Attempted Start of BBC2

[@johnking5174]

One of the good things that happened was the power cut occurred at 6.30pm, right in the regional news slot, meaning all BBC One regions were broadcasting their own regional news until 6.35pm with London/SE airing their own "Town And Around" regional programme from Alexandra Palace, which meant they were not using any BBC TV Centre facilities, and it helped BBC One to remain on air.

[@quizmaster85]

Considering how (I assume) so few black-and-white BBC videotapes from the 1960s exist today, this moment itself is a rare gem in its own right.

[@andersmarklund4211]

BBC discovered the original tape quite accidentally when people were seraching through the archives. Before that they thought it didn't exist any recording of this troublesome start.

[@dunebasher1971]

There are hundreds, if not thousands of B&W tapes in the BBC archive, including many 405-line ones..

[@richardbrown1189]

Apart from the lack of dinner jacket, this absolutely has to be the inspiration for John Cleese's newsreader in Monty Python. The delivery and mannerisms are spot on!

[@markpunt9638]

What an absolute pro Gerald was - way before auto queue and all those interruptions from the gallery on the telephone not to mention the subeditor handing him wire stories. He is absolutely fluff less.😮

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

That newsreader might not win a John Cleese lookalike contest, but he'd be one of the runners-up.

[@bwc1976]

I couldn't help feeling like I was watching a comedy sketch at first!

[@brianarbenz1329]

When he bravely smiled as the phone rang at full volume, he evoked Cleese exactly.

[@MadameSomnambule]

Wild that this ended up being recorded off air all those decades ago and in such a clean state. The video quality and framerate are as smooth as butter and the sound is so crisp and clear. I'm betting this quality is close to how you'd see the broadcast if you had good enough signal with the sound quality probably being a bit lower depending on the tv you had then. It's also kinda neat to see the newsroom and the other folks behind the announcer just doing their thing as usual and the later interruptions from the phone. Feels especially human and real in a way. Even more amazing to see this since most archived BBC broadcasts that are commonly found now are from the 70s and later. (for reference, my mom was born just a year after this happened, I was born in the mid 90s, so it's always interesting for me to find tv recordings made around the time my parents and even grandparents were younger)

[@tdrury]

I highly doubt that it’s an off air recording

[@marktubeie07]

​@@tdruryCorrect - you can tell by the loss of vertical lock from the 2" quad tape used to record this everyone the signal was changed from one feed to another.

[@JeremyBryce-r5x]

You seem to know your broadcasting 'stuff.' Even if the other commenters are correct, or not

[@patrickswan4537]

Magnificent! Comedy scenarios & timing (the start of the audio) that Monty Python would be proud of; together with ultra unflappable, authoritative delivery and of course important moments in history such as Mandela in court. A stunning historical document.

[@hebneh]

6:20 - The orchestra music during the "BBC 2 Will Start Shortly" title is the song "You Are Beautiful" from the American musical stage play "Flower Drum Song".

[@johnking5174]

BBC One switched very quickly their transmission feed to Alexandra Palace. The power cut occurred at around 6.30pm with BBC 2 engineers hoping to do what BBC One had done, and get Alexandra Palace to launch the channel. It could not be arranged in time.

[@nknguyen2877]

phone call at 6:03: "Hey there, we’re going to have to repeat the summary in 1 minute. Ok? Right."

[@fazbell]

What a professional crew. I had no idea that anything like this ever happened. I thought this was a Monty Python skit, at first.

[@robinburn4974]

Now you know where Monty Python got their inspiration

[@Toothily]

BBC2: *silence* Nobody: ... BBC2: 3:00 _"stinking wogs"_ Literally the first spoken sentence on BBC2 is basically "racist keeps their job", jfc 😂

[@arthurvasey]

Less than 20 years later, Paul Coia launched Channel 4 - but not with something like that! Even the first programme was a repeat!

[@Vinyl_Dave]

So what?

[@iVenge]

and they’re still a problem today, even more so

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

Later in life, Gerald Priestland became a Quaker and worked as the BBC's religious affairs correspondent as of the 1970s. He died on 20th June 1991 aged 64.

[@brianarbenz1329]

So young.🙁He seemed in this brief clip like such a professional and easygoing person (I'm in the U.S. and this my first look at him).

[@bobacrey1068]

Surprised the bespectacled man behind him has not put a sign up saying "Hello Mum"

[@kellymarieangeljohnson114]

The piwercut was caused by a fire in an underground cable tunnel from Battersea powerstation

[@kalamaike]

they literally say in the video its a failure in a feeder at iver whats the point in lying LMAO

[@kellymarieangeljohnson114]

The powercut in 1966 on launch day was caused by a fire in a cable tunnel under the Thames the fault at the iver substation was caused by the fire loss of supply from battersea overloaded iver

[@Lab2016Productions]

@@kellymarieangeljohnson114 nice lore

[@brianarbenz1329]

The _piwercut?_ Sounds like 3.14 lost a few decimals.

[@Vinyl_Dave]

@@kellymarieangeljohnson114 Launch day was 1964.

[@johnking5174]

The telephone on the newsdesk was needed, as in 1964 there wasn't any ear pieces for news presenters to use to connect to the gallery. That would come in during the 1970s.

[@LyndonSoulGroove]

You had to have a New TV & aerial as this was 625 lines as oppose to 405 lines so many people had to wait for years to upgrade to pick up bbc 2, the old 405 system that broadcast BBC 1 & ITV was still broadcasting until 1985 when it shut down its transmitter

[@ClaudiuGAMValentin]

1964 camera better than my asus laptop camera.

[@iVenge]

almost anything is. ASUS is garbage.

[@gdplayer1035]

audio starts at 2:59 fault happens at 6:17

[@whoversubisapig]

major power failure screen starts at 12:13

[@voice.of.reason]

Phone calls in the middle of the news - brilliant!

[@neilogden]

No earpiece talk back in those days! Remember David Dimbleby on Panorama too when all the video tapes were lost?

[@bwc1976]

I can't help thinking this looks like a comedy sketch! But, they did very well given everything they were up against, and on such short notice.

[@brianarbenz1329]

It indeed had a certain John Cleese vibe to it, particularly when he bravely answered the phone.

[@MadameSomnambule]

Indeed. Hearing him cover the news of the power cut made me think "Man, I'm betting a LOT of folks were inconvenienced at that moment, not just at the BBC"

[@johnking5174]

BBC 2 based at BBC Television Centre in West London was around 10 miles west from the BBC Television News studios at Alexandra Palace in North London. This helped, as the BBC simply diverted their output to north London where the power cut was not affecting them.

[@thesmithersy]

Somehow, I don't think the BBC will be promoting what the first sentence ever broadcast audibly on BBC2 were again.....

[@jamesmt142]

It's in the BBC's Centenary documentary but the newsreaders mouth is blurred and the audio, ironically (given the 1964 sound issues!) muted.

[@edwardjones4870]

How I miss the joys of live television!

[@myrysonoyta]

Live tv still exsits

[@edwardjones4870]

@@myrysonoyta Not like the old days, alas! But I’ve got my memories!

[@batterymakermarkii2654]

Can't you hear the head engineer upon the power failure? "Well....shit..." :-P

[@dangaAgadanga]

I’m intrigued by what the high speed music was as the tape started. Given me earworm 😊

[@usvalve]

Who needs a third channel when you already have a choice of two? Next I suppose they'll be doing it in colour! :-D

[@lorddalek]

Earliest existing UK PAL tape probably. 1 was still using Marconi at the time.

[@dunebasher1971]

It's 625 lines but isn't PAL, which is a method of colour encoding. At the time this broadcast happened, it had still not been decided which colour system the UK would use - that didn't happen until 3rd March 1966, when PAL was officially adopted for UK colour TV broadcasting, to start in summer 1967.

[@bobsmithy9024]

Glorious moment in broadcasting history. What a cockup!

[@nicadair7700]

Typical BBC.

[@terrybrett467]

No it wasn't a cock up. The power outage affected the whole area including Hammersmith.

[@wossisname4540]

@@terrybrett467 Thank you -- no fault of the BBC at all; in fact they rallied round and kept going.

[@glpilpi6209]

I may be wrong but I believe BBC2 had broadcast short trade test films for several weeks before the launch night so that dealer's could check the reception of the new UHF/VHF sets and aerials.

[@johnhead1643]

Yes that's correct and in fact trade test colour films continued through to August 24th 1973

[@terrybrett467]

@@johnhead1643 you might be mixing up the launch of colour in 1967 with the launch of BBC2 625 lines in monochrome.

[@intothevoid5074]

12:13 MAJOR POWER FAILURE

[@CarlLovesAviation]

The music: I DIDN'T EVEN STARTED YET-

[@gab_v250]

This feels like one of those mock "emergency services" on youtube

[@turboslag]

What an absolute gem! Such simple clean professionlism, and so spontaneous. Personally, I would quite happily watch news delivered like this now. All this excessive presentation with massively overpaid presenters is utterly unnecessary. If only the BBC could go back to their core raison d'etre.

[@johnsdoings]

to be fair 'serious thought and readings' are worthwhile..

[@syferdet]

6:13 What I was hoping for: (looks into camera) We are going to repeat this news summary in one minute... only with a higher pitched voice.

[@johnking5174]

10:15 - also in 1964 no shops were open on a Sunday in Britain. Only smaller corner shops and newsagents would be open. More draconian was Northern Ireland, where unlike England, no cinemas or bars were allowed open there until the late 1980s. Only in 1994 did Sunday trading for big stores was allowed.

[@eliaschannel2008]

4:34 Emergency Call from BBC 1 Miraculous 4:51 Trying again

[@user-ox7pb5us5g]

what did they say? what's so important to update a live broadcast, but doesn't affect the broadcast. were they telling him to go off the air for a break?

[@DavidEsp1]

Aplomb with a plum ("free byah") - easy on the ear, and no garish bright candy-colours

[@anonUK]

No colours at all for 3 years 2 months 11 days.

[@theBunyaritmalicharnshow]

Live from studio A 7:21 Bbc two breakdown due to power failure from television centre for west London 12:03 we go back to programme

[@terrybrett467]

It is easy to mock from afar. Playschool was the first actual BBC2 transmission the next day.

[@mubd1234]

Awesome quality!

[@duncanpriestley964]

He even looks like John Cleese.

[@MrThecarebear]

Ironic. I am convinced that because Gerald Priestland was a dead ringer for John Cleese, this behind the desk footage was the inspiration for Monty Python's "And Now For Something Completely Different" announcement scenes where Cleese, like Priestland, is sitting behind a desk.

[@hebneh]

Yes - and the first time the phone rang and he answered it, I thought that everything about this really looked and sounded like a comedy sketch. I was half-expecting him to make some really outlandish statement prefaced by "I've just been informed that...", but with a totally straight face.

[@ixlnxs]

Since this was 1964, I'd rather say that John Cleese later looked like him, was made to look like him, or chosen for the skits because of his resemblance to him.

[@brianarbenz1329]

@@MrThecarebear When he smiles as he answers the phone, I can hear, "I told you once, I can't go on arguing until you pay."

[@herschell64]

At least it caused Play School to be the first proper broadcast program on BBC 2, I think it was meant to be

[@RTWuk]

*programme for TV in British English

[@johnking5174]

10:15 - This archaic view of Sunday was the reason why both BBC and ITV were regulated to always air a Sunday morning live church service, a lot of adult educational programming and 70 minutes of closed programming from 6.15pm to 7.25pm where only religious programming could air on television. Added to that, the regulation that "general entertainment should not start before 3pm, but 2.30pm at the earliest was allowed. Given the fact that BBC and ITV were allowed just 7.5 hours of general entertainment on a Sunday, these ancient ideas of Sunday was still in force in 1964 Britain.

[@Koltyn2009]

6:02 someone is calling him before BBC 2 will start shortly sign popped up

[@eliaschannel2008]

11:52 Last words of Gerald Priestland before the end of the Aborted Launch Announcement of BBC 2 Miraculous

[@PamMartinez-vd1hr]

60 years ago when BBC 2 was launched

[@eliaschannel2008]

6:02 Final BBC 1 Miraculous Call before the end of the Aborted Launch Announcement of BBC 2 Miraculous

[@MrThecarebear]

For the first few moments, Gerald Priestland is rather like Gerry Adams circa 1991.

[@uncled39]

A terrorist?

[@paulwalker9014]

Brilliant audition for Monty Python.

[@davedobbin]

There had been months of advertising, including the use/sale of two 'cartoon' characters - Hullabaloo and Custard. These were a kangaroo (Hullabaloo) with a joey (Custard) in her pouch. Despite this, the BBC got more news coverage for the new channel from its failure to start. BBC was the first national channel to broadcast in 625 lines, rather than the 405 lines that had been used previously so was in a higher definition, although still transmitting in monochrome. One of the programmes planned for the launch evening was a firework display from Southend Pier which, to me, was strange because a colourful display could only be seen in black and white! They just shifted the launch programme schedule to the following evening.

[@AEIOUY234689]

Of the actual opening night, we only have a few seconds of the beginning, a few seconds of the end and 2.5 minutes of the parody by Rowan Atkinson.

[@trevormillar1576]

Apparently Tony Benn was apprehended in Television Centre with an oily rag and matches crying "Ruined! Ruined!", trying to burn the place down because of the humiliation.

[@thesmithersy]

He always was a little nuts

[@uncled39]

Really?

[@trevormillar1576]

Well, that's how it was reported in Private Eye.

[@rtc9063]

Nearly as bad as the opening of RTE2 in Ireland. They were seeing the countdown of the launch of a second channel but the audio was from BBC 2 and some punk rock band on the Old Grey Whistle Test - way to go RTE!

[@pdtech4524]

You can tell all the budget went on set design, wardrobe, that fancy low profile typewriter, phone and scene 'extras' in the background. They forgot to purchase a microphone. I like the power failure announcement, surely that nobody would hear as their TV would not be working⚠️😲😳😁

[@richardlitwin4046]

I think the typewriter is an Olivetti Lettera 22.

[@97channel]

In all of world TV history, there surely cannot be a more unfortunate line to have opened a channel with.

[@voice.of.reason]

Nothing unfortunate about it at all, he was stating facts and only now do people get so easily offended.

[@97channel]

Well, it clearly isn't the case that people are only offended by it now. Because it caused offence back then, that's why it made the national news. But that's not the point I was making. The planned opening was to be a spectacular of performance, art, and fireworks. Instead, it ended up being a bloke saying that. The timing of the sound cutting in, the circumstances with which it occurred. It was unfortunate.

[@j.vonhogen9650]

​@@97channel- On the contrary, I would say! This is exactly the kind of impromptu news broadcast that made TV such an effective, popular and influential mass medium in the early 1960s, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy just one year earlier. Showing fireworks in black and white would have done nothing to the popularity of the channel. On the other hand, a widespread power outage on day one was just what the brand new news channel needed.

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

This looks and sounds like a VT copy rather than a kinescope/telereording. I thought videotape was supposed to be too expensive to preserve. Unless it's been Vid FIREd - but why?

[@videoguru344]

Yes, it’s a video recording (or ‘Magnetic Telerecording’ as the recording reports used to describe them then. The spool was discovered in 2003 in the tape store of BBC R&D at Kingswood Warren, where it had been recorded off-air in 1964.

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

@@videoguru344 i recall they found a pile of about a dozen 405 line VTs in a cupboard in 1986 and various stuff such as the first episode of the Newcomers and the surviving episodes of Compact come from that. They should have included some clips in the VidFIRE docu with The Tomb Of The Cybermen DVD to show how VidFIRE compares to real 405VT.

[@robfriedrich2822]

​@@kurtvanderbogarde8402Was the recorder running slower or did it simply drop the lines?

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

@@robfriedrich2822 Neither. Everything would have been recorded with equipment specific to the picture format, be it 405 or 625.

[@johnsdoings]

gem

[@bluefrogTV_]

Did it ever "start shortly"?

[@MrIveyIsBonkers]

Programmes were postponed until the next morning, and it launched April 21st at 11:00.

[@denelson83]

@@MrIveyIsBonkers With the programme "Play School".

[@brianarbenz1329]

An inauspicious start, but a valiant start!

[@trevormillar1576]

"And now for something completely different ". Organ plays chord. "IT'S......!" Ding! (John Philip Souza's "Liberty Bell" plays).

[@DeTrOiTXX12]

This is good stuff!

[@folasadegiwa6305]

thank so much good blessing you todary anm

[@folasadegiwa6305]

thank so mich good blessing you todary am

[@johnanth]

4:16 disaster in motion. I wonder if that happened on BBC 1 as well, where someone would pass the paper live during the show.

[@johnking5174]

Most certainly not - remember this bulletin was produced in the newsroom using a 625 line camera. The main BBC Television news studio was using a 405 line camera, and was based in a separate studio, adjacent to the newsroom, so you never saw the news staff in vision.

[@eliaschannel2008]

12:12 When Marinette looks different than her appearance on her main series... Boom! Signal Interruption

[@alexwells6876]

9:47 nose pick on the left

[@moretoknowshow1887]

That phone, live on air, still makes me laugh!

[@dwho19951]

I believe that the news was the first BBC2 programme

[@thespanishfanboy5848]

12:13 Major Power Failure

[@whoversubisapig]

MAJOR POWER FAILIURE

[@PandoraS-zt1nv]

0:00 WHAT IS THAT MUSIC

[@timecapsule.]

Thos is great historical footage.

[@jamesmt142]

A racist slur the first thing heard on BBC Two. How very 1964.

[@janinefarnell8570]

From a Yorkshire bus conductress.

[@chetapace79]

2:58 is when you can start to hear him

[@christopherwilliams2093]

60 years tomorrow, in fact!!!!

[@dariowiter3078]

God, what a strange newscast! 😕

[@richardlitwin4046]

It's like the news broadcasts on Radio South Africa in the early 90s.

[@David-h4z2s]

Amazing Stuff🇬🇧👍

[@BrisbaneYouTube]

12:13 why wasn't this broadcast earlier?

[@yorkshireball_animations]

I’m assuming that it took a while to find the right slide

[@BrisbaneYouTube]

@@yorkshireball_animations aw shucks

[@paulwheeler4283]

The person who kept ringing him would have been sacked nowadays

[@jasondarcy4089]

this was quite common back then

[@BBC600]

@@jasondarcy4089 I don't know why though but I find it amusing. That and how at the end of the repeated bulletin he turns and asks if there's anything else. Never see TV like this again. Although, yesterday I was watching Sky and a reporter broke into a report with "breaking news" and couldn't figure out initially which camera to look at. She remarked "which camera am I supposed to look at?" Goes to show that news presenters are human too.

[@itskdog]

Nowadays they'd use the earpiece. Tech hadn't reached the point where they could do that, so a telephone was the best solution.

[@uncled39]

The Beatles have been burgled

[@Zombiemc534]

12:24 BBC2 goes haywire for a second

[@johnking5174]

The Ally Pally studios in 1964 weren't great, as BBC Television Centre was their big HQ but of course without power Ally Pally had to cope, and they did the best they could, but their equipment was not great

[@melissahealy1950]

they mentioned just after the audio came on that a bus driver who got sacked for being racist was re-hired that would never happen today

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

10:13 These days, of course, they'd just kick her out of the union.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

There wouldn't be a union for her to be kicked out of anymore, thanks to Thatcherism decimating the trade union movement.

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

@@TheKnobCalledTone. There's still Unite and Unison. Most unions have merged to form mega unions.

[@Vinyl_Dave]

Is that all you remember out of 15 minutes? Why is everyone banging on about that. We didn't like so many Pakis 'invading' this country in those days.

[@WRCSeb]

9:50 it’s mad this happened in’64

[@doublebanana-de3dt]

9:43 Nelson Mandela in court 1964!

[@eliaschannel2008]

12:30 They got crazy and mad!

[@alexius_1]

creppy moments: 0:01 & 12:30

[@dwho19951]

But this was live on air

[@johnking5174]

Yes, live on air, to those lucky few who spent a fortune in upgrading their aerial and TV set to get BBC 2 and only then those living in London and the south east

[@eliaschannel2008]

7:19 Aborted Launch Announcement of BBC 2 Miraculous

[@tdrury]

How did you find this?

[@bigredsock1]

Was BBC1 also blacked out that evening?

[@RyanGonTV]

I don’t think so. I believe Alexandra Palace took over from TVC

[@bigredsock1]

@@RyanGonTV Thank you for that. Good old Ally Pally to the rescue!

[@RyanGonTV]

@@bigredsock1 Yep, It was Ally Pally to the rescue!

[@johnking5174]

BBC One switched very quickly their transmission feed to Alexandra Palace. The power cut occurred at around 6.30pm with BBC 2 engineers hoping to do what BBC One had done, and get Alexandra Palace to launch the channel. It could not be arranged in time.

[@johnking5174]

One of the good things that happened was the power cut occurred at 6.30pm, right in the regional news slot, meaning all BBC One regions were broadcasting their own regional news until 6.35pm with London/SE airing their own "Town And Around" regional programme from Alexandra Palace, which meant they were not using any BBC TV Centre facilities, and it helped BBC One to remain on air.

[@dwho19951]

What should've happened if someone were hurt when an airliner got struck by lightning 🌩 So I history is altered, then someone would've got hurt when all airliners got struck by lightning 🌩

[@julianaylor4351]

Monty Python couldn't have done better. 😁❤️ Edward became the Earl of Wessex. 😁 Having £200 stolen was the equivalent of having £10,000 now. My late mother collected Green Shield Stamps until they were discontinued. The service on the Central Line that was as normal that night. 😆 That bus conductress would be sacked, fined and disgraced today, but we don't have bus conducters anymore, who sold bus tickets, due to contactless payment cards.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

Twitter would've cancelled that lady, for sure.

[@ixlnxs]

I'm not in favoring of sacking, fining, disgracing and "cancelling" everyone over such a thing. To lose one's patience occasionally is human. I myself have been called very rude slurs by, among others, Britons of Pakistani descent, particularly as a teen, and I'm sure that helped make me a polite young man more than any of the rod-sparing soft love of all those bleeding-heart liberals who didn't dare speak up against a tall, muscular teenager because I happened to be of Arab and Persian descent and they were afraid to be seen as racist.

[@bwc1976]

Chemists also had their salaries raised by a little over £200 a year, which made me wonder if the person who stole that amount from the Beatles was a disgruntled chemist. :)

[@GryphLane]

​​@@ixlnxsYes but being as racist as that is unacceptable in any walk of life. I'd rather be a 'bleeding heart' liberal than someone like you. And I fail to see why anyone else wouldn't either.

[@GryphLane]

​@@TheKnobCalledTone.Twitter would have celebrated her as a hero while the Pakistani would get banned for trying to defend themselves. That's how it really works these days.

[@heart_of_a_daedra3649]

Why did the presenters talk so posh back then?

[@johnking5174]

RP received pronunciation was the standard accent for BBC News and continuity announcers back then.

[@courtneyhanson6228]

This is Super Creepy

[@j0hnf_uk]

Speak up a bit, mate, I can't hear you... 😁

[@jessebarlow1277]

11:23

[@elhasmusic]

I'm rather impressed how they lined up the board with the logo on it to be right at the edge of the frame.

[@CarlLovesAviation]

0:00 wth

[@Vinyl_Dave]

Mistracking videotape. Wonderful that it recorded as well as it did! And even more wonderful that the tape survived the B.B.C. culling about 1970! They decided, in their infinite stupidity, that no black/white television would ever be worth repeating.

[@Sheffield_Steve]

If those labourers were caught helping themselves to the beer nowadays, they would be sacked & replaced. Certainly not given time to get over their hangovers! 🤭🤣