First home was on stilts
Meet Geoffrey Hodgson, administrator of ATV’s studio centre at Elstree


AGAINST the name of Geoffrey Hodgson in the records of the Dorset Regiment it is stated that on a memorable occasion in 1944 he “worked steadily and imperturbably”, a phrase which applies well today to his administration of the Studio Centre at Elstree.
The phrase was part of the tribute paid in an official citation recording the award of the Military Cross to Captain Hodgson, Platoon Commander.
Geoffrey Hodgson’s battalion was being heavily shelled in a wood near the Siegfried Line. It was his job to get anti-tank guns into position.
The citation records that “Capt. Hodgson worked steadily and imperturbably, despite numerous air-bursts, for over four hours, without thought of taking cover. Had it not been for the magnificent work and splendid example of this officer, the battalion might well have had to withstand a counter-attack by enemy tanks without anti-tank guns”.
Geoffrey was wounded a week later and sent back to Brussels — the place where he first met the young Belgian lady who was to become his wife in 1948.
When the war ended Geoffrey, demobilised with the rank of Major, rejoined his old firm, Unilever, and went out to Sierra Leone to work for the United Africa Company.
His first married home was a wooden house on stilts in a remote jungle station called Segbwema. This name is now inscribed on a strip of mahogany which hangs in front of Mr and Mrs Hodgson’s home at St Albans.
The only European neighbours for the Hodgsons were five Methodist missionaries.
Chimpanzees played in the garden, leopards prowled close by. And the Hodgsons lived happily in their house on stilts, breeding ducks, entertaining many travellers who called on their way through the jungle, and operating a real trading outpost of the Empire.
Their first child, Priscilla, was born while they were there. Now there are Alan, 8, and four-year-old Martin.
The Hodgsons spent 12 years in West Africa. They returned to Britain in 1959 and Geoffrey joined ATV.
He worked first in Mr Max Gumpel’s department and held a watching brief on the development of the new Studio Centre of which he is now the administrator.
About the author
'ATV Newsheet' was the monthly staff newsletter for employees of Associated TeleVision in London and the Midlands