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Oliver Bayldon
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Oliver Bayldon
Oliver Bayldon FRSA, FCSD (12 September 1938 – 23 December 2019) was a London-based, award-winning British production designer who worked with the Northampton Repertory Theatre, the BBC, and the Royal Academy of Music. Between 1966 and 1997, he designed over 220 TV drama episodes and films.
He is best known for designing sets for TV shows such as: Meet the Wife (1966), Till Death Us Do Part (1968), The Railway Children (1968), Dad's Army (1968), Z-Cars (1970–1971), The Onedin Line (1971–1972), Poldark (1975–1976), When the Boat Comes In (1976–1977), Happy Ever After (1978), Shakespeare's first tetralogy (the Henry VI plays and Richard III) directed by Jane Howell (1983), Strangers and Brothers (1984), On the Up (1990), Memento Mori (1992), and Wokenwell (1997). For the Royal Academy of Music, he created costumes or sets for four operas: Belisario (1972), The Fairy Queen Act IV: The Masque of the Seasons, Tobermory, and Trial by Jury (all 1977). His design work was the subject of five exhibitions held between 1959 and 1996.
Bayldon also wrote poetry, essays and fiction published in newspapers and books, and some of his poems and short stories were broadcast on radio. He is a cousin of the actor Geoffrey Bayldon.
Oliver Bayldon was born in Leicester and brought up in Rutland where, aged five, he decided he wanted to be a theatre designer after attending his first pantomime and being more impressed by the sets than by the acting.
At the age of five, I was taken to see Where the Rainbow Ends at the theatre as a Christmas treat and was wildly impressed by the décor. When I got home I started making model stages of cardboard and Plasticine and announced I was going to become a theatre designer!
In August 1943, Bayldon took part in a Child Artists' competition organised at the Leicester Museum, where painting and plasticine modelling competitions had been arranged during a holiday-at-home programme. Prizes were presented by the Leicester Lord Mayor, and Bayldon was one of the winners.
In 1946, Bayldon joined Stamford School for eleven years, where he began to develop his design and production skills. In December 1953, aged 15, he participated in the presentation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus by the school's Dramatic Society, for which he also designed and stencilled the soldiers' and crowd's costumes. A few weeks later, he organised a variety show called To-night's the Night with ballet, sketches and songs, in aid of one of his witty schemes: the "Morcott Dustbin Society". Morcott is a village near Barrowden—his family home—and was devoid of dustbins at the time. During an interview with the Stamford Mercury on 15 January 1954, Bayldon explained: "I was about to put on a show anyway, so I thought it would be a good idea to do one for a litter basket". The show was a success and raised £2 8s. towards a dustbin. Prior to the show, Bayldon had paid a visit to the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, and secured a batch of costumes which were no longer used.
At the end of 1954, the school produced Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, for which Bayldon designed and painted the Victorian décor, as well as acting in the leading female part "with fine control of voice and features." In the spring of 1955, Bayldon designed the costumes for the school's production of Christopher Fry's The Boy with a Cart, a story of St Cuthman, written as a legend of miracles and faith in the style of the mystery plays. In December 1955, the boys presented the first part of Shakespeare's Henry IV to a limited number of parents and friends; in addition to designing and painting the scenery, Bayldon played the role of the Archbishop of York.
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Oliver Bayldon
Oliver Bayldon FRSA, FCSD (12 September 1938 – 23 December 2019) was a London-based, award-winning British production designer who worked with the Northampton Repertory Theatre, the BBC, and the Royal Academy of Music. Between 1966 and 1997, he designed over 220 TV drama episodes and films.
He is best known for designing sets for TV shows such as: Meet the Wife (1966), Till Death Us Do Part (1968), The Railway Children (1968), Dad's Army (1968), Z-Cars (1970–1971), The Onedin Line (1971–1972), Poldark (1975–1976), When the Boat Comes In (1976–1977), Happy Ever After (1978), Shakespeare's first tetralogy (the Henry VI plays and Richard III) directed by Jane Howell (1983), Strangers and Brothers (1984), On the Up (1990), Memento Mori (1992), and Wokenwell (1997). For the Royal Academy of Music, he created costumes or sets for four operas: Belisario (1972), The Fairy Queen Act IV: The Masque of the Seasons, Tobermory, and Trial by Jury (all 1977). His design work was the subject of five exhibitions held between 1959 and 1996.
Bayldon also wrote poetry, essays and fiction published in newspapers and books, and some of his poems and short stories were broadcast on radio. He is a cousin of the actor Geoffrey Bayldon.
Oliver Bayldon was born in Leicester and brought up in Rutland where, aged five, he decided he wanted to be a theatre designer after attending his first pantomime and being more impressed by the sets than by the acting.
At the age of five, I was taken to see Where the Rainbow Ends at the theatre as a Christmas treat and was wildly impressed by the décor. When I got home I started making model stages of cardboard and Plasticine and announced I was going to become a theatre designer!
In August 1943, Bayldon took part in a Child Artists' competition organised at the Leicester Museum, where painting and plasticine modelling competitions had been arranged during a holiday-at-home programme. Prizes were presented by the Leicester Lord Mayor, and Bayldon was one of the winners.
In 1946, Bayldon joined Stamford School for eleven years, where he began to develop his design and production skills. In December 1953, aged 15, he participated in the presentation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus by the school's Dramatic Society, for which he also designed and stencilled the soldiers' and crowd's costumes. A few weeks later, he organised a variety show called To-night's the Night with ballet, sketches and songs, in aid of one of his witty schemes: the "Morcott Dustbin Society". Morcott is a village near Barrowden—his family home—and was devoid of dustbins at the time. During an interview with the Stamford Mercury on 15 January 1954, Bayldon explained: "I was about to put on a show anyway, so I thought it would be a good idea to do one for a litter basket". The show was a success and raised £2 8s. towards a dustbin. Prior to the show, Bayldon had paid a visit to the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, and secured a batch of costumes which were no longer used.
At the end of 1954, the school produced Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, for which Bayldon designed and painted the Victorian décor, as well as acting in the leading female part "with fine control of voice and features." In the spring of 1955, Bayldon designed the costumes for the school's production of Christopher Fry's The Boy with a Cart, a story of St Cuthman, written as a legend of miracles and faith in the style of the mystery plays. In December 1955, the boys presented the first part of Shakespeare's Henry IV to a limited number of parents and friends; in addition to designing and painting the scenery, Bayldon played the role of the Archbishop of York.