BBC began regular, public, high-definition TV service - November 2, 1936

On this day in 1936, the BBC began broadcasting the first regular, high-definition TV service from Alexandra Palace in London. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey y'all, I'm Eves and welcome to This
Day in History Class, where we uncover a new layer
of history every day. Today is November two. The day

(00:24):
was November two, nineteen thirty six. The British Broadcasting Corporation
or BBC television service was broadcast from Alexandra Palace in
North London, making it the world's first regularly scheduled public
high definition television service. The BBC had been experimenting with
television broadcasts since the late nineteen twenties. Scottish engineer John

(00:48):
Logie Baird, who demonstrated the first working television in ninety
and succeeded in transmitting live pictures from London to New York,
helped set up the BBC's first television program. Baird built
a television studio in long Acre, experimenting with a small transmitter.
He used his electro mechanical system with a vertically scanned

(01:10):
image of thirty lines. But TV needs one transmitter for
sound and one for picture. Because the BBC only had
one transmitter, the first TV programs had to have a
couple of minutes of picture followed by a couple of
minutes of sound. By March of nineteen thirty the BBC
had a new twin transmitter and simultaneous sound and picture

(01:32):
transmission began. The BBC began broadcasting its first regular experimental
television programming on August two, two from Studio BB in
the basement of Broadcasting House, its headquarters in London. The
initial broadcast were produced by Eustace rob and the chief
engineer was Douglas Berkenshaw. Baird appeared on the first program

(01:54):
to thank the BBC. The BBC's early TV programs demonstrated
the potential the medium. These regular daily transmissions continued until
the system shut down in to make way for the
new high definition service. A German TV service had begun
in nineteen thirty five, but since it only offered pictures

(02:15):
with one hundred and eighty lines, it did not qualify
as high definition in the BBC's book. The BBC had
decided that anything two hundred and forty lines or above
was high definition. After tests and special broadcast began in
August of nineteen thirty six, the BBC Television service officially
launched under the leadership of Director of Television Gerald Cox.

(02:36):
On November second ninety six. The first program was a
bulletin of British movie Tone News. The Television Advisory Committee
recommended that both the Beared two hundred and forty line
mechanical system and the Marconi e m I four hundred
and five line electronic system be used for the new
television station. Each system had its own broadcast studio. Early

(03:00):
television sets supported both systems, and the BBC transmitted them
on alternating weeks during a trial period. An estimated five
television sets received the BBC Television Services broadcast. The initial
broadcast only ran from three to four pm and nine
to ten pm Monday to Friday. The Marconi system one

(03:20):
out in nineteen thirty seven after the Beared system was
deemed too cumbersome and its visual quality proved inferior. The
BBC did its first major television outside broadcast in May
of nineteen thirty seven, when it took cameras to the
coronation of King George the six. Because recording technology was
not yet available, people used a technique called telerecording, also

(03:43):
known as kinescoping, where a camera focused on a television
screen filmed the live picture to preserve the broadcast. A
Marconi Company employee filmed the coronation on his home TV.
The last program to air before World War Two brought
broadcast to a halt was a Mickey Mouse cartoon. The
station was taken off the air on September one, nine,

(04:05):
a couple of days before Britain declared war on Germany,
since Britain feared that the v h F four very
high frequency transmissions would act as a beacon to enemy aircraft.
There were an estimated twenty thous TV sets in Britain
at the time. BBC Television was back up and running
by June of ninety The Mickey Mouse cartoon that they

(04:25):
had left everybody with was shown twenty minutes after broadcasts resumed.
I'm eve Chef Code and hopefully you know a little
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(04:48):
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