Fred Bentham

Fred Bentham 1911 - 2001 Fred Bentham died peacefully in a nursing home in west London on Thursday, May 10th. To many people around the world Fred was the father of modern entertainment lighting and became well-known personality during his 42 years with strand. Born in Harlesden in north-west London on 23rd October 1911 Fred joined Strand Electrics and Engineering Company in 1932 and quickly made his mark by overhauling the product range, publishing a new case-bound catalogue in 1936 which included a host of innovative products including mirror spot, Acting Area and Pageant lanterns and of coarse, the Light Console. This revolutionary lighting control, and the ubiquitous Pattern 23 spotlight became synonymous with Fred Bentham and Strand. The Light Console's lasting legacy was to progress the technology of lighting control from a complex on-stage mechanical device to a remote control which could be located where the operator could actually see what was being lit. Fred's reputation grew after the second World War when he took over the editorship of Strand's popular journal Tabs, and this, combined with regular lectures and Colour Music demonstrations gained him a wide following as the focus of the industry's progressive developments. Strand's development team, under Fred's direction, was at the forefront of thyristor dimmer design, profile spotlight developments and ultimately, memory lighting systems. In addition to being a founding member of the ABTT, ALD a prominent member of the IES (later CIBSE) and editor of Sightline, Fred was especially proud of his election as a member of the Art Workers' Guild after his 1936 lecture on 'Stage Lighting as an Art" to members of the Guild (which included his father, the sculptor Percy Bentham, and on that occasion, George Bernard Shaw). Fred continued his connections with the industry into his 80s, publishing his autobiography Sixty Years of Light Work in 1992.