±«Óãtv

Objects of the ±«Óãtv

From ±«Óãtv Archives, Science Museum Group and other partners, here are the 100 key objects that tell the inside story of the ±«Óãtv.

Celebrate 100 years of the ±«Óãtv through familiar and not so familiar objects used in ±«Óãtv programmes and content. From the bizarre looking Blattnerphone of the 1930s to the Covid Tracker developed by ±«Óãtv News during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Don't miss the Object of the Future, as envisaged by primary school inventors in conversation with ±«Óãtv Research & Development.

Samira Ahmed

Samira Ahmed

±«Óãtv Presenter and journalist

My first ±«Óãtv encounter was Andy Pandy, on lunchtime Watch with Mother popping up on our TVscreen in the London suburbs.

But then in parallel I had another very personal experience of the ±«Óãtv, as my mother was one of the presenters on the Eastern Service at Bush House, and I remember vividly being taken there from the age of five, and encountering first hand the thrilling sense of the ±«Óãtv broadcasting to the wider world.

On to the collection, and there were so many objects that triggered very personal associations... Alexandra Palace mast: I remember as a young News Correspondent in the 1990s the OB engineers I was working with had to be in line of sight of that famous mast to ensure links to the transmitter. It gave me a wonderful sense of continuity right back to those very first TV technologists. Something almost monumental about it – like an Easter Island statue.

Next, it had to be All You Need is Love from the Our World satellite link up of 1967. So many contributions from other participating nations were worthy even dire, but The Beatles and the ±«Óãtv understood what people wanted. It was a high point in British youth culture and creativity, and all done so simply and elegantly.

Back to school now, and I am in my Wimbledon all girls secondary school in the basement next to the cloakroom in a room like an old-fashioned telephone box where the ±«Óãtv Micro sat. No teacher ever told us how to use it, but like thousands of children all over the UK, it was the beginning of my journey into computing. And I think I realised even then that it was taking me into a new world.

What would I add? I think it would be Maida Vale Studio, where so many musical greats – classical and contemporary – performed. I remember sitting near Paul Weller to watch our mutual heroes The Zombies record R4 Mastertapes for example. And it stands for all the ±«Óãtv buildings, objects, artefacts that staff and audiences treasure, that sometimes sadly seem to be abandoned in managerial reinvention.

  • Abram Games devised the “Television Symbol†- the first serious attempt at branding a television channel in the UK.
  • 15 December 1997 was a landmark moment for the ±«Óãtv with the launch of its first website.
  • The ±«Óãtv's first ever radio station which began broadcasting in 1922, from a transmitter on the roof of Selfridges department store.
  • The trophy so many viewers in Africa will recognise that celebrates the best of African sporting achievement.
  • The transmitter and mast that brought the UK’s first regularly scheduled TV service into people’s homes.
  • From 1946, Alistair Cooke began his famous ±«Óãtv radio series Letter from America, and this is the typewriter he used to compile the programmes.
  • Released in many versions the world over, The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love was commissioned by the ±«Óãtv for its contribution to the international satellite show Our World.
  • The microphone that became a symbol for something more than just a device for broadcasting radio programmes.
  • The early mechanical television as invented by John Logie Baird.
  • The ±«Óãtv was quick to help the UK’s education sector when it developed one of the first affordable computers to use in the classroom. It also became popular in the home too.
  • For the early 90’s a new on-screen image was devised for the ±«Óãtv’s second TV channel ±«Óãtv Two. The everchanging iconic '2’s' were the result.
  • The children’s puppets that charmed a generation of children, and returned in later life in two further colour series.
  • The recording of radio programmes became possible with this extraordinary looking device, which used steel tape to record sound.
  • Awarded for exceptional achievement, the Blue Peter badge is still a much sought after prize and provides the winner an exciting range of benefits.
  • The landmark that memorialises the news reporters and crew who died at times of war.
  • The first purpose-built radio centre in the UK which changed the way in which the ±«Óãtv produced and broadcast its programmes.
  • Captain Tom Moore, the 100-year-old World War II veteran set out to raise £1000 for the NHS by walking one hundred laps around his garden with his walker. Without it, the eventual total raised of £40m would not have been possible.
  • The nurse’s ‘scrubs’ gear that belonged to Charlie Fairhead, played by Derek Thompson in the long running medical drama Casualty - first seen in 1986.
  • Some of the earliest pages from Ceefax - news and information in text form on your TV launched by the ±«Óãtv in the 1970s.
  • The camera used to televise Wimbledon ’67, one of the earliest events broadcast in colour in Europe.
  • Published in the Radio Times, this map showedthe points at which the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953 would be televised.
  • During the first wave of the COVID 19 virus, ±«Óãtv News devised this useful online tracker to visualise the spread of the virus.
  • Radio was of great interest to the blind community from the earliest days of radio in the 1920s. The British Wireless for the Blind Fund was established as early as 1929.
  • The shape of the Dalek, Doctor Who’s most well-known monster, was created in the scenery workshops of ±«Óãtv TV Centre, using a specially designed mould.
  • The first job David Attenborough applied for in the ±«Óãtv was as a radio Talks Producer in the ±«Óãtv Service. Handwritten and accompanied with a stamped addressed envelope, his application was rejected.
  • Rock legend David Bowie was auditioned for the ±«Óãtv Talent Selection Group, his report was less than complimentary!
  • The creator of Desert Island Discs proposes the legendary series to senior figures in the ±«Óãtv – outlined in a letter in 1941.
  • A collection of songs and sketches by Douglas Byng - the first drag act to appear on television in the UK.
  • The bust of Queen Victoria, famous symbol of The Queen Vic pub as seen in Eastenders.
  • These microphones were used to deliver one of the most sensational royal messages ever - the abdication of Edward VIII.
  • The camera used in the early days of all-electronic television, in service at the ±«Óãtv from 1936.
  • The trilby that said so much about the life and times of Norman Beaton and his generation, living on the fictional Empire Road.
  • The personal scrapbook of Evelyn Dove, the first black female singer to perform on ±«Óãtv Radio in the 1920s.
  • British Asian singer Sheila Chandra tops the charts with her memorable hit - played extensively on ±«Óãtv Radio 1.
  • A diagram of a football pitch, published in the Radio Times to help listeners understand the action during the first broadcast football commentary in 1927.
  • In 1985 Children’s ±«Óãtv recruited a new presenter – a puppet! It was the loveable Gordon the Gopher.
  • A badge that celebrates what parents have done to encourage children during the Covid 19 pandemic, created for the hit children’s television series Hey Duggee.
  • The device used to deliver ‘as-live’ television pictures to the transmitter as used during the early days of mechanical television.
  • A portrait from 1939 of Isa Benzie, the pioneering radio producer and ±«Óãtv Foreign Director.
  • The ±«Óãtv's World Affairs Editor wore this jacket when accompanying a convoy of US special forces in Iraq, (2003).
  • The famous sheepskin coat - just one of many, worn by John Motson during a very long career as the leading ±«Óãtv Television football commentator.
  • The mosaic wall that greets visitors entering the original reception at Television Centre, West London.
  • No Chinese chef could be without a wok, and Ken Hom showed the UK why.
  • The fascinating diary of ±«Óãtv reporter Peter Watson, documenting the American President’s assassination.
  • The pink costume dress that caused a television sensation.
  • A free-standing mahogany lamp standard with radio incorporated - one of the many novelty radios for sale in the pre-war heyday of radio.
  • In 1949 the French government presented the ±«Óãtv with a large tapestry, Le Poète (The Poet). It was given in gratitude to the ±«Óãtv for its efforts in broadcasting to occupied France during World War Two.
  • A major broadcasting moment in Northern Ireland was the opening of this major radio transmitter in 1936.
  • Commentating on live sports matches or noisy environments was very difficult before the advent of a specialist microphone. The now-familiar 'lip mic' was devised to solve the problem.
  • This pass provided access to all areas for the crew working behind the scenes on the biggest live TV event of its time – Live Aid.
  • Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery Course on ±«Óãtv Two was arguably in large part responsible for the British people’s appreciation of Indian cuisine, and her book became the curry bible for many.
  • The black and chrome chair that symbolised the terror of one of television’s toughest quiz programmes.
  • Mobile Control Room 21 - the third OB of ten to be built by the ±«Óãtv in 1963.
  • One of the earliest microphones used by the ±«Óãtv in the 1920s looked like a meatsafe!
  • One of the first means of recording commentary and actuality in the field - developed by the ±«Óãtv.
  • From the early 1960s a rotating globe symbolised the ±«Óãtv’s primary TV channel, ±«Óãtv One. Behind the electronic processing which added colour, it was a motorised mechanical device with a mirror.
  • The zany opening titles and graphics used in Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
  • The biggest space event of the 20th century marked by the Radio Times.
  • The loveable stop-motion animated character made famous by Tony Hart in the early 1980s.
  • The famous white shirt worn by Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in the ±«Óãtv’s 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
  • An object that may play a part in our lives in 10, 20, and 30 years, as seen through the eyes of young people today in conversation with ±«Óãtv Research and Development.
  • This 'cat' - infact a prop - was found in Victor Meldrew's freezer, in the classic episode of One Foot in the Grave.
  • Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses toured the streets of south London in this clapped out yellow three-wheeler. He used it with often hilarious consequences throughout the long-running series.
  • George Orwell worked briefly at the ±«Óãtv, but left a permanent mark on a broadcasting landmark.
  • A memento from the first ever degree ceremony to be held for Open University graduates.
  • The cap that became so popular because of the Peaky Blinders series.
  • The famous toys as seen from episode one in the long-running ±«Óãtv TV series Play School.
  • Right from the start, the ±«Óãtv’s longest-running soap opera Pobol y Cwm featured storylines from a pub - the Deri Arms. From the latest gossip to declarations of marriage - the Deri has seen it all and the pub’s sign has shown the way.
  • Journalist and broadcaster Georgi Markov, a regular voice on the ±«Óãtv Bulgarian Service, was murdered with this poison tipped umbrella.
  • The Promenade Concerts were given wide appeal by the ±«Óãtv - this poster seen widely, was typical of the pre-war years.
  • The loveable bear was adopted for the ±«Óãtv’s main fundraising programme Children in Need as its mascot, in 1985.
  • The 1967 Eurovision Song Contest winner was the UK. Puppet on a String was the song - this is Sandie Shaw’s score.
  • Radio Foyle’s Gerry Anderson, remembered fondly in animation.
  • An early ±«Óãtv licence fee from the 1920s, which only covered radio and cost 10 shillings. The ±«Óãtv was deluged with applications, and revenue rapidly increased, allowing the ±«Óãtv to expand broadcasting hours.
  • The listings magazine hit the news stands in the Autumn of 1923, and was published as a response to newspapers who felt threatened by the rise of radio.
  • The creator of electronic and experimental music for the ±«Óãtv used all manner of everyday objects to build up musical soundtracks for iconic series such as Doctor Who.
  • The application letter of the ±«Óãtv’s first Director-General, John Reith.
  • The legal footing on which the ±«Óãtv operates.
  • The iconic Belstaff Milford coat worn by Benedict Cumberbatch.
  • No radio drama would be complete without sound effects - click to see why.
  • Sports Personality of the Century – Trophy

    Aged 57, boxer Muhammad Ali wins the much coveted ±«Óãtv Sports Personality awards, 1999.
  • Stig’s helmet is synonymous with the mysterious driver from the top rated motoring show Top Gear. The white helmet accompanies Stig on all his test drive and exploits.
  • The revolving glitter ball is one of the features of the opening titles of Strictly Come Dancing, as well as its end of show trophy.
  • Loveable and surreal in equal measure the Teletubbies made their mark on children’s television from the late 1990s.
  • The building, shaped like a question mark, became the UK’s 'television Hollywood', and saw the production of thousands of ±«Óãtv television programmes during its lifetime as a ±«Óãtv building.
  • A testcard has appeared on ±«Óãtv TV in various forms since the television service began in 1936, Testcard F is one of the best remembered examples.
  • The Archers began its national run on the ±«Óãtv ±«Óãtv Service on 1 January 1951,and here is the very first script.
  • The machine used to create the Greenwich Time Signal.
  • ±«Óãtv Scotland’s best-loved and gloomiest comedy characters, The Rev I M Jolly, sat in this chair from 1978 until 1999, dispensing words of wisdom in the only way he knew how!
  • One of the earliest Shipping Forecast Maps in the ±«Óãtv Archives from 1925.
  • The music for the famous ‘Stripper’ sketch, mapped out in a musical score from 1976.
  • The dress worn at BAFTA with a special footballing feel.
  • Una Marson was the first producer on ±«Óãtv radio of Caribbean heritage - this is a memo recommending her appointment to the ±«Óãtv.
  • The script of Dylan Thomas’s famous ‘play for voices’, broadcast on ±«Óãtv Radio on 25 January 1954.
  • An early guidebook for ±«Óãtv producers that warned them against broadcasting vulgarity and jokes about certain members of the audience.
  • An early video recorder developed by the ±«Óãtv - and demonstrated with great pride on Panorama in 1957.
  • The ‘War Book’ of plans drawn up by the ±«Óãtv during the Cold War for a Wartime Broadcasting System.
  • Wilfred was the first ±«Óãtv announcer to speak in a regional accent on radio, this is his autobiography.
  • A patchwork quilt was made by the listeners of Woman’s Hour, to mark 75 years of suffrage, in 1993.
  • Prior to the opening of the ±«Óãtv Television Service (1936), the ±«Óãtv advertised for women announcers - they were looking for special talents, but turned down those with red hair!

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