THE MOST REAL MAN

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 5th Year

Issue

Issue No.

8

Date Released

Apr 1952

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1THE MOST REAL MAN
2. 2OVERHAUL
3. 3OUTPUT

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 3

Summary

BFI synopsis: Sir Andrew Bryan on the British miner
NCB Commentary - Sir Andrew Bryan, for many years Chief Inspector of Mines, and now a Board Member of the N. C. B.
Speech - There’s no typical miner any more than there’s a typical man - but I think if I wanted to find the most real man, I’d go among the miners to look for him. Who is this man?
First, one out of every thirty workers in Britain is a miner. The coal he gets keeps the other 29 busy.
In 1951, our average miner produced 300 tons of coal. From this, his 29 pals produced just over £20,000 worth of goods. That means a lot to our standard of living.
Second, our average miner is just 40 years old. He was born in 1911. He was 7 when the first war ended. While he was at school his family wasn’t badly off, with an average wage of £5 a week in those days. But then there were the stoppages of 1920 and ‘21, and within months the family wage was halved.
So he left school in 1925 to start work. What happened? Within 6 monthes, the 1926 stoppage. Over the next ten years, when he was a young man in his prime, one third of all his mates left the industry. Why? Because there was no work for them.
Now there’s work again, but are you surprised that he wants some convincing that the days of unemployment and low wages have really gone for good? But in spite of all this, and all that people say, what’s his record today? In 1926 alone, the big strike year, his father lost 150 shifts. In 1951, our 40-year old miner lost less than one shift through disputes.
Last year, in ‘51, our miner produced more coal per shift than ever before in the life of the industry. Last year he, and his 700,000 workmates, got 222 million tons of coal, and that’s 30 million tons more than 5 years ago.
And what’s he like as a man? His working conditions are now the toughest in industry. He’s the most versatile craftsman in the world. Look at the kind of tools he works with. In the mine he has to look after himself, and he knows that his mistakes can be fatal to himself and his fellows.
Mining is like a battle, and you can see for yourselves the casualties. Our miner has to be quick and alert, fit and self-reliant.
Above all, he has to be physically strong and spiritually courageous. It’s not that he’s braver than other men, but that he needs his courage more.
He has a sense of humour. He likes his relaxations. Our miner is a man of wide interests.
But he realises that in any organisaion somebody has to give the orders, as long as authority does not mean infallability. He won’t be bullied and preached at by the same man at the same time.
He needs a sense of ‘belonging’. He must feel that he has a useful place in a living society, not only in his own pit community, but in the life of the nation as a whole. And that’s where we can all help: to give him a pride in the part that he plays, so that he can think better, feel better and act better than he has evr done before.

Researcher Comments

BFI sources suggest that this story was made in British and American versions. The British version is labelled D127J and the American AF17049. The archive footage came from the Imperial War Museum. Stanley Goulder was Assistant Director. Francis Gysin wrote the script. Commentary recorded on February 1952 and speech recorded 22 January 1952.

Keywords

Mining

Footage sources

Imperial War Museum

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.6 No.74 December 1952, p651.
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Support services

Francis Gysin

Sponsor

National Coal Board