John Wyver writes: Registration is now open for the one-day symposium on 27 March centred on the films of the great television documentary filmmaker Robert Vas. The symposium is complemented by a rare screening of Vas' remarkable film about the more
John Wyver writes: In case any of the below is of interest, I thought it might be useful to detail the events I'm involved with over the coming months. It would be very good to see any of you present more
In a way, you're spoiling us - and we're grateful. 'Us' being the nerdy types fascinated by television's deep archive. For so long, because of rights restrictions and a general lack of interest, television's history, beyond select monetisable shows like more
John Wyver writes: With the 1956 BBC production of Arthur Benjamin's commissioned opera Mañana currently and pleasingly on BBCiPlayer, I have written blog posts about the backstory to the project and about the production as television. This more
John Wyver writes: In a previous post I sketched the backstory of the BBC-commissioned opera Mañana, composed by Arthur Benjamin and produced for television in February 1956. Thanks to the seventieth anniversary, a digitally restored version of this more
John Wyver writes: Late on Sunday night, BBC Four brought to the screen the 1956 BBC production of Arthur Benjamin's 75-minute opera Mañana. The transmission was 70 years to the day after its television premiere, and the recording is now more
John Wyver writes: The final screening in the BFI Southbank season linked to the publication of Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain is on Saturday afternoon at 15.00. The oddball programme pairs more
John Wyver writes: The earliest programme to be featured in BBC iPlayer's treasure trove of Henrik Ibsen plays and documentaries is the production of The Lady from the Sea, first shown in May 1953. Seen initially in the more
John Wyver writes: As we recover from the centenary, today's post is just a single link to a piece I published on The Conversation yesterday: The BBC once made the arts ‘utterly central’ to television – 100 years later they’re more
John Wyver writes: Happy 100th birthday, television! Exactly one hundred years ago tonight, John Logie Baird gave the first public presentation of what he called 'true television' in his workshop about what is now Bar Italia at 22 Frith Street, more