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Laurence
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Pat Keysell - Vision On
« Thread Started on Dec 11, 2009, 8:45am »

I was sad to hear just yesterday of the death of Pat Keysell. As Pat lived in retirement in Italy her passing has not been widely reported. She died on 31st October 2009, aged 83 years. It is sadly ironic that Pat passed away just a few months after Tony Hart. The below is taken from Wikipedia and www.ndcs.org.uk (The National Deaf Children's Society). Apologies for not writing this myself but I plan to write a review of Vision On for Television Heaven in the new year.

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Pat Keysell was a former presenter of the BBC television series Vision On which ran from 1964 to 1976. She first worked as an assistant before getting the job of PA to Ursula Eason who was the Assistant Head of BBC Children's Television from 1955 to 1970. She made her debut with "For Deaf Children" in the late 1950s by introducing mimes acted out by deaf actors and did much to help design the future format of Vision On where she was best known for the legendary phrase: "I'm sorry we can't return any of your pictures but we give a small prize for those that we do show."

Keysell was involved in Vision On at a very early stage when the series started in 1964 being the presenter and assistant to Tony Hart. Many of her ideas were included in the very early shows which were initially broadcast on a monthly basis.

Her main contribution to early BBC television was that she helped to bridge the gap between hearing and non-hearing viewers. This was carried out by addressing the television camera by simultaneously using sign language as she spoke.

She was a mime teacher for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and in 1968 was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study with the National Theatre of the Deaf in the USA. On her return she set up a company also named the National Theatre of the Deaf. The American company threatened to sue and the name was promptly changed to British Theatre of the Deaf which became a professional touring company in 1974 and was the forerunner of later projects developed by other deaf people particularly Terry Ruane who was General Manager. It is arguable that other opportunities for deaf actors like the course at Reading University developed from Keysell's earlier work.

In 1992 Keysell wrote a mime workshop book called: 'Mime Over Matter'. She also wrote and produced two storytelling series "Under the Same Sun" for Yorkshire Television. The title originated from a Theatre show she had recently done with the British Theatre of the Deaf, "Under the Sun" and followed the same format, even the same stories.

She then worked at the Brewery Arts Centre in Cumbria and on other projects before ending up on Eastbourne, East Sussex. Keysell and Tony Hart were reunited over lunch shortly before Hart's death, not having seen each other since the Vision On series finished in 1976.

After touring her own Compass Storytelling shows for many years, Pat studied storytelling as a healing art at Emerson College and Mindfields College, subsequently developing her work in Day Centres, Crowborough Hospital, working with the elderly, adults and children with a learning disability, the Sussex association for the blind, Shinewater Court (people with severe physical disabilities) and in the hearing impaired unit in Willingdon School.

Keysell was, until May 2006, Artistic Director of Compass Community Arts, a registered charitable arts organisation working with all branches of the community based in her hometown of Eastbourne. She then retired to live in Italy. She was featured on the BBC community programme See Hear on 1 April 2009,where she talked about her career in television and education.

Susan Daniels, Chief Executive of NDCS said: "Many hearing viewers who were around in the mid-60s remember Vision On with affection."

"Pat’s involvement with NDCS and her work with deaf children and adults was ahead of its time. Her leadership enabled deaf children to take part in an activity on equal terms to their hearing peers – this work was truly inspirational and become a model that NDCS followed for a considerable length of time," added Daniels. "Our sympathies go to her family - she made a great contribution and will be sorely missed."

« Last Edit: Dec 20, 2009, 11:36am by Laurence »

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