OTD in early British television: 15 July 1938
John Wyver writes: By Friday 15 July 1938 the BBC’s mobile control unit was well-established at Roehampton Club providing the third of four days’ OBs from the private sports facility in south London. The range of summer leisure activities that was shown was calculated to appeal to the upscale suburbanites who comprised the overwhelming majority of the still-small television audience.
On this day Jasmine Bligh took a golf lesson at 3pm from club professional A.G. Matthews, before participating in a display of trick motorcycle riding with nine riders from the London Divisional Signals, Territorial Army. Up-for-anything Jasmine was pictured, both on screen and in the Daily Telegraph the following day, riding in a side-car from which the wheel had been removed.
The visit had begun on Wednesday when club tennis professional P.E. Smith gave Jasmine a lesson, before Captain M.G. Hogg, Chairman of the Royal Toxophilite Society, and pupils from Shortenhill School gave an archery demonstration (pictured).
Thursday saw another tennis lesson for Jasmine before she took part in a ‘knock-up’ with OB producer Ian Orr-Ewing. Later in the afternoon American diving champions Tony Zukas and Frank Foster gave a demonstration at the swimming pool which included some acrobatic dives and a comic life-saving sketch. On Saturday Jasmine had a third tennis lesson before she had a go at croquet, with the sport’s authority Sir Francis Colchester-Wemyss commentating.
Just over a year into regular OBs the BBC was finding it hard to secure access and rights to many sports events, although the OB van had just been at Wimbledon for a second time. Participation by proxy at an exclusive club was clearly regarded as at least partly a substitute.
The broadcasts must have been regarded by the BBC as a success, as well as being approved of by Roehampton, since a mobile unit returned for four days of broadcasts in late July 1939. Bicycle polo (below top), croquet and a parade of beachwear fashion (below bottom) were among the attractions then.
[OTD post no. 210; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain in January 2026.]
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