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Another round-up of information recently published in the magazines for enthusiasts of television graphics: << TV Graphics Review >> and "Test Cards" (both available from HS Publications in Derby).
Graham Mayer has written from Epsom in Surrey with a query about BBC Test Card music in the late Fifties. Graham writes: "Does anyone know whether a revised version of the BBC Test Card music was played in November 1957? I seem to recall that ‘Elizabethan Serenade’ was inserted in place of ‘Don Quichotte’ and ‘How High The Moon’ was replaced by ‘Tandem Promenade’. The sequence still ended with ’Swonderful."
I would also like to know if anyone has the cue sheets for the BBC Test Card music played in 1958. I understand that six reels were used between 10.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. every day. These six reels were used throughout 1958 and for the first six months of 1959. At some stage during 1958 or 1959 (or even possibly late 1957), I think that there was a sequence which included ‘Mon Coeur Et Mon Accordion’. Does anyone have information about this please?
Finally, I would be very interested to know if there were any modifications to the Classical music (Reels 1 to 3) transmitted by the BBC between May and December, 1957."
Some time ago, David Powell asked whether audio cassettes of pirate radio station jingles was available. Mark Taylor in Nottinghamshire has written with details about these jingles. An impressive full-colour catalogue covering just about everything to do with pirate radio stations is available from:- East Anglian Productions, Studio House, 21-23 Walton Road, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex CO13 0AA (Tel:- 01255 676252). If you’re interested in radio jingles (even having one produced for yourself), look no further! Our thanks to Mark for sending the information.
Wanted: ‘Listen With Mother’ Music
Does anyone have a complete recording of the music used at the end of "Listen With Mother" in the Fifties and Sixties? The piano music was composed by Fauré and was taken from his "Dolly Suite" (the piano music for ‘The Woodentops’ was also from this Suite). If anyone has a recording, please write to the Editors.
Regional Trade Test Transmissions
Bryan Green has written to ask if anyone remembers some of the BBC Trade Test Transmissions in 1981. Bryan writes: "Can anyone recall the events in the afternoon of Wednesday December 9th, 1981 when both BBC-1 and BBC-2 were transmitting Test Card "G" with their individual music?
At 2.15pm, both channels transmitted Test Card "F" without the colour bars at the top (therefore revealing the cyan/black castellation with the upward pointing arrowhead). The identification was "BBC-tv" in white sloping boxes. The music played on both channels was a new compilation with several previously played pieces and months later, the sequence was played on BBC-1. This occurred for about 40 minutes, then they switched back to Test Card "G" with separate tapes.
On a different occasion (10.30am on Thursday December 24th 1981), Test Card "F" was radiated on BBC-2 prior to ‘Play School’. The identification had been changed; the word ‘COLOUR’ appeared in orange instead of being in the usual white lettering. Does anyone else recall this modification?"
Mystery Solved: O.B’s In The Thirties Done By ‘Magic Circle’!
We mentioned some time ago in Test Cards that several of the very earliest BBC-tv Outside Broadcasts used ‘normal’ telephone cables to send signals to the Studios at Alexandra Palace. This prompted Dr. Alan Barratt to write because he wondered how on earth standard telephone lines could be used (normal telephone circuits have a bandwidth of only 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz). In Issue 14, we included some research work by Alan which suggested the use of top-secret tunnels under the streets of London including the Government Tunnel from Citadel Exchange under Horseferry Road through to Green Park (via Buckingham Palace).
John Grace of London has done some research work of his own and has provided the following information which he discovered in a publication produced in the late Thirties.
It reads: "Outside Broadcasts, or ‘Actuality’ productions as they are called in the television world, are undoubtedly among television’s strongest attractions and they surpass any other form of bringing these events to the public. In some respects they are even better than being an actual spectator because they provide you with several extra pairs of eyes. This applies particularly to the relay of a function such as a Royal Procession. However good a position you might find yourself, you can see the pageantry only from that one spot. Television cameras give you several different vantage points as well as telephoto close-ups such as those of the Royal Family on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Television has the obvious advantage over sound radio that it shows what is happening; and an advantage over news-reel in that it is transmitting the events as they are actually taking place. In charge of this side of television is keen-eyed, tall, energetic Philip Dorté, whose experience of broadcasting and films dates back nearly a quarter of a century. He worked for the General Electric Company’s broadcasting stations in New York and the Trans-Canada Broadcasting Company in Canada. He then became a radio publicist and after this deserted the wireless field for films and joined Ealing Studios and then Gaumont-British. Returning to radio in 1937, he took charge of Television Outside Broadcast Production and became manager of this section in 1939. He is also in charge of television films.
There are two methods of relaying outside events. One is by cable to Alexandra Palace. The other is by ultra short-wave televising from the site in question to the studios. London has a ‘magic circle’ of Post Office cable permanently wired to all the places from which television broadcasts are frequently made. It is a coaxial cable of the type designed by the Post Office for multi-telephone calls, capable of dealing with 200 conversations simultaneously. A lucky chance led to the discovery that this cable would carry television frequencies.
The ‘magic circle’ cable runs from Alexandra Palace to Broadcasting House and then to all parts of the West End’s theatre-land, southwards to Whitehall and Buckingham Palace and Wimbledon, eastwards to Holborn and the City, northwards to Wembley.
With very little difficulty, therefore, television can be relayed direct by cable to Alexandra Palace from any London theatre and main vantage point in the metropolis. The radio link can be used for all other spots for a radius of something like 30 miles, and this unit is a mobile, small-scale television transmitter on its own sending a direct television picture to a special receiver at Highgate, from where it travels to Alexandra Palace by cable.
The aerial is in the form of a specially made fire escape which expands to a height of 70 feet, and the unit has its own scanning van from which the producer controls the broadcast and switches from camera to camera in the same manner as the producer in the studios. It also has its own generator.
The producer (frequently Philip Dorté) keeps in touch with his cameramen and the commentator by means of the intercom system, but the difficulty is that the commentator cannot reply without being heard by viewers.
In April 1937, the BBC changed its policy and began to invite distinguished visitors to watch television in the Listening Hall at Broadcasting House: 150 privileged people watched television in this style in May 1937. In the same month came the great public event of 1937 -the Coronation of King George VI. Permission was not forthcoming for the installation of television cameras in Westminster Abbey, but three cameras, part of a total complement of twenty-two, were installed in the rain at Hyde Park Corner. A special eight-mile cable was laid by the Post Office between Hyde Park Corner and Alexandra Palace, and a huge new portable transmitter made its first public appearance in the BBC’s first four-ton television van. Freddie Grisewood was the commentator and it was estimated that several thousand people saw the transmission, while a few lucky viewers (between 10,000 and 50,000) picked it up over sixty miles away. One of the highlights of the programme, to which the press gave headline treatment, was a special smile by the King into the television camera. There was also the inevitable technical hitch. Two channels had been provided in case of a breakdown, and to the consternation of the engineers, both channels went dead just before the transmission was due start. E.L.C. White, an E.M.I engineer, found out what was wrong and re-assembled the apparatus for one channel with only a few minutes to spare.
Even with the Coronation, the beginning of a monthly sports review, tennis at Wimbledon, the Lord Mayor’s Show, the ceremony at the Cenotaph on Armistice Day, Mr. Middleton with his ‘television garden’, and Pet’s Corner At The Zoo, sales of television sets increased only slowly. About 400 had been sold by the end of January 1937 (an earlier report estimated that 280 sets had been sold by the end of 1936). By December 1937, the figure was approximately 2,000."
Our thanks to John for supplying this fascinating information about early Outside Broadcasts and the rôle of the all-important ‘magic circle’. Incidentally, the first television Outside Broadcast using the BBC’s O.B. Van was the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on May 12th, 1937.
John Grace has written
with the following suggestion: "I think it would be a very
good idea if readers to Test Cards sent in any
pictures or written archive information they may have so that our
hobby may be enjoyed by all."
Editorial Note: It sounds like an excellent
idea, John. If anyone can provide archive material, please write
in.
We are always pleased to hear from visitors to this web-site with comments or information regarding archive and present-day BBC Radio and Television material. At present, the Editors of << TV Graphics Review >> and "Test Cards" do not have Internet facilities so all correspondence is via the post! If you do write, and you would like a personal reply, please do not forget to enclose a stamped-addressed envelope. Please write to:-
Keith Hamer, BBC Test Card Club, HS Publications, 7 Epping Close, Mackworth Estate, Derby DE22 4HR, England.
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