golf lessons and gardening programs -- 9/20/24

20 Sep 2024

golf lessons and gardening programs -- 9/20/24

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Today's selection-- from the Early Years of Television and the BBC by Jamie Medhurst. The challenge of deciding what to televise in the very earliest days of television and the BBC:

“The BBC made use of the grounds of Alexandra Palace, televising golf lessons, women's health and beauty programmes, and gardening programmes with the popular C. H. Middleton. The garden was made especially for the television service (the forerunner of the famous Blue Peter garden, possibly?) and was a plot of 60 by 52 feet. The addition of a second mobile unit in the summer of 1938 meant that even more outside broadcasts were possible, including a number of sporting events (see below), Trooping the Colour, the Chelsea Flower Show, zoo visits (Regent's Park Zoo in London was a firm favourite), film-making at Pinewood Studios, yacht racing, and the Ideal Home Exhibition at Olympia. Viewers also saw Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain arrive at Heston Airport on 30 September at 5.30 p.m. on his return from visiting Hitler in Munich. Commentary was provided for television by Freddie Grisewood, but viewers also heard Richard Dimbleby's commentary for the National Programme. Interestingly, the event led to Cock issuing a reminder to staff to take care during outside broadcasts. He was concerned that the private remarks of the Prime Minister had been picked up by the microphone and televised; indeed the commentator had stopped commentating specifically for this reason. Cock demanded that the practice stop.

“Richard Haynes, in his detailed study of the formative decades of sport on BBC Television, argued that sport enjoyed a boom period in the 1930s and that spectator sports, in particular, grew in popularity during the 1920s and 1930s (although the economic crisis did result in some sports struggling). Given that horse racing was particularly popular during the inter-war years, Haynes suggests that this might have been the reason for the 1931 Derby having had the honour of being the first televised sporting event. As noted in Chapter 4, Baird Television Ltd televised the Derby that year, and the following year relayed it to the Metropole Theatre in London. These events showed that television, even in its experimental phase, had the capacity to capture live sport. When the BBC's own 30-line television service was operating from Studio BB in Broadcasting House, Eustace Robb arranged for a boxing match to be televised in August 1933.

“The first sporting event of the high-definition service took place on the evening of 4 February 1937 — a boxing match between England's F. J. Simpson and L. Bosham from Ireland (replacing T. Bonham, who did not appear) held in the Alexandra Palace Concert Hall, adjacent to the television studios. Purely coincidentally, a programme the following afternoon was entitled First Aid 3: Accidents in Sports. The purchase of a mobile outside broadcast unit for the Coronation in May 1937 led to benefits in other areas of television coverage, including sports. In June 1937, BBC Television broadcast from the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for the first time. In a review of coverage in The Listener, the television coverage was compared very favourably to the newsreel coverage with which most viewers were familiar. The close-up shots were commended, in particular those of the player serving, the scoreboard, or Queen Mary entering the Royal Box. The review also noted how television commentators spoke less and allowed the images to speak for themselves. The only criticism of coverage was that there was not enough of it! Reith reported back to the Board of Governors on this major step forward in outside broadcasting of sport on 14 July. In general the results were good. Some difficulty had been encountered at the start of Wimbledon, however. There had been a great deal of interference at Alexandra Palace from a hospital in Homsey, north London, specialising in diathermy, and as a result the Control Board agreed to purchase screening material (as a cost of £200-£300) for the hospital to eliminate interference with the wireless link reception. Two cameras were used at Wimbledon, one from the stand giving a long shot of whole court, and one from the commentators' stand with a telephoto lens giving close-up shots of players in action. Press comment had been positive and had noted the considerable public interest in the programmes from Wimbledon, highlighting how television could bring events directly into viewers' homes 'without time lag' (unlike filmed newsreels).

L.V. Brooker (Alexandra Boxing Club) vs K Bullock (St Mary's Boxing Club, Wales) in the Concert Hall at Alexandra Palace, December 1938.

“Other major sporting events covered by the 1936-9 television service included the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge. A technical issue with television sound marred the 1938 event, but viewers saw the end of the race with commentary from the National Programme. Test Match cricket was also televised although the Programme Board was less than impressed with Captain Wakelam's commentaries for television, which, unlike Howard Marshall's commentary for radio, 'were felt to show a lack of understanding of what was required for viewers'. These were early days and there were no rule books to follow. In many ways, early television sports commentators had to make it up as they went along.

“Not all was plain sailing in televising sporting events. In 1938, the directors of the Epsom Grand Stand Association refused to allow the Derby to be televised. On 29 March, Reith wrote to the Chairman of the association using an interesting argument around national identity and pride. No other country, Reith argued, was providing a television service directly to people's homes and there were hopes that a television industry that was of 'great national value' might develop. The BBC was not just providing an entertainment service but was, according to Reith, 'the trustees of a national interest of great potential importance'. In addition, televising the Derby would attract worldwide interest and would draw attention to the British television industry. The Association was concerned that, if the Derby were televised, the numbers attending it would decline. Reith reassured the Chairman that in fact, experience had suggested that televising or broadcasting an event enhanced interest and stimulated attendance. In mid-April, the World Radio journal confirmed that televising of the Derby would go ahead and that the FA Cup Final at Wembley would be televised on 30 April for the first time.”