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Author
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Topic: Tim Christian Remembered
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Steve Klare
Film Guy
Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted May 07, 2007 09:09 PM
We lost one of our own a few weeks ago when Tim Christian passed away. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer late in 2005, and spent his last months quietly in the place and among the people he loved.
Tim was born in Gloucester, UK. He eventually became an engineer for Philips and worked for several years at their facilities in the Netherlands, where he met his wife Felicity. As a result of their time abroad, Tim and Felicity were both fluent in Dutch and used this as a code language when their son Basil was young.
Tim loved boating, railroads, reading, Jazz and making and collecting small gauge films. He inherited this last love from his father, who during Tim’s childhood was a fan of 9.5mm. Tim himself was a devoted fan of the 8mm film gauges, applying his skills as a machinist and circuit designer and his sensibilities as a film maker to getting the most out of the hobby. He produced several articles on filmmaking and presentation and his website had a nice section on Walton films, which was a passion of his. He owned Isoplethics, a small company specialized in parts for vintage radios, but was not immune to providing items like material for making replacement projector belts as well. He knew as much about electronics as I ever will, even more about mechanics, as far as optics, let’s not even go there…
I’ve had the honor of being this man’s friend, despite the ocean between us and never having been in the same time zone. Tim and I hooked up over three years ago on this forum in a discussion of railroad films, and kept in steady contact ever since. In the years since we’ve had far ranging discussions covering such subjects as films, cars, boats, politics, trains, wives, sons, Shakespeare, plumbing, astronomy, beer, history, the other guy’s weather and our mutual favorite author, Bill Bryson. We did a long series on which side the steering wheel is on and the consequences involved. When I replaced the upstairs necessity we discussed Thomas Crapper, his invention, and the unfortunate fate of his good name. We were both huge fans of the English language and had long discussions about the two distinct versions of it we spoke and their subtleties. I think we found that while the differences of our own lives were indeed interesting and educational for both of us, the similarities were even more compelling.
We were a formidable team on E-bay, with our five hour time difference making possible almost 24 hour coverage of auctions, and resulting in the division of several lots of films between us and in-country checks of used prints before one was sent to the other side of the Atlantic. Several bad prints stayed where they started because of this. This also allowed us to perforate the “domestic only” barrier by effectively having overseas addresses as needed. Tim found me a ‘scope lens in the UK and was quick to send the odd part needed to make something work, or work again. I found him some model railroad parts at a local hobby shop and corresponded with local electronic manufacturing reps on his behalf. Once when a British lady found herself at my wife’s hospital, our wives worked together to hook up social services to get her transported home. I found Tim to be a source of comfort and encouragement when my own father died some three years ago, yet it saddens me I can’t do more for his family today.
E-mail made our friendship amazingly portable. Very often when I was at work and needed a break, I’d drop him a line. Almost as often within a few minutes, I’d get a response. Knowing that can’t ever happen again hurts more than a little.
It is a profound regret that because of the complications of both of our lives, I never sat down with him to have a beer and watch some films, but the night I found out he was gone both reels of Walton’s "Farewell to Steam" were projected on my own screen, all the way across the Atlantic, yet somehow still connected. It just seemed the best way to remember Tim.
Here is a selection of his articles:
http://www.filmshooting.com/community/articles/screens.php
http://www.filmshooting.com/community/articles/screens2.php
http://www.filmshooting.com/community/articles/recbox.php
http://www.filmshooting.com/community/articles/dof.php
http://www.filmshooting.com/community/articles/belts.php
http://www.filmshooting.com/community/articles/soundstriping.php
http://www.filmshooting.com/community/articles/soundstriping2.php
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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...
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