Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Seventy-five


Since for many years there was only the single BBC television channel there was no need for any kind of graphic ident until 1953. The 'bat-wing' logo above was introduced in anticipation of the competition from the new commercial channels.

It was in that year, 1953, in Edinburgh that I first saw a television broadcast... the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. On our street three houses had the tell-tale 'H'-shaped aerial on the roof, although it was rumoured that in one case there was no actual television receiver in that home. Such a costly device did not find its way into our household in Scotland. And my television-watching years only really started after our family's migration in 1955 to the United States.

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The Daily Express's Hickey column has marked 75 years since the first BBC broadcast in its own inimitable way. The diary column notes that the last BBC program to air before the outbreak of world war two was a Mickey Mouse cartoon on 1 September 1939. "And the first one after broadcasts returned on 7 June 1946? The same Mickey Mouse cartoon. BBC repeats have been a talking point ever since."

1 comment:

Giorgio said...

Interesting post, thanks for sharing!