Alex Pearce

Died: May 26, 2015

Alex A Pearce, who has died aged 92, was a photographer and cameraman who was a leading figure in the BBC Scotland film unit in the 1960s and 70s before becoming the manager responsible for all filming by the BBC in Scotland.

He was born in 1923 in Lewisham in South London, the eldest of three boys and at 14 years old was forced to take on the role of "father" to his younger brothers Ian and Roy when his own father died.

He was fond of telling people that he had attended three schools and been expelled from two of them. However, this was due to his passion to learn what he called "useful things". By spending days in theatres, museums and art galleries he developed his love of the arts, especially music, literature and photography that so shaped his future life and career.

When war broke out in 1939, he signed up hoping for the RAF but was enlisted into the Army. He then promptly told them he could not join as he was only 16 (having lied about his age). One year later he joined up with the RAF and was maintaining three or four Spitfires in combat flying condition by the age of 18.

Following a period at RAF Hawkinge, he volunteered to serve overseas and found himself in Southern Rhodesia on a small RAF pilot training camp out in the bush. He said: "The purpose was for me to maintain aircraft so that they would stay up until the pilot decided it was time to come down again - this gave me a marvellous opportunity to learn to fly (unofficially of course). Also I was able to set up a musical appreciation society with records borrowed from the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation."

After the end of the war, he developed his photographic interests into a career, working at the Old Vic Theatre in London, photographing great actors such as Alec Guinness and Laurence Olivier.

He then moved on to being a film cameraman when he joined Realist Films, where he met a glamorous assistant and model, Sheila Peers, and in 1956 she became his wife and constant companion for the next 58 years. He and Sheila went on to have three sons - Andrew, Daniel and Matthew.

After several years with Realist, he was invited to join the BBC Film Unit at Ealing Film Studios. Although it was an exciting job, it meant he was often away for long trips and not seeing enough of his young family. So, in order to get a more balanced life he transferred to the BBC Film Unit, Scotland in 1962. Loving the countryside and mountains, they never left and lived in Rhu near Helensburgh, then Milngavie and finally Lenzie.

As a film cameraman in the 1960s and 70s (before the days of health and safety) he had many misadventures, including numerous episodes at sea where he nearly lost his life, encounters with a poltergeist on the Island of Barra and filming from the top stanchions of the Forth Road Bridge during its construction. There was also a memorable encounter talking about photography (not music as might have been expected) with the legendary Yehudi Menuhin aboard the Queen Mary on the way back from New York.

After an accident which badly injured his back, severely curtailing his work out on location, he worked on research into documentary films, following which he became assistant film unit manager. Ultimately that led to him becoming the BBC Manager Film Scotland, being responsible for all matters relating to filming by the BBC in Scotland. Showing his adaptability and desire to always do the right things right, he managed a staff of more than 70 until ill health forced him into early retirement at the age of 58.

A love of snakes, triggered by many close encounters with them in Rhodesia, manifested itself in him building a large vivarium in the living room in Milngavie and stocking it with pythons and a rapidly growing boa constrictor, as well as a skittish iguana.

He taught himself to play the cello and viola da gamba and joined local quartets to play them as well. His love of flying, and being out in the great Scottish countryside, led him to get involved in local groups building and flying radio-controlled gliders in the nearby Campsie Hills. Two hip replacements could not stop him tramping up hill and down glen in pursuit of his planes.

A constant theme running throughout his life was his love of photography, and his work has been displayed at various exhibitions.

Not to be daunted by technology, he took to using a PC and an iPad and aged 87 he became an active member of the Radio 3 Message Board Forum where his frequent posts on his life experiences and his love of music have entertained a large on-line community for the last five years.

He is survived by his wife Sheila, sons Andrew, Daniel and Matthew, five grandchildren and one great-grand-child.