please empty your brain below
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The BBC as an institution, and it's myriad output and global reach, has been a constant daily companion throughout my life.
It is one of a few things that make me feel genuinely proud to be British.
Long may it continue to inform, educate and entertain us, and to broadcast across the world.
Frank F | 18.10.22 - 5:45 a.m. | #
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Couple of corrections for New Broadcasting House (from somebody who works here!) - Radio 1 is actually in the main part of the building on the top floor, and not on the bit on the right while Radio 2 is in a separate building (Wogan House) across the way; the part of BH above The One Show studio (which, incidentally, was the studio that some of the coverage of HM's funeral came from!) is _generally_ for some of the international/foreign language news output.
Also - it's a Cafe Nero not a Pret.
And W1A was more realistic than some would like to admit...
dg writes: Sorry, it's a very unbranded Caffè Nero. Updated, thanks.
AnonyBBC | 18.10.22 - 7:25 a.m. | #
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4p an hour is a bargain. But. My own BBC consumption probably peaked in the late 90s and might have been 9 or 10 hours a day across all platforms, and it was a bargain. Today it won’t be 9 or 10 hours a month, maybe not even half that.
A lot of the world has moved on but the BBC tax hasn’t. I used to value the license fee. Today I resent it.
Jim | 18.10.22 - 7:36 a.m. | #
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Do not forget the BBC World service which was for a long time at Bush House.
dg writes: full history here.
John | 18.10.22 - 8:13 a.m. | #
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Yeah, I was surprised you didn't mention Bush House which was even more long-lived than TVC. But perhaps it's more famous to the "foreigners".
Anonymous | 18.10.22 - 8:31 a.m. | #
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Note that for the past ten years or so the IEE is now the IET - Institution of Engineering and Technology as they expanded their fields.
Excellent summary and you are well visited in these places. I have beat you though with the IET, been inside Savoy Place and Savoy Hill quite a few times, and after their refurb it is indeed superb inside.
dg writes: I've been in too.
davews | 18.10.22 - 8:40 a.m. | #
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Whether we like it or not th BBC has made modern Britain what it is. It has brought us together in times of strife or distress and of national joy. It celebrates us abroad. The licence fee is still a bargain although I recognise the problems people have with it. Its interesting that the very first attempts to charge for the service were sidelined - nothing changes.
If/when the BBC goes under we will all miss it and our benign Auntie
John G | 18.10.22 - 9:12 a.m. | #
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Interestingly in a world of rapidly changing technology the broadcast system used by 2LO, an AM signal on MW or LW is still in use today, although probably not for much longer as there is now a policy of closing down AM radio, manly as no one listens on AM anymore.
I have a radio in my home which was made in 1935 and still works, maybe today I should switch it on and put Radio 4 Long wave on, -while it is still there.
John | 18.10.22 - 9:27 a.m. | #
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How interesting that three of the companies in that original consortium went on to be major players in the manufacture of electric street lighting.
cau1khead | 18.10.22 - 9:38 a.m. | #
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Obviously several people have mentioned Bus House, a building I worked in between 2000 and 2004. But you'd be amazed (and find it very difficult!) to list all the buildings the BBC's occupied in London over the years! Ealing Studios and the Shepherds Bush Empire being just two more.
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 18.10.22 - 9:44 a.m. | #
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The second link at the bottom of the post is to a list of BBC buildings, many in London.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.10.22 - 9:53 a.m. | #
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The key story here is the revelation that one of our beloved forecasters wears a toupée!
Dan | 18.10.22 - 10:05 a.m. | #
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I would have loved to have worked in BBC TV Centre in its heyday, as it was a self contained palace of TV production, where the studios would film everything from costume dramas to Blue Peter, Top of the Pops to Doctor Who. The TV equivalent of the golden years of Hollywood.
Even without the financial pressures (and the move of some departments to Salford), things were changing though. Modern cameras make location filming so much easier, so rather than create an interior in a studio, you can film in a real building. And if you have an ongoing drama, rather than putting up a set in Studio 3 every week then taking it down, you build a permanent set in dedicated studios.
Mikey C | 18.10.22 - 10:17 a.m. | #
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For the balanced approach, I love it when politicians of both left and right, call for the BBC to reined-in or broken up.
Politicians as a rule hate to be criticized, challenged or brought down a rung or two.
That probably means the Beeb are generally getting it 'right'!
Dave | 18.10.22 - 10:36 a.m. | #
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I subscribe to the BBC Witness podcasts and while not initially, they now come with commercial advertising.
For all the complaints I hear, the BBC is a wonderful institution and the world would a poorer place without it.
There is heavy advertising here in Australia at the moment for Britbox, a joint venture between BBC and ITV. At $2 a week, we subscribed a couple of years ago.
Andrew | Homepage | 18.10.22 - 11:26 a.m. | #
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It's interesting that the BBC seems to only start celebrating its own centenary on Saturday - nothing (that I can see) in this week's Radio Times, but next week's (which has just come through the letter box) shows several interesting-sounding programmes.
Blue Witch | 18.10.22 - 2:28 p.m. | #
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I believe The One Show is normally live rather than recorded in the studio you mention.
Peter | 18.10.22 - 4:49 p.m. | #
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Went to Broadcasting House for the first time on Saturday for the recording of Just a Minute (first live studio audience since Covid apparently). It was a great experience.
H SE18 | 18.10.22 - 4:58 p.m. | #
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I've added a photo of Marconi House, in case you wondered what it looks like 100 years later.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.10.22 - 5:14 p.m. | #
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A quick search online for the pre war BBC Handbooks / Year Books will turn up the absolute best description of the early years of the BBC. They started being published in 1928 but have great retrospective articles about working in Marconi house, Savoy Hill etc. Very informally written, almost chatty, and give a great sense of what working at the BBC in the early days were like. Far better reads than any of the more serious histories.
The full copy scans of the early issues of Radio Times at BBC Genome also give a great sense of the early days of broadcasting.
jmc | 18.10.22 - 5:19 p.m. | #
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A quick plug for Paul Kerensa's excellent podcast and stand-up show celebrating 100 years of the Beeb.
Andrew S | 18.10.22 - 5:34 p.m. | #
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Happy Century Beeb!
For all that the government promotes itself at being the patriotic party, they seem hell-bent on closing down our National Treasures!
Cornish Cockney | 19.10.22 - 10:01 a.m. | #
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Super summary, thanks.
Don't think we didn't notice that you'd recorded at Maida Vale. Is that in addition to your appearance on, I think, Radio 4 before the Olympics?
Lux | 19.10.22 - 4:28 p.m. | #
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