13th April 2025
Back from holiday; normal service resumes with OTD post no 123...
John Wyver writes: On the afternoon of Tuesday 13 April 1937, and then again that evening, a second series of producer Mary Adams' series The World of Women opened with
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17th March 2025
John Wyver writes: After a concert from Jack Hylton and his band on the evening of Friday 17 March 1939, Alexandra Palace broadcast Animals, Anatomy, Artists, a talk by John Skeaping on 'the three main types of animal art -
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26th February 2025
John Wyver writes: On Sunday 26 February 1939 Sight and Sound was a studio 'bee' hosted by Sir Kenneth Clark, youthful director of the National Gallery known to friends and peers as âKâ. Seated in a wide semi-circle with
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21st February 2025
John Wyver writes: Making a Poster on the evening of Monday 21 February 1938 featured artist Dora Clarke, familiar from other AP broadcasts, taking the audience through the stages of producing what was not exactly a poster, but rather the
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9th February 2025
John Wyver writes: the evening of Thursday 9 February 1939 saw a 40-minute edition of Contrasts, which was a catch-all title for juxtapositions of variety artists from differing traditions. This was a particularly eclectic line-up featuring dancers from Java and
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4th February 2025
John Wyver writes: What is arguably the origin moment of one the simplest and most obvious television techniques occurred in a broadcast talk on the evening of 4 February 1938.
The esteemed art historian R.H. Wilenski was reviewing the
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27th January 2025
John Wyver writes: At Alexandra Palace on Wednesday 27 January 1937 painter and printmaker John Piper (above) discussed 'The picture in the modern home' with architect and designer Serge Chermayeff.
In London Galleries - Art and Modern Architecture,
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21st January 2025
John Wyver writes: This is a cautionary little tale about the perils of live television - and of roller skating. The main offering on the evening of Saturday 21 January 1939 was producer Harry Pringle's Cabaret bill featuring comedy
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10th January 2025
John Wyver writes: tucked into the evening schedule on Monday 10 January 1938 was a ten-minute broadcast titled Alexander Calder's Mobiles, and there's a case to be made for this as the first television programme conceived as visual art; not,
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9th December 2024
John Wyver writes: The Christmas quotient of programming was ramped up on the evening of Friday 9 December 1938 with a 10-minute broadcast, Presents for the Children no 1, presented by the well-regarded painter Edward Halliday. The artist recommended
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