What’s on the Telly!

 

My brothers and I spent many an evening staring at those little black and white television sets in the shop windows – sometimes right up until ten o’clock at night when programming closed down for the night with a shot of the “BBC Clock” [it had style all of its own and can still be seen within the BBC logo even today] and they played God Save the Queen before signing off for the night. Although we couldn’t tell that at the time because we were watching from outside the shop, so it was all just a bit like the silent movie days for us.

 

Initially there was only one channel – the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] whose first broadcast was from the House of Commons in 1950 and later that year a British Children’s staple that you may remember [if not check out the link – as my granddaughter informed me it’s “hysterically lame”] Andy Pandy also made his debut. 

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjK0ION3ZQk

Andy Pandy was the very first BBC programme for toddlers and was centered around a wooden puppet that was made by a friend of the show’s producer. Andy Pandy ran uninterrupted until 1969 but then returned again with updated versions in the both the 1970’s and 2000’s.

 

 

 

 

Quick to latch onto a good thing when they saw it, the creators of Andy Pandy went on to introduce another children’s show Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men. With funny voices that appealed to children [especially mine later on in the 60’s] there was an outcry from concerned parents about the lack of “educational English”. Compared to me and some of my friends growing up, Bill and Ben sometimes sounded quite eloquent!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOv2cUv4gcU&feature=related

 

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was televised in 1953 – many a front parlor was packed that day I can assure you, as neighbors crammed into any home with a TV set to watch the historic event. This was the first time a TV broadcast garnered a bigger audience than radio, but it is widely recognized as a milestone marking the time when television became ingrained in the British consciousness. 

 

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btDd5qDj7BA  

1960 was a big year for many reasons, President Kennedy was elected in America, Coronation Street, England’s longest running Soap Opera  [ still running today with its original theme tune and now even boasts online updates for ex-patriots who just can’t live without the latest “Corrie” updates] began broadcasting. The Queens Christmas broadcast was pre-recorded at Sandringham for the very first time.

The launch of ITV [Independent TeleVision] ended the BBC’s monopoly on the telly in September 1955. Transmitting from Croydon in Surrey the schedule featured regional and network shows but was also allowed to show commercials, a first for British television at the time.

 

 

 

As ITV expanded its reach in 1961 we were introduced to the very first Spy-fi show The Avengers. Patrick McNee seared his character John Steed into the public conscious but it was was four more years before Diana Rigg introduced us to the leather clad Emma Peel and it would be 1969 before Steed would retire his “brolly” and bowler for the last time, only to be resurrected for the big screen later on.

 

 

 

 

 

As ITV was growing and expanding into new regions, the BBC was also adding to its reach introducing their second channel BBC Two in 1964. Although the opening night was wrecked by a huge power failure that caused chaos in London and actually took down television center. It would be the next day before normal service would resume, so the first proper broadcast on BBC Two was actually the children’s program Play School.

 

Other major milestones were Top of the Pops which showed “young people” dancing and screaming and was presented by a chap [Jimmy Saville] with a very strange haircut, chomping on a cigar and I never understood why he always wore a track suit. The show was shot live and in its first week featured the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield and the Hollies. NO wonder it became the springboard for many a musical career and I dare say the catalyst for the whole British Invasion of the early sixties here in America.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/artists/b/beatles_the/clips/i_feel_fine.shtml

 

One of my personal favorites was Match of the Day, a weekly programme where they showed a full length football match and often featured my home town team Liverpool, although to be honest my brothers and I would watch pretty much anything they showed as long as it was football!

 

There continued to be many landmark miniseries produced as television became a fixture in the corner of almost every living room and the 1970’s was definitely the decade of the television miniseries at least in the UK. As a nation, we graduated quite quickly to color telly, that made a world of difference and I do remember finding my kids [and a bunch of others] sitting on the wall outside one neighborhood house where they had the first “color telly” in the “close”. They were all sitting watching through the window, much as my brothers and I had done years before, except we were outside a store, these kids were gawping through the window. I did wonder why the people left their curtains open though – it was almost as if they were showing off with their new color telly.

 

The 80’s started off with a bang when Dallas hit the screens and we all wondered “who shot JR?”. The Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana had a worldwide audience of 750 million elsewhere and a gaggle of women including my wife, daughter and several neighbors in our living room – all watching and commenting [on everyone’s hats, dresses etc] over tea and crumpets as if they were actually invited and there in person.

 

Coverage of the Royal Wedding included the first ever Buckingham Palace balcony kiss!

 

Amazingly it was 1982 before ITV launched Channel 4, although I remember two very differing opinions of the programming – I heard it was a bit risqué and then also that it was a bit “highbrow” too. Being a bit highbrow was also a common complaint about programming for BBC2 as well, although I quite enjoyed the many documentaries on cheese and sheepherding.

 

Breakfast TV arrived in Britain in 1983 although I have to admit I never really became a big fan of it myself, preferring the radio to accompany me with my cornflakes and toast. I suppose such high building and infrastructure density must have precluded Cable TV from really getting a hold as it had in America, but we finally got satellite TV in 1989 with the introduction of Sky TV. British Satellite Broadcasting, the government backed supposed competitor for Sky launched in 1990, but barely lasted six months before being swallowed up by the far more successful Sky system.

 

As the age of television  matured there were fewer and fewer firsts but the 90’s saw a few landmark moments such as Margaret Thatcher’s tearful farewell form the House of Commons, Channel 4 entered the breakfast TV market and we also had the beginning of Good Morning TV which has really become a staple in many European households. The shopping channel started in 1993 and 1997 saw the launch of the BBC’s first 24 hour news and the launch of the first new TV channel in 15 years Channel 5. ITV fought back with the launch of its first new channel since its own launch in 1955 with the introduction of ITV2 showing soaps, sports and quiz shows aimed at a younger audience – consequently I never really watched it much! The 90’s really went out with a TV bang [trust me I’m joking] by experimental broadcasts from Parliament. Finally we could all see what our honorable representatives were up to as they snored through endless political rhetoric – but every now and then things would liven up with a good argument as can be seen even in America when CSPAN sometimes shows coverage of Prime Minister’s Question Time – a British curiosity I find more difficult to explain to my friends here than Cricket.

 

My granddaughter was horrified as a young teen visiting family in England when she discovered there were still only 5 channels, unless you had cable or “Sky TV” which apparently many of the family members she was visiting with did not. Her main complaint was that there was nothing on, and when there was, it was mostly boring. She did discover Top Gear and the British version of The Office though which she found hilariously funny. I am happy to say she has an appreciation for most good Brit telly and humor such as Black Adder, Monty Python and most recently Eddie Izzard in particular. She did also come back with a proper understanding of why I still use the phrase “what’s on the other side” meaning the other channel – as she now knows, for a long time in England there were only two to choose from.

 

Back to the 50’s though, because that’s really where all this started and what I really wanted to tell you about. The first people in our street to have a television in their home were the Benson family. No matter what electric appliance or gadget came out, Mrs (bragging) Benson would just have to be the first in the neighborhood to have one. It didn’t matter if she was behind with her rent [which according to the street gossip, she always was] she just had to have that shiny new toaster or food mixer. In fact she was the very first person in our street to own a fridge, and of course she made sure everyone knew it even if it meant watching the telly in the front parlor with the lights off and the curtains open! It was an unwritten rule that only braggarts and show offs sat in their homes with the curtains open for all to see in. As soon as the light started to fade, which could be as early as 3:30 or 4:00 pm in the winter time, it was someone’s job to go around and close the curtains BEFORE turning on any of the lights – I’m not sure but maybe it was a holdover from the war and the black outs, but certainly if you left them open you’d be accused of showing off.

 

The world has come a long way since those days, and in many ways for the better of all of us. It’s quite acceptable not to draw your curtains at night and in fact I have many friends who don’t even have curtains at their windows at all. Yet they don’t need to worry that their neighbors will think they are doing it just to show off whatever new gizmo or gadget they have inside for all to see because their neighbors likely have the same gizmo’s. Either that or their neighbors are too far away to be able to see in – unlike the row houses we grew up living in, where everyone lived right on top of each other, the front doors opened right onto the street and everyone knew everyone else’s business, or at least pretended to and then made up what they didn’t. I do know for sure that I have a much higher standard of living today than my parents ever enjoyed, my kids too and their kids even more so. I think we all can benefit from a quick look over our shoulders, back to the not so distant past, to help us realize, as much as we may collectively want to bemoan the undeniable effects of the current economic crises on our daily lives – we really do still have it incredibly good!

 

Have a great Memorial Day weekend if you’re in the US or Spring Bank Holiday if you’re in the UK and regardless of where you are in the world remember, it’s good to know where you’re headed, but don’t forget where you’ve come from – it will help you appreciate where you are!