OTD in early British television: 1 September 1939
John Wyver writes (just after midday): On the morning of Friday 1 September 1939, AP broadcast an edition of Come and Be Televised from Radiolympia. Among Elizabeth Cowell’s guests were Mr J. McIntyre giving ‘his impressions of English life as a West Indian’ and the Misses Reilly talking about the benefits of all year round bathing. Then a minute or two after midday, there was an announcement of the following week highlights, even though by this point the order had been received to shut down the service.
Many years later chief engineer Douglas Birkinshaw recalled that director of Gerald Cock had called him at around 10 o’clock and instructed him to shut down the service at noon. Even so, the cartoon Mickey’s Gala Premier (1933; above, with Mickey and Garbo) was shown, followed by 20 minutes or so of sound and vision tuning signals. The service in fact closed down at 12.35, with no formal announcement.
Less than 48 hours later Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain informed listeners to the Home Service that, ‘This country is at war with Germany.’
[OTD post no. 258; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication on 8 January 2026 of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain, which can now be pre-ordered from Bloomsbury here.]
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