Cultural events; TV and radio programmes
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None are more hopelessly
enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe
‘He who
prides himself on giving what he thinks the public wants is often creating a
fictitious demand for lower standards which he himself will then satisfy' Sir John Reith, first Director General of the BBC,
1924
TV programmes (see below for Radio programmes)
30/7/2006, Top of the Pops was broadcast for the last time.
It first aired 1/1/1964.
2003, The BBC
series Tomorrow’s
World was axed (first broadcast 1965).
18/7/2000, The TV series Big Brother began in the UK.
8/8/1999, ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ was first screened; contestants could win up to US$1,000,000.
14/5/1998, The US sitcom Seinfeld was first
broadcast.
1990, The BBC series Troubleshooter began. It involved the presenter, Sir John Harvey-Jones (born 1924)
parachuting into a troubled business and telling the managers what they were
doing wrong.
12/6/1989. Live TV broadcasts from the House of Commons began, after MPs voted 293 to 69 in favour. Live radio broadcasts began
on 9/6/1975.
1988, The soap series Neighbours began on BBC TV
4/4/1988. The
Midlands-based TV soap opera ‘Crossroads’
ended on episode 4,510. The first episode was broadcast in November 1964. Set
in a motel in the Midlands, it began with 5 episodes a week, reduced to 4 and
then 3.
1986, BBC began broadcasting the series Casualty.
18/3/1985. Australian
Seven Network TV launched a new soap, Neighbours.
19/2/1985, The BBC began broadcasting Eastenders. 13 million people watched the first
episode, in which the pensioner Reg Cox died in his Albert Square home.
1984, Thames TV began showing The Bill twice weekly. A third
weekly episode was added from 1993.
1984, The TV
series Threads
began, about the probable effects of a nuclear explosion over the city of
Sheffield.
16/9/1984, Miami Vice was first broadcast on NBC TV.
1983, The
comedy show Spitting
Image began.
17/1/1983. The start of Breakfast TV on BBC with Frank Bough and Selina Scott.
1/11/1982. The TV
show Countdown
was launched.
1979, The BBC comedy Not The Nine O Clock News began broadcasting. It
ran until 1982.
1979, Thames TV began broadcasting the comedy series Minder,
with Arthur Daly as main cockney
character.
27/9/1979. BBC’s Question Time
was broadcast for the first time, with Robin Day in the chair. He stayed with the show for 10 years. It was
the radio equivcalent of Any Questions;
leading politicians appeared, and discussed major national issues.
18/2/1979, The BBC screened the first
episode of The
Antiques Roadshow, hosted by Bruce
Parker, Arthur Negus and Angela Rippon.
1978, The 667th and final episode of Z Cars was broadcast on BBC. The
series first screened in 1960
2/4/1978, The first
episode of Dallas
was broadcast in the USA.
8/2/1978, BBC showed the first episode of the school drama Grange Hill.
28/3/1977, British Breakfast TV
began as an experiment on Yorkshire TV, hosted by Bob Warman.
27/11/1975. Devolution was discussed on the TV
programme Newsday.
TV programmes ceased at 12.25 am with What did you learn at School Today? on ITV.
19/9/1975. The first
episode of Fawlty Towers was broadcast by the BBC. There were just 13 30-minute episodes ever
made, 6 in 1975 and 7 in 1979.
1974, Thames TV began broadcasting the police drama The Sweeney. It ran until 1978.
1974, New TV series included Porridge (broadcast until 1977) and Rising
Damp.
5/12/1974, The last episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus was broadcast by the
BBC.
29/11/1974. Ironside was on TV.
30/9/1974. The TV
show Some mothers
do ‘ave ‘em was showing.
21/6/1974. TV showed
The Wombles.
19/6/1974. The Pink Panther Show
entertained the young on TV, whilst later on, grown ups had The Two Ronnies.
The Best of Les
Dawson provided relief after seven hours of World Cup Grandstand.
4/1/1974. On TV,
whilst Holiday
’74 compared the rival delights of Blackpool and Benidorm, Dad’s Army
also entertained viewers.
1973, The BBC
comedy series That’s
Life began broadcasting., presented by Esther Rantzen (born 1940). It
ran until 1994.
4/9/1973. BBC2 was still broadcasting for less than 7
hours a day, including the antique –lover’s show Collector’s World. ITV began at
11.15 am with Galloping
Gourmet. Other programmes of the day included A TUC Special, Crossroads,
and the sitcom Up The Workers. Emmerdale Farm was also on, and
schedules closed at 12.15 am after The Evangelists.
1972, The TV series Colditz was first broadcast.
27/11/1972, In the
first episode of the fourth season of Sesame Street, the character of "The
Count" (officially Count von Count) was introduced. True to his name, the
friendly children's show puppet vampire (performed by Jerry Nelson) helped children
count.
16/10/1972. BBC1’s
daytime TV included Pebble Mill At One and The Magic Roundabout as well as Blue Peter.
Soaps included Crossroads,
filmed in a Birmingham warehouse. Z Cars and Mastermind were also on the TV schedules. ITV was
offering Opportunity
Knocks and Coronation Street.
11/9/1972. The BBC
quiz Mastermind was first broadcast. It was hosted by Magnus Magnusson (born 1929).
1971, The Two Ronnies comedy series began on BBC TV. Using much naughty innuendo, it ran
until 1986.
1971, New TV series included The
Onedin Line, The
Old Grey Whistle Test and Upstairs Downstairs (ran until 1975,
period drama based on class divisions in the early 20th C in the
Bellamy household).
15/11/1971. TV
viewers were entertained by Steptoe and Son.
18/10/1971. TV shows Blue Peter and The Magic Roundabout entertained the
children.
19/6/1971. Opportunity Knocks was the UK’s most popular TV
programme.
19/8/1970. Coronation Street showed its 1,000th episode.
2/7/1970. The BBC ran a late night programme called Decimal shops:
preparing for decimal money.
1969, Pot Black,
TV snooker programme, began broadcasting. It ran until 1986.
1969, Civilisation,
a 13-part documentary on Western Art from the early Middle Ages to the 19th
century, was broadcast, presented by Kenneth Clark. Series like this were only now
possible with the advent of colour TV.
5/10/1969, Monty Python’s Flying Circus was first screened.
It was broadcast until 1974.
22/2/1969. On TV a
wheelchair bound detective called Ironside battled San Francisco’s crooks.
5/2/1969. On BBC1 All Gas and Gaiters
was a comedy about a young Church of England priest, Derek Nimmo.
1968, the BBC antiques quiz show Going for a Song began broadcasting.
It ran until 1977.
4/12/1968. On TV Bill and Ben the
Flowerpot Men still entertained children 16 years after their initial
appearance. The weak willed pair still lived in fear of the gardener and were
mercilessly bullied by Weed.
12/11/1968. On TV Z Cars
patrolled Merseyside whilst Trumpton kept watch at the Fire Station.
8/1968, The TV series Dad’s Army was first broadcast.
17/5/1968. TV
viewers could watch The Saint, Danger Man, or
The Avengers.
11/1/1968. Children were entertained on TV by The Magic Roundabout
and Blue Peter.
23/11/1967. TV shows
included a debate on The Roman Catholic Church has no place in the 20th
Century and The Man from UNCLE.
30/10/1967. TV showed
Bewitched,
Dr Finlays Casebook, The
Saint, and Z Cars.
15/10/1967. TV
viewers saw Steptoe
and Son, whilst Patrick McGoohan was unable to accept his lot in
North Wales as The
Prisoner (ran for 17 episodes). Ironside
the wheelchair bound detective propelled himself around the streets of San
Francisco.
3/7/1967, In
Britain, ITV launched News at Ten.
29/6/1967. The Magic Roundabout
continued on TV, as did The Man from UNCLE as he battled with the evil THRUSH
organisation.
25/6/1967, The first
worldwide TV show was broadcast; via satellite link it reached 26 countries.
The programme, Our
World, had an estimated audience of 400 million. It concluded with a
live Beatles performance of All You Need
is Love.
15/6/1967. The
Guardian TV critic complained that ‘with the basically green and white
Wimbledon being followed by Late Night Line Up with everyone wearing basically
black and white’ people paying nearly £2 a week to rent the colour sets should
be getting ‘the occasional dazzle’. Whickers World and Till Death do us Part formed part
of the TV schedules.
14/6/1967. On TV, ‘Games without Frontiers’
was on. It’s a
Knockout and The Likely Lads was also on.
1966, BBC broadcast the
documentaruy play Cathy Come Home, about a homeless young mother, highlighting
the issue nof homelessness
23/9/1966. On TV Emergency Ward Ten
was on as Patrick Mc Goohan’s Danger Man was about to give way to The Prisoner.
8/9/1966. Star
Trek was first broadcast.
16/7/1966. Doctor Who
continued to entertain on TV, and scare kids into hiding behind the sofa so the
Daleks wouldn’t get them.
6/6/1966, On
British TV the first episode of Til Death Us Do Part was showing, with Warren Mitchell
as Alf Garnett. The series ran until 1975, and briefly returned 1985-6.
21/4/1966, The opening of the UK Parliament was
televised for the first time.
19/2/1966. TV shows
included Bewitched
and Dixon of Dock
Green. Thunderbirds was on at 6pm, and The Morecambe and Wise Show at 9.20
pm.
1965, The BBC series Tomorrow’s World was first broadcast (axed 2003).
28/12/1965. On TV, Phil Silvers starred in Sergeant Bilko.
30/9/1965, The first episode of Thunderbirds was broadcast in the
UK. The series ran until 1966.
30/7/1965, Coronation Street
was the top TV show
2/11/1964. First
showing of the TV serial Crossroads.
6/10/1964, The first
episode of Stingray
aired in UK TV. The puppet caste included Captain
Troy, Tempest, Phones, and the green-haired Marina, aboard their atomic-powered submarine.
22/8/1964, BBC2 first broadcast Match of the Day; Arsenal played Liverpool at
their Anfield ground, watched by a TV audience of 20,000 in black and white.
Over 40,000 actually attended the ground. In 2014 BBC1’s Match of the Day had a
TV audience of 3.6 million. In 1964 each of the Football League Clubs made £136
from the TV programme; in 2014 each Club made £3 million from the show.
21/4/1964. BBC2 began
transmission. The first programme was Play School.
17/1/1964, The top UK TV programme was Steptoe and Son. It was broadcast
1964-73.
1/1/1964. The first Top of the Pops was broadcast, with Jimmy Savile
as its presenter. It lasted until 30/7/2006.
1963, Granada
TV hroadcast the first World in Action current affairs programme. The
investigative journalism programme had an established slot at 8.30 pm Mondays.
23/11/1963. The BBC
screened the first episode of Dr Who. The doctor was played by William
Hartnell.
22/1/1963. TV showed
The Flintstones
at the prime slot of 7pm. TV closed down around midnight.
1962, The BBC satirical comedy series
That Was The Week
That Was began broadcasting. It ran until 1963.
4/10/1962, The TV
Series, The Saint,
starring Roger
Moore as Simon Templar,
first broadcast this day.
21/9/1962, The British
TV quiz programme University Challenge was
first transmitted on Granada TV. It ran until 1987, and was hosted by Bamber
Gascoigne (born 1935).
9/9/1962. TV showed
another episode of Steptoe and Son, and The Morecambe and Wise Show.
11/5/1962. TV showed
Emergency Ward
Ten.
21/1/1962 On TV, new,
were Steptoe and
Son and Z Cars.
1961, New TV
shows included The
Morecambe and Wise Show (broadcast until 1978) and Songs of Praise.
7/1/1961, The first episode of The Avengers was broadcast.
1960, Anglia TV
began broadcasting Survival, a series of 30 minute documentaries on
wildlife.
9/12/1960. Coronation Street
first televised. The
series was expected to last just 13 weeks.
11/9/1960, The first episode of Danger Man, starring Patrick McGoohan, was broadcast
on UK TV.
10/9/1960, The first English Football league match to be televised
was broadcast today. Blackpool played
Bolton Wanderers.
1959, The Twilight Zone was first broadcast in the US, in a
Cold War world of spies and innovative secret military technology.
1959, New TV shows in the UK included Juke Box Jury and Whicker’s World,
presented by Alan
Whicker.
1958, New TV shows in the UK included The Black and Whute Minstrels
28/10/1958. In
Britain, the State
Opening of Parliament was televised for the first time.
27/10/1958. The
first edition of the BBC programme Blue Peter was broadcast.
11/10/1958. The BBC sports programme Grandstand was first transmitted. It was the idea of Paul Fox.
1957, New TV
series this year included Emergency Ward Ten (broadcast until 1967), a soap
opera set in a hospital, and The Sky at Night,
presented by Patrick
Moore.
25/12/1957. The Queen made her first Christmas
Day broadcast on British TV.
3/3/1957, The UK competed in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. The
British entry, All, sung by Hull-born
Patricia
Bredin, came seventh out of ten in Frankfurt Am Main, Germnay.
22/10/1957. The children’s TV show, Captain Pugwash, was first broadcast.
1956, The ITV series This Week began broadcasting. It ran
until 1978, and again from 1986-92. Topics highlighted included the UK’s role in the Ethiopian 1973 famine
(Richard
Dimbleby, presenter), also Death
on the Rock. The series was cut at the beginning of 1993, when Carlton TV
took over from Thames TV the franchise for commercial TV in the London region.
5/11/1956. The
weekly British TV programme What the Papers Say
was first transmitted on Granada TV. In the 1980s it was transferred to Channel
4 and then to BBC2. The programme reviewed a selection of cuttings from the
week’s newspapers.
24/5/1956 The first Eurovision song contest was held. Europe
was just recovering from the Second World War but the Cold War was in full
swing. There was a need to unite the
countries of western Europe. An Italian radio manager had an idea for a
European music festival similar to the popular Italian San Remo Festival. The
first Eurovision song contest was
held in Switzerland with seven countries participating, each with two
songs/performances. These were West Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium,
Luxembourg, and Belgium, the same countries that took the initiative to form
the European Union. Switzerland won the first contest with the song ‘Refrain’.
Since then 37 different countries have participated, 800 different singers have
performed 900 new songs, and the show attracted 100 million viewers in 2002.
28/1/1956, Elvis
Presley made his first appearance on TV, on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show. He sang Shake
Rattle and Roll.
17/2/1956, The first episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood was broadcast, with Richard Greene
playing the hero. The famous signature tune entered the top 20, and the series
ran to 143 episodes.
1955, The TV series This Is Your Life began. An
unsuspecting victim was ambiushed by a reportr and persuaded to come to a TV
studio for interview, where they would be unexpectedly confronted with people
from their distant past, producing a mix of sentiment and embarrassment.
1955, In the UK, Independent Television News (ITN) was set up as a non-profit organisation
to provide the news programmes. ITN was jointly owned and funded by the
independent TV companies. The Broadcasting
Act 1990 changed its status to an independent entetrprise, which contracts
with the TV companies to provide news services.
22/9/1955. With the start of
commercial television in Britain came the first TV advertisement. It was
for Gibbs SR toothpaste. Programmes from the two commercial programme makers,
Associated Rediffusion and the Associated Broadcasting Company, included the
annual Guildhall banquet, Britain’s first-ever cash prize quiz show, a variety
show and a boxing match from Shoreditch. Popular ITV shows included Sunday Night at the
London Palladium and Coronation Street. By ITV’s annual advertising
revenue increased from an initial £2 million in 1956 to £100 million in 1960.
The BBC competed by having Grace Archer, a leading character in their radio
drama The Archers, killed off in a fire.
7/7/1955, Dixon of Dock Green began on BBC TV with Jack Warner
as George Dixon. It was to run for
21 years and 367 episodes.
1953, On
British TV, The
Quatermass Experiment was broadcast. The vareity programme, The Good Old Days,
began; it lasted until 1983.
11/11/1953. The BBC programme Panorama was first transmitted, headed by Patrick Murphy.
8/12/1952, Queen Elizabeth II gave permission for next
year’s Coronation
(1/6/1953) to be televised.
1/1/1952, In Britain, the single TV channel, BBC, broadcast for just a few hours
a day. Programmes ran from 3pm to 6pm, including Children’s Hour. There was then a
2-hour break, the so-called Toddler Truce, to enable mothers to get their small
children to bed. Programmes then ran for 2 hours or so from 8pm. News coverage
was patchy and sports coverage and light entertainment virtually absent.
15/10/1951, Britain’s first party
political broadcast on the BBC, by Lord Samuel for the Liberal Party.
1950, The BBC began a current affairs discussion
programme, In The
News, with Robert Boothby, W J Brown, Michael Foot and A J P Taylor.
The programme ran until 1956.
29/9/1950, The first ever episode of Come Dancing aired on TV.
11/7/1950. The BBC
transmitted its first children’s
programme, Watch
with Mother, featuring Andy Pandy. The programme ran until 1980.
11/7/1949. The first
film made specifically for television, ‘A Dinner date With Death’ was shot at Marylebone
Studios between 11 and 14 July 1949.
26/4/1947. The English FA Cup Final,
between Charlton Athletic and Burnley, televised in its entirety for the first
time.
20/10/1946. Muffin the Mule,
a wooden puppet, first appeared on BBC TV.
31/5/1938, The first
TV panel game, Spelling
Bee, was broadcast.
30/4/1938, In
Britain, the FA
Cup Final was televised for the first time.
25/11/1937, The first
British quiz programme, an inter-regional spelling competition, was broadcast.
21/6/1937, Lawn tennis at
Wimbledon was televised for the first time.
21/1/1937, Marcel
Boulestin appeared on TV on Cook’s Night Out, demonstrating how to cook an
omelette; he thereby became the first TV chef.
21/11/1936. The first
gardening programme was broadcast by the BBC. It was called “In your garden with
Mr Middleton”.
15/5/1935, The world’s first
TV quiz programme was broadcast, in Canada.
3/6/1931, In Britain the Derby horserace was televised for the first time.
Only a limited number of wealthy people had TV sets, and a few other
enthusiasts had built their own receivers in garden sheds.
11/9/1928, In New York the world’s first television drama was
broadcast. It was a 40 minute two-character play called The Queen’s Messenger.
Radio programmes
2011, John Finnemore’s Souvenir
Programme began broadcasting.
2009, Mark Steele’s in
Town began broadcasting.
2008, Cabin Pressure
began broadcasting. It ran until 2014.
1997, Blue Jam
began broadcasting. It ran until 1999.
24/1/1997, The Archers celebrated its 12,000th
episode. The Radio 4 series drew an average of 4.5 million listeners each week.
1991, On The Hour began broadcasting. It ran until
1992.
30/5/1985, The death of Roy Plomley, who created the long running
radio series Desert
Island Discs in 1941.
1978, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
began broadcasting. It ran until 1980.
3/4/1978, Regular BBC
radio broadcasts of British Parliamentary proceedings began.
9/6/1975, Live radio broadcasting from the House of Commons
began. On 12/6/1989, TV broadcasts from the House of Commons began.
1972, The radio comedy show I’m Sorry I haven’t
a Clue began broadcasting. In 2020 it aired its 73rd series.
1970, The radio show Start the Week
began. It went out on Radio 4 after the 9am news every Monday morning, with
four guests discussing some current news topic.
1967, The radio show Brain of Britain,
with difficult general knowledge questions, began broadcasting.
27/7/1967, Robin Scott, the man in charge of the brand new Radio One,
announced that should pop music prove to
be a passing fad, he would devote the station’s output to ‘sweet music’.
1965, Round the Horne began broadcasting.
It ran until 1968.
1965, The BBC Radio Four
lunchtime programme World at One began broadcasting. It discussed
current news stories, and was presented by William Hardcastle for the first ten years,
his successors include Robin Day (1979-88) and James McNaughtie (1983-94).
1957, The Today Programme was first
broadcast at breakfast time on Radio 4.
1954, Hancock’s Half Hour began
broadcasting, It ran until 1959.
1952, The Goon Show was first broadcast on
BBC radio. The comedy series ran until 1960.
1951, The Goon Show began broadcasting. It
ran until 1960.
7/6/1950, The BBC radio serial The
Archers was first broadcast; it was created by Godfrey Basely.
1952, The radio programme Listen With Mother,
for under 5-year-olds, began broadcasting on BBC radio. It contained stories,
songs and nursery rhymes. Originally it was in the 15-minute slot before Woman’s Hour,
and was very popular.
1947, The BBCLight Radio
comedy radio series Take It From Here was first
broadcast. It featured a comic soap opera, the Glums, with engaged couple Ron
and Eth. The series ran until 1958.
1947, The radio comedy series Much Binding in the
Marsh first aired. It ran until 1953.
1/11/1947, Sports Report, the BBC radio
Saturday afternoon programme, went on the air.
13/1/1947, In Britain, top radio shows included Dick Barton
and Radio
Forfeits.
1946, Woman’s Hour began on BBC Radio.
Serialised books were a regular feature. In 1990 the programme was mobved from
the 2pm slot it had held for 44 years to 10.30 am.
4/10/1946, From Our
Own Correspondent was first broadcast on UK radio.
24/3/1946, BBC radio began broadcasting Letter from America, a weekly talk by Alistair Cook, on topical matters in the USA.
1/8/1945. Family Favourites record request programme began
on the BBC.
3/4/1943, Saturday Night
Theatre was first broadcast on UK radio.
29/1/1942, The first broadcast of the BBC radio programme ‘Desert Island Discs’, devised and
presented by Roy
Plomley. Roy Plomley presented the programme until
11/5/1985; he died 17 days later on 28/5/1965. The first ‘castaway’ was the
comedian, Vic
Oliver.
6/1940, The radio music show Music while You Work
began broadcasting. It was a non-stop mix of popular tunes, designed to boost
worker morale at Britain’s lowest point in World War Two. It ran until 1967.
1939, The BBC began broadcasting
the weekly radio comedy show ITMA (It’s That Man Again), which ran until the
death of its main star, Tommy Handley (1892-1949). The title referred
to Hitler.
1939, The term ‘soap opera’ was coined to describe the
radio drama that, from the 1930s, had been sponsored by the washing powder
manufacturers; ongoing dramas affecting ordinary families, which proved to be
addictive to listeners. The first such radio ‘soap opera’ was Betty and Bob and
One Man’s Family, broadcast on NBC in the USA in 1932
1/9/1939. The BBC
Home Service, later to become Radio
4, began broadcasting.
7/10/1938, BBC Radio began its first soap opera, the English Family
Robinson.
25/10/1936 A radio station in Berlin played the first request
programme, called ‘You ask – We play’.
25/12/1932. King George V made the first Christmas Day
broadcast to the Empire, see 19/12/1932.
6/11/1929, The Week in
Westminster was first broadcast on UK radio.
21/10/1929, The BBC
began transmitting regional services.
2/1/1928, Daily Service was first broadcast on radio in the
UK.
7/7/1927. Christopher Stone became the first disc jockey on British radio when
he presented his record round up from Savoy Hill.
14/5/1927. The BBC broadcast its first cricket commentary, from the Essex vs. New Zealand match at
Leyton, east London.
2/4/1927, The Oxford and Cambridge boat race was first
broadcast.
22/1/1927. The BBC
broadcast its first football match; between Arsenal and Sheffield United. The result was a draw, 1-1.
11/10/1926. Children’s
Hour started on BBC Radio.
26/1/1926, The Shipping
Forecast was first broadcast on radio.
24/1/1926, The Week’s Good
Cause was first broadcast on radio.
4/4/1924, The BBC
broadcast its first radio programmes for schools.
16/1/1924, The BBC
broadcast the first play written specifically for radio, Danger, by Richard Hughes.
2/5/1923, The BBC radio programme ‘Woman’s Hour’ began.
24/12/1922, The first play written for radio, The Truth About
Father Christmas, was broadcast by the BBC.
6/9/1920, The first sports radio broadcast in the USA; the Jack Dempsey
vs. Billy
Miske boxing match.
15/6/1920, Marconi broadcast a concert by opera singer
Dame Nellie Melba.