Cinema in a Cathedral City: Cinema Exhibition in Durham City and its environs 1896 – 2001

David R. Williams

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The book was launched on Thursday 19th February at 2pm in the Durham Gala Theatre stalls Bar

Price £19.95, MCS Members price £16.50

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About the author:

DAVID R. WILLIAMS has been an avid cinemagoer since he saw his first films at the Roxy in Leicester. During his army service in Germany, he wrote film reviews for his unit newspaper. On demobilisation, he studied to become a teacher at Borough Road College, Isleworth, was Secretary of the College Film Society and was present at the first week’s showings at the South Bank National Film Theatre. He began teaching in the City of Leicester and joined the Film Society. In 1955, he began the researches into the history of cinema exhibition in Leicester that eventually emerged as the book Cinema in Leicester 1896-1931 in 1993. He moved to Bede College, Durham University in 1964 as a Lecturer in Education, but was soon recruited into their pioneering Film and Television Department. He became Head of Department in 1974. When the University closed the Department in 1980, he returned to teaching in Special Education. His work in Film and Television continued, however, and in 2000 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society for his contribution to Media Education. He has made a special study of the silent film era and is currently engaged in several research projects.

Acknowledgements
For the research facilities and primary resource materials, the author wishes to thank the staffs of Durham City and Newcastle City Reference Libraries, Durham University Library, Durham County Records Office, British Film Institute Library, British Museum Newspaper Library at Colindale, and the Arts and Humanities Library of Sheffield Hallam University. Dr. Vanessa Toulmin of the National Fairground Archive supplied valuable information and photographs connected with the Travelling Show people. Frank Manders' researches into County Durham cinemas and theatres were made unstintingly available, and he is to be especially thanked for sharing his encyclopædic knowledge with me. Michael Richardson and the many contributors to his Pictorial Histories of Durham have provided a number of illustrations. George Nairn's collection of local postcards and memorabilia has also contributed rarely-seen photographs. Nonagenarian Mr. Bygate gave me first-hand descriptions of some of the cinematograph halls he had attended as a boy and an adult, and Mr. Middlemass told me of his experiences as assistant projectionist at the Globe. Ray Middleton’s photographs of the Palace have been a unique record of that theatre’s final days. Thomas H. Fox has contributed his important remembrances and researches into the social history of Meadowfield and Langley Moor. Robert Swainson, for many years projectionist of the Kinema, Meadowfield, and other local halls, has also shared his experiences with me. The Durham Heritage Centre has been very helpful in discovering entertainment memorabilia. Over the last eight years that this research has been pursued, the support and encouragement of Rosemary Williams has been a daily delight. Mervyn Gould encouraged me in the completion of the manuscript and set its publication in motion through the generosity of the Mercia Cinema Society and its chairman, Kate Taylor.

Octavo – 6¼’ wide 8¾’ high. 248pp + prelims and index. Stitched. Laminated colour card covers. ISBN: 0 946406 56 1 Price: £19.95