Key Moments in 1930s Television

The invention of the television was the work of many individuals in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Individuals and corporations competed in various parts of the world to deliver a device that superseded previous technology. Many were compelled to capitalise on the invention and make profit, while some wanted to change the world through visual and audio communication technology.

...***Key Moments in 1920s Television***

###  The 1930s

By 1936, there were approximately 2,000 televisions worldwide. By the end of 1937, 2,121 television sets had been sold in England. A year later, this number had grown to 9,315 and before manufacture stops for World War II, this had more than doubled to 18,999.

### 1930

#### March 14: Simultaneous transmission of sound and vision

Simultaneous sound-and-vision 30-line television transmissions are made possible by a new transmitter (Brookman’s Park). blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk

#### March 31: First Prime Minister with a television

John Logie Baird installs a television receiver at Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald's residence in London.

#### July 14: The Man with a Flower in his Mouth

First British television drama: Pirandello’s The Man with a Flower in his Mouth. blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk

### 1931

#### March 31: Formation of EMI

The Gramophone Company (HMV) and Columbia Graphophone Company merge to form a new company, Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI).

#### June 3: First outdoor broadcast

John Logie Baird makes the first outdoor remote broadcast, of The Derby. This was repeated on June 1, 1932. epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk; bairdtelevision.com

### 1932

#### April 29

John Logie Baird demonstrates ultra-short wave television. teletronic.co.uk

Baird's mechanical system reached a peak of 240 lines of resolution on BBC television broadcasts in 1936, though the mechanical system did not scan the televised scene directly. Instead, a 17.5mm film was shot, rapidly developed and then scanned while the film was still wet.

#### August 22

The BBC takes over programme-making for the 30-line television service. blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk

### 1933

#### June 26: The "Iconoscope"

RCA introduces an improved camera tube that relies on Hungarian engineer Kálmán Tihanyi's charge storage principle. Dubbed the Iconoscope by Zworykin, the new tube had a light sensitivity of about 75,000 lux. This small tube could amplify a signal reportedly to the 60th power or better and showed great promise in all fields of electronics. nytimes.com

### 1934

#### March 31

The agreement for joint experimental transmissions by the BBC and John Logie Baird's company comes to an end.

#### August 25: First public demonstration of all-electronic television

Philo Farnsworth gives the world's first public demonstration of an all-electronic television system, using a live camera, at the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia.

### 1935

#### September 11

Final transmission of John Logie Baird’s 30-line television system by the BBC. The BBC begins preparations for a regular high definition broadcasting service from Alexandra Palace.

### 1936

#### November 2: The world's first regular high-definition television service

In Britain the EMI engineering team led by Isaac Shoenberg applied in 1932 for a patent for a new device they dubbed "the Emitron", which formed the heart of the cameras they designed for the BBC. A 405-line broadcasting service employing the Emitron begins at studios in Alexandra Palace, transmitted from a specially built mast atop one of the Victorian building's towers. It alternated for a short time with Baird's mechanical system in adjoining studios, but was more reliable and visibly superior. This was the world's first regular high-definition television service.

The BBC Television Service begins broadcasting from 3pm.

#### November

BBC television attempts the first televised weather forecasts, with simple hand drawn maps and symbols.

### 1937

#### February 6

The BBC Television Service drops the Baird system in favour of the Marconi-EMI 405 lines system.

#### April 24

For the Children (1937–1939, 1946–1950) debuts.

#### May 12

The BBC uses their outside broadcast unit for the first time, to televise the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. A fragment of this broadcast is one of the earliest surviving examples of British television – filmed off-screen at home by an engineer with an 8 mm cine camera. A short section of this footage was used in a programme during the week of the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and this latter programme survives in the BBC's archives.

#### June 21

Wimbledon Championships (tennis) first shown on the BBC Television Service.

#### November 11

The super-Emitron was between ten and fifteen times more sensitive than the original Emitron and iconoscope tubes and, in some cases, this ratio was considerably greater. It was used for the first time, for an outside broadcast by the BBC, when the general public could watch in a television set how the King lay a wreath at the Cenotaph. This was the first time that anyone could broadcast a live street scene from cameras installed on the roof of neighbouring buildings, because neither Farnsworth nor RCA could do the same before the 1939 New York World's Fair.

The BBC Television Service broadcasts an adaptation of the World War I-set play Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff, starring Reginald Tate as Stanhope. Shown in commemoration of Armistice Day, it is the first time that a whole evening's programming has been given over to a single play.

### 1938

#### February 4

John Logie Baird gives the world's first public demonstration of a colour television broadcast. The 120-line image is projected at the Dominion Theatre, London on a 12 by 9 feet (3.7 by 2.7 m) screen in front of an audience of 3,000.

#### February 21

The BBC Television Service broadcasts the first ever piece of television science-fiction, a 35-minute adaptation of a segment of the play R.U.R. by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek.

#### March 12

First news bulletin carried by the BBC Television Service, in sound only. Previously, the service had aired British Movietone News cinema newsreels.

#### April 1

The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race is first televised on the BBC Television Service.

#### April 19

The first televised football (soccer) match, England v Scotland, shown on the BBC Television Service.

#### April 30

The FA Cup Final is televised for the first time on the BBC Television Service.  Preston North End beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 AET.

#### May 14

The first quiz show, Spelling Bee, is televised on the BBC Television Service.

#### June 24

Test Match Cricket is broadcast for the first time on the BBC Television Service, with coverage of the second test of The Ashes series between England and Australia, live from Lord's Cricket Ground.

#### August 10

Telecrime was a British drama series that aired on the BBC Television Service from 1938 to 1939 and in 1946. One of the first multi-episode drama series ever made, it is also one of the first television dramas written especially for television not adapted from theatre or radio. A whodunit crime drama, Telecrime showed the viewer enough evidence to solve the crime themselves. Most episodes were written by Mileson Horton. All seventeen episodes are lost. Aired live, their preservation was technically difficult at the time.

### 1939

#### March 21

The BBC Television Service broadcasts the entirety of Magyar Melody live from His Majesty's Theatre. The 175-minute broadcast is the first showing of a full-length musical on television.

#### September 1

The outbreak of war brings television broadcasting at the BBC Television Service to an end at 12:35 pm after the broadcast of a Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey's Gala Premiere and various sound and vision test signals. It is feared that the VHF waves of television would act as a perfect homing signal for guiding enemy bombers to central London: in any case, the engineers of the television service would be needed for the war effort, particularly for RADAR. The BBC Television Service would resume its broadcasting, with the same Mickey Mouse cartoon, after the war in 1946.

***Key Moments in 1940s Television*...**