The first scheduled, high-definition (as then defined; meaning 240-line)

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

programmes were broadcast on 2 November 1936 by the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

. They had been preceded by a number of low-definition BBC test broadcasts, as well as a 180-line Deutscher Fernseh Rundfunk service, from Berlin, since March 1935.

Background

The

, already an established radio broadcaster, began making low definition (30-line) test television transmissions under government licence in August 1936. These included short ad-hoc performances by musicians, with the duration limited as "lookers in" (as viewers were called) were found to experience eye strain through looking at the small screens then in use. The first regular electronic television service in Germany began in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

on 22 March 1935, as Deutscher Fernseh Rundfunk. Broadcasting from the

Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow The Fernsehsender "Paul Nipkow" (''TV Station Paul Nipkow'') in Berlin, Germany, was the first public television station in the world. Carrying programming from Deutscher Fernseh-Rundfunk, it was on the air from 22 March 1935, until it was shut ...

, it used a 180-line system, and was on air for 90 minutes, three times a week.

Line-up

The BBC Television Service officially launched on 2 November 1936. The BBC's official publication, ''

The Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'', listed the opening one-hour schedule – the first ever, on a dedicated TV channel – starting at 3 pm, as: * 3:00 – Opening of the BBC Television Service * 3:15 – Interval; time, weather * 3:20 –

British Movietone News Movietone News is a newsreel that ran from 1928 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Australia and New Zealand until 197 ...

* 3:30 – Variety * 4:00 – Close From 9 pm to 10 pm, pre-recorded films and more news were screened. The films included ''Television Comes to London'', a pre-made fifteen-minute documentary about the launch, shot on

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

. It was the BBC's first

television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

Opening

The first person heard and seen was the

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

, Leslie Mitchell. According to advance publicity in ''The Radio Times'', the opening was then to be:

Variety

''The Radio Times'' billed the ''Variety'' performers as: *

Adele Dixon Adele Dixon (born Adela Helena Dixon; 3 June 1908 – 11 April 1992) was an English actress and singer. She sang at the start of regular broadcasts of the BBC Television Service on 2 November 1936. After an early start as a child actress, an ...

– Musical Comedy Star * Buck and Bubbles – Comedians and Dancers * The Lai Founs – Chinese Jugglers however, in the event The Lai Founs did not appear. Dixon performed a specially commissioned song, "Television", written by

James Dyrenforth James Dyrenforth (31 January 1895 – 26 December 1973) was an American actor and songwriter. Dyrenforth appeared in '' A Night to Remember'' (1958), '' Fiend Without a Face'' (1958), and '' Lolita'' (1962), and co-wrote "A Garden in the Rain " ...

and Kenneth Leslie-Smith. The event made Buck and Bubbles (

Buck Washington Ford Lee "Buck" Washington (October 16, 1903 – January 31, 1955) was an American vaudeville performer, pianist, and singer. He was best known as half of the duo Buck and Bubbles, who were the first black artists to appear on television, with ...

and

John W. Bubbles John William Sublett (February 19, 1902 – May 18, 1986), known by his stage name John W. Bubbles, was an American tap dancer, vaudevillian, movie actor, and television performer. He performed in the duo "Buck and Bubbles", who were the fi ...

) the first black people to appear on television. The musicians were billed as

The BBC Television Orchestra The BBC Television Orchestra (1936–1939) was a broadcast orchestra founded in 1936 by conductor, violinist and composer Hyam Greenbaum and led by Boris Pecker. Hyam Greenbaum's wife Sidonie Goossens was the first solo harpist with the Orches ...

, led by Boris Pecker and conducted by

Hyam Greenbaum Hyam 'Bumps' Greenbaum (12 May 1901 – 13 May 1942) was an English conductor, violinist and composer, who, in 1936, became the world's first conductor of a television orchestra. He was friendly with many of his English music contemporaries, incl ...

. The producer was listed as

Dallas Bower Dallas Bower (25 July 1907 – 18 October 1999) was a British director and producer active during the early development of mass media communication. Throughout his career Bower’s work spanned radio plays, television shows, propaganda shorts, ani ...

Technology

The broadcast was made from a converted wing of

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

("Ally Pally") in London, using the 240-line Baird

intermediate film system The intermediate film system was a television process in which motion picture film was processed almost immediately after it was exposed in a camera, then scanned by a television scanner, and transmitted over the air. This system was used principa ...

, on the VHF band. BBC television initially used two systems on alternate weeks: the Baird system and the

405-line The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. The number of television lines influences the image resolution, or quality of the picture. It was ...

Marconi-EMI system. The decision to use the Baird system for the first week was made on a

coin toss A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

. The use of the two formats made the BBC's service the world's first regular high-definition television service; it broadcast from Monday to Saturday between 15:00 and 16:00, and 21:00 and 22:00. Alexandra Palace housed two studios (one for each system), various scenery stores, make-up areas, dressing rooms, offices, and the transmitter itself.

References

External links

First regular hi-definition television service
– BBC page. {{BBC History of television in the United Kingdom November 1936 events 1936 in television 1936 in London BBC Television