OTD in early British television: 26 August 1939
John Wyver writes: Saturday 26 August 1939, and war is just a week and a day away. The National Radio Show of Radiolympia is in full swing, and on this fourth day Come and Be Televised, Picture Page and a spectacular Cabaret are all broadcast from there. But for today’s story, which is too good not to feature, I’m going to break with the strict OTD format, and look back a few days to the evening of Monday 21, when the OB cameras were already in place at Olympia.
As a trail for television’s presence at Radiolympia, the BBC scheduled a brief spot for Lionel Gamlin to introduce to lookers-in East Dulwich’s Miss Patsy Kench, winner of the ‘Miss Radiolympia’ title. That’s her on the left, with Lady Standing, mother of BBC commentator Michael Standing. Lady S. was the Miss Radiolympia chaperone, and she described her charge ‘as an ideal type of modern English girl’.
The intention on the big night was that Patsy, ‘a fair girl of medium height’ according to the Daily Telegraph, would sing the exhibition’s theme song, ‘Let’s All Go to the Radio Show’. Somewhat gleefully, the Telegraph recounted what happened next:
Miss Kench stepped up to the microphone on the stage of the newly constructed theatre and frankly admitting that she could not sing, declined to croon.
Patsy had been chosen earlier in the evening from ten finalists (and supposedly 2,500 applicants) as the young woman ‘with the ideal personality for television and broadcasting’. But having missed her big moment, all the other finalists sang the theme song in turn.
There was more drama too, when on the night another finalist, Miss Terri Lucas, declined to appear in a bathing costume and as a consequence had to withdraw from the competition.
Three days later, on the afternoon of the opening day, Patsy was interviewed by Leslie Mitchell on Picture Page, followed by the competition runner-up, Margaret Douglas, who then put over a spirited version of ‘Let’s All Go to the Radio Show’.
Patsy and Margaret were featured again on a Picture Page reprise on Saturday 24, and Patsy made a final Radiolympia television appearance as part of Fashion Parade on the afternoon of Thursday 31. Lunchtime on the next day brought television’s closedown because of the imminent war.
[OTD post no. 252; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication on 8 January 2026 of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain, which can now be pre-ordered from Bloomsbury here.]
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