Grierson was appointed to the position of executive producer of Group 3 at the end of 1950 ; it was a film production enterprise that received loans of government money through the National Film Finance Corporation . They filmed at Southall Studios in West London but later moved to Beaconsfield Studios . Group 3 was to have continuous production from 1951 until 1955 when it stopped producing films , the organisation had made a loss of over £ 400,000 as production of the films usually ran over the time allocated , and there had also been difficulty getting the films shown in cinemas . During this time Grierson had been diagnosed with tuberculosis in May 1953 , he spent a fortnight in hospital and then had a year of convalescing at his home , Tog Hill in Calstone . Grierson spent much of his time corresponding with the directors at Group 3 , as well as commenting on scripts and story ideas . He had recovered enough to attend the Cannes Film Festival in April 1954 , taking the production of '' Man of Africa '' . At the Edinburgh Film Festival in the same year , a dinner was held in Grierson 's honour to celebrate twenty-five years of documentary . Grierson joined the newly revived Films of Scotland Committee in 1955 , also on the committee was Norman Wilson , Forsyth Hardy , George Singleton , C. A. Oakley and Neil Paterson . In 1956 , Grierson was the president of the Venice Film Festival 's jury ; he was also jury president at the Cork Film Festival and the South American Film Festival in 1958 . In 1957 , Grierson received a special Canadian Film Award . Grierson wrote the script for , '' Seawards the Great Ship , '' it was directed by Hilary Harris and awarded an Academy Award in 1961 , a feat for the Films of Scotland Committee . The first programme of This Wonderful World was aired on 11 October 1957 in Scotland ; it was on '' The Culbin Sands '' which focused on how the Forestry Commission had replanted six thousand acres of woodland along the mouth of Findhorn . In the seventeenth century wild sand had blown into the mouth and covered the land , the successful replanting of the forest was a great success for the Commission . This Wonderful World was shown weekly , other topics for episodes included Leonardo da Vinci , ballet , King Penguins and Norman McLaren 's '' Boogie Doodle '' . This Wonderful World began to be aired in England In February 1959 , it ran for a further eight years and was in the Top Ten programmes for the week for the UK in 1960 . In 1961 , Grierson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen 's Birthday Honours . In 1962 , he was a member of the jury for the Vancouver Film Festival , during his visit to Canada he also received the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Medal for his contribution to the visual arts . In 1963 , he was busy with This Wonderful World and the Films of Scotland Committee but still found time to attend the twenty-fifth anniversary of the National Film Board in Montreal . In 1965 , Grierson was the patron of the Commonwealth Film Festival which took place in Cardiff in that year . In 1966 , he was offered the role of Governor of the British Film Institute ; however , he turned down the position . This Wonderful World changed the title to John Grierson Presents . In 1967 , after returning from the Oberhausen Film Festival where he had been the President of Honour of the jury , Grierson suffered a bout of bronchitis which lasted eight days . His brother Anthony , who had trained to be a doctor was called and diagnosed Grierson with emphysema , his coughing fits were a cause for concern , and he was admitted to Manor Hospital . Grierson decided to give up smoking and drinking to benefit his health
Cork Film Festival
Cork Film Festival
John Grierson