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On This Day, 1975: The birth of Arena

2015-10-01T08:30:00+00:00

Spitting Image creators Peter Fluck and Roger Law were featured on Arena in 1980

On 1 October 1975, the very first edition of Arena was aired on ��2.

The programme was billed as the "first regular television series to be devoted exclusively to the theatre", while it also had another strand covering the visual arts.

The two stands merged into one in the late 1970s, and the series has become synonymous with its thought-provoking documentaries drawing in a whole host of arts luminaries, including Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol and Clint Eastwood.

The programme's famous opening title sequence has been judged to be one of the most influential of all time.

In more recent years, it has developed an online presence called the Arena Hotel, allowing visitors to enjoy some of the wealth of material it has produced in the last 40 years, amounting to some 600 films.

What are your Arena magical moments? Please let us know here.

On This Day, 1979: Smiley's debut

2015-09-10T09:00:00+00:00

Alec Guinness took to the small screen to portray John Le Carre's character George Smiley

On 10 September 1979, the first episode of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was screened for the first time on ��2.

The espionage drama, based on John Le Carre's novel, cast distinguished actor Alec Guinness in the lead role of George Smiley, an intelligence agent brought out of enforced retirement to see to some "unfinished business".

In an interview printed the week of broadcast, Guinness admitted that he'd done little television in the past, but said that the making of the seven-part drama had changed his mind about the medium.

Tinker Tailor went on to great success, and in 1982 Guinness reprised his role in follow-up Smiley's People.

Ian Richardson - later the star of House of Cards - made an impact in Tinker Tailor

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy went on to have further life in later listings. It had a complete re-run on ��2 in 1981 and graced our screens once again a decade later. If you delve into the programme guides of 2000, you will find another ��2 screening of the drama. In later years, Guinness's performance made regular appearances on ��4.

A new adaptation for radio - also a seven-parter - was first broadcast in 1988. And in 2009, Le Carre's story returned to the airwaves under the title Classic Serial: The Complete Smiley, with actor Simon Russell Beale stepping into the shoes once filled by Guinness.

Although not in the listings, a big screen version of Tinker Tailor was made in 2011 with Gary Oldman assuming the mantle of Smiley.

Alec Guinness won the Bafta for best actor in 1980 for his performance. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was named best drama

On This Day, 1950: Television crosses the Channel

2015-08-27T08:10:13+00:00

Laying of the television camera cable across the railway track at Calais Maritime.

"Tonight brings another exciting moment in the history of the �� Television Service", announces the listing on the Radio Times, August 27, 1950. "Exactly a hundred years after the first message was sent by submarine telegraph cable between England and France, the first television pictures are transmitted across the sea from one nation to another."

On that day, the first outside broadcast from the continent was made in a one hour special called Television Crosses the Channel, presented by Richard Dimbleby.

Richard Dimbleby.

The audience were able to watch live images from the Hotel de Ville in Calais, and a long programme of civic celebration and entertainment.

An article on the Radio Times warned: "On Sunday, August 27, the pictures might not be as good as we would like. They might cease. But if they do come, then think as you watch the French faces, as you hear the French voices, of what there is in this moment. In the floodlit square will be television, the new wonder. In the shadows beyond will be stirring the excitement that men felt one hundred years ago when a message passed along a rubber-covered cable laid slowly and painfully on the bed of the sea, the thoughts of the Guards fighting their way back to England, the history of centuries. Even if the hour planned becomes only the glimpse of a moment, it will still be a great moment."

And 65 years later, you can still watch a clip about how the transmission was achieved. Just go to the �� Genome listing and click on the link to watch it on the �� iPlayer - this is just one of the more than 8,500 radio and television programmes that you can now find while browsing through our listings.

On This Day, 1991: Lime Grove Studios remembered

2015-08-26T09:21:23+00:00

Studio G (the acoustic padding is believed to date from 1932)

On 26 August, 1991, the �� marked the closure of the Lime Grove Studios with a series of programmes. The studio in Shepherd's Bush, London, had closed a month before after being used by the �� for more than forty years. The studios were bought by the �� as a 'temporary measure' until Television Centre was ready.

The special programming began with a Children's Compilation which included programmes such as Muffin, Bunter, Toytown and Bill and Ben.

The favourite Toytown radio characters made their television debut in Puppet Theatre in 1956.

The schedule also included The Wicked Lady, a "classic melodrama" starring Margaret Lockwood, the Doctor Who pilot or first episode An Unearthly Child, and a compilation of the most memorable films filmed in the studios.

The Grove Family characters

The evening continued with reminiscences of Nationwide ("was Nationwide tea-time trivia, tabloid television or the ��'s first and last truly populist current affairs programme?") and episodes of soap opera The Grove Family (who were named after the studios), Dixon of Dock Green and This Is Your Life.

The day of memories finished with the airing of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, which was filmed in Lime Grove Studios in 1935, when the studios belonged to the Gaumont Film Company.

Update, 27/08/2015: We just wanted to include two very interesting comments left on our Facebook page. Paul Burton shared: "I still have those programmes on video! That year also saw the �� move out of �� Television Theatre (Shepherd's Bush Empire) and �� Ealing (which is once more called Ealing Studios). Then in 1995, the �� moved out of the Paris Studio, Lower Regent Street (it's now a swimming pool)."

Meanwhile, Aidan Lunn added some more information about the cameras on the photograph of Studio E below: "The cameras are Link 110s. Introduced in 1977, IIRC, and installed in Lime Grove in 1981, to replace the EMI 2001s that had been there since 1970."

Remember the Lime Grove Studios with this small collection of stills from the �� Archive:

Studio G at Lime Grove during a rehearsal of the production The Venus of Bainville, 1952.

Studio G: General Election Results, 8th and 9th October, 1959

Lime Grove Film Archive

Studio E

The Late Show studio

On This Day, 1927: First �� Prom

2015-08-13T09:00:00+00:00

Rehearsal for the Promenade Concert inside the Queen's Hall, 1927.

"The 'Proms', which since 1895 have been the most popular series of concerts in London, were, for various reasons, to have come to an end last year. However, by arrangement with the B.B.C., it has been found possible to continue the series" - this is how the first-ever �� Prom was listed in August 13, 1927.

The �� saw that taking them on would provide a full season of concerts for broadcast and would fulfil the Corporation's remit to "inform, educate and entertain".

You can read the full programme as relayed from the Queen's Hall on that night and find out more about the composers and the music that was played on the �� Proms website, where you can delve into their performances archives, containing details of all concerts since 1895 organised by date, seasons, composers and artists.

You can also listen to this clip of Henry Wood, founder-conductor of the Proms, talking about Rule Britannia, which is traditionally performed at the Last Night of the Proms.

A 2,000-mile journey through the Zambezi

2015-08-06T09:00:00+00:00

David Attenborough in a scene from Zambezi, 1965

In August 1965, David Attenborough took viewers along the Zambezi river from its source in the centre of Africa to the Indian Ocean.

"There is a magic, a special logic, in a journey that follows a river", he wrote, in a Radio Times article introducing the series. "Your path is not something devised merely to suit your fancy. It is dictated by the shape of the hills, the slope of the plains, the history of half a million years. The sight and the sound of waters beside you provide a daily companionship. Soon you come to regard the river as a personality."

50 years later, you can still undertake this 2,000-mile journey and watch the series, which is part of �� 4's Attenborough Collection of programmes, letters and photographs showcasing the early work of the wildlife presenter.

And if you're a fan of all things David Attenborough, you an always search for his name and filter the search by "Programme Available" on the Advanced tab - we've done this for you here. You will find the TV programmes from his early years and some later appearances in radio programmes.

Let us know of other routes you've tried to find available programmes through �� Genome listings - or if you found any archive gems or unexpected results.

On This Day, 1967: Face the Music

2015-08-03T10:31:00+00:00

Face The Music, 1976 (Standing) Joseph Cooper (left), the master of ceremonies, with producer Walter Todds. (Seated, left to right) the team; Robin Ray, Joyce Grenfell and David Attenborough.

Classical music quiz Face the Music premiered on �� Two on August 3, 1967.

Producer Walter Todds introduced the quiz on a Radio Times magazine article as "the first television series about (non-pop) music and a "not too serious test of your musical wits."

Chairman and pianist Joseph Cooper would put questions to three music lovers - and although they promised that "no question to the panel is so difficult that the average concert or LP addict shouldn't at least have a shot at answering", the first programme included competitions such as "spotting an opera scene that is done to the wrong music" and "untangling one of Cooper's hidden melodies."

The programme ran until 1979 with some revivals in the 1980s, and regular panellists included Robin Ray, Joyce Grenfell and David Attenborough (pictured in 1976).

On This Day, 1968: Dad's Army first episode

2015-07-31T12:14:19+00:00

Dad's Army Episode 1: The Man and The Hour, 1968

On July 31st, 1968, the first episode of Dad's Army was broadcast on �� One. The listing on Radio Times magazine swiftly introduces the storyline: "our hero forms a platoon of Local Defence Volunteers to defend our island home."

To commemorate 47 years since this first broadcast, we invite you to browse around this collection of letters and internal memos about the programme and watch an episode of Season 3, which will be available on the iPlayer for a few more weeks.

You can also share your memories about the series here on this blog using the comments box.

On This Day, 1948: the opening of the first televised Olympics

2015-07-29T08:59:09+00:00

Images of the �� coverage of the 1948 Olympics

The broadcasting and televising of the London 1948 Olympiad, which started on July 29 with the transmission of the Opening Ceremony, was described by Radio Times as "the biggest operation of its kind that the �� has ever undertaken." Viewers were able to watch the main events at Wembley live - which included the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the athletics, the boxing, the swimming, the diving, the football, the hockey and the riding, while Television Newsreel cameras captured highlights of other sports.

EMI mobile television control room, first used for televising the events at the Empire Pool

Outside Broadcast Manager Ian Orr-Ewing described the difficulty of selecting commentators for the TV broadcast: "Regular viewers will understand that television commentary demands a technique different from that which has been established for sound broadcasting; a television commentator is not merely describing what he can, see but is explaining the picture in the light of his expert knowledge of the subject."

You can watch this clip of the Olympic Newsreel which reports on the �� operation at Wembley Stadium:

On This Day, 1958: an armchair voyage to Istanbul

2015-07-28T09:00:06+00:00

Armchair Voyage, July 1958

On July 28, 1958, you would have sailed east on a cruise to Istanbul and the Aegen island of Lesbos with Sir Mortimer Wheeler and the Hellenic Traveller's club as company.

You can again travel from the comfort of your armchair as this programmes is available to watch on the �� iPlayer - and easily findable through the corresponding �� Genome listing.

Hop on - and let us know of any other armchair voyages you have undertaken.

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