2nd August 2025
John Wyver writes: Nearly a year on from the BBC having taken over 30-line television, producer Eustace Robb was keen to produce increasingly ambitious broadcasts. One example was Looking at London by Television, a 35-minute original revue screened in the
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1st August 2025
John Wyver writes: In the weeks just after The Man with the Flower in his Mouth (see earlier post), John Logie Baird’s campaign to extend awareness of the potential of television next took to the stage of the more
30th July 2025
John Wyver writes: Radio Times's 'The Scanner' was enthusiastic ahead of a presentation of Lionel Brown's new play Fox in the Morning which was shown on Sunday 30 July 1939. Brown penned moderately successful comedies that were staples of the
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29th July 2025
John Wyver writes: The afternoon of Friday 29 July 1938 saw the second presentation of a new half-hour opera, Nocturne in Palermo. With music by A. Davies-Adams, this was based on a 1924 text by the prolific and rather fascinating
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28th July 2025
John Wyver writes: 'Television in full colour: demonstration by Mr J.L. Baird' was the headline to the report on Friday 28 July 1939 by the Daily Telegraph's radio correspondent L. Marsland Gander. His lede ran:
Important progress in recent experiments
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27th July 2025
John Wyver writes: Some twenty months after the start of the BBC's service from Alexandra Palace, Wednesday 27 July 1938 saw the publication, in what was still proudly called the Manchester Guardian, of an absorbing article under the headline, 'Television
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26th July 2025
John Wyver writes: On Monday 26 July 1937 the television service from Alexandra Palace started a three-week shutdown. There had been broadcasts each afternoon and evening (except Sundays) since 2 November, with test transmissions and programmes for Radiolympia before then,
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25th July 2025
John Wyver writes: Under the headline 'Film workers & television: wide effect on entertainment', the Daily Telegraph on 25 July 1939 carried a fascinating report of a speech made the previous day by Robert Finnigan as the presidential; address to
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24th July 2025
John Wyver writes: The evening schedule of Sunday 24 July 1938 was occupied by Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (billed under its full name) given in modern dress by a strong company under the direction of the invariably innovative
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23rd July 2025
John Wyver writes: The line-up for the Baird Television transmission at 11am on the morning of Wednesday 23 July 1930 featured, as usual, a trio of entertainers. Scottish (although billed as 'Scotch') music hall comedian Tommy Lorne was up
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