BBC 1 Closedown

[Glenn1967ful]

Very BBC closedown, well spoken announcer followed by a particularly strident version of God Save the Queen. Makes you want to stand to attention.

[Kinopolus]

music creepy

[games4356]

'Get of you boring basterd weve heard better jokes than the speaking clock'.

[JFredUK]

'And, don't forget to unplug your set.'

Why?

'Because it'll blow up, you silly boy.'

'Great!'

[Shawnee1970]

whos the announcer?

[JHollowayNetwork]

That is from 6th September 1981.

[outofthegreenmist]

Ah, those were the days. When you turned the TV off, the picture would gradually shrink to a small dot.

[capsule35]

Goodnight.

[ajlusted]

Ah, sweet memories. TV is dead to me now, without closedown, transmitter info at startup, ceefax, etc etc :(

[eddiewillers1]

Aaaahh! How it used to be done!

The Mexican National Anthem is played on all terrestrial radio & TV stations here at the stroke of midnight - even as it interrupts scheduling.

[skunkhead2006]

no sex please were BRITISH sort of voice,,,,,,oh and fuck the national antham fuck the royal family

[RobotwarsKing]

@skunkhead2006

So why the hell are you watching this then?

[mramo]

im not british, but they should play the national anthem on all british channels every closedown & opening of a channel.

[Glenn1967ful]

The BBC, which is the British Broadcasting Corporation after all, should still play the national anthem before they hand over to News 24. In countries like Thailand the national anthem is still played on all the networks. I also regret the end of BBC English and this obsession with multiculturalism

[Sadministrator]

Thailand which at the moment has one of the worst human rights records in the world you mean, @Glenn1967ful?

May I kindly suggest that if your disdain for multiculturalism is real the first thing you should do is smash up your router which connects you to the world wide web and then fuck off.

[neddonovan]

@Glenn1967ful Radio 4 plays it every night at 1am after the shipping forecast

[madcapoperator]

@Glenn1967ful BBC english died in the 1960s as regional accents crept in, not 'multiculturalism'

[bigcherry99]

@madcapoperator actually regional accents have been dying over the past 20 years because regional televison and regional radio is dying

.

not sure what thats got to do with multiculturalism though

[eclectica1]

@Glenn1967ful Hope your BNP subs aren't too expensive.

[gallafey]

I miss those days the days when good ole US inports were on at a proper time and not in the stupid time like 4 am whan ITV re-ran Airwolf, they could have shown it in the aternoon but no

[Glenn1967ful]

Oji

It was of its time and was made redundant when BBC1 went 24/7. However, ITV1 sort of closes down at 3am when they go over to ITV Nightscreen where some muzak plays over a caption of a popular show and a comment saying Remember to Watch Emmerdale at 7pm.

[wolfschmidt11]

exploder76 is an expert to remember all BBc videos we've seen before,welcome to the youtube website,exploder76

[Glenn1967ful]

I had to stand up at my grandparents' house when the national anthem came on BBC1 at the end of the day's programmes. Tyne Tees actually went one better and used photos of the queen while the national anthem was playing.

[outofthegreenmist]

@Glenn1967ful I'm sure the BBC used to show scenes from the trooping of the colour as well, or was that at the local cinema? I don't think they do that anymore, either.

[LadyMezzo]

@outofthegreenmist Thank god - someone else who remembers that. I thought I was going loopy. A picture of the Queen on horseback, yeah? In uniform?

[outofthegreenmist]

@LadyMezzo Yep, that's it! Maybe we're both 'going loopy'!

[itvhearts]

september 5 1981

[Ccmcr1]

If you ask me, getting rid of the closedown was the worst thing they ever did, along with keeping pubs open all night.

Back then, you had to go to bed at night cos' there was nothing to stay up for.

Now, with 24-hour TV, Internet chat rooms etc, youngsters stay up all night, disturbing everyone and getting up to no good!

[drexen]

Right!! I have to say, it was far better back in our day. When any youngster of working age (5) was up the chimneys or in the wool factory or down the pit earning a decent living and having respect for his elders thrashed into him with the good old leather belt. If you're tall enough to put bread on a table, you're old enough to put bread on the table, that's what I say!! Now we've got all this computer nonsense! TVs!! And those infernal, noisy, smelly contraptions -- combustion engines!! BAH!!!

[ojideagu]

LOL good one. Cue the Hovis music.

Reminds me of the monty Python sketch. Its still true today how people hark on about the past in rose tinted tartan pajamas.

[outofthegreenmist]

@drexen You may scoff, but with only three channels and almost no VCR's, there seemed to be lots of quality dramas, documentaries, comedies, etc., to keep people entertained; many of these programmes have become classics in popular memory in a way in which it is difficult to imagine the programmes of a more cynical age ever becoming. We have unimaginable choice today, but have we exchanged quality for quantity and shadows for substance?

[ojideagu]

Tough thats the 21st century its a 24-7 world now. Although I agree we dO need downtime and plenty of sleep.

[chimpyjet]

Agreed. Right now I'm on YouTube at 3AM. Why? Because my 17 year old mind can't stand the thought of sleeping when there's so many exciting things to see.

[cohaagendesu]

@Ccmcr1 HUMBUG

[breizhcatalonia1993]

@Ccmcr1 lol...... i am a youngster and i not stay up all night :P

[eclectica1]

@Ccmcr1 Ah, progress...what a devil...

[Azzo5000]

@Ccmcr1 Thats not JUST youngsters who are getting up to no good though is it, many adults are too! I wish they still had the closedown, it would at least subconciously remind us that there is no point in staying up late!

[fireblade929]

I bet the do gooders in this country would say you couldnt play the national anthem anymore now incase we might offend some people, there is no Great in Britain no more.

[pookerville]

And I probably remember the voice from the 1962 BBC 2 closedown.

[AidanLunn]

1962? BBC2 was launched in 1964

[exploder76]

Time: 1:02 a.m.

Date of Closedown: Possibly Sept. 5 or 6, 1981

Announcer: Martin King

When BBC1 Writing was changed into stripy on Sept. 5, 1981, they used this mechanical clock until Dec. 1981, when a digitalized clock was introduced.

[caturn88]

The BBC use this click facia on their website right now (oct 2008) refresh

[jsmall147]

this was at the time when they only recently changed the ident but the colour scheme was a bit wrong (learnt from TV-ARK)

[carbondabest]

What else did you expect? The National Anthem as always....

[allenjeremy]

This closedown I think is from September 1981 as it is the first day of the twin lined 'BBC1' caption on the globe & clock.

[treffynnon19]

How ironic that Martin King mentions the Peter Marshall show on Radio 2. Of course, Peter was regularly seen on ITV announcing for Thames, Ulster, HTV West, ATV etc...

[Perranporth]

Peter Marshall was an absolute icon of 70s and early 80s television. Is he on YouTube anywhere?

[treffynnon19]

Plenty of PM around - especially of his Thames continuity work.

[Perranporth]

Yes, I've managed to find him thanks.

[sppider77]

and the legendary Martin King announcing here

[cwilliams1976]

I think that the reason for the rather rushed closedown is because at the time the unions and the BBC were quite worried that everyone would be paid overtime if everyone was one minute over.

[bidanton]

This is a BBC1 closedown from 1981-the clock has a circle in it, whereas the later version of it had a dot in the centre. Thanks though for the clip-it's nice to see how Closedowns used to be!

[mubd1234]

Yes. The later one was electronic as well.

[rtkiscool]

A conversation lol its just sumin general lol