"Terry Casey" wrote

The version of events I described is the one that has been quoted for
over 40 years but I only became aware of that bulletin a couple of
months ago ...

Was it a recording you saw - or a film made at the time?

What I actually saw was a DVD, copied from a video tape. My understanding is
that someone at Kingswood Warren decided to record this "first programme"
off-air, but that the tape then lay forgotten for many years until it was
rediscovered a few years ago. I also understand that the DVD I saw was a
direct copy from the original off-air tape. It's clear from the picture
quality that this was a video-tape recording, not a film telerecording.

It was rather a pathetic attempt which should be filed in the "it would
have been better if they hadn't bothered" category.

I don't know what the viewers (if there were any left!) made of it at
the time but, when I saw the film it generated some laughter - possibly
out of pity - from some of the audience.

I entirely agree. Its the most appallingly amateurish thing imaginable. I
particularly like the fact that there is total silence for the first minute
or so and then, at the end of the bulletin, the newsreader says that the
bulletin will be repeated in one minute's time as "I gather nobody could
hear me". So the loss of sound was at the transmitting end. I guess the BBC
were too embarrassed to admit that this news bulletin was actually broadcast
and were quite happy to have the myth that BBC2 only started the next day
gain currency!

David.

In article , David Looser
wrote:
"Terry Casey" wrote

The version of events I described is the one that has been quoted for
over 40 years but I only became aware of that bulletin a couple of
months ago ...

Was it a recording you saw - or a film made at the time?

What I actually saw was a DVD, copied from a video tape. My understanding
is that someone at Kingswood Warren decided to record this "first
programme" off-air, but that the tape then lay forgotten for many years
until it was rediscovered a few years ago. I also understand that the
DVD I saw was a direct copy from the original off-air tape. It's clear
from the picture quality that this was a video-tape recording, not a
film telerecording.

I was working at TV Centre that night. Yes, the Panorama ( a BBC1
programme) team went off to AP (from Lime Grove, which also lost power),
but I was not aware of any attempt to put out BBC2 on air. Not that we'd
have seen it. I also wonder if staff at KW were on site after 5pm. It was
usual to have a general exodus at that time.

Its the most appallingly amateurish thing imaginable.

Since AP was the home of BBC News, why should this have happened. Much
more likely is that someone made "an Entertainment Tape" as a "spoof".

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16

In article ,
charles wrote:
I was working at TV Centre that night. Yes, the Panorama ( a BBC1
programme) team went off to AP (from Lime Grove, which also lost power),
but I was not aware of any attempt to put out BBC2 on air. Not that we'd
have seen it. I also wonder if staff at KW were on site after 5pm. It
was usual to have a general exodus at that time.

I was too. On a recording of Dr Findlay's Casebook. The emergency lighting
in the studio died after a few minutes. So we retired to the club for a
pint - I think it was still daylight. After it was obvious the fault
wasn't going to be sorted quickly, we made safe in the studio by torch
light and went home. Strange the way some events stick in the mind.

--
*OK, so what's the speed of dark? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
charles wrote:
I was working at TV Centre that night. Yes, the Panorama ( a BBC1
programme) team went off to AP (from Lime Grove, which also lost power),
but I was not aware of any attempt to put out BBC2 on air. Not that we'd
have seen it. I also wonder if staff at KW were on site after 5pm. It
was usual to have a general exodus at that time.

I was too. On a recording of Dr Findlay's Casebook. The emergency lighting
in the studio died after a few minutes. So we retired to the club for a
pint - I think it was still daylight.

I possibly saw you there, but I think that by the time I got there the
staff had found candles. The loss of electricity also meant warm beer
since the chillers failed ;-(



After it was obvious the fault wasn't going to be sorted quickly, we made
safe in the studio by torch light and went home. Strange the way some
events stick in the mind.


We staued on for quite some time in case power was restored. By the time I
left power had returned to the south side of Goldhawk Road.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
charles wrote:
I was working at TV Centre that night. Yes, the Panorama ( a BBC1
programme) team went off to AP (from Lime Grove, which also lost
power),
but I was not aware of any attempt to put out BBC2 on air. Not that
we'd
have seen it. I also wonder if staff at KW were on site after 5pm. It
was usual to have a general exodus at that time.

I was too. On a recording of Dr Findlay's Casebook. The emergency
lighting
in the studio died after a few minutes. So we retired to the club for a
pint - I think it was still daylight.

I possibly saw you there, but I think that by the time I got there the
staff had found candles. The loss of electricity also meant warm beer
since the chillers failed ;-(



After it was obvious the fault wasn't going to be sorted quickly, we made
safe in the studio by torch light and went home. Strange the way some
events stick in the mind.


We staued on for quite some time in case power was restored. By the time
I
left power had returned to the south side of Goldhawk Road.

Don't/didn't TV studios have some form of backup generators in case of power
failure? At least enough to power VTs and sufficient lighting for news
reports etc, even if not enough to light whole studios?

I suppose for a first night launch, they'd probably planned live events that
would have taken a lot of power for lighting.

In article , Mortimer
wrote:

[Snip]

Don't/didn't TV studios have some form of backup generators in case of
power failure? At least enough to power VTs and sufficient lighting for
news reports etc, even if not enough to light whole studios?

At the time, the emergency generator was only set up for BBC1. Nothing on
the BBC2 side was maintained. The larger generator was on its way but
hadn't been installed. I had the great fun of pushing the "start" button a
few years later when the mains voltage had dropped so low that the 50v
battery (which ran all the routing systems) was only delivering 38v.


I suppose for a first night launch, they'd probably planned live events
that would have taken a lot of power for lighting.

the only Live 'special' was fireworks from Southend. Well away from West
London.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16

In article ,
Mortimer wrote:
Don't/didn't TV studios have some form of backup generators in case of
power failure? At least enough to power VTs and sufficient lighting for
news reports etc, even if not enough to light whole studios?

TV centre had IIRC two feeds from different parts of the grid or whatever
and both failed.

I suppose for a first night launch, they'd probably planned live events
that would have taken a lot of power for lighting.

It would have needed a massive generator to fully run TVC. It did have a
small standby one which could manage a continuity announcer.

Think the maximum load at TVC was 11Mw. But Charles will likely remember
better.

--
*To err is human. To forgive is against company policy.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Mortimer wrote:
Don't/didn't TV studios have some form of backup generators in case of
power failure? At least enough to power VTs and sufficient lighting for
news reports etc, even if not enough to light whole studios?

TV centre had IIRC two feeds from different parts of the grid or whatever
and both failed.

Not quite. The power came in at 33kV (not 132kV gid voltage) as part of a
ring system in West London. There was alsa a reserve feed direct from a
distribution board at Battersea Generating Station. The West London Ring
was fed from the Grid two points, one at Iver in Buckinghamshire and the
other at Battersea. A fault at Iver put the whole load onto the
distribution board at Battersea, which was unable to handle that load.
Something caught fire as a result and there was a total failure, taking out
the reserve feed as well.


I suppose for a first night launch, they'd probably planned live events
that would have taken a lot of power for lighting.

It would have needed a massive generator to fully run TVC. It did have a
small standby one which could manage a continuity announcer.

Think the maximum load at TVC was 11Mw. But Charles will likely remember
better.

Not at that time; once colour came in to 8 studios, with an enormously
increased lighting load then that was quite probable; Studio 1, for
instance, had an installed lighting load of about 0.5MW..

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16

On Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:17:34 +0000 (GMT), charles
wrote:

Since AP was the home of BBC News, why should this have happened. Much
more likely is that someone made "an Entertainment Tape" as a "spoof".

You can see it for yourself here. If it's a spoof then the BBC has
presented it in a rather misleading manner.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3585041.stm

(The video - in nasty "RealVideo" format - purports to be a recording
exactly as broadcast, although I don't think they had work experience
juniors blindly cropping things to 14:9 back in 1964 so that
particular aspect of the presentation must be discounted.)

--

"Zero Tolerance" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:17:34 +0000 (GMT), charles
wrote:

Since AP was the home of BBC News, why should this have happened. Much
more likely is that someone made "an Entertainment Tape" as a "spoof".

You can see it for yourself here. If it's a spoof then the BBC has
presented it in a rather misleading manner.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3585041.stm

(The video - in nasty "RealVideo" format - purports to be a recording
exactly as broadcast, although I don't think they had work experience
juniors blindly cropping things to 14:9 back in 1964 so that
particular aspect of the presentation must be discounted.)

Yes, that's the recording. The DVD is in 4:3 so yes, that particular aspect
of the presentation can be discounted.

If it is a spoof then its a particularly elaborate one and I, for one, think
it far more likely that its a genuine recording of the opening night of
BBC2.

David.