麻豆约拍

Once the Selsdon Inquiry had agreed that the 麻豆约拍 should run Britain鈥檚 first television service, preparations began in earnest in 1935: facilities were built, people hired, and on-air talent discovered.

For a few months, there were still test transmissions involving Baird鈥檚 old 30-line service. But even Baird 鈥� who鈥檇 since improved his own system to run on more lines 鈥� admitted his original 鈥榣ow-definition鈥� system was no longer sustainable, and in September 1935 the 麻豆约拍 stopped using it completely. The several thousand 鈥榯elevisors鈥� bought by the public for watching television since 1928 - designed only for 30-lines - were suddenly useless. And for the next 11 months, there were no regular television broadcasts at all.

The 麻豆约拍 was taking advantage of this lull in public activity to decide the shape and character of its future 鈥榟igh definition鈥� service, using images of 405 lines. A 鈥楧irector of Television鈥� was appointed 鈥� Gerald Cock.

Although Cock answered directly to senior radio figures in Broadcasting House, he immediately raised eyebrows among the 麻豆约拍 old guard by setting out a strikingly populist vision. In 1935, announcers on the radio were anonymous, dignified to the point of icy aloofness, and tended to speak with what the writer Compton MacKenzie described as 鈥渟ynthetic, plus-fours gentility鈥�. Cock wanted television announcers to have 鈥渁 pleasant personality and informed manner鈥�. Some six hundred applied, and three were chosen 鈥� two women and one man: Jasmine Bligh, Elizabeth Cowell, and Leslie Mitchell.

Lighting, design, and engineering staff were also recruited 鈥� and everyone moved to the newly-acquired, though still rather tumble-down Alexandra Palace, in North London. From deep inside this sprawling, adapted Victorian fun-palace, the very first live 鈥榟igh definition鈥� television programmes intended for the public were broadcast by the 麻豆约拍 on Wednesday 26th August 1936 - to the Radiolympia Exhibition, held annually in London for showing-off new radio equipment to the public:

In the newsreel report, we saw Helen Mackay singing 鈥楬ere鈥檚 Looking at You鈥�. It offers a glimpse of the programme at the heart of the 麻豆约拍鈥檚 broadcasts to Radiolympia in August and September 1936: a variety show with exactly the same title. Its producer was Cecil Madden 鈥� a key figure in early television, since he was to be in day-to-day charge of all output until the service closed at the outbreak of war in 1939. In the interview he recorded for the 麻豆约拍 Oral History Collection, Madden described how this, the 麻豆约拍鈥檚 very first 鈥榬egular鈥� programme, came about:

At the Radiolympia Exhibition itself, members of the general public watched by standing inside tiny darkened viewing boxes 鈥� each person being allowed one minute. A waiting room at London鈥檚 Waterloo railway station was also equipped with a receiving set. As a publicity stunt, even an airplane was equipped to receive programmes as it flew over the city.

By the end of the Exhibition, Madden and his team had broadcast twice a day for ten days - twenty performances of what one reviewer called his 鈥渕iniature variety show鈥�. Most newspaper reports concentrated on the technical achievement rather than the performers on screen. The Times, for instance, told readers that programmes 鈥渃ame over with perfect synchronization of sound and vision and with complete continuity of movement鈥�. The Observer, however, did actually comment on the show itself, describing it as 鈥渁 gem鈥�. Madden鈥檚 own judgement was a little more realistic. 鈥淚t improved daily and by the end was reasonable鈥�.

Despite all the publicity, probably only about 300 members of the public actually saw the Radiolympia broadcasts. This means eye-witness accounts are now extremely rare. Fortunately, the 麻豆约拍鈥檚 oral history interview with Grace Wyndham Goldie 鈥� a leading figure in 麻豆约拍 Television in the 1950s and 1960s 鈥� provides one for us. In 1936, she was working as a radio critic for The Listener magazine, when she decided to speak to its editor, Rex Lambert, about the work going on at Alexandra Palace:

Grace Wyndham Goldie鈥檚 rather brutal judgement 鈥� that 鈥渢he whole thing was terrible鈥� 鈥� hadn鈥檛 stopped her recognising television鈥檚 innate potential. As the cultural historian Joe Moran points out in his book, Armchair Nation: an Intimate History of Britain in Front of the TV, television sustained itself in these early days 鈥渘ot on its mildly disappointing present but on dreams of its future鈥�.

One reason for the 鈥榤ildly disappointing present鈥� in the case of the Radiolympia broadcasts is that they were never actually intended to begin as soon as they did. The 麻豆约拍鈥檚 Alexandra Palace team were supposed to be getting everything ready for the official November 1936 launch. But, as Cecil Madden reveals in this short video interview, his boss, Gerald Cock, felt compelled to launch something extra early as a result of disappointing sales news from the Exhibition:

There were other technical difficulties being grappled with behind-the-scenes. Camera-operators discovered that the images in their viewfinders were upside down. 鈥楥uts鈥� from one camera to another were not yet possible - only slow 鈥榝ades鈥� lasting at least eight seconds.

By far the biggest problem, though, was that the Selsdon Inquiry had obliged the 麻豆约拍 to use both the new electronic system developed by Marconi-EMI and the rather cumbersome mechanical system developed by Baird. As the 麻豆约拍 engineer, Tony Bridgewater explains in his oral history interview, this meant broadcasts constantly alternating between the two systems 鈥� with two studios, two ways of processing the image, two sets of cameras:

Once the Radiolympia broadcasts were over, there was a brief pause in the 麻豆约拍鈥檚 television service. All effort was now focused on the official launch on the 2nd November of what would be the first regular 鈥榟igh definition鈥� television service in the world.