Gerald Cock Gerald Cock ( 1887 – 10 November 1973 ) was a British broadcasting executive , who initially worked for BBC Radio , before being made the Corporation ’ s very first Director of Television , in effect the very first Controller of the television channel initially known as the BBC Television Service but later renamed BBC1 . After being educated at Tonbridge School and Seafield Park , Cock left the UK in 1909 to travel around North America . He went to British Columbia , the United States and Mexico , working variously in such jobs as a rancher , a gold miner and even as an extra in Hollywood films , before in 1915 returning to the UK due to the First World War . Cock joined the Royal Engineers and served in France and later Belgium , being promoted to the rank of Captain in 1917 . He left the army in 1920 and worked in various jobs in London , before joining the newly formed British Broadcasting Company ( later Corporation ) . As the BBC began to extend its radio service throughout the country and provide a greater scope and variety of programmes , Cock was appointed as its first Director of Outside Broadcasts in 1925 . He organised several new and ambitious events , such as the coverage of live sporting events and the increasing competition with the newspapers for coverage of important news , as well as encouraging the development of new techniques and technologies . In 1935 , possibly because of his enthusiasm for new broadcasting techniques , Cock was asked if he would like to become the BBC ’ s Director of Television , as the Corporation was planning to introduce a new regular service using this medium the following year . Cock accepted , and this placed him charge of establishing the world ’ s very first regular high - definition television service from scratch . Based at the BBC ’ s new television studios in a specially converted section of Alexandra Palace in London , Cock and his team thought that they had several months to learn about what making television would involve before the planned launch in November 1936 , but soon after the initial meeting he was informed that programmes would be required for the Radiolympia exhibition in August , which was then only ten days away . Despite the tight schedule , Cock and his team were able to prepare several sample programmes , and the Radiolympia event was a great success in advertising the potential of the new medium and encouraging the audience to purchase sets in the run - up to the launch proper . On 2 November 1936 that launch took place , the new television service broadcasting in theory only within a twenty - five mile radius of Alexandra Palace , although in practice the transmissions could be picked up a good deal further afield than this . Initially two competing technical systems , the Marconi 405 - line and the Baird 210 - line intermediate film system , were used in alternate weeks , but the Marconi system was vastly superior and Baird ’ s was quickly abandoned . Cock oversaw an increasingly ambitions programme of scheduling including various variety shows , the popular magazine programme " Picture Page " , and an increasingly varied number of dramas . These achievements are all the more impressive when it is considered that , apart from a couple of demonstration films and some newsreels , everything had to be transmitted live as at the time no broadcast - quality format existed for the recording of television programmes . Cock also made impressive forays into outside broadcasts , including coverage on 12 May 1937 of the coronation parade of King George VI , which used every single camera the television service had available and a huge length of cable to relay the pictures back to Alexandra Palace for broadcast . He also established the coverage of prominent sporting events , including the first ever televising of Wimbledon ( 21 June 1937 ) , the Boat Race ( 2 April 1938 ) , the FA Cup Final ( 30 April 1938 ) and test match cricket ( 24 June 1938 ) . Major live news events also began to be covered – BBC television cameras were present when Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich to deliver his infamous “ peace in our time ” speech in October 1938 . This increasingly varied and ambitious schedule put together by Cock and his small but inventive team of producers meant that television very quickly grew in popularity , despite at the time being an expensive luxury limited to the London area . By September 1939 there were estimated to be 25 , 000 television sets in use – however , that month also saw the BBC Television Service unceremoniously shut down by the government for the duration of the war , following the broadcasting of a Mickey Mouse cartoon on 1 September , two days before hostilities commenced . There were two main reasons for this – the first and principal reason was the fear that German bombers could use the VHF transmission waves of television as a perfect guiding beam for homing into the centre of London . However , there was also a great need for many of the technical and engineering staff of the service to be used on war efforts such as the RADAR programme , and so the young BBC Television Service was blacked - out until 1946 . During the war , with no television service to run , Cock was appointed as the North American representative of the BBC in New York from 1940 to 1941 , and then later from 1942 to 1945 was the Corporation ’ s Pacific Coast representative , working in California . While in the USA he took the opportunity of seeing the developments made in television broadcasting by the new American broadcasters , compiling a report upon his return home to the UK entitled “ Report on the Conditions For a Post - War Television Service . ” Although this report was very important in helping to re - establish the BBC Television Service in 1946 , Cock did not return to control it . Instead he had retired , as he was in poor health , although he went on to live in retirement until his death in 1973 .