The man with the big job
That’s ATV’s Sales Director Patrick Henry


PHYSICALLY, he is a big man, way above the six-foot limit.
You can see that he has Irish blood. And you can tell that there are two sides to his nature.
He gives the air of a man of great physical energy who would like to be expending his strength on such things as horses or boats.
And you can tell by looking into his eyes that he is not the kind of man to be easily swayed or persuaded. He is used to pondering the significance of any facts or statistics that may have been placed before him.
As it happens both readings of his character are right.
On the one hand, his favourite form of exercise is horse-riding — while he says the reason he is always broke is because he owns “a beautiful Bermudan ketch” in the South of France.
On the other hand – the more business-like side this — he charters the ketch, and apparently makes a profit!
This side of Pat Henry is the one in which we at ATV are clearly most interested — for it is his responsibility to ensure that we get our advertisement revenue.
As ATV takes about one-fifth of all the money — about £77 million [£1,500m in today’s money, allowing for inflation – Ed] gross in 1960 — spent on ITV, it is obvious that Patrick Henry’s activities, and those of his Department, are of more than academic importance to the rest of us.
“On a straightforward basis of the number of ITV homes in our two areas, the number of hours we transmit, and the success of our programming,” Pat Henry says, “it is fairly simple to calculate the share of the ITV cake we ought to get.
“Our job in Sales is first to advise and cherish that ‘share’; second, to try to get a bit more; and third, to play a leading part in enlarging the whole ITV ‘cake’.”
At a recent meeting of the Regent Advertising Club, of which he is a Patron, he was asked how he selected his salesmen.
He put enthusiasm for selling plus a clear mind as the first priorities — with a knowledge of TV and advertising next.
When Pat Henry left school, he gave up the idea of going to university in favour of joining a whaling ship which hunted its quarry in the frozen southern oceans.
“A spell at a tough job is good for a young man”, he says.
After a short term in advertising, he served in the Army, rising from private to captain.
After the war, he became a documentary film producer, then advertising scriptwriter, manager of several film departments and, eventually, advertisement manager of ‘Woman’ magazine until he joined ATV in April 1955 as Sales Director.
Pat Henry’s manner is easy and frank, his conversation friendly — and he has a good sense of humour.
Because he tends to be a bit of a stickler for insisting that his men and women salesmen
create a good impression in and out of business hours, he himself tries to set the example.
“If you conduct yourself properly after office hours, the chances are you’ll do the same while working”, he says.
“My Department is essentially a team, and that team must always give clients a good impression — otherwise it will never be able to command that respect without which no salesman’s story will ever be accepted”.
About the author
'ATV Newsheet' was the monthly staff newsletter for employees of Associated TeleVision in London and the Midlands