodes will be transmitted in September. He is also designing episodes 99 and 100 of The Newcomers, after which he will design some episodes of Meet the Wife. Mr. Bayldon was at school from 1946-57 and subsequently studies at Leicester College of Art. Then he took an appointment with the Northampton Repertory Company. Besides his interest in stage design, he paints and writes poetry and plays. He has had verse broadcast and published for several years.
  • "Back matter / List of Members". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 115 (5136). London: Royal Society of Arts: 8. November 1967. JSTOR 43796568. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via JSTOR. (...) 1961: Bayldon, Richard Oliver Maxwell, 13 Cranley Gardens, South Kensington, S.W.7. (...)
  • "Two Gnomes". Manchester Evening News. No. 349. Manchester, UK. 10 May 1969. p. 8; col.6. Retrieved 5 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Large-scale sets are also a problem taxing the brains of Peter Brachacki and Oliver Bayldon, designers of the new B8C2 Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd series on Monday, The Gnomes of Dulwich. Terry and Hugh appear as two garden gnomes, and as they everything through gnomes' eyes, the human world has to be correspondingly bigger. Apart from odd sketches in comedy shows (Like Marty Feldman's), the BBC props department has never before been asked to equip a full series with giant-size scenery. Brachacki and Bayldon were told to go away and design everything umpteen-times bigger life. The result: cigarette ends Terry Scott has to keep fishing out of his pool are two feet long.
  • "Big props made Hugh Lloyd look gnome size". Nottingham Evening Post. No. 28, 511. Nottingham, UK. 26 January 1970. p. 9; col.2. Retrieved 12 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Producer Sydney Lotterby had a mini problem when he came to record the Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd comedy series The Gnomes of Dulwich, the latest episode of which is on BBC1 at ten o'clock. Big and Small are mini gnomes about a foot tall. The human world around them is normal. The answer: maxi props. It was the first time the BBC props department had been asked to equip a full-scale series with giant-sized scenery, and designers Peter Branchacki and Oliver Bayldon found themselves designing everything in sight umpteen-times bigger than life. The result — those cigarette ends Terry Scott has to keep fishing out of the pool are two-feet long. An ordinary flower pot is four feet high. The frog Hugh Lloyd holds so lovingly is four feet long. A common or garden roller has a six-feet diameter. A tree is six feet across, its leaves are two feet long, mushrooms eight feet across are matched with a pillar box 24 feet high. You can see more of them from a gnome's eye view in tonight's episode when our two tiny heroes wake one morning to find a newcomer beside their fishpond — a newcomer looking exactly like Big. Closer examination reveals that they were made in the same place, The Royal Hertfordshire Stone Gnome Company. Two Bigs by one pool is a crowd, and the inevitable happens. Guest star Roy Kinnear plays the intruder, with John Clive, Leon Thau, Ann de Vigier, and Lynn Dalby.
  • "Designing shows". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 515. Northampton, UK. 6 August 1971. p. 3; col.6. Retrieved 12 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Oliver Bayldon, an old boy of Stamford School, whose parents live in Barrowden, is the designer for a new BBC TV series, The Onedin Line, which is to be broadcast in September. It is the story of a Liverpool shipping family in the 1860s starring Peter Gilmore, Anne Stallybrass, James Hayter and Edward Chapman. The filming recently completed in Exeter and Dartmouth involved many exciting incidents at sea, for one of which he created a period steamship complete with a 13-foot high funnel and a large boiler. Other scenes included a storm at sea and a ship on fire. The creation of bustling Victorian markets and docks presented many problems for the designer because any modern additions had either to be removed or hidden. This meant the complete removal of street signs, the covering of shop fronts, and even, on one occasion, the repainting of an entire house façade. Oliver has designed a wide variety of shows including The Railway Children, Till Death Us Do Part, Z Cars, and The Troubleshooters. He is now hoping to have exhibitions of his stage and television designs in London and Coventry.
  • "Steam v. sail in spectacular race". Belfast News-Letter. Belfast, UK. 19 November 1971. p. 4; col.4–5. Retrieved 12 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Paula Wilcox, star of The Lovers, makes a guest appearance in "Salvage", The Onedin Line story on BBC-1 at 9-20. She plays Agnes Bascombe, wife of a seaman in the storm-tossed Charlotte Rhodes and worried about how to feed her children. The Charlotte Rhodes is on fire and sinking after a storm. Callon sends his son Edmund on a fast sailing ship to attempt to attach a tow-line and claim salvage money which would effectively ruin James Onedin. But James refuses to give up and decides to put Albert Frazer's steam pinnace to a spectacular test at sea. Meanwhile, Fogarty reopens his old feud with James over Elizabeth. The experimental steam pinnace, Vessel, seen for the first time in this story, was reconstructed by designer Oliver Bayldon and shipping master Gerry Poolman in the Tumchappel shipyard, Plymouth. Fully practical, the small steamer was able to outrun the sailing ship Tectona manned by cadets from Plymouth School of Maritime Studies.
  • "In line for design award". Leicester Daily Mercury. Leicester, UK. 15 February 1972. p. 16; col.6. Retrieved 12 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Oliver Bayldon, winner a Sir Jonathan North Memorial Gold Medal and former student at the old Leicester College of Art has been nominated in a short list of four television designers for the Society of Film and Television Arts' award of best design of year for his work on The Onedin Line series. These awards are the British equivalent of the American Emmy awards and the final results are due to be announced at the Albert Hall on February 23. Oliver, whose mother lives at Barrowden, Rutland, is currently designing for Z Cars, and Doomwatch episodes for the BBC, while also designing some 95 costumes for Belisario, an opera by Donizetti, to be presented by the Royal Academy of Music at Sadlers Wells theatre. It is being performed from March 4 to 11 and includes a royal performance, as part of the celebrations for the academy's 150th anniversary. Some of these designs will be seen at an exhibition of his work to be held at the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry from August 11 to September 4.
  • Porter, Andrew (March 1972). "Donizetti's 'Belisario'". The Musical Times. 113 (1549). Brentwood: Musical Times Publications Ltd.: 259. doi:10.2307/957130. JSTOR 957130. Retrieved 21 November 2023 – via JSTOR. [Artwork caption:] Oliver Bayldon's costume designs for the Goths and Bulgars in the forthcoming production of 'Belisario
  • Guitard, Nick (25 August 1972). "Elaborate elegance". Coventry Evening Telegraph. No. 25, 229. Coventry, UK. p. 27; col.2–3. Retrieved 25 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Also starting at the Herbert this week is a show of particularly interesting pieces by the television and stage designer Oliver Bayldon. It is refreshing to see work that is not "art for art's sake". One has the feeling that Mr. Bayldon executed these set and costume designs as purely working drawings, and would have been happy and willing to amend them at the whim of anyone whose whims mattered. Such is the mark of the professional. Mr Bayldon has designed sets for television programmes such as The Onedin Line, Dad's Army, Top of the Pops, and many others (...). His stage sets include Il Trovatore and The Magic Flute. The catalogue, with its notes on how a designer must think—boldness and simplicity in the theatre so the people squinting in the back row can see, or great detail for television so a close-up shot will have something to photograph—tells us a great deal. But one can gain even more from looking at the pictures. A designer, it appears, must stick closely but not pedantically to the original he is trying to recreate. Thus a Roman emperor must appear in garb recognisably Roman and imperial, and this means he must wear a purple cloak or toga. Now, one wonders whether it would have been possible to have dressed this fine fellow in green, say, or yellow. Would he still have looked imperial? Is the designer restricted in this way, that he has to conform not so much to the prototype as to the stereotype? (...)
  • Everitt, Anthony (2 September 1972). "Oliver Bayldon exhibition... at the Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry". Birmingham Daily Post. No. 35, 508. Birmingham, UK. p. 28; col.2–3. Retrieved 25 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Oliver Bayldon's work for the theatre has a certain routine competence, but it was not until he entered television ten years ago that his talent really got off the ground. His designs for Mozart's The Magic Flute in 1962 are in the worst traditions of opera décor. The frilly greenery, classical follies and ornate interiors are larded with all the familiar rococo clichés. The costumes for Donizetti's Belisario are given a Byzantine styling. However, they have an all-purpose feel to them and, with a few alterations, they would do just as well for a setting in Ancient Rome (or, for that matter, medieval England). Nevertheless, Bayldon creates an acceptable "naughty nineties" atmosphere in a 1965 production of Cupid and Psyche. I suspect that, in fact, he is at heart a realist. The quality, both of his designs and his draughtsmanship, take a distinctive turn: for the better with the sets for The Railway Children, a BBC serial. Numerous detailed sketches include every item of furniture and decoration required and some of the most successful depict crowded Victorian libraries and drawing rooms, laden with knick-knacks and draped with doylies. Of less interest are the crudely drawn studies for a comedy series, The Gnomes of Dulwich, in which human actors dressed up as garden gnomes move among Brobdingnagian flower pots and post-boxes. Also on display are some paper collages, most devoted to life studies, which argue powerfully for Mr. Bayldon remaining the workmanlike television designer that he is, and leaving art to the artist.
  • Barraclough, Pete (15 September 1972). "Man behind the scenes...behind the scenes". Leicester Chronicle. No. 2, 979. Leicester, UK. p. 14; col.2. Retrieved 25 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. ... These illustrations were on show at a recent exhibition of Bayldon's work in Coventry.
  • "Nominations for 1972 SFTA awards". The Stage. No. 4, 792. London, UK. 15 February 1973. p. 11; col.1. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Nominations for 1972 SFTA awards THE following are the nominations for the 1972 SFTA television awards, as a result of the Members' voting and television committee decisions. (...) CRAFT AWARD The Best Design OLIVER BAYLDON AND DESIGN TEAM [for] The Onedin Line (...) The Awards will be announced and presented by HRH The Princess Anne, President of the Society, on Wednesday, February 28.
  • "Nominated for second 'Oscar'". Leicester Daily Mercury. Leicester, UK. 22 February 1973. p. 24; col.3–4. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Oliver Bayldon, the Leicester-born television designer who trained at the former Leicester College Art, has received a nomination for Designer of the Year for the second year in succession in the Society of Film and Television Arts annual awards. He has been nominated with his design team for his work on BBC TV's Onedin Line. The award, which he won last year, is a British television "Oscar". It will be announced on February 28 with a presentation by Princess Anne at the Royal Albert Hall in live coverage BBC1. An exhibition of Oliver Bayldon's design work was held in Coventry last year. Many of the original Onedin Line drawings were included in this display. He is currently working on a Play for Today called "Three's One", then later a series of four plays about the Earl of Suffolk called "The Dragon's Opponent". Oliver Bayldon, an old Stamfordian and holder of the Sir Jonathan North Memorial medal, comes from Barrowden, near Uppingham.
  • "Local man works on 'Poldark'". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 743. Northampton, UK. 12 December 1975. p. 16; col.6. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Old Stamfordian, Oliver Bayldon is the designer of the popular Sunday serial Poldark, currently being shown on BBC1. Oliver, whose parents still live in Barrowden, is known for his work on The Onedin Line and The Fight Against Slavery, and has twice been nominated for Best Design of The Year. Oliver is the designer of all sixteen episodes of the TV serial based on the novels by Winston Graham, starring Angharad Rees and Robin Ellis. Over fifty sets had to be built for the programme, and a large section of copper mine had to be constructed in the film studios for the spectacular scenes which occur in later episodes.
  • "He has designs on an award". Leicester Daily Mercury. Leicester, UK. 14 March 1977. p. 16; col.3–4. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Leicester-born television designer, Oliver Bayldon, again features in the British Academy Awards nominations. Following two previous nominations for best TV design with The Onedin Line, Oliver Bayldon is now a member of the design team on the BBC series When The Boat Comes In, a contender in the final four for this award. Other programmes he has designed include Poldark and The Fight Against Slavery, due to be repeated later this year. His latest work has been for the Velvet Glove series of dramatised biographies for which he designed those of Edith Cavell, Elizabeth Fry and the very successful play on Lilian Baylis. 'The research for these is often almost as interesting as the programmes themselves. It was somehow strange to be poring through boxes of Edith Cavell's private possessions or to search through treasured photographs at Lilian Baylis' original desk. The greatest challenge in these plays was to build a complete theatre in the studios, and also to recreate the horrors of Newgate prison in the 1800s. Actually, every programme is different, so I never get the chance to be bored. You're always learning,' he says. He is currently engaged on a Play For Today, due to be screened in early April, which he thinks will be both surprising and controversial.
  • Burn, Gordon (2 October 1977). "All his own work - Ollie's living room sets the scene for the TV viewers". The Sunday Times Magazine. London. p. 41.
  • Lovelace, Jennifer (4 January 1979). "So far, well up to standard". Drama Reviews. The Stage. No. 5, 099. London, UK. p. 16; col.3–4. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. The lucid and straightforward opening to James Andrew Hall's dramatisation of The Mill On The Floss (BBC1, Sunday December 31, 5.30 pm) suggested that this is a serial that will have much to recommend it. Ronald Wilson's direction was not innovative, but an effective crescendo preceded the arrival of Tom Tulliver (Jonathan Scott-Talor) and family relationships were defined with a clarity that was helpful to those unfamiliar with George Eliot's story. The slyly malicious Aunts Deane (Sheila Grant) and Glegg (Barbara Hicks) were suitably formidable and Judy Cornwell's Bessy promises well. Ray Smith's bulk and presence were nicely suited to Mr Tulliver. Georgia Slowe was an interesting choice for Maggie. There was indeed a touch of the gipsy about her — especially when equipped with the newly-shorn coupe sauvage, and her intensity accurately expressed the complexities of Maggie's rebellious nature. So far, The Mill On The Floss is well up to standard. The quality of design (Oliver Bayldon) and costume (Caroline Maxwell) is sound and a little quickening of pace in future episodes will ensure that the traditions of the BBC Classic Serial are maintained.
  • "Oliver delves into the past for TV series". Stamford Mercury. No. 13, 961. Northampton, UK. 16 May 1980. p. 16; col.2–4. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Followers of the BBC 2 series A Question of Guilt will be interested to know that the designer responsible for "Constance Kent" and "Adelaide Bartlett", which has yet to be screened, is local man Mr Oliver Bayldon. Mr Bayldon, who comes from Barrowden, went to Stamford School before going into television where he has made quite a name for himself. He has been responsible for some highly-acclaimed series and seems to have a particular affinity with the Victorian era. Both cases in the present series are set in the 1800s, although Mr Bayldon has not been involved in "Mary Blandy" presently being shown which is a tale of murder in the previous century. However he has broad experience with all kinds of production, having designed for the popular Poldark, The Onedin Line and When The Boat Comes In series. More recently he received high praise for his work in the Classic Serial version of The Mill On The Floss. Despite having worked on the comedy series Till Death Us Do Part, Mr Bayldon is most at home with historical productions. 'I always find the background research particularly fascinating. The more we delved into these A Question of Guilt cases the stranger they seemed. You cannot help getting involved with the situations, because they really happened. So much so, that when we were reconstructing some of the more intimate scenes it felt like being present as a voyeur at the real event,' he said. Setting plays in the past creates obvious problems as regards the locations and the present series has been no exception. 'It was a problem to recreate locations which either no longer existed, or had been totally changed in the name of redevelopment. We took immense pains to be as accurate as possible even to reconstructing an 1860 railway compartment in a gutted carriage, and building a realistic Victorian earth privy among the bushes. I believe we have been faithful to the facts as they were recorded,' said Mr Bayldon. But viewers will know that the team have tried not to come to any hard and fast conclusions about where the guilt must finally fall in each case. 'Naturally we all developed our own theories as to what happened, but viewers will have to make up their own minds. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of both these cases and I hope the viewers will find them equally rewarding,' he added. Next on Mr Bayldon's programme of works is Jonathon Miller's production of The Merchant of Venice being shown on BBC2 later this year. But his reputation is not confined to the television world, and he has designed both sets and costumes for Sadlers Wells opera.
  • "Miller's first season of six". The Stage. No. 5, 192. London, UK. 16 October 1980. p. 23; col.4. Retrieved 17 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. (...) The Merchant of Venice will also be shown on BBC-2 before Christmas. This production has been designed by Oliver Bayldon. Wolf Mankowitz will present Shakespeare in Perspective for this play. (...)
  • "Designer of Bard's plays". Stamford Mercury. No. 14, 094. Northampton, UK. 17 December 1982. p. 8; col.5–6. Retrieved 17 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Oliver Bayldon, an Old Boy of Stamford School, who now lives in London, is the designer of four plays in the BBC Shakespeare festival to be seen on Sundays at 7.30 throughout January on BBC2. Henry VI in three separate plays, together with Richard III, make up four remarkable linked plays chronicling the violent years of the Wars the Roses, full of action and drama, while having something of the intrigue of a medieval "Dallas" mixed with the political feuding reminiscent of Northern Irish Troubles! All very exciting stuff. The plays have, therefore, been designed in a style that draws many parallels between modern and medieval images, and so are all the more disturbing in their immediacy. 'It was a very exciting serial to design. Yes, Shakespeare was the originator of the drama serial. It is so full of action and rapidly moving events that we had to build a replica set in the rehearsal rooms so that very realistic fight scenes could be rehearsed. These elaborate fights are so convincing that I am amazed no actors were seriously injured,' says Mr Bayldon. Because there are so many fast-moving changes of scene a basic permanent set was created that could be adapted to anything from castle battlements to the nave of a cathedral. The setting begins as more of an adventure playground in Henry VI Part One, which starts as a broad romp spiced with play-park battles, but slowly develops, episode by episode, into war-torn devastation like a boarded-up bomb site, where Richard III is destroyed, and the new king, Henry VII is created. There is some outstanding acting throughout. 'What I liked most myself was being able to forget one is doing a revered classic, and accept it as an exciting yet moving drama which happens to make excellent television. I think there are some stunning new actors to watch for who will become the stars of tomorrow. Viewers can sit back and make their bets. I've already made mine', adds Mr Bayldon. Among the well-known television actors featured are Julia Foster, Annette Crosbie, Frank Middlemass, Tenniel Evans, Trevor Peacock and Bernard Hill. The producers are Jonathan Miller and Shaun Sutton, and the director is Jane Howell.
  • Wood, Robert E. (1 October 1983). "Richard III". Shakespeare Quarterly. 34 (3). Oxford: Oxford Academic: 340. doi:10.2307/2869895. ISSN 1538-3555. JSTOR 2869895. Retrieved 24 November 2023. Richard III, presented by BBC Television, 23 January 1983. Director, Jane Howell; Set Design, Oliver Bayldon; Costumes, John Peacock; Lighting, Sam Barclay; Music, Dudley Simpson; Stage Combat, Malcolm Ranson.
  • "All tuned in for more success". Leicester Daily Mercury. Leicester, UK. 12 March 1990. p. 15; col.1–2. Retrieved 17 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Leicester-born television and film designer Oliver Bayldon is set to see his work on the small screen once again with the launch of a new BBC TV serial. Mr Bayldon, a former pupil at Sir Jonathon North Community College, Leicester, is the production designer the new political thriller Never Come Back. The three, one-hour episodes are due to be screened on BBC2 starting on March 21. The series is based on a novel by John Mair about a newspaper journalist who finds himself involved in subversion and violence just before the start of the Second World War and stars James Fox. Mr Bayldon, who studied at the Leicester College of Art, is now working on a new film for the BBC Screen Two series called Do Not Disturb. He has also extended his range and has had short stories broadcast on Radio 4's Morning Story and the World Service. Some of his other designs for television over the years included The Onedin Line and Poldark.
  • "Award for TV designer". Southall Gazette. Ealing, UK. 26 October 1990. p. 6; col.7. Retrieved 17 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. A television production designer has won an award for his work on a programme starring actor James Fox. Oliver Bayldon, of St Stephens Road, Ealing, was presented with his Royal Television Society Design Award by news presenter Sue Lawley at the Hilton Hotel. Mr Bayldon, a BBC TV production designer, was praised for his work on Never Come Back. During his work with the BBC he has helped design television favourites like The Onedin Line, Poldark and Mill on the Floss.
  • Loynd, Ray (21 March 1991). "TV Reviews : O'Toole a Slick Villain in 'The Dark Angel'". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved 24 November 2023. ... Director Peter Hammond's style, suffused with Fun House mirror effects, often suggests a psychedelic movie from the '60s. Don MacPherson's script is wafer-thin, genre period melodrama. But the nightmare is salvaged by O'Toole and production designer Oliver Bayldon's sickly rich decay.
  • Cook, Hardy M. (1992). "Jane Howell's BBC First Tetralogy: Theatrical and Televisual Manipulation". Literature/Film Quarterly. 20 (4). Salisbury, Maryland: Salisbury University: 326–331. JSTOR 43796568. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via JSTOR. (...) Taken as a whole, the set acts as a textured backdrop for the play that is filled with many actors and much action. In 2 Henry VI , the set looks darker than it was for Part 1. As Oliver Bayldon, the set designer, notes, "It's still a play park but it's not a place for playing games any more, it's got sinister. It's gone very sombre and textury - it's almost as though it has been boarded up and whitewashed and the whitewash has gone grey" (BBC 2 Henry VI, 20). (...) With so many characters on the set so often, costumes and flags are used to identify factions as well as to distinguish between the British and the French. However, by the time of 3 Henry VI, not much difference exists between the uniforms of the troops on either side of the civil conflict - they are all generally gray, although some of the Lancastrians are costumed in dark reds. On the whole, the costumes have become progressively darker and more practical (Fenwick, BBC 3 Henry VI, 21). John Peacock relates that Howell in Richard III wanted "the effect of three-piece suits." As for the armor in Richard III , it "is all nearly metal, very different from Part I where it was all painted." Also Oliver Bayldon points out that a touch of color was added: "Richard has these very shiny black and white banners, with a fiercely aggressive-looking boar; then when Richmond comes in his banners are green and white" {BBC Richard III , 24). Richard is dressed primarily in black throughout the play; in contrast, Richmond, when he appears, wears shiny silver armor.
  • "Making a scene". House & Garden (UK ed.). London: Condé Nast. September 1992. pp. 102–103.
  • "BAFTA NOMINATIONS". The Stage. No. 5, 837. London, UK. 25 February 1993. p. 20; col.5. Retrieved 17 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Memento Mori, BBC2's Screen Two adaptation of Muriel Spark's novel, this week picked up six nominations for the BAFTA Awards, which will be made next month. (...) Design: Oliver Bayldon - Memento Mori.
  • "Winners of the Bafta Craft Awards for films and TV of 1992". Nottingham Evening Post. No. 35, 586. Nottingham, UK. 8 March 1993. p. 3; col.4. Retrieved 17 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Television Design: Memento Mori – Oliver Bayldon
  • "Oliver Bayldon BAFTA award". Briefly. Middlesex County Times. London, UK. 12 March 1993. p. 3; col.1. Retrieved 17 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Oliver Bayldon, a BBC production designer, of Whiteledges, West Ealing, designed a programme which has been nominated for this year's BAFTA awards. (...) In the 1992 awards, Mr Bayldon came top in the best TV production design category for the BBC film Memento Mori by Muriel Spark.
  • "Oliver Bayldon at 195". BAFTA News. Vol. 6, no. 9. London: The British Academy of Film & Television Arts. October 1995. p. 3. An exhibition of the work of Production Designer Oliver Bayldon will be held at 195 Piccadilly in October and November.
  • "Exhibitions by Fellows". RSA Journal. 143 (5464). London: Royal Society of Arts: 66. November 1995. JSTOR 41376911. Retrieved 27 September 2023 – via JSTOR. Oliver Bayldon [at] BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London W1. 9 October – 11 November 1995. Design visuals and illustrations for television and film.
  • Dunn, John (April 1996). "General News". RSA Journal. 144 (5468). London: Royal Society of Arts: Front Matter & 10–13. JSTOR 41377035. Retrieved 27 September 2023 – via JSTOR. Oliver Bayldon's exhibition shows from 26 April – 26 July 1996 in the Fellows' restaurant in the vaults.
  • Bayldon, Oliver (Winter 2013). "Creating a Visual Style". The Veteran (141, Winter 2013). London: British Cinema and Television Veterans: 4–10, 28 (back cover).
  • Bayldon, Oliver (Winter 2014). "Filming in Perspective". The Veteran (145, Winter 2014). London: British Cinema and Television Veterans: 4–9.
  • Bayldon, Oliver (April 2015). "Memories: Ealing Studios remembered / Oliver Bayldon, former art director and designer, shares his reminiscences..." (PDF). Prospero (2). Cardiff: BBC: 6. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  • Bayldon, Oliver (February 2016). "Obituaries: John Hurst - Senior TV production designer" (PDF). Prospero (1). Cardiff: BBC: 10. Retrieved 21 November 2023.

Websites[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Rossini, Lauren, ed. (1999). Cinematographers, Production Designers, Costume Designers and Film Editors Directory (softcover). First Edition by Kate Bales. Cover design by Carla Green. (7th ed.). Los Angeles: Lone Eagle Publishing. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-58065-017-5. Oliver Bayldon: Poldark (MS) BBC, Lionheart Television Int'l (1977); Memento Mori (TF) BBC 1992

External links[edit]

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