IW 145: Spotlight Bruce Cameron Part 3: BBC Professional-Yellow Tie, Small Elephants, and a Team

"MAKE-UP!!" Wait, it costs how much?!

This ends the Spotlight on Bruce Cameron and his work at the BBC News and UK Parliament. A nice chat about how it works in the team and how it affected his Deaf parents too.

Enjoy this sharing with a colleague.

IW Community
A great place to meet regularly to laugh, learn, and lean on each other.

You get:

• 10 or 50% OFF of workshops, seminars. A great way to earn professional development hours.
• Online meetings to expand on the IW podcast episodes. Meet online with interviewees.
• Practice groups, Dilemma discussions.
• And more.

Transcript

IW 145: Spotlight Bruce Cameron Part 3: BBC Professional – Yellow Tie, Small Elephants, and a Team

Support the Podcast!

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS]

00:00:02 Tim

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Wherever you are, this is the Interpreter's Workshop podcast. I'm Tim Curry, your host. Here we talk everything sign language interpreting the ins, the outs, the ups, the downs, the sideways of interpreting. If you're a student, a new interpreter, experienced interpreter, this is the place for you. If you want to know more, go to interpretersworkshop.com.

00:00:28 Tim

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34 Tim

And now the quote of the day, today, it's a Scottish proverb.

00:00:40 Tim

“Be happy while you're living, for you’re a long time dead.”

00:00:44 Tim

I apologize for those who thought I would do a Scottish accent.

00:00:48 Tim

Yeah, that's not happening.

00:00:50 Tim

Not today, but this quote fits the episode quite nicely.

00:00:56 Tim

Today we walk with Bruce through his daily work at the BBC, interpreting with a wonderful, fantastic team and how it affects his life and the fun that he has with his father and with work in general.

00:01:12 Tim

Just a fantastic attitude toward the difficult work that we have.

00:01:16 Tim

Today, we finish the Spotlight with Bruce Cameron. Bruce gives us wonderful stories and a pleasant look at his daily work and how it connects with his life.

00:01:27 Tim

A time for us to share, relax, and reflect on how good it is to have a wonderful work environment, a good team, and a good passion for our work.

00:01:39 Tim

So, let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:01:44 Tim

You're only there four-ish times a month.

00:01:48 Tim

How big a team of interpreters do you have?

00:01:50 Bruce

I, I think 12, maybe 14-ish, maybe ten, 12, 13, 14 roughly.

00:01:57 Bruce

But there's a big pool, a fairly big pool of deaf presenters. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:02:03 Bruce

So, there's 1, 2, 3, 4…

00:02:08 Bruce

Five. And if I've missed anybody my apologies for that, I think it's about five, five deaf presenters who do Parliament.

00:02:15 Bruce

And so yeah, probably about 12, 14…

00:02:18 Bruce

News wise, it's less.

00:02:21 Bruce

But the prerecorded programs all the stuff that you'll see on iPlayer, things like Doctor Who, Panorama, the big BBC programs, Master chef, farming programs, they're all done by both, predominantly deaf presenters but also the hearing interpreters will do them as well.

00:02:40 Tim

So, when you say presenter, what's the difference between when you say interpreter or presenter?

00:02:45 Bruce

That’s a good question.

00:02:46 Tim

Or is there?

00:02:47 Bruce

Not in the job, but I think the people who are the deaf presenters they're not interpreters outside the studio.

00:02:55 Bruce

So, when they're in that environment, they're presenting to camera, they're, they are interpreters, sorry.

00:03:01 Tim

OK.

00:03:01 Bruce

Technically, they are, because they’re interpreting the text.

00:03:03 Tim

They’re sight translating the text. [Bruce: Yes]

00:03:06 Tim

OK.

00:03:07 Tim

I was thinking perhaps that presenter meant they come on and present the news just like…

00:03:12 Bruce

No, no, no, no, sorry.

00:03:13 Bruce

No, no, yeah you're right.

00:03:14 Bruce

I've, I've used it…

00:03:14 Bruce

Yeah, that's me using the wrong language. [Tim: OK]

00:03:17 Bruce

So, they’re interpreters, yeah, but they're not, I don't think they are interpreters outside the studio.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:03:22 Tim

Are you tired of social media shenanigans?

00:03:26 Tim

Why not go ol’ fashioned?

00:03:28 Tim

Subscribe to my newsletter and get the information directly to your inbox once a month with tips and tricks. Learn about the upcoming episodes and special events. So go to the show notes, click on Subscribe to the Newsletter.

00:03:42 Tim

Thank you. Let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:03:46 Tim

So, you learned the job basically by shadowing.

00:03:50 Tim

Did they give you any schedule? You know, here's an agenda of what you're going to do today.

00:03:55 Bruce

So, for… the News is fixed. You are on air, you need to size up 15 minutes before you go live.

00:04:01 Bruce

So, you size up at 6:45 AM.

00:04:05 Bruce

You’re live is 7 to half past.

00:04:07 Bruce

You’re off for half an hour.

00:04:08 Bruce

You're live from 8:00 till half past 8.

00:04:11 Bruce

And then you're off news wise until 1:00 PM. Then you're on for an hour.

00:04:16 Bruce

In between the time you have a couple of prerecorded programs to interpret.

00:04:22 Bruce

So, you would maybe do two - half hours.

00:04:25 Bruce

So, you get a half hour to watch it. Half hour…

00:04:27 Bruce

So, half hour preparation to watch the program, half hour to record it and then the next program half hour to watch it, half hour to record it. Or…

00:04:35 Bruce

It's an hour program, so it's a full hour’s documentary and you get the hour to watch it and then the hour to record it. And you know which program it is the day before. [Tim: Ah, OK] You can get access to it that night if you want to. But if you're doing a lot of things, if you’ve got your own life to lead then…. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:04:54 Bruce

I have watched a program on the train down, just to watch it, which is fine, but you get time on the day.

00:05:00 Bruce

There's a lot of, there's kind of handy things, for example, you watch a program, and different countries will come up. And there's a big wall which is got all the countries cards on it. So, you can have a quick look what is the sign for Honduras?

00:05:14 Bruce

OK, it's not BSL, but it gives you an idea of “will we use it? Is that something we just finger spell then, then use that sign?”

00:05:22 Bruce

And this is what you can do…

00:05:23 Bruce

Is what's lovely about is that, because you have deaf colleagues, and other hearing interpreters there and deaf interpreters, you just lean on them and say, “Listen, what is your sign?”

00:05:33 Bruce

And I've had some of these colleagues come up to me and say, “This is in the script…” So, the deaf colleagues work to the audio cue of the script. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:05:40 Bruce

And, they will come to us and say, “How would you translat- How would you interpret this part?”

00:05:46 Bruce

And there's a definite - element of a close knit team ethos there which is lovely. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:05:56 Bruce

It's absolutely stunning to see and it does work. It really does work.

00:05:59 Bruce

And I got asked a question. It was to do with, I think it was to do with the war in Gaza. And it was like, “How would you translate this part? I would maybe do it this way.” 

00:06:10 Bruce

“Well, what about this?”

00:06:11 Bruce

“Actually, no, you're right. The way that you were going to do it initially makes more sense than how I would visualize it.” [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:06:17 Bruce

The good thing is we're all individuals and my interpretation is going to be different from yours, is going to be different from, you know… So, there is that.

00:06:24 Bruce

But there is a freedom I suppose to, to be ourselves. [Tim: Yeah] But not… don't… go… too far.

00:06:31 Tim

[chuckling] Yeah.

00:06:33 Bruce

You know, don’t go too far down that road.

00:06:35 Tim

Yeah, stay professional.

00:06:37 Bruce

Yea... Absolutely professional.

00:06:38 Tim

Yeah. So, speaking of which, do you have a makeup artist?

00:06:42 Tim

Do you have a costume designer?

00:06:45 Bruce

Costume... Yeah, yeah, I going with…

00:06:47 Bruce

I’m going to hold this up.

00:06:48 Bruce

I've got a tartan tie. [joking]

00:06:49 Bruce

No, it's… I wouldn't wear that. [Tim chuckling]

00:06:50 Bruce

I wouldn't wear that.

00:06:52 Bruce

Parliament is suit, shirt, tie. Plain, plain tie.

00:06:55 Bruce

I actually, gotta whisper this…

00:06:59 Bruce

I push the boundary the other, other week. I've got a tie for my, uh, Christmas from my daughter. And she asked me if I could wear it. And I went, “Yeah, OK.”

00:07:06 Bruce

It was a yellow tie with small elephants on it. [Tim laughing]

00:07:11 Bruce

And she was so pleased that I put it on.

00:07:13 Bruce

But nah, yeah, it was fine.

00:07:14 Bruce

Nobody. Nobody said anything.

00:07:15 Bruce

I think from a distance it looked fairly plain yellow. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:07:19 Bruce

So, it, it was alright. Normally I wear…

00:07:22 Bruce

It's a dark Navy suit, white shirt, and either a purple, solid color tie.

00:07:28 Bruce

And the same for the News.

00:07:29 Bruce

Same for the news.

00:07:30 Bruce

No pin badges on the lapels. We had to wear poppies for Remembrance Week in the lead up to that, which is fine.

00:07:39 Bruce

Other than that, it's, it's quite simple.

00:07:42 Bruce

It's just a dark suit, white shirt, a solid tie, and that's basically it.

00:07:46 Tim

Yeah.

00:07:47 Bruce

Makeup wise, that's, that's a thing.

00:07:49 Bruce

I, I have got kind of red, rosy cheeks and it's rosacea.

00:07:53 Bruce

My dad's got it.

00:07:54 Bruce

His mum had it, so it's going to be passed down the generations. And I was interpreting something at the BBC in Glasgow for a kids’ programme.

00:08:02 Bruce

And the make-up artists came over to me and said, “Oh, I will get this redness off your cheeks” and she pulled out this little tub and a little brush and started, and said, “That'll do ya.”

00:08:11 Bruce

And I was like, “Oh, that's quite nice. Where can I buy that from?” And she went, “Just go to your local chemist and they’ll, you know, make-up place and they'll have it.” I said, “That's fine.”

00:08:21 Bruce

So, I went into, into Boots, in Glasgow and I says, “The makeup artist in BBC said I…” [Tim chuckling]

00:08:29 Bruce

I, I, I didn’t… “For work reasons I need to put on some kind of foundation stuff, and this is what she mentioned.”

00:08:34 Bruce

Then the lady goes, “Oh, no problem at all. We’ve got that here. Here you go. That’ll last you a couple of years. You know, you’re, you're fine.”

00:08:41 Bruce

And I went to the till.

00:08:42 Bruce

It was 37 lbs for…

00:08:45 Tim

OOOOH!

00:08:45 Bruce

I know! I was like, “HO- HOW much?!”

00:08:48 Bruce

And, and then I realized the wife and kids buy these things like weekly!

00:08:52 Bruce

And I’m thinking WHAT?! It says it lasts for two years! [Tim loudly laughing]

00:08:55 Bruce

How much are you spending on makeup?

00:08:58 Bruce

How much does makeup cost?

00:09:00 Bruce

So that's the only thing I do is, I put on a little bit of powder just to take the, the, the shine, redness out of my cheeks and that's basically it.

00:09:10 Bruce

And no there's no, there's nobody…

00:09:11 Bruce

There's no makeup artist that come up and pamper you.

00:09:16 Bruce

Like we had once, I think, years ago.

00:09:17 Tim

Yeah, you and I did. Yeah. [Bruce: yeah]

00:09:19 Tim

That was nice, yeah.

00:09:21 Bruce

That was nice.

00:09:22 Bruce

No, and, we do it ourselves. And I've realised that I need to do it before I get changed in my suit because the creamy powdery stuff goes all over the place, and yeah so, I make a mess. [Tim: Yeah]

00:09:31 Bruce

No, I think I'm trying to make this last two years.

00:09:34 Bruce

I've got another, another 18 months left of this stuff.

00:09:37 Bruce

But yeah, no, it's, it's fine. As I say, there's a small green room where we get changed in. And so, I, I leave my suit there. [Tim: ahh]

00:09:43 Bruce

I leave my suit, and I travel light. So, in my case, my toiletries are all there. So, I arrive, when I arrive into London, I go to the office, and I pick up a toiletries and then head to my accommodation.

00:09:56 Bruce

All I do is, I travel, rucksack, iPad, other bits and pieces, stuff to read, and that's basically it.

00:10:03 Bruce

And a shirt, a couple of shirts, and I'll take my shirts back home.

00:10:06 Bruce

But my suit, I'll just leave. And then if there's a longer break between filming, I'll take my suit back and then we'll get that dry cleaned. [Tim: Mm-hmm, yeah]

00:10:15 Bruce

It's quite nice to, to able to travel light. [Tim: Yeah]

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:10:17 Tim

A big thank you to everyone who shares this podcast with a colleague and friend. If you want to support the show even more, check out the show notes for links to Buy Me A Coffee because it's very embarrassing to fall asleep during an interview. Thank you.

00:10:33 Tim

Let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:10:34 Tim

So, you've been doing this for a year now?

00:10:36 Bruce

Hmm.

00:10:37 Tim

Did you mention this to your parents that you were getting this gig, or did they happen to see you on TV first and realize that that's where you were?

00:10:46 Bruce

No, that’s, that's actually funny, because I did. I told my mum.

00:10:49 Bruce

Mum and I are quite open.

00:10:51 Bruce

And you know, I kind of tell her because… Mum and dad are, are two deaf pensioners who are completely different, completely different.

00:11:00 Bruce

Mum, Mum was a residential border.

00:11:04 Bruce

She, she went to school and stayed at school and then went home for summer holidays.

00:11:09 Bruce

So, she's, she's grassroots.

00:11:11 Bruce

Dad, had a, uh, quite, quite a well off, well off hearing family, hearing sister, hearing friends in the street where he played.

00:11:20 Bruce

So, they're, they’re, they're different sorts of people.

00:11:22 Bruce

So, mom and I, we, we, be chatting….

00:11:25 Bruce

I know how proud she gets.

00:11:28 Bruce

And you know, you know, she kind of likes that sort of stuff.

00:11:30 Bruce

So, I told her. She doesn't watch the news.

00:11:33 Bruce

That was the thing, she, she doesn't watch it, and she definitely doesn't watch Parliament.

00:11:36 Bruce

I said to her, “So listen, I'm going to be on. I’m going to be on here. Don't tell Dad because Dad loves the news. He watches the news every single day at one o’clock. [Tim: ahh]

00:11:46 Bruce

It's his thing.

00:11:47 Bruce

He, he loves having the access to the news in his language. He absolutely loves it, and he thinks it's one of the best things ever.

00:11:54 Bruce

And now that I've shown him how to access other signed programs on BBC a whole world is open to him. [Tim: wow]

00:12:03 Bruce

A whole world is open to him.

00:12:05 Bruce

In fact, what would be quite nice, and I might do… You know something? You just put a little, a little penny into my head, my thoughts.

00:12:11 Bruce

His favorite film of all time was The 49 Steps, Hitchcock.

00:12:17 Bruce

Is that the right film? That 49 Steps? Is that right? Is that what it’s called? Or is it…?

00:12:22 Bruce

The 39 Steps. Yeah, a 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock, right!

00:12:26 Bruce

So, it's a spy thriller. My dad is said to me that is his favorite film of all time.

00:12:34 Bruce

Up until the point where… [slightly chuckling]

00:12:36 Bruce

He'd only watched it ever in the cinema, loved the film, had never seen it with subtitles.

00:12:41 Bruce

I’d bought him the DVD which has subtitles on it.

00:12:45 Bruce

I think this story in his head completely changed… [both laughing]

00:12:48 Bruce

…from what he thought it was to actually what the story was about.

00:12:52 Bruce

But he, he…

00:12:54 Bruce

What I actually might do for him is I actually might give him a signed version of it. [Tim: yeah]

00:12:59 Bruce

I'm looking at it here just now.

00:13:02 Bruce

Let's see how long it is.

00:13:03 Bruce

It's not that long. I don't think it's a particularly long film, and I might actually do a signed version of it for him.

00:13:10 Bruce

So, he can watch it signed because he, he, (I mean, I'm off topic here), but he, he absolutely loves watching signed, the signed news in his language. [Tim: yeah]

00:13:19 Bruce

So, I told my mum, and I said, “Don't tell, don't tell him.” So Mum was in the kitchen.

00:13:23 Bruce

I think she had forgotten to be honest

00:13:25 Bruce

And then she said, “All I felt was vibrations coming through. And it was my dad stamping on the floor to get my mum's attention and… “Bruce! Bruce is on the screen!” [Tim laughing throughout]

00:13:37 Bruce

“It's Bruce. He never told me.” And she went no, we just wanted to see how you were.” And Mom said that he was so proud. He was so proud… [Tim: yeah] … to see his son on screen, which was… It's nice. Embarrassing. Obviously being, you know, being the son. And yeah, it's nice.

00:13:52 Bruce

And it’s, it’s good that to have the ability to give him.

00:13:58 Bruce

And that's who I play to. And a lot of people who are listening just now, know when if they're interpreting in conferences or whatever, and there's not a deaf person in the audience it's very difficult to engage. [Tim: yeah]

00:14:09 Bruce

It's very difficult to, to, to concentrate.

00:14:13 Bruce

Because you're not getting any feedback whatsoever. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:14:16 Bruce

So, doing it on screen I find…

00:14:21 Bruce

In my head, I'm signing to my dad. That's, that's my target. And if, if he understands me, 99.99% of everybody else will. [Tim: yeah] Yes, I need to change… Parliament's different because my dad wouldn't watch Parliament and that's not his thing. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:14:36 Bruce

But News wise, if I can make the news accessible to him, understand what's being said and what's going on, then yeah, everybody else is going to get that information.

00:14:45 Bruce

So, yeah. So, Dad, dad was, dad was chuffed, and he keeps texting me, [scoffs] I say, he keeps texting me, he gets my mum to text me and asks, “when’s he on next?”. [Tim chuckles]

00:14:54 Bruce

And I’ll, I'll text him and say, “I'm on next week” and he'll reply with a thumbs up. That's it.

00:15:00 Bruce

No “How are..” nothing just a thumbs up. [Tim laughing]

00:15:03 Bruce

I'll take text him, “Dad, how are you?” -Thumbs up.

00:15:05 Bruce

Eh, fine, you know…

00:15:06 Bruce

He's, he's 8-, 81, you know, 81 now and he's... [Tim: yeah] But no, he's doing…

00:15:12 Bruce

He's doing all right.

00:15:13 Bruce

I got a phone call last night, actually, and it's from a friend, and it's really weird.

00:15:18 Bruce

He works for a catering company that supply food and employees for offshore up in Aberdeen. And he was telling me that obviously where they are in the heliport, you got all these people coming in passed and he's, he's working away, looks up in the TV's on.

00:15:34 Tim

Ah.

00:15:35 Bruce

And he's like, and he goes. He's like, “Fred, Fred!”

00:15:39 Bruce

And Fred he doesn't know he goes, “That’s my mate that is! That's my mate.” [Tim laughing]

00:15:43 Bruce

Fred’s like, “I don't care. I really don't.”

00:15:46 Bruce

I…eh… [Tim still laughing]

00:15:49 Bruce

It’s bizarre. It really is bizarre. [Tim: yeah]

00:15:50 Bruce

I've had a couple of people saying, “Where do I recognize you from?” And I'm like, “I've no idea.” [Tim: Yeah] It's embarrassing sometimes.

00:15:58 Tim

Yeah, yeah.

00:15:59 Tim

Well, thank you for this embarrassing podcast episode.

00:16:03 Bruce

I'll be bac- I'll be back in three years.

00:16:05 Tim

Yeah. We'll come back three years from now and see how you are then.

00:16:08 Bruce

No, ah listen Tim, it's always a pleasure and we finally got there. [Tim: Yeah] Finally.

00:16:12 Bruce

I think we wanted to do this…

00:16:14 Bruce

How long ago? Months.

00:16:15 Tim

I don't know.

00:16:15 Tim

When did you start there? [teasing]

00:16:17 Tim

A year ago.

00:16:17 Bruce

A year ago, yeah, yeah… fair enough. Yeah, it's been.

00:16:19 Tim

Well, you know, we had to prepare for it.

00:16:22 Tim

No wait, no we didn't.

00:16:22 Bruce

No, I don't prepare.

00:16:24 Bruce

I do prepare. Just if anybody is listening, right. Prepare. Preparing is good.

00:16:28 Tim

Preparation is good, yes, yes.

00:16:31 Tim

Thanks again, Bruce.

00:16:32 Tim

We'll talk to you soon.

00:16:33 Bruce

Cheers. Thanks, Tim.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:16:39 Tim

What a great way to end our Spotlight with Bruce, to sit and have a chat about the daily work, about how it feels to work with such a good team, how they all lean on each other, some great stories from a fellow colleague.

00:16:54 Tim

From this Spotlight, I see that sometimes we as interpreters over prepare, over plan what we think might happen, what we worry about.

00:17:06 Tim

But in the end, it's all about our ongoing development of ourselves, our knowledge, our skills, our day-to-day routines, how it influences how we can serve better.

00:17:19 Tim

And an openness, a willingness to work with others, to accept criticism and understand where it's coming from.

00:17:29 Tim

And we need to have a bit of fun while we do it.

00:17:31 Tim

Less worry, less stress, more fascination and awe about what each of us can do, all of that will help us develop and improve, because that's what it's all about.

00:17:45 Tim

Enjoying what we do, being with people we enjoy. So, relax, keep calm.

00:17:52 Tim

And keep interpreting – fabulously!

00:17:55 Tim

I'll see you next week.

00:17:57 Tim

Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:18:34]