APTS Archive

@aptsarchive.bsky.social

~ Preserving the televisual past for the digital future ~ Official channel of the Alexandra Palace Television Society. All enquiries to apts@apts.org.uk

#OTD - 11 July 1950 Andy Pandy began on BBC Television as part of the For the Children strand. Created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. Andy never spoke; Audrey Atterbury operated him with visible strings, and Janet Ferber provided the songs. Each episode ended with "Time to go home".

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#OTD 24 June 1946. The BBC released "Television Is Here Again", a pictorial record of pre-war television productions, and also a look to what the future might contain. This was used as a test film for engineers installing new television receivers, and for retailers to demonstrate new receivers.

#OTD 20 June 1960: Nan Winton (1925–2019) became BBC TV's first female newsreader, breaking gender barriers and paving the way for others despite resistance. (The first on British TV was Barbara Mandell on ITV in 1955).

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RIP #TeddieBeverley Last surviving member of the Beverley Sisters, has died aged 99. The close-harmony trio rose from wartime radio to become Britain’s most beloved 1950s girl group, earning chart success, TV fame and an MBE. Her death marks the end of a landmark era in British entertainment.

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#OTD 16 June 1956. The first TV pictures from inside a submerged submarine aired on "Saturday Night Out". The Royal Navy let the BBC join an English Channel exercise between H.M. Submarine Tapir and frigate H.M.S. Grenville; cameras relayed the submarine's signals via the frigate to shore.

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#OTD 15 June 1953. BBC Television achieved a major milestone by broadcasting the first live television relay from a ship at sea. The BBC transmitted a stable signal from a moving vessel to land transmitters, letting millions watch the fleet review live.

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#OTD 14 June 1946 - John Logie Baird died aged 57. Best known for pioneering television and demonstrating the world’s first working TV system, he spent his final years developing advanced colour and large-screen television technologies that were decades ahead of their time. #JohnLogieBaird #TV

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#OTD - 9 June 1938 Trooping the Colour first was televised for the first time with cameras overlooking Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall. Commentators for the event were John Snagge & Major JBS Bourne May. Presentation by Philip Dortè

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#OTD 8 June 1946 Victory parade televised. The first outside broadcast of the newly re-opened BBC Television Service. The OB unit was based in The Mall, opposite the saluting base. Frederick Grisewood and Richard Dimbleby were the commentators.

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#OTD 6th June 1954. The first Eurovision exchange of television programmes, linking eight countries. It marked the official launch of the Eurovision television network by the European Broadcasting Union (#EBU) in a month-long summer experiment. Image courtesy of Andrew Wiseman via x.com

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A double anniversary today #OTD 1st June 1946 - Radio licence increased to £1, while a combined television and radio licence was introduced at £2. #OTD 1st June 1954 - The combined television and radio licence increased to £3, the radio only licence remained £1.

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#OTD - 3rd March 1966 The Postmaster General authorised the introduction of a colour television service on BBC2 from late 1967. Colour was introduced on 1 July 1967 with coverage of Wimbledon tennis championship. Limited hours were colour before expanding to 80% of programming by December 1967.

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