Those that are regulars to the site will know I’ve been fortunate enough to be in contact with both models and photographers over the years. One such photographer is of course Terry Sparks, who has graciously over the last few years provided me and the site with numerous photos from his collection of work. Several people have asked about Terry’s career, so I asked the man himself, and below in his own words is a brief biography. A fabulous recollection, and his career crossed path with some great photographers of the time and some well known models!
I developed an interest in photography during my final years at Dartford Grammar School. Going to University did not appeal to me and as I was then liable for National Service I decided in 1953 to join the RAF as a trainee photographer. The RAF School of Photography gave me a very good grounding in the basics, and as I progressed through the ranks I took further advanced courses. In 1962 as an experiment by the RAF it was decided to attach some photographers to the Ministry of Defence Public Information Office. Apparently there were some 400 applicants for the job as this appeared to be something different from the usual photographers working on a Squadron processing air films all day. I applied, and the list was whittled down to 12 airmen. After two interviews at M.O.D. In London I was chosen along with three others. Two were sent to the Far East, one to Germany and me to Cyprus. Before leaving England, we were sent to Fleet Street for 3 months familiarization with the requirements and methods of the National Press. Two went to the Daily Mail, one to the Daily Express and myself to the Daily Herald (which the following year became the Sun). Contacts I made then became very useful later in my career. This was during the time of the Profumo affair, and I spent many hours along with the Press Pack trying to photograph Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice Davies, with some limited success.
Life in Cyprus during the early 1960s was idyllic. There was no tourist trade in those days and very few rather basic hotels, totally different to the island it has become in 2023. My work area covered wherever there were British servicemen whether they were RAF, Army, or Navy. This meant constant trips from my base in Cyprus to Malta, Libya, Egypt. The Lebanon, Turkey and Spain, wherever there was a story that showed British servicemen in a good light. In 1964, I came back to England for a couple of weeks leave and took the opportunity to hire an amateur studio and had a session with Lee Southern and Toni Rees with rather amateurish results. Back in Cyprus in 1965 there was a beauty competition for the wives and daughters of servicemen, and I was asked to photograph the winner, June Randall. I took the young lady to the swimming pool at RAF Nicosia and shot some pictures on the diving board and in the pool. A few days later on the 7th October, the Daily Mirror published one of my shots. This was to be my very first glamour picture to be published in the national press. I thought this could be fun and started photographing some of the WRAF’s and Army girls, building up a small portfolio of glamour pictures.
In December 1965 I left the RAF after 12 years service, returned to the UK, and started to seek employment. I had read somewhere that there was a small exhibition of ‘Art Studies” on show in Soho, so out of curiosity I went along. This was of course Harrison Marks work and purely by chance, he was present when I arrived. We started talking, and I told him of my experiences in Cyprus, and he asked to see my portfolio. A couple of days later I returned with my pictures and he was quite complimentary. I told him that I was looking for employment, but he explained that he already had assistants. However, he knew that Russell Gay had just lost his assistant Ken Williams and suggested I approached him. Three weeks later I started to work for RG at his Studio just off Oxford Circus in Great Portland Street. At that time he was publishing QT, Fiesta and producing glamour films under the name of Venus Films. He later launched Knave magazine and we also made films depicting the joys of nudism for the Scandinavian market. These were quite tame affairs, usually featuring three girls and a guy throwing beach balls around on the sand, but of course, everything was full-frontal. Not like the censored UK market in the 1960s. I particularly remember one very hot summer’s day with Jenny Lane, Lena Ellis and Pam Arnold doing their best to get an obvious reaction from Malcolm, the male model, by consistently “accidentally” rubbing up against him. The bromide he had taken earlier, however, helped him to maintain his cool. Although Russell Gay and Harrison Marks were business rivals, they actually were quite good friends and used to go to each other’s parties on a fairly regular basis. They would also sometimes pass on an occasional model to each other once they had completed all they needed to do, photographically. I remember taking Geraldine Brown along to one of Russells parties and rather late in the evening, we were confronted by a very inebriated George Marks. We had both photographed Geri in the past, and he demanded to know if we had done “IT” yet. Geri replied that no, we hadn’t, but there was a good chance that we would in the near future. It became a standing joke between the two of us every time we worked together after that evening, but in fact we never did actually do “IT”.
Russell Gay gave up taking photographs just after I joined him and spent his time concentrating on the publishing side of the business and left me to produce all the necessary pictures. As I was employed by RG, this meant that all the photographs which I took went out with his name on the back of the prints. I found this a bit galling and after my photographs of Gloria Lomax appeared as a 5-page centre spread in Men Only with pictures by Russell Gay plastered over it, I decided it was time to go freelance. Russell understood my frustrations, and we parted on good terms. In fact, I continued to use his Studio facilities on the basis that he had first take on anything that I produced. Apart from the picture sets which RG was buying from me, I was gradually finding markets in the plethora of new Mens magazines that were forever wanting new previously unseen girls. It was around this time that the Sun and to a lesser extent the Daily Mirror started publishing Page 3 type of shots, although not topless at the stage. This was when my previous contacts came in useful and I started getting the odd publication in the Sun and later the Daily Star.
As the 1970s moved into the 1980s, the market became more and more saturated, with countless photographers turning out more and harder material for the now uncensored magazines. It had always been difficult to make a profit selling pictures. One good centre spread may just about cover your costs, so it was imperative to sell to at least three different markets. This meant that for instance, on a day’s shoot you had to produce enough material in three different styles to cover the market. A set of pictures for Men Only would not be right for Knave, for instance, so you had to keep in mind the subtle differences in the market. It was also necessary to sell abroad at the same time as the UK if you wanted to make a living. I had 3 agents selling for me, 1 in the US, 1 in Germany and 1 in Japan, and I handled the UK market when I could. In some ways, I was quite relieved that I was getting older and no longer enjoying working with the now younger generation. My last Page 3 girl was Melinda Messenger, which was published in the Daily Star on the 10th October 1997. I finally called it a day in 2001 and now live in retirement enjoying many happy memories of my working life, helped by this wonderful site and the efforts of Wonder publishing many of the pictures from the past.
Terry
The Kamera Club 
