OTD in early British television: 2 July 1939
John Wyver writes: For just over an hour on the afternoon of Sunday 2 July 1939 OB cameras from Scanner 2 (its counterpart was at Wimbledon) relayed the parade of National Service organisations in Hyde Park. Some 20,000 volunteers marched past the King taking the salute, with representatives participating from ARP Services, Auxiliary Police, Civil Nursing Reserves and more.
According to ‘E.H.R.’ in The Observer, the pictures ‘were very good indeed’. As for Grace Wyndham Goldie’s view:
You can’t beat an outside event like the National Service Rally when bands are playing, crowds are cheering, and the camera work is good.
Two months later, the nation was at war with Germany, and in retrospect both the event and the media coverage, including newsreels and a National Programme broadcast, can be seen as part of preparing a ‘war-minded’ nation.
You can see the Gaumont-British newsreel release about the parade here; there are also mute Pathé Gazette shots here, from which I have taken the header image.
[OTD post no. 197; 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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