Oliver Bayldon

Oliver Bayldon
Born	Richard Oliver Maxwell Bayldon (1938-09-12)12 September 1938 Leicester
Died	23 December 2019(2019-12-23) (aged 81) London
Occupation	Production designer
Years active	1961–1997

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

• Ref for Stamford Mercury; 15 Jan. 1954; p. 1; col.3–6

• Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 8 Dec. 1959; p. 11; col.1

• Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 20 May 1960; p. 2; col.5.

• Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 17 Aug. 1960; p. 2; col.4–5

• Ref for Birmingham Daily Post; 10 Nov. 1960; p. 7; col.1

• Ref for Leicester Daily Mercury; 19 Nov. 1960; p. 7; col.5–6

• Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 13 Jan. 1961; p. 6; col.5–6

• Ref for Leicester Evening Mail; 11 Aug. 1961; p. 5; col.1–2

• Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.14; col.2

• Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.15; col.2-4

• Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.25; col.1-4

Career

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

Bayldon designed sets and costumes for Glyn Idris Jones's Cupid & Psyche, a play that was never staged.

• Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.14; col.2

• Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.15; col.2-4

• Ref for Leicester Chronicle; 15 Sep. 1972; p.25; col.1-4

Selected works

Radio

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

• "Moya" (30 September 1987) – Read by Peter Howell
• "Model Responses New York Style" (1 February 1988) – Read by Shelley Thompson
• "Introductions a la Mode" (5 December 1988) – Read by Daniel Webb
• "City Column" (25 January 1989) – Read by Alfred Molina
• "Away from It All" (8 February 1989) – Read by Joseph Marcell
• "Sideways Promotion" (12 April 1989) – Read by Geoffrey Whitehead
• "Home from Home" (16 October 1991) – Read by Seán Barrett

Exhibitions

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

Publications

Books

• The Paper Makers Craft (1965)
• Acts of Defiance (2013)
• Darkly Blows the Harmattan: Short Stories (2015)

Articles

• Creating a Visual Style (2013); published in The Veteran
• Filming in Perspective (2014); published in The Veteran

Awards and fellowships

• Royal Society of Arts / Industrial Art Bursary (1961).
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (1961).
• Nominee of BAFTA Television Design Award for The Onedin Line (1972).
• Nominee of BAFTA Television Design Award for The Onedin Line (1973).
• Nominee of BAFTA Television Design Award for When the Boat Comes In (1977).
• Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers (1986).
• Winner of RTS Best Production Design (Drama) Award for Never Come Back (1989).
• Winner of BAFTA Television Craft Design Award for Memento Mori (1993).

Family connections

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)

References

Sources

Books by Bayldon

• Bayldon, Oliver (1965). The Paper Makers Craft (softcover) (1st ed.). London: Twelve by Eight Press.
• 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

• 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.

Magazines and newspapers

• "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 (...).
• "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; (...).
• "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. (...)
• "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.
• 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. (...) 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.
• 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.
• "Making a scene". House & Garden (UK ed.). London: Condé Nast. September 1992. pp. 102–103. (...) I was handed a box of the possessions which Edith Cavell, the nurse shot as a spy in the First World War, had on her the day she died.
• "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.

Websites

• "Oliver Bayldon - Production Designer". London: British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). 21 January 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2023. 12 September 1938 to 23 December 2019
• "Nominees: The Onedin Line". London: British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). 1972. Television Design in 1972. Retrieved 3 October 2023. Oliver Bayldon
• "Nominees: The Onedin Line". London: British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). 1973. Television Design in 1973. Retrieved 3 October 2023. Oliver Bayldon and the Design Team
• "Nominees: When The Boat Comes In". London: British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). 1977. Television Design in 1977. Retrieved 3 October 2023. Richard Morris, Bernard Lloyd-Jones, Sue Spence, Oliver Bayldon, Peter Brachacki
• "RTS National Awards" (PDF). Royal Television Society National Awards Archive. February 2011. p. 75. Retrieved 3 October 2023. Production Design: 1989 Oliver Bayldon, BBC for Never Come Back.
• "Winner: Memento Mori". London: British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). 1993. Television Craft Design in 1993. Retrieved 3 October 2023. Oliver Bayldon
• "Oliver Bayldon FCSD Reflects on a Career of Television Scenic Design in 'The Veteran', 2013". London: Chartered Society of Designers. 17 January 2014. Design Insights. Retrieved 27 September 2023. Oliver Bayldon FCSD, a Fellow of the Society since 1986
• "BBC Programme Index". Morning Story (BBC Radio 4). London: BBC Archive. Retrieved 3 October 2023. Results 1 to 7 of 7 for Oliver Bayldon
• "Find a Fellow - RSA". London: Royal Society of Arts. Retrieved 4 October 2023. Richard Oliver Maxwell Bayldon: Fellow since 1961

Further reading

• 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

• Oliver Bayldon's works at the British Film Institute
• Oliver Bayldon at IMDb