Pic Of The Day: ±«Óătv1 Ident
In the corner of the boardroom BC2A3M3 here at Broadcast Centre sits a box. Inside the box is a globe which will not be familiar to younger readers. For those who remember when ±«Óătv channel idents did not involve penguins, ballerinas or hippos, though, it should be all to easy to picture what this mechanical globe looks like when the power is turned on. (For background on idents and furniture in general, you can spend many a happy hour at .)
Update 2008-03-04: Since taking the photo above, I've also written about the homepage clock in an , so it's been suggested that I put a link here to those witterings.
Update 2008-03-18: Nick has pointed out that the this of the 1985 vintage ±«Óătv "COW" (computer-originated world).
Alan Connor is co-editor, ±«Óătv Internet Blog. The kit making up a corresponding ±«Óătv2 ident can be seen in our .
Comments
Somebody needs to do a flash animation of this. The clocks are nice, but the globe is a classic.
Having installed this device in Noddy* courtesy of John Astonâs design (as I recall) and Murray Andrewsâs construction skills, I remember it well.
As Senior Assistant Programme Operations, Presentation, Television (thereâs a title!) at the time, circa 1972, I kept a spare hand-painted âglobuleâ in my office drawer. When the symbols were discarded that stayed with me, and now sits atop a vase in the living room.
Thanks for the memory,
Hugh Sheppard
* Noddy was the remote-control B & W caption camera that nodded up, down and sideways for 12 ±«Óătv-1 12â X 9â symbols, clocks and captions as dictated from the Network Control Room. ±«Óătv-2 had another. By the time of the network ident. shown above, the output was colourised: blue for ±«Óătv-1 and orange for ±«Óătv-2.
That I remember, but I didn't imagine it being so quaint!
Perhaps the ±«Óătv would like to bring this back! It would do wonders for their image....
At least 3 different flash animations of the globe exist. I won't post the url, type 'bbc1 globe recreation' into Google, I'm sure you'll find something interesting and get to the globe eventually.
They did use the globe for series 2 of Life On Mars, but the recreation they made wasn't very accurate. ±«Óătv Wales, however, used their original 1981 globe with a few bits and pieces added to give it a more 70s look. They never used a globe in 1973 though, they had their own 'C' symbol.
Who knows where the little owl symbol in the top right of this blog originates then? ;)
Wow! It's great to see that symbol again! Great to see it without it working and so techinical too!
Mulder, being a ±«Óătv boofin of sorts, the little owl symbol comes from the ±«Óătv Micro! Yay! Got that right! Wish I could learn more about the mechanical symbols, and see them in person!
This is quite a timely post, as a bit of controversy is raging elsewhere which perhaps somebody could settle.
Was the nodding camera arrangement which Hugh mentions officially called "Noddy" or was it called "NODD", pronounced Noddy as an acronym for "Nexus Orthicon Display Device" as is claimed by several sources, including the (now defunct) ±«Óătv Cult section.
Wasn't the Owl printed on the ±«Óătv Micro in the eighties?
It was! I love the photo! Great to see the old symbol there!
Can we start a petition to bring back the ±«Óătv 'world' idents. Ever since all the original idents went (last being the balloons I think) the idents have been awful - bring back the old ±«Óătv!!
Hugh Sheppard is absolutely right about the term Noddy. All this Nexus whatever is, I would suggest, total nonsense!
Good article. I agree with Steve
"Hugh Sheppard is absolutely right about the term Noddy. All this Nexus whatever is, I would suggest, total nonsense!"
I fully agree!