Cultural events; TV, radio, films, telecommunications
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For useful media and
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Map of start of TV broadcasts by country
None are more hopelessly
enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe
‘He who
prides himself on giving what he thinks the public wants is often creating a
fictitious demand for lower standards which he himself will then satisfy' Sir John Reith, first Director General of the BBC,
1924
Films – see appendix
1a below
Film
production – see appendix 1b below
Radio,
Telegraph, Telephone Communications - see appendix 2a below
TV and
radio broadcasting – see appendix 2b below
TV Shows – see
appendix 3 below
Actors,
film directors and film stars – see appendix 3.5 below
Radio shows – see appendix 4 below
Theatres, concerts, operas – see appendix 5 below
Art Galleries = see Appendix 6 below
14/2/1989. The first of 24 satellites for the Global Positioning System were placed
in orbit.
3/2/1989, British Telecom banned ‘chatlines’, because some
people got addicted to them and ran up huge bills which they couldn’t pay. One 12-year-old ran up a bill of £6,000. The
Internet had yet to arrive.
21/11/1980. A Bill was presented in the UK Parliament separating
the UK post from the telephone services.
1/10/1969, Austria issued the world’s first official post
card.
14/11/1952, Charts for pop
singles
were published in Britain for the first time, in New Musical Express.
23/5/1925, British publishing magnate Sir Edward Hulton died after
falling off his penny-farthing bicycle.
Appendix 1a – Films See below for TV
programmes
2/10/1990. Ghost was one of the films on release.
13/8/1990. Die Hard II
was one of the film on release.
2/12/1984, Films on included Ghostbusters
and Gremlins.
8/6/1977. Films
on release included Blazing Saddles.
30/3/1975. Films on
release included Monty
Python and the Holy Grail.
29/11/1974. In the
cinema the new sensurround film Earthquake
made its debut.
12/4/1974. Films
on release included Last Tango in Paris and The Exorcist.
4/1/1974. The
James Bond film Live
and let Die was released in South Africa.
16/10/1972. Films
included Steven Spielberg’s Duel.
17/12/1971, The James Bond
film, Diamonds
Are Forever, was released in the US and Denmark
22/2/1969. Films
on release included 2001: A Space Odyssey.
7/10/1968. Films
on release included 2001: A Space Odyssey.
6/5/30/10/1967. Captain Scarlet
merchandise hit the shops.
1968, The
films 2001: A
Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes were showing.
16/12/1968, World
premier of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
15/6/1967. Films
included The
Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy.
27/1/1963. Films
on release included Cape Fear.
22/9/1964, The James Bond
film Goldfinger
premiered in Leicester Square, London.
18/11/1962. The
first James Bond
film, Dr No,
was released.
11/11/1959, The
film Ben Hur
premiered in London.
4/3/1950, Walt Disney’s
Cinderella
was released.
9/1/1951, The
first film to receive the new X rating opened in London. Entitled Life Begins Tomorrow, it
received the rating for a scene dealing with artificial insemination.
13/8/1942, The Walt Disney film Bambi premiered at Radio City Music Hall, New
York.
31/10/1941, The Walt Disney
film Dumbo
was released today.
13/11/1940, The Walt Disney
film Fantasia
had its first showing.
19/11/1928, Mickey
Mouse made his first appearance in the Walt Disney film Steamboat Willie.
16/8/1925, Charlie
Chaplin’s film Gold Rush was premiered in America.
1/11/1925, The
Buster Keaton film Go West opened.
23/9/1912. Mack Sonnett
released the first Keystone Cops film.
Appendix 1b – Film Productiom
8/4/1985, Rupert Murdoch bought Twentieth Century Fox.
1959, BAFTA, the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts, was flrmed from an amalgamation of
the British Film Academy (founded 1948) and the Guild of Television Producers
(founded 1954). It gives annual awards for merit in the TV and film industry,
22/1/1959, Two
thirds of British homes now had a television. The Rank Organisation, on 17/9/1959, said cinema attendance in Britain
fell from 1.396 million in 1950 to 1.101 million in 1956 and was still in decline.
9/4/1951, The first trials pf Pay-per-View TV in Chicago, Illinois.
Viewers paid US$3 to download three films.
20/9/1946. The first
Cannes Film Festival opened.
30/9/1936, Pinewood Film Studios opened.
1933, The British Film Institute (BFI) was founded to promote the cinema
sa a means of entertainment and instruction. The BFI includes the National Film
Archive (founded 1935) and the National Film Theatre (founded 1951).
18/2/1929, The First Academy Awards, known
as Oscars from 1931, were announced.
6/10/1927. The first full length talking
picture, The Jazz Singer, opened in New York. The soundtrack was
almost entirely music. The biggest problem with sound
movies was synchronising speech with mouth movements.
26/3/1927. The
Gaumont British Film Corporation was founded.
16/4/1924. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film corporation
was formed by merger.
1912, The British Board of Film Censors
was founded. It was renamed in 1985 as the British Board of Film
Classification.
24/2/1909. Colour films were shown to the public
for the first time, in Brighton.
1907,
Britain’s first film-only picture theatre, the Balham Palace, opened in SW
London.
5/12/1901. Walt Disney
was born.
3/10/1896, Queen Victoria
became the first British monarch to be captured on moving film, at Balmoral.
23/12/1888. The film
magnate J Arthur Rank was born. Born
in Hull, England, he was born into a Yorkshire flour milling family. He entered
the film business in his mid 30s, seeing it as a way to propagate his Methodist
faith. He failed to secure distribution for a religious film called The Turn
of the Tide and so began his own production, distribution, and exhibition
of films in 1933. By the 1940s the Rank Organisation owned half the film
studios in Britain and over 1,000 cinemas, including the well-known Odeon
chain. However Rank failed to establish Britain as a rival to Hollywood. The
Rank Organisation survives but with films as a secondary interest behind
hotels, real estate, ballrooms, bingo, and, most profitable of all, copying
machines.
Appendix
2a -Telegraph, Radio and Telephone
Communications
14/2/1989. Skyphone,
the world’s first satellite telephone
service, was launched on a British Airways flight from London to New York.
1/1/1985, The first mobile phone
call was made, by Ernie Wise to Vodafone.
1962, The
concept of music playing whilst a telephone call was on hold was born. Alfred Levy,
factory owner, allegedly came up with the idea when a loose wire on his
company’s phone system touched a girder which acted as an aerial and picked up
music from a nearby radio station. Callers to Mr Levy heard music, not silence,
whilst on hold. The advantage of music was that a caller on hold knew they had
not been cut off, the line was still open.
12/8/1960. The first US communications satellite, Echo 1, was launched.
1/1/1934. Britain now had over 2 million telephone
subscribers, with 275,000 more joining every year.
1/5/1933, The Britain to India telephone service began.
30/4/1930. A telephone link opened between Britain and
Australia.
2/12/1929. Britain got its first 22 public phone boxes.
1/1/1929. In the UK, there were now
3.6 telephones per 100 people.
7/1/1927. The transatlantic telephone service between London and New York began. The charge was £15 for three minutes.
11/5/1925. Direct telephone
communication between London and Rome began for the first time.
7/1/1924. Direct communication by transatlantic cable and land
wire was opened by the Western Union Telegraph Company between London and
Chicago.
20/3/1919. Wireless telephone communication established between
Ireland and Canada.
22/1/1918, Radio-telegraphic communication was inaugurated
between the USA and Italy.
23/1/1908, A 7,000 mile telegraph line from Britain to India
began operations.
1901, In the previous 12 months,
84,000,000 telegrams had been sent in the UK, compared to 9,000,000 in 1870/1.
18/3/1891, The
London-Paris telephone link opened.
The first call was between the Prince of Wales and President Carnot. The link
opened to the public on 1/4/1891.
14/3/1891. The submarine Monarch laid
the first telephone cable across the English Channel.
24/2/1887, The telephone link between Paris and Brussels was inaugurated, the first
such link between national capitals.
18/2/1876. A direct telegraph link was
set up between Britain
and New
Zealand.
23/11/1872. Australia was connected by undersea cable to the
rest of the world. The cable ran from Darwin in the north to Java, and also
into southern Australia.
3/6/1871. London gained direct communication with Shanghai
via an undersea cable laid via San Francisco.
1868, The UK Parliament passed a
Bill enabling the Post Office to take over the competing private companies
running electric telegraphs along the new rail routes. Electric telegraph links had been
installed along the railway between Eustgon and Camden Town in 1837, and along
the Great Western line between Paddington and Hanwell, and by the 1850s three
large telegraph companies wree competing along the nations railway routes,
Parliament considered this competitoion wasteful, and effectively created the first nationalised company.
27/7/1866. The first successful transatlantic cable was laid by
the Great Eastern, which arrived this day at Hearts Content, Newfoundland.
Attempts had been made to do this since 1856.
5/8/1858, The first
transatlantic cable was completed, by Sir Charles Tilston Bright (1832 – 1888), and
opened by Queen
Victoria and President Buchanan. See 7/9/1866.
13/11/1851. A telegraphic service between London and
Paris was started.
28/8/1850. The Channel telegraph was laid between
Dover and Cap Gris Nez.
Appendix 2b – TV and radio
broadcasting
For technical innovations in broadcasting see science and technology
31/1/2016, Terry Wogan, radio and TV
presenter, died aged 77. He was born on 3/8/1938 in Ireland and became a British citizen
in 2005.
2/6/1999, After decades of resisting external
technological influences such as television, the King of Bhutan allowed TV
broadcasts in the Kingdom for the first time, to coincide with his silver
jubilee.
26/4/1999, BBC TV presenter Jill Dando was shot dead on the doorstep of
her Fulham house in London.
9/11/1997, BBC1 began broadcasting 24
hours a day, seven days a week. Previously TV had closed down at night.
4/1997, In the UK, the Broadcasting
Standards Commission was set up. Replacing the earlier Broadcasting
Complaints Commission and the Broadcasting Standards Coincil, it monitors TV
morals and aims for fair repreepresentationndividuals and situations.
30/3/1997, In Britain, Channel Five
was launched.
10/1996, Fox News Channel was launched in the USA.
4/1989, CNBC (Consumer News and Business Channel) was launched in the USA.
5/2/1989, Rupert Murdoch
launched Sky TV.
11/12/1988. An
Ariane rocket carrying an Astra 1A satellite to bring 16 TV channels to Britain
was launched from French Guyana.
1983, By the time a child in the US reached 18, it was
estimated they had watched over 17,000 hours of TV, equivalent to 710
continuous days and nights of TV. In that time they had seen 360,000 adverts
and witnessed 15,000 murders.
23/11/1982, In the USA, TV
commercials were deregulated, removing restrictions on length and content.
1/11/1982. Channel 4 began transmitting. It aimed
to cater to minority audiences.
2/11/1981, CB or Citizen’s Band Radio became legal in
Britain.
6/1980, CNN (24-hour news) was launched in the USA.
20/3/1980. The pirate radio station Radio Caroline, on the ship Mi Amigo, ran
aground and sank after 16 years of broadcasting.
28/2/1980, The BBC announced that as an
economy measure it would scrap five of its orchestras.
1/3/1975, Colour TV broadcasting began in Australia.
21/10/1974,
Liverpool City radio went on air.
9/10/1973, Capital
Radio (London) began broadcasting.
8/10/1973. Britain’s
first legal commercial radio station, LBC (London Broadcasting Company) Radio in London,
began transmission.
19/12/1971, Intelsat
IV (F3) was launched; it entered commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean on
February 18, 1972.
16/6/1971, The BBC’s first chief, Lord Reith,
died.
18/2/1971. Rupert Murdoch took control of
London Weekend Television.
24/2/1970,. National Public Radio was
launched in the USA.
15/11/1969. The first colour TV advert went on British
television – for Birds Eye peas.
2/9/1969. ITV
began broadcasting in colour.
19/9/1968, The TV
Times, a weekly magazine for British independent TV, was first published.
1967, The Mendip TV mast was constructed.
8/11/1967. The
first local radio station in the UK, Radio
Leicester, went on the air. It was
opened by the Postmaster-General, Edward Short.
30/9/1967. BBC Radio was reorganised. BBC
Radio 1, 2, 3, and 4 began broadcasting, with Tony Blackburn introducing The Breakfast Show. His first record
was Flowers In The Rain by The Move.
15/8/1967. The
Marine Broadcasting Act came into force in the UK, outlawing pop pirate radio stations.
1/7/1967. BBC 2
began colour broadcasting in Britain. Wimbledon was covered in colour
for the first time.
20/12/1965, The Belmont TV transmitter, Lincolnshire, began
operations,
2/5/1965. The British satellite, Early
Bird, began transmitting TV programmes to 300 million viewers in 24
countries.
1964, The Tokyo Olympics became the first major sprting
event to be broadcast globally via satellite. By 1969 the entire Earth was
covered by satellite TV transmissions.
23/11/1964, The
first British commercial radio station, Radio
Manx, began broadcasting.
21/4/1964. BBC2 began transmission.
28/3/1964. Radio Caroline, Britain’s
first private radio broadcasting station, began broadcasting from The Channel
outside British waters.
13/11/1962.. Kenneth Adam, Director of BBC TV, announced
that a second channel would be launched in 1964. The new channel would show
very little repeated programmes and not have much American material.
10/7/1962. Telstar I, the world’s first television telecommunications
satellite, was launched in America. The following day it transmitted a special
television inaugural programme to mark the first communications satellite.
1960, European TV broadcasters
agreed on a common standard of 625-line pictures. A few countries differed;
the UK used the post-war 425-line system, and France had already gone for a 819
line standard. Japan followed the US 525-line standard.
11/7/1960. The communications satellite TELSTAR became operational. Britain could
now receive US television shows,
31/10/1959, The first television broadcasts in Africa began,
from Ibadan, Nigeria.
28/10.1959, South Africa
rejected the introduction of television.
26/12/1959. Bulgarian
National Television was founded. Colour broadcasting began in 1970.
1957,The BBC
ended the so-called ‘toddlers truce’;
a period between 6pm and 7pm when no programmes were nroadcast. This was
supposed to help mothers get young children to bed, who believed that the
night’s entertainment was over. Programmes ended at 11pm for the night.
9/1/1957. TV detector vans were first used by the
UK Post Office to track down licence dodgers.
11/12/1956, In
Britain, the start of TV broadcasting was moved forward from 7pm to 6pm.
3/11/1956, The
Elmley Moor ITV transmitter in Yorkshire was switched on.
10/10/1955, Experimental colour TV broadcasts were made from by the
BBC from Alexandra Palace, London.
20/9/1955. The Radio Times was first published.
4/8/1954, The Independent Television
Authority was set up.
31/7/1954, The Independent Television Act
was passed, allowing for independent TV
franchises in the UK.
5/7/1954, The BBC began daily news
broadcasts
6/6/1954. The Eurovision television link-up was inaugurated.
25/3/1954, UK
Parliament approved the idea of independent TV broadcasting. The Television Act
1954 was passed.
11/1/1954, George Cowling from the Met
office became the first weatherman to be seen on TV. Previous forecasts had
been sound only.
13/11/1953, In Britain, plans for a new
commercial TV channel to rival the BBC were announced.
22/10/1953, TV broadcasting began in The
Philippines.
1/5/1953, The BBC
began broadcasts from Northern Ireland, from a transmitter near Belfast. Also
this day the Pontop Pyke TV transmitter near Consett, Durham began operations.
TV engineers were keen to have programmes in operation for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation on
2/6/1953.
31/12/1951,
Television came to north-west England with the opening of a transmitter near
Manchester. Scotland would get TV in 1953. TV was only available in the London
area until a Midlands transmitter opened in 1950. Now television threatened the
popularity of radio and cinema.
12/2/1950, The European Broadcasting Union
was formed.
27/8/1950, The BBC
transmitted its first pictures from abroad, a two-hour programme from Calais..
3/11/1949, The BBC bought the Rank Studios
in Shepherds Bush for programme making.
29/7/1949, The BBC issued its first televised weather forecast.
29/9/1946, BBC
Radio’s Third Programme, later to become Radio
Three, began broadcasting.
7/6/1946, In
Britain the BBC resumed TV broadcasts
this day; the initial audience was fewer than 12,000 people.
29/7/1945, The BBC
Light Programme began broadcasting.
12/10/1944. Angela Rippon,
British
TV presenter, was born in Plymouth.
8/3/1943, Michael Grade,
BBC chief, was born.
5/1/1942, Jan Leeming,
BBC presenter, was born.
1/7/1941. The first TV commercial was shown; on
WNBT in New York, USA. It was for the
Bulova clock and Watch company.
22/6/1940. Esther Rantzen,
TV presenter, was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
30/4/1939, The
World Fair in New
York opened. It was opened by President Franklin D Roosevelt, who became the
first US President to appear on TV, as NBC began their TV news service this
day.
7/4/1939. David Frost, TV
presenter, was born in Tenterden, Kent.
29/3/1938, The BBC
began foreign language broadcasts in German.
3/1/1938. The BBC began its first foreign language
service, in Arabic.
2/11/1936. The first daily high definition TV broadcasts in
Britain were transmitted from the BBC’s aerial at Alexandra Palace, London. Only around 280 homes had TV sets, which
were on sale at the Olympia Exhibition for £110.
11/6/1936. Leslie Mitchell
became the BBC’s first television announcer.
24/1/1935. Bamber Gasgoigne,
UK TV presenter, was born in London.
19/12/1932, The
British Broadcasting Corporation inaugurated its Empire shortwave broadcasting service to the entire British Empire, based from its Daventry
transmitters, see 25/12/1932.
22/8/1932, The first regular BBC broadcast began, from Alexandra
Palace, Wood Green, north London. Programmes were broadcast on Mondays,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays for just 30 minutes, from 11.00pm to 11.30pm.
The same masts were used for radio broadcasts so TV broadcasts could not begin
until radio had finished.
15/3/1932, The BBC made its first broadcast from its new HQ at Portland Place,
near Oxford Circus.
12/11/1931. The
Abbey Road BBC recording studios were opened by Sir Edward Elgar, who conducted
his Pomp and Circumstance marches
with the London Symphony Orchestra.
29/12/1930. Radio Luxembourg began
broadcasting.
11/4/1930. The Daily
Express became the first paper to
publish TV programmes.
30/9/1929, The first experimental TV broadcast was
made by the BBC.
14/8/1928. The
world’s first scheduled television
programmes were broadcast by WRNY in New York.
3/7/1928. The
first TV sets went on sale in the USA, at $75 each. John Logie Baird made the first
colour TV transmission, from the Baird Studios, London.
1/1/1927. The British Broadcasting Corporation,
BBC, came into being. It had formerly been the British Broadcasting Company.
16/10/1925, Britain
began regular broadcasts to Continental Europe, on a weekly basis.
5/2/1924. The BBC
‘pips’ or time signals, were heard for the first time. They were set by a clock
at Greenwich.
31/12/1923. The
chimes of Big Ben were broadcast by the BBC for the first time.
23/12/1923, The BBC
began regular radio broadcasts for entertainment, as opposed to information.
25/11/1923. The
first transatlantic wireless broadcast from the UK to the USA was made.
28/9/1923. The Radio Times was first
published.
27/7/1923,The BBC
radio transmission station at Daventry opened.
14/11/1922. The British Broadcasting Corporation
began daily news broadcasts from 2LO in The Strand, London. This had
formerly been Marconi’s
London broadcasting station. At 6pm the news was read by Arthur Burrows, once at normal
speed and once at slow speed. See 14/2/1922, 18/10/1922 and 26/3/1923.
18/10/1922. The BBC, the British
Broadcasting Company, was officially formed, at Marconi House, The Strand,
London (2LO). See 14/11/1922.
2/11/1920, The
first regular radio programme began, KDKA, in Pittsburgh.
23/2/1920, The
first regular broadcasting service in Britain began, from Chelmsford.
25/5/1913, The
broadcaster Richard
Dimbleby was born.
29/3/1903, A
regular news service began between New York and London began, using Marconi’s
wireless.
13/8/1888. Birth
of television pioneer John Logie
Baird in Helensburgh, Firth of Clyde, Scotland.
Appendix 3 – TV Shows See above for films
30/7/2006, Top of the Pops was broadcast for
the last time.
2003, The BBC
series Tomorrow’s
World was axed (first broadcast 1965).
18/7/2000, The TV series Big Brother
began in the UK.
8/8/1999, ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ was first screened; contestants could win up to US$1,000,000.
14/5/1998, The US
sitcom Seinfeld was first broadcast.
12/6/1989. Live TV
broadcasts from the House of Commons began, after
MPs voted 293 to 69 in favour. Live radio broadcasts began on 9/6/1975.
1988, The soap series Neighbours began on BBC TV
4/4/1988. The
Midlands-based TV soap opera ‘Crossroads’
ended on episode 4,510. The first episode was broadcast in November 1964.
18/3/1985. Australian Seven Network TV launched
a new soap, Neighbours.
19/2/1985, The BBC began broadcasting Eastenders. 13 million people watched the first
episode, in which the pensioner Reg Cox died in his Albert Square home.
1984, The TV
series Threads
began, about the probable effects of a nuclear explosion over the city of
Sheffield.
16/9/1984, Miami Vice was first broadcast on
NBC TV.
17/1/1983. The start of Breakfast TV
on BBC with Frank
Bough and Selina Scott.
1/11/1982. The TV
show Countdown
was launched.
27/9/1979. BBC’s Question Time
was broadcast for the first time, with Robin Day in the chair. He stayed with the show for 10 years.
18/2/1979, The BBC screened
the first episode of The Antiques Roadshow, hosted by Bruce Parker, Arthur
Negus and Angela Rippon.
1978, The 667th and final episode of Z Cars
was broadcast on BBC.
2/4/1978, The
first episode of Dallas
was broadcast in the USA.
8/2/1978, BBC showed the first episode of the school drama Grange Hill.
28/3/1977, British Breakfast TV
began as an experiment on Yorkshire TV, hosted by Bob Warman.
27/11/1975. Devolution was discussed on the TV
programme Newsday.
TV programmes ceased at 12.25 am with What did you learn at School Today? on ITV.
19/9/1975. The first episode of Fawlty
Towers was broadcast by the BBC.
1974, New TV series included Porridge and Rising
Damp.
5/12/1974, The last episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus was broadcast by the
BBC.
29/11/1974. Ironside was on
TV.
30/9/1974. The TV
show Some mothers
do ‘ave ‘em was showing.
21/6/1974. TV
showed The
Wombles.
19/6/1974. The Pink Panther Show
entertained the young on TV, whilst later on, grown ups had The Two Ronnies.
The Best of Les
Dawson provided relief after seven hours of World Cup Grandstand.
4/1/1974. On TV,
whilst Holiday
’74 compared the rival delights of Blackpool and Benidorm, Dad’s Army
also entertained viewers.
4/9/1973. BBC2 was still broadcasting for less than 7
hours a day, including the antique –lover’s show Collector’s World. ITV began at
11.15 am with Galloping
Gourmet. Other programmes of the day included A TUC Special, Crossroads,
and the sitcom Up The Workers. Emmerdale Farm was also on, and
schedules closed at 12.15 am after The Evangelists.
1972, The TV series Colditz was first broadcast.
27/11/1972, In the
first episode of the fourth season of Sesame Street, the character of "The
Count" (officially Count von Count) was introduced. True to his name, the
friendly children's show puppet vampire (performed by Jerry Nelson) helped children
count.
16/10/1972. BBC1’s
daytime TV included Pebble Mill At One and The Magic Roundabout as well as Blue Peter.
Soaps included Crossroads,
filmed in a Birmingham warehouse. Z Cars and Mastermind were also on the TV schedules. ITV was
offering Opportunity
Knocks and Coronation Street.
11/9/1972. The BBC quiz Mastermind was first broadcast.
1971, New TV series included The
Onedin Line, The Old Grey Whistle Test, The Two Ronnies, and Upstairs
Downstairs.
15/11/1971. TV
viewers were entertained by Steptoe and Son.
18/10/1971. TV shows Blue Peter and The Magic Roundabout entertained the
children.
19/6/1971. Opportunity Knocks was the UK’s most popular TV
programme.
19/8/1970. Coronation Street showed its 1,000th episode.
2/7/1970. The BBC ran a late night
programme called Decimal
shops: preparing for decimal money.
5/10/1969, Monty Python was first screened.
22/2/1969. On TV a
wheelchair bound detective called Ironside battled San Francisco’s crooks.
5/2/1969. On BBC1 All Gas and Gaiters
was a comedy about a young Church of England priest, Derek Nimmo.
4/12/1968. On TV Bill and Ben the
Flowerpot Men still entertained children 16 years after their
initial appearance. The weak willed pair still lived in fear of the gardener
and were mercilessly bullied by Weed.
12/11/1968. On TV Z Cars
patrolled Merseyside whilst Trumpton kept watch at the Fire Station.
8/1968, The TV series Dad’s Army was first broadcast.
17/5/1968. TV
viewers could watch The Saint, Danger Man, or
The Avengers.
11/1/1968. Children were entertained on TV
by The Magic
Roundabout and Blue Peter.
23/11/1967. TV
shows included a debate on The Roman Catholic Church has no place in the 20th
Century and The Man from UNCLE.
30/10/1967. TV
showed Bewitched,
Dr Finlays Casebook, The
Saint, and Z Cars.
15/10/1967. TV
viewers saw Steptoe
and Son, whilst Patrick McGoohan was unable to accept his lot in
North Wales as The
Prisoner. Ironside the wheelchair bound detective propelled
himself around the streets of San Francisco.
3/7/1967, In
Britain, ITV launched News at Ten.
29/6/1967. The Magic Roundabout
continued on TV, as did The Man from UNCLE as he battled with the evil
THRUSH organisation.
25/6/1967, The
first worldwide TV show was broadcast; via satellite link it reached 26
countries. The programme, Our World, had an estimated audience of 400
million. It concluded with a live Beatles performance of All You Need is Love.
15/6/1967. The
Guardian TV critic complained that ‘with the basically green and white
Wimbledon being followed by Late Night Line Up with everyone wearing basically
black and white’ people paying nearly £2 a week to rent the colour sets should
be getting ‘the occasional dazzle’. Whickers World and Till Death do us Part formed part
of the TV schedules.
14/6/1967. On TV,
‘Games without Frontiers’ was on. It’s a Knockout and The Likely Lads was also on.
23/9/1966. On TV Emergency Ward Ten
was on as Patrick Mc Goohan’s Danger Man was about to give way to The Prisoner.
8/9/1966. Star Trek was first broadcast.
16/7/1966. Doctor Who
continued to entertain on TV, and scare kids into hiding behind the sofa so the
Daleks wouldn’t get them.
6/6/1966, On
British TV the first episode of Til Death Us Do Part was showing, with Warren Mitchell
as Alf Garnett.
21/4/1966, The opening of the UK
Parliament was televised for the first time.
19/2/1966. TV
shows included Bewitched
and Dixon of Dock
Green. Thunderbirds was on at 6pm, and The Morecambe and Wise Show at 9.20
pm.
1965, The BBC series Tomorrow’s World was first broadcast (axed 2003).
28/12/1965. On TV, Phil Silvers starred in Sergeant Bilko.
30/9/1965, The first episode of Thunderbirds
was broadcast in the UK.
30/7/1965, Coronation Street
was the top TV show
2/11/1964. First
showing of the TV serial Crossroads.
6/10/1964, The
first episode of Stingray
aired in UK TV. The puppet caste included Captain
Troy, Tempest, Phones, and the green-haired Marina, aboard their atomic-powered submarine.
22/8/1964, BBC2 first broadcast Match of the Day; Arsenal played Liverpool at
their Anfield ground, watched by a TV audience of 20,000 in black and white.
Over 40,000 actually attended the ground. In 2014 BBC1’s Match of the Day had a
TV audience of 3.6 million. In 1964 each of the Football League Clubs made £136
from the TV programme; in 2014 each Club made £3 million from the show.
21/4/1964. BBC2 began
transmission. The first programme was Play School.
17/1/1964, The top UK TV programme was Steptoe and Son.
1/1/1964. The first Top of the Pops was broadcast, with Jimmy Savile
as its presenter.
1963, Granada
TV hroadcast the first World in Action current affairs programme.
23/11/1963. The BBC
screened the first episode of Dr Who. The doctor was played by William
Hartnell.
22/1/1963. TV
showed The
Flintstones at the prime slot of 7pm. TV closed down around
midnight.
4/10/1962, The TV
Series, The Saint,
starring Roger
Moore as Simon Templar,
first broadcast this day.
21/9/1962, The British
TV quiz programme University Challenge
conducted by Bamber
Gascoigne was first transmitted.
9/9/1962. TV
showed another episode of Steptoe and Son, and The Morecambe and Wise Show.
11/5/1962. TV
showed Emergency
Ward Ten.
21/1/1962
On TV, new, were Steptoe and Son and Z Cars.
1961, New TV
shows included The
Morecambe and Wise Show and Songs of Praise.
7/1/1961, The first episode of The Avengers
was broadcast.
9/12/1960. Coronation Street
first televised. The
series was expected to last just 13 weeks.
11/9/1960, The first episode of Danger Man, starring Patrick McGoohan, was broadcast
on UK TV.
10/9/1960, The first English Football league match to be televised
was broadcast today. Blackpool played
Bolton Wanderers.
1959, The Twilight Zone was first broadcast in the US, in a
Cold War world of spies and innovative secret military technology.
1959, New TV shows in the UK included Juke Box Jury and Whicker’s World,
presented by Alan
Whicker.
1958, New TV shows in the UK included The Black and Whute Minstrels
28/10/1958. In
Britain, the State
Opening of Parliament was televised for the first time.
27/10/1958. The
first edition of the BBC programme Blue Peter was broadcast.
11/10/1958. The BBC sports programme
Grandstand was first transmitted. It was the idea of Paul Fox.
1957, New TV
series this year included Emergency Ward Ten, a soap opera set in a hospital, and The Sky at Night, presented by Patrick Moore.
25/12/1957. The Queen made her first Christmas
Day broadcast on British TV.
3/3/1957, The UK competed in the Eurovision Song Contest for the
first time. The British entry, All,
sung by Hull-born Patricia Bredin, came seventh out of ten in
Frankfurt Am Main, Germnay.
22/10/1957. The children’s TV show, Captain Pugwash, was first
broadcast.
5/11/1956. The
weekly British TV programme What the Papers Say
was first transmitted.
24/5/1956 The first Eurovision song contest was held. Europe
was just recovering from the Second World War but the Cold War was in full
swing. There was a need to unite the
countries of western Europe. An Italian radio manager had an idea for a
European music festival similar to the popular Italian San Remo Festival. The
first Eurovision song contest was
held in Switzerland with seven countries participating, each with two
songs/performances. These were West Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium,
Luxembourg, and Belgium, the same countries that took the initiative to form
the European Union. Switzerland won the first contest with the song ‘Refrain’.
Since then 37 different countries have participated, 800 different singers have
performed 900 new songs, and the show attracted 100 million viewers in 2002.
28/1/1956, Elvis Presley made his first appearance on TV,
on The Dorsey
Brothers Stage Show. He sang Shake Rattle and Roll.
17/2/1956, The first episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood was broadcast, with Richard Greene
playing the hero. The famous signature tune entered the top 20, and the series
ran to 143 episodes.
22/9/1955. With the start of
commercial television in Britain came the first TV advertisement. It was
for Gibbs SR toothpaste. Programmes from the two commercial programme makers,
Associated Rediffusion and the Associated Broadcasting Company, included the
annual Guildhall banquet, Britain’s first-ever cash prize quiz show, a variety
show and a boxing match from Shoreditch. Popular ITV shows included Sunday Night at the
London Palladium and Coronation Street. By ITV’s annual advertising
revenue increased from an initial £2 million in 1956 to £100 million in 1960.
The BBC competed by having Grace Archer, a leading character in their radio
drama The Archers, killed off in a fire.
7/7/1955, Dixon of Dock Green began on BBC TV
with Jack
Warner as George Dixon.
It was to run for 21 years and 367 episodes.
1953, On
British TV, The
Quatermass Experiment was broadcast. The vareity programme, The Good Old Days,
began; it lasted until 1983.
11/11/1953. The BBC programme Panorama was first transmitted, headed by Patrick Murphy.
8/12/1952, Queen Elizabeth II gave
permission for next year’s Coronation (1/6/1953) to be televised.
1/1/1952, In Britain, the single TV channel, BBC, broadcast for
just a few hours a day. Programmes ran from 3pm to 6pm, including Children’s Hour.
There was then a 2-hour break, the so-called Toddler Truce, to enable mothers
to get their small children to bed. Programmes then ran for 2 hours or so from
8pm. News coverage was patchy and sports coverage and light entertainment
virtually absent.
15/10/1951, Britain’s
first party
political broadcast on the BBC, by Lord Samuel for the Liberal Party.
1950, The BBC began a current affairs discussion
programme, In The
News, with Robert Boothby, W J Brown, Michael Foot and A J P Taylor.
The programme ran until 1956.
29/9/1950, The first ever episode of Come Dancing
aired on TV.
11/7/1950. The BBC
transmitted its first children’s
programme, Watch
with Mother, featuring Andy Pandy. The programme ran until 1980.
11/7/1949. The
first film made specifically for television, ‘A Dinner date With Death’ was shot
at Marylebone Studios between 11 and 14 July 1949.
26/4/1947. The English FA Cup Final,
between Charlton Athletic and Burnley, televised in its entirety for the first
time.
20/10/1946. Muffin the Mule,
a wooden puppet, first appeared on BBC TV.
31/5/1938, The
first TV panel game, Spelling Bee, was broadcast.
30/4/1938, In
Britain, the FA
Cup Final was televised for the first time.
25/11/1937, The
first British quiz programme, an inter-regional spelling competition, was
broadcast.
21/6/1937, Lawn tennis at
Wimbledon was televised for the first time.
21/1/1937, Marcel
Boulestin appeared on TV on Cook’s Night Out, demonstrating how to cook an
omelette; he thereby became the first TV chef.
21/11/1936. The
first gardening programme was broadcast by the BBC. It was called “In your garden with
Mr Middleton”.
15/5/1935, The world’s first TV quiz programme was broadcast,
in Canada.
3/6/1931, In Britain the Derby horserace
was televised for the first time. Only a limited number of wealthy people had
TV sets, and a few other enthusiasts had built their own receivers in garden
sheds.
11/9/1928, In New York the world’s first
television drama was broadcast. It was a 40 minute two-character play called The Queen’s
Messenger.
Appendix
3.5 – Actors, film directors and film stars
23/3/2011, Elizabeth Taylor, UK born
Hollywood actress, died aged 79 (born 1932).
4/10/2010, Death of Norman Wisdom, British
comedian, aged 95.
22/1/2008, Australian actor Heath Ledger died
aged 28.
23/5/2000. Sir John Gielgud, British actor, died at the age of
96.
8/5/1999, British
film star Dirk Bogarde died, aged 78.
2/3/1993, Paul Zimmerman, US screenwriter, died (born 3/7/1938).
16/1/1993, Florence Desmond, English actress, died (born
31/5/1905).
2/1/1993, Alden Richards, TV actor, was born.
10/12/1992, Melissa Roxburgh, Canadian
actress, was born.
5/12/1992, Hilary Tindall, English actress (born 14/8/1938)
died.
3/10/1992, Matthew Little, actor, was born.
6/5/1992. Marlene
Dietrich, German actress, died in Paris aged 90. She was
born on 27/12/1901 in Berlin, and left Germany for the USA in 1930. Her role in
the film The
Blue Angel brought her to fame. She became a US citizen in 1937,
rejecting attempts by Hitler to bring her talents back to Germany.
She played a major role in entertaining the wartime Allied troops. In 1960, on
only her second post-war visit to Germany, she encountered hostility from
pro-Nazi sympathisers. She subsequently remained hostile to the ideas of
returning to Germany again, until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and
chose the city as her final resting place.
8/12/1992, Yui
Yokoyama, Japanese
actress, was born.
23/4/1992,
Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker, died (born 2/5/1921).
20/4/1992, The comedian
Benny Hill
died.
15/3/1992, Jack Washburn,
actor, died aged 62.
18/5/1991, Muriel Box, British writer, film director and
feminist,
died aged 85.
17/5/1991, Daniel Curtis Lee, American actor, was born.
1/9/1990, Aisling Loftus, English
actress, was born.
25/8/1990, Aras Lynemli, Turkish actor, was born.
29/3/1990, Tai Hara, Australian TV actor, was born.
26/3/1990, Yuya Yagira, Japanese actor, was born.
16/12/1989, Lee van Cleef, movie star, died.
6/10/1989, Sophia Thomalla,
German
television actress, was born.
23/9/1989, Mara
Scherzinger, German actress, was born.
6/3/1989, Harry Andrews,
actor, died aged 77.
3/12/1988, Michela
Quattrociocche, Italian film actress, was born.
27/4/1988, David Scarboro,
British actor, died (born 1968)
13/4/1988, Allison
Williams, US actress, was born.
27/12/1987, Lily Luahana
Cole, English actress, was born.
24/9/1987, Grey Damon,
US TV actor, was born.
15/5/1987, Rita Hayworth, US actress, died of Alzheimer’s Disease.
10/4/1987, Shay Mitchell, Canadian actress, was born.
12/2/1987, Lang Jefferies, Canadian actor, died aged 55.
5/3/1986, Andrew Jenks, US filmmaker, was born.
26/12/1985, Harold P Warren, US film director, died (born 1928).
10/10/1985, Orson Welles, US actor, died aged 70.
30/3/1985, Harold Peary, actor, died of a
heart attack aged 76.
21/10/1984, Francois Truffaut, French
film director, died aged 52.
5/8/1984, Richard Burton, Welsh actor,
died aged 58.
30/6/1984, Lillian Hellman, US screenwriter,
died aged 77.
28/5/1984, Eric Morecambe, comedian on the Morecambe and Wise
Show, died in Cheltenham.
3/9/1983, Ellie Lambeti, Greek actress,
died (born 1926).
29/7/1983, Luis Brunel, Spanish
film maker, died aged 83.
5/11/1982, Jacques Tati, French film-maker,
died aged 74.
15/10/1982, Imran Naqvi, actor, was born.
10/6/1982, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German
film-maker, died aged 36.
5/6/1982, Scott Speer, US film-maker, was
born.
2/6/1982, Jewel Staite, Canadian actress,
was born.
31/5/1982, Jonathan Tucker, US film
director, was born.
18/2/1982, Tina Carver, actress, died aged
58.
7/11/1980, Steve McQueen, Hollywood actor
who performed many of his own stunts, died of cancer.
25/10/1980, Mehcad Brooks, US actor, was
born.
24/7/1980, Peter Sellers, English
film actor, died aged 54.
7/1/1980, Zoe Salmon, Northern Irish
television presenter, was born.
11/6/1979. The actor John Wayne died,aged 72.
8/6/1979, British
actor Michael
Wilding died.
7/12/1978, Shiri Appleby, US actress, was born.
2/8/1976, Fritz Lang, German
film director, died aged 85.
17/3/1976, Luchino Visconti, Italian film director, died aged 69.
23/1/1976, Paul Robeson, US actor, died aged 77.
28/7/1974, Nicole Narain, US-Lebanese actress, was born.
21/7/1974, Steve Byrne, US comedian, was born.
16/7/1974, Robinne Lee, US actress, was born.
31/1/1974, Sam Goldwyn,
Polish-born
US film producer, died aged 91.
11/4/1972, Natacha Regnier,
Belgian actress, was born.
3/4/1972, Jennie Garth,
actress, was born.
29/3/1972, J Arthur Rank,
British film entrepreneur, created a
peer in 1957, died.
28/3/1972, Nick Frost,
English comedian and actor, was born.
23/3/1972, Judith Godreche,
French actress, was born.
5/12/1971, Kali Rocha,
US actress, was born.
17/11/1971, Gladys Cooper,
English actress, died aged 82.
25/2/1971, Sean Astin, US actor, was born
in Santa Monica, California.
26/8/1968, Byron Lawson, Canadian actor,
was born.
6/6/1967, Paul Giamatti,
US actor, was born.
7/3/1966, Joy Tanner,
US actress, was born.
3/3/1966, Fernando
Colunga, actor, was born.
27/2/1966, Donal Logue,
Canadian actor, was born
25/2/1966, Alexis Denisof,
US actor, was born.
22/2/1966, Rachel Dratch,
US actress, was born
21/2/1966, Bronwen Booth,
English actress, was born.
7/9/1965, John Polson,
actor, was born.
23/2/1965, Stan Laurel, English-born American film comedian along with Oliver Hardy,
died aged 74.
28/9/1964. Harpo Marx, the silent one who chased girls
and played the harp, died aged 75.
9/11/1961, Jill Dando, British journalist and BBC
television presenter, was born in Weston-super-Mare (murdered 1999).
5/11/1960, Mack Sennett, Canadian-born US actor and film
director, died aged 80.
30/12/1959, Tracey Ullman, actress, was born.
12/11/1959, Vincent Irizarry, US actor, was born.
21/1/1959, Cecil B de Mille, Hollywood film producer, died.
30/5/1958, Annette Bening, actress, was born.
7/3/1958, Rick Mayall, actor in The Young Ones, was born.
26/12/1957, Death of French film pioneer Charles Pathe.
1/11/1957, Brian Stokes Mitchell, actor, was
born
21/3/1957, Sabrina Le Beauf, US actress, was born.
14/1/1957, Humphrey Bogart, American film actor and 1951 Oscar winner,
died of throat cancer.
8/1/1957, Amanda Burton, actress, was born
8/11/1956, Richard Curtis, English actor, was born.
7/3/1956, Bryan Cranston, US actor, was born.
30/9/1955, TV actor James Dean was killed when his Porsche
careered off the road near Los Angeles.
3/12/1952, Mel Smith, English actor, was born.
27/7/1952, Roxanne Hart, US actress, was born.
2/4/1954, Ron Palillo, actor, was born (died
2012).
23/10/1950, Al Jolson, US film actor, died
aged 64.
21/10/1949, Jacques Copeau, French actor,
died in Beaune.
22/6/1949, Meryl Streep, actress, was born.
26/8/1947, Anne Archer, actress, was born.
14/7/1946, Sue Lawley, TV presenter, was
born.
2/2/1946, Farrah Fawcett, US actress, was
born.
25/12/1944, Kenny Everett, radio and TV
comedian, was born.
14/6/1944, Joe Grifasi, US actor, was born.
11//6/1944, Roscoe Orman, US actor, was
born.
26/3/1944, Diana Ross, US actress, was
born.
27/5/1943, Cilla Black, singer and
presenter of the TV show Blind Date,
was born.
1/2/1943, Tina Sloan, US actress, was
born.
29/1/1943, Tony Blackburn, British radio
presenter, was born.
6/1/1943, Luciano Virgilio, Italian actor, was born.
18/11/1942, Linda Evans, US actress, was
born.
17/11/1942, Martin Scorsese, US film
director, was born.
5/11/1942, George M Cohan, US actor, died
aged 64.
3/11/1942, Stefanie Powers, US actress, was
born.
5/9/1942, Werner Herzog, German
film director, was born.
16/8/1942, John Challis, English actor, was
born.
19/1/1942. Michael Crawford, British
comedy actor, was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, as Michael Dumble-Smith.
28/7/1941, Colin Higgins, US film director,
was born.
8/12/1940, Jenny Linden, English actress,
was born.
16/11/1940, Donna McKechnie, US actress, was
born.
25/5/1940, Joe De Grasse, Canadian
film director, died aged 67.
12/12/1939, Hollywood actor Douglas
Fairbanks died this day.
27/10/1939, John Cleese, English comedy
actor, was born in Weston Super Mare.
7/10/1939, Clive James, TV broadcaster, was
born in Sydney.
26/9/1939, Ricky Tomlinson, actor, was
born.
23/10/1938, Derek Jacobi, actor, was born.
20/10/1938, Emidio Greco, Italian director
and screenwriter, was born.
3/8/1938, Terry Wogan, TV broadcaster, was
born in Limerick, Ireland.
8/8/1937, Actor Dustin Hoffman was born.
1/10/1935, Julie Andrews, star in The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, was born in Walton on
Thames.
23/11/1934, Arthur Wing Pinero, English
actor, died aged 79.
20/9/1934, Sophia Loren, actress, was born.
28/7/1934, Marie Dressler, US film star,
died at santa Barbara, California (born 9/11/1860, Coburg, Ontario, Canada).
3/3/1933, Margaret Fink, Australian
film producer, was born.
18/2/1932, Milos Forman, Czech
film director and actor, was born.
31/7/1931, Oleg Popov: Russian clown and
actor.
5/1/1931, Robert Duvall, US actor, was
born.
25/8/1930, Sean Connery,
British film actor who played the leading role in seven James Bond movies, was
born in Edinburgh as Thomas Connery.
1/6/1930, Birth
of TV actor Edward
Woodward, best known for The
Equaliser.
30/3/1930, Rolf Harris,
Australian
entertainer and cartoonist, was born.
12/10/1929, Magnus Magnusson,
British writer and TV presenter of the quiz show Mastermind, was born in Reykjavik, Iceland.
11/10/1929, Graham Roberts,
actor, was born.
27/9/1929, Barbara Murray,
English actress, was born.
25/9/1929, Ronnie Barker,
English comedy actor, was born in Bedford, UK.
12/11/1928, Grace Kelly,
US actress, was born (died 1982)
26/7/1928, Stanley Kubrick, US film
director, was born (died 1999)
9/7/1927, John Drew, US actor, died in San
Francisco, California (born 13/11/1853 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
7/4/1927, The
comedian A
Dolan was televised in Whippany, New Jersey, making him the first
televised comedian.
31/10/1926, Jimmy Savile, British
radio and TV presenter, was born in Leeds, Yorkshire.
16/2/1926, John Schlesinger, English actor,
was born (died 2003).
2/12/1925, Julie Harris,
actress, was born in Grosse Point, Michigan (died 2013)
11/10/1925, Richard Burton,
Welsh actor who was married to Elizabeth Taylor twice, was born this day.
8/9/1925, Peter Sellers,
comic TV actor, was born.
2/8/1925, Alan Whicker,
widely-travelled TV reporter, was born in Cairo, Egypt.
15/7/1925, Harry Dean
Stanton, actor, was born.
4/4/1925, Dorothy Alison,
actress, was born.
4/10/1924, Charlton Heston,
the film star in Ben Hur, was born.
12/5/1924, Tony Hancock,
English comedian, was born (died 1968).
21/4/1924, Eleonora Duse,
Italian actress (born Lombardy, Italy, 3/10/1859) died in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
9/12/1923, Meggie Albanesi,
British actress, died aged 24.
24/10/1923, Sir Robin Day,
TV interviewer, was born this day.
8/6/1921, Sheila Ryan,
US actress, was born.
16/4/1921. Peter Ustinov,
actor, was born.
28/3/1921. Dirk Bogarde, English film actor, was born in Hampstead, London.
4/2/1920, Norman Wisdom,
British comedian, was born as Norman Wisden.
3/2/1920, Bibi Osterwald,
actress, was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
2/1/1919, Carole Landis,
US actress, was born.
22/10/1918, Myrtle Gonzalez,
US actress, was born.
6/8/1917, Robert Mitchum,
Hollywood actor, was born in Connecticut, USA.
20/1/1914, Roy Plomley,
who created ‘Desert Island Discs’,
was born. He began his career as a copywriter for an advertising agency then
became an actor. He then became an announcer for a French commercial radio
station. He was awarded the OBE in 1975.
30/11/1913. Charlie Chaplin made his
film debut in Mack
Sennett’s short film Making a
Living.
18/1/1913, Danny Kaye,
US actor, was born (died 1987).
3/3/1913, Harold Stone,
US actor, was born (died 2005).
5/4/1911, Gordon Jones,
actor, was born in Alden, Iowa, USA.
9/10/1908, Jacques Tati,
French comedian who created Monsieur
Hulot’s Holiday, was born.
26/5/1907, John Wayne,
actor, was born.
18/9/1905. Greta Garbo, the Swedish
shop-girl who became a famous film star, was born.
16/5/1905, Bob Hope, US comedian, was born.
7/7/1904, James Cagney, film director, was
born in New York.
1/4/1904, Sid Field,
English actor was born (died 1950).
18/1/1904, Cary Grant,
American film actor, was born in Bristol, England, as Alexander Archibald Leach.
29/5/1903, Bob Hope,
comedian, was born.
27/12/1901, Marlene Dietrich, German
actress, was born.
24/9/1899, John Clarke,
US actor, died (born 3/9/1833).
5/7/1899, Jean Cocteau,
film director, poet, artist, novelist,
was born in Maisons-Lafitte, France.
13/8/1898, Alfred Hitchcock, film director, born in Leytonstone.
4/10/1895, Buster Keaton, silent film comedian who
performed his own stunts, was born this day.
1/2/1893, In New
Jersey, USA, Thomas
Edison opened the world’s
first film studio.
20/3/1891, Lawrence
Barratt, US actor, died born in Paterson, New Jersey 4/4/1838).
16/6/1890, Stan Laurel, of the Laurel and Hardy duo, was born as Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston,
Lancashire (now Cumbria). Oliver Hardy was born in America on 18/1/1892.
16/8/1887, Augustine Brohan, French actress, died (born
22/1/1807).
23/1/1886, Jean Bressant, French actor, died (born
23/10/1815).
23/5/1883, Douglas Fairbanks, US actor, was born in Denver,
Colorado (died 12/12/1939 in Santa Monica, California).
29/8/1882, Samuel Goldwyn
was born.
12/2/1882, Madame Celeste,
French actress, died (born 16/8/1815) 12/2/1882).
7/6/1880, John Brougham,
British actor, died (born 9/5/1814).
1/12/1875, Pauline Dejazet, French actress, died (born
30/8/1798).
30/12/1874, Ludwig Dessoir, German actor, died (born
15/12/1810).
22/3/1875, Hezekiah
Bateman, US actor, died (born in Baltimore, Maryland 6/12/1812).
24/8/1874, William Betty,
English actor, died (born in Shrewsbury 13/9/1791).
7/8/1872, Gustav Devreint,
German actor, died (born 4/9/1803).
1/2/1872, Bogumil Dawison,
German actor, died (born 1818).
9/2/1860, William Burton,
actor, died (born 1804).
28/7/1859, Mary Anderson,
US actress, was born in Sacramento, California.
4/11/1858, Francis Benson,
English actor, was born in Tunbridge Wells.
22/10/1845, Sarah Bernhardt,
French actress, was born in Paris.
30/4/1845, Henry Crane,
US actor, was born.
14/5/1841, Sir Squire
Bancroft, actor, was born near London.
23/1/1841, Benoit Coquelin, French actor, was born (died
8/2/1909).
3/10/1838, Otto Devrient,
German actor, was born (died 23/6/1894).
4/4/1838, Lawrence
Barratt, US actor, was born in Paterson, New Jersey (died
20/3/1891).
13/11/1833, Edwin Booth,
US actor, was born in Belair, Maryland (died 7/6/1893).
3/9/1833, John Clarke,
US actor, was born (died 24/9/1899).
20/12/1832, Ludwig Devrient,
German actor, died (born 15/12/1784).
7/9/1819, Jeanne
Arnould-Plessey, French actress, was born in Metz (died 1897).
23/7/1816, Charlotte
Cushman, US actress, was born (died 18/2/1876).
23/10/1815, Jean Bressant,
French actor, was born (died 23/1/1886).
16/8/1815, Madame Celeste,
French actress, was born (died 12/2/1882).
9/5/1814, John Brougham,
British actor, was born (died 7/6/1880).
6/12/1812, Hezekiah Bateman, US actor, was born in
Baltimore, Maryland (died 2/3/1875).
26/9/1811, George Cooke,
English actor, died (born 1756).
15/12/1810, Ludwig Dessoir,
German actor, was born (died 30/12/1874).
4/9/1803, Gustav Devreint,
German actor, was born (died 7/8/1872).
22/1/1807, Augustine
Brohan, French actress, was born (died 16/8/1887).
5/8/1799, Jean Colson,
French actor, died (born 16/1/1725).
30/8/1798, Pauline Dejazet,
French actress, was born (died 1/12/1875).
5/4/1797, Karl Devrient,
German actor, was born (died 4/10/1877).
1/2/1794, Etienne Arnal,
actor, was born in Meulan (died 1872).
13/7/1791, William Betty,
English actor, was born in Shrewsbury (died 24/8/1874).
16/2/1788, George Anne
Bellamy, English actress, died.
6/12/1785, Catherine Clive,
British actress, died (born 1711).
15/12/1784, Ludwig Devrient,
German actor, was born (died 30/12/1832).
10/1/1777, Spranger Barry,
British actor, died in London (born in Dublin 23/11/1719).
30/1/1766, Susannah Cibber, actress, died (born 1714).
11/12/1757, Colley Cibber,
English actor, died (born 6/11/1671).
15/11/1746, Jean Dugazon,
French actor, was born (died 1809).
22/12/1729, Michel Baron,
French actor, died (born in Paris 1635).
16/1/1725, Jean Colson,
French actor, was born (died 5/8/1799),
25/1/1723, La Clairon,
French actress, was born (died 1803).
23/11/1719, Spranger Barry,
British actor, was born in Dublin (died in London 10/1/1777).
7/11/1713, Elizabeth Barry,
actress, died (born 1658).
15/5/1698, Marie
Champmesle, French actress, died (born 1642).
6/11/1671, Colley Cibber,
English actor, was born (died 11/12/1757).
Appendix 4 – Radio
shows
24/1/1997, The Archers
celebrated its 12,000th episode. The Radio 4 series drew an average
of 4.5 million listeners each week.
30/5/1985, The death of Roy Plomley, who created the long running
radio series Desert Island Discs in
1941.
3/4/1978, Regular BBC
radio broadcasts of British Parliamentary proceedings began.
9/6/1975, Live radio broadcasting from the House of Commons
began. On 12/6/1989, TV broadcasts from the House of Commons began.
27/7/1967, Robin Scott, the man in charge of the brand new Radio One,
announced that should pop music prove to
be a passing fad, he would devote the station’s output to ‘sweet music’.
7/6/1950, The BBC radio serial The Archers was first
broadcast; it was created by Godfrey Basely.
1/11/1947, Sports Report, the BBC
radio Saturday afternoon programme, went on the air.
13/1/1947, In Britain, top radio shows included Woman’s Hour, Dick Barton, and Radio
Forfeits.
4/10/1946, From Our Own Correspondent
was first broadcast on UK radio.
1/8/1945. Family Favourites record request programme began on
the BBC.
3/4/1943, Saturday Night Theatre was first
broadcast on UK radio.
29/1/1942, The first broadcast of the BBC radio programme ‘Desert Island Discs’, devised and presented by Roy Plomley. Roy Plomley
presented the programme until 11/5/1985; he died 17 days later on 28/5/1965.
The first ‘castaway’ was the comedian, Vic Oliver.
1939, The term ‘soap opera’ was coined to describe the
radio drama that, from the 1930s, had been sponsored by the washing powder
manufacturers; ongoing dramas affecting ordinary families, which proved to be
addictive to listeners. The first such radio ‘soap opera’ was Betty and Bob and One Man’s Family,
broadcast on NBC in the USA in 1932
1/9/1939. The BBC
Home Service, later to become Radio
4, began broadcasting.
7/10/1938, BBC Radio began its first soap opera, the English Family Robinson.
25/10/1936 A radio station in Berlin played the first request
programme, called ‘You ask – We play’.
25/12/1932. King George V made the first Christmas Day
broadcast to the Empire, see 19/12/1932.
6/11/1929, The Week in Westminster was first
broadcast on UK radio.
21/10/1929, The BBC
began transmitting regional services.
2/1/1928, Daily Service
was first broadcast on radio in the UK.
7/7/1927. Christopher Stone became the first disc jockey on British radio when
he presented his record round up from Savoy Hill.
14/5/1927. The BBC broadcast its first cricket commentary, from the Essex vs. New Zealand match at
Leyton, east London.
2/4/1927, The Oxford and Cambridge boat race was first
broadcast.
22/1/1927. The BBC
broadcast its first football match; between Arsenal and Sheffield United. The result was a draw, 1-1.
11/10/1926. Children’s Hour started on
BBC Radio.
26/1/1926, The Shipping Forecast was first
broadcast on radio.
24/1/1926, The Week’s Good Cause was first
broadcast on radio.
4/4/1924, The BBC
broadcast its first radio programmes for schools.
16/1/1924, The BBC
broadcast the first play written specifically for radio, Danger, by Richard Hughes.
2/5/1923, The BBC radio programme ‘Woman’s Hour’ began.
24/12/1922, The first play written for radio, The Truth About Father Christmas, was
broadcast by the BBC.
6/9/1920, The first sports radio broadcast in the USA; the Jack Dempsey
vs. Billy
Miske boxing match.
15/6/1920, Marconi broadcast a concert by opera singer Dame
Nellie Melba.
Appendix 5 – Theatres, concerts, operas
12/6/1997, The new Globe Theatre, London, opened.
12/6/1974. The Redgrave Theatre, Farnham, opened.
9/8/1962, The
National Theatre was established in London, with Sir Lawrence Olivier as director.
14/1/1947, The newly-renovated Covent Garden Opera House in
London opened, with a performance of Bizet’s Carmen.
23/4/1932, The new Shakespeare
Memorial Theatre opened in Stratford
on Avon.
6/1/1931, The New Sadlers Wells Theatre in London was opened.
27/4/1928. The Piccadilly Theatre, London, opened.
6/3/1926. Fire destroyed the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford on Avon. Only a blackened shell was left.
29/10/1911. First stone of the Drury Lane Theatre laid.
9/6/1904, First concert
by the London Symphony Hall.
15/5/1862, The third Royal Opera House
opened at Covent Garden, London.
30/1/1858, The Halle
Opera in Manchester, England, gave its first
public
concert.
5/3/1856, London’s Covent Garden Opera House was destroyed
by fire.
27/7/1787, The Theatre Royal,
Margate, was founded.
30/5/1766, The oldest theatre still in use in Britain, the
‘Royal;’ in Bristol, was opened.
7/5/1663, The first Drury Lane theatre, London, opened.
13/4/1644. Demolition of the Globe Theatre on the South Bank, London.
29/6/1613. The Globe
Theatre in London burnt down after a cannon was fired during a Shakespeare
play and set fire to the roof.
Appendix 6 – Art Galleries
12/5/2000, In London, the Tate
Modern art gallery opened.
2/2/1977, The Pompidou
Centre of art and culture opened in Paris.
21/7/1897. The Tate Gallery
in London was officially opened, on the
site of Millbank Prison.
9/4/1838. The National
Gallery, in Trafalgar Square, London, opened.
