5th December 2024
John Wyver writes: There are some surprising names among those who appeared on the 30-line Television service operated by the BBC between 1932 and 1935. Tuesday 5 December 1933 saw the first of two appearances by the then 28-year-old more
4th December 2024
John Wyver writes: One of the true eccentricities of performance presented from Alexandra Palace in the later 1930s was the cycle of masques staged by H.D.C. Pepler. On this day, 4 December 1937, mime and mask artist Pepler,
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3rd December 2024
John Wyver writes: on the afternoon of this day, Friday 3 December 1937, four members of The Irish Players came to Alexandra Palace at short notice to play Lady Gregory's one-act drama The Rising of the Moon. They were
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2nd December 2024
John Wyver writes: 'First let me say that... Love From a Stranger was, beyond all possible doubt, a winner on the television screen. This play is, as you know, a flesh-creeping affair.' That's Grace Wyndham Goldie writing on George More
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30th November 2024
John Wyver writes: on this St Andrew's Day in 1932, the 30-line Television service, which for the three months past had been operated by the BBC, presented an ambitious Scotland-themed variety show. Woolwich-born Helen McKay (real name: Ruby Ellen
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29th November 2024
John Wyver writes: OTD, Monday 29 November 1937, from the BBC's 'high definition' Television service... more Shakespeare. Scenes from Cymbeline, broadcast from 3.39pm to 4.24pm, and then again from 9.31pm to 9.55pm, was a presentation of minimally restaged elements
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28th November 2024
John Wyver writes: on the afternoon of this day in 1931, Saturday 28 November, the National Programme of the BBC's Sound service broadcast a light music recital in a studio at Savoy Hill given by the Gershom Parkington Quintet and
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27th November 2024
John Wyver writes: OTD in early British television, on 27 November 1938, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company made its television debut with its production of The Wooing of Anne Hathaway. The tradition of a major drama production each Sunday evening
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26th November 2024
John Wyver writes: A blog post - many months after the last one, and with much to catch up on. I have been prompted to return, at least temporarily, by a kind suggestion from Lawrence Napper on Facebook. Over the
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14th January 2024
John Wyver writes: Here's a remarkable trace of my, and of Illuminations' and Channel 4's pasts - a programme break from 14 January 1984 with a continuity announcement and slide trailing the first documentary I produced, Six Into One: The
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