The Cultures of EarlyTelevision is a two-day conference about television before the Second World War in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union. With presentations, panels and screenings of rare archival material, the event marks the centenary of the first British public presentation of what John Logie Baird called “true television”, which took place in London in early 1926.
John Wyver writes: Ten days ago, with perhaps rather too little fanfare, the Government released a new strategic vision for archives. Commissioned from The National Archives (TNA) and launched by Baroness Twycross, Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling, this involved, as the project’s website notes, ‘an extensive consultation with the sector… in-person roundtable discussions across the country and an online consultation form. We also consulted with a wide range of the sector’s stakeholders, including users of archives.’
Given such thorough preparation, Archives at the Heart of Society is, in some ways, a comparatively modest (online) document. Nonetheless it makes a really strong and convincing case for the central importance of archives, and for why they must be accessible, inclusive and sustainable. Using it as a yardstick against which to measure the operation of the BBC Written Archives Centre (WAC) shows just how far short of best practice the Corporation’s archive falls.
John Wyver writes: My header image is of a somewhat-worse-for-wear concrete bench on London’s South Bank. Attached is a precious souvenir of the 2002 launch of BBC Four — nearly a quarter of a century ago! I feature it here as a complement to the first item in today’s list of articles and more that I have found engaging and enriching over the past week.
• The disappearance of the public bench: although this excellent Gabrielle Bruney essay for Places journal is focussed on US examples, the arguments she makes are absolutely applicable this side of the pond too:
Benches, like other public amenities, are places where optimistic visions of civic life meet messier realities. They’re sites of leisure and contestation that invite a range of constituencies with vastly differing needs and desires… To remove benches, or to curate who gets to sit, is to abandon the work of defining a civic ideal and determining, together, how to live up to it. When seating disappears, our relationship with public space becomes more grudging and utilitarian. Benches are symbols of hospitality, an invitation to participate in the civic realm.
John Wyver writes: Articles and more encountered and appreciated over the past week. My header image is one of my favourite facades in London, that of the building now known as Tournament House at Paddington Station. Designed by P.E. Culverhouse of the GWR Chief Civil Engineers office and completed in 1935, it was this week revealed again as its covering of scaffolding was removed.
• Projections – David Bordwell’s Contributions to the Study of Film: a special open-access edition of the journal ‘for movies and mind’ dedicated to the late, great writer on cinema; there are exceptional riches here, although perhaps not for those who are unfamiliar with Bordwell’s writing and recent film theory.
John Wyver writes: On Friday I was delighted to contibute a paper to the British Silent Film Festival Symposium 2026, immaculately organised by Lawrence Napper and held at the Cinema Museum. My presentation at the end of the day explored the connections between early television and the last days of silent cinema in Britain, in the years 1928 to 1930.
As well as highlighting certain links between film and television at this time, and speculating about how multi-camera techniques used on a small number of the first sound films might have influenced studio techniques at Alexandra Palace after 1936, I also tried to make a more general argument about the necessity for exploring cinema and television’s histories as intimately entangled, at this historical moment but also from the late 19th century to today.
The remainder of this post is a lightly edited version of the presentation, albeit without the citations that a more formal publication path would require. I would especially welcome responses and discussion in the Comments at the end.
John Wyver writes: As usual on a Sunday, here is a selection of media that has engaged and informed me, and enriched my life in small ways, from the past seven days. The header image is a remarkable painting by Ugo Egonu, Piccadilly Circus, 1969, an artist whose work I didn’t know, but which I was very taken by in the Nigerian Modernism exhibition (until 10 May) at Tate Modern. And to kick off the selection…
• Bruce speaks truth to power: ‘This is happening now’ at The Forum in Los Angeles, 7 April.
John Wyver writes: To Tate Modern for the richly interesting Nigerian Modernism exhibition (until 10 May) which is packed with the work of artists of whom I knew nothing. The second room is devoted to the art of Ben Enwonwu (1917-1994), with numerous paintings, and with its central island dominated by seven immensely striking wooden sculptures (detail above) commissioned by the Daily Mirror in 1960.
Hailing him as ‘arguably the most influential African artist of the 20th century,’ Wikipedia notes that ‘his pioneering career opened the way for the postcolonial proliferation and increased visibility of modern African art.’ For a more detailed discussion of his work, life and ideas, see Tate’s online essay by Bea Gassmann de Sousa, ‘Decolonising Nigerian Modernism: Ben Enwonwu’s “Identity in Politics”‘.
John Wyver writes: late to posting this today, but here is a selection of articles and video that have engaged and enriched my week, and amongst which I hope you find something interesting; for the header image, see the link below to Tom Crewe’s LRB essay on the paintings of Gustave Caillebotte.
• Early television and its future: first off, here’s a wonderful find, thanks to my friend Billy Smart who has flagged it in a blog post comment (more such, please, from Billy and others!); this is Elaine Grand on Good Afternoon (Thames; 23 March 1977) speaking with writer and critic Clive James and, remarkably, with the television pioneer Grace Wyndham Goldie, who recalls pre-war television from Alexandra Palace.
John Wyver writes: the week’s recommendations of articles and audio that I have found interesting and useful and enriching over the past week. Among my recent cultural highlights was Tate Modern’s Theatre Picasso exhibition (on until 12 April), which features the header image, the master’s extraordinary ‘The Painter and his Model’, 1926.
