John Wyver writes: the afternoon of Saturday 14 January at 3.30pm saw the second presentation of what was now, given the timing of the the transmission, somewhat incongruously named Schubert Night. I previously noted the first broadcast on 9 more
John Wyver writes: on the afternoon of Friday 8 January 1937 Dallas Bower produced Burnt Sepia, a half-hour variety line-up billed as, in the racially derogatory language of the day, ‘an all-coloured cabaret’. This was television’s first variety programme featuring more
John Wyver writes: One of the things I love about researching early television is how bare programme listings can lead down the strangest and most unlikely rabbit holes. Take the line-ups for the two Picture Page editions on Tuesday 5 more
John Wyver writes: 'ls the 'straight from the theatre' stuff going to be satisfactory?' That was the question Grace Wyndham Goldie posed following the live broadcast of Twelfth Night from the Phoenix Theatre (above) on the evening of 2 more
John Wyver writes: On the evening of Monday 21 December 1936 extracts from from the current stage production T.S. Eliot's religious drama Murder in the Cathedral were played for a third time at Alexandra Palace. Despite having to work within more
John Wyver writes: The evening line-up from Alexandra Palace on Tuesday 20 December 1938 featured a News Map talk about Poland, a concert by Eric Wild and his Band, and what was billed as Tactile Bee, in which blindfolded celebs more
John Wyver writes: There was a sense of increasing confidence at Alexandra Palace at the end of 1938, with sales of receivers finally picking up and programmes becoming both more ambitious and more polished. This was reflected in announcements for more
John Wyver writes: Presented on the afternoon of Monday 13 December 1937 was the most ambitious television ballet to date, act 2 of, as it was billed, Le lac des cygnes, or Swan Lake to the rest of us. The more
John Wyver writes: the evening of Saturday 11 December 1937 featured an ambitious half-hour broadcast of act 3 of Verdi's Aida given by the Matania Operatic Society. Opera was an important element of the transmissions from Alexandra Palace, although this more
John Wyver writes: this day in early British television might be celebrated for the Thursday afternoon in 1936 which featured the first relay of a sound broadcast on the Alexandra Palace service. At 15.59 that day the National Programme announcement more