Timeline of the BBC


This is a timeline of the history of the BBC and its predecessor, the British Broadcasting Company.

1920s

  • 1922
  • * 18 October – The British Broadcasting Company is formed.
  • * 14 November – Following the closure of numerous amateur stations, the first BBC broadcasts from London.
  • * 15 November – First broadcasts from Birmingham and Manchester.
  • * 14 December – 33-year-old John Charles Walsham Reith becomes General Manager of the BBC.
  • * 24 December – First broadcast from Newcastle upon Tyne.
  • 1923
  • * 8 January – First outside broadcast, the British National Opera Company's production of The Magic Flute from Covent Garden.
  • * 18 January – The UK Postmaster General grants the BBC a licence to broadcast.
  • * 13 February – First broadcast from Cardiff.
  • * 6 March – First broadcast from Glasgow.
  • * 6 June – Edgar Wallace makes a report on The Derby, thus becoming the first British radio sports reporter.
  • * 28 September – First publication of the Radio Times listings magazine.
  • * 10 October – First broadcast from Aberdeen.
  • * 17 October – First broadcast from Bournemouth.
  • * 16 November – First broadcast from Sheffield.
  • * 2 December – The first BBC radio broadcast in Scottish Gaelic.
  • * 11 June – First broadcast from Liverpool.
  • * 8 July – First broadcast from Leeds and Bradford.
  • * 21 July – An experimental long-wave station is established at the Chelmsford works of the Marconi Company.
  • * 15 August – First broadcast from Kingston upon Hull.
  • * 16 September – First broadcast from Nottingham.
  • * 21 October – First broadcast from Stoke-on-Trent.
  • * 12 November – First broadcast from Dundee.
  • * 12 December – First broadcast from Swansea.
  • 1924
  • * 23 April – First broadcast by King George V, opening the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium.
  • * 27 July – Long-wave station 5XX moves from Chelmsford; Gaelic language is broadcast throughout Scotland.
  • * 15 September – First broadcast from Belfast.
  • 1925
  • * February – Heard on BBC radio since 1924, the six electronically generated 'pips' to indicate the Greenwich Time Signal were invented by the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson, and the Director General of the BBC, John Reith.
  • * 28 March – First broadcast from Plymouth.
  • * 1 May – First broadcast from Edinburgh, forerunner of the Midland Regional Programme, opens at Daventry.
  • 1928
  • *2 January – The first edition of The Daily Service is broadcast. It was originally called A Short Religious Service but was renamed The Daily Service in July.
  • *12 March – The first broadcast of the BBC Dance Orchestra, led by Jack Payne, took place, performing until disbanding in 1939.
  • 1929
  • * 20 August – First transmissions of John Logie Baird's experimental 30-line television system.
  • * 6 November – The first edition of The Week in Westminster was broadcast on the Home Service, just after the 1929 General Election.

    1930s

  • 1930
  • * 9 March – The majority of the BBC's existing radio stations are regrouped to form the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme.
  • * April – The Research Department is formed after a renaming of the Development section of the BBC.
  • * 14 July – Transmission of the first experimental television play, The Man With the Flower in His Mouth.
  • * 30 September – BBC Yearbook 1931 states that "The number of radio licences in force on September 30th, 1930, was 3,195,553, representing about 12,000,000 listeners, or roughly every second home in the country".
  • 1931
  • * 2 June – First live outside broadcast with transmission of the Epsom Derby.
  • 1932
  • * 15 March – The first radio broadcast is made from Broadcasting House.
  • * 15 May – Broadcasting House, the BBC's headquarters and home to its main radio studios, is officially opened.
  • * 22 August – The first, experimental television broadcast is made from Broadcasting House.
  • * 19 December – The Empire Service launches, broadcasting on shortwave from Daventry's Borough Hill.
  • * 25 December – King George V becomes the first monarch to deliver a Christmas Day message by radio, on the Empire Service.
  • 1933
  • * 24 May – The BBC broadcasts a speech by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald on Empire day.
  • * 28 May – South Wales Stations 5WA & 5SX get replaced by BBC Regional Programme West
  • 1934
  • * Unknown – The Type A Microphone was first used.
  • * 7 October – The new high-power long-wave transmitter at Droitwich takes over from Daventry 5XX as the main station radiating the BBC National Programme.
  • * The BBC broadcasts a Tuning Signal for the first time. It was a simple line and circle broadcast using Baird's 30-line system, and was used to synchronise the mechanical scanning system.
  • 1935
  • * The BBC establishes its first Gaelic department.
  • 1936
  • * 2 November – The BBC opens the world's first regular high-definition television service, from Alexandra Palace.
  • 1937
  • * 24 April – The very first children's television show For the Children.
  • * 12 May – First use of TV outside broadcast van, to cover the procession that followed the coronation of George VI and Elizabeth.
  • * 21 June – The BBC broadcasts television coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for the first time.
  • * 16 September – The BBC makes the world's first live television broadcast of a football match, a specially arranged local mirror match derby fixture between Arsenal and Arsenal reserves.
  • 1938
  • * 3 January – The BBC begins broadcasting its first foreign-language radio service, in Arabic.
  • * 11 February 1938 – The BBC broadcasts its first Science Fiction television programme, a thirty-five-minute adapted extract of the play R.U.R., written by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek, was broadcast live from the BBC's Alexandra Palace studios. See British television science fiction.
  • * 14 March – Inauguration of the Latin American service, broadcasting on shortwave in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
  • * 30 April – The BBC broadcasts television coverage of the FA Cup for the first time.
  • * 27 September – Start of the European Service on radio, broadcasting in French, German and Italian. Portuguese and Spanish are added before the start of the Second World War.
  • 1939
  • * Creation of BBC Monitoring
  • * 1 September – The BBC Television Service is suspended, around 20 minutes after the conclusion of a Mickey Mouse cartoon, owing to the imminent outbreak of World War II and amid fears that the VHF transmissions would act as perfect guidance beams for enemy bombers attempting to locate central London. Additionally, the service's technicians and engineers will be needed for such war efforts as the development of radar. On radio, the National and Regional Programmes are combined to form a single Home Service.
  • * 17 October – The First World Radio Broadcast, the most sensational live radio broadcast ever attempted by the BBC hit the airwaves. It took place at the RAF Hendon base in North London, in front of a specially invited audience of RAF personnel. The whole show was relayed worldwide across the airwaves, the first time a live show had ever been broadcast around the globe. The bill starred Adelaide Hall, Mantovani and His Orchestra, The Western Brothers, and Harry Roy and his Band.

    1940s

  • 1940
  • * 7 January – Start of the BBC Forces Programme on radio, precursor of the post-war Light Programme.
  • * 11 May – The BBC starts a news service in Hindi.
  • 1941
  • * The BBC European Service moves to Bush House in Central London.
  • 1942
  • *29 January – The first edition of Desert Island Discs is broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme.
  • 1943
  • *23 November – British Forces Broadcasting Service begins operation.
  • 1944
  • * 27 February – BBC General Forces Programme replaces the BBC Forces Programme.
  • 1945
  • * 29 July – Regional radio programming resumes on the Home Service, while on the same day a new Light Programme begins, using the long-wave frequency of the pre-war National Programme.
  • * 9 October – The first edition of Today in Parliament is broadcast.
  • 1946
  • * 7 June – BBC Television broadcasts resume after the war including the coverages of cricket and Wimbledon Tennis. One of the first programmes shown is the same exact Mickey Mouse cartoon from its television service suspension in 1939.
  • * 29 September – The Third Programme starts broadcasting on radio.
  • * 7 October – Woman's Hour launches, covering issues about women.
  • * October – For The Children is launched, the first ever Children block for the BBC.
  • 1947
  • * 7 October – Adelaide Hall singing at a RadiOlympia variety show is the oldest surviving telerecorded programme in Britain.
  • * 9 November – First use of telerecording of an outside broadcast: the Service of Remembrance from the Cenotaph is televised live, and a telerecording shown that evening.
  • * 20 November – The wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh is televised by the BBC. It is watched by an estimated 400,000 viewers.
  • 1948
  • * January – The first ever news program, Newsreel is launched.
  • * 29 July – The London Olympic Games is televised.
  • * 26 December – The first Reith Lecture is broadcast on radio.
  • 1949
  • * July – The revived BBC weather forecast was relaunched. The format would not change until 1954.
  • * "Briefe ohne Unterschrift" begins broadcast Austin Harrison reads and comments letters by East Germans.
  • * 17 December – For the first time television extends beyond London when the Sutton Coldfield transmitter starts broadcasting, providing television reception across the Midlands.