On this date in 1922 The British Broadcasting Company (BBC), was formed. 10 things you might not know about the BBC:
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It was first set up by the UK’s major Radio manufacturing companies to promote the sale of radio sets. The first broadcast wasn’t until 14 November 1922 and that was basically the transmission of a call sign, “2LO Calling”. 2LO was the code name given to the BBC’s London transmitter.
The first programme broadcast by the BBC was a news bulletin. Items of news that day consisted of a robbery, a Shakespeare folio and Fog. The news was read twice, once at normal speed and then much more slowly. Listeners were asked to state which speed they preferred. The BBC is now famous for its news, except perhaps on 18 April 1930 when the newsreader announced, “Good evening, Today is Good Friday. There is no news.” The BBC went on to play Piano music for the 15 minutes usually devoted to the news. In the early days, news was only permitted to be broadcast after 7pm thanks to a lobby from Newspapers, who feared the radio would steal all their customers.
It is sometimes informally referred to as the Beeb or Auntie Beeb. The “Beeb" was coined by Peter Sellers on The Goon Show in the 1950s, when he referred to the "Beeb Beeb Ceeb". It was later borrowed and popularised in a shortened form by radio DJ Kenny Everett. “Auntie” originated with Children's Hour where stories were read by presenters known as “Auntie” or “Uncle”, eg Uncle Arthur, Auntie Violet, Uncle Caractacus.
From the 1930s to 1985, prospective employees of the BBC would be secretly vetted by MI5 to ascertain their political views and whether they were likely to be troublemakers. Potential subversives got a Green tag on their files, and most people had no idea what those tags even meant. Nobody even knew MI5 existed until until the Security Service Act 1989. In October 1985, the BBC stopped vetting in most cases. However, anyone who might be in charge of Wartime Broadcasting Service, emergency broadcasting (in the event of a nuclear war) and staff of the BBC World Service would still be checked.
The BBC has also been known for having a moral stance. The BBC considered rock ‘n’ roll music unsuitable for broadcast, so British citizens couldn’t listen to bands like The Beatles on the BBC. Later pop music was allowed, but songs with suggestive lyrics would be banned. Perry Como’s 1941 hit Deep in the Heart of Texas was banned by the BBC, not because the lyrics were rude, but because people would clap along with the tune. The problem was that people often listened to the radio while they worked, and the BBC was afraid people in bomb factories might drop a bomb while clapping along. It wasn’t just music. Jokes were regulated too, with a pamphlet called The Green Book laying out rules about what you could joke about on air. Topics banned from humour included bathrooms, immorality, honeymoons, fig leaves, ladies’ underwear, prostitution, maids, sicknesses, war injuries, deformities, stutterers, Bible stories, religions and religious ceremonies. American slang was also banned over concerns that American films and music were slowly eroding British English.
The BBC has a coat of arms. It is rarely used now, but still exists for ceremonial purposes. It was adopted in 1927. Elements include a Lion (the national animal of the UK) grasping a thunderbolt, which is a symbol for transmission; Eagles to depict the inherent speed of broadcasting. The eagles have bugles suspended from their collars, representing "proclamation"; a globe to represent the scope and breadth of the BBC's operations; seven estoiles to represent the other planets in the solar system (Pluto hadn’t been discovered at that point); and a motto "Nation shall speak peace unto Nation" which comes from the Bible.
BBC Two was launched in 1964 and the first programme was Play School. There was actually a different entertainment programme planned but there was a power cut on the big day so it had to be cancelled and Play School stepped into the breach.
The BBC website is the third most viewed after Google and Facebook.
The BBC can boast some of the longest running shows in the world, including: Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America which was intended to be a 13 week series in 1946, and ended up the longest running speech radio show clocking up 58 years; The Archers, the longest running radio serial which is still going strong having started in 1950; Blue Peter, the longest running children’s show, started in 1958 and still going; the longest-running football programme in the world, Match of the Day, which began in 1966; Silent Witness, created in 1996, is the longest running crime drama on UK TV; the most enduring global sci-fi TV show, Doctor Who, which began in 1963; The Week in Westminster, which was launched in 1928 under the name The Week in Parliament, originally intended to help women, who’d recently been granted the vote, get to grips with politics. Incidentally, the longest running BBC soap opera is not EastEnders, but a Welsh language soap called Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley), launched in 1974 at a time when Welsh-language programmes were under threat.
The BBC provided the world's first teletext service called Ceefax ("See Facts") from 23 September 1974 until 23 October 2012 on the BBC1 analogue channel, then later on BBC2. It showed informational pages, such as News, Sport, and the Weather.
NEW!!
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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