A true tale for Six Sentence Stories where the given word is Vision.
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Let me read it to you (attempt 14!)
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In 1934, following the first public demonstration of television, Isaac Shoenberg turned to his team of engineers and said “Well gentlemen, you have now invented the biggest timewaster of all time, use it well”, however, the editor of the Manchester Guardian newspaper said a year later, “Television, the word is half Greek and half Latin, no good will come of it”.
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And so public service broadcasting was born, in the UK the British Broadcasting Corporation was set up and in March 1936 the first television programme went to air, a live broadcast from the Radio Olympia exhibition called Here’s Looking at You staring Miss Lutie and her Wonder Horse Pogo, a vocal trio called The Three Admirals and a couple of tap dancers, and the whole thing was kicked off by singer Helen McKay who warbled the theme song; this short clip shows those first moments.
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By November of that year, the BBC had got into its stride and was transmitting news programmes and documentaries, the continuity announcer was Leslie Mitchell, a dapper man with piercing eyes and a pencil-line moustache; after seeing a film of the first day he was heard to say, “there was a little man with bow legs and a bowler hat – who the hell was that?”, “it was you Leslie!” came back the reply!
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Television in Britain continued as something of a Cinderella service for the next few years, but its defining moment came on June 2 1953, with the live broadcast of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth 2nd, and that was when a television set first took up its position in our front room, as well as others country-wide.
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And the rest, as they say, is history and despite the onset of commercial TV in 1954 and the onslaught of hundreds of new pretenders in recent years, the BBC remains one of the most respected and revered broadcasters in the world – and it is still to this day free of adverts.
Let me take you back to those early days with a short promotional film called ‘Vision on, Sound on’ which shows some behind-the-scenes footage whilst the BBC Song is sung for your delectation and entertainment –
‘Conjured up in sound and sight
By these magic rays of light
That bring television to you’
Thanks to Denise at GirlieOnTheEdge for hosting.
Thanks for this trip down the memory lane Keith.
Those were the days!
🙏🏼👍🏼🙏🏼
Thank you, Keith, for this great information. Much of it, I did not know!
I had great fun researching it!
Awesomeness!! Finding new information about things we know is so engaging,
damn!
I had no idea it started so early (in the 20th C)…
huh
Thanks for altering reality (to a small but significant degree) with this Six
I always assumed it started in the 50s. Little did I know!
I hate to admit that I can remember the coronation live on TV. Then again, I can remember, so ‘good news’, lol.
you are not alone Denise, me too!
TV it will never go anywhere?! LOL
And here we are vegging out every chance we get. Well atleast most of us. LOL
I do, my telly is my constant companion!
Same! LOL
I love the early naysayers
They got that wrong!
It is amazing how the world has changed in less than a century.
You can’t help but wonder where it will be in another 50 years’ time!
Timewaster, indeed. Good for the BBC, continuing as it begun.
Yes, still going stong!
I was six when we got our first TV. There weren’t 24 hours of shows every day like now. There were several hours of just scrolling fuzz.
I would have been seven – I know exactly what you mean!
You can’t beat the BBC!!
Good old Auntie BBC!
Amazing! I love this.
Thanks, Maria!
You’re welcome Keith
So cool! Never realised the TV existed in the 1930s.
Nor did I before I did a bit of research!