Alastair Mutch joined Granada in 1965 as an accountant but then moved to the legal side of the company’s operation becoming a member of the Board and Company Secretary before leaving in 1993.
Read MoreAlastair Mutch’s memories of Sidney Bernstein
I had my first meeting with Sidney Bernstein at that point. I was working in, in the outer office, two secretaries and me. Must have been the end of the long hot afternoon. I lent back and stretched. Sidney walked in right on cue. “Did I wake you up?” He was God, really. And he…
Read MoreAlastair Mutch remembers ‘drifting’ along at Granada
And then at some point I became office manager, which is not the most exciting job in the world. But you know, I drift along. So I did this for a few years. Trouble with that job, you’ve got a huge number of departments under you, and every time the phone goes, it’s somebody wanting…
Read MoreAlastair Mutch recalls working on Granada’s legal issues
Gradually, I moved on to the legal side if you like, which was fascinating. And I think my first case, as it were, was quite interesting. It concerned a local chap who lived in Chorlton, and there was a stream running through his garden, and quite a bit of land and he wanted to develop…
Read MoreAlastair Mutch remembers the British Steel Papers case and other legal battles
I suppose another very big one was British Steel. But you’ve spoken to David Boltoun about that? I have to say, David made a slight mistake. He said that Lord Denning was for Granada. Now Denning was not for Granada. He was in the Court of Appeal and they unanimously found against us. The situation…
Read MoreAlastair Mutch and Granada’s franchise bid
Being Company Secretary at that point I was at all the board meetings, all the discussions, all the drafts of the documents that went into the submission. And, of course, the secrecy around it was enormous. We knew we were under threat from Liverpool. Phil Redmond was pitching. I don’t know if you know about…
Read MoreAlastair Mutch remembers Granada board meetings
Well, it was up in room 600, on the sixth floor conference room. They were fairly relaxed affairs. I started going to the meetings when Denis Forman was Chairman. In fact, I well remember my first stab at doing the minutes. I was very conscientious and the system was that he always read the minutes…
Read MoreAlastair Mutch on Granada Studio Tours
John (Williams) was an intake of management trainees the same time as Tony Brill, Bill Tomlinson, one or two others. He was very ambitious, John. He ran Tours very well, but I think he could talk about Charles Allen because he said… Allen said to John, because they had retail outlets for the tourists, “You…
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