There is a great deal that goes on behind the scenes in preparing a show stopping performance for the Eurovision Song Contest. Jon Jacob caught up with the UK entry's creative director, Dan Shipton to find out about 'Joe and Jake's' progress at this year's competition in Stockholm.

What is your role for the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ and UK Entry at Eurovision?

I am employed by the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ as creative director for the . This means that I work closely with the rest of the creative team to conceptualise, manage and deliver the creative vision for our entry. I make sure that every creative element of the staging from stage design to the lighting, screen content, costume and camera angles come together to enhance Joe and Jake’s performance and make sure we do our country proud.

Why did they choose you?

After ten years of working in TV entertainment I moved onto stadium spectaculars, which included Take That’s Progress Tour, the London 2012 ceremonies and also Sochi Winter Olympic ceremonies. A few years ago my business partners and I established Black Skull Creative to bring together the years of experience we had garnered from the industry and pass it on to our clients, which include a wide range of major music artists and brands. We regularly collaborate with Ellie Goulding, Years and Years, Jess Glynne and many major TV shows such as the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Music Awards, Royal Variety Performance and The X Factor to bring their shows to life. One of our proudest achievements is creating Ellie Goulding’s Delirium world tour, which is currently out on the road. When I was approached by UK Head of Delegation Guy Freeman to join the Eurovision team it was because he wanted someone who had a broad creative and technical knowledge that could bring our Eurovision entry to a world-class level.

So what is the creative process?

When Joe and Jake won  I knew instantly that we had to find a creative concept that would match their energy and the vibrancy within the music. We wanted an idea that would feel cool and effective without being overly complicated and distracting. 

We began by deconstructing their performance on ‘You Decide’. What had worked? What hadn’t worked? What could we capitalise on?

From the very beginning we wanted to make sure that every performance that Joe and Jake did felt part of the same concept. We knew we had to shoot a music video that would become the anchor to the campaign and would be the first opportunity we really had to establish the key look.

We wanted the boys to put on a stadium style performance that would feel epic. The song is so vibrant and energetic we felt that using light and colour to transmit the energy across would be a great idea and so the wall of ‘magic dots’ (small moving lights) was born. 

The other important thing for us was to find a way of visualising the key line “You’re not alone, we’re in this together”. We wanted to directly bring fans from all nationalities into the performance and so we felt that using selfies to form our chorus screen content would achieve this perfectly. To up the anti we also wanted to take this a step further by turning the cameras on the audience in the arena and putting them in the screens live on the night, making sure that literally everyone was part of Joe and Jake’s performance. This was all a challenge but one which we wanted to rise to.

Once I had shot the music video and the creative looks had developed into reality I wrote a ‘look and feel’ document, which has to be submitted to SVT (the host broadcaster) for approval. This included detailed designs for our staging pieces and a full script which breaks down the song into sections, giving detailed notes on what should be happening in the screen content, lighting and performer movement, whilst also suggesting some notes for how we would like to see the performance captured by the TV cameras. 

At this point SVT take all of our notes and do a ‘stand in’ rehearsal where local singers learn the song and movement (when we submitted the look and feel document we also provided a video of Joe and Jake performing the song so the director knows the movement). They then send a link of the performance to us and we have 24 hours to give all our notes back to SVT. This is the first time we get to see everything in reality and there are invariably a lot of changes to be made. We unpick every detail and then put it back together again sending in pages of notes that we then work through with the SVT team.

Meanwhile, Jay Revell (our choreographer and performance coach) and Yvie Burnett (our vocal coach) are also working daily with Joe and Jake and the backing vocalists to make sure we are going to guarantee the best performance on the night. The rehearsals before we leave the UK are extensive so that the boys are flawless in both their vocal and physical delivery by the time we reach Stockholm. We know that unlike other shows as soon as we step on stage at The Globe Arena and do our first rehearsal this will be watched by the world's press and also put on the . We need to make sure our first rehearsal is near perfect because really, it is our first performance. 

For the first rehearsal we get twenty minutes on stage to run through the song three times with full production. We have a few minutes in between each take to give notes and so we have to think quickly and give concise comments that keep improving the output each run through. After the rehearsal we go directly to ‘The Viewing Room’. At this point we get 15 minutes to watch the third take back and give detailed changes for lighting, screen content and analyse the detail of every camera shot. After all, the juries and voting audience are watching Joe and Jake on TV so the way the performance translates through the camera can make or break our position on the leader board. 

I’m pleased to say that the relief after our  was immense. SVT had implemented all of our notes and the performance was almost unrecognisable form the stand in rehearsal tape we saw. Joe and Jake had also given us a brilliant performance and looked so comfortable up on stage. The worry had now been replaced by excitement.

Since then we’ve had a second camera rehearsal where we refined the performance even more and will then perform at the Semi Final Jury show. This time it matters even more as voting delegations will be watching. 

Could we win?

The Grand Final feels like the day of reckoning for all of our Eurovision hopes. Will we do well? Will we get praised or slated? Could we be left hand side of the leader board? Could we be in the top ten? Could we win? Anything is possible – look at Leicester City lifting the Premier League trophy! But more than winning, I live in hope that the rest of Europe will realise how seriously we have taken the competition and how hard the team have worked to create something amazing that the rest of Europe will love and more importantly, that the UK and everyone watching back home can be very proud of. After all, we are in this together.

Dan Shipton is creative director for the UK entry at Eurovision 2016.

• The  will be broadcast live on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One and ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2 on Saturday 14 May from 8pm.
• Visit the  for more details about the contest.
• Read Hugh Goldsmith's ''.

When ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Humberside's David Reeves learned that the first UK Eurovision entry came from Hull he decided to find out more, and it led to a new documentary for the station called Hull's Song for Europe. He spoke to editor Jon Jacob about how the documentary came about.

Let’s get the obvious question out of the way first. Are you a fan of the ?

Me and my wife have hosted parties and get friends round for the night to mark the occasion. I would call myself a fan, yes. I’ve never been to Eurovision before, but I am going for the first time this year to share the story of Patricia Bredin – the UK’s first Eurovision entrant - to the fans in Stockholm.

When did you first start hosting your parties?

Probably around 2003. My wife was a huge fan and she would watch it every year. I guess it was her got me into it. She said: “this is a great thing to watch on TV, it’s a great moment in the calendar,” so I kind of took part. It was probably through her that I realised what Eurovision was about – how it’s a fantastic evening’s entertainment.

At the point of being introduced to it, what were thoughts about Eurovision?

I still watched it as a student. Probably because of Terry Wogan’s commentary it was still something I watched because it was something to laugh at. But, I hadn’t quite grasped how seriously it was taken in the rest of Europe. I probably wasn’t really aware of how huge it was. I saw it as this huge big colourful event – televisual event – which was sort of mocked by UK media.

Do you think that’s still the case now?

Less so. I think Graham Norton gives it a gentle ribbing, but I think there’s more respect paid to it. I think there’s definitely more of showcasing what it means to the rest of Europe. I think in that sense, I probably look at it with less mockery than before.

What are your expectations of going to the Eurovision this year?

My wife went to the Eurovision in Malmo a few years ago, so she’s given me a sense of what to expect. I’m fully expecting there to be a real wash of different nationalities and different fans from all over the world. I’m really expecting the city to be completely taken over by it. I think it’s going to be amazing.

How did you come to make the documentary about Patricia Bredin? Where did that idea start come from? Was the starting point Eurovision, or about highlighting the story of a local celebrity?

A bit of both. I’m interested in some of the stories around Eurovision, but I’m also interested in the history of it as well. I think the initial interest came from my colleague James Hogarth was on the radio during Eurovision weekend and someone had written in and said, “Did you know that Patricia Bredin was the first entrant and she lived in Hull?” He put it out on his show and he had a huge response to the question.

James didn’t have time in his live show to devote to a documentary. There were lots of questions to ask: Was Patricia still alive? Did she live locally? No-one had heard from her. There was a common theme. The people who had rung in and the retired colleagues I asked whether they knew her from the past, the answer was yes. But, did they know where she was now? The answer was that they’d lost touch and that they didn’t know where she was today. That’s when I thought that this was even more of a mystery. I needed to know where she was and whether she was even alive.

When I started looking online there wasn’t anything online written about her first appearance? The Hull Mail had some lovely pictures of her but they didn’t have much written about her. That’s when I began to think that we might have an exclusive.

Did that surprise you when you stumbled on this?

Yes, it did. That’s when I thought that there is this person on the other end of this who hasn’t had her story told and it’s a story that deserves to be told. That’s when I started the search. And when we tracked her down in Nova Scotia I realised there was a great story to explore: what her early experiences of fame were; whether any of those experiences had influenced the second chapter of her life in Canada.

Was there something about needing to establish rapport for making this doc? Was that one of the reasons for wanting to meet up face-to-face? 

It was. Previous projects of mine involved working with two elderly women, . And on the basis of that experience I did think there was something to be gained from meeting up in person and seeing how the chemistry we established would filter through into the programme.

I just played it straight with her when I got there. She was exactly how I hoped and dreamed she would be. She was a bit of a showbiz luvvy, of course. But at the same time she was this wonderful woman, so open, so willing to tell her story. She was lovely.

Do you think she enjoyed the process of doing the Eurovision?

I think so. I think she was unaware of its impact – at the time it was still very new. I don’t think it had very much impact on her career in the same way that some artists might see it as a step up. I think she just saw it as another gig. But I do believe she saw it as her first, exciting experience of television, her first experience of show business, and of her introduction to the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ.

That was still the early days of television too, wasn’t it?

It was. If you look at the , it was a one-camera shot. It looks simple enough, but I think she would have been absolutely petrified by the experience. I still think she enjoyed it though. She absolutely just brushed it away as ‘just another gig’. What she talked about was how it was amazing singing in front of the orchestra, she described it as ‘floating on air’. She was 22 years old at the time, don’t forget. It would have been a big deal for her at the time.

I’m thinking about you and her, and you working with . What is it about you, do you think, that makes it possible for you to get the best from them?

I think its about being respectful. It’s showing an interest. When you’re there its all about body language. It’s about sitting close so they can hear and see you – that’s important with older people.

It’s also about showing you’ve done your research. At the same time I was aware that was a little bit scary for her. I think on the whole that it’s about being respectful and making them feel at ease. Its about treating them like you’d treat your own grandma or your own family. It’s about gaining their trust.

That’s something you really love doing, isn’t it? I think I can tell just from hearing you talk about the process.

It is. I knew when I made this that I wanted to capture all of those off-the-cuff moments. I knew that all of the unplanned, unscripted details would bring the documentary to life. Those things would make the programme. You can only really do that in radio where you can leave things recording and capture their conversation. I was able to just hang out with her and sit in the back of the car with her and be more real with her, and capture the unexpected from her. She was great in that respect. I really feel I came away with the real Patricia.

David Reeves is a prodcuer and journalist for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Humberside

As Saturday 14 May and the Grand Final of draws ever closer now seems like a great time to reflect on my last 8 months working for the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ as Music Consultant with the responsibility of finding songs and acts to represent the United Kingdom in 2016.

My search started at the end of September and it entailed me re-connecting with a myriad of song writers, writer managers and music publishers with whom I’d worked before as well as building a whole host of new relationships. Before getting into more detail, I should probably mention the past roles I've held that have lead to me working with the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ on Eurovision.

My career actually started in the advertising world but after a few years in it the lure of being a full time musician and writer was too great and I left a career with security and potential for the exact opposite....the very uncertain existence of a full time musician. For a number of years, I played in various groups and wrote songs before moving into management and then eventually a corporate job as Marketing Director of RCA Records in 1992. My first initiative on joining was to immerse myself, with my colleagues, in the business of helping Take That get their career on track after a shaky start. Happily, the band went on to achieve huge levels of success which, unlike a lot of groups at the time, they were able to sustain due to the fact that, at their core, they had an extraordinary song writer in the shape of Gary Barlow.

Songs, songs, songs

Through my time in the music industry I have never ceased to put maximum emphasis on the song... It sounds obvious but a brilliant song is the key to true and effortless success in the industry. An amazing artist without a hit song is going nowhere. The examples of this being the case are manifold but would take too long to list here. Whilst at RCA I was lucky enough to work with a fantastic array of artists including David Bowie, M People, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart, Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia and 5ive amongst many others. I also spent a few years working with Simon Cowell when he was still just a record executive and before he became a TV star... that was fun.

I eventually left RCA having been offered the opportunity to start a joint venture record company with Virgin Records... Virgin had just broken The Spice Girls worldwide and wanted to start a pop label to bring them more mainstream music... I called the label Innocent Records and had an amazing seven years running it and working with a passionate, hardworking team.

We launched Billie Piper who became the youngest UK female to hit the top of the charts and we also had a string of No. 1’s and sold millions of albums all over the world with Blue and Atomic Kitten. After Innocent, I moved to Sony and started another label called Brightside Recordings... Here I launched a number of great acts but I was most proud of the record sales we achieved with Newton Faulkner whose song ‘Dream Catch Me’, which was co-written by one of my song writers, went on to be a huge hit in the UK and elsewhere in the world. It also helped Newton achieve a double platinum album (600,000 sales) in the UK.

After years on the corporate side of the music business I eventually decided to strike out on my own and the last few years have been spent running a recording studio in West Sussex and building my own publishing company which has become a home to some very exciting young song writers.

Why Eurovision?

As mentioned before, I love great songs and the challenge of trying to unearth them which is why I jumped at the chance of helping the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ find some strong song options (and artists too) for Eurovision 2016.

The search, which predominantly took place from October through to January, was exciting and a little challenging too. However, for the most part it was a fantastic experience. The challenges were borne out of the fact that, in the UK, Eurovision isn’t currently held in the same high regard as it is around the rest of Europe, neither by the music industry nor by the general public, so it wasn’t going to be easy to secure the best songs.

Understandably, writers would rather allocate their song to a well-known artist than enter it into a song contest. This isn’t the case elsewhere in Europe where it is seen as the highest honour for your song to represent your country in the competition. Eurovision is, after all, a MASSIVE event and, with its audience of around 200 million, is by far the biggest TV entertainment show on the planet.

This year saw the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ undertake their biggest song search ever where tracks were not only coming in from top industry writers but also from any member of the general public wanting to enter.

My time was spent listening to hundreds of submissions and when I thought a song was fantastic or simply had potential I would then meet up with the writers and we would discuss ways in which we could best take the song to conclusion for Eurovision. Every song has to be less than three minutes long and needs to be immediate in its appeal as some people may only hear it once in the Grand Final (the UK does not compete in the semi final stage). Consequently, the production values need to be high and the chorus needs to be compelling and heard enough times to hook in the listener. On top of finding the songs, I also spent a lot of time searching for exciting, enthusiastic singers who could sing the them. It should be said that a couple of the songs were actually sung by the people who wrote them.

Having whittled the vast number of entries down to a shortlist of around 20, these songs were then played to senior industry people from the worlds of radio and TV as well as some top executives from the music industry in order to help us select the final six songs for – a televised selection show where the public made the final decision on which song was to go forward to represent the UK in Stockholm.

Fan engagement is a crucial part of Eurovision therefore we also enlisted the help of the UK branch of the (the biggest Eurovision fan club in the world) to help us select the best entries from the general public. From a strong selection of entries the public chose Joe and Jake and the song, 'You’re Not Alone'. Joe and Jake are two very talented and lovely young guys who are relishing the whole Eurovision process and winning new friends wherever they go. The guys are now about to experience the true enormity of the Eurovision experience as they touch down in Stockholm and embark on exhaustive rehearsals before the big night on 14 May!

A marathon…not a sprint

So, what does the future hold for the UK in Eurovision? We must not forget that, in recent years, some massive pan European hits have been spawned by the competition and, in the more distant past, the show has been responsible for two of the biggest pop acts of all time, ABBA and Celine Dion. My strong feeling is that there has never been a better time for a huge new act to break out of Eurovision... The audience can stream or download tracks on the night if they fall in love with a song and this, in turn, can give an artist the opportunity to literally become an overnight sensation right across Europe.

Sweden, currently home to some of the most successful songwriters in the world (songs for Taylor Swift, Rihanna, One Direction, Katy Perry and many more) recognise the power of the contest and for some years now have been totally invested in upping their game at Eurovision. And they have most certainly done this which is why the show is coming from Stockholm in 2016.

My hope is that, slowly but surely over the next few years, the UK will also attract more and more writers and acts of calibre and that we too will be truly back in the Eurovision game in the future.

Hugh Goldsmith is Music Consultant to the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

In this post, freelance journalist and Junior Eurovision commentator for the UK Ewan Spence looks back at some of his highlights from the UK's Eurovision 'national final' past. 

From Studio 3 at Television Centre and Wembley Arena, to the National Lottery and the Royal Albert Hall: the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ has used a variety of different venues (and different methods) to select the United Kingdom’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Friday, March 31st, 1978. Once more the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ outside broadcast unit is at the Royal Albert Hall. Once more the dinner jackets are brought out to introduce the cream of British music. Once more the orchestra is ready to broadcast to the nation in the middle of the punk revolution.

Except this wasn’t the annual spectacular of The Proms: it was the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s selection show for the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest. A diverse range of performers took to the stage, including some blues funk from Labi Siffre, a pre-Bucks Fizz Cheryl Baker, and American singer-songwriter Bob James. The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ even added a dash of punk rock in the Royal Albert Hall with the trailblazing 'Door In My Face' by .

Punk rock would not be seen at Eurovision until 2015's Finnish entry from . Meanwhile, ’s place in Song Contest history is assured but we’re still waiting on .

Selecting a song for Europe is a tricky business. Television producers across the continent, for the last sixty years, have tried to figure out the perfect way to pick an act for the Eurovision Song Contest, balancing the need to engage an television audience ahead of the main event with a desire to see the UK win the Contest.

And, for most Eurovision selection programmes - also known as the national final, these live competitive shows see the final decision is out of the hands of the producers. They can strive to get the best talent in the room, but it's up to the talent to shine on the night.

Eurovision fans love to bring up ABBA's victory in 1974 at every opportunity, but very few will rush to remind Swedish fans that one year before a group called Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Björn & Benny only finished third in Sweden's selection show Melodifestivalen. narrowly missing out on the Eurovision Song Contest that year.

But sometimes the public gets it right, and you don't need to be in a grand venue like the Royal Albert Hall. Ahead of the introduction of phone voting in the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, the UK public was asked to make the decision on which song to send to Dublin through the .

Before Dale Winton released the balls, the stage was used to showcase the songs over a number of weeks, before a Sunday afternoon broadcast of the four songs accompanied the opening of the voting lines so the public could decide the winner.

Much as there is a corner of England that will always demand songs like '' should go to Eurovision, the public knew a real winner when it saw one. The ticket went to Katrina and the Waves and ‘’ ...although there was a six-day wait before the results were revealed live on the next National Lottery draw.

Television is an ever-changing medium, and programming styles constantly evolve. One of the key changes is speed - everything happens at a faster pace, there's far more moments in a show, and the public expect to be involved. In the early days that meant sending in a postcard to tell Lulu which of the five songs she had sung on the selection show was the most popular song, with the results announced a week later.

Today's broadcasts are a little bit faster, with phone calls and text messaging playing a key part in bringing the audience closer to the song and feeling part of the process. Hashtags may be the done thing to promote the discussion of a program online, but selecting a Eurovision act is one of the biggest interactive moments of the musical year.

National Finals have evolved - it's no longer enough to simply ask the audience what song they like. The 21st century selection shows, inspired by TV talent competitions, have brought about a new twist to the format: the panel.

Slowly replacing the classic regional juries of the 1980s that sought to mimick the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest, panels offered expert opinions from those who have experience at the Contest, who have relevant skills or background in dancing and choreography, or have experience that can help advise the public what might help score douze points. 

Sometimes the panel can have a huge impact on the show. In 2009 - in another series of Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up - the public selected the two least favourite acts each week over a number of heats with the panel getting a 'vote to save'. Other panels have no direct input on the result but some Eurovision fans have never forgiven John Barrowman when he loudly exclaimed, "That's so Eurovision!" unwittingly anointing Scooch's 'Flying The Flag' as viewing public preferred choice to represent the UK at the Contest that year.

How a song is selected has changed through the years. The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ is not alone in using different formats: broadcasters across Europe use a range of different venues: arenas with capacities of 65,000; intimate studio settings with less than a hundred people standing at the side of the stage.

The last few years have seen the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ use an internal selection process, but in the current environment of interactivity and social media, it is right that the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ uses the National Final to showcase the musical talent the UK has to offer. It's great that the music is presented in a suitable environment, and it is surely right that the public has the final say.

There's a reason it's called ""

Ewan Spence is a freelance journalist and editor of Eurovision website 

• is live on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Four at 7.30pm tonight
• Test your knowledge of UK acts at Eurovision with 's special quiz
• Follow  and  for live updates throughout the evening
• The Eurovision Song Contest shows live from Stockholm will be on 10, 12 and 14 May

After news that veteran ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ broadcaster Terry Wogan died yesterday (Sunday 31 January) tributes to the much-loved presenter flowed in. Director General Tony Hall wrote to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ staff saying: "Today we lost a broadcasting legend, but also a dear friend. Terry Wogan was simply a wonderful man - courteous, courageous and delightfully mischievous. People watching and listening adored him." 

On Twitter tributes filled every feed, here we've collated just a few.

Farewells on the front pages

This morning's papers (Monday 1 February) were also dedicated to Terry. His smiling face adorned them all from the broadsheets to the red tops. They're a fitting tribute, so we've included some of them below. 

The first show in 1956 saw pictures beamed live from Switzerland across Europe, with commentators broadcasting for their local audience. 1968 saw the first colour broadcast when the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ hosted the event at the Royal Albert Hall. The advent of Ceefax offered an opportunity for viewers to watch subtitled song lyrics in real-time. Telephone voting was fully integrated across the competing countries in 1998 when the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ last hosted Eurovision in Birmingham -Μύ another way in which technology went hand in hand with the competition. Now, it's possible to watch the entire live show streamed on a mobile device. Things have come a long way since Marcel BezanΓ§on’s idea in 1956.

It's subtle, but I reckon the Eurovision Song Contest hits the three original tenets of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ - to educate, to inform, and to entertain. The Eurovision provides one way of looking at population movements across Europe via the often commented on voting process. Is there any other mainstream programme where you can hear so much local music from other cultures? And when a live show brings in millions of viewers across a continent throughout a three hour spectacular (and even more come in from the iPlayer and time-shifted recorded versions), can there be any doubt that is entertaining?

Ewan Spence is a freelance journalist currently working with Australian broadcaster at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo.

• The Eurovision Song ContestΜύis onΜύΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One HD and Radio 2 at 8pm on Saturday 18 May.ΜύThe semi-finals will be broadcast on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Three from 8pm on Tuesday 14 and Thursday 16 May.
• Follow on Twitter .Μύ
• Read more from Ewan Spence on and follow him on Twitter .

Μύ

George Campey OBE, who coined the term 'Eurovision' to describe the idea of a TV link-up between broadcasters in Europe, has died aged 94. Without him, there might not have been a Eurovision Song Contest. It might have ended up as the Cross Borders Cultural Collaboration Between Public Service Broadcasters In Europe And Beyond Song Contest, which doesn't to me have quite the same ring to it. The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ wanted to call it the Television Continental Exchange, which sounds now a tad risqué. George's snappier Eurovision title, coined in 1951, thankfully quickly caught on and the . He died just a week after the 55th final, which took place this year in Oslo.

George was one of my predecessors in the at a time when many of the big ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ press issues were stimulated by , or the celebrated satirical programme . Sometimes both!

George also created the first of what we now call accountability programmes. Information Desk, which began in 1955, answered viewers' queries. The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ wanted to find a way of connecting directly with the TV audience. It was revolutionary at the time, and the forerunner of programmes like .

George Campey did a great job, and we're remembering him with gratitude at the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ.

Donald Steel is Chief Communications Adviser