The Magic Rays of Light: The Beginning of Television - Part 1

Programme to commemorate the close-down of the television studios at Alexandra Palace in 1981.

Featuring many of the original personnel responsible for inaugurating the BBC Television Service in 1936.

Produced by the Open University who were in residence in the old studios at the time of the close-down.

Originally transmitted: 4th July 1981

Click the following links to see the other parts of this documentary:

Part 2 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oJ-6EGxo14
Part 3 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWYiYV86pFY
Part 4 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdnMIluv2yc
Part 5 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWzjr13QUwk

This film footage is from the Archive Collection held and administered by the Alexandra Palace Television Society.

http://www.apts.org.uk

~ APTS ~
Preserving the televisual past for the digital future

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Apts
• simon
• Vaughan
• bbc
• Alexandra
• palace
• television
• society
• magic
• rays
• light
• beginning
• leslie
• Mitchell
• jasmine
• bligh
• Elizabeth
• cowell
• cecil
• madden
• tony
• bridgewater
• john
• logie
• baird
• open
• university

[jsl151850b]

Now that YouTube allows longer segments, will you repost the multipart

segments as full movies?

'Magic Rays of Light

Imagine.... and then there was Television

The Discovery of Television

Thanks!!

[aptsarchive]

@jsl151850b I'm afraid it is very unlikely that previous multipart uploads to YouTube will be reposted as full programmes. The Alexandra Palace Television Society is run on a voluntary basis and does not have the resources to process material that has previously been made available via our YouTube channel.

[langley2205]

Cecil Madden was somewhat dismissive and totally inaccurate in his comments that televsion programmes had never been done before 1936. The Baird company had been doing regular broacasts from their studio in Long Acre since 1930, and paying the BBC for the use of their transmitter!

[aptsarchive]

Cecil in his comments, was referring to the fact that high-definition television (as the BBC 405-line service in 1936 was called) had never been done before - which it hadn't! And the low-definition (30-line service) was not comparable with that of the 405-line service - the production methods were totally different and likewise the results obtained!

[aptsarchive]

Glad you like the this programme and series of videos. All the parts are numbered however (after the title). On the expanded info panel each section of the programme is listed as well as being on a playlist, which is accessible from the main channel page.

[ludvan64]

@benjamin308 I see your in the UK. Well I'm from there although I now live in Israel,& am Jewish. So you know the saying "History written by the French is not the same as that written by the English". Yes German engineers share the guilt, because TV was also used by the Germans as a weapon. The Germans don't deserve the credit. They behave as good guys now, but those who know them say they've not, and will never change. Why do you think the US, UK still keep troops there. With me it's personal.

[benjamin308]

@ludvan64 Surely you must agree that denying history can be a dangerous thing to do. Also it's a little disingenuous to suggest that the German engineers and innovators who contributed to our understanding of television were Nazi murderers.

[ludvan64]

@benjamin308 On Alexandra Palace there is a plaque that says The Worlds First High Definition Television Service Was Inaugurated Here By The BBC On 2nd November 1936. Go to Wikipedia & type Alexandra Palace, & you can see it. History belongs to the victor. You want to credit a bunch of mass murdering thugs fine. I hope you enjoy your isolation.

[benjamin308]

@ludvan64 Well, he'd have been denying history if that were the case. My guess is that he was simply ignorant of the fact.

[ludvan64]

@benjamin308 So you are comparing the decent people at the BBC to NAZIS? As he said NO ONE meaning human beings, not fascists had done television before.

[benjamin308]

'In 1936 no-one in the world had done television'. He sounds so confident but you'd think being the in the industry he'd have known the Nazis had been broadcasting regularly for over a year. Am I missing something?