BBC 2 Idents - A New Channel is Born BBC 2 Idents A New Channel is Born The birth of BBC2 was preceded by a publicity campaign and trade test transmissions. The mascot for the new channel was of "Hullabaloo and Custard", a large Kangaroo and a little baby kangaroo, safely stored in the pouch. The idea was that the baby kangaroo represented the new BBC2, launching from the older BBC Television Service. One of the graphics used showed an open back truck with a television set, the kangaroo driving with their head sticking out a hole in the roof. The caption was "Get Set for BBC2". I hope to present some examples of the mascots at a later date. The graphics were drawn by Desmond Marlwood. The name Hullabaloo was chosen easily, there was going to be a lot of it in the months preceding the launch. After much head scratching and many suggestions, the baby was called Custard, as "everything goes with custard". There was much publicity material issued with the kangaroos, and even some toys were made. If anyone still has one, they are rare collectors items now. BBC2 Opening Night, April 21st 1964.

The studio is dim and has a candle in recognition that they started a day late due to a power failure the night before. This studio was used for the start of programmes each night, an in-vision announcer presenting "Line Up" at 7.20pm. The very first BBC2 ident. It was animated with cross cross lines from alternate directions coming in to make the two horizontal bands, with the "2" dropping in from above and the "BBC" rising from below. It was accompanied with a short trumpet call. 0:05 59K In addition to the above ident, there was a separate one for each day, featuring the day of the week. It was similar to the static board right with the name of the day between the horizontal lines. The intention was for BBC2 to have a different feel each day, each evening programmes would have a common theme. This was the first UK television channel to use what is now known as "stripped and stranded". This is a static version of the animated ident shown above. It was shown by pointing a camera at a large piece of card. The very first mechanical BBC 2 clock from 1964. Note the Roman Numerals and the wonky logo.

At some point in the early years, the clock changed to this grey-background version. The logo had been straightened by then. Also seen in the early years of BBC-2 was this large "2". It was rotated in to view, usually with a different caption on the other side. Presumably it saved on vision mixers. 1967. BBC2 becomes the first UK television channel to launch a regular colour service on UHF. This was the first colour ident on BBC2, and in the UK for that matter. It started off with an animated drawing of the "2" from top to bottom, with the white "Colour" appearing when the "2" is complete. Then the 2 starts rotating, revealing that it is a cube with the "2" in different colours on each face, starting blue, red, green and finally white.

50 years of BBC2 best moments, logos and shows | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV | Daily Express PUBLISHED: 23:40, Sat, Apr 5, 2014 Jamie Oliver in The Naked Chef[GETTY] BBC2 was scheduled to begin broadcasting at 7.20pm on April 20, 1964, but its opening night was a disaster after a fire at Battersea Power Station plunged BBC Television Centre into darkness. One of the few items broadcast that night was a report by newsreader Gerald Priestland – but even this had no sound for the first two minutes. “Ready to play? What’s the day?” BBC2 officially began at 11am the next morning with Play School – a breath of fresh air after stuffy old Watch with Mother. The format sold worldwide, inspiring Sesame Street and more or less inventing modern children’s TV. Early Play School presenters included husband and wife Eric Thompson and Phyllida Law (Emma Thompson’s parents), Johnny Ball and Brian Cant – who was named the best-loved voice of children’s telly in a 2007 poll.

BBC2’s opening night of light entertainment was postponed until the next evening. Highlights included Soviet comedian Arkady Raikin and fireworks from Southend Pier. Hullabaloo and Custard, a kangaroo and her baby, were mascots used to publicise the launch. BBC2’s remit was for less mainstream programming focusing on the arts, culture, drama and comedy. But religious leaders warned it would mean more people vegetating in front of the TV. At first, BBC2 was only available in London and the South East, while viewers also needed a new TV set and aerial. Four months in, just 90,000 people were watching. Things were very different by 1967, thanks to costume drama The Forsyte Saga – the Downton Abbey of its day. Six million viewers were gripped, rising to an incredible 18 million when it was repeated on BBC1 the following year. Clergy were forced to begin evensong earlier so that worshippers could be home in time to catch up with the Forsyte family. This was also the first BBC series sold to the Soviet Union.

BBC2 was the first channel in Europe to broadcast in colour, beginning with coverage of the tennis at Wimbledon in 1967. The Great British Bake Off judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry [PH] Colour TV also suited snooker. Pot Black turned the sport into a national obsession and BBC2’s highest-ever ratings were achieved with the World Snooker Championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis in April 1985. Colour also lured comedy legends Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise from ITV in 1968. BBC2’s finest hour was probably Civilisation (1969), a personal history of Western art, architecture and philosophy by Kenneth Clark. It is still many critics’ nomination as the finest TV programme ever, and the BBC has just announced it will be remade for the 21st century with an as yet unnamed presenter. Music fans were catered for by The Old Grey Whistle Test (1971-87) – a late-night showcase for non-chart music hosted by DJ “Whispering” Bob Harris.

The show’s name came from a saying among New York music publishers: if their grey-suited doormen could whistle a song after one listen, it would be a hit. Roxy Music, The Police, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan and the Eurythmics were among the acts to make their British TV debut on TOGWT. Its successor, Later... with Jools Holland, saw the UK TV debuts of Travis, KT Tunstall, Amy Winehouse and Adele. BBC2 educated as well as entertained. The Open University began in 1971, enabling students of all ages to work for degrees at home (if they didn’t mind rising at dawn to watch lectures from academics with bizarre hair). David Attenborough is best known for fronting natural history programmes but he was also BBC2 controller from 1965 to 1969. Returning to programme- making, Attenborough wrote and presented BBC2’s Life on Earth in 1979. Explaining the theory of evolution, the programme was one of the BBC’s biggest-ever exports, reaching some 500 million viewers worldwide.

Current affairs strand Newsnight began on January 30, 1980, but its most famous moment came 17 years later when Jeremy Paxman asked Home Secretary Michael Howard the same question 12 times in succession (he still didn’t get an answer). The British Film Institute’s top 100 list of the greatest programmes included many BBC2 dramas, among them Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), I, Claudius (1976), Edge of Darkness (1985), Our Friends in the North (1996), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and This Life (1996-7). Inspector Morse scriptwriter Anthony Minghella wrote and directed bereavement drama Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990) for the Screen Two strand. The film, starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman, won a BAFTA and launched Minghella in Hollywood. Delia Smith began her TV career with Family Fare in 1973. Her debut dish was Alpine eggs – eggs baked with butter, chives and cheese.

BBC2 also spotted the raw talent of the young Jamie Oliver and gave him his first solo TV show – The Naked Chef – in 1998. BBC2 isn’t just a trendsetter in the kitchen. The Alan Titchmarsh-hosted garden makeover show Ground Force (1997-2002) caused a run on decking – DIY store B&Q saw sales rise from £5,000 in 1997 to £16 million in 2001. The granddaddy of all horticultural shows is BBC2’s Gardeners’ World, which is still blossoming every spring after 46 years. The Great British Bake Off became the most popular BBC2 show in a decade when its 2013 finale attracted more than nine million viewers. No BBC2 show can match the popularity of Top Gear, which is enjoyed by petrolheads in 214 nations. But would it have been so successful if early hosts Angela Rippon and Noel Edmonds were still in the driving seat?

Panel game Call My Bluff – in which teams had to guess correct definitions of obscure words – ran on and off from 1965 to 2005, yet it was a remake of an American TV show that lasted mere months. Dennis Taylor celebrates after winning the World Snooker Championship in 1985 [PH] Match of the Day kicked off on August 22, 1964, with Liverpool versus Arsenal. The FA hated the new show, fearing it would reduce attendances at matches. But they needn’t have worried, as only 20,000 people tuned in to that first match – half the number who watched at Anfield. Film star Jeremy Irons made his TV debut on Play Away (1971-1984), a Play School spin-off for older children that was also hosted by Blackadder’s Tony Robinson and EastEnders star Anita Dobson.

BBC2 has been the nursery of scores of hit comedy shows, including Fawlty Towers, Yes Minister, French and Saunders, The Royle Family, I’m Alan Partridge, Absolutely Fabulous, Little Britain, The Young Ones, The League of Gentlemen, The Fast Show, Goodness Gracious Me, Have I Got News For You and Miranda. Blackadder might have one of the best double acts in sitcom history, but Tony Robinson didn’t play Baldrick in the pilot: Timothy Spall was one of many names to turn down the part before Robinson made it his own. Topical sketch show Not the Nine O’Clock News made stars of Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones, Rowan Atkinson and Pamela Stephenson in the 80s, but it nearly didn’t get shown at all. BBC executives got cold feet in the run-up to the 1979 General Election, pulling the entire series at the last minute and recasting. Victoria Wood turned down the chance to be the lone female, while Alison Steadman was also considered before producers met Aussie actress Pamela at a party. Alan Rickman was keen to play lager-loving Dave Lister, the last human alive, in the sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf.

Hugh Laurie also auditioned for the show. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition but when it came to naming Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969-1974), the BBC were certainly hard to please. Rejected titles included Owl Stretching Time, The Toad Elevating Moment and Arthur Megapode’s Cheap Show. Ricky Gervais’s ground-breaking BBC2 “mockumentary” The Office (2000-2003) was the first British comedy to win a Golden Globe. Fawlty Towers (1975-1979) was initially rejected by the BBC with the comment: “This is full of clichéd situations and stereotypical characters and I cannot see it as being anything other than a disaster.” It was named the best British TV show of all time in 2000. BBC2 enters its sixth decade in fine form: recent hits include the critically acclaimed police drama Line of Duty. The channel is marking its 50th birthday with a satirical look at its history by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, a special episode of Goodness Gracious Me and a tribute show featuring Ricky Gervais, Michael Palin and The Goodies.

Related articles April 20, 1964: Power cut pulls the plug on BBC2’s big launch night - BT April 20, 1964: Power cut pulls the plug on BBC2’s big launch night The grand opening of Britain’s first new TV station for nine years – the ‘serious’ BBC2 – was postponed when a power cut plunged the studio into darkness. Print this story The gala launch evening of BBC2 – Britain’s first new television channel for nine years – became a blackout as a fire at Battersea Power Station caused much of West London, including the BBC’s Television Centre, to lose power. An evening of light entertainment was scheduled to begin at 7.20pm with comedy show The Alberts ahead of a performance by Soviet comedian Arkady Raikin and a production of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate. The evening was to end with a fireworks display ahead of regular programming beginning the next morning. The biggest challenge for producers including the channel’s first controller, Michael Peacock, appeared to be to gain control of a real-life version of BBC2’s mascot, a kangaroo called Hullabaloo, which had gone berserk in the studio after getting stuck in a lift.

In the event, an irate marsupial was the least of their problems. The power went down at 6.45pm and so the gala launch had to be postponed 24 hours. As a result, the first programme officially shown on the new channel was a show for pre-schoolers called Play School which would remain a part of the channel’s daily schedule for the next 24 years. When the launch programme was eventually transmitted on the night of April 21, the broadcast began from a darkened studio, with only a lit candle in shot. Presenter Denis Tuohy walked into the frame, picked up the candle and, as the studio lights came up, blew it out. Despite the failure of its opening night, innovative programming such as documentaries Civilisation and the Ascent of Man, gripping drama the Forsyte Saga, sporting innovations like Match of the Day and Pot Black and regular colour transmissions beginning with the Wimbledon Championships of 1967 soon made BBC2 a firm fixture in the schedules. What's your favourite BBC2 programme of all time? Tell us in the Comments section below. BBC2 - Did you know?

BBC2 was born out of the findings of the 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting. The report found the introduction of commercial television in 1955 had created a state of competition with the BBC which had led to a drop in standards. A third channel, said the report, could offer the kind of ‘serious’ programming the BBC had been renowned for before the launch of ITV made its programming more populist. The channel’s mascot was a kangaroo called Hullabaloo (representing the mother, BBC1) and its joey, named Custard – standing for BBC2 because, as someone at the BBC said at the time, “everything goes with custard”. London’s ITV franchise holder Associated-Rediffusion offered to broadcast the BBC2 programmes on launch night, but the new channel rejected the offer as it would have had to wait until Associated-Rediffusion’s regular programmes had finished. BBC2 was broadcast on the newer 625-line system (BBC1 and ITV were over 405-line VHF), which although it required newer receivers, had enough bandwidth for colour broadcasts.

On July 1, 1967, during the Wimbledon Championships, it became the first TV channel in Europe to begin regular colour transmission. Civilisation, a 13-part documentary on the history of Western art written and presented by historian Kenneth Clark, was commissioned by then-BBC2 controller David Attenborough to showcase the colour technology. It is still recognised as one of British TV’s finest documentaries, and the BBC is currently considering remaking the series almost 50 years on. Attenborough's own natural history documentary series Life on Earth debuted on BBC2 in 1979, and remains one of the channel's most fondly-remembered programmes. In a poll to find BBC2 greatest programme to mark the station's 50th anniversary in 2014, Life on Earth pipped Ricky Gervais' comedy The Office and 1979 thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, to the top spot. Launch controller Michael Peacock had been the editor of Panorama at the time of its Spaghetti Tree April Fool hoax in 1958.

The channel’s striped logo, introduced in 1979, was the first computer-generated ident to be shown anywhere in the world. Many series first shown on BBC2 have gone on to achieve greater success on its sister channel BBC1. Match of the Day, Have I Got News for You, Changing Rooms, Who Do You Think You Are? and most recently The Great British Bake Off all became ratings successes on BBC1 after winning a large audience on BBC2. One of the channel’s most celebrated dramas, Boys from the Blackstuff, made the switch even more quickly, being repeated on BBC1 just nine weeks after it was shown to critical acclaim on BBC2. BBC2’s record audience saw 18.5 million people tune in to watch the final frames of the 1985 World Snooker final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor. In pictures: the launch of BBC2 – TV Cream Comments When the BBC’s first television channel launched in 1936, the world had yet to cotton on to the value of photographing interesting things.

By 1964, the likes of Hitler and Cliff Richard had made cameras very fashionable indeed, so it was no surprise that the Beeb invited scores of shutterbugs along to the launch of its second television channel, scheduled for 20 April. Sure enough, some fantastic pictures got taken. They were published in loads of newspapers, almost certainly meaning more people saw photos about the launch of BBC2 than saw the actual launch on their TV set: a trend that continues to this day (hello, London Live). Here are a few of those pictures: all genuine, all fascinating (admittedly for contrasting reasons), and all very… well, BBC2ish. 1. 14 April 1964 Just under one week to launch, and BBC2 controller Michael Peacock (far right) holds a meeting in his office. Standing up and taking the minutes is Peacock’s secretary, Yvonne Homan. No chair for her. Giving Peacock the evil eye is Roger Greenwood, assistant head of BBC TV presentation. Leaning awkwardly is the other assistant head of presentation, Rowan Ayers. Sprawled on top of the desk clutching his shin is their boss, head of presentation Rex Moorfoot.

Also present: a map on the wall showing the tiny number of people who’ll actually be able to see BBC2 when it launches; lots of untidy in-trays; a bulldog clip; and – look out! – a 3D model of the BBC2 “logo”: a kangaroo named Hullabaloo (seen here saluting fascistically) and her baby, Custard (pointing out the fact Yvonne has no chair). 2. 19 April 1964 Rehearsing the launch. Peacock is in the studio in Television Centre that will be the hub of the night’s programmes; the person he’s gesticulating towards is not known. Behind him is one of the “faces” of the launch, Pamela Donald. She seems to be talking to Oliver Hardy: undoubtedly a coup for the launch of any TV channel, particularly one taking to the air seven years after Hardy’s death. 3. 20 April 1964 It’s launch day, and time for Pamela to get her hair done. The hairdressers don’t seem best pleased. Perhaps they’ve just looked at Radio Times and seen the channel won’t actually show anything interesting until 1967. 4.

20 April 1964 Oh no! There’s been a power cut and the whole channel has fallen off the air before it’s even begun. Peacock sits in the gloom with only his candles, a cigarette and a polystyrene cup from the canteen for company. 5. 21 April 1964 Hurrah! 24 hours later than planned, Peacock and his missus Daphne sit in his office and watch the launch night finally get broadcast. Here they’re enjoying – if placing your forefinger on your chin can be called enjoying – a production of Cole Porter’s stage musical Kiss Me Kate, starring Howard Keel and Patricia Morrison. It’s not known if they stuck around for what came later: a comedian from the Soviet Union, and a man doing an impersonation of David Jacobs. EPILOGUE 5 March 1965 Fast forward a year and BBC2 has been a flop. Peacock gets booted over to BBC1 and replaced with good-natured naturalist David Attenborough.

Here they are, doing their best to look like this was how things were meant to turn out all along, together with (far left) Huw Wheldon, controller of BBC television, and (far right) Kenneth Adam, the, er, director of BBC television. Whatever their respective responsibilities, one of them at least knows how to arrange a good vase of tulips. Hullabaloo and Custard have been killed. Did You Know? Did You Know? The Blue Peter logo was designed by a young artist working for the BBC. The artist, Tony Hart, later went on to present Vision On, Take Hart and its various spin offs and introduce Morph to the world. In 1936-39 the BBC used Big Ben to provide time checks - except that it wasn't Big Ben! They actually used a 5ft scale model with a camera in front. The official opening of BBC 2 on April 20th 1964 was postponed at the last moment due to a power failure at Battersea Power Station, which blacked out the whole of Television Centre. Instead of the grand opening gala, the first programme actually broadcast was Play School, at 11am the next morning.

In some ways the power failure was a mixed blessing. In the rush to get BBC2 on air, the opening shot of the BBC 2 clock would have looked pretty silly as someone had forgotten to fit the hands! Sticking with BBC2, the station had its own mascot. Hullabaloo and Custard were two kangaroos and were meant to represent BBC Television, from whom the new baby "BBC2" was about to leap from the pouch. The EMI-Marconi 405 line television system, which entered permanent service at the BBC in February 1937, was finally decommissioned on January 3rd 1985. George Hersee had two daughters, both of whom "auditioned" for the part. Carole was chosen as she had lighter hair. Early designs of Test Card D had to be scrapped as they showed up too many faults that existed on television sets of that period. BBC Trade Test Transmissions ended in May 1983, since when sample pages from Ceefax have been shown when there are no programmes. Channel 4, or ITA-2 as it was then known, was planned in the early 1960s.

It didn't actually appear until 1982. Last Updated 29 Mar 2000 HTW • Features • BBC2: A Choice of Viewing Tweet BBC2: A Choice of Viewing Up to 1964 there were only two television channels in the UK: BBC and ITV, though if you lived on the boundary of two ITV areas it was possible to receive more than one ITV service, but the majority of the programmes would essentially be the same. BBC2, it was hoped, would offer more than just 'more of the same' and would have an entirely different 'character' to the other two established networks. BBC2 would also be different in that it was (and still is) transmitted using 625 lines on UHF channels which matched the post-war standard used in continental Europe as opposed to the existing 405 line pre-war UK system, though colour was still a few years away and its introduction was delayed by the move to 625 lines. From the start, BBC2 faced an uphill struggle. Because of the different line and frequency standards used for BBC2, a new television was required along with an additional aerial in order to receive the new service.

The early sets that could receive BBC2 were known as dual standard receivers because they had to cater for BBC1 and ITV on 405 lines VHF as well; it would be a few years (dependent on the area) for BBC1 and ITV to also be made available on UHF. A few 405 line VHF sets were capable of being upgraded to 625 line UHF operation. BBC2's opening night was a total disaster; it was hit by a major power failure, though the fireworks which featured the two kangaroos (the baby one jumping out of its mother's pouch) still managed to shine on the opening night. These kangaroo mascots (Hullaballoo and Custard) were initially used to publicise the new service, with the basic concept being that BBC2 was the new 'child' of BBC-tv (which was soon to be known as BBC1 - though because BBC2 was only viewable in London and the Midlands to begin with, the idea was slow to catch on). The previous day's blackout meant that the first programme to be transmitted in its entirety was Play School the following morning, though the channel then closed down until the early evening.

Play School became a very popular series for pre-school children and was produced right up until 1988 when it was replaced by Playdays, and elements of Play School were also used in Tikkabilla. This picture was taken from the 'proper' start of the first early evening programmes, with the candle being symbolic of the previous evening's power failure. Also because not everybody could receive the new service, most BBC2 programmes had to be repeated later on BBC1 after their first showing. Each evening initially started with a 10 minute programme presented by Denis Twohy (pictured), entitled Line-up which gave a preview of the evening's programmes on the channel. In other words, Line-Up was just an extended promotion for the channel, which is how viewers and critics treated it therefore Line-Up was replaced in September by Late Night Line-Up, an open-ended discussion programme shown at the end of an evening just before closedown so as not to constrain its end time, which also introduced Joan Bakewell as a presenter.

Despite all of this, and a slow start not helped by the channel's early 'Seven Faces' schedule (each day was dedicated to a particular theme such as education on Tuesdays) which was unpopular and soon scrapped, BBC2 built up a loyal audience, courtesy of its quality programming which was often targeted at a more specialist audience. What also greatly helped BBC2 was that it was the first channel in the UK to start a colour service in 1967 as the intention was that colour should be available only on 625-line services, though colour programmes were few and far between to begin with and colour televisions were expensive. Having a second channel enabled the BBC to show (for example) more sporting action than was previously possible, as well as making room in the schedules on both channels for more imaginative programming. ITV was jealous. What were known as Trade Test Colour Films were first transmitted on BBC2 in 1964 during the weeks before the channel launched, then they were shown sporadically prior to a regular schedule commencing on 21 August 1967 ahead of the formal introduction of a colour service on BBC2.

A wide variety of short colour films (usually less than 30 minutes in duration) were shown at various times of the day when no scheduled programmes were being broadcast, such as Atlantic Parks, Beauty In Trust, Coupe Des Alpes, L For Logic, Roads To Roam and Trans-Canada Journey, etc.; these films were obtained from various sources such as BP, British Transport, the National Film Board of Canada, Philips and Shell as well as the BBC themselves, and there was a regular trade test schedule right up until 24 August 1973, with the final film shown being Giuseppina. Top class documentaries such as Civilisation and The Ascent of Man helped give BBC2 (and the BBC in general) an enviable reputation that still exists to this day. Rightly or wrongly BBC2 initially had a reputation for being a 'highbrow' channel, and David Attenborough who was the channel's controller from 1965-69 was broadly responsible for creating this upmarket image as an alternative to BBC1 and ITV.

And it wasn't just the documentaries that gave BBC2 a highbrow image; early music offerings included classical concerts and opera as well as jazz in the famous Jazz 625 series, but BBC2 also let its hair down with popular music: Colour Me Pop ran from 1968-9 as a spinoff from Late Night Line-Up and featured one artist per programme. Unfortunately very little survives of Colour Me Pop in the BBC's archive unlike its spiritual successor The Old Grey Whistle Test, which began in 1972 and was presented by Bob Harris. The Open University was introduced by Harold Wilson's government in 1971, enabling adults to study for degree courses in their spare time as opposed to having to attend classroom lectures, with BBC2 being its outlet for course-related television programming. Despite being independent of the BBC, the Open University worked in close cooperation with the corporation and used Alexandra Palace as its base for many years.

The OU shield logo occasionally rotated on-screen as its theme tune played (the first few bars of Divertimento by Leonard Salzedo) at the start of each block of programming, though the famous tune which some people thought was rather scary was dropped when BBC2 introduced its new presentation package in 1991. Several of the Open University's early programmes were produced in black and white despite colour television having already been introduced, and OU course material also included self-study aids such as records and cassettes as well as textbooks, with video cassettes, CD/CD-ROM discs and DVD's becoming available as technology progressed. Indeed the Open University no longer broadcasts course material via television channels because it no longer needs to. From 1967 until December 1982 there were regular transmitter information bulletins broadcast on BBC2, with three bulletins a day until 1975 when it was just one bulletin broadcast mid-morning (usually at 10.30).

Each bulletin was usually three minutes long and comprised of any news relevant to the television trade such as information relating to the temporary disruption of broadcasts from specific transmitters, etc., and a list of colour trade test films to be broadcast that day (up until the films were no longer shown in August 1973). The accompanying theme music was entitled 'Swirly'. With more people buying televisions capable of receiving UHF 625 line broadcasts during the 1970s even if they couldn't watch them in colour, BBC2 was starting to pick up sizeable audiences for its programming as well as having the freedom to broadcast more specialised programmes catering for hobbies such as motoring (Wheelbase, later replaced by Top Gear, which then evolved into the entertainment show it has become today), gardening (Gardeners World - see the BBC Gardening section for more information), science (Horizon) and politics could now be covered in greater depth than ever before with programmes such as Newsnight. Call My Bluff was a popular genteel quiz game originally shown on BBC2 from 1965 to 1988, with Robert Robinson (pictured) being the show's longest-serving presenter.

Two teams comprising of three people (one regular team captain plus two celebrity guests) played against each other, with one team having to guess the correct definition of an obscure word shown on the rotating rectangular board purely based on three possible definitions read out in turn by the other team's members; one of the definitions is true whilst the other two are just made-up nonsense. The word definitions are printed on cards, and when the captain of the team doing the guessing has chosen which person's definition they think is correct, the card is then turned round to reveal either the word TRUE or BLUFF, with a correct guess scoring 1 point. By 1980 BBC2 had developed comedy far beyond its original boundaries which were essentially derived from Victorian music hall productions. That Was the Week that Was (or TW3) had started the satirical trend on BBC1 (or BBC-tv as it was properly known at the time) in the 1960s, but BBC2 was free to develop ideas much further, being unhindered by the requirement to cater for a mass-market audience.

Not the Nine O'Clock News brought together Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones, Rowan Atkinson and Pamela Stephenson for the first time in this comedy sketch show with satirical leanings; it was so called because it was shown at 9pm opposite the Nine O'Clock News on BBC1 as a satirical alternative. News bulletins were also shown on BBC2 for many years and occasionally featured in-vision subtitles, at least until the cost of televisions with teletext became easily affordable to those viewers who benefited from the provision of subtitles. Despite the arrival of Channel 4 in 1982 which gave BBC2 direct competition for the first time, BBC2 continued to thrive throughout the 1980s by sticking to what it does best. Popular shows such as French and Saunders, Absolutely Fabulous and Blackadder started on BBC2 before moving to BBC1, and stars such as Rowan Atkinson and Victoria Wood started their TV careers on BBC2 shows. Schools programmes transferred from BBC1 to BBC2 in the Autumn Term of 1983, and a special "Daytime on 2" strand was created, featuring the BBC2 ident pictured but with a graduated orange background.

March 1986 saw the introduction of a new look for BBC2, with a pastel-coloured TWO logo emerging from a white background used as the ident; the logo having been designed in-house as opposed to having been commissioned from an external design agency. Also in 1986 there was the 50th anniversary of television to celebrate, and TV50 (as it was billed) featured several programmes to mark the occasion including The Fools On The Hill; a dramatisation of the early years of television at Alexandra Palace, mixing real people and events with fictional characters. Play School was still being produced and shown on BBC2 right up to 1988, and in its last incarnation the title sequence animation made heavy use of ribbon-style coloured lines forming the house picture before revealing which day of the week it was, as was traditional for this long-running programme for young children. 1991 saw the introduction of the famous short animations all featuring the number '2' that formed the core of BBC2's (then new) station identity, such as a '2' symbol being splashed with paint (shown below) or a '2' lit up with neon tubes.

There were a host of special animations later introduced for various occasions; this is a still taken from a special ident used over the Christmas period in 1992. The BBC's October 1997 corporate makeover resulted in the new-style BBC corporate logo and typeface (Gill Sans) being adopted. Both were developed by Martin Lambie-Nairn, who also developed (among numerous other projects) the Channel 4 logo. Some more new idents were introduced at the start of January 2000, and at this time was added to them. BBC2 also has a reputation for being an educational channel; overnight it runs what is known as 'The Learning Zone' which used to features Open University programmes and the 'Bite Size' GCSE examination revision aid series. Note also in the top-left hand corner the use of a superimposed caption known in BBC-speak as a "DOG" (digitally originated graphic) which is used often during the Learning Zone period and frequently (at the time of writing) on the BBC's digital only channels during programmes as a form of branding.

The test card used to be a very common sight on television screens, especially on BBC2 during the daytime (it wasn't until 1988 that regular daytime programming was introduced on BBC2). Over the years, the test card was steadily replaced by other things such as Pages from Ceefax (used from 1980 until analogue TV transmissions were completely switched off in 2012) for the early morning gap between programmes and the Learning Zone, and later on the test card was subsequently confined to the BBC HD channel (combined with an audio test) until its closure in March 2012. Test Card F (shown here) was later superseded by the similar Test Card J and its widescreen companion Test Card W. No matter how well liked something is, there comes a time when there is a requirement for something new to replace it. Following on from the very popular animations that characterised the channel was always going to be a tough job, so new character-orientated themes based on the '2' symbol were introduced along with the BBC TWO text in a purple box to match the new corporate standard; not so much a revolution but evolution.

A white '2' symbol on a yellow backdrop does various things including bouncing around the screen or gains robotic arms to perform various tasks such as wiping a pane of glass. The (very rare) use of a clock was abandoned altogether at this point. BBC2 celebrated its 40th birthday in 2004, and a special ident was created along with a celebratory programme entitled Happy Birthday BBC Two. Coincidentally, a 20 minute video recording of BBC2's aborted first night was discovered earlier in the same year, giving an insight into exactly what happened that fateful evening when there was a power failure. December 16 2006 saw another landmark event as it was the very last time television programmes related to Open University courses were broadcast overnight on BBC Two. Since the founding of the Open University in 1971 until 2006, television programmes were used as a primary visual medium for a wide range of self-study courses but various forms of new technology had essentially made traditional linear broadcast television programming somewhat redundant as a means of delivering course material, especially in relation to higher education degree courses.

The Open University still produces television programmes for the BBC but they are aimed at a general audience as opposed to being course-related; examples of such productions include Bang Goes The Theory and Stargazing Live. All schools programmes moved to being shown overnight as part of The Learning Zone as of 2010. Modern BBC Two is generally still proving to be popular with audiences despite stiff competition from numerous other channels; new series such as The Apprentice and The Culture Show have proven to be popular with viewers, and Springwatch (a wildlife series presented by Bill Oddie) provided the surprise hit of 2005. However many of the popular US imports such as The Simpsons have now defected to other channels courtesy of commercial broadcasters who are now prepared to pay larger amounts of money for them, meaning that the teatime 6pm slot was proving to be rather troublesome (underlined by the failure of Dick and Dom's Ask the Family 'revival') for the recently appointed (ex-BBC Four) controller Roly Keating. When the world begins to grow tired of bouncing 2's and 2's with robotic arms, etc., a new channel identity is perhaps inevitable.

Step forward a new look BBC Two, which was refreshed on 18 February 2007 with what superficially looks very much like the sort of thing seen on BBC2 during the 1990s, namely the symbol '2' featuring in a host of different situations such as the shape of a tent door or sprinklings on a cappuccino drink (pictured), though this cappuccino ident was soon to be dropped along with two other idents featuring a chase. However look closer and you can see other changes such as different colours being used for items such as logos and programme information captions. A large 'cut-out' 2 logo used in a similar style to Channel 4's giant '4' symbol was commonly used for promotions and idents during this period, though the overall effect might have been construed as a cheap copy of Channel 4's award-winning identity. The BBC HD channel was frequently mentioned as well in programme promotions, because it simulcasted many BBC Two programmes in high definition (along with programmes from other BBC channels) from its launch in 2009 until March 2013 when the BBC HD channel became a dedicated BBC Two HD channel.

In 2012, BBC Two featured a season of programmes devoted to the 1970s when it used mock 1970s-style presentation for both retro-themed and modern programming such as Sounds of the 70s and The Hairy Bikers' Bakeation. There was also a series consisting of three hour-long programmes featuring archive footage entitled The 70s, presented by historian Dominic Sandbrook. Very much typifying the modern BBC Two programme line-up are cookery programmes that set out to entertain as well as inform; for example, The Little Paris Kitchen, Great British Menu and The Great British Bake Off (amongst others) all aim to do exactly that. Plus continuing favourites like Coast, Top Gear and University Challenge coexist in the BBC Two schedule with new programmes for 2013 such as the fly-on-the-wall series The Railway and the surreal comedy It's Kevin (starring Kevin Eldon).

BBC Two HD launched on 26 March 2013 as a replacement for the BBC HD channel, simulcasting the existing standard definition BBC Two channel in HD or upscaled SD (as with the existing BBC One HD channel), and the BBC also used this occasion to also give BBC Two a minor presentational refresh; channel idents were given new soundtracks provided by current popular music artists such as alt-J, and new animations were also introduced to reinforce the channel brand. Also note the "Channel Of The Year" slogan due to BBC Twp winning the award at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in 2012. BBC Two's 50th anniversary: Disastrous launch remembered - BBC News BBC News BBC Two's 50th anniversary: Disastrous launch remembered By Ian Youngs Entertainment reporter, BBC News 16 April 2014 Close share panel Media captionNewsreader Gerald Priestland had to fill in when the schedule fell apart Fifty years ago this weekend, BBC Two went on the air for the first time. Or rather, it was supposed to go on the air. In fact, a massive power cut wiped out the entire launch schedule and led to one of the most disastrous nights in broadcasting history.

It was supposed to be a spectacular opening night for BBC Two. In the end, it was a spectacular shambles. The channel was due to appear at 19:20 on 20 April 1964. It was to begin with a brief preview and news bulletin, followed by a special programme featuring comedy duo The Alberts ("direct from the Alberts' Television Centre") featuring, according to the Radio Times, Ivor Cutler, David Jacobs, Adolf Hitler and Birma the elephant. Image caption Cards like this one appeared on screen as viewers waited for normal service to resume There was to have been a performance of Kiss Me, Kate, starring Howard Keel and Patricia Morison, then Arkady Raikin, "the Soviet Union's leading comedian", with the night finished off by fireworks from Southend Pier. BBC executives gathered with journalists and politicians at BBC Television Centre in west London in expectation. "Half of Fleet Street, the House of Commons and the officer corps of the BBC itself were to christen the new network in gin and champagne," presenter Gerald Priestland later wrote in his autobiography.

Kangaroo 'went berserk' For weeks, the corporation had been running a publicity campaign featuring a young kangaroo emerging from its mother's pouch, and so had transported a live kangaroo to BBC Television Centre for the event. But just after 18:30, disaster struck. A fire broke out at Battersea Power Station and, at the same time, a fault arose in a 60,000-volt cable carrying electricity south from the Midlands at Iver in Buckinghamshire. West London and parts of the city centre were cut off. Image caption Kangaroos called Hullabaloo and Custard appeared in a marketing campaign "Producers cursed, public relations men wept, Fleet Street cheered and jeered and the kangaroo - stuck in a lift - went berserk," Priestland wrote. The presenter was himself not at Television Centre but at Alexandra Palace in north London, however. Image caption Arkady Raikin, billed as the Soviet Union's top comedian, was due to appear Here, the BBC's original TV studios still had power and Priestland was preparing to deliver the opening news bulletin before handing over to Television Centre. Sitting behind a desk with typewriter and telephone, he duly appeared.

A lean man in a shirt, tie and pullover, he could have been mistaken for John Cleese in a Monty Python sketch. But a sound fault meant it was two minutes before his voice could be heard. Unaware of the audio problem, he read his news summary regardless until the sound was fixed. So the first words heard on BBC Two were from a story about a bus conductress who had been sacked for insulting Pakistani passengers, including the very phrase she had used. Priestland continued with stories about a pay rise for chemists, a decline in the collection of trading stamps, football match-fixing and a court hearing for Nelson Mandela. It was like the Blitz all over again Kenneth Adam, BBC director of television Unlike modern newsreaders, he had no earpiece with which to receive messages from producers and directors. Sitting behind him were five besuited men monitoring news wires and writing scripts on cards. Towards the end of his round-up, one of them handed him a card with an update on the power situation. Then the phone on his desk rang. No-one was on the other end. It rang again. Priestland put it down and announced that he would be repeating his news summary again in one minute.

Image caption Kiss Me, Kate was postponed to the following night, along with the rest of the opening line-up Until then, accompanied by gentle music, a caption appeared reading: "BBC2 will start shortly." After a minute, Priestland reappeared, repeating the bulletin, but this time adding his own occasional droll comments after stories. Eleven minutes into his broadcast, he looked to the men behind him in desperation. "Anything else?" he asked. There was nothing else. "After what seemed like an eternity of ad-libbing... I was taken off the air," he later wrote. The caption and music returned. Back at Television Centre, hopes were fading that the power would be restored in time to salvage the rest of the opening night. After 21:30, the schedule was abandoned. 'Wonderful publicity' Afterwards, BBC director of television Kenneth Adam said: "When I got to reception, after negotiating the stairs with a flickering candle to guide me, I was surrounded by sympathisers, including large numbers of actors released from their vigil - and actresses, two of whom I lifted home in my car.

"It was like the Blitz all over again." Image caption Play School was the first full programme on BBC Two on 21 April 1964 BBC executives decided the stories on the following day's front pages were a good thing. BBC engineer Robert Longman later recalled: "Although BBC Two was known, it wasn't terribly well-known, and all the following day's papers had headlines, 'BBC Two Fails - Corporation to try again tonight'. "It was wonderful publicity and made sure people tuned in." Power was restored in time for the channel to launch properly the following day. Play School was the first proper programme to go on air. That evening, presenter Denis Tuohy introduced the postponed opening night programmes from Television Centre. He did not mention the previous evening's disaster, but referred to it simply by blowing out a single flickering candle. mb21 - The Transmission Gallery THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY TALES FROM A COLD FIELD Being fairy-stories told to the author as a young engineer © Ray Cooper, 2005 (2nd revised edition, Jan 2006) Hullabaloo and Custard .

were the official names of the kangaroo mascots used by the BBC in its publicity drive to announce the coming of 625 line television on UHF. This was of course the BBC2 channel, in monochrome only, and made necessary the renaming of the old 405-line BBCtv channel to BBC1. Custard was never much in evidence (like jam, that was for tomorrow) but there was certainly plenty of hullabaloo available to make up for it. The new service opened in London only (of course) from Crystal Palace , when the infamous power-cut incident on the opening night led to all programmes being cancelled. At this time, the new BBC2 installation at Sutton was in the throes of installation. The new transmitters were 25kW units by Marconi, and used klystrons in the final amplifier. Nothing like this had ever been seen on site before, and caused many head scratchings and prognostications of doom. At the same time, new aerials had to be provided, which involved rebuilding the top of the mast, described elsewhere.

All the same, when the December 1964 target date was near it became evident that the new aerials would not be ready on time, so a temporary aerial was provided on the old 150ft reserve mast, providing some sort of a signal to the Birmingham area in time for the opening date. Despite being 'a cutting-edge product by one of the leading manufacturers in the country', the new transmitters proved to be rather unstable and a bit of a disappointment. Though, to be more accurate, it was the drive (exciter) units that had poor stability - the high-power amplifiers in themselves were pretty good, and suffered from only one shortcoming, which will be dealt with shortly. The drives, however, were a continuous source of trouble. When I use the word 'unstable', this is not to imply that the unit would dive off into violent oscillation in quite the manner of the 405-line vision transmitter: but rather, the linearity of the drive would change quite markedly over the short term. The staff spent so much time fiddling with these drives in an attempt to maintain transmission of something that looked like a vision signal, that the fact became noticed by the station EiC.

This led to the issuing of a memo, and ultimately to the infamous 'Closed-Doors' experiment. Basically, the memo said that too much fiddling about was going on, and accordingly the drives would be lined up 'properly' by the shift SME, after which the transmitter hall doors would be closed, and in fact locked with a padlock and chain, to prevent unauthorised twiddling. This was done early on a Monday morning, after which the locks were applied and the keys handed to the EiC. No more than ninety minutes later, the key was being asked for, because by this time the pictures had become unusable. A lot of the early problems were probably due to staff inexperience, coupled with the fact that the line-up procedures given in the handbooks were pure gobbledegook and in fact couldn't be made to work anyway. Over the following months, low cunning on the part of the staff devised line-up procedures that did, in a way, work, and devious strategies were evolved which kept the gear on-air without too much interruption.

But to the end of their days, these original drives remained unstable, and it was a rare shift that passed without someone having to go and give them a surreptitious tweak. Eventually after many years the fact that the drives were a total liability was recognised, and they were torn out and replaced with much more modern, and stable, Pye IF Modulation drives, to everyone's immense relief.

Question: Used as launch mascots for BBC2 in 1964, what were Hullaballoo and Custard?
Answer: Kangaroos