| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 23.07.1863 |
Alexandra Palace, future early home of BBC Television, opens. |
| 07.05.1875 |
Alexandra Palace, Londonlater the first home of BBC Televisionis opened. |
| 1904 |
Wireless Telegraphy Act (4 Ed.7, c.24), the first wireless legislation in the world, establishes need for all UK wireless telegraphy users to obtain a licence for transmitting and receiving. Fees from the receiving licence are later used to fund the BBC. |
| 18.10.1922 |
British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is formed. |
| 15.11.1922 |
BBCs Manchester station (2ZY on 375m) is opened at Metropolitan-Vickers Dickenson Street Electricity Works in Old Trafford. |
| 16.11.1922 |
BBCs Birmingham station (5IT on 420m) is opened at General Electric Companys Witton works. |
| 14.12.1922 |
John Reith is appointed General Manager of the BBC. The BBC staff totals four. |
| 23.12.1922 |
First daily news bulletin and the first talk are broadcast by BBC. |
| 24.12.1922 |
BBCs Newcastle-upon-Tyne station (5NO on 400m) is opened at the CWS Building, Blandford Street, the transmitter being at 24 Eldon Square. |
| 01.1923 |
First BBC outside broadcast: a relay of The Magic Flute from Covent Garden. |
| 18.01.1923 |
BBC obtains a formal licence to broadcast. |
| 27.01.1923 |
Second talk broadcast by BBC (see also 1922 December 23) is entitled How to Catch a Tiger. |
| 13.02.1923 |
BBCs Cardiff station (5WA on 353m) opens at 2 Castle Street; the transmitter is at the Castle Avenue Electricity works. |
| 16.02.1923 |
First BBC radio drama broadcast: the quarrel scene from Shakespeares Julius Caesar is broadcast from 2LO Marconi House. |
| 06.03.1923 |
BBCs Glasgow station (5SC on 420m) opens at 202 Bath Street, with the transmitter at Port Dundas. |
| 04.1923 |
BBC moves to studios in the premises of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Hill, London. |
| 11.07.1923 |
G. A. Atkinson is appointed BBC film critic. |
| 08.1923 |
BBC Birmingham studio (see 1922 November 16) is moved to over The Picture House, New Street. |
| 28.09.1923 |
First issue of BBCs Radio Times published. |
| 10.10.1923 |
BBC radio station at Aberdeen (2BD on 495m) opens at 17 Belmont Street, transmitting from Aberdeen Steam Laundry. [Is this the origin of the term 'steam radio'?] |
| 17.10.1923 |
BBC radio station at Bournemouth (6BM on 385m) opens at 72 Holdenhurst Road, with the transmitter at North Cemetery. |
| 14.11.1923 |
John Reith (formerly general manager) becomes managing director of the BBC. |
| 1923 |
First broadcast of the chimes of Big Ben by the BBC. |
| 1924 |
Schools broadcasting is introduced by the BBC. |
| 15.01.1924 |
First play written specifically for radio, A Comedy of Danger by Richard Hughes, is broadcast by the BBC. |
| 05.02.1924 |
17:30 Greenwich Time Signalthe pipsare broadcast for the first time by the BBC, with an introduction by the Astronomer Royal, following up an idea derived by John Reith from a radio talk by horologist Frank Hope-Jones at the introduction of British Summer Time in 1923. Signals are transmitted from a specially adapted long-case pendulum clock at the Royal Observatory Greenwich every quarter hour, the sixth and final pip marking the start of the first minute of the quarter. The cost of around £150 to set up the service is borne by the BBC. |
| 07.1924 |
BBC Dramatic Department is formed. |
| 15.09.1924 |
BBC radio station at Belfast opens. |
| 10.1924 |
First general election party political broadcast is made on BBC radio by the prime minister, Ramsey MacDonald. |
| 1925 |
BBC broadcasts a radio concert conducted by Sir Hamilton Harty from the Free Trade Hall, Manchester in stereo. The right channel is broadcast on 5XX, the left channel on all other stations. |
| 1925 |
Eight sponsored concerts are broadcast by the BBC, the sponsors being mainly newspapers or periodicals. |
| 18.03.1925 |
First international broadcasting convention is organised by the BBC in London. It leads to the formation of the International Broadcasting Union (IBU), surviving until the EBU is formed in 1950. |
| 27.07.1925 |
BBCs high power transmitter (5XX at 25kW) opens at Daventry, Northamptonshire. |
| 1926 |
BBC experiments with stereo radio using two transmitters: 2LO in London and 5XX at Daventry. |
| 16.04.1926 |
BBC broadcast of a fictitious report by Father Ronald Knox of a riot of the unemployed in London alarmed people all over the country, although it included such unlikely details as the roasting alive of a well-known philanthropist in Trafalgar Square. |
| 14.07.1926 |
BBC forms a committee chaired by the Poet Laureate, Robert Bridges, to advise on pronunciation. Other members are George Bernard Shaw, Sir Johnstone Forbes-Robertson, Professor Daniel Jones, phoneticist A Lloyd James (honorary secretary) and Logan Pearsall Smith (representing the Society for Pure English, of which Bridges was also a founder). Robert Bridges quotation Broadcast English |
| 04.01.1927 |
BBC makes wearing of evening dress compulsory for station announcers. |
| 22.01.1927 |
BBC broadcasts live commentary on a football match: Arsenal v Sheffield United. |
| 02.04.1927 |
First broadcast by BBC of Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race on the Thames from the launch Magician using a 100W transmitter. |
| 14.05.1927 |
14:10 First live commentary on a cricket match is broadcast by the BBC: a descriptive narrative of a match between Essex and New Zealand at Leyton given by Rev F H Gillingham, giving a 10-minute introduction and then speaking for five minutes every hour on the hour between 15:00 and 18:00. |
| 07.07.1927 |
BBC broadcasts a record programme from Studio 3, Savoy Hill, presented by the first disc-jockey, Christopher Stone (brother-in-law of writer Compton Mackenzie, who was to have done the programme but vanished shortly before). |
| 21.08.1927 |
BBCs Daventry Experimental Station (5GB) is opened to provide an alternative service to the regional stations. |
| 11.11.1927 |
BBC begins experimental short-wave radio transmissions five days a week from 5SW at Chelmsford to the Empire. |
| 1928 |
First Budget broadcast, explaining the policies, is made on BBC radio by Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer. |
| 02.01.1928 |
First religious Daily Service is broadcast by BBC radio; 50 years later it has an audience of 500,000 a day and is still running. |
| 08.1928 |
Baird announces that his transmitter at 133 Long Acre, nearing completion, will be used for his own programmes, in response to the BBC's demand for higher quality. |
| 09.10.1928 |
Baird demonstrates his television system to BBC officials, who react unfavourably. |
| 30.10.1928 |
Start of a years experimental transmissions of still pictures from the BBCs Daventry transmitter using the Fultograph system. |
| 1929 |
BBC publishes Broadcast English I: Recommendations to announcers regarding certain words of doubtful pronunciation. The booklet is also incorporated, with comments, by the Society for Pure English in its Tract no XXXII. The latter runs to two further impressions within as many years, testifying to the interest in the subject. Broadcast English |
| 16.01.1929 |
First edition of the BBC publication The Listener. |
| 03.1929 |
Baird demonstrates 30-line television to the BBC at Savoy Hill. |
| 30.09.1929 |
Start of daily experimental picture-only 30-line television transmissions by Baird from his studio at 133 Long Acre, in the presence of the President of the Board of Trade, William Graham, via the BBCs 2LO transmitter. |
| 21.10.1929 |
First twin-wave station of the BBCs regional scheme, at Brookmans Park, is brought into service. |
| 1930 |
Foundation of BBC National Programme. |
| 22.03.1930 |
First radio broadcast from a talkie soundtrack in BBC programme Diversion No 2. |
| 26.05.1930 |
Song of a nightingale is broadcast live by the BBC from a wood in Berkshire. |
| 1931 |
BBC acquires a Blattnerphone magnetic tape recorder. |
| 06.03.1931 |
22:30 EST First broadcast of The March of Time news magazine programme on CBS radio network in US, relayed by BBC in UK. |
| 1932 |
BBC produces Pieces of Tape, the first known radio programme made up entirely on audio tape. |
| 28.04.1932 |
Worlds first demonstration of ultra short wave (7.3m) television (BBC press release 29 April 1932). |
| 02.05.1932 |
BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place is first brought into use. |
| 22.08.1932 |
BBC begins regular experimental television transmissions for four days a week using the Baird 30-line system, from Studio BB in the basement of the new Broadcasting House. |
| 12.1932 |
EMI demonstrates an electronic scanning television system to the BBC. |
| 06.12.1932 |
EMI demonstrates its first 180-line electronic television system, which is only capable of scanning film, to the BBC. |
| 17.12.1932 |
Experimental short-wave transmissions to the British Empire are closed by BBC. |
| 19.12.1932 |
BBC Empire service is inaugurated, transmitting from the UK on two short-wave transmitters at Daventry. |
| 01.1933 |
Baird promises the BBC a 240-line television system by the second week of February. |
| 1933 |
BBC forms a Recorded Programmes Section. |
| 15.03.1933 |
Adeline Gelée dances her farewell ballet performance with Anton Dolin at the BBC television studio for transmission to Copenhagen, Denmark. |
| 08.1933 |
BBC conducts its first television audience research. |
| 09.1933 |
BBC ends its exclusive television contract with Baird. |
| 02.1934 |
BBC opens new television studios at 16 Portland Place, London. |
| 12.03.1934 |
Major Baird television demonstration at Film House, Wardour Street (Gaumont-British studios) is attended by the prime minister and senior BBC officials. |
| 31.03.1934 |
Agreement on experimental transmissions between BBC and Baird Television Company are terminated. |
| 26.06.1934 |
First full-cast complete ballet, The Gods Go A-begging, is performed on BBC television. |
| 01.1935 |
Start of two-year experimental development period for BBC Television, timed to end on expiry of the BBC Charter. |
| 02.1935 |
Gerald Cock is appointed BBC's first Director of Television. |
| 20.02.1935 |
First meeting of the BBC Advisory Council, chaired by the Archbishop of York. |
| 01.06.1935 |
Start of BBC lease on south-east corner of Alexandra Palace in north London for use as its television headquarters. A transmitter and aerial mast are installed (vision 45 Mz, sound 49.5 Mhz) and two studios: Studio A for EMI's 405-line system, Studio B for Baird's 240-line system. |
| 11.09.1935 |
Last transmission of Baird's 30-line television system by the BBC. |
| 10.1935 |
Western Electric, subsidiary of AT&T, and RCA refuse permission for BBC televising of sound films licensed by them (ie, 90 per cent of US talkie output). Direct appeal from Reith to David Sarnoff of RCA reverses the decision. |
| 11.1935 |
Conversion work begins on Alexandra Palace, London, to prepare for opening of BBC Television Service. |
| 1936 |
BBCs first and only pre-war film documentary, Television Comes to London, is transmitted. |
| 1936 |
Walt Disney approaches BBC with offer of two Mickey Mouse cartoons each day for transmission. It is first film company to supply films to British television. |
| 03.1936 |
Report of the Broadcasting Committee 1935 (Cmnd 5091), chaired by Lord Ullswater and including Lord Selsdon, presents its proposals for the future of British broadcasting after the expiry of the BBC's charter at the end of the year. Recommending extension of the charter for a further 10 years, it urges more regional autonomy and warns of the risks caused by broadcasts, including news, having an influence on political thought and processes. Its recommendation was accepted by government that, whilst the ban on advertising should continue, television could be partly funded by sponsorship. Another recommendation, that cultural aspects of broadcasting should be the responsibility of a cabinet minister, was rejected. |
| 19.05.1936 |
BBC occupies newly fitted out Television Service studios at Alexandra Palace. |
| 12.08.1936 |
First 10 transmissions of a chequerboard test pattern by BBC Television from Alexandra Palace. |
| 26.08.1936 bis 05.09.1936 |
Experimental transmissions of high definition television are introduced for the Radiolympia Exhibition in London: Bairds 240-line mechanical and EMIs 405-line electronic systems are used on alternate days for two one-hour periods. BBC press release giving the schedule of transmissions. |
| 31.08.1936 |
Elizabeth Cowell [right] becomes the first female television announcer during the BBC transmissions from Radiolympia. [Click on picture to enlarge.] |
| 01.10.1936 |
Regular television transmissions start by BBC from Alexandra Palace, north London. The television transmitter mast [right] at 'Ally Pally', so named by Gracie Fields, an early performer in the new medium, becomes a familiar on-screen icon for many years to come. |
| 09.10.1936 |
BBC officially announces that the television service will begin on 2 November. BBC press release making the announcement. |
| 02.11.1936 |
Official opening of first regular high-definition television service from BBC studios at Alexandra Palace, London. Alternating on a weekly basis between Baird's 240-line intermediate film system and Marconi-EMI's 405-line system all-electronic system. The 220 ft high mast in top of an 80-ft high east tower of the building, is over 600 ft above sea level to maximise radiation. Picture information is transmitted on an ultra-short wave frequency of 6.67m, sound on 7.23m. Two blocks of programmes are broadcast daily, Monday to Saturday, at 15:00-16:00 and 21:00-22:00. Pictures and text of the speeches made at the opening. |
| 21.11.1936 |
First television gardening programme, In Your Garden with Mr Middleton, broadcast by BBC from garden outside Alexandra Palace studios. |
| 28.11.1936 |
BBC Television transmits a mock-up of the Coronation ceremony for King Edward VIII, planned for next May, using a working model, 13 ft long and 3ft high, of the bands, soldiers, royal coach, etc, against a backdrop showing a 150-yard section of the crowds in Westminster. The model is built by two brothers, Edward and Frank Offord. |
| 1936 |
BBC Charter expires and is renewed, following the predictable recommendation of the Ulleswater Committee. |
| 01.01.1937 |
First commercially produced short films are shown on BBC Television. |
| 19.01.1937 |
The Underground Murder Mystery by J Bissell Thomas, the first play written for television, is broadcast by the BBC. |
| 30.01.1937 |
Last transmission of Baird's 240-line television system by the BBC from Alexandra Palace. |
| 06.02.1937 |
From today, in accordance with the previous day's announcement in Parliament by the Postmaster General, the Marconi-EMI 405-line system is used exclusively by BBC Television until the opening of BBC2 in 1964. |
| 13.03.1937 |
BBC Television shows its first foreign-language short film without subtitles but with an English commentary, sponsored by Air France. |
| 17.04.1953 |
Uraufführung der Oper "A Tale of Two Cities" von Arthur Benjamin, Theater: British Broadcasting Corporation in London (Rundfunkaufführung) |
| 21.07.1954 |
Uraufführung der Oper "Antigone" von John Joubert, Theater: British Broadcasting Corporation in London (Rundfunkaufführung) |
| 01.02.1956 |
Uraufführung der Oper "Mañana" von Arthur Benjamin, Theater: British Broadcasting Corporation in London (Rundfunkaufführung) |
| 14.02.1977 |
Uraufführung der Oper "Tamburlaine" von Iain Hamilton, Theater: British Broadcasting Corporation in London (Rundfunkaufführung) |
