30th May 2025
John Wyver writes: On Tuesday 30 May 1939 viewers could watch Jan Bussell's 87-minute production of Arnold Bennett's drama The Great Adventure in the afternoon and then, presumably in the other studio, an 82-minute adaptation of the Czech writers Karel
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19th May 2025
John Wyver writes: The line-up for the BBC's 30-line transmission starting at 23.03 on Friday 19 May 1933 featured Russian singer Dimitri Vetter together with Lilian Lloyd-Taylor 'with songs and costumes of the seventeenth century'. But the most interesting featured
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4th May 2025
John Wyver writes: Yet more dance from Alexandra Palace, this time on the evening of Thursday 4 May 1939. Which only speaks to how rich and varied was early television's presentation of the artform. Alongside actors Janine Darcey and Jim
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3rd May 2025
John Wyver writes: More or less six months to the day after the start of the 'high definition' television service from Alexandra Palace, on Monday 3 May 1937, members of the Vic-Wells ballet company travelled to the studio to perform,
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2nd May 2025
John Wyver writes: Ninety years ago tonight, on Thursday 2 May 1935, Ivor Novello's musical Glamorous Night premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The first nighters were enthralled and the box office registered exceptionally healthy sales. The
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1st May 2025
John Wyver writes: 'One of the big television occasions of the year,' was how Radio Times (above) trailed the live outside broadcast of the musical comedy Me and My Girl from the Victoria Palace on the evening of Monday
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25th April 2025
John Wyver writes: The first half-hour of the afternoon transmission on Tuesday 25 April 1939 was graced with the second performance of a production J.M. Barrie's one act, and according to the author 'unfinished', Shall We Join the
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22nd April 2025
John Wyver writes: The afternoon of Saturday 22 April 1939 saw the first performance of Dallas Bower's production of Katharine and Petruchio, a radically shortened 'acting version' of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew that had originally been
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19th April 2025
John Wyver writes: On Monday 19 April 1937 Alexandra Palace hosted a troupe billed as the Margaret Morris Dancers, who performed in both the afternoon and evening. Their first 13-minute slot featured seven short works, performed to Beethoven and Chopin
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8th April 2025
22 February 1933
John Wyver writes: As I am on holiday this week, I am presenting again some of my favourite OTD posts, exactly as they first appeared...
Today's post is a melancholy little tale of a short, vibrant life in which
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