1923
The first issue of Radio Times was published, listing schedules for all BBC radio broadcasts.
The first episode of Kiddies Corner broadcast on 5IT Birmingham. On 2LO London, Women's Hour featured 'Ariel's Society Gossip' and 'Mrs CS Peel's Kitchen Conversation.'
The first episode of Men's Talk: On Motoring - an ancestor of Top Gear presented by Captain Richard Twelvetrees - broadcast. And, it was the best motoring radio show ... in the world.The film review programme, Seen On The Screen - presented by Mr GA Atkinson - broadcast.
The BBC's first regular football results programme - Today's League Football presented by Allan Baddeley - broadcast.
Aston Villa's centre-half Tommy Ball was shot dead by his neighbour, George Stagg, the only League footballer ever to be murdered during his playing career. The first radio broadcast to feature the voice of a British Prime Minister (Stanley Baldwin) occurred in Trafalgar Square Meeting.
Her Highness Princess Maud of Fife (no, me neither) married Captain Charles Alexander Carnegie in Wellington Barracks in London.
The first BBC broadcast in Gaelic, a religious address from Aberdeen by the Reverend John Bain.
A live performance of Pagliacci broadcast from The Old Vic.
A Christmas Day highlight was Reverend GW Kerr (BA LLB) On Wit & Humour.
The BBC broadcast The Chimes Of Big Ben for the first time.
1924
The world's first original radio play - A Comedy Of Danger by Richard Hughes - broadcast.
AJ Alan's My Adventure In Jermyn Street broadcast. (AJ Alan was a pseudonym for Captain Leslie Harrison Lambert, a London civil servant.)
The first episode of John Kenmir's Association Football broadcast on 5NO Newcastle.
The probable date that John Logie Baird first publicly demonstrated his rudimentary analogue television system, transmitting an image of a moving silhouette.
Coverage of the opening of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium broadcast.Goals from Neil Harris and Stan Seymour gave Newcastle United victory over Aston Villa in the FA Cup Final.
The first broadcast (Midnight) of cellist Beatrice Harrison's Cello & The Nightingale to a reported audience of more than a million listeners.
The talk Colonel Philip Trevor (CBE) On Cricket broadcast.
George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made an attempt to climb to the summit of Mount Everest from which, tragically, neither returned.
An Evening Of Army Reminiscences broadcast.
Children's Corner featured Peeps Into History - 'Alexander The Great, and Darius, King Of Persia' by The Right Honourable Winston S Churchill, MP.
Harold Abrahams won the one hundred metres gold medal at the Paris Olympics. The story of his exploits and those of Eric Liddell who won the four hundred metres gold four days hence, would provide the basis for the Oscar-winning movie Chariots Of Fire fifty seven years later.
Arthur Corbett-Smith's comedy Sportsmen All! broadcast.
In Boys Scouts & Girl Guides' Bulletins on 5NO Newcastle, Major March (DSO, MC) gave a talk on 'the importance of visual signalling in The Battle Of The Somme.'
A Dream Of Christmas Day broadcast.
The BBC's tradition of their Christmas schedule including something supernatural began with AJ Alan telling A Christmas Ghost Story.
1925
Awkwardly, An Old Time Nigger-Minstrel Programme was broadcast on 5IT Birmingham. Hell, those were very different times, dear blog readers. See also 2LO London's Forty Minutes of Nigger Minstrelsy, 2BE Belfast's Songs By Uncle Sambo, 2BD Aberdeen's Old Style Nigger Entertainment and 5WA Cardiff's Darkies' Revels. Et cetera.
The first episode of The Humours & Curiosities Of Parliament broadcast.
Highlights of the Civil Service Dinner broadcast, 'relayed from the Connaught Rooms, Holborn Restaurant, London.' Speakers included MPs Winston Churchill and Austen Chamberlain.
'The perfectly polite pair' Kenneth and George Western's made their radio debut in their own, self-titled show.
Anthony Neil Wedgewood Benn born in Marylebone.
The long-wave station 5XX moved from Chelmsford to Borough Hill, Daventry. In doing so, became the first radio station to achieve near national coverage, the initial step in the establishment of the BBC National Programme.
John Logie Baird successfully transmitted a series of television pictures with a greyscale image.
TS Eliot's The Hollow Men published.
Old Christmas Customs by E Le Breton-Martin and The Diver - 'an experience by AJ Alan' - broadcast.
Poems By Tennyson broadcast, spoken by Robert Horton.
Radio Reminiscences Of 1925 broadcast.
1926
The first Radio Times listing for The Shipping Forecast on the 5XX Daventry, although The Met Office had been issuing regional versions for broadcast since 1 January 1924. 'Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber, Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Biscay, Lundy, Fastnet, Rockall.' Et cetera.
The General Strike began. The BBC broadcast five news bulletins per day - instead of the usual three - as no newspapers were being published.
The Tenth Annual Meeting Of The National Savings Association relayed from the Albert Hall featured speakers including The Prince Of Wales and Winston Churchill.
The radio debut of Charlie Clapham and Billy Dwyer ('patter comedians') on 2LO London's Stars Of Variety.
The first British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands near Weybridge. In the race, the French drivers Robert Sénéchal and Louis Wagner beat Malcolm Campbell in his Bugatti.
With Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe in outstanding form, England regained The Ashes, winning the final test at The Oval by two hundred and eighty nine runs.
The probable radio debut of Will Hay, The Schoolmaster Comedian, first broadcast on 6BM Bournemouth and, subsequently, on other stations.
An adaptation of Thackeray's The Rose & The Ring broadcast.
The first episode of Clapham and Dwyer In A Spot Of Bother broadcast.
A Dream Fantasy Of 1926 broadcast.
1927
The British Broadcasting Company became the British Broadcasting Corporation under the terms of its first Royal Charter.The first live sports broadcast by the BBC took place, a rugby union international between England and Wales at Twickenham. England won eleven-nine.
The first broadcast of an FA Cup match, George Allison commentating on the Fourth Round clash between Corinthians and Newcastle United at Crystal Palace. (Newcastle won three-one.)
Herbert Chapman's Football League Club Worries broadcast. 'A big club in the First Division of the Football League is now a large-scale financial concern, depending for its success primarily on the efficiency of an equally intricate human machine - the team. Managing a team that is to play right through a long, hard season, with such incidental excitements as cup-ties and such complications as transfers and casualties, is a very arduous, expert and responsible job, and one of which Mister Chapman, who is manager of the great London club, The Arsenal, is well qualified to speak.' Also 'a running commentary on the Association Football Match' between Liverpool and Newcastle United 'by Ernest Edwards relayed from Anfield' broadcast on Liverpool 6LV. Newcastle won thanks to two Stan Seymour goals.
The first broadcast of The Grand National, won by Ted Leader on Sprig.
The first broadcast of The Boat Race. Cambridge won by three lengths. Oxford came second.
The first broadcast of The FA Cup Final. It was a memorable one, Cardiff City beating Arsenal by a single goal (to date, the only occasion that a non-English club has won the competition).
Led by Hughie Gallagher, Newcastle United finished the football season as First Division champions for the fourth (and, so far, last) time. Middlesbrough's George Camsell scored a Football League record of fifty nine goals during the season (sixty three in all competitions).
The first broadcast of a cricket match. The Reverend FH Gillingham, himself an ex-Essex player, gave a series of live reports from the touring New Zealanders match against Essex at Leyton.
The first broadcast of The Derby from Epsom - won by Charlie Elliott on Call Boy.
Yorkshire and England's Wilfred Rhodes became the only person to play in one thousand first-class cricket matches in a career which lasted from 1898 to 1930.
The first broadcast of the men's and women's singles finals at Wimbledon - won by Henry Cochet and Helen Wills respectively.
Christopher Stone presented the first programme solely dedicated to New Gramophone Records thus, effectively, becoming the world's first radio disc-jockey.
This Week's Good Cause featured 'an appeal by The Right Honourable Winston Churchill on behalf of the Royal Infant Orphanage, Wanstead.'
The probable broadcasting debut of JB Priestley on Writers Of Today.
Pantomimicry - 'a stock-pot of stock plots' - broadcast.
1928
The BBC Dance Orchestra, led by Jack Payne, made its first broadcast.
JB Priestley's Easter Customs In Other Lands broadcast.
Alan Kenneth MacKenzie Clark born in Saltwood, Kent.
Dixie Dean finished the season with a Football League record of sixty goals for champions Everton.
P Bilton's 'sketch in one act' The Mists Of Morning broadcast.
On Holidays Abroad, Bernard C Newman informed the listeners about the wonders of Andorra.
Mott, Hay & Anderson's Tyne Bridge was opened by King George and Queen Mary. The royal couple were the first to use the roadway, travelling in their Ascot Landau. The opening ceremony was attended by twenty thousand local schoolchildren - including both of this blogger's parents.
The first Festival Of Nine Lessons & Carol Service broadcast from King's College, Cambridge,
A Popular British Programme - featuring The Wireless Orchestra - broadcast.
Captain Malcolm Campbell's My Adventures In The Sahara and extracts from Edward Gibbon's The History Of The Decline & Fall Of The Roman Empire broadcast.
1929
Five gangsters (all rivals of Al Capone), plus two civilians, were shot dead in Chicago in what became known as The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre possibly carried out by members of the notorious Purple Gang dressed as police officers.
The general erection returned a well-hung parliament.
Ramsay MacDonald formed a new, minority, Labour government.
TS Eliot's The History Of English Letters - Six Types Of Tudor Prose broadcast.
Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail opened in London, the first British sound movie.
Scotland Yard seized thirteen paintings of male and female nudes by DH Lawrence from a Mayfair gallery on grounds of alleged indecency under the Vagrancy Act 1838.
The first transmissions of John Logie Baird's experimental thirty-line television system by the BBC.
The 'Wall Street Crash' occurred signalling the start of The Great Depression.The première of John Grierson's documentary Drifters about North Sea herring fishermen, made for the Empire Marketing Board, effectively inaugurated the British documentary film movement. It debuted at The Film Society in London on a double-bill with the UK première of Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin.
An adaptation of the comic opera Cox & Box broadcast.
1930Clyde Tombaugh of the Lowell Observatory made the first confirmed sighting of Pluto.
Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies published.
The majority of the BBC's existing local radio stations were regrouped into the National Programme and the Regional Programme.
The BBC produced the world's first television play, The Man With The Flower In His Mouth by Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello. The production was broadcast live from a set at the Baird company's headquarters and starred Earle Grey, Gladys Young and Lionel Millard. It was directed by Val Gielgud and produced by Lance Sieveking. It was reportedly judged 'a success' by the eight people who saw it, including the Prime Minister.
The annual Labour Party Conference at Llandudno was the first to be chaired by a woman, the MP Susan Lawrence. Oswald Mosley unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the party to adopt the 'Mosley Memorandum.' Which really pissed him off by all accounts.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra, under the directorship of Adrian Boult, gave its first concert for broadcast at the Queen's Hall. The programme consisted of musical pieces by Wagner, Brahms, Saint-Saëns and Ravel.
The British Legion Festival Of Remembrance and In Memoriam, 'a special Armistice Day programme' broadcast.
The King's speech at the opening of The Indian Round Table Conference broadcast. Girls & A Career Overseas - A Dialogue Between Two Headmistresses was broadcast under the auspices of the Oversea Settlement Department.
The Week In Westminster was presented by the Labour MP Lady Cynthia Mosley (Oswald's missus).
An Appeal On Behalf Of The Wireless For The Blind Fund by Winston Churchill broadcast, as was Dance Music featuring Billy Cotton & His Band from Ciro's Jazz Club.
1931
Winston Churchill resigned from Stanley Baldwin's shadow cabinet after disagreeing with the policy of conciliation with Indian nationalism.
Does Tradition Hinder Progress featured a discussion between The Right Honourable Lord Eustace Percy and Sir Oswald Mosley.
Having flounced out of the government in a right stroppy huff, Mosley formed the New Party. Gaining enthusiastic support from the Daily Scum Mail, Mosley and his Blackshirt thugs would soon become the British Union of Fascists. And then, it all kicked-off, big-style.
The Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald extremely resigned and was replaced by a National government drawn from members of all parties (but, mostly Conservatives) also under MacDonald's nominal leadership.
John Thomson, the Glasgow Celtic goalkeeper died in hospital after fracturing his skull in a collision with Rangers forward Sam English during the Old Firm derby at Ibrox.
Gangster Al Capone sentenced to eleven years in The Big House for tax evasion in Chicago.
EMI's state-of-the-art Abbey Road Studios in St John's Wood were opened by Sir Edward Elgar.
Half The World Away, 'an experiment with time and Christmas' broadcast.
1932
The first transmissions from the newly opened Broadcasting House took place.
Two goals from Jack Allen helped Newcastle United beat Arsenal in the controversial 'over-the-line' FA Cup final at Wembley.
Hedley Verity of Yorkshire established a new first-class cricket record taking all ten Nottinghamshire wickets for ten runs on a Headingley pitch affected by rain.
Forrest Mars produced the first Mars Bar in his Slough factory.
JB Priestley's To An Unnamed Listener broadcast.
Our Neighbours - Today & Yesterday broadcast featuring Mr G Harrison Brown discussing Germany's 'religious differences and cultural development.'
The BBC began a series of broadcasts to mark the seventy fifth birthday of Sir Edward Elgar.
The Ashes began in Brisbane. The so-called 'Bodyline' series would see England's team employ provocative, if effective (and entirely legal), fast-bowling by Harold Larwood and Bill Voce under captain Douglas Jardine to nullify Don Bradman and put the wind right up the other Australian batsmen. It worked brilliantly, England won the series four-one and the Aussies whinged like girls about how 'unsporting' it all was.
The BBC Empire Service, later the World Service, begins broadcasting using a shortwave facility at Daventry.
George V became the first monarch to deliver a Christmas Day Message to the nation and the empire.
1933
The London Underground diagram designed by Harry Beck was first introduced to the public.
George Orwell's Down & Out In Paris & London published.
Some Political Ideas Of Today featured a discussion on fascism between Sir Oswald Mosley and Miss Megan Lloyd George, MP.
West Indies left-arm wrist spinner Ellis Achong won a place in cricketing folklore by inspiring the term 'Chinaman' to describe that particular type of bowling. England's Walter Robins was stumped by Ivanhoe Barrow and, as Ellis, recalled: 'On his way back from the wicket, Robins turned to Learie [Constantine] and said: "Fancy being out to a bloody Chinaman!"'
Battersea Power Station first generated electricity for the London area.
Winston Churchill made his first public speech warning of the dangers of German rearmament. And, he was right an'all (he was wrong about lots of other stuff, mind, but he was right about that).
HG Wells's The Shape Of Things To Come published.
Gangster, kidnapper and general all-round hoodlum George Machine Gun Kelly and his wife, Kathryn, were captured by FBI agents in Memphis. Reportedly Kelly squealed 'don't shoot, G-men!' as he was arrested. The pair were later jailed for life for their naughty crimes.
We Shall Remember Them broadcast. 'Compiled by Val Gielgud from the prose of Winston Churchill, Stephen McKenna, John Masefield, TE Lawrence, Guy Chapman and Lord Dunsany and from the poems of Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Wilson Gibson, Alan Seeger, Edward Shanks, Laurence Binyon, Lord Dunsany and Wilfred Owen with music selected by Leslie Woodgate from the works of Hoist, Sibelius and Sir Edward Elgar for Armistice Day.'
The first episode of In Town Tonight broadcast on The Home Service.
1934
Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express published. If you've never read it, they all did it.
Radio Times first published details of the BBC's experimental television broadcasts using John Logie Baird's transmission process which continued throughout the following two years.
The first episode of Whiter Britain? broadcast. A series in which 'distinguished speakers, each a specialist in his own particular line, examine the past glories of Britain, look frankly at our assets today and compare all with an eye on the future.' The opening episode featured an essay by HG Wells, whilst the second was by Winston Churchill. Future episodes were presented by the likes of Ernest Bevin, George Bernard Shaw, Quinton Hogg and David Lloyd George.
Tom Stewart Baker born in Liverpool.
PG Wodehouse's Thank You, Jeeves published.
Cecil Day Lewis's The Magnificent Charlatan broadcast.
The so-called 'surgeon's photograph' allegedly of the Loch Ness Monster, later admitted to be a - not especially elaborate - hoax, was published in the Daily Scum Mail.
Alan Bennett born in Leeds.
American outlaws and violent bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and very killed by a posse of six police officers led by Frank Hamer in Bienville, Louisiana.
At a British Union of Fascist rally held at London's Olympia and attended by ten thousand people, Blackshirt thugs violently 'ejected' anti-fascist 'disrupters.' The level of violence witnessed at the rally shocked many, having the effect of turning many neutral parties against the BUF and contributing to future anti-fascist support.
The BBC's first live coverage of test cricket. Howard Marshall commentated on the opening day of the first test between England and Australia at Trent Bridge.
Betrayed by a Copper's Nark to the Feds, bank robber John Dillinger was shot and killed by agents after a shootout at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago.
Evelyn Waugh's A Handful Of Dust published.
The BBC's powerful long-wave transmitter, Droitwich Station, began broadcasting at two hundred kilohertz.
Agatha Christie's Why Didn't They Ask Evans? published.
Stoke City winger Stanley Matthews made his debut for England, scoring in a four-nil win over Wales at Ninian Park. It was the beginning of a record twenty three-year international career.
The first episode of Freedom & Authority In The Modern World broadcast.
Charles Pretty Boy Floyd - Public Enemy Number One - was shot and killed in a corn field in Ohio while being pursued by local law officers and FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis. And that was end of his shit.
Lester Gillis (Baby Face Nelson) died after a shootout with Feds near Chicago.
The marriage of Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, was the first royal wedding to be broadcast live on BBC radio. Though, not the last.
1935
The first episode of the series India broadcast featuring the views of Clement Attlee MP.
Winston Churchill, 'the government's most persistent and relentless critic of the government's policy on India,' outlined his views on the issue to listeners.
Richard Crossman's Youth Looks Ahead focused on 'impressions of Herr Hitler's Germany.'
In the House of Commons, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education - H Ramsbothom - was asked whether he was now prepared to accept the suggestion that an official opinion should be pronounced on the medical aspect of the caning of girls for the guidance of all local education authorities. Ramsbotham replied that corporal punishment had always been regarded as within the discretion of the school authorities.
Freedom & Authority In The Modern World featured 'H Powys Greenwood on Nazi Germany.'
The probable radio debut of Vera Lynn as vocalist with The Joe Loss Orchestra broadcast.
Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated the use of radar using the BBC's Daventry transmitter.
The first episode of Freedom broadcast. Contributors to future episodes included Herbert Morrison, Wyndham Lewis, Erwin Schrödinger, GK Chesterton, George Bernard Shaw and Herbert Hanson, the Bishop of Durham.
Dudley Stuart John Moore born in Hammersmith.
Gallipoli, 'in memory of those who died before Byzantium, to save the fishy straits of the sea, men swift in the work of War' broadcast.
Stanley Baldwin replaced the retiring Ramsay MacDonald as Prime Minister. Alfred Hitchcock's The Thirty Nine Steps released.
TE Lawrence's Seven Pillars Of Wisdom - written in 1922 - was first published in an edition for general circulation, two months after the author's death in a motorcycle accident.
Archibald Campbell's The Last Voyage Of The HMS Otranto broadcast on The National Programme.
The first episode of Men Talking broadcast.
Eddie Pola's The Nut Club - featuring Vera Lynn - broadcast.
The maiden flight of the RAF's Hawker Hurricane fighter took place.
The Citizen & His Government featured Agnes Headlam-Morley discussing 'the Fascist and Communist Experiment.'
A 'running commentary' on the second half of the International Football Match between England and Germany, by Arsenal's manager George F Allison broadcast from White Hart Lane.
1936
The GPO Film Unit documentary Night Mail, incorporating poetry by WH Auden and music by Benjamin Britten, was premiered at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.
George V died at Sandringham.
The USA's failure to beat Canada in the final group match meant that the British men's Ice Hockey team won Winter Olympic gold at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
George Orwell's Keep The Aspidistra Flying published.
Fred Perry won his third successive Wimbledon men's singles title, the last British player to do so until 2013.
The Opening Ceremony of the Berlin Olympics was broadcast on the National Programme.
Jesse Owens won the one hundred metres, the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics. Herr Hitler didn't like it. Ooo, mad-vexed so he was.
New Zealand's Jack Lovelock won the Olympic fifteen hundred metres gold - urged on by his friend Harold Abrahams who was commentating for the BBC ('Come on, Jack!')
The Battle of Cable Street between Mosley's British Union of Fascists blackshirt scum and anti-fascist demonstrators took place. With blokes getting chinned and all sorts.
The first episode of The World Goes By broadcast on The Regional Programme.
The opening night of BBC Television, the world's first High Definition television service. Broadcasts alternated on a weekly basis between John Logie Baird's two hundred and forty-line mechanical method and the Marconi-EMI's four hundred and five-line electronic system. The first episode of Picture Page broadcast, presented by The Switchboard Girl (Joan Miller).
The information film Television Comes To London broadcast for the first time.Citizen Soldiers Of London broadcast.
Alan Turing's paper On Computable Numbers was formally presented to the London Mathematical Society, introducing the concept of The Turing Machine.
The TV début of Kenneth and George Western on Starlight. Whether they performed their classic, 'We're Frightfully BBC', is not known.
The first episode of Theatre Parade - scenes from The Royalty Theatre production of Marigold - broadcast.
E Martin Browne's adaptation of TS Eliot's Murder In The Cathedral broadcast.
The ballet Façade - featuring Margot Fontayne - broadcast.
King Edward VIII - close personal friend of Herr Hitler - announced his decision to abdicate the throne over 'the woman I love' (Wallis Simpson) to the nation. Or, that portion of the nation that could afford a wireless, anyway. He was introduced by John Reith - who, reportedly, wasn't a fan - as 'His Royal Highness, Prince Edward'. His reign had lasted three hundred and twenty seven days. He was succeeded by his brother, Colin Firth. Meanwhile, on BBC1, Burnt Sepia, an 'all-coloured cabaret' featured - for the first time on television - performances by a number of black acts including Garland Wilson, Mabel Scott, Cyril Lewis, Harris & Howell and Buddy Bradley's Sepia Cronies.Nancy Logan In Songs At The Pianoforte broadcast.
Christmas Day was celebrated with Television Party, a live demonstration of turkey carving and Sir Ernest Shackelton's A Lonely Christmas In The Arctic.
1937
The first episode of George Formby's A Lancashire Lad In London broadcast on The National Programme.
The first episode of The White Coons Concert Party broadcast.
The BBC produced a performance of scenes from Jerome K Jerome's The Soul Of Nicholas Snyder and, in doing so, give birth to the genre of Telefantasy.
J Bissell Thomas's The Underground Murder Mystery broadcast - believed to be the first drama specifically written for television - as part of the Theatre Parade strand.
Antony Tudor's Fugue For Four Cameras broadcast.
George Orwell's The Road To Wigan Pier published.
The first episode of Queue For Song broadcast.
Tommy Handley's adaptation of The Disorderly Room broadcast.
The first episode of Up To London broadcast on The Regional Programme.
Delia Ann Derbyshire born in Coventry.
George More O'Ferrall's adaptation of Anna Christie - starring Flora Robson - broadcast.
The coronation of George VI broadcast. The newly formed social research organisation Mass Observation made its first survey of social attitudes.A Tour Of The London Television Station broadcast.
Tommy Woodrooffe's infamous - 'tired and emotional' - description of The Illumination Of The Fleet at The Spithead Review broadcast on The London Regional Network. 'They're all lit up!' Questions were asked in the House of Commons. Again.
The Tudor Touch broadcast.
The second part of Hassan - featuring Greer Garson - broadcast.
The National Programme's My Own Poetry - featuring WB Yeats - broadcast.
The outside broadcast Girls & Boys Come Out To Play was scheduled. Providing there was no rain, obviously.
The first episode of Round The Film Studios broadcast.
The TV debuts of Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson in an episode of Round The Film Studios.
The TV début of Jack Warner in an episode of Cabaret.
Emlyn Williams's Night Must Fall broadcast.
The first TV adaptation of RC Sherriff's Journey's End broadcast.
Peter Edward Cook born in Torquay.
The Vic-Wells ballet company's production of Le Lac Des Cygnes broadcast.
Tele-Ho! broadcast.
Francis Durbridge's The Melody Man - starring Leslie Hutchinson - broadcast on The London Regional Network.
The first of several BBC adaptations of Arnold Ridley's The Ghost Train broadcast.
'Television's first grand pantomime', Dick Whittington & The Cat - written by Arthur Askey - broadcast.
1938
JM Barrie's Mary Rose broadcast.
The first episode of The Band Waggon - starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch - broadcast on The Regional Programme.
John Webster's The Duchess Of Malfi - featuring the TV début of John Laurie - broadcast.
The first episode of As The Commentator Saw It broadcast on The National Programme.
An adaptation of Karel Capek's RUR broadcast - believed to be the first science-fiction drama ever presented on television.
The first episode of Comedy Cabaret broadcast. Chekov's On The High Road broadcast featuring the TV début of Maurice Denham.
WS Gilbert's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern broadcast.
Richard Hearne, Lilli Palmer and George Nelson performed the Moving Furniture sketch on an episode of Starlight.
WB Yeats's The Word On The Window Pane broadcast.
Evelyn Waugh's On Guard broadcast on The Regional Programme.
The first televised Boat Race - won by Oxford - broadcast, with commentary by John Stagge.
Clemence Dane's Will Shakespeare broadcast.
Christine Hahlo's Wren Of St Paul's broadcast.
The first football match televised in its entirety by the BBC. Tommy Walker's goal gave Scotland victory over England at Wembley.
The first published appearance of Superman in Action Comics issue one.
George Orwell's Homage To Catalonia published.
The FA Cup Final was televised for the first time. Preston North End beat Huddersfield Town after extra time. Commentator Tommy Woodrooffe recklessly stated 'if there's a goal scored now, I'll eat my hat' mere seconds before George Mutch netted the winner. Woodrooffe subsequently kept his promise, though reportedly the 'hat' he ate was made of sugar-coated cake.
The London & North Eastern Railway's Mallard reached a speed of one hundred and twenty six miles per hour, the highest certified speed for a steam locomotive.
The fifth and final episode of television's first serial drama, Ann & Harold broadcast.
The first episode of Telecrime broadcast.Elmer Rice and Philip Barry's Who Killed Cock Robin? broadcast.
Edward Wooll's Libel broadcast.
Len Hutton broke Don Bradman's Ashes record innings, scoring three hundred and sixty four runs in England's - also record-breaking - total of nine hundred and three at The Oval in the fifth test.
Prime Minister and well-known appeaser of fascists, Neville Chamberlain, returned to the UK from Munich, at Heston Aerodrome memorably waving the resolution signed the day earlier with Herr Hitler. Later, in Downing Street, he made his infamous 'Peace for our time' speech. Wrong.
An adaptation of HG Wells's The War Of The Worlds was broadcast in the US as part of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre On The Air on the CBS network. Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the episode became famous for allegedly causing mass panic on the East Coast of America amongst people who believed that The Martians really were invading Earth, although the scale of the alleged panic has been subsequently disputed as the programme had relatively few listeners.
Darts Championship Of The Air, featuring Fred Wallis - broadcast live from The Alexandra Arms, Eastbourne, on the London Regional Network.W Somerset Maugham's The Breadwinner broadcast.
The probable day that, due to freak weather conditions, RCA in New York was able to film ghostly images of a BBC broadcast, one of the world's earliest surviving telerecordings.
Denis Johnson's adaptation of The Last Voyage Of Captain Grant broadcast.
Virginia and Frank Vernon's adaptation of Villa For Sale - starring Rex Harrison - broadcast.
Reginald Berkeley's adaptation of The White Château broadcast.
The first episode of Those You Have Loved - featuring the BBC's first female DJ, Doris Arnold - broadcast.
Bryan James Chandler born in Heaton, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
The first overseas cricket broadcast to the UK. Jim Swanton commentated on the Johannesburg test between South Africa and England. On Boxing Day, Tom Goddard took a hat-trick whilst Swanton was on-air.
1939
Eugene O'Neill's Marco Millions broadcast.
JB Priestley's Bees On The Boat-Deck - starring Ralph Richardson - broadcast.
Lionel Brown's Square Pegs broadcast.
The first radio adaptation of Harry Blyth's Sexton Blake stories - featuring George Curzon in the title role - broadcast on The National Programme as part of the Lucky Dip strand.
Money For Jam broadcast.
Reginald Arkell's 1066 & All That broadcast.
Gardner Davies's adaptation of Gas Light broadcast.
James Birdie's The Anatomist broadcast.
Lionel Brown's Square Pegs - starring James Mason - broadcast.
REJ Brooke's Condemned To Be Shot broadcast.
Ian Hay's Little Ladyship broadcast, featuring the TV début of Joan Greenwood.
Magyar Melody broadcast.
David Paradine Frost born in Tenterden, Kent.
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien born in West Hampstead.
The first published appearance of Batman in Detective Comics issue 27.
George More O'Ferrall's adaptation of Sun Up broadcast.
Edward Poor Montgomery's For Those In Peril broadcast.
Nicholas Phipps's First Stop North broadcast.
An adaptation of Karel Capek's The Insect Play broadcast.
Leonard Sachs's adaptation of Luck Of The Devil broadcast.
Nicholas Phipps's Look Here! broadcast.
The Fame Of Grace Darling broadcast.
The first episode of It's That Man Again broadcast on The National Programme.
The Day Is Gone broadcast.
Peggy Barwell's adaptation of Prison Without Bars broadcast.
The BBC's second adaptation of James Birdie's Tobias & The Angel broadcast.
The TV debuts of Nosmo King and Hubert in Cabaret.
The TV debut of eleven year old Bruce Forsyth on Come & Be Televised.
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft born in Heswell, Merseyside.
Germany invaded Poland. The dirty rotten scoundrels. Operation Pied Piper, a four-day evacuation of children from major UK cities began. Blackouts were imposed across Britain. The army was officially mobilised and the BBC Home Service began broadcasting, replacing The National Programme.
Britain and France declared war on Germany and Herr Hitler (who only had one). The BBC Television Service was suspended, about twenty minutes after the conclusion of the Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Gala Première, amid fears that the Alexandra Palace VHF transmissions could act as guidance beacons for enemy bombers attempting to locate Central London. The rest of the war continued in sound only.
John Marwood Cleese born in Weston-Super-Mere.
The Battle of the River Plate followed, two days later, by the sinking of the Graf Spee of Uruguay.
1940
Ronald William Wycherley born in Liverpool.
The Greece campaign ended with the evacuation of around fifty thousand British and Commonwealth troops.
Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister, replaced by Winston Churchill and a coalition war ministry.
Churchill made his 'I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat' speech to the House of Commons. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her government were evacuated to London using HMS Hereward following the German invasion of the Low Countries.
The creation of the Local Defence Volunteers (the Home Guard) was announced by the Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden.
The Dunkirk evacuation of British Expeditionary Force began.
The last of three hundred thousand troops were evacuated from France (including this blogger's dad) as Churchill made his 'We shall fight on the beaches' speech to the House of Commons.JB Priestley broadcast his first Sunday evening Postscript, An Excursion To Hell, on The Home Service after the evening news, marking the role of 'the little ships' in the Dunkirk evacuation.
Thomas Jones Woodward born in Treforest, Pontypridd.
Churchill made his 'this was their finest hour' speech to the House of Commons, declaring 'the Battle of France is over. the Battle of Britain is about to begin.' General Charles de Gaulle, de facto leader of the Free French Forces, made his first broadcast on Radio Londres rallying French Resistance.
Richard Starkey born in Dingle, Liverpool.
Constable Jack William Avery, a war reserve police officer, was murdered in Hyde Park. Avery was stabbed in the groin by Frank Stephen Cobbett, after Avery approached him having been advised by a member of the public that Cobbett was 'acting suspiciously.' Cobbett, of no fixed address, was originally sentenced to death, but after an appeal served fifteen years.
Constable Jack William Avery, a war reserve police officer, was murdered in Hyde Park. Avery was stabbed in the groin by Frank Stephen Cobbett, after Avery approached him having been advised by a member of the public that Cobbett was 'acting suspiciously.' Cobbett, of no fixed address, was originally sentenced to death, but after an appeal served fifteen years.
Churchill paid tribute in Parliament to the Royal Air Force fighter crews currently battling the Luftwaffe in the skies over Britain: 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.'
The Blitz began, the first of fifty seven consecutive nights of strategic bombing on London.
John Winston Lennon born in Liverpool.Harry Rodger Webb born in Lucknow, India.
The centre of Coventry was largely destroyed by five hundred Luftwaffe bombers.
Less than a week after the blitz of Coventry, further heavy air raids took place. Birmingham, West Bromwich, Dudley and Tipton were all bombed. Over the following five weeks, Southampton, Bristol, Plymouth, Sheffield, Hull, Newcastle, Sunderland, Liverpool, Manchester, Swansea, Belfast. Glasgow and many other British cities also suffered heavy bombing.
David Michael Gordon Graham born in Hinkley, Leicestershire.
The Home Services' The Writer In The Witness-Box featured 'a discussion between George Orwell and Desmond Hawkins on proletarian literature.'
Heavy bombing in London caused the Second Great Fire of London. Guildhall was among many buildings badly damaged or destroyed. There were one hundred and sixty deaths and hundreds of casualties. A famous photograph, St Paul's Survives, taken from the roof of the Daily Scum Mail building by Herbert Mason showing the dome of St Paul's Cathedral rising above clouds of smoke.
The Home Services' The Writer In The Witness-Box featured 'a discussion between George Orwell and Desmond Hawkins on proletarian literature.'
Heavy bombing in London caused the Second Great Fire of London. Guildhall was among many buildings badly damaged or destroyed. There were one hundred and sixty deaths and hundreds of casualties. A famous photograph, St Paul's Survives, taken from the roof of the Daily Scum Mail building by Herbert Mason showing the dome of St Paul's Cathedral rising above clouds of smoke.
1941
The first episode of Any Questions? - rechristened, The Brains Trust from December 1941 - broadcast on The Forces Network. The first episode of Workers' Playtime broadcast on The Home Service.Graham Arthur Chapman born in Leicester.
One hundred and eleven people were killed when a German bomb hit the booking hall of Bank & Momument Tube Station. The blast travelled down the stairs and escalators to the platforms.
The German submarine U-110 was captured by the Royal Navy in the North Atlantic with its Enigma cryptography machine and codebooks. The House of Commons was damaged by the Luftwaffe. Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland claiming to be on a peace mission. One or two people even believed him.
Eric Victor Burdon born in Walker, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
German victory in the Battle of Crete.
Charles Robert Watts born in Kingsbury, North London.
The beginning of Operation Barbarossa and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
Noël Coward's comedy Blithe Spirit had its London premiere at The Piccadilly Theatre. Its eventual run of nineteen hundred and ninety seven consecutive performances set a record for non-musical plays in the West End theatre unsurpassed for more than twenty years.
The journalist William Connor, under his pen name Cassandra, broadcast a postscript to The News railing against PG Wodehouse, currently a prisoner of war in Germany who had been tricked by the Nazis into making a series of humorous broadcasts - How To Be An Internee Without Previous Training - for the American market. Connor's broadcast was made at the direct instruction of Duff Cooper, the Minister of Information, who overruled strong protests made by the BBC against the broadcast. The BBC management, who considered Wodehouse's actions no worse than 'ill advised', pointed out to Cooper that there was no evidence as to whether Wodehouse had acted voluntarily or under duress.
The first episode of CS Lewis's Right & Wrong broadcast on The Home Service.
Nazi spy Josef Jakobs became the last person to be executed at the Tower of London when he faced a firing squad following his conviction for an offence under the Treachery Act.
Dave Anthony Brock born in Isleworth.
The first Ronald Searle cartoon to feature the girls of St Trinian's School was published, in the magazine Lilliput.
Hank Brian Marvin born in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Bruce Cripps born in Bognor Regis.
The first episode of Vera Lynn's Sincerely Yours - 'a sentimental presentation' according to an almost apologetic Radio Times - broadcast on The Forces Network.
Japanese forces attacked the US navy base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii bringing the, so far reluctant, Americans into the war. The first published appearance of Wonder Woman in All Star Comics issue 8.
1942
The first episode of Desert Island Discs broadcast on The Forces Programme Network.The Wannsee Conference took place in Berlin outlining plans for 'The Final Solution of the Jewish Question' (or, 'genocide' as it was more commonly known).
The fall of Malaya.
Terence Graham Parry Jones born in Colwyn Bay.
Graham William Nash born in Blackpool.
The fall of Singapore to the Japanese, the most disastrous defeat in British military history.
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Alan Price born in Fatfield, County Durham.
The Radio Doctor, Charles Hill made his first BBC radio broadcast on The Home Services' The Kitchen Front giving health care advice to listeners.
James Paul McCartney born in Liverpool.
The day of the, unsuccessful (and borderline disastrous) Dieppe Raid.
The first episode of CS Lewis's Christian Behaviour broadcast on The Forces Network.
The premiere of Noël Coward's In Which We Serve.
British sailors - not American ones as Hollywood subsequently claimed - boarded the German submarine U-559 as it sank in the Mediterranean and retrieved its Enigma machine and codebooks.
The Second Battle of El Alamein effectively ended with Erwin Rommel ordering German forces to retreat in the face of pressure from Montgomery's Eighth Army.
The Beveridge Report published, laying the foundations for the post-war Welfare State.
1943
German forces surrendered at Stalingrad.
George Harrison born in Liverpool.
Victor Anthony Stanshall born in Oxford.
Eric Idle born in South Shields.
Michael Edward Palin born in Sheffield.
John Symon Asher Bruce born in Bishopbriggs.
Operation Chastise (the 'Dambuster Raid') took place: Six One Seven Squadron used bouncing bombs to breach German dams in the Ruhr Valley.
Hilton Stewart Paterson Valentine born in North Shields.
Germany launched Operation Citadel and attacked Soviet forces around the Kursk Bulge, one of the largest armoured clashes in history. For the Germans, the battle was the final strategic offensive that they were able to launch on the Eastern Front. Their extensive loss of men and tanks ensured that the victorious Red Army enjoyed the strategic initiative for the remainder of the war.
The Allied invasion of Sicily began.
Michael Philip Jagger born in Dartford.
George Roger Waters born in Great Bookham.
Allied forces under General Bernard Montgomery landed in mainland Italy in Operation Avalanche. The America landing at Salerno occurred six days later.
Herbert Jansch born in Hampstead.
John Dickson Carr's Cabin B13, the first episode of Appointment With Fear - featuring the sepulchral-voiced Valentine Dyall as The Man In Black - broadcast on The Home Service.
The first Bevin Boys were selected from conscripts to work in the mines.
Keith Richards born in Dartford.
1944
James Patrick Page born in Heston, Middlesex.
The Allied landing at Anzio.
The lifting of the Siege of Leningrad after eight hundred and seventy two days.
The prototype computer Colossus Mark 1 - developed by British codebreakers to help in the cryptanalysis of the German's Lorenz cipher - began operations at Bletchley Park. Colossus was designed by research telephone engineer Tommy Flowers to solve a problem posed by mathematician Max Newman. Alan Turing's use of probability in cryptanalysis also contributed to its design. It has sometimes been erroneously stated that Turing himself designed Colossus to aid the cryptanalysis of the earlier Enigma. Turing's machine which helped decode Enigma was the electromechanical Bombe.
Roger Harry Daltrey born in Hammersmith.
Ranulph Tiwselton-Wykeham-Fiennes born in Windsor.
Helen Duncan - a fake medium - became the last person to be jailed (for nine months) under the 1735 Witchcraft Act at the Old Bailey for 'falsely claiming to procure spirits.'
The first episode of Archie Takes The Helm, featuring ventriloquist Peter Brough and Archie Andrews broadcast as part of the Navy Mixture strand on the General Forces Network.
After months of carnage, the Battle of Monte Cassino concluded with an Allied victory.
Rome was liberated by the Americans.
One hundred and fifty thousand Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, beginning Operation Overlord. The BBC transmitted a coded message ('wound my heart with a monotonous languor' from Chanson d'automne, a poem by Paul Verlaine) to resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion was about to begin.
The first V-1 flying bomb attack on London. Eight civilians were killed in the blast. In France the Battle of Villers-Bocage took place.
Raymond Douglas Davies born in Fortis Green, North London.
The Education Act, promoted by Rab Butler, created a Tripartite System of secondary education in England and Wales with Secondary Modern, Technical and Grammar schools.
The Battle of the Falaise Gap concluded with an Allied victory.
Paris was liberated when the German garrison surrendered following an uprising by the French Resistance.
Brussels was liberated by Allies forces.
The first V-2 attack on London.
The beginning of Operation Market Garden, the ultimately unsuccessful attempt by Allied forces to encircle the heart of German industry, the Ruhr, in a pincer movement and end the war in 1944.
John Alec Entwistle born in Chiswick.
Laurence Olivier's Henry V, the first work of Shakespeare filmed in colour was premiered.
Neil James Innes born in Danbury.
The beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, the last German offensive campaign of the war launched through the densely forested Ardennes.
1945
RAF Bomber Command began the strategic bombing of Dresden, resulting in a lethal firestorm which killed an estimated twenty five thousands civilians.
James Alan Hull born in Benwell, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Robert Newton Calvert born in Pretoria, South Africa.British and American forces crossed the river Rhine in Operation Plunder.
Eric Patrick Clapton born in Ripley, Surrey.
British troops liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Richard Dimbleby reported on it for BBC News.
US forces liberated Dachau.
The day Germany signed an unconditional surrender.
Adolf Hitler (who only had one) extremely committed suicide by shooting himself in the head inside the Führerbunker. And, it was on his honeymoon as well as that was doubly funny.
The Nazi surrendered ending the war in Europe. BBC correspondent Thomas Cadett ended a dispatch minutes after the signing of the surrender with: 'Some of us admitted to a certain temptation to pity for the conquered, but each time memories from Warsaw and Buchenwald came crowding in - to bring the realisation that this was justice; that pity was a selfish and sentimental notion.
Eight days after the suicide of Hitler and the collapse of the Nazi rule in Berlin, V-E Day was celebrated. Street parties took place throughout the country.
German forces in the Channel Islands, the only occupied part of the British Isles, surrendered.
Ian Patrick McLagan born in Hounslow.
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend born in Chiswick. An Australian Services XI, which included Keith Miller, Lindsay Hassett and Cec Pepper, played the first of five 'victory tests' against England,
SS Reichfűhrer Heinrich Himmler committed suicide by cyanide and died, in agony. Served him right.
William Joyce, known as Lord Haw-Haw was captured in Germany. He was later charged with high treason in London for his English-language wartime broadcasts for German radio and was very hanged from his naughty crimes in January 1946.
Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes was first performed at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London.Clement Attlee became Prime Minister after Labour won a landslide victory in the general erection.
The Light Programme was launched, aimed at mainstream light entertainment and music. First day highlights included As The Commentator Saw It, Transatlantic Quiz, Variety Band-Box, Tyneside Salutes The Merchant Navy and They Lived To Tell Their Tale.
The dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The dropping of the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
V-J Day was celebrated following the Japanese surrender.
George Orwell's Animal Farm published.
Bryan Ferry born in Washington, County Durham.
Te first episode of Family Favourites broadcast on The Light Programme and on The British Forces Network in Germany.
Brian Francis Connolly born in Govenhill, Glasgow.
The first episode of Today In Parliament broadcast on The Home Service.
The United Nations Organisation was formally inaugurated during a short ceremony at the US State Department in Washington.
David Lean's film of Noël Coward's Brief Encounter released.
Ian Fraser Kilmister born in Burslem, Stoke On Trent.
Britain received its first shipment of bananas since the beginning of the war.
1946
Roger Keith Barrett born in Cambridge.
The Bolton stadium disaster at Burnden Park, at the time was the worst tragedy in British football history. Thirty three fans were crushed to death, and another four hundred injured during an FA Cup Quarter-Final between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City. There was an estimated eighty five thousand crowd crammed into the ground for the game, at least fifteen thousand over-capacity. The disaster led to Moelwyn Hughes's report, which recommended more rigorous control of crowd sizes.
The first episode of Alistair Cooke's Letter From America broadcast on The Home Service. It would continue, weekly, on the BBC until shortly before Cooke's death in 2004.
Ronald Frederick Lane born in Plaistow.David John Hill born in Holbeton.
Donovan Philips Leitch born in Maryhill, Glasgow.
Michael Ronson born in Kingston Upon Hull.
The first television licence was introduced costing two pounds.
The post-war reopening of the BBC Television Service. The first words were 'Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?' Twenty minutes later, Mickey's Gala Premiere which had been the last programme transmitted seven years earlier at the start of World War II, was rebroadcast.
The first episode of The Squadronnaires broadcast. A televised victory parade was held in London to celebrate the end of World War II. The - probable - broadcasting début of John Arlott, commentating on the Indian tourists visit to Glamorgan for The Light Programme's Saturday Sport.
The first episode of For The Children broadcast.
The first episode of Late Joys broadcast featuring the TV début of Hattie Jacques.
JB Priestley's Dangerous Corner broadcast.
The first TV appearance by the war correspondent Wynford Vaughan Thomas on an episode of Picture Page.
George W Houghton's They Flew Through Sand broadcast.
The first episode of Edmundo Ros & His Rumba Rhythm broadcast. Neville John Holder born in Walsall.
The first episode of Transatlantic Quiz - presented by Lionel Hale and Alistair Cooke - broadcast.
The first episode of Way Out West - featuring Big Bill Campbell & His Rocky Mountain Rhythm - broadcast.
Christopher Fry's A Phoenix Too Frequent broadcast.
The first post-war test cricket series between England and India began.
Jim Swanton and Brian Johnston's presentation of Two Hundred Years Of Cricket broadcast.
James Birdie's It Depends What You Mean broadcast.
Adrian Arlington's Willow, The King broadcast on The Home Service.
The opening episode of the first TV adaptation of The Brains Trust broadcast.
Edgar Wallace's The Ringer broadcast.
The evening's Shove Ha'Penny coverage featured 'a match between R Brewster and 'Burly' Pilchet of The Bricklayer's Arms and J Harris and Joe Goss of The King and Queen.'
Maurice Valency's The Thracian Horses broadcast.
Edward Percy's The Shop At Sly Corner - featuring the TV debut of Deryck Guyler - broadcast.
Petula Clark's TV début in an episode of Cartoon Cabaret.
The children's puppet Muffin The Mule debuted on an episode of For The Children. He proved so popular that he was given his own show later in the year.
AP Herbert's Two Gentlemen Of Soho broadcast.
Anthony Robinson born in Homerton.
John Arlott's The Literature Of Cricket broadcast on The Light Programme.
WP Lipscomb's The Man With The Cloak Full Of Holes broadcast - featuring the TV acting début of Arnold Ridley.
Keith John Moon born in Wembley.
Barry Alan Crompton Gibb born in Douglas, Isle Of Man.
Emlyn Williams's The Corn Is Green - featuring Richard Burton's TV début - broadcast.
Have A Go! - presented by Wilfred Pickles - first broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of Mixed Bill broadcast.
The first episodes of Woman's Hour and Dick Barton - Special Agent (with Noel Johnson in the title role) broadcast on The Light Programme.The psychopath and sexual sadist Neville Heath was hanged at Pentonville Prison for the murder of two women. A few moments prior to his execution, as was the custom, Heath was offered a glass of whisky by the governor. Heath reportedly replied, 'While you're about it, sir, you might make that a double.'
The first episode of Quiz With Hale broadcastThe first episode of Muffin The Mule broadcast as part of the For The Children strand. Maxwell Anderson's The Masque Of Kings broadcast.
The first episode of Stars In Your Eyes broadcast.
Telecrime, the crime drama series from the 1930s, returned for the final run, retitled Telecrimes.
The first episode of Variety On View - presented by Jack Warner - broadcast.
The first episode of Little Show - presented by Jon Pertwee - broadcast. The first Royal Command Performance at a public cinema, the Empire, Leicester Square with the premiere of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's masterpiece A Matter Of Life & Death.
Michael Gough's TV début in Androcles & The Lion.
Gilbert Thomas's The Murder Rap broadcast.
Roy Wood born in Birmingham.
Margaret Cook was murdered outside the Blue Lagoon nightclub in Carnaby Street. In 2015 a ninety one year old man living in Canada confessed to the shooting which, if true, would make this the longest gap between a crime and a confession in British criminal history.
Alexander Douglas and Donald Sutherland's Second Chance broadcast.
Bernard Merivale's The Unguarded Hour broadcast.Jan De Hartog's Death Of A Rat broadcast.
David Jones's In Parenthesis broadcast on The Third Programme.
The first episode of Kaleidoscope broadcast featuring an early TV appearance by Leslie Welch, The Memory Man.
The first episode of Pinwright's Progress, British television's first sitcom, broadcast.
Patrick Macnee's TV début in Morning Departure.
Gerald Savory's George & Margaret broadcast.
Clemence Dane's dramatisation of Alice - with Vivian Pickles in the title role - broadcast.
An adaptation of Shaw's Arms & The Man broadcast.
The first TV adaptation of Just William broadcast.
An adaptation of Noel Coward's Hay Fever featuring the TV debut of Nicholas Parsons broadcast.
The first episode of Down Your Way broadcast on The Light Programme.
1947
The first episode of New To You broadcast. The government nationalised the coal industry in the UK and Cable & Wireless Ltd.
The first episode of Much-Binding-In-The-Marsh broadcast on The Home Service.
Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny born in Merton Park.
David Robert Jones born in Brixton.
AA Milne's The Princess & The Woodcutter broadcast.
The first episode of The Care Of Your Car broadcast.
The Wandering Jew broadcast. Stephen Peter Marriott born in Manor Park, London.
A second adaptation of 1066 & All That broadcast.
David Russell Gordon Davies born in Fortis Green, North London.
The BBC Television Service was temporarily suspended for the first time since World War II due to the national fuel crisis. It remained off-air until 11 March. On radio, The Third Programme was also closed down until 26 February.
Television broadcasts resumed after the temporary, fuel-related, suspension. The first episode of A Word In Your Eye broadcast.
JB Priestley's Laburnam Grove broadcast.
The third episode of Twenty Questions broadcast on The Home Service. Radio Times was not published during the week that the series began - on 28 February - due to the fuel crisis.Ben Travers' A Cup Of Kindness broadcast (originally scheduled for 20 February).
An adaptation of Fanny's First Play broadcast.
The Cherry Orchard broadcast (originally scheduled for 16 February).
Reginald Kenneth Dwight born in Pinner.
George More O'Ferrall's adaptation of Everyman - starring Andre Morell - broadcast.Farewell To The Pegasus broadcast (originally scheduled for 22 February).
The Kingdom Of God broadcast.
The TV adaptation of Caryl Brahms and SJ Simon's And Talking Of Tightropes broadcast (originally scheduled for 9 March).
In the largest non-nuclear single explosion in history, the Royal Navy set off nearly seven thousand tons of surplus ammunition in an attempt to destroy Heligoland. Typically, it didn't work.
A second production of Peggy Barwell's Prison Without Bars broadcast.
Charlton beat Burnley one-nil in the FA Cup final at Wembley, the first to be televised by the BBC since 1939. As with most cup finals until 1952, only the second half of the match (and, in this case, extra time) was broadcast.
The Devil Comes to Alcatraz and Variety On View broadcast.
Campbell Dion and Dermot Morrah's Caesar's Friend broadcast.
Annette Mills's Rotten Row broadcast.
The Strange Case Of Blondie White broadcast.
Joel O'Brien's adaptation of Power Without Glory - starring Kenneth More and Dirk Bogarde - broadcast. Ronald David Wood born in Hillingdon, Middlesex.
Harley Grenville-Barker's Rococo broadcast.
Emlyn Williams' adaptation of A Month In The Country broadcast.
Beatrice Mayor's The Pleasure Garden broadcast.
The Tragical History Of Doctor Faustus broadcast.
John Peter Wilkinson born in Canvey Island, Essex.
GK Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday broadcast.
The first episode of Cafe Continental broadcast.
An adaptation of Barre Lyndon's The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse broadcast.
The first episode of Play The Game broadcast.
Truant In Park Lane broadcast.
Adelaide Hall's appearance on Variety In Sepia was - as far as anyone knows - the oldest kinescope telerecording still held by the BBC.
Mark Feld born in Stoke Newington.
Terence Rattigan's French Without Tears broadcast.Charles McEvoy's The Likes Of 'Er broadcast.
Denis Johnston's The Moon In The Yellow River broadcast.
The first episode of The Handle Bar - featuring Jimmy Edwards, Richard Hearne and Humphrey Lectocq - broadcast.
Max Bygraves TV début on an episode of New To You and an adaptation of Marlowe's Edward II, featuring the début of Patrick Troughton broadcast.
Alfred Sangster's The Brontes broadcast.
The Rose Without A Thorn broadcast.
TS Eliot's Murder In The Cathedral broadcast. Also, the first known use of the telerecording on an outside broadcast: The Service Of Remembrance from The Cenotaph was televised live during the afternoon and a recording of the event (on film) was shown later that evening. The Daily Scum Mail immediately whinged about BBC repeats.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton inadvertently revealed some of the contents of his Budget whilst on his way to the House of Commons to deliver his speech, effectively ending his political career.
The first episode of Viewers' Viewpoint and Funny Thing, This Wireless! - featuring the TV début of Clive Dunn - broadcast.
Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey. The service was watched by an estimated four hundred thousand viewers and is the oldest surviving full telerecorded programme.
Telescope broadcast.
The first episode of Peter Bax's two-part adaptation of Hamlet - featuring Patrick Troughton and Patrick Macnee - broadcast.
Jeffrey Lynne born in Shard End, Birmingham.
1948
British Railways was created when the government nationalised the railway industry.
The first edition of The BBC Television Newsreel broadcast. The first episode of Mrs Dale's Diary broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of Sports Report broadcast on The Light Programme. Sixty seven years, and several changes of channel later, it is still going.
Eric Fawcett's adaptation of The Adding Machine broadcast.
The first episode of Algernon Blackwood's Saturday-Night Story broadcast.
The first episode of Television Dancing Club - presented by Victor Sylvester - broadcast.
Eric Maschwitz and Norman Hackworth's Between Ourselves broadcast.
The first episode of Here Come The Boys broadcast.
The second BBC adaptation of The Ghost Train broadcast.
AP Dearsley's Fly Away Peter broadcast.
The first episode of Old Songs For New broadcast.
A second BBC adaptation of RUR broadcast.
Peter Sallis's TV début in scenes from Twelfth Night and MacBeth broadcast as part of the For The Children strand.
The first episode of Frank Muir and Denis Norden's Take It From Here broadcast on The Light Programme.
An adaptation of JB Priestley's Jenny Villiers broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of Okkie Gingernut.
Philip Johnson's Lovers' Leap broadcast.
Manchester United beat Blackpool four-two in the FA Cup final.
Brian Peter George St John Le Baptiste De La Salle Eno born in Woodbridge, Suffolk.
Zachary Crebbin's Angel, read by its author Nigel Kneale, broadcast as part of The Light Programme's The Mid-Morning Story strand.
Dodie Smith's Call It A Day broadcast.
Henry Caldwell's Halesapoppin! broadcast.
Edgar Wallace's On The Spot broadcast.
Berkeley Square broadcast.
Gerard Tyrrell's Celestial Fire broadcast.
The National Health Service began operation, giving the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use. Changes to the National Insurance social insurance scheme also came into effect.
The first episode of Inspector Playfair's Notebook broadcast.
Edgar Wallace's The Case Of The Frightened Lady broadcast.
The first episode of Rooftop Rendezvous broadcast.
The Netherlands' Fanny Blankers-Koen won the Olympic two hundred metres final, narrowly beating Britain's Audrey Williamson.
AAMilne's The Dover Road broadcast.
An adaptation of Powell and Pressburger's A Matter Of Life & Death broadcast on The Light Programme. Dickie Burnell and Bertie Bushnell won a gold medal in the rowing double skulls at the Olympics at Henley. Soon afterwards, John Wilson and Ran Laurie - Hugh's dad - also won gold in the coxless pairs.
Fanny Blankers-Koen won her fourth Olympic gold medal of the games in the sprint relay.
David Bond and Stewart Morris won Britain's third - and last - Olympic gold medal in sailing.
Don Bradman played his final test innings for Australia against England at The Oval. Needing to score only four runs to finish his career with a test average of one hundred, he was bowled for a duck by Eric Hollies. Desmond Davis's adaptation of Jolly Roger, Or The Admiral's Daughter and the Olympic Closing Ceremony also broadcast.
Robert Anthony Plant born in West Bromwich.
The first episode of The Chronicles Of Ben broadcast.
Flying the de Havilland DH 108, John Derry became the first British pilot to break the sound barrier.
The first episode of Rocket To The Stars broadcast on The Light Programme.
John Van Druten's London Wall broadcast.
Another adaptation of The Rose Without A Thorn broadcast.
Lady Luck broadcast.
The first episode of Any Questions? broadcast on The Home Service.
Michael Barry's adaptation of Take Back Your Freedom broadcast.
The Jaguar XS 120, the world's fastest production car, was unveiled at the first post-war Motor Show at Earl's Court.
The TV début of Tony Hancock on New To You.
Maria McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie born in Lennoxtown.
Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor born in London.
AR Rawlinson and Michael Pertwee's Chain Male broadcast.
Gerard Tyrell's adaptation of Celestial Fire broadcast. Lindsay Raymond Jackson born in Wallsend.
Dorothy L Sayers' He That Should Come broadcast.
The first Reith Lecture - given by Bertrand Russell - broadcast on The Home Service.
1949
The first episode of Authors In Focus broadcast.
The comedy thriller Someone At The Door broadcast.
The first episode of The Charlie Chester Show broadcast, featuring the TV debut of Arthur Haynes.
Richard Llewelyn's Poison Pen broadcast.
Robert Barr's adaptation of The Time Machine broadcast.
The first episode of Late Night Serial (later, Book At Bedtime) - John Buchan's The Three Hostages read by Arthur Bush - broadcast on The Light Programme.
Sidney Howard's The Silver Cord broadcast.
George More O'Ferrall's adaptation of The Tragedy Of Macbeth broadcast.
Jack Hulbert's adaptation of Under The Counter - starring Cicely Courtneidge - broadcast.
Douglas Allen's adaptation of Ernest George's Down Our Street broadcast.
JB Fagan's And So To Bed broadcast.
Caro and Hugh Burden's Myself A Stranger broadcast.
The first episode of Music-Hall - introduced by Benny Hill - broadcast.
Patrick Hamilton's The Governess - featuring Roger Moore's TV début - broadcast.
The astronomer Fred Hoyle first coined the term 'The Big Bang' to describe the beginning of the universe during the Third Programme science show, Continuous Creation.
Richard John Thompson born in Notting Hill Gate.
John Drinkwater's A Man's House broadcast.
AA Milne's Sarah Simple - featuring the TV début of Fulton Mackay - broadcast.
The Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst went up the Yangtze River to evacuate British Commonwealth refugees escaping the advance of the Mao's Communist forces. Under heavy fire, it ran aground off Rose Island. After an aborted rescue attempt on 26 April, it anchored ten miles upstream. Negotiations with the Communist forces to let the ship leave dragged on for weeks until late July, during which time the ship's cat, Simon, 'raised the crew's morale' in various, never-entirely-defined ways.
The Man On the Beat broadcast.
Diane Morgan's A House In The Square broadcast.
Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Leicester City three-one in the FA Cup final.
Laurier Lister's Oranges & Lemons broadcast.
JB Priestley's I Have Been Here Before broadcast.
Gilbert Hackforth-Jones and HG Stoker's Deep Waters broadcast.
George Orwell's Nineteen Eight Four published.
The radio début of Professor Stanley Unwin on The Home Service's The June Review. Deep joy.
The Case Of Mr Clare broadcast.
Jan Bussell's adaptation of Shooting Star broadcast.
Old English broadcast.
Ian Atkins' adaptation of Mile Away Murder broadcast.
Charles Terrot and Michael Barry's adaptation of The Passionate Pilgrim broadcast.
John Haigh - The Acid Bath Murderer - was hanged at Wandsowrth Prison for the murder of six people.
Billy Minton's Party broadcast.
An adaptation of Ten Little Niggers broadcast (and, yes, sadly it was still called that rather than the 'slightly less racist' or 'not racist at all' alternative titles).
Hugh Alan Cornwell born in Tufnell Park, North London.
Carol Reed's The Third Man - screenplay by Graham Greene - premiered.
Cecil Landau's Sauce Tartare - featuring the TV début of Audrey Hepburn - broadcast.
Cyril Campion's Ladies In Waiting broadcast.
Jack Hulbert's adaptation of Her Excellency broadcast.
Roland Pertwee's Pink String & Ceiling Wax broadcast.
Edgar Allen Poe Centenary broadcast.
Frank Tilsley's The Canvas Rainbow broadcast.
Nancy Mitford's Love In A Cold Climate published and reviewed on The Light Programme's New Books & Old Books.
Diana Redmond's John Keats Lived Here broadcast.
The first episode of Terry-Thomas's How Do You View? broadcast.
The first episode of Family Affairs broadcast.
JB Priestley's Summer Day's Dream broadcast.
Edgar Wallace's The Squeaker broadcast.
Trelawny Of The Wells broadcast.
Woman's Hour included a piece entitled Good Cooking: Ways With Food In China presented by Anges Ingle which was widely recognised with helping to first popularise Asian cuisine in the UK.
JB Priestley's Whitehall Wonders broadcast.
TS Eliot's own adaptation of The Waste Land broadcast on The Third Programme.
Sutton Coldfield Transmitting Station begins broadcasting BBC Television to the Midlands, the first programmes to be seen outside the London and Home Counties area.
An adaptation of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy broadcast.
Maurice Ernest Gibb and Robin Hugh Gibb born in Douglas, Isle of Man.
Peter Blackmore's Miranda broadcast.
Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner broadcast.
1950
'Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin ...' The first episode of Listen With Mother broadcast on The Light Programme.
Anthony Armstrong's Ten Minute Alibi broadcast.
The first episode of Breakfast With Braden - starring Bernard Braden and written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden - broadcast on The Home Service.
The Whole World Over broadcast.
The first episode of Jennifer's Journeys broadcast on The Home Service.
The first episode of The Commedia Puppets adaptation of Winnie-The-Pooh broadcast.
The first episode of The Centre Show - later renamed The Services Show - broadcast.
TS Eliot's The Family Reunion broadcast.
Flotsam's Follies broadcast. Ealing Studios released the film The Blue Lamp, introducing the character PC George Dixon, played by Jack Warner. Although Dixon died in the movie, the character would, subsequently, be revived for a long-running TV series.
The day of the 1950 general erection. Labour won. Just.
The German-born theoretical physicist Klaus Fuchs, working at Harwell Atomic Energy Research Establishment, was convicted after confessing to supplying information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.
The first episode of The Sunday Night Theatre - an adaptation of Chekov's The Seagull - broadcast.
An adapted translation of Lady Precious Stream broadcast.
Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The Poltergeist broadcast.The British TV debut of Jacques Cousteau in Men Of The Seabed.
HW Gribble's March Hares broadcast.
The first episode of Mr Pastry Gets A Job - with Richard Hearne - broadcast as part of the Kaleidoscope strand. The first issue of the Eagle comic published, featuring Dan Dare and Captain Pugwash.
Michael Barry's Promise Of Tomorrow broadcast.
The first episode of Children's Newsreel broadcast.
The first episode of Such Is Life - featuring the TV début of Graham Crowden - broadcast.
Arsenal beat Liverpool two-nil in the FA Cup final.
Tommy Cooper's TV début on an episode of Music-Hall.
The opening of the BBC's Lime Grove studio broadcast as part of the For The Children strand.
The first episode of In The News broadcast. Regular contributors included Michael Foot, Bob Boothby, historian AJP Taylor, Lady Astor and Barbara Castle.
Cambridge Versus Birmingham, An Inter-University Debate broadcast, introduced by Anthony Wedgwood Benn.
The first episode of Educating Archie broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of Prudence Kitten broadcast.
Spin wizardry by 'those two little pals o'mine' Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine and a classy century by Clyde Walcott helped the West Indies to crush England by three hundred and twenty six runs in the second test at Lord's, their first ever victory in England. They would go on to win the series by three tests to one. Lord Beginner wrote the calypso 'Victory Test Match (Cricket Lovely Cricket)' in celebration of these events. Meanwhile, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in the biggest act of giant-killing in football history the United States beat England in a World Cup group game. Perhaps fortunately, since it occurred so far away in a world before mass telecommunications, most people didn't even notice.
Aldous Huxley's The World Of Light broadcast.
The first episode of Historic Houses Of England broadcast.
The first episode of Andy Pandy broadcast, subsequently part of the Watch With Mother strand.
The first episode of Don't Look Now broadcast.
The first episode of Saturday-Night Revue broadcast.
The first episode of Women Of Today broadcast.
Aubrey Danvers-Walkers' Heaven & Charing Cross broadcast.
Peter Frazer's A Man Of Two Minds broadcast.
Wolf Rilla's adaptation of Wild Justice broadcast.
James Birdie's The Switchback broadcast.
Television Crosses The Channel featured the first live outside broadcast link-up between Britain and France by way of the Eurovision TV network.
David Whitelaw's Ships That Pass broadcast.
Assassin For Hire broadcast.
Roger MacDougall's The Gentle Gunman Or Johnny Was A Hero broadcast.
The TV debut of Raymond Baxter presenting Museum Visit: Progress Of Flight.
The first episode of Come Dancing broadcast. (Some sources suggest the show was first broadcast in 1949 but this date appears to be the first time it was ever mentioned in the Radio Times.)
Test Flight: Television Takes Wings broadcast containing the first live outside broadcast from a Bristol Freighter aeroplane.
Alan Turing's paper Computing Machinery & Intelligence, proposing The Turing Test, was first published in the academic journal Mind.
Triple Bill broadcast featuring three one-act plays, JD Beresford's Professional Pride, JM Barrie's Half A Hour and Margery Sharp's Table Seventeen.
CS Lewis's The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe published.
The first episode of Made By Hand broadcast.
The British Legion Festival Of Remembrance broadcast for the first time on television.
An adaptation of JB Priestley's Time & The Conways broadcast.
William Douglas Home's Master Of Arts broadcast.
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The first episode of the fortnightly children's show Whirligig and Eric Maschwitz's Carissima broadcast. James Birdie's Jonah broadcast.
Ralph Reader's The Gang Show broadcast for the first time on television.
The first episode of Little Women and Donald Henderson's Mr Bowling Buys A Newspaper broadcast.
The Stone of Scone, the traditional coronation stone of Scottish, English and, more recently British, monarchs was stolen from London's Westminster Abbey by a group of Scottish students.
The Cruise of The Toytown Belle broadcast.
The first episode of Richard Hearne's Mr Pastry's Progress broadcast
1951
The first episode of The Archers, 'a simple tale of country folk', broadcast on The Light Programme. Over sixty years later, it's still going. (A run of five pilot episodes had previously been broadcast on the Regional Home Service in the Midlands during May 1950.)
The first episode of Fine Goings On - featuring Frankie Howerd - broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of We Beg To Differ! broadcast.
The Daughters Of The Late Colonel broadcast.
The first episode of An Evening At Home With Bernard Braden And Barbara Kelly broadcast.
Joseph Proctor's Money broadcast - featuring the TV début of Honor Blackman.
The opening episode of the first BBC adaptation of The Railway Children broadcast.
The first episode of The Man In Armour broadcast.
The first appearance of Dennis The Menace (and Gnasher) in The Beano.
Sylvia Regan's The Golden Door broadcast.
Pamela Brown's The Children Of Camp Fortuna broadcast.
Macgregor Urquhart's adaptation of The Malory Secret broadcast.
The first episode of The Passing Show broadcast.
The first episode of Vic's Grill - featuring Vic Wise, Norman Wisdom and Beryl Reid - broadcast.
Aneurin Bevan, recently appointed as Minister of Labour and National Service, together with John Freeman and Harold Wilson, resigned from the government in protest at Hugh Gaitskell's announcement in the Budget of 10 April of prescription charges for dental care and spectacles in order to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War.
Jackie Milburn scored twice as Newcastle United beat Blackpool two-nil in the FA Cup Final.
The first episode of Treasure Island broadcast.
George VI opened The Festival Of Britain in London, highlights of which included The Royal Festival Hall, The Dome Of Discovery and The Skylon.
Bunny Webber's Pray You, Look In! broadcast.
Frederick Jackson's The Bishop Misbehaves broadcast.
The first episode of The Warden broadcast.
Automatic Calculating Machines, a lecture by Alan Turing, broadcast on The Third Programme.
The first episode of The Black Arrow broadcast.
The first episode of Crazy People - subsequently The Goon Show - broadcast on The Home Service. Starring Spike Milligan, Harry Seacombe, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine, its surreal humour would inspire a generation of comedians.
Spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean defected to the Soviet Union.
Dorothy and Campbell Christie's Grand National Night broadcast.
Joseph Schull's Shadow Of The Tree broadcast.
The first episode of Midshipman Barney broadcast. The Lavender Hill Mob released.
The first episode of Mother & Baby broadcast.
The first episode of The Inch Man broadcast.
The Third Programme's Is Socialism Losing Its Appeal? featured a discussion between Enoch Powell MP and Donald Chapman, the general secretary of the Fabian Society.
Boxer Randy Turpin beat Sugar Ray Robinson in London to become World Middleweight champion.
The first episode of What's My Line? broadcast.
The first episode of Robert Morley's Parent-Craft broadcast.
Speaking Personally broadcast. 'A series of programmes in which eminent men and women speak on a subject of their own choosing.' Viscount Stansgate, DSO, DFC, former Secretary of State for Air, in conversation with his son, Anthony Wedgwood Benn, MP.
Andrew Osborn became television's first Sherlock Holmes in an adaptation of The Adventure Of The Marazin Stone. Terrece Rattigan's The Final Test broadcast.
Godfrey Harrison's topical satire The Lighter Side - featuring Tony Hancock - broadcast.
William Templeton's The Silent Village - featuring Audrey Hepburn - broadcast.
The first episode of The Bell Family broadcast.
JB Priestley's Treasure On Pelican broadcast.
The first episode of At Your Service Limited broadcast.
Norman Swallow's I Was A Stranger broadcast.
The first episode of Puck Of Pook's Hill broadcast.
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise's TV début on Parade Of Youth.
The first episode of Turn It Up! broadcast
Sheila Hodgson's Shadow Scene - adapted by Wolf Rilla - broadcast. John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd born in Dover.
Tragically, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner born in Wallsend.
The first episode of The Eric Barker Half-Hour broadcast.
The first episode of Saturday Special broadcast.
The first episodes of Sherlock Holmes - with Alan Wheatley in the title role - and the cabaret variety show Top-Hat Rendezvous broadcast. Also the opening episode of the SF serial Strangers From Space broadcast as part of the Whirligig strand.
The day of the 1951 General Erection. The Tories won.
The TV début of Charlie Caroli on an episode of Turn It Up!
The first episode of Show Me A Spy broadcast.
The first episode of Sara Crewe broadcast.
Charles Terrot's The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp broadcast.
An adaptation of To Live In Peace - featuring the TV début of Arthur Lowe - broadcast.
A translated adaptation of Mencius Was A Bad Boy broadcast - featuring the TV début of Anthony Valentine.
JB Priestley's Eden End - featuring Peter Cushing's TV début - broadcast.
John Wyndham's The Day Of The Triffids published.
Monckton Hoffe's Nocturne In Scotland broadcast.
An adaptation of JB Priestley's When We Are Married broadcast.
Peter Ling's adaptation of Aladdin broadcast.
Arnold Bennett and Edward Knoblock's Milestones broadcast.
1952
The first episode of The Play's The Thing broadcast.
The first episode of Frankie Howerd's The Howerd Crowd broadcast.
The first episode of Hit Parade broadcast (with Eve Boswell, Carole Carr, Dick James, Lee Lawrence, The Stargazers, Cyril Stapleton And His Augmented Orchestra).
Eric Crozier's Noah Gives Thanks broadcast.
Desmond Davis's adaptation of TS Eliot's The Cocktail Party broadcast.
The first episode of the Commedia Puppets' Company adaptation of Winnie-The-Pooh broadcast.
The first TV detector van was commissioned as the beginning of a clampdown on the estimated one hundred and fifty thousand criminal British households which have unlicensed television sets.
The first episode of Cedric Wallis's adaptation of Pride & Prejudice broadcast - with Peter Cushing as Mister Darcy.
An adaptation of HG Wells' The Wonderful Visit - starring a young Kenneth Williams - broadcast.
John Hooper's The Little Nut Tree broadcast.
Trial Gallop - featuring Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine - broadcast. 'An experiment in organised chaos!'
The first episode of Billy Bunter Of Grayfriars School broadcast.
The first episode of The Norman Wisdom Show broadcast.
The first episode of About Britain - presented by Richard Dimbleby - broadcast. The Light Programme's Any Questions? - from the Regal Cinema, Warminster - featured the debut appearances on the discussion programme of two young MPs representing the right and left, Enoch Powell and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.
The Monster Of Killoon - starring Jack Warner and Petula Clark - broadcast.
Travel Story visited Austria and Liechtenstein.
The first episode of Tommy Cooper's It's Magic broadcast.
The first episode of Francis Durbridge's The Broken Horseshow broadcast.
Michael Pertwee's adaptation of Rainy Day broadcast.
Ted Kavanagh and David Croft's It's A Small World and an adaptation of Dial 'M' For Murder featuring Elizabeth Sellers, Olaf Pooley and Raymond Huntley broadcast.
The first episode of How Does It End? - an adaptation of The Three Musketeers - broadcast.
The first episode of Mourning Becomes Elektra broadcast.
Anthony Wilson's The Locked Room broadcast.
The first episode of Arthur Askey's Before Your Very Eyes and Eric Linkalter's Love In Albania broadcast.
The first episode of Emil & The Detectives broadcast.
The Marvellous History Of St Bernard broadcast.
The first episode of Vic Oliver's This Is Show Business broadcast. Tony Hart's TV début drawing the Hooray For Humpty Dumpty segment of Saturday Special.
The first episode of Into Thin Air broadcast.
Penny Plain - featuring Joyce Grenfall and Max Adrian - broadcast.
The first episode of The Secret Garden broadcast. Episode two, the following week, included the TV debut of Billie Whitelaw.
On Show In Manchester broadcast. The De Havilland Comet became the world's first jet airliner, with a maiden flight from London to Johannesburg.
Newcastle United retained the FA Cup thanks to George Robledo's late winner against The Arse.
Dennis Vance's adaptation of Black Limelight broadcast, featuring the TV début of Brian Wilde. A one shilling charge was introduced for prescription drugs dispensed under the NHS.
Bunny Webber's The Florentine Painting broadcast.
The TV début of Dick Emery in an episode of Kaleidoscope.
The BBC's first exposé of racism, Wynford Vaughan Thomas's The Colour Bar In Britain broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of The Three Hostages broadcast.
The TV debut of The Goons in Goonreel.
William Fairchild's The Man With The Gun broadcast.
The first episode of Paris Panorama broadcast in co-operation with RTF.
Denis Carey's adaptation of The Two Gentlemen Of Verona broadcast.
Arrow To The Heart - the first collaboration between director Rudolph Cartier and writer Nigel Kneale - broadcast.
The first episodes of My Wife Jacqueline - with Leslie Phillips and Joy Shelton - and The Three Hostages - featuring Patrick Barr as Richard Hanney - broadcast.
The first episode of Eight To A Bar broadcast.
Dorothy Wright's A Cradle Of Willow broadcast.
Nigel Kneale's adaptation of Mystery Story broadcast.
Foodlit Cricket - and a match between Middlesex and Arsenal - broadcast from Highbury.
Thirty four people were killed in a flood at Lynmouth, Devon. Many others were injured and numerous buildings damaged.
The first episode of The March Of The Peasants broadcast.
The day that John Graham Mellor was born in Ankara.
Bridget Boland's Temple Folly broadcast.
Sister Gold broadcast.
Thirty one people were killed when a plane - a De Havilland DH110 - broke up over the crowd at the Farnborough Airshow.
The first episode of Happy & Glorious broadcast.
The first episode of Pamela Brown's adaptation of Anne Of Green Gables and Philip King's Without The Prince broadcast.
The first episode of Jan At The Blue Fox broadcast.
Charlie Chaplin, sailing to Britain with his family for the premiere of his film Limelight, was told that he woul be refused re-entry to the United States until he had been 'investigated' by the US Immigration Service. He choose to remain in Europe for the rest of his life.
George F Kerr's A Month Of Sundays broadcast.
The first episode of The Appleyards broadcast.
The UK exploded its first atomic bomb on the Montebello Islands, Australia. To the surprise of many, it actually worked an Britain became the world's third nuclear power.
Desmond Hawkins' adaptation of Strange Orchestra broadcast.
The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash claimed the lives of over one hundred people.
The first episode of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? broadcast.
The first appearance of Harry Corbett and Sooty on television on The SS Saturday Special.
Philip King and Alan Bromly's Postman's Knock broadcast.
The - probable - TV début of Spike Milligan along with Peter Sellers in an episode of Jimmy James's Don't Spare The Horses.
The first episode of Huckleberry Finn broadcast.
Rachel Grieve's If This Be Error broadcast.
New Musical Express publishes the first UK Singles Chart.
Rose Franken's Another Language broadcast. Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap started its run at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London. It would still be running in London over sixty years later, having transferred next door to St Martin's Theatre in 1974.
The first episode of Mystery At Mountcliffe Chase broadcast - written by thirteen year old Irene Lipman and starring fifteen year old Rodney Bewes making his TV debut.
The first GPO pillar box of the present reign to be erected in Scotland, on the Inch Housing Estate in Edinburgh, was attacked in protest at its bearing the Royal Cipher of Elizabeth II, considered historically incorrect in Scotland (where, technically, she's Elizabeth I). And, let us simply applaud the utter shite that some people chose to care about.
NC Hunter's Adam's Apple - featuring the TV début of Peter Barkworth - broadcast.On 4 December, an anticyclone settled over a windless London, causing a temperature inversion with cold, stagnant air trapped under a layer of warm air. The resultant fog, mixed with chimney smoke, particulates such as those from vehicle exhausts and other pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, formed a persistent smog, which blanketed the capital the following day and for several days afterwards. The presence of tarry particles of soot gave the smog its yellow-black colour, hence the nickname 'peasouper.' The absence of wind prevented its dispersal and allowed an unprecedented accumulation of pollutants. The Great Smog is known to be the worst air-pollution event in British history and the most significant in terms of its effect on environmental research, government regulation and public awareness of the relationship between air quality and health. IT is believed that as many as twelve thousand people died as a direct result of the smog and this led to changes in practices and regulations, including the Clean Air Act of 1956.
The first episode of Robert Christie's adaptation of The Pickwick Papers broadcast.
Barre Lyndon's They Came By Night and the first episode of All Your Own - presented by Huw Weldon - broadcast.
Frankie Howerd' Korean Party (written by Eric Sykes) and an adaptation of Asmodée broadcast.
Clive Stuart Anderson born in Stanmore.
Preston Lockwood's No Cause For Alarm broadcast.
The first episode of The Flowerpot Men broadcast. Flobadob.
The nativity play A Time To Be Born broadcast.
The Man Of Joy and Markheim broadcast.
The first episode of Bunny Webber's The Silver Swan broadcast.
1953
Nigel Kneale's adaptation of The Affair At Assino broadcast.
Ronald Jeans's Count Your Blessings broadcast.
The Home Service's Taking Stock debated the need for a hereditary House of Lords. Contributors included Viscount Hailsham, Tony Benn and Enoch Powell.
Jim Callaghan and Enoch Powell were among the contributors to In The News.
Jennette Dowling and Francis Letton's The Young Elizabeth broadcast.
George Kerr and Nigel Kneale's adaptation of The Commonplace Heart broadcast.
The first episode of Down You Go! - presented by Marcus Dick - broadcast.
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's first UK TV appearance in an episode of Face The Music.
Nigel Kneale's adaptation of Checkov's Curtain Down broadcast as part of the Wednesday Theatre strand.
The first episode of Little Red Monkey broadcast.
The Gay Lord Quex broadcast.
The North Sea Flood killed hundreds of people on the East coast of Britain.
Christopher Irving's Number Three broadcast.
Donal Giltinian's The Gentle Maiden broadcast.
Paul Vincent Carroll's Shadow & Substance broadcast. The first episode of the first TV adaptation of Worzel Gummidge Plays Detective - with Frank Atkinson in the title role - broadcast.
Ben Travers' Wild Horses broadcast.
GB Stern's An American Gentleman broadcast.
It Is Midnight, Doctor Schweitzer - starring Andre Morrell - broadcast.
James Watson and Francis Crick announced that they had discovered the structure of the DNA molecule.
William's Other Anne - starring Irene Worth and John Gregson - broadcast as part of the Wednesday Theatre strand.The first episode of The Pattern Of Marriage broadcast.
The first episode of Epitaph For A Spy broadcast.
Patrick Troughton became television's first Robin Hood.
Shaun Sutton and Rex Tucker's The Kentish Robin broadcast.
The 10 Rillington Place murders - by the serial killer John Christie - were uncovered.
Jacques Cousteau's The Silent World broadcast.
George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brasshound's Conversion broadcast.
PD Cummins' A Flower On The Torn Tree broadcast.
Ian Fleming published his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.
A statement from the Chancellor - Rab Butler - on The Budget broadcast for the first time.
The first appearance of Roger The Dodger in The Beano.
John Boyd-Brent's Tom's Goblin broadcast.
Excerpts from Three Cheers - a Coronation Revue, hosted by Brian Johnston - broadcast.
Many Moon broadcast.
The day the BBC brought into service television transmitters at Pontop Pike (in County Durham) and Glencairn (in Belfast) to improve coverage prior to the coronation broadcast.
The first FA Cup Final to be broadcast live on BBC television in its entirety, and it was an auspicious one, Stanley Matthews starring as Blackpool beat Bolton Wanderers four-three at Wembley.
The first episode of Reggie Little At Large broadcast.
Eric Sykes's A Good Idea, Son! - starring Max Bygraves - broadcast.
Seagulls Over Sorrento broadcast featuring the TV début of William Hartnell.
Ben Travers' Rookery Nook broadcast.
The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Sales of TV sets rose sharply in the weeks leading up to the event. This was also one of the earliest BBC broadcasts to be recorded on film for posterity.
The first episode of Stand By To Shoot broadcast.
RF Delderfield's All On A Summer's Day broadcast.
The first episode of The Heir Of Skipton broadcast.
Eileen Blackburn's Stranger In The House broadcast.
The first episode of Born British In The Twenties broadcast on The Home Service, featuring Tony Benn. 'A group of talks by representatives of the Queen's generation.'
The first episode of Song Hunter - featuring Alan Lomax and presented by David Attenborough - broadcast.
The radio debut of Philip Larkin on The Third Programme's First Reading.
The first episode of Stars At Blackpool broadcast.
The first episode of The Great Detective broadcast.
The first episode of Why? broadcast.
The TV début of Charlie Drake on an episode of The Centre Show.
The first episode of The Story Of The Treasure Seekers broadcast.
The first episodes of The Quatermass Experiment, Sooty Introduces and a performance of the Moscow State Variety Theatre at the Playhouse Theatre, Manchester broadcast.
The first episodes of Billy Bean & His Funny Machine and The Good Old Days broadcast.
The first episode of Vice Versa Or A Lesson To Fathers broadcast.
Nigel Kneale's adaptation of Golden Rain broadcast. The first episode of What Do You Know? - later Brain Of Britain - broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of What's In Store? broadcast.
The first episode of Guess My Story broadcast.
London Laughs - with Jimmy Edward, Tony Hancock and Vera Lynn - broadcast.
England beat Australia by eight wickets in the fifth test at The Oval to regain The Ashes for the first time since 1934.
Naomi Capon's adaptation of King In Motley broadcast.
The first episode of Thames Tug broadcast.
TS Eliot's The Confidence Clerk - starring Denholm Elliot - broadcast.
Glenn Melvyn's The Love Match - featuring Arthur Askey - broadcast.
Eric Sykes's The Big Man broadcast.
A Fish In The Family broadcast.
The first episode of Rag, Tag & Bobtail broadcast as part of the Watch With Mother strand.The New Shilling broadcast.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Waterloo broadcast as part of the Wednesday Theatre strand.
JM Barrie's The Twelve Pound Lock broadcast.
The first episode of Journey Into Space broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of Guess My Story broadcast.
The first episode of A Place Of Execution broadcast.
Mark Bevan's Nor Care Beyond Today broadcast.
Priscilla Ussher's In Search Of Maitland broadcast.
The first episode of Variety Parade - featuring Max Bygraves and Morecambe and Wise - broadcast.
The first episode of Westward Ho! broadcast.
The Disagreeable Man broadcast.
Hurrah For Halloween broadcast.
Hugh Ross Williamson's Gunpowder, Treason & Plot broadcast.
The first episode of Johnny, You're Wanted broadcast.
The first episode of Panorama broadcast.
Sewell Stokes and Christine Jope-Sade's Britannia Of Billingsgate broadcast.
Barbara Woodhouse made her broadcasting debut on Woman's Hour.
The Piltdown Man, discovered in 1912 and thought to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human, was exposed as a hoax.
Edward Percy's The Shop At Sly Corner broadcast.
The first episode of The Rose & The Ring - featuring the TV début of David McCallum - broadcast.
Charles Eric Maine's Time Slip broadcast. At Wembley, led by 'The Galloping Major' Ferenc Puskas, the Magical Magyars of Hungary gave England a damned good footballing lesson, becoming only the second overseas team to beat England on home soil. The result led to an unprecedented review of antiquated training and tactics and the subsequent adoption of continental practices at both international and club level in the English game.
The House of Lords voted in favour of the government's proposals for commercial television.
The first appearance on Minnie The Minx in The Beano.
RF Delderfield's Follow The Plough broadcast.
Adaptations of A Time To Be Born and Peter &The Wolf broadcast.
The first episode of The Teckman Biography broadcast.
1954
George Cowling became British TV's first weatherman.
The first episode of Show Case - presented by Benny Hill - broadcast.
Richard Bird's adaptation of Paint Your Wagon broadcast. The first performance of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood on The Third Programme, two months after its author's death, with Richard Burton as First Voice.
The first episode of Friends & Neighbours broadcast.
The first episode of Almanac - later Facts & Figures - broadcast.
The first episode of Top Town broadcast.
The first episode of Clementina broadcast.
The first episode of Michael Bentine's The Bumblies broadcast.
The first episode of The Cabin In The Clearing broadcast.
Ashley Dukes's adaptation of Such Men Are Dangerous broadcast.
Sean Barrett's Johnnie's Night Out broadcast.
The closure of Alexandra Palace's transmitters was celebrated with Thank You Ally Pally. Johnny Morris's TV debut, On The Job broadcast.
After an eight-day trial at Winchester Assizes, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Peter Wildeblood and Michael Pitt-Rivers were convicted of 'conspiracy to incite certain male persons to commit serious offences with male persons' - or buggery - and some related charges.
The first episode of The Wide, Wide World broadcast.
The first episode of Gravelhanger broadcast.
Arthur Goring and Derek Blomfield's Let Me Ever Escape Them broadcast.
Ian Fleming's Live & Let Die published.
The first episode of Sportsview broadcast.
The opening episodes of the BBC's first archaeology programme Buried Treasure and its first soap, The Grove Family broadcast.
Campbell Dixon and Dermot Morrah's Caesar's Friend broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The UK broadcast of Edward Murrow's legendary See It Now interview with Joe McCarthy. Excerpts from The Jolly Fiddler broadcast.
Lynne Reid Banks's It Never Rains ... broadcast.
The first episode of Morecambe and Wise's disastrous Running Wild broadcast. For years afterwards, Eric carried with him a newspaper review of the opening episode which stated 'Definition of the week: Television - the box they buried Morecambe and Wise in.'
Raymond Ian Burns born in Balham. Wolverhampton Wanderers won the Football League title for the first time.
Imposter's Gold broadcast.
The day Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile barrier.
A memorable adaptation of The Monkey's Paw broadcast.
The first episodes of The Dancing Bear and Bob Monkhouse's Fast & Loose broadcast.
The first episode of The Promised Year broadcast as part of The Liberators strand. Hungary (Puskas, Kocsis Hidegkuti et al) gave England a second pants-down footballing lesson, winning a friendly international in Budapest seven-one. This still ranks as England's heaviest international defeat.
The Girl At The Window broadcast.
The first episode of Ask Pickles broadcast. Andy Neil Hamilton born in Fulham.
Diane Leather became the first woman to break the five-minute mile, at the Alexander Sports Ground in Birmingham.
Donald Wilson's adaptation of John Buchan's Witch Wood broadcast.
Diana Hardyment's The Secret Way broadcast.
The first broadcast on the Eurovision Network founded by Britain, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland of a message from Pope Pius XII. The first volume of JRR Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings published.
The first episode of Emney Enterprises broadcast.
Archie In Goonland broadcast on The Home Service.
An Irish Republican Army unit carried out an arms raid on Gough Barracks in Armagh, signalling the renewal of IRA activity following a long hiatus.
The TV debut of Barbara Windsor on an episode of Variety Parade.
The first episode of the TV version of The Carroll Levis Show broadcast.
Coverage of opening game of the 1954 World Cup - France Versus Yugoslavia - in Switzerland broadcast.
Phyllis Bentley's The Coiners broadcast.
At the World Cup Hungary beat Brazil four-two in the Quarter Final known subsequently as 'The Battle of Berne'. Violent conduct and fighting prompted the English referee, Arthur Ellis, to send off three players during the match at the Wankdorff Stadium. Fighting between the teams continued in the dressing rooms after the final whistle.
Britain witnessed its first solar eclipse since 1927.
West Germany came from two-nil down to beat Hungary in 'The Miracle of Berne' and win the World Cup.
The first episode of Happy Holidays - featuring Hattie Jacques, John le Mesurier and Clive Dunn - broadcast.
The first episode of Dear Dotty broadcast.Final Meeting, 'an exercise in radio techniques written and produced by Terence Tiller' based on TS Eliot's The Hollow Men and 'not recommended for nervous listeners' broadcast on The Home Service.
Robert Finch's The Old Grad broadcast. Donald McGill, the artist of saucy seaside postcards, was found very guilty of breaching the Obscene Publications Act 1857.
Philip Mackie's The Whole Truth broadcast.
The TV début of Warren Mitchell in an episode of Show Case. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was established by the Atomic Energy Act 'to produce, use and dispose of atomic energy and carry out research into any matters therewith.'
The House With A Secret broadcast.
Patrick Troughton and Kenneth Williams starred in George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance.
Ronald and Michael Pertwee's Give Them A Ring broadcast.
George Wingate's My Uncle Rollo and Somerset Maugham's Mrs Dot broadcast.
Roger Bannister beat John Landy in the so-called Miracle Mile race at the British Empire & Commonwealth Games in Vancouver.
The first episode of Stage By Stage broadcast.
The first episode of Find The Link broadcast.
Alister Fearn and Terry Thompson's I'll Be Seeing You broadcast.
The first episode of Crime On Our Hands broadcast. Declan Patrick MacManus was born in Paddington.
Dennis Driscoll's Job For The Boy broadcast.
The first episode It's Easy When You Know How broadcast.
The TV début of Norman Vaughan in an episode of Show Case broadcast.
William Golding's Lord Of The Flies published.
Joyce Dennys' Rain Before Seven, Television Goes To Sea and the first episode of The Return Of The Bumblies broadcast.
The first episode of And So To Bentley broadcast.
The TV debut of Des O'Connor on Music-Hall.
Chris Chataway broke the world record for the five thousand metres during a London Versus Moscow athletics meeting at White City.
The Ethiopian emperor His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie's visit to Great Britain began.
The first episode of Find The Link broadcast. The first episode of Hancock's Half Hour broadcast on The Light Programme.
The Scarlet Eagle broadcast.
The first episode of Fabian Of The Yard broadcast.
Ronald Miller's adaptation of Waiting For Gillian broadcast.
English Football League champions Wolves beat Spartak Moscow four-nil at Molineux in the first of a series of floodlit friendly games against the cream of Europe's club side which would subsequently provide the impetus for the creation of the European Cup.
The first episode of It's A Great Life broadcast.
The first episode of Felix Felton and Susan Ashman's six-part adaptation of The Three Musketeers broadcast.
Churchill At Eighty broadcast.
The TV debut of Peter Vaughan in Pageant Wagon To Citizens' Theatre, part of the Stage By Stage strand.
The first broadcast of Nigel Kneale and Rudolph Cartier's controversial - and brilliant - adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four. A repeat performance was broadcast four days later and, thankfully, was telerecorded for posterity.
Wolves beat Honved - containing the majority of Hungary's crack national side - three-two in another classic floodlit friendly.
The first episode of David Attenborough's Zoo Quest broadcast.
Television's Christmas Party - featuring Arthur Askey, Petula Clark, David Nixon, Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse, Harry Secombe, Harry Crobett and Sooty and hosted by McDonald Hobley and Leslie Mitchell - broadcast
Tons Of Money - featuring Frankie Howerd - broadcast.
The first Sports Review Of The Year ceremony, featuring the Sports Personality Of The Year Award broadcast.
1955
Gordon Daviot's Sweet Coz broadcast.
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson born in Consett.
The UK release of Halas and Batchelor's Animal Farm, the first full-length British-made animated feature on general theatrical release.
The first episode of The Benny Hill Show broadcast.
George F Kerr's adaptation of The Voices broadcast.
The first episode of Home & Dry - starring David Nixon - broadcast.
Cap Wil Tomos, the first televised Welsh language play broadcast.
The first episode of Sooty Stays Up broadcast.
James Kirkup's Two Pigeons Flying High broadcast.
Lady Charing Is Cross broadcast.
The first episode of Picture Book broadcast as part of the Watch With Mother strand.
RF Delderfield's The Queen Came By broadcast.
The first episodes of Portrait Of Alison and Look At It This Way broadcast.
The first episode of Kitchen Magic - featuring Fanny and Johnnie Craddock - broadcast. Remember, if you follow the recipe then you, too, can have doughnuts like Fanny's. The Olive Jar and Ted Allan's Go Fall In Love broadcast.
The first episode of Benbow & The Angels broadcast.
Wendy Cooper's The Laughing Lady broadcast. A freeze across Britain resulted in more than seventy roads being blocked with snow and, in some parts of the country, rail services cancelled for several days. The Royal Air Force delivered food and medical supplies to the worst affected areas.
Peter Ustinov's The Moment Of Truth broadcast.
Elaine Morgan's Mirror, Mirror broadcast.The Unguarded Hour broadcast.
Duncan Edwards, the eighteen-year-old Manchester United half-back, became the youngest England international in a seven-two win over Scotland at Wembley.
Alan Chivers' adaptation of Agatha Christie's Spider's Web - with Margaret Lockwood - broadcast.
The first episode of Tom Twigge's adaptation of The Children Of The New Forest broadcast. Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister due to ill-health at the age of eighty. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden was named as his replacement.
Shaun Sutton's The Man On The Moors broadcast. Ruth Ellis, a London nightclub manager, shot and killed her lover David Blakely outside a Hampstead pub. She surrendered to police upon their arrival. Despite evidence of the involvement of another lover, Desmond Cussen, she was tried and convicted of murder for and was the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom, later in 1955.
The first episode of For Deaf Children, the precursor of Vision On, broadcast.
The first episode of The Mulberry Accelerator broadcast. The release of Laurence Olivier's Richard III.The day Peter Campbell MacNeish was born in Leigh.
The first episode of Orson Welles's Sketch Book broadcast.
George Bernard Shaw's You Never Can Tell broadcast featuring the TV debut of Bernard Hepton.
Sir Anthony Eden hosted a ground-breaking Election Broadcast for the Conservative Party, the first of its type. The thirty minute programme featured government ministers pitted against newspaper editors.
David Nixon's Nixon Mix - scripted by Eric Sykes and Spike Millican - broadcast.
The first episode of The Ted Ray Show broadcast.
The UK premiere of The Dambusters.
The day of the 1955 General Election. The Tories won.
The first episode of Terminus broadcast. The opening play, Margin For Error, featured the UK TV début of Patrick McGoohan.
The first episodes of JB Priestley's You Know What People Are and Bobby In France broadcast.
The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act came into effect, with the intention of protecting children from horror comics.
The TV début of Semprini on an episode of Off The Record.
The first episode of Peter Scott's groundbreaking Natural History series Look broadcast.
The first TV appearance - though, sadly not the last - of Mike and Bernie Winters in an episode of Variety Parade.
The day Michael Geoffrey Jones was born in Wandsworth.
The first episode of Something To Shout About! - with Nancy Spain, Avril Angers and Ian Carmichael - broadcast.
The first episode of the TV version of Life With The Lyons broadcast.
The first episode of Holiday Hotel - introduced by Jewel & Wallis and Jimmy Clitheroe - broadcast.
The first episode of The Gordon Honour broadcast.
Ronald Gow's Trumpet In The Clouds broadcast.
The first episode of Dixon Of Dock Green broadcast.
An adaptation of Terence Rattigan's The Browning Version broadcast.
Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in Britain, at Holloway Prison, for shooting her lover, David Blakely, outside a pub in Hampstead on 10 April.
The first episode of The Pelicans & The Pirates broadcast.
Stirling Moss became the first English winner of the British Grand Prix at Aintree.
Winterborne St Martin entered the UK Weather Records with the highest twenty four-hour rainfall - two hundred and seventy nine millimetres – a record which stood until November 2009.
The Vale Of Shadows broadcast. Hammer Films' The Quatermass Xperiment released.
The Guinness Book Of Records published for the first time.
The first episode of This Is Your Life broadcast. Christopher Miller born in Kingston On Thames.
An adaptation of Twenty Minutes South broadcast.
An adaptation of The Wise Cat broadcast.
The first episode of The Prince & The Pauper broadcast.
Robert Furnival's The Slackering Field broadcast.
The Labour MP Christopher Mayhew took LSD for a - subsequently unbroadcast - episode of Panorama.The first episode of the second TV version of The Brains Trust broadcast. Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall became the first BBC television newsreaders to be seen reading The News.
The first episode of The Woodentops broadcast as part of the Watch With Mother strand and the first episode of David Nixon's It's Magic.
The first episode of Saturday Night Out - presented by 'The Man With The Mike' Robert Beatty - broadcast.The first episode of Crackerjack broadcast. Airfix produced their first scale model aircraft kit, of the Supermarine Spitfire.
The People made public that Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, who defected to the Soviet Union in 1951, were spies and not merely 'diplomats' as previously reported. Britain annexed Rockall. Why, no one knew then or, indeed, knows now.
The first episode of Playbox - with Eamonn Andrews and Johnny Morris - broadcast.
The day commercial television began, with the launch of ITV in London - Associated-Rediffusion on weekdays, Associated Television Network at weekends. The rest of the UK received their own regional channels over the next seven years. The BBC cleverly conspired to fuck-up ITV's big night by killing off the character of Grace in The Archers. The first episode of Highlight - presented by Macdonald Hastings - and Philip Mackie's The Hole In The Wall broadcast.The first episode of Off The Record broadcast. Clarence Birdseye began selling fish fingers in Britain. And, to this day, we don't know what's in 'em.
The Message In The Jar broadcast.
The first episode of The Blakes broadcast.
The first episode of Great Scott - It's Maynard broadcast.
The first colour test transmissions began from Alexandra Palace.
The Nelson Touch broadcast.
The first episode of Quatermass II broadcast.
The first episode of Jon Pertwee Goes Round The Bend broadcast.
The first episode of St Ives broadcast.
Princess Margaret announced that she did not intend to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend. Which was good since it meant he could, later, form The Who. Obviously.
The Storm Bell broadcast.
The Prime Minister denied in Parliament that Kim Philby was the 'Third Man' of the Cambridge Spy Ring. But, he was.
AP Herbert's The Water Gipsies - featuring the TV début of Jimmy Perry - broadcast.
Wolves beat Moscow Dynamo two-one in a floodlit friendly at Molineux.
Lonnie Donegan's 1954 skiffle recording of the traditional American folk song 'Rock Island Line' was released as a single on the Decca label. A hit early following year, its success would kick-start a teenage skiffle craze which, effectively, led to the formation of just about every British rock and roll group of the 1960s and beyond.
Kathleen Shepherd's Sauce For The Gander broadcast.
Donald Ross's The Case Of Mr Pelham - starring Richard Wattis - broadcast.The documentary The Way To The West broadcast.
Night Thoughts, 'a radiophonic poem for voice and orchestra by David Gascoyne with music by Humphrey Searle' broadcast.
The Ladykillers released.
Christopher Cockerell patented his design of hovercraft.
The Queen's Dragon, the first episode of A Rubovian Legend broadcast.
The first episode of Vera Lynn Sings broadcast.
Eric Sykes's Pantomania: Or, It Was Never Like This broadcast.
After being recorded for radio since 1932, the Royal Christmas Message was broadcast on TV for the first time, albeit in sound only. The first visual Christmas message from Her Maj was shown in 1957. Christmas Box broadcast.
Moss Mindelbaum's Take It Away, a Boxing Day episode of Jack Payne's Off The Record, Ken Dodd as Jolly Jenkins in Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty - with William Russell - were all broadcast.
Reginald Rose's Three Empty Rooms broadcast.
1956
The first episode of Wynford Vaughan Thomas's ... And There Was I broadcast. Possession of heroin became criminalised.
Bernard Edward Sumner born in Salford.
RADA's adaptation of She Stoops To Conquer - featuring Albert Finney's TV début - broadcast.
The first episode of Terry-Thomas's Strictly T-T broadcast.
he first episode of Frontiers Of Science broadcast.
The first episode of Tales From Soho broadcast.
An adaptation of A Girl Called Jo - featuring the TV debut of Edward Woodward - broadcast.
The Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics broadcast from Cortina in Italy. Peter Scott's The Alien Sky broadcast.
The day John Jospeh Lydon was born in Holloway.
The first episode of The Max Wall Show and Rudolph Cartier's adaptation of The White Falcon broadcast.
The first episode of Jesus Of Nazareth broadcast. Double yellow lines to prohibit parking were introduced in Slough.
Peter Woodhead born in Salford.
The first episode of Nathanial Titlark broadcast.
The first episode of Men In Battle - presented by Brian Horrocks - and John Comden's The Advancing Shadow broadcast.
Archbishop Makarios was deported from Cyprus to the Seychelles by the British authorities. For being a damned trouble-maker and nuisance.
The first episode of My Friend Charles broadcast.
Donald Wilson's adaptation of Story Conference broadcast, featuring the Alexandra Repertory Company.A memorial to Karl Marx was unveiled in Highgate Cemetery by Harry Pollitt.
Bunny Webber and Rex Tucker's adaptation of PG Wodehouse's Lord Emsworth & The Little Friend broadcast.
At the Grand National, Devon Loch, owned by The Queen Mother and ridden by Dick Francis, was in a clear lead when it inexplicably collapsed fifty yards from the line, giving victory to ESB, ridden by Dave Dick and trained by Fred Rimell.
Ian Fleming's Diamonds Are Forever published.
RF Delderfeld's And Then There Were None and Kitty Clive broadcast.
The first episode of Gardening Club - presented by Percy Thrower - and Eric Sykes's Dress Rehearsal broadcast. Also, the first UK broadcast of The Hawk Of Powder River.
'Where's my fiorucci?' The first episode of The Clitheroe Kid - initially The Call Boy - broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of Hans and Lotte Hass's Diving To Adventure broadcast. The Scum, with an average team age of just twenty four, won the First Division title.
The first episode of Rex Milligan and Ted Allan's The Seat Of The Scornful broadcast, the latter as part of the Sunday Night Theatre strand.
In his Budget speech, Chancellor Harold Macmillan announced the launch of Premium Bonds, which would go on sale on 1 November.
The first episode of Music For You broadcast.
Norman MacOwen's The Infinite Shoeblack broadcast. Lionel Crabb, working for MI6, dived into Portsmouth Harbour to investigate the visiting Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze and vanished during a state visit by Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin. On 9 May Anthony Eden, who had expressly forbidden the operation, made a statement refusing to reveal any details surrounding the mystery of Crabb's disappearance.Humphrey Lyttelton and his band recorded his composition 'Bad Penny Blues' with sound engineer Joe Meek. This was the first British jazz record to get into the Top Twenty.
Henry At Agincourt - featuring Richard Burton and John Neville - broadcast on The Home Service.
Philip Larkin introduced New Poetry on The Third Programme.
James Ambrose Brown's The Talking Cat broadcast.
James Thurber and Elliott Nugent's The Male Animal broadcast.
Manchester City won the FA Cup three-one against Birmingham City despite their goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, playing the last fifteen minutes with a broken bone in his neck.
Minister of Health Robin Turton, rejected calls for the government to lead an anti-smoking campaign arguing that 'no ill-effects' had yet been proven from tobacco.
John Brandane's The Glen Is Mine broadcast. The first performance of John Osborne's play Look Back In Anger by the newly formed English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. Alan Bates had his first major role. The theatre's press release described the dramatist as 'among the angry young men' of the time.
The day 'Heartbreak Hotel' made the UK charts.The Kilt Is My Delight, featuring Jimmy Shand and his band, broadcast.
Ray Rigby's The End Begins broadcast.
The first episode of The Ted Ray Show broadcast.
The first episode of The Billy Cotton Band Show and Cyril Davey's Flame In The Forest broadcast.
The first annual Eurovision Song Contest broadcast.
Robert Furnival's The Devil's Tattoo - featuring an early TV appearance by Ronnie Barker - broadcast as part of the Nom-De-Plume strand.
The Strong Are Lonely broadcast.
Let's Have Fun - featuring Jimmy James, Ken Dodd, Jimmy Clitheroe and the TV debut of Roy Castle - broadcast.
Shaun Sutton's Cry Wolf! broadcast.
Crack Spanish outfit Real Madrid beat Stade De Reims-Champagne four-three in the inaugural European Cup final. To the great delight of their biggest fan, Generalissimo Franco.
Saturday-Night Out Goes Under The Sea featured the first ever live broadcast from a submarine, HM Tapir.
Colin Morris's Quiet Revolution broadcast.
Gale Pedrick's Mr Butters Writes A Notice broadcast.
David Turner's Fresh As Paint broadcast.
Parliament passed The Clean Air Act in response to 'the Great Smog' of 1952.
The first episode of Abigail & Roger broadcast.
The first episode of the TV version of Hancock's Half Hour broadcast.
The first episode of Northern Showground broadcast.
The Bird Of Truth broadcast.
Ian Kevin Curtis born in Stretford.
The first episode of The Billy Cotton Band Show - later The Wakey Wakey Tavern - broadcast.
The first Albums Chart was published in Record Mirror. Frank Sinatra's Songs For Swingin' Lovers! topped it for the first two weeks.
The Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the nationalisation of the Suez Canal triggering the Suez Crisis.
The first Berni Inn steakhouse opened in Bristol.
Jim Laker took nineteen wickets in the match as England beat Australia in the fourth test at Old Trafford.
The exhibition This Is Tomorrow, featuring principally the interdisciplinary ICA Independent Group, opened at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Among the exhibits was Richard Hamilton's collage Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?, considered to be one of the earliest works of 'pop art.'
RC Sherriff's Home At Seven - starring Peter Cushing - broadcast.Scotland Yard were called to Eastbourne to investigate the suspicious activities of society doctor John Bodkin Adams. The case was reported around the world and press reported claims that up to four hundred patients may have been murdered.
Frederick Wiseman's Extra Item broadcast.
The Man With A Hundred Hand broadcast as part of the Nom-De-Plume strand.
The first episode of Bill Radford - Reporter broadcast.
The first episode of Sea & Ships broadcast.
Donald Wilson's adaptation of Morning Star broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand. Going Up - with Jimmy Clitheroe - broadcast.
The first episode of Picture Parade broadcast and the TV début of Barnard Cribbins in an episode of The Black Tulip.
Bernard Shaw's Fanny's First Play broadcast.
The Scum became the first English team to compete in the European Cup when they played the first leg of the Preliminary Round in Belgium and beat RSC Anderlecht two-nil.
An adaptation of Days Of Grace broadcast.
The first episode of Ted Ray's The Spice Of Life broadcast on The Home Service.
The first episode of Alan Melville Takes You From A To Z broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of The Adventures Of Champion The Wonder Horse.
The first episode of Meeting Point broadcast.
John Moore's Local Boy Makes Good broadcast.
Philip Mackie's A Death In The Family broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Protocol of Sèvres, a secret agreement between the UK, France and Israel allowing the latter to invade Sinai with the support of the two former governments was signed. Eden subsequently denied the existence of such an agreement. The Hungarian Revolution broke out against the pro-Soviet government, originating as a student demonstration in Budapest. Hungary attempted to leave the Warsaw Pact causing the invasion of the Red Army.
The new Hungarian Prime Minister, Imre Nagy, appealed for calm as fighting between demonstrators and the Soviet Army entered its third day.
The Norman Wisdom Show and Sir Anthony Eden's statement on the developing Suez Crisis broadcast.
What the Papers Say broadcast for the first time on Granada. It would run for sixty years until 2016, later moving to Channel Four, BBC2 and, finally, Radio 4.
John Elliot's groundbreaking A Man From The Sun broadcast.
The first episode of Evans Above broadcast.
Christopher Fry's translation of The Lark - featuring an early TV role for Michael Caine - broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Shaun Sutton's The Watch Tower broadcast.
Rudolph Cartier's adaptation of Dark Victory broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The first episodes of Lenny The Lion and The Further Adventures of Billy Bean & His Funny Machine broadcast. Shirley Abicair presented Songs & Stories For Scallywags.
The 1956 Olympics began. Due to the games taking place in Melbourne, Australia, there was no television coverage in the UK, meaning that the gold medal feats of the likes of Chris Basher, Dick McTaggert, Gillian Sheen and Judy Grinham have sort of slipped into the cracks of history.
Bunny Webber's Theft Royal broadcast.
Petrol rationing was introduced because of blockades from the Middle East due to the Suez Crisis.
The first episodes of The Crime Of The Century and the TV adaptation of Twenty Questions broadcast.
The first episode of Potts, Gangbuster broadcast.
Colin Morris's Without Love broadcast.
British and French troops withdrew from Suez under United Nations and United States pressure.
PG Tips launched its long-running ITV advertising campaign using a chimpanzees' tea party.
Rex Tucker's The Page Of Chinon, an adaptation of The Gypsy Thief, Secombe's Year and Where There's Life ... broadcast. The Michael Flanders and Donald Swann revue At The Drop Of A Hat opened in London.
1957
Peter Dews's adaptation of A Man For All Seasons broadcast. The first episode of My Word broadcast on The Home Service. John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos published.
The first episode of Our Miss Pemberton broadcast as part of the Mainly For Women strand.
The first UK broadcast of The Lone Ranger and the first episode of The Benny Hill Show.
Anthony Eden resigned as Prime Minister due to ill-health. He was replaced by Harold Macmillan.
RF Delderfield's No Shepherds Watched broadcast.
The first episode of Up For The Cup broadcast.
The first episode of The Adventures Of Peter Simple broadcast. All That Fall, the first play written specifically for radio by Samuel Beckett broadcast on The Third Programme.
The Cavern Club opened in Liverpool as a jazz club.The first episode of Bob Monkhouse's My Pal Bob broadcast.
The first episode of Studio E broadcast. The TV debut of George Melly on an episode of Off The Record.
Christopher Graham Collins born in West Bromwich.
Rex Tucker's Six Red Hairs broadcast.
Robin Maugham's Rise Above It - featuring Jon Pertwee - broadcast.
The first episode of Potts & The Phantom Piper broadcast.
Willis Hall's The Royal Astrologers broadcast.
The so-called 'Toddlers' Truce' - an arrangement whereby there were no television broadcasts between 6pm and 7pm to allow parents to put their children to bed - was abolished. In this newly opened slot, the first episode of The Six-Five Special was broadcast.
Pauline and John Phillips's Mayor's Nest broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The first episode of Tonight broadcast.
The first episode of Armand and Michaela Denis's On Safari broadcast.
The second Eurovision Song Contest - featuring Britain's first entry, 'All' by Patricia Bredin - and the second BBC adaptation of The Railway Children, starring Anneke Wills, broadcast.
The first episode of Bonehead broadcast.
An adaptation of Peace & Quiet and the first episode of Thrash It Out broadcast.
Lore Cowan's Just A Little Cuckoo - starring Joan Hickson, Michael Medwin and Nicholas Parsons - broadcast.
Colin Morris's The Wharf Road Mob broadcast, starring Anthony Newley.
Alvin Rakoff's adaptation of Requiem For A Heavyweight - starring Sean Connery, Jacqueline Hill, Michael Caine and Warren Mitchell - broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Panorama broadcast its infamous 'Spaghetti trees' April Fools hoax.
All You Own included a feature on the skiffle craze presented by Hugh Weldon which included a contribution from an earnest teenage James Page. The first episode of Joyous Errand broadcast.
Royal Court Theatre premiered John Osborne's The Entertainer with Laurence Olivier.
The first episode of Kelly's Eye broadcast.
England first representatives in the European Cup, The Scum, reached the Semi-Finals before coming up against the all conquering Real Madrid. Busby's Babes lost five-three on aggregate.
The first episode of The Winifred Atwell Show broadcast, featuring Bruce Forsyth.
Suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams was controversially found not guilty at the Old Bailey after Britain's longest murder trial. Political interference was suspected.
The first UK broadcast of The Phil Silvers Show.
The first episode of the historical documentary series Men, Women & Clothes broadcast. It was the first BBC programme to be filmed in colour, although it could only be transmitted in black and white.The first episode of The Sky At Night broadcast, presented by Patrick Moore.
The first episode of The Alma Cogan Show broadcast.
The first episode of Sara Crewe broadcast.
The first episode of The Lenny The Lion Show broadcast.
Hammer Films' The Curse Of Frankenstein released.
Aston Villains beat The Scum in the FA Cup Final in a game marred by an horrific collision between Peter McParland and Ray Wood which left the Manchester United goalie with a broken cheekbone. The first UK broadcast of Circus Boy.
The first episode of Charlie Drake's Drake's Progress broadcast.
Britain tested its first hydrogen bomb, at Malden Island in the Pacific.
Peter Viertel and Irwin Shaw's The Survivors broadcast.
The first episode of The Machine Breakers broadcast. Jonathan North - starring Eric Porter - broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Susan Janet Ballion born in London.
The first episode of Precious Bane broadcast.
The first episode of The Kilt Is My Delight broadcast. The first episode of Saturday Club - initially Saturday Skiffle Club - broadcast on The Light Programme.
Alfredo Di Stefano and Paco Gento scored as Real Madrid retained the European Cup against Fiorentina.
An adaptation of Arsenic & Old Lace broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The first episode of Blackpool Show Time - featuring an appearance by Morecambe & Wise - broadcast.
Peter May and Colin Cowdrey batted in a partnership of four hundred and eleven for the best part of two days as England drew the opening test against the West Indies at Edgbaston.
Stanley Houghton's Hindle Wakes - starring Billie Whitelaw and Robert Shaw - and the first episode of Carole's Country Club broadcast.
The Lass Of Richmond Hill broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The first episode of Huntingtower - featuring Frazer Hines's TV début - broadcast.
Danny Baker born in Deptford, South London.
George Hall's Sing For Your Supper broadcast.
A report by the Medical Research Council revealed that there was evidence to support a link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer after all.
The first episode of The Frankie Vaughan Show broadcast.
The Restless Sphere - presented by The Duke Of Edinburgh - broadcast.
The first episode of Beyond Our Ken broadcast on The Light Programme.
Tom Graveney hit his highest test score - two hundred and fifty eight - at Nottingham in England's third test against the West Indies.
Future alcoholic wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon first met Paul McCartney at the Woolton Village Fete in Liverpool.
The day Paul James Martin was born in Parsons Green.
The first episodes of Early To Braden and John Betjeman's The Englishman's Home broadcast.
Hugh Ross Willimson's The Magnificent Egotist broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Harold Macmillan made an optimistic speech to fellow Conservative party members at Bedford, telling them that 'most of our people have never had it so good.'
The first episode of Say It With Music broadcast.
The first episode of Escape broadcast.Holiday Fanfare, 'a concert of gay music' broadcast. Juan Manuel Fangio won the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring ahead of Mike Hawthorne and Peter Collins to collect his fifth World Driver's Championship.
The cartoon character Andy Capp first appeared in Northern editions of the Daily Mirra.
Eden Phillpotts' The Orange Orchard broadcast.
The first episode of the variety show Double Six - featuring Morecambe & Wise - broadcast.
Nicholas Courtney's TV début in an episode of Escape.
Philip Mackie's The Girl At The Next Table broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The day Stephen John Fry was born in Hampstead.
Hal Burton's adaptation of Priestley's Time & The Conways broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Willis Hall's The Claverdon Road Job broadcast.
The first episode of Mister Charlesworth broadcast.
Nigel Kneale's Mrs Wickens In The Fall broadcast.
The first appearance of Elvis Presley on UK television - albeit only in a clip from Loving You - featured on The Six-Five Special.
The For The Schools strand began.
These Are The Shows broadcast.
The first episode of Treasure Island broadcast. The first episode of Does The Team Think? broadcast on The Light Programme
The first episode of Giles Copper's radio adaptation of The Day Of The Triffids broadcast on The Light Programme. The first episode of Educating Evans - featuring Charlie Chester - broadcast. David Lean's Academy Award-winning The Bridge On The River Kwai released.
Muriel St Clare's adaptation of Dorothy L Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon broadcast.
The first episode of Teacher Didn't Tell Me broadcast.
The graphite core of the nuclear reactor at Windscale, Cumbria, caught fire, releasing substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area.
Jodrell Bank Observatory became operational.
The first episode of Lifeline - introduced by Hartley Shawcross - broadcast.
The first episode of The Royalty broadcast.The first episode of Pinky & Perky broadcast.
The day Julian David Cope was born in Monmouthshire.
The first episode of Be Soon broadcast.
The first episode of English Family Robinson broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
John Whiting's Eye Witness broadcast. Stephen Paul David Morris born in Macclesfield.
Herman Closson's Ordeal By Fire broadcast.
The World Our Stage broadcast.
RC Sherriff's The Telescope - starring Edward Woodward - broadcast.
The first episode of The Adventures Of Charlie Quick - starring Clive Dunn - broadcast as part of the Studio E strand.
The first episode of Francis Durbridge's A Time Of Day broadcast.
The first episode of Eye On Research broadcast.
The first episode of The Thompson Family broadcast.
The first episode of The Silver Sword broadcast. Val Guest's The Red-Headed Blonde broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The first episode of The Jimmy Logan Show broadcast.
The Lord's Taverner's Ball broadcast.
The first episode of Face To Face broadcast.
Evelyn Frazer's The Crucial Point broadcast.
The first episode of Lifeline broadcast.
John Junkin and Terry Nation's Friday The Thirteenth - featuring Ted Ray - broadcast.
Behold, The King and The Night Before Christmas broadcast. The first UK TV broadcast of It's A Wonderful Life.
The first episode of Angel Pavement broadcast.
The first episode of Television World Theatre Presents ... broadcast.
The first episode of Onion Boys and Donald Wilson's Flight Of The Dove broadcast. Plus an adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream featuring Frankie Howerd as Bottom.
1958
The first episode of Big Guns broadcast.
The first episodes of The World Is Our Stage and Saturday Playhouse broadcast.
The Distaff Side broadcast as part of the Saturday Playhouse strand.
The first episode of The Black Arrow broadcast.
Julian Miles Holland born in Blackheath.
The first episode of Monitor broadcast.
The first episode of Caxton's Tales broadcast.
The first episode of Your Life In Their Hands broadcast.
The day of the Munich air disaster. Roger Byrne, Billy Whelan, David Pegg, Eddie Coleman, Mark Jones, Tommy Taylor and Geoff Bent were among those killed when British Airways Flight 609 carrying the Manchester United team back from a European Cup tie in Belgrade crashed on the runway of Munich Airport. Duncan Edwards died fifteen days later from his injuries.
An adaptation of Gogol's The Government Inspector starring Tony Hancock broadcast as part of the Television World Theatre strand.
The first episode of Run To Earth broadcast. NC Hunter's A Touch Of The Sun broadcast as part of the Theatre Night strand featuring the TV debut of Vanessa Redgrave.
The first episode of More Than Robbery broadcast.
Pope Pius XII designated St Clare of Assisi 'the patron saint of television.' Thereafter, placing her icon on a television set was said to 'improve reception.' Or, you could just get a better aerial.
Amphitryon 38 broadcast as part of the Television World Theatre strand, starring Googie Withers and David McCallum and featuring electronic effects by Daphne Oram of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Elaine Morgan's docudrama Black Furrow broadcast.The day Richard Michael Mayall was born in Epping. The first episode of The Diary Of Samuel Pepys broadcast.
The first episode of The Invisible Armies broadcast.
David Hemmings' TV début in an episode of Dixon Of Dock Green. Alex Atkinson's Design For Murder broadcast as part of the Saturday Playhouse strand.
Willis Hall's One Man Absent broadcast.
Peter James Wylie born in Liverpool.
Work on the M1, Britain's first full length motorway, began.
Ken Hughes's Sammy - featuring Anthony Newley - broadcast.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets made their only UK TV appearance on Jack Payne's Off The Record, performing 'Maybe Baby'.
Thirty Three Days To Go broadcast featuring Brian Johnston and the Yorkshire cricket team.
The first episode of Starr & Company broadcast.
Peter Sellers' The Eighth Of April Show broadcast.
The first episode of You Are There broadcast.
The first episode of The Common Room broadcast.
Sir Harold Bishop, BBC Director of Engineering, demonstrated on Panorama an early video recording machine called VERA (the Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus). Peter Dougan Capaldi born in Glasgow.
Jean McConnell's The Pick Of The Season broadcast.
Nat Lofthouse bundled Harry Gregg into the net at Wembley as Bolton beat The Scum two-nil in the FA Cup Final.
Bunny Webber's Angela Dined Out broadcast.
BBC Scotland viewers watched the first episode of The White Heather Club - featuring Andy Stewart - whilst the rest of the UK had to make do with Peter West presenting Good Companions.
Manchester United's first European game post-Munich was a pulsating two-one victory over AC Milan at Old Trafford. They lost the second leg four-nil a week later in Italy.
The first episode of The Dangerous Game broadcast.
The first episode of Duty Bound broadcast.
An adaptation of James Hanley's The Ocean - starring Leo McKern, Jack MacGowran and Frank Windsor - broadcast on The Home Service.
John Hunter Blair and Bunny Webber's Castle Dangerous broadcast. John William Paul Weller was born in Woking.
Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey was first staged at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Real Madrid won the European Cup again beating AC Milan three-two in Brussels.
The first episode of The Adventures Of Ben Gunn broadcast.
Giles Cooper's Liberty Hall broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.
The Opening Ceremony of the 1958 World Cup broadcast live from Stockholm.
The Music Master - written by and starring Eynon Evans - broadcast.
The first episode of The Black & White Minstrel Show broadcast.
Colin Morris's docudrama The Brittle Bond broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.
The first episode of The Firm Of Girdlestone broadcast.
Seventeen year old Pele scored twice as Brazil beat Sweden five-two in the World Cup final.
Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice's This Day In Fear - with Patrick McGoohan and Billie Whitelaw - broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.
The Ballad Of John Axon, the first of Charles Parker, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seegar's Radio Ballads strand broadcast on The Home Service.
Charles Murray Higson born in Frome.
Sian Phillips's TV début in Thomas Clarke's A Game For Eskimos, part of the Television Playwright strand.
Playback Doctor No broadcast on The Home Service - a discussion between Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler about the differences between British and American thrillers.
The first episode of The Sky Larks broadcast.
The first episode of Ask Your Dad broadcast.
The Castiglioni Brothers - starring Peter O'Toole and featuring the TV debut of Peter Jeffrey - broadcast.
The first episode of Buried Treasure broadcast.
The first episode of Queen's Champion broadcast.
Catherine Bush born in Bexleyheath.
The first episode of Pepe Moreno broadcast.
The first episode of Charlesworth At Large broadcast.
The night of the Notting Hill race riots.
The TV début of John Woodvine in the opening episode of Champion Road.
The first episode of Good Wives broadcast.
John Manchip White's Hour Of The Rat broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.
The first episode of Look Here - introduced by Max Jaffa - broadcast.
The first episode of Leave It To Todhunter broadcast.
AMPEX video-recording equipment were used for the first time at Lime Grove studios.
The first episode of Grandstand broadcast.
Peter R Newman's Yesterday's Enemy broadcast.
The first episode of Blue Peter broadcast.
Despite Stirling Moss winning the Moroccan Grand Prix at Casablanca, Mike Hawthorne finished second to win the World Drivers' Championship by one point.
Philip King and Alan Bromly's Postman's Knock broadcast. The State Opening Of Parliament broadcast for the first time.
The first episode of The Lost King broadcast.
The first episode of Our Mutual Friend broadcast.
The first episode of Solo For Canary broadcast.
Willis Hall's Air Mail From Cyprus broadcast.
The first episode of The Rebel Heiress broadcast.
Clemence Dane's Till Time Shall End broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The first episode of Private Investigator broadcast.
The Seventeen To Twenty Club broadcast on The Light Programme, presented by 'teenage celebrity' Gerry Dorsey (later Englebert Humperdinck).
Troy Kennedy Martin's Incident At Six Echo broadcast.
The Saville Theatre's production of Expresso Bongo - featuring Paul Scofield - broadcast.
The first episode of Quatermass & The Pit broadcast.
The first annual Christmas Night With The Stars broadcast.
Evan Jones's In A Backward Country broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.
1959
Geoffrey Trease's Time Out Of Mind broadcast. Lifeline 'resumes its fortnightly series to examine the psychological and moral problems of our time. Corporal Punishment. There is an increasing demand in Britain for tougher treatment of men and youths convicted of crimes of violence and cruelty. The issue is simple, can whipping reform?'
Rod Stirling's The Dark Side Of The Earth broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.
The first episode of The Cabin In The Clearing broadcast. EDS Corner's The Stone Ship - starring Barry Foster, Ian Hendry and Kenneth Cope - broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.The first episode of The Nightwatchman's Stories and Robert Barr's Medico broadcast.
An adaptation of A Quiet Man broadcast.
James Roderick Moir born in Leeds.
Frankie Howerd's Shakespeare Without Tears broadcast.
The first episode of The Last Chronicle Of Barset broadcast.
The day The Music Died.
The first episode of Jo's Boys broadcast.
The first episode of The Scarf broadcast.
Kenneth John's Skeleton In The Sand broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.
The first episode of The Davy Jones Saga broadcast.
Frank Norman and Lionel Bart's Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be - a musical comedy about East End Cockney life, including spivs, prostitutes, Teddy-boys and corrupt policemen - was first performed, produced and directed by Joan Littlewood at The Theatre Royal, Stratford East. It subsequently played at The Garrick in the West End, starting in February 1960, ran for eight hundred and eighty six performances and propelled several of its cast - including Mirian Karlin, Barbara Windsor, Yootha Joyce and Bryan Pringle - to stardom. A bowdlerised version of the title song (replacing the line 'There's Toffs wiv toffee noses and Poofs in coffee houses' with 'There's Teds wiv drainpipe trousers and Debs in coffee houses') was a hit for Max Bygraves the following year.
The first episode of The Budds Of Paragon Row broadcast.
Geoffrey Bellman and John Whitney's documentary Outside broadcast.
The first episode of Garry Halliday broadcast.
Eric Sykes's Gala Opening broadcast.
The first episode of Whicker's World broadcast.
The acclaimed documentary Morning In The Streets broadcast.
Peter Nichols's Walk On The Grass broadcast as part of the Television Playwright strand.
Paul Almond's The Hill broadcast.
The first episode of The Navy Lark broadcast on The Light Programme. Ian Fleming's Goldfinger published.
The first episode of Love & Mr Lewisham broadcast.
The first episode of Drumbeat broadcast.
John Hopkins' adaptation of The Small Back Room broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
The first episode of The Infamous John Friend broadcast.
An adaptation of Willis Hall's The Long & The Short & The Tall - directed by Lindsay Anderson - broadcast.
Elwyn Jones's adaptation of Treason broadcast.
Marghanita Laski's The Offshore Island broadcast.
Steppin' Out With Formby broadcast.
Neil Joshua Pearson born in London.
The first episode of Frankly Howerd broadcast.
Roy Dwight scored twice as Nottingham Forest beat Second Division Luton Town in the FA Cup Final.
Stuart Burge's adaptation of Julius Caeser broadcast as part of the World Theatre strand. Ian Stephen McCulloch born in Liverpool.
Barry Thomas's adaptation of The Cat & The Canary - starring Bob Monkhouse - broadcast as part of the Saturday Playhouse strand.
The first episode of Hilda Lessways broadcast.
The first episode of Joy Harrington's adaptation of Heidi - with Sara O'Connor and Lesley Judd - broadcast.
Stephen Patrick Morrissey born in Davyhulme, Lancashire.
Robert Renwick Mortimer born in Middlesbrough.
Harold Brooke and Kay Bannerman's How Say You? broadcast.
Secombe At Large broadcast.
The first episodes of Juke Box Jury and The Widow of Bath broadcast. The first episode of On The Bright Side broadcast.
James Hugh Calum Laurie born in Oxford.
The first episode of The Adventures Of Brigadier Wellington-Bull broadcast.
Douglas Rae's The Withered Look Of Summer broadcast.
The first episode of The Eustace Diamonds broadcast.
The first episode of The Golden Spur - featuring the TV debut of Oliver Reed - broadcast.
Jean Hunt's From Out Of The West broadcast.
The first episode of The Naked Lady broadcast.
Harold Pinter's A Slight Ache broadcast on The Third Programme.
John Hopkins's adaptation of Mine Own Executioner broadcast.
The first episode of Dancers In Mourning broadcast.
The first episode of The Moonstone broadcast.
The first episode of Call Me Sam broadcast. The first Mark 1 Mini went on sale.
The first episode of The History Of Mr Polly broadcast.
Brian Blessed's TV début in Willis Hall's Last Day In Dreamland, part of the Saturday Playhouse strand.
Harold Macmillan and US President Dwight Eisenhower made a joint television broadcast from Downing Street.
The first episode of Spycatcher - starring Bernard Archard - broadcast.
Hi Summer! - with Kenneth Connor - and RC Sherriff and Walter Hudd's Cards With Uncle Tom broadcast.
The first episode of The Saga Of Noggin The Nog broadcast.
The first episode of A Mask For Alexis broadcast.
Alun Owen's The Rough & Ready Lot broadcast.
The first episode of The Artful Dodger broadcast.
The opening episode of Showtime, introduced by David Nixon and Stanley Unwin, broadcast. It featured Chico Marx's first UK TV appearance. Arnold Bennett's What The Public Wants broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand..
The day of the 1959 General Erection. The Tories won.
The Whistling Sands broadcast.
Colin Morris's Who, Me? broadcast.
The first episode of The Men From Room Thirteen broadcast.
The first episode of Ask For King Billy broadcast.
The first episode of Three Golden Nobles broadcast.
Art-Anti-Art: Marcel Duchamp Speaks broadcast on The Third Programme.
The first episode of The Young Lady From London broadcast.
Rosemary Anne Sissons's The Vagrant Heart broadcast.
Eden Phillpotts' The Farmer's Wife broadcast as part of the Saturday Playhouse strand.
The first episode of Para Handy, Master Mariner broadcast.
Jack Brabham won the World Drivers' Championship after finishing fourth at the United States Grand Prix at Sebring.
John Hopkins's adaptation of Through A Glass Darkly broadcast as part of the Saturday Playhouse strand.
Francis Essex's The Gentle Flame - starring Julie Andrews - broadcast.
Waters Of The Moon broadcast as part of the Sunday Night Theatre strand.
AC Thomas's Break In Festivities broadcast.
1960
The first episode of How Green Was My Valley broadcast. Sir Hugh Greene became Director General of the BBC.The first episode of The Secret Garden broadcast.
The first episode of A House Called Bell Tower broadcast.
The first episode of A Life Of Bliss broadcast.
The first episode of Sykes & A ... broadcast.
Harold MacMillan made the 'winds of change' speech in Cape Town.
The opera Hands Across The Sky and the uncomfortable episode of Face To Face featuring Tony Hancock broadcast.
The first episode of Emma broadcast.
The first episodes of Pinky & Perky's Pop Parade and The Splendid Spur broadcast.
Eddie Cochrane and Gene Vincent & The Wildcats - just starting their UK tour - appeared on The Light Programme's Saturday Club.
Rosemary Anne Sisson's Home & The Heart broadcast as part of the Saturday Playhouse strand.
Jodrell Bank Observatory made contact with NASA's Pioneer Five probe over a record-breaking distance of four hundred thousand miles.
The Grand National was televised for the first time on Grandstand. It was won by Merryman II.
Bill Griggs of Northampton first marketed the Doctor Martens 'AirWair' style boots. So that everybody could be free, they're classless, matchless, ageless and waterproof and retail for only nineteen pounds and ninety nine pee. Apparently.
The first episode of Don't Do It Dempsey! broadcast.
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson was born in Doncaster.The first episodes of Scotland Yard and The Pen Of My Aunt broadcast.
Arthur Wilmurt's adaptation of Noah broadcast.
Eddie Cochran was killed in a car crash on the A4 near Chippenham at the age of twenty one. Cochran's girlfriend, Sharon Sheeley, tour manager Pat Thompkins and Gene Vincent survived the crash, Vincent sustained injuries to an already permanently damaged leg which would affect him for the rest of his life.
The first episode of The People Of Paradise and Jon Manchip White's Who Killed Menna Lorraine? broadcast.
The first episode of The Long Way Home broadcast. Love On The Dole broadcast as part of the Twentieth Century Theatre strand. Ken Russell's Cranks At Work broadcast as part of the Monitor strand.The first episode of An Age Of Kings broadcast.
Soviet surface-to-air missiles shot down an American U-2 spy plane. Its CIA pilot, Gary Powers, was captured.
The first episode of The Secret Kingdom broadcast. Princess Margaret married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones (later, Lord Snowden) at Westminster Abbey.
An adaptation of The Man Who Came To Dinner broadcast as part of The Saturday Playhouse strand. Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Blackburn Rovers three-nil in the FA Cup Final.
The first episode of Sir Mortimer Wheeler's The Grandeur That Was Rome broadcast.
The first episode of A Matter Of Degree broadcast.
The first episode of Bill Naughton and Allan Prior's Yorky - starring Wilfred Pickles - broadcast.
Real Madrid won the European Cup for the fifth time, beating Eintract Frankfurt seven-three at Hampden Park in front of one hundred and twenty seven thousand enthralled fans in the stadium and millions watching at home.
The first episode of The Days Of Vengeance and Leonard Spigelgass's A Majority Of One broadcast.
Johnny Morris's Master Diver broadcast.
The Insect Play broadcast as part of the Twentieth Century Theatre strand.
Nan Winton became the BBC's first national female newsreader.
The day the BBC Television Centre was opened.
Lionel Bart's Oliver! premiered in the West End at The New Theatre. Directed by Peter Coe, it ran for two thousand six hundred and eighteen performances.The original cast included Ron Moody as Fagin, Georgia Brown as Nancy, Barry Humphries as Sowerberry, Keith Hamshere as Oliver and Martin Horsey as Dodger. Over subsequent months other boys alternated in the juvenile leads, including both Tony Robinson and Davy Jones as Dodger. Danny Sewell's main competitor at the audition for the role of Bill Sikes was Michael Caine, who later said he 'cried for a week' after failing to secure the part. The show transferred to Broadway in January 1963.
The first episode of The Herries Chronicle and Fred Emney Picks A Pop broadcast.
The first episode of Tales Of The Riverbank broadcast.
The first episode of The Seal Of Neptune broadcast.
Bill Naughton's June Evening - featuring the TV debut of Davy Jones - broadcast.
The Pilkington Committee was established to consider the future of broadcasting, cable and 'the possibility of television for public showing.' Their report, published in 1962, criticised the 'crass populism' of ITV and recommended that Britain's third national television channel should be awarded to the BBC.
The Richest Man In The World broadcast.
The first episode of The Adventure Of Tom Sawyer broadcast.
The first episode of Michael Pertwee's Golden Girl broadcast.
At a jazz festival at Beaulieu, Hampshire, fans of trad come to blows with 'progressives.' Wow, what a bunch of squares. Don't you know fighting is for zeroes, daddio?
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho was released in the UK.
The one thousandth edition of In Town Tonight broadcast on The Home Service.David Parry's Stuff & Nonsense broadcast.
Michael Flanders' adaptation of The Soldier's Tale - starring Gordon Jackson - broadcast.
The Be-Atles, a five-piece Beat Combo from Merseyside, performed their first concert under that name in Hamburg.
The first episode of The Small House At Allington broadcast.
The Liberators broadcast as part of the Summer Theatre strand.
The first performance of the satirical revue Beyond The Fringe - featuring Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller - in Edinburgh.
The Opening Ceremony of the Rome Olympics broadcast.
Ken Russell's A House In Bayswater broadcast.The Shop At Sly Corner broadcast as part of the Saturday Playhouse strand. Anita Lonsbrough won the Olympic two hundred metres breaststroke gold.
West Germany's Armin Hary won the one hundred metres gold at the Rome Olympics.
A young - and very pretty - Cassius Clay beat Poland's Zbigniew Pietrzykowski to win the Olympic Light Heavyweight Boxing gold medal.
Don Thompson won Britain's second gold at the Olympics in the fifty kilometre walk.
Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila became the first black African to win an Olympic gold in the Marathon.
Giles Cooper's Without The Grail broadcast.
The first episode of Michael Bentine's It's A Square World broadcast.
The first episode of Sheep's Clothing broadcast.
The first episode of No Wreath For The General broadcast. BBC Schools started using its familiar Pie Chart ident.
The first episode of The Haunted House - featuring the TV debut of Ian Cullen - broadcast.
The first episode of Meet The Champ broadcast.
Frankie Howerd's Ladies & Gentle-Men broadcast.
The day of the first Kennedy/Nixon TV debate.
Eugene O'Neill: Three Plays Of The Sea broadcast.
The first episode of Barnaby Rudge broadcast.
The first episode of Bonehead broadcast.
Alun Owen's The Ruffians broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand. The first episode of The Glory That Was Greece broadcast.
The first episode of Harry Worth's Here's Harry broadcast.
The first episodes of Peridot Flight and Girl In Calico and John Elliot's Who Pays The Piper? broadcast.
The first episode of Paul Of Tarsus broadcast.
The Chopping Block broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Elaine Morgan's Looking For Garrow broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Saturday Night & Sunday Morning released, the first British social-realist film.
The first episode of Maigret broadcast.
Penguin Books was found extremely not guilty of obscenity and rank naughtiness in the case of The Crown versus DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. The book sold two hundred thousand copies on its first day of publication following the trial after being banned since 1928 as everybody wanted to know what all the fuss was about.
John Osborne's A Subject Of Scandal & Concern - featuring Richard Burton - broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The Road To Carey Street broadcast.
The first episode of The World Of Tim Frazer broadcast as part of the Francis Durbridge Presents strand.
The BBC Radio debut of Sylvia Plath reading 'Leaving Early' and 'Candles' on The Third Programme's New Poetry.
The first episode of Citizen James broadcast.
The first episode of The Charlie Drake Show broadcast.
Beverley Cross's The Nightwalkers broadcast as part of The Sunday-Night Play strand.
Lindsay Hardy's The Assassins broadcast as part of The Sunday-Night Play strand.
Gordon Murray's The Magic Tree broadcast.
NJ Crisp's The Dark Man broadcast.
The first episode of Coronation Street broadcast on Granada and several other ITV regions. And this was the schedule opposite it.
Leo Lehman's The Song Of A March Hare broadcast as part of The Sunday-Night Play strand.
An episode of The Friday Show featured the last TV appearance of George Formby.
Tuppence In The Gods broadcast as part of The Sunday-Night Play strand.
The first episode of Persuasion broadcast.
The last day on which the farthing, a coin first minted in England in the Thirteenth Century, was legal tender. The last men were called up for National Service, as Conscription ended.
1961
David Turner's The Train Set - directed by Don Taylor- broadcast.
The first episode of The Avengers broadcast on ITV. Meanwhile, on BBC1 ...
Venus Brown broadcast as part of The Sunday-Night Play strand.
Denis Constanduros's The Afterthought broadcast.
The first episodes of Signpost and An Enemy Of The People broadcast.
Things That Go Bump In The Night, with its eerie BBC Radiophonic Workshop score broadcast as part of The Home Service's The World Of Sound strand.
The first episode of The House Under The Water broadcast. Gillian Lesley Gilbert born in Whalley Range, Manchester.
Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath appeared on The Home Service's Two Of A Kind.
Jack Gerson's Three Ring Circus broadcast.
The TV debut of Judy Geeson in an episode of Dixon Of Dock Green.
The BBC announced it was dropping the radio programme Children's Hour on the grounds that television has 'diminished its audience.'
The first episode of Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years broadcast. Alistair Bell's adaptation of The House With The Green Shutters broadcast as part of the Saturday Playhouse strand.
Stuart Douglass's Girl On A Roof - featuring The John Barry Seven - broadcast.
The first episode of The Treasure Seekers broadcast.
The first episode of The Fifth Form At St Dominick's - featuring the TV debut of James Beck - broadcast.
Fay and Michael Kanin's adaptation of Roshomon broadcast.
David Attenborough's documentary Elsa The Lioness broadcast.
Edwin Bush was arrested in London for the capital stabbing of Elsie May Batten in Charring Cross Road. He was the first British criminal identified by the 'Identikit' facial composite system. He would later hang for his sick and naughty crimes.
James Forsyth's Old Mick Mack broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The five members of the Portland Spy Ring went on trial at the Old Bailey accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. Black and white five pound notes ceased to be legal tender.
Popular local beat combo The Be-Atles performed at the Cavern Club for the first time.
Elaine Morgan's Fury In Petticoats broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The first episode of They Met In A City broadcast.
The Jaguar E-Type, a - fantastic - sports car capable of one hundred and fifty miles per hour, was launched as a two-seater roadster or coupé. Soon, all the groovy people drove one.
The first episode of Amelia broadcast.
Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space onboard Vostok 1.
The Soviet spy George Blake was arrested in London.
The day of The Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba.
Henry Livings's The Arson Squad broadcast.
Michael Gilbert's Scene Of The Accident broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand. This first UK TV broadcast of Citizen Kane.
Alan Shepard became the second man in space on-board Mercury 3.
Stottingtot Hotshots became the first team in the Twentieth Century to complete the Football League and FA Cup double, beating Leicester City two-nil at Wembley.
George Blake was sentenced to forty two years imprisonment for spying, having been found guilty of being a double agent in the pay of the Soviet Union.
The first episode of the TV adaptation of Does The Team Think? broadcast. Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners was published in several international newspapers. This would later be recognised as the effective founding of the human rights organisation Amnesty International.
For the first time in the six years since the competition began, the European Cup was won by someone other than Real Madrid, Benfica of Lisbon beating Barcelona three-two in the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern.
The first episode of Triton broadcast.Ron Moody's Moody In Storeland broadcast.
CS Abraham's Five Bells For Logan broadcast.
Terrance Rattigan's Adventure Story - starring Sean Connery - broadcast.
The government unveiled panda crossings with push button controls for pedestrians. The new crossings would appear on Britain's roads from April 1962.
Margaret Dale's adaptation of Sambo & The Snow Mountains broadcast.
The first episode of Allan Prior's dramatisation of Magnolia Street broadcast.Lucienne Hill's adaptation of Solitaire broadcast.
The first episode of Walk A Crooked Mile broadcast.
'A pint? That's very nearly an armful!' The Blood Donor episode of Hancock broadcast.
David Turner's On The Boundary broadcast.
Sylvia Plath read a selection of her poetry on The Third Programme's The Living Poet. In an all-British women's final at Wimbledon, Angela Mortimer beat Christine Truman.
Gus Grissom piloted NASA's second manned space mission, Mercury 4. Leslie Bricusse and Tony Newley's musical Stop the World – I Want To Get Off opened its London run at The Queen's Theatre. Directed by Newley, it ran for four hundred and eighty five performances before transferring to Broadway. Newley also starred as Littlechap with Anna Quayle playing the multiple roles of Evie and the other women in his life. A 1966 movie adaptation, directed by Philip Saville, starred Tony Tanner and Millicent Martin.
The first episode of Tory Kennedy Martin's anthology Storyboard broadcast.
The first episode of The Rackerty Street Gang broadcast. The border between East and West Berlin was closed and Soviet bloc soldiers started to build the Berlin Wall. What began as barbed wire and light fencing built up over the years into a complex series of fortified fences, gun positions and watchtowers. An unidentified man abducted scientist Michael Gregsten and his mistress, Valerie Storie. The man forced them to drive him around suburban North London before having them stop at a lay-by on the A6 at Deadman's Hill, near the Bedfordshire village of Clophill, where he shot the pair. Storie survived the attack but was left paralysed. A police investigation led to the arrest of car thief James Hanratty. Although later convicted of the murder and executed, the Hanratty case has since been widely disputed.
I'll Be Waiting broadcast as part of the Storyboard strand.
O Captain, My Captain broadcast. Th premiere of Victim, notable as the first movie to use the word 'homosexual.'
John Arden's Wet Fish broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Spike Millgan's A Series Of Unrelated Incidents At Current Market Value broadcast.The day Bertrand Russell and Arnold Wesker were jailed for inciting a breach of the peace at a CND protest in Trafalgar Square.
The movie adaptation of A Taste of Honey, which included themes of interracial relationship, unmarried pregnancy and homosexuality, was released.
John Patrick's The Hasty Heart broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Charles Wood's Traitor In A Steel Helmet broadcast.
The TV debut of Carol Cleveland in an episode of Dixon Of Dock Green.
The first episode of Stranger On The Shore broadcast.
The first episode of Songs Of Praise broadcast. Michael Gilbert's A Clean Kill broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The first episode of Points Of View and Alan Plater's The Referees broadcast.
The first episode of A For Andromeda broadcast.
The first episode of You Can't Win broadcast.
The first episodes of The Rag Trade and Let's Imagine broadcast.
The first episode of Flower Of Evil broadcast.
The first episode of Operation Fantail broadcast. Muriel Spark's The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie first published in The New Yorker magazine.
What Every Woman Knows broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Douglas Camfield's Adventure To Order broadcast.
The day Siddcup Art College student Keith Richards was waiting for a train at Dartford Station when he met Michael Jagger who was on his way to the London School of Economics. The two had been classmates at primary school but had not seen each other for some years. Richards noticed that Jagger had some rare imported rhythm and blues LPs. 'Cat's got Rockin' At The Hops by Chuck Berry and The Best Of Muddy Waters' recalled Richards. 'I was like "Hi, how y'been? ... And, where'd you get the records!"' The two immediately decide to form a rock and/or roll band (or, technically, join Brian Jones's embryonic group The Rollin' Stones), remain together for over fifty years and grow old utterly disgracefully. And, thank God for that. The first edition of Private Eye published.
David Whitaker's Hullo Ragtime broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Television & The World broadcast.
Rudolph Cartier's adaptation of Anna Karenina - with Claire Bloom and Sean Connery - broadcast.
The first episode of Gamble For A Throne broadcast.
The Test broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand. The first episode of The Pocket Lancer broadcast.
The first episode of Doctor Faustus broadcast.
Anthony Newley's The Johnny Darling Show broadcast.
The first episodes of The Seven Faces Of Jim and Jacks & Knaves broadcast.
The Lord Thy God Steven William Moffat (OBE) born in Paisley.
The first episode of The Escape Of RD7 and Charles Laughton's adaptation of Brecht's Galileo broadcast.
The first episode of A Chance Of Thunder broadcast.
Derek Jacobi's TV début in an adaptation of She Stoops To Conquer, part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Hugh Vaughan Williams's The Terrorists broadcast.
The first episode of Vice Versa broadcast.
Birth control pills became available on the National Health Service for the first time after their availability was backed by the Health Minister Enoch Powell.
Jack Pulman's A Book With Chapters In It broadcast.
The first episode of Gilbert & Sullivan: The Immortal Jesters broadcast.
Denis Constandurous's The Night Of The Match broadcast.
The first episode of Comedy Playhouse - Cliquot Et Fils - and David Mercer's Where The Difference Begins broadcast.
The Judge & His Hangman broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand,
Troy Kennedy Martin's The Interrogator broadcast. Galton and Simpson's Lunch In The Park - with Stanley Baxter - broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The Barrets Of Wimpole Street broadcast as part of the Sunday Night Play strand.
David Jacobs introduced the first episode of Disney Time.
1962
The first episodes of Z Cars and Compact broadcast.
The pilot episode of Steptoe & Son broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. The first episode of Constance Cox's adaptation of Oliver Twist broadcast.
The first episode of Crying Down The Lane broadcast.
The first episode of Studio 4 broadcast.
The day Edward John Izzard was born in Aden.
I'll Die For You broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Peter Hugh Dennis born in Kettering. Adolf Hitler died in Argentina. Allegedly.
The first episode of Barbara In Black broadcast.
John Glenn piloted NASA's third manned space flight, Mercury 6.
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first danced together in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle.
Peter Preston's Leading The Blind and the first episode of Benny Hill broadcast.
The day Mark Bailey was born in Bath.
Cyril Abraham's Sparrow In A Cage broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Roger Smith's adaptation of Muriel Spark's The Ballad Of Peckham Rye broadcast as part of the Studio 4 strand.
Accrington Stanley, founder members of the Football League, resigned due to huge debts. Reformed, the club would return to the league forty four years later.
Unsigned Liverpool beat combo The Be-Atles, in their leather jackets and playing their wild bongo-bongo music with its pagan rhythms, made their BBC radio début on The Light Programme's Teenagers Turn.
The first episode of The Six Proud Walkers broadcast.
The Orpington by-erection, often described as the start of the Liberal Party revival, saw Eric Lubbock upsetting the expected winner, Conservative candidate Peter Goldman.
The Ghost Sonata broadcast.
Seventeen-year-old Jacqueline du Pré made her concerto début at the Royal Festival Hall, playing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Rudolf Schwarz.
JP Donleavy's The Ginger Man broadcast.
The Monitor film Pop Goes The Easel - directed by Mad Ken Russell - broadcast.
Richard Coles born in Northampton.
James Hanratty was hanged at Bedford Prison for the A6 murder, despite protestations from many people who believed he was innocent and the late introduction of a number of witnesses who claimed to have seen him in Rhyl, North Wales, on the day of the murder.
Peter Kenna's The Slaughter Of St Theresa's Day broadcast.
The first episode of Animal Magic broadcast.
Gerald Savory's So Many Children broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The first episode of Brothers In Law broadcast.
The TV debut of Colin Crompton in an episode of The Good Old Days.
Don Taylor's adaptation of A Winter's Tale broadcast.
Ipswich Town - managed by Alf Ramsey - won the Football League First Division title in their first season at that level.
The first episode of Suspense broadcast. An adaptation of Keith Waterhouse's There Is A Happy Land - starring Davy Jones - broadcast on The Home Service.
Benfica won a thrilling European Cup Final, beating Real Madrid five-three in Amsterdam.
Stottingtot Hotshots retained the FA Cup, beating Burnley three-one at Wembley.The first episode of The Franchise Affair broadcast.
Scott Carpenter piloted NASA's fourth manned space mission, Mercury 7.
The newly built Coventry Cathedral - the replacement for the one the Luftwaffe bombed to smithereens in 1940 - was consecrated.
The first episode of William - starring a young Dennis Waterman (who didn't sing the theme song on this occasion) - broadcast.
Margot Bennett's Killer In The Band broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
The first UK broadcast of Top Cat. From episode three, the series was renamed Boss Cat by the BBC and it remained that way until the late 1980s due to concerns about potential advertising for a then-popular brand of cat food.
The day Adolf Eichmann was extremely hanged in Israel for grievous crimes against humanity. And, for 'being a Nazi shithead'.
Hosts Chile beat Italy in the amazingly violent 'Battle Of Santiago' at the World Cup. When the footage was eventually shown in Britain, three days later, David Coleman's appalled introduction to viewers became the stuff of legend.
The Be-Atles played their first session, effectively an audition, at Abbey Road Studios and were signed to Parlophone Records by George Martin.
The first episode of The Big Pull broadcast.
Brazil retained the Jules Rimet Trophy beating Czechoslovakia three-one in the World Cup final. Due to the difficulties of getting the film back to the UK, coverage didn't occur until two days later.
At The Drop Of A Hat - featuring Michael Flanders and Donald Swann - broadcast.
David Mercer's A Climate Of Fear broadcast. Robert Bernard Andrew Gillespie born in Glasgow.
Evelyn Frazer's Virus X broadcast as part of the Suspense strand. Phillip Christopher Jupitas born in Newport, Isle of Wight.
The first episode of The Andromeda Breakthrough broadcast.
Roy Fuller's Fantasy & Fugue broadcast as part of the Suspense strand and the first UK broadcast of The Third Man.
John Boorman's documentary A Concrete Vision and the first episode of British Castles (presented by Sir Brian Horrocks) broadcast.
The first episode of The Dark Island broadcast.
The day that the Telstar satellite brought the birth of the global telecommunication age with the first televised cross-Atlantic link-up via the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station.
Unsigned London five-piece The Rolling Stones made their debut at London's Marquee Club in Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry.
In what the press dubbed 'the Night of the Long Knives', Harold Macmillan dismissed one-third of his cabinet.
The first episode of Hugh & I broadcast. John Hurt's TV début in an episode of Z Cars.
The first episode of Outbreak Of Murder broadcast.
Fascist supporters of Oswald Mosley paraded in East London. Leading, inevitably, to 'a bit of bother' and some considerable wailing and kicking of teeth. Mosley himself got a thoroughly well-deserved punch in the mush. Fifty four people were arrested including Mosley youngest son, Max.
The day Marilyn Monroe died.
The first episode of Silent Evidence broadcast. Sarah-Doon Mackichan born in Westminster.
Rudolph Cartier's adaptation of Dr Korczak & The Children broadcast as part of the Studio 4 strand.
The first episode of Dr Finlay's Casebook broadcast.
Alan Plater's A Smashing Day broadcast. The Tornados' recording of Joe Meek's 'Telstar' released.
Sylvia Plath's Three Women broadcast on The Third Programme.
The day The Be-Atles, playing only a fourth gig with their recently recruited drummer, Ringo Starr, were filmed by Granada TV cameras during a lunchtime sessions at The Cavern Club performing a storming version of Ritchie Barrett's 'Some Other Guy'. A member of the audience shouted 'we want Pete' at the end. Tone-deaf moron.
The first episode of The Net broadcast. Mountaineers Chris Bonington and Ian Clough became the first Britons to climb the North face of the Eiger
Hedgehog broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Sylvia Plath appeared on the first episode of The Home Service's The World Of Sound.
The first episode of Dial Rix broadcast.
Six Men Of Dorset broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Ford launched the Cortina, a family saloon costing five hundred and seventy three quid and similar in size to the Vauxhall Victor, the Hillman Minx and the Morris Oxford Farina.
On Granada, the first episode University Challenge with Bamber Gascoigne broadcast. Cancelled in 1987, it would revived by the BBC in 1994 and is still running.
The first episode of Zero One broadcast. Wally Schirra piloted NASA's fifth manned space mission, Mercury 8.
The UK première of Dr No. 'Love Me Do', the début single by Liverpool beat combo The Be-Atles was released on EMI's Parlophone label.
The first episode of The Last Man Out broadcast.
Charles Wood's Not At All broadcast.
The first episode of The River Flows East broadcast.
The first episode of The Bacchae broadcast.
David Mercer's A Suitable Case For Treatment broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The day the Cuban Missile Crisis threatened to bring about Word War III.
John Hyman's Closed Planet - with music and special effects by Delia Derbyshire - broadcast as part of The Light Programme's Midweek Theatre.
Nil Carborundum - starring Nicol Williamson and John Thaw - broadcast.
The world breathed a collective sigh of relief and changed its collective underpants after the superpowers reached an agreement ending the immediate threat of nuclear war. Nikita Khrushchev agreed to dismantle all Russian missiles based in Cuba and ship them back to the Soviet Union forthwith. If not sooner.
The first episode of The Men From The Ministry broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of Ronald Eyre's adaptation of Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle broadcast.
Michael Picardie's adaptation of Debbie Go Home broadcast.
The first episode of The Monsters broadcast.
The one hundredth episode of Monitor was Mad Ken Russell's memorable biopic of Elgar.
The first episode of Television Top Of The Form broadcast. Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side published.
Denis Constanduros's Wednesday's Child broadcast.
The first episode of That Was The Week That Was broadcast.An agreement was signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner.
The Be-Atles appeared - alongside The Ted Taylor Four and Elkie Brooks - on The Light Programme's The Talent Spot.
Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange published.
Robert Holles' Behind The Line broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Molecular biologists Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and James Watson, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 'for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.' Lawrence Of Arabia released.
Under the Nassau Agreement: Britain agreed to buy the Polaris missile system from the US.
Britain woke up to find itself under a blanket of snow which didn't thaw for the next three months (the next frost-free night was in the first week of March). This was, many commentators agree, the direct cause for the biggest baby boom in the country since the end of the war in the later months of the following year. For which this blogger is, personally, very thankful.
Graham Hill won the South African Grand Prix to clinch the World Drivers' Championship after his title-rival Jim Clark crashed on the opening lap..Ken Taylor's Parkin's Primitives broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
1963
Alun Owen's The Stag broadcast. Galton and Simpson's Our Man In Moscow broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of The Chem Lab Mystery broadcast.
The first episode of World In Action broadcast on Granada. Or, you may have been watching The Lucy Show on the Beeb. Swings and roundabouts, innit? Brian Hayles's Last Race, Ginger Gentlemen broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
The Madhouse On Castle Street featuring, a then virtually unknown, Bob Dylan and the first episode of Junior Points Of View broadcast.
The first episode of Merry-Go-Round broadcast.
James Daniel May born in Hammersmith.
The first episode of Mr Justice Duncannon broadcast. Hugh Gaitskell, the Labour Party leader, died suddenly aged fifty six. Probably murdered by the Soviets. Allegedly.
Ted Hughes's Difficulties Of A Bridegroom broadcast on The Third Programme.
Double agent Kim Philby disappeared from Beirut having defected to the Soviet Union. The rotter.
Popular beat combo The Be-Atles made their first appearance on The Light Programme's Saturday Club.
AC Thomas House On Three Floors broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Charles de Gaulle, the huge-nosed President of France, vetoed the UK's entry into the European Economic Community.
Juke Box Jury featured possibly its strangest ever judging panel - Sean Connery, Diana Dors, Mike Sarne and Jean Metcalfe.
The Reward Of Silence broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The Big Freeze broadcast. Philip Haywood Glenister born in Harrow.
The day Sylvia Plath died in London.
Harold Wilson replaced the late Hugh Gaitskell as leader of the Labour Party.
The first episode of Moonstrike broadcast.
Peter Hicks, a Sussex farmer who electrified his Land Rover to 'ward off traffic wardens' was reported to have 'evaded the law.'
Ian Kennedy Martin's adaptation of Bridget Boland's The Prisoner (starring Patrick McGoohan) broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Kim Philby turned up in Moscow.
Jeri Matos's Project Survival broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
David Mercer's The Birth Of A Private Man broadcast.
Peter Nichols's Continuity Man broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Patrick Hamilton's The Man On A Bicycle broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
Don Howarth's speculative documentary Time On Our Hands - featuring interviews with Kingsley Amis and Aldous Huxley - broadcast.
Please Please Me released. Michael Elliott and Ronald Eyre's RSC production of As You Like It - starring Vanessa Redgrave and Patrick Allen - broadcast.
John Mortimer's Too Late For Mashed Potato broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Johnnie Archambault's The Tourelle Skull broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
Doctor Richard Beeching issued a report, The Reshaping of British Railways, calling for huge and swingeing cuts to the country's rail network.
John Hopkins's Walk A Tight Circle broadcast.
Stewart Love's The Big Donkey broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand.
Galton and Simpson's A Clerical Error broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Frankie Howerd's memorable appearance on That Was The Week That Was broadcast.
The Be-Atles appeared for the first time on The Light Programme's Easy Beat. James Saunders' Just You Wait broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand
Gavin Black's Killer Lie Waiting broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
Galton and Simpson's The Handyman broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand
Martin Woodhouse's The Holly Road Rig - featuring Peter Butterworth, Ronnie Barker and Wendy Richards - broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand.
Seventy thousand marchers arrived in London from Aldermarston to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.
Popular beat combo The Be-Atles made their BBC television début on The 625 Show, introduced by Jimmy Young. The Light Programme broadcast Swinging Sounds '63, a concert from The Royal Albert Hall featuring, among others, dirty old scallywag Rolf Harris, Shane Fenton & The Fentones, Matt Munro, The Vernon Girls, Kenny Lynch, The Springfields and The Be-Atles. American singer Del Shannon ('a-wah-wah-wah-wah') was so impressed by what he heard that he went back to the States and recorded a cover of 'From Me To You.' Radio Times sent along the seventeen year old actress Jane Asher to write a piece about The Be-Atles – within days she and Paul McCartney would be an item. The Be-Atles had met The Rolling Stones four days earlier at the Crawdaddy Club and had given them tickets to this event. By way of thanks, Brian Jones gave Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans a hand with The Be-Atles' instruments after the show and was mistaken for a member of the group by several schoolgirls who, promptly, mobbed him and attempted to rip all his clothes off. From that moment onwards Jones, reportedly, wanted to do nothing other than be a pop-star.
William Emms' A Little Bit Of Gold Said "Jump" broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand.
Princess Alexandra of Kent married the Honourable Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey.
Sean Lock born in Chertsey.
The first episode of Madame Bovery and the drama-documentary The Man Shakespeare broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Corrigan Blake broadcast.
The Duke of Edinburgh opened the Rootes Group's car plant in Linwood, for the production of its new rear-engine car, the Hillman Imp, to rival BMC's Mini. It was the first car to be produced in Scotland for thirty years.
The first episode of The Spread Of The Eagle broadcast.
Meet Sammy Davis Jr broadcast. Henry Livings's A Right Crusader broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand.
The Sound Makers - a documentary on the work of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop - broadcast as part of the Network Three Sound strand. Highlights of the Soviet State Circus 'filmed through the courtesy of The All Union Committee for State Circuses by arrangement with Central Television of the USSR' broadcast.
John O'Toole's The Edge Of Discovery broadcast part of the Suspense strand.
Stottingtot Hotshots became the first English side to win a European trophy, beating Atlético Madrid five-one in Rotterdam in the Cup Winners Cup. Gordon Cooper piloted that last of NASA's Mercury space flights.
The Be-Atles appeared on an episode of Pops & Lenny with Terry Hall and Lenny The Lion.
The first episode of The Stanley Baxter Show broadcast.
The first episode of Epitaph For A Spy broadcast. Thomas Murphy's The Fly Sham broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand.
AC Milan beat Benfica in the European Cup Final at Wembley.
The Scum beat Leicester City three-one in the FA Cup Final.
Robert Gould's How To Get Rid Of Your Wife broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan released.
Alan Plater's So Long Charlie broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand.
The first episode of Pop Go The Be-Atles broadcast on The Light Programme. An article in the New Musical Express stated: 'The Be-Atles will sing five or six numbers in each presentation. R&B material will be featured strongly.'
Secretary of State for War, John Profumo extremely resigned from the government having been caught 'misleading parliament' (or, lying) about his involvement in nefarious naughtiness with yer actual Christine Keeler. The scandal originated with a brief sexual relationship in 1961. In March 1963, Profumo strongly denied any impropriety in a statement to the House of Commons and threatened to sue anyone that said otherwise, but was forced to admit the truth a few weeks later after diligent snooping by Private Eye among other journalists. The repercussions of the affair severely damaged the Conservative Party. When the Profumo–Keeler affair was first revealed, public interest was heightened by reports that Keeler may have been simultaneously involved with Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché, thereby creating a possible security risk. Keeler knew both Profumo and Ivanov through her friendship with Stephen Ward, an osteopath and socialite. The exposure of the affair generated rumours of other scandals, and drew official attention to the activities of Ward, who was charged with a series of immorality offences. Perceiving himself as a scapegoat for the misdeeds of others, Ward took a fatal overdose during the final stages of his trial, which found him guilty of living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies.
Lord Hailsham denounced John Profumo during a tetchy and snarling interview with Tonight in a manner which, according to the Observer's reporter, 'had to be seen to be believed.' Hailsham insisted that 'a great party is not to be brought down because of a squalid affair between a woman of easy virtue and a proven liar.' Oh, do you think so, matey?
Hugh Whitemore's The Full Chatter broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand. The first episode of Lorna Doone broadcast. Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on board Vostok 6.
Henry Copper put Cassius Clay on the seat of his pants with 'Enry's 'Ammer' at Wembley. Sadly, a cut eye in the fifth saw the fight stopped. Cassius later said that he had been hit so hard 'my ancestors back in Africa felt it!'
The day the Telcan, produced by the Nottingham Electronic Valve Company, the world's first home video recorder went on sale. It could be bought as a unit or in kit form for sixty quid. The machine was demonstrated on The Nine O'Clock News. However, there were several drawbacks: not only was it very expensive and not particularly easy to assemble, also it could only record twenty minutes of TV footage at a time.
England - including Colin Cowdrey batting with a broken arm - survived a barrage of hostile fast bowling from Wes Hall and Charlie Griffiths to draw the second test against the West Indies at Lord's.
The day John Kennedy declared himself to be 'ein Berliner'.
Alcoholic, wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon appeared on Juke Box Jury on a panel that also included Katie Boyle.
Anthony Coburn's She's A Free Country broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Kim Philby was named as 'The Third Man' in the Burgess and Maclean spy ring.
You Can't Throw Your Mates broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
Allister Donald's The Patch Card broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.During a demonstration outside Claridge's hotel against Queen Frederika of Greece, Flying Squad Detective Sergeant Harold Tanky Challenor arrested one of the protesters, the political cartoonist Donald Rooum, with the memorable line: 'You're fuckin' nicked, my old beauty!' and punched him on the head. In Rooum's possessions, Challenor planted a half-brick and Rooum was charged with carrying an offensive weapon. Subsequently Rooum, a member of the National Council For Civil Liberties with a knowledge of forensic science, handed his clothes to his solicitor for testing. No brick dust was found and, in court, Rooum was acquitted, although other people Challenor had arrested at the demonstration were still convicted on his evidence. By the time Challenor appeared at the Old Bailey in 1964, charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, he was deemed to be unfit to plead and was sent to Netherne mental hospital with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. Three other detectives (David Oakley, Frank Battes and Keith Goldsmith) were found very guilty and sentenced to three years in the nick. A statutory inquiry headed by Arthur James was set up - the first such under the 1964 Police Act. It was considered by some to be a whitewash and to have allowed police corruption to continue within the Met unabated. In the report, Challenor's mental illness was blamed for the false arrests rather than a systemic policy of framing suspects. The lack of a follow-up prosecution of Challenor after he was discharged from hospital was also criticised as an example of establishment corruption. Because of this, 'doing a Challenor' later became a police slang expression for avoiding punishment and prosecution through retiring sick from the force.
How To Cook Mixed Fried Vegetables In Chinese Fashion by John Koon, owner of The Lotus House in Bayswater, Britain's first Chinese takeaway was broadcast on The Light Programme's Woman's Hour. Pauline Reade was reported missing on her way to a dance in Gorton, Manchester, the first victim in the Moors murders.
The first episode of The Dick Emery Show broadcast.
The first episode of Taxi! broadcast.
The first episode of A Swingin' Time - introduced by convicted kiddie-fiddler Rolf Harris - broadcast.
The day the Peerage Act was passed, allowing Anthony Wedgewood-Benn to return to the House of Commons as an MP.Steam, Sanctity & Song broadcast.
Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall's The Sponge Room broadcast as part of The Sunday Night Play strand.
The United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union signed a nuclear test ban treaty.
The day Bruce, Ronnie, Buster and co pulled The Great Train Robbery. But, ultimately, thanks to them being grassed up to Old Bill by some filthy Copper's Nark, they didn't get away with their ill-gotten blaggings. And, most ended up doing some serious bird. So that was all right, then.
The first episode of Ready, Steady, Go! broadcast on ITV. Meanwhile, on the BBC ...
Rudolph Cartier's adaptation of Night Express broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand.
The Edge Of Reason broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
The first episode of Marriage Lines broadcast.
Giles Cooper's Pig In The Middle broadcast as part of The Sunday Play broadcast.
Miranda & A Salesman broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
Lewis Davidson's See The Monkey Dance broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
The day of the March On Washington and Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech. The first episode of Citizen 63 broadcast.
The first episode of No Cloak - No Dagger broadcast.
John le Carré's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold published.
The first episode of Swallows &Amazons broadcast.
David Attenboroguh's Adventure documentary on Thor Heyerddahl's Kon-Tiki voyage broadcast.
Sussex beat Worcestershire in the first final of The Gillette Cup and the first UK broadcast of Deputy Dawg.
Alan Plater's Two By The Sea: See The Pretty Lights broadcast as part of The Sunday Play strand. Some of the final recordings of Sylvia Plath - performing 'Lady Lazarus', 'Ariel' and 'Daddy' among others - appeared on The Third Programme's New Poetry. Jim Clark won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza to claim the World Drivers' Championship.
Patrick Moore and Arthur C Clarke discussed the possibilities of humans colonising the Moon on The Sky At Night.
The TV debut of Annie Nightingale in an episode of Juke Box Jury.
Michael Asge's Scissors broadcast as part of the Suspense strand.
Richard Cawston's documentary The Exporters broadcast. RAF Fylingdales radar station on the North York Moors began operation as part of the US Ballistic Missile Early Warning System.
An early TV appearance by James Bolam in an episode of Taxi! broadcast.
Alun Owen's The Strain broadcast as the opening play of the First Night strand.
Al Alvarez presented The Poetry Of Sylvia Plath on The Third Programme. The Robbins Report (the report of the Committee on Higher Education) was published. It recommended immediate expansion of universities and that places 'should be available to all who were qualified for them by ability and attainment.'
The Denning Report - a complete and total whitewash - on the Profumo affair was published. A story emanating from Mandy Rice-Davies during the Stephen Ward trial concerned a naked masked man, who acted as a waiter at Clivedon sex parties; although unnamed in court, widespread rumours suggested that the man may have been either a cabinet minister or a member of the Royal Family. Denning claimed to find no evidence to substantiate this. To quote Mandy her very self, 'Well, he would, wouldn't he?' Malcolm Muggeridge in the Sunday Mirror wrote of The Slow, Sure Death Of The Upper Classes. With the Ward case sub judice, the press had pursued related stories. The People reported that Scotland Yard had begun an inquiry, in parallel with Denning, into 'homosexual practices as well as sexual laxity' among civil servants, military officers and MPs. The Daily Mirra, under a banner heading Prince Philip & The Profumo Scandal, dismissed what it termed the 'foul rumour' that the Prince had been involved in the affair, without ever disclosing the nature of the rumour or, indeed, its source.
Harry Driver and Jack Rosenthal's On the Knocker broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Nigel Kneale's The Road broadcast as part of the First Night strand. The first episode of The Ken Dodd Show broadcast on the Light Programme.Harold Wilson made his 'white heat of technology' speech at the Labour Party Conference.
The first episode of The Telegoons broadcast. AJ Bacon and Trevor Peacock's Underworld Knights broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of Dig The Rhubarb - with Tony Beckley and Robin Ray - broadcast. The script editor was Bamber Gascoigne.
The first episode of Festival and Don Howorth's documentary The Mersey Sound broadcast.
The day of the UK première of From Russia With Love.
The first episode of Kidnapped broadcast.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home succeeded Harold MacMillan as Prime Minister. To the surprise of most commentators who had assumed Rab Butler would get the gig. Iain MacLeod and Enoch Powell refused to serve in Home's government. MacLeod subsequently claimed that the change of leadership had been 'stitched-up' by 'a Magic Circle of Old Etonians.'
The National Theatre Company, newly formed under artistic director Laurence Olivier, gave its first performance, with Peter O'Toole in the title role in Hamlet.
Bernard Kops' I Want To Go Home - starring Ron Moody - broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
John Elliot's The Youngest Profession broadcast as part of the First Night strand.
A line-up including The Everly Brothers, Little Richard and Bo Diddley perform at the East Ham Granada during a package tour of the UK. This is the probable date and the probable location of the gig attended by sixteen year old David Jones of Bromley - a big little fan of Little Richard. Many years later, he would recall a moment during up-coming South London five-piece The Rolling Stones set when someone in the audience told them to get their hair cut' and Mick Jagger replied 'what, and look like you?' (although Bowie believed the show might have been at the Brixton Odeon).
The day John Martin Maher was born in Manchester.
Roger Smith's adaptation of Muriel Spark's The Black Madonna broadcast as part of the Teletale strand.
Vincent Tilsley's Do Me No Favours broadcast as part of the First Night strand.
The day John Kennedy was very assassinated. By somebody on the Grassy Knoll. Probably. Aldous Huxley also died (whilst pumped full of mescaline). As did CS Lewis, albeit somewhat less dramatically than the other two. With The Beatles was released.
An Unearthly Child, the first episode of Doctor Who broadcast. Harry Driver and Jack Rosenthal's The Chars broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The day Jack Ruby shot Lee Oswald live on American telly.
The first episode of Bold As Brass broadcast.
William Emms's Sticks broadcast as part of the First Night strand.
Ruolph Cartier's adaptation of Stalingard broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
The Be-Atles appeared twice on the BBC, firstly as the judging panel on Juke Box Jury and then, in concert from the Empire Theatre, Liverpool in It's The Beatles.
Arnold Wesker's Menace broadcast as part of the First Night strand.
The first episode of The Walrus & The Carpenter broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The Daleks appeared in Doctor Who for the first time.
The Be-Atles Boxing Day special From Us To You broadcast on the Light Programme, introduced by disgraceful kiddie-fiddler Rolf Harris - with whom The Be-Atles performed a version of 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport'.
The first episode of Meet The Wife as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand and the last episode of That Was The Week That Was were broadcast.
Jane Phillips's The One Night Of The Year broadcast as part of the First Night strand.
1964
The first episode of Top Of The Pops broadcast - introduced by dirty old scallywag and right rotten filthy rotter Jimmy Savile. The RSC production of The Comedy Of Errors - starring Diana Rigg, Alec McCowen and Ian Richardson - broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
Bruce Stewart's Day Of The Drongo broadcast as part of the First Night strand.
Barry Bermange and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's 'invention for radio' The Dreams broadcast on The Third Programme.
Fluff Freeman presented the second episode of Top Of The Pops. Not 'alf. Kitty Black's adaptation of The Respectful Prostitute broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
The teen girls' magazine Jackie first published.
Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' released.
David Jacobs presented the third episode of Top Of The Pops.
Richard Harris and Dennis Spooner's The Siege Of Sidney's Street broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall's All Things Bright & Beautiful broadcast as part of the First Night strand.
Peter Murray presented the fourth episode of Top Of The Pops. Zula released.
Anthony Nash and Robin Dixon won the two man bobsleigh gold medal at the Winter Olympics at Innsbruck.
Hannah Tailford was found dead near the Hammersmith Bridge. She was the first confirmed victim of the - uncaught - serial killer Jack The Stripper.
The British and French governments agreed a deal for the construction of the Channel Tunnel. The twin-tunnelled rail link was expected to take five years to build. It finally opened in 1994.
Clive Exton's Land Of My Dreams broadcast as part of the First Night strand.The Be-Atles made their US TV début on The Ed Sullivan Show.
John Law's Language Of Love broadcast.
Simon Raven's The Scapegoat broadcast as part of the First Night strand.
Christopher Eccleston born in Salford.
Peter Sellers married Britt Ekland.
The Be-Atles return from America to Heathrow was broadcast, live, on Grandstand and they were interviewed by David Coleman. Quite remarkable.
Muhammed Ali chinned Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship in Miami. He shook up the world.
The Sykes & A ... episode Sykes & A Plank broadcast. The script would later form the basis for Eric Sykes' acclaimed 1967 comedy film The Plank.
Under Milk Wood broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
The first episode of Vision On broadcast.
John Fletcher's documentary The Saturday Men broadcast.
Jack Gold's harsh anti-fox hunting documentary Death In The Morning broadcast.
The Variety Club Of Great Britain Awards broadcast. Harold Wilson presented The Be-Atles with 'a purple heart' as outstanding Show Business Personalities of 1963. And, as a result, almost certainly won himself the forthcoming General Erection.
The Be-Atles made their début on Top Of The Pops introduced by filthy Albino paedophile Jimmy Saville. TS Eliot's Murder In The Cathedral broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
Verdicts - of extremely guilty - were passed on ten men for their role in The Great Train Robbery after one of the longest criminal trials in English legal history. They all got loads of bird.
Alan Plater's Ted's Cathedral broadcast as part of the First Night strand. Radio Caroline began broadcasting from a ship anchored outside UK territorial waters off Felixstowe.Richard Cawston's documentary Supersonic broadcast.
The first episode of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again broadcast on The Home Service.
The first episode of Cluff broadcast as part of the Detective strand.
Ring Round The Moon broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
Derek Hart's consumer programme Choice broadcast.
The first episode of Stanley Baxter's Baxter On Travel broadcast.
Liverpool won the Football League First Division for the sixth time in their history.
Hamlet At Elsinore and the first episode of Rupert Of Hentzau - starring George Baker, Barbara Shelley and Peter Wyngarde - broadcast.
BBC2 began transmission. A power failure prevented the planned opening night's schedule from happening and all that could be screened was announcer Gerald Priestland delivering a series of grovelling apologies to viewers from Alexandra Palace.
The first episodes of Play School and Jazz 625 broadcast on BBC2.
John Elliot's Hunt The Man broadcast as part of the First Night strand. The first episodes of Conversations For Tomorrow - featuring JB Priestley - Madame Bovery, Open House - introduced by Gay Byrne and featuring performances by Billy Fury and Joe Brown & His Bruvvers - and The Man Shakespeare broadcast on BBC2.
The first episodes of Top Beat - compared by Fluff Freeman and featuring Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Searchers and The Rolling Stones - and Impromptu broadcast on BBC2.
Brecht's The Life Of Galileo broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
The first episode of Time Out broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Horizon broadcast on BBC2. The Hamsters beat Preston Both Ends in the FA Cup Final on BBC1.
The first episodes of Theatre 625 - on BBC2 - and The Kathy Kirby Show - on BBC1 - broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of The Virginian on BBC2.
Joe Orton's black comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane premiered at the New Arts Theatre in London.
The Rolling Stones appeared on BBC2's Open House.
Terence Conran opened the first Habitat store on London's Fulham Road.
Bob Dylan performed 'With God On Our Side' on Tonight.
Douglas Wilmer made his début as Sherlock Holmes in an adaptation of The Speckled Band, part of the Detective strand. Meanwhile, scores of youths were given stiff prison sentences following a Whitsun weekend of violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers at a number of resorts on the South coast. With kids getting chinned and all sorts.
American radio astronomers Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation, the ancient light wich began saturating the universe three hundred thousand years after its creation in The Big Bang. And they did so pretty much by accident.
Sandro Mazzola scored twice as Internazionale beat Real Madrid three-one in the European Cup final in Vienna.
Angela Rodaway's The Death Of A Jelly Baby broadcast on The Third Programme. The official opening of the UK's first undercover shopping centre, at the Bull Ring in Birmingham.
The first episode of The Great War broadcast on BBC2.
Geoffrey Boycott made his England debut in the first test at Trent Bridge against Australia. He scored forty eight in two and a half hours.
Terry Nation's adaptation of The Caves Of Steel broadcast as part of the Story Parade strand.
A very young David Bowie (still called Davy Jones at this point) made his first, brief, TV appearance on Juke Box Jury. His debut single, 'Liza Jane' was voted a miss by the panel except for Charlie Drake, who liked it.
Bloomsday - Allan McClelland's adaptation of Joyce's Ulysses - broadcast as part of the Festival strand.
Nelson Mandela was jailed for life for treason in South Africa. He got out. Eventually.
Lenny Bruce was tried for obscenity in New York.
The first episodes of The Midnight Men - on BBC2 - and The Roy Castle Show - on BBC1 - broadcast. Spain beat the USSR in the final of the European Nations Cup.
The first episode of Catch Hand broadcast.
The first episode of Call The Gun Expert broadcast.
The first episode of The Four Seasons Of Rosie Carr broadcast. The Rolling Stones (all five of them) appeared as the judging panel on Juke Box Jury.
The first episode of The Indian Tales Of Rudyard Kipling broadcast. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi made his UK TV début on Meeting Point debating ... stuff with the Abbot of Downside.
The first episode of Thorndyke broadcast as part of the Detective strand. The first episode of The Beat Room broadcast on BBC2 - featuring The Animals, Millie and Lulu &The Luvvers. The UK première of A Hard Day's Night.
The Yardbirds first TV appearance on The Cool Spot.
The first episode of The Valiant Varneys broadcast.
The first episode of Smugglers' Bay broadcast. The Sunday Mirra reported - under the headline Peer & A Gangster: Yard Inquiry - that police were investigating a sordid homosexual relationship between an unnamed peer of the realm and 'a major figure in the criminal underworld.' Suspicion fell immediately on the Conservative MP Bob Boothby and Ronnie Kray. Boothby threatened to sue, Ronnie and Reggie threatened the journalists involved with 'a jolly good talking-to,' the newspaper showed all of the backbone you'd expect and backed down, sacked the editor, printed a grovelling apology and paid Boothby forty grand in an out-of-court settlement. A cache of private letters which surfaced in 2009 revealed that Boothby and Kray were, indeed, more than just friends.
The Post Office Tower in London was completed, although it did not begin operation until October 1965.
The Be-Ates appeared on the first episode of The Light Programme's Top Gear (no relation).
The first episode of Witch Wood broadcast on BBC2.
George Harrison appeared on Juke Box Jury along with Alexandra Bastedo, Carole Ann Ford and Reg Varney.
The TV début of Davy Jones & The King Bees on BBC2's The Beat Room. Kenny Lynch, Elkie Brooks and Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames also featured.
The first episode of A World Of His Own - starring Roy Kinnear - broadcast.
The first episode of The Sleeper broadcast on BBC2. The North Vietnamese navy attacked the US destroyer the Maddox in the Gulf on Tonkin, an incident which escalated the inevitable slide towards all out war in South East Asia.
Follow The Beatles broadcast.
The first episode of The Dairy Of A Young Man broadcast. Another Side Of Bob Dylan released.
The first episode of Lance At Large broadcast. Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans became the last men to be hanged in Britain for the murder of John West.
Freddie Trueman became the first man to take three hundred test wickets.
A line-up that included The Be-Atles, The Kinks, The High Numbers, Adrienne Poster and compare Tony Marsh (no, me neither), played a gig at the Opera House, Blackpool.
The first episode of Swizzlewick broadcast.
Philip Broadley's adaptation of The Unknown Citizen broadcast as part of BBC2's Story Parade strand, featuring the TV début of Patrick Stewart.
The first episode of Match Of The Day broadcast on BBC2, Liverpool beat The Arse three-two in the opening match.
The first episode of The Children Of The New Forest broadcast.
Th first TV appearance of The Who - still called The High Numbers at that stage - on BBC2's The Beat Room.
Joe Orton's The Ruffian On The Stair broadcast on The Third Programme.
Delia Derbyshire appeared alongside Frank Muir and Denis Norden on The Light Programme's Information Please. The Forth Road Bridge opened linking Fife and Edinburgh.
ABC Of Britain broadcast.
The first episode of The Massingham Affair broadcast on BBC2.The first episode of Late Night Line-Up broadcast on BBC2. The final edition of the left-wing Daily Herald newspaper was published. It was replaced the following day by the Sun.
The première of Goldfinger.
The first episode of The Big Noise Or Episodes In The Uneasy Life Of A Top Pop Disc Jockey broadcast. Marshal McLuhan's Understanding Media: The Extensions Of Man published. A pioneering study in media theory, McLuhan proposed that the media itself, not the content that they carried, should be the focus of study and introduced the phrase 'the medium is the message.'
The day of the publication of The Warren Commission Report.
Henry Marshall's dramatic reconstruction of The Battle Of Crecy broadcast on The Home Service.
The first episodes of Wheelbase and Thursday Theatre broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Thorndyke broadcast.
The opening of the Tokyo Olympics. The first episode of The Old-Wives Tale broadcast on BBC2.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was deposed, Labour won the General Election ending thirteen years of Tory rule and China became the world's third nuclear power with their first atomic test. Whilst all this was going on, The Be-Atles were playing a gig at rock 'n' roll Stockton-on-Tees.
Mary Rand won the Olympic women's Long Jump gold.
The first episode of The Kathy Kirby Show broadcast.
Frankie Howerd's A Last Word On The Election broadcast. Lynn Davies won the Olympic Long Jump goal medal. Harold Wilson's first cabinet was announced; it included James Callaghan, Denis Healey, Barbara Castle, Roy Jenkins, Dick Crossman and Tony Benn.
Ann Packer won the women's eight hundred metres gold medal at the Toyko Olympics.
Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila broke the world record to win the Olympic Marathon gold medal for a second time.
Any Other Business broadcast as part of the Thursday Theatre strand on BBC2. The late Ian Fleming's Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang published posthumously.
Smokin' Joe Frazier beat West Germany's Hans Huber to win the Olympic Heavyweight Boxing gold.
Giles Cooper's Carried By Storm broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand. John Surtees finished second to Dan Gurney at the Mexican Grand Prix at Mixhuca to win the World Drivers' Championship.
The Wednesday Play strand begins on BBC1 with an adaptation of A Crack In The Ice. The first episode of Curtain Of Fear broadcast on BBC2.
Ray Lawler's Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll broadcast as part of BBC2's Thursday Theatre strand.
BBC2's The Human Side investigated 'the attitudes of coloured people and their white neighbours'. The first episode of Artists' Notebooks broadcast on BBC1.
The first UK broadcast of Bewitched on BBC1. The Beach Boys and Sonny Boy Williamson appeared on BBC2's The Beat Room. The House of Commons voted to abolish the death penalty for murder in Britain.
A spokesperson for The Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Long-Haired Men - one David Jones of Bromley - appeared on Tonight, whinging to an unimpressed Cliff Michelmore about people constantly referring to him as 'darling'!
The first episodes of Not So Much A Programme, More A Way Of Life and The Kathy Kirby Show broadcast.
The first episode of Esther Waters broadcast on BBC2.
Barry Bermange's second collaboration with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Amor Dei, broadcast on The Third Programme.
The first episode of Tony Bilbow's dubbed version of The Singing Ringing Tree broadcast as part of Tales From Europe.
The first episode of R3 broadcast.
The first episode of Ring Out An Alibi broadcast (it had previously been shown on BBC Wales).
Beatles For Sale released.
Roger Manvelle's The July Plot - directed by Rudolph Cartier - broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Frankie Howerd broadcast. Sam Cooke was murdered in Los Angeles.
The BBC's televising of the farewell performance of Beyond The Fringe and the first episode of Six - Ken Russell and John McGrath's adaptation of Diary Of A Nobody - broadcast on BBC2.
Peter Watkins's 'docudrama' Culloden broadcast. Monitor - introduced by Jonathan Miller - featured and interview of Sir John Betjeman by Philip Larkin.
The first episode of The Likely Lads broadcast on BBC2.
The Radio Times Christmas issue carried an eight-page supplement called Barbara In Wonderland in which a young lady explored Television Centre, met - and got arrested by - the cast of Z Cars and had tea with The Doctor and a couple of Daleks et cetera. Barbara Lord, would eventually become 'Beautiful Babs' in Pan's People (and, marry Robert Powell). Troy Kennedy Martin's The Chase broadcast as part of BBC2's Six strand.The Be-Atles (a popular beat combo) gained the Christmas number one for the second year running with 'I Feel Fine'.
Bob Ferris and Terry Collier made their BBC1 debut in a Likely Lads sketch on Christmas Night With The Stars, in which Bob displayed his encyclopaedic knowledge of Rupert The Bear annuals.
Joe Massot's Don't Look Like A Lord's Son broadcast as part of BBC2's Six strand.
Fred Hoyle's Universe and Pinky & Perky: The Pig-Star Show broadcast.
Jonathan Miller's A Christmas Stocking - featuring the UK TV debut of Barry Humphries - broadcast as part of the Monitor strand.
The Kinks, The Merseybeats and Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas headlined BBC2's Beat In The New!
1965
John McGrath's The Day Of Ragnarok broadcast as part of the Six strand.
Jimmy O'Connor's A Tap On The Shoulder directed by Ken Loach broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. The first UK broadcast of Jonny Quest.
Colourful East End nightclub owning 'characters' Ronnie and Reggie Kray were extremely arrested for threats and menaces and running a protection racket.
The first episode of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Not Only ... But Also broadcast on BBC2.
Ronald Macgill's adaptation of Treasure Island broadcast on BBC2.
Simon Raven's Sir Jocelyn, The Minister Would Like A Word broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Hit & Run broadcast on BBC2. Also, Simon Raven's Spare The Rod & Spoil The Writer broadcast as part of the Writers' World strand.
Sir Winston Churchill died.
The trial of ten professional footballers ended with jail sentences for offences arising from match fixing and betting. In 1964, the Sunday People broke the story that England international Tony Kay, then playing for Everton, along with former Sheffield Wednesday teammates David Layne and Peter Swan, through the instigation of former Everton player Jimmy Gauld, had bet on their side to lose a match in December 1962 against Ipswich Town. The three were among those convicted of conspiracy to defraud, Kay on the basis of a taped conversation, one of the first times such evidence was allowed in an English court.
John Hopkins' Fable broadcast as part of BBC1 The Wednesday Play strand. David Campton's Incident and the first episode of Night Train To Surbiton broadcast on BBC2.
The BBC broadcast coverage of the state funeral of Winston Churchill.
The first episode of The Ambassadors broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of BBC2's new 'with it' pop music show Gadzooks! It's All Happening broadcast, featuring The Animals, Marianne Faithfull and Tom Jones & The Squires.
Hugh Whitemore's Dan, Dan The Charity Man broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
David Halliwell's Little Malcolm & His Struggle Against The Eunuchs began a short West End run at The Garrick with John Hurt in the title role. The opening night's performance was attended by George Harrison, Patti Boyd and Brian Epstein. Harrison would later produce a 1974 film adaptation.
Eric Colthart's Wear A Very Big Hat broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Naked Island broadcast as part of the Thursday Theatre strand on BBC2.
The chance to see Sophia Loren doing a striptease was more than twenty public schoolboys could resist but it cost them each six strokes of the cane when they went back to school after watching the X-certificate film, Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow at the Electric Cinema at Tiverton, Devon. The Reverend John Stanton, headmaster of the town's public school, Blundells, put the cinema out of bounds to his boys. The boys reportedly slipped out in small groups and took their seats in the stalls. But they were seen coming out by classics master George Thomas.
The day Malcolm X was assassinated in New York. The first episode of The Mill On The Floss - starring Jane Asher - broadcast on BBC2.
The première of Dr Terror's House Of Horrors.
Dennis Potter's The Confidence Course broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. The first episode of Alexander Graham Bell broadcast.
The first episode of The Walrus & The Carpenter broadcast.
Marielaine Douglas and Anthony Church's Campaign For One broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Round The Horne broadcast on The Light Programme.
Press reports indicated that Davy Jones &The Mannish Boys had been banned from appearing on BBC2's Gadzooks! It's All Happening because, according to producer Barry Langford: 'Kids today aren't into the long-haired thing.' In the event, the band did appear (and did feature Mister Jones of Bromley's gorgeous flowing blond locks) performing 'I Pity The Fool'.
John Hopkins' Horror Of Darkness broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Goldie, the London Zoo golden eagle, was recaptured after thirteen days of freedom. Goldie spent most of the time in Regent's Park, which surrounded the zoo, though he also made occasional excursions into the nearby neighbourhoods of Camden Town, Tottenham Court Road and Euston. While free, the bird killed and ate a duck in the garden of the American ambassador. He also attacked two terriers in the park, but was driven off by their owner, a little old lady armed with an umbrella. A BBC television reporter John Timpson unsuccessfully tried to lure Goldie by playing an Ethiopian bird pipe. Goldie was finally caught after the zoo's deputy head keeper tempted him with a dead rabbit. He was in good health after his experience and was reunited with his mate, Regina. The zoo's attendance nearly doubled in the days after his return. Later in the year, Goldie escaped for a second time but was again recaptured.
Alun Owen's Progress To The Park broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand. The TV debut of Jenny Agutter in an episode of Alexander Graham Bell.
Alexei Leonov became the first person to walk in space as part of the Voskhod 2 mission.The Tamla-Motown Revue UK tour opened at London's Rainbow Theatre, featuring The Supremes, Little Stevie Wonder, Martha & The Vandellas, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles and The Earl Van Dyke Six.
The first episode of A Man Called Harry Brent broadcast as part of the Francis Durbridge Presents ... strand. Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home released.
Gus Grissom and John Young flew NASA's first two-man space mission, Gemini 3.
Harold Pinter's The Tea Party broadcast as part of The Largest Theatre In The World strand.
The first episode of The Flying Swan broadcast.
Jimmy O'Connor's Three Clear Sundays broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of The War Of The Roses broadcast. The first UK broadcast of The Munsters on BBC2.
The first episode of The Bed-Sit Girl broadcast.
John Hopkins's adaptation of The Make-Believe Man broadcast as part of BBC2's Story Parade strand.
The first episode of Liza Of Lambeth broadcast on BBC2. Brigit Forsyth's TV debut in an episode of Dr Finlay's Casebook.
The Good Shoe Maker & The Poor Fish Peddler broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Liverpool beat Dirty Leeds two-one in the FA Cup Final.
The first episode of Contract To Kill broadcast on BBC2. Robert Brydon Jones born in Baglan.
The first episode of The Scarlet & The Black broadcast.
Liverpool lost the semi-final of the European Cup four-three on aggregate to Internazionale in the San Siro. David Coleman, memorably, described the crowd noise as 'like a volcano!' when Giacinto Facchetti scored the winner. Inter went on to defeat Benfica in the final
The first episode of Londoners broadcast on BBC2.
The Animals' Animal Tracks released.
West Ham United won the European Cup Winners Cup beating 1860 Munich two-nil at Wembley.
The Four Tops made their UK TV début on BBC2's Gadzooks! It's All Happening.
Michael Hastings's For The West broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Marty Feldman and Barry Took's Barnaby Spoot & The Exploding Whoopee Cushion - starring John Bird - broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Hywel Bennett's TV début in a minor role in an episode of Doctor Who. The Who made their first BBC radio appearance on The Light Programme's Saturday Club.
The first episode of PG Wodehouse's World Of Wooster broadcast.
French Eyes On The Future broadcast.
David Mercer's And Did Those Feet? broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Jim McDivitt and Ed White piloted the second of NASA's Gemini program, Gemini 4. White became the first American to walk in space. Philip Larkin introduced a selection of his work on The Third Network's The Living Poet.
The Be-Atles (Invite You To Take A Ticket To Ride) broadcast on The Light Programme.
Troy Kennedy Martin's The Man Without Papers broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Harold Lord's documentary Secrets Of The Chasm broadcast as part of the Adventure strand.
The International Poetry Incarnation took place at the Royal Albert Hall. Peter Whitehead's film of the event, Wholly Communion, featured memorable performances by the likes of Allan Ginsburg and Adrian Mitchell. The event was, according to many commentators, the moment that kick-started the UK counter-culture. Although, to be honest, far more people would have been in their gaffs, watching Bernard Cribbins in Marty Feldman's Comedy Playhouse, Here I Come Whoever I Am.
The first episode of The Mind Of The Enemy broadcast on BBC2.
Ivor Cutler made his TV début on Musicstand.
Cyril Abraham's Joe Nobody broadcast as part of BBC2's Londoners strand.
The first of two Bob Dylan BBC specials broadcast.
The first episode of Mary Barton broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Poison Island broadcast on BBC1
The first UK broadcast of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Giles Cooper's Unman, Wittering & Zigo broadcast part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
Marty Feldman and Barry Took's Memoirs Of A Chaise Longue broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Alcoholic wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon was interviewed by the superbly-named Wilfred De'Ath on The Home Service's The World of Books.
The first episode of The Lance Percival Show broadcast
The first episodes of Mogul - later The Troubleshooters - and Tomorrow's World broadcast.
Daniel Farson's The Frighteners broadcast as part of BBC2's Londoners strand. Convicted train robber Ronnie Biggs went over the wall at Wandsworth nick and legged it to Australia.
John Edrich scored three hundred and ten out of England's first innings total of five hundred and forty six against New Zealand at Headingley.
The first episode of Jury Room broadcast on BBC2.
The Secretary of State for Education and Science, Tony Crosland, issued Circular Ten/Sixty Five requesting local authorities to convert their schools to the Comprehensive system.
Jonathan Miller's Monitor film Art & Delusion included contributions from Andy Warhol and George Melly.
The first episode of The Third Network's Poetry Today featuring Philip Larkin broadcast.
The first episode of Till Death Us Do Part broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of Legend Of Death broadcast on BBC2. Freddie Mills, the former British boxing champion, was found shot dead in his car in Soho, the apparent victim of suicide.
Ted Heath replaced Alec Douglas-Home as leader of the Tories.
The first episode of It's Not Me, It's Them! broadcast of BBC2.
The first episode of BBC2's Gaslight Theatre - The Murder In The Old Red Barn starring Ronnie Barker - broadcast.
The first episode of Heiress Of Garth broadcast. Jim Clark won his second World Drivers' Championship at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.
The first episode of 199 Park Lane broadcast.
The first episodes of The Wednesday Thriller broadcast on BBC1.
Hey Presto! It's Rolf broadcast. Peter Watkins' The War Game, a drama-documentary depicting the horrifying aftermath of a nuclear attack on Britain was pulled from its planned transmission - in October - as part of BBC1's The Wednesday Play strand, seemingly for political reasons. Released in selected cinemas. it would go on to win the 1966 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and was eventually broadcast in 1985.
The Byrds made their UK TV début on Gadzooks! It's All Happening. Ian McKellen made his TV début in an episode of The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling.
The first episode of The Vital Spark broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The day of the Watts Riots in Los Angeles. Britons To The Rescue broadcast as part of BBC2's Gaslight Theatre strand.
Gemini 5, piloted by Gordon Cooper and Pete Conard launched. Charlton Athletic's Keith Peacock became the first substitute to appear in a Football League match when he replaced injured goalkeeper Mike Rose during an away match at Bolton.
The first episode of Moulded In Earth broadcast. Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall's Celebration and The Guns Of James Bond broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Spare A Copper broadcast on The Light Programme.
Robert Moog publicly demonstrated his prototype synthesizer for the first time with an afternoon concert of electronic jiggery-pokery and musique concrète in New York.
Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited released.
Geoffrey Boycott scored a century and Ray Illingworth took five for twenty nine as Yorkshire beat Surrey in the Gillette Cup final.
Tommy Simpson won the UCI World Cycling Championship Road Race in San Sebastian in Spain.
The first episode of A Slight Case Of ... - starring Roy Kinnear - broadcast on BBC2.
British Petroleum's oil platform Sea Gem struck natural gas in the North Sea.
Anthony De Lotbiniere's documentary Eton broadcast.
Clive Exton's Are You Ready For The Music? broadcast.
The first episode of Thunderbirds broadcast on some of ITV regions. Or, you could have been watching Captain Pugwash on BBC1 instead. Clive Exton's Hold My Hand, Solider broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of For Whom The Bell Tolls broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Out Of The Unknown - Stan Miller's adaptation of No Place Like Earth - broadcast on BBC2. The first episodes of United! and Stramash! broadcast on BBC1. The first episode of The World At One broadcast on The Home Service.
The first episode of The Newcomers broadcast.
The first episode of Going For A Song broadcast.
The first episode of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre (Philip Levene's adaptation of Parson's Pleasure) and BBC1's The Val Doonican Show broadcast. The Post Office Tower opened in London.The first episode of The Mask Of Janus broadcast.
The only episode of Doctor Who not to feature The Doctor or his companions - Mission To The Unknown - broadcast.
The first episode of A Poor Gentleman broadcast.
Dennis Potter's Alice broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Give The Clown His Supper broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episodes of Call My Bluff and An Enemy Of the State broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Magic Roundabout broadcast.
The Girl Who Loved Robots broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Kenneth Tynan's BBC2 documentary The Inheritance broadcast. The Dead Past broadcast as part of the Out Of The Unknown strand.
Julia Jones's A Designing Woman broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Buddenbrook broadcast on BBC2.
Time In Advance broadcast as part of the Out Of The Unknown strand. Three cooling towers at the uncompleted Ferrybridge C electricity generating station in West Yorkshire collapsed in high winds.
Richard Lester was interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge on BBC2's Intimations. The first episode of Sergeant Musgrave's Dance broadcast on BBC1.
Nell Dunn's Up The Junction broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Man Alive broadcast on BBC2.
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act suspended capital punishment for murder in England, Scotland and Wales, for five years in the first instance, replacing it with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. The act overlooked four other capital offences: high treason, 'piracy with violence', arson in royal dockyards and espionage, as well as other capital offences under military law. Although, tragically, not mime. The Race Relations Act was also passed, which outlawed public racial discrimination. In theory, at least.
The Small Faces performed 'Watcha Gonna Do About It' on Crackerjack.
Rhodesian President Ian Smith made a unilateral declaration of independence from Britain.Kenneth Tynan became the first man to use the word 'fuck' on British TV during an episode of BBC3. Probably when he saw Bill Oddie was also in it.
Terry Nation's adaptation of Ray Bradbury's The Fox & The Forest broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
The Good Soldier Schweik broadcast.
The World Of George Orwell: 1984 broadcast as part of the Theatre 625 strand on BBC2. Peter Duval Smith interviewed WH Auden on Sunday Night.
Andover & The Android broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand. Mary Whitehouse founded The National Viewers' & Listeners' Association. Without bothering to ask all national viewers and listeners whether they actually wanted to be 'represented' by a tight-arsed, repressed, uppity Nuneaton housewife.
Rubber Soul and My Generation released.
Gemini 7, piloted by Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, launched. They spent thirteen days in space and made the first space rendezvous with the subsequently launched Gemini 6.
Alan Plater's Portraits From The North: The Nutter broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand. Also the first episode of The Big Spender broadcast.
Dennis Potter's Stand Up, Nigel Barton broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
James Hanley's Mr Ponge broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Jackanory broadcast.
The Joel Brand Story broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
Dennis Potter's Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. Gemini 6, piloted by Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford, launched.
The first episode of Barney Is My Darling broadcast.
John Bird, Alan Bennett, Eleanor Bron and John Fortune's My Father Knew Lloyd George broadcast.
Troy Kennedy Martin's adaptation of The Midas Plague broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
Panorama host Richard Dimbleby died aged fifty two.
A meteorite shower fell on Barwell in Leicestershire. Thankfully, no one was hurt but there was some minor damage to buildings and one meteorite destroyed a car. When the owner attempted to claim from his insurance company, they replied that it was 'an Act of God' and would not pay. Outraged, the owner reportedly went to the priest of the local church and asked for the money from him. He got nowt.
The Christmas Day pantomime, Mother Goose - starring Terry Scott, Jon Pertwee and Norman Vaughan - featured the TV debut of David Jason.
The première of Thunderball.
1966
The first episodes of The Spies broadcast on BBC1. The first episode of Rugby Special and East Of Howerd broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Camberwick Green broadcast. The Flip Side broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Ned Sherrin's Take A Sapphire broadcast. More than four thousand people attended a memorial service at Westminster Abbey for the late Richard Dimbleby.
The first episodes of Softly Softly and A Whole Scene Going broadcast - the latter featuring a spectacular performance by The Who. Clive Exton's The Bone Yard - originally scheduled to be broadcast in September 1964 but postponed due to alleged similarities to a real-life case of police corruption - was finally shown as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of This Man Craig broadcast on BBC2.
The television débuts of Ben Kinglsey and Robert Powell in the BBC2 drama-documentary The Staffordshire Rebels.
The first episode of The Idiot broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Man In The Mirror broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Vincent Tilsley's adaptation of David Copperfield - with Ian McKellen in the title role and Colin Jeavons as Uriah Heep - broadcast.
The first episode of The Tich & Quackers Show broadcast.
Philip Purser's adaptation of Calf Love broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The Action Man toy action figure was launched.
Stewart Love's The Sugar Cubes broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre broadcast.
BBC2's Intimations ... featured Malcolm Muggeridge interviewing John Le Carre during which the pair whinged about how rotten James Bond was.
The nuclear reactor opened at Dounreay in Scotland.
The first episode of Victor Pemberton's SF drama The Slide broadcast on The Light Programme.
The first episode of A Farewell To Arms broadcast.John Hopkins's A Game, Like, Only A Game broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Scott On ... broadcast.
Bennet Evan Miller born in London.
The first episode of Man Discovers His Past broadcast.
The first episode of A Game Of Murder broadcast as part of BBC2's Francis Durbridge Presents ... strand.
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band made their TV debut on Blue Peter performing 'Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?'
Chancellor James Callaghan announced the decision to embrace decimalisation of the pound (which would be effected on 15 February 1971)
In an interview with Maureen Cleeve published in the Evening Standard, alcoholic, wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon of popular beat combo The Be-Atles commented: 'We're more popular than Jesus now.' The comment passed virtually unnoticed in Britain but, when the interview was reprinted in a magazine in the US some months later, some people got all discombobulated and stroppy about it.
Alan Roger Davies born in Loughton.
The first episode of The Frost Report broadcast, featuring the first pairing of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett as a double act and the UK TV debut of the American humorist Tom Lehrer.
Chi-Chi, the London Zoo's giant panda, was flown to Russia for 'a union' with An-An of the Moscow Zoo.
Derrick Sherwin's 'Twas On A Sunday broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Lee Oswald - Assassin broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
The first episode of Mild & Bitter broadcast on BBC2.
The theft of football's World Cup Trophy whilst on exhibition in London was discovered. Seven days later, Pickles the dog found the stolen trophy wrapped in newspaper in a South London garden.
Neome Lethbridge's The Portsmouth Defence broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The day of the 1966 General Erection. Labour won, big-style.
The first episode of The Dreaming Eye broadcast.
The first episode of The Money Programme broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Al Read Says What A Life! broadcast. Hoverlloyd inaugurated the first Cross-Channel hovercraft service, from Ramsgate to Calais using the passenger-carrying SR.N6.
The first episode of Take A Pair Of Private Eyes broadcast on BBC2.
Dennis Potter's Emergency-Ward Nine broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. The Marquess of Bath and Jimmy Chipperfield opened Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire.
The Big Man Coughed, And Died broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The Rolling Stones' Aftermath released. Time magazine first used the phrase 'Swinging London' to describe the groovy goings-on in the more fashionable parts of the English capital.
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley went on trial at Chester Crown Court, charged with three of the so-called Moors Murders.
The first episode of Insurrection broadcast on BBC2. Hugh Whitemore's Final Demand broadcast as part of the Theatre 625 strand.
Simon Gray's The Caramel Crisis broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.The first episode of Lord Raingo broadcast on BBC2. Regular hovercraft service began across the English Channel. Liverpool won the First Division title for the second time in three years.
The 1966 NME Poll Winners Concert at the Empire Pool Wembley featured The Spencer Davis Group, The Fortunes, Herman's Hermits, Roy Orbison, The Overlanders, The Alan Price Set, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, The Rolling Stones, The Seekers, The Small Faces, Sounds Incorporated, Dusty Springfield, Crispian St Peters, The Walker Brothers, The Who, The Yardbirds, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich and, making their final scheduled live appearance in Britain, The Be-Atles. The compères were Peter Murray and dirty old scallywag and right rotten rotter Jimmy Savile.Tom Clarke's Don't Go Down The Bingo Mother, Father's Coming To Tea broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were extremely jailed for life for the Moors Murders. Borussia Dortumnd beat Liverpool two-one in the final of the European Cup Winners Cup in Hampden Park.
The first episode of Quick, Before They Catch Us broadcast.
Real Madrid won the European Cup for a sixth time, beating Partizan Belgrade in the final.
Everton came from two goals down to beat Sheffield Wednesday three-two in the FA Cup Final.
Jim Allen's The Hard Word - directed by Ridley Scott - broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. A strike was called by the National Union of Seamen which lasted for two months.
The day Bob Dylan & The Band played Manchester's Free Trade Hall and some tone-deaf bell-end in the crowd shouted 'Judas!' Maybe he would have preferred being at home instead watching the first episode of All Gas & Gaiters (broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand).
Ape & Essence broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Death Is A Good Living broadcast on BBC2.
BBC2's co-production of Susanna's Secret broadcast.
The first episode of Beggar My Neighbour broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan piloted Gemini 9 into space.
The first episode of The Sports Scene broadcast on BBC2.
Ravi Shankar appeared on A Whole Scene Going along with The Kinks, The Yardbirds and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick &Tich. David Turner's Way Of Beat broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. The Man Who Collected Sounds broadcast on Network Three.
A Good Reason For Getting Married - starring Roy Castle and Nerys Hughes - broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Room At The Bottom broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Th Be-Atles performed 'Paperback Writer' and 'Rain' on Top Of The Pops introduced by a hyperventilating Pete Murray. Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott narrowly averted disaster during Gemini 8's re-entry from orbit.
The first episode of Thirteen Against Fate broadcast on BBC1. The first episode of Watch The Birdies broadcast on BBC2.. The Melody Suit broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
The first episode of AP Herbert's "Misleading Cases" broadcast on BBC1. Clive Barker's The Queen Street Girls broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. The Animals' Animalisms released.
David Halliwell's Cock, Hen & Courting Pit broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Adam Adamant Lives! broadcast.
The - probable - release date of Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde. (16 May is often given as the 'official' release date but that is highly unlikely for a variety of reasons.)
The day Barclaycard became the first credit card introduced in the UK.
Samuel Beckett's Eh, Joe? broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of King Of The River broadcast.
The first episode of Science Fair '66 - subsequently The Young Scientist Of The Year - broadcast.
The first episode of The Heart Of Midlothian broadcast on BBC2
The 1966 World Cup began with an Opening Ceremony followed by possibly the worst game in the history of the tournament - England's nil-nil draw with Uruguay (setting something of an unwanted precedent for most subsequent tournaments and, certainly, the next two). Fortunately, it got quite a bit better after that. John McGrath and Christopher Williams's Shotgun broadcast as part of BBC2's Five More strand.
The first episode of International Cabaret hosted by Kenneth Williams broadcast on BBC2.Hungary, with Florian Albert in mesmerising form, beat the holders Brazil three-one in a pulsating World Cup group game at Goodison Park. A ban on black workers at Euston railway station was legally overturned.
Prime Minister Harold Wilson flew to Moscow to attempt to start peace talks over the Viet'Nam War. The Soviet government rejected his ideas.
Gore Vidal's On The March To The Sea broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
John Young and Michael Collins piloted Gemini 10 into space. Ronald Eyre's Are You There? broadcast as part of BBC2's Five More strand.In one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history, North Korea beat Italy at Ayresome Park, dumping the Azzurri out of the competition. Brazil were also eliminated, beaten three-one by Portugal whoe defenders handed out some particularly rough treatment to Pele.
Roger Hunt scored twice as England beat France two-nil in the World Cup. The game, however, was more remembered for a spectacularly nasty foul committed by Nobby Stiles on Jacques Simon. The start of a six-month wage and price freeze was announced.
Argentine captain Antonio Rattin was sent off during a tetchy, ill-tempered World Cup Quarter Final against England at Wembley. The home side went through thanks to Geoff Hurst's header. In Liverpool Portugal, inspired by Eusebio who scored four, came from three-nil down to beat the North Koreans five-three.
The debate on the latest episode of Burning Issue involved Sex & Violence In Art.
The first episode of The Art Game broadcast on BBC2. Bobby Charlton scored twice as England beat Portugal at Wembley to reach the World Cup Final for the first - and, so far, only - time.
A cabinet reshuffle was expected after George Brown's increasingly erratic behaviour culminated in him 'forgetting' to appear for a live television debate on the government's economic freeze.
'Some people are on the pitch, They think it's all over!' England won the World Cup, beating West Germany four-two at Wembley. And yes the third goal was over the line. Ask Tofiq Bahramov, he'll tell you. Thirty two million punters watched the BBC and ITV coverage (mostly, the former). Which does, rather, make one wonder what the other twenty two million of the population were doing at the time. Contemplating the inherently ludicrous nature of existence, possibly.
The day Revolver was released.
The first episode of It's A KnockOut! broadcast.
Harry Roberts shot and murdered three policemen in Shepherd's Bush. Scottish Conservative Party delegates at their conference in Perth supported a proposal calling for the re-introduction of the birch to end Glasgow's 'reign of terror.' Tom Galbraith MP, spoke of 'frightened people in Glasgow,' who were 'demanding' corporal punishment.
Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution began in China.
The first episode of Foreign Affairs broadcast.
The first episode of Dusty broadcast. The Tay Road Bridge opened.
Following the success of the World Cup, Match Of The Day switched from BBC2 to BBC1.
Tom Stoppard's A Separate Peace broadcast as part of BBC2's Double Image strand.
Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead was first staged, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Beatles At Shea Stadium and This Is Joan Baez broadcast on BBC1. An Evening With Rolf Harris broadcast on BBC2.
The Lennon & McCartney Songbook broadcast The Light Programme. Meanwhile, The Be-Atles played their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.Barely five months after the death of Norwich's Barry Butler, a second Football League player died in a car crash; John Nicholson, Doncaster Rovers's centre-half who had previously played for Port Vale and Liverpool.
The first episode of Jennings broadcast.
The author Audrey Erskine Lindop appeared on Woman Hour discussing her latest novel, the thriller I Start Counting.The first episode of Ransom For A Pretty Girl broadcast on BBC2.
Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon pilot Gemini 11 into space.
Britain's first Polaris submarine, HMS Resolution, was launched at Barrow-in-Furness.
Scotland Yard detective arrested Ronald Edwards, suspected of naughty involvement in the Great Train Robbery. His story would be dramatised in the 1988 movie Buster though, tragically, Phil Collins was never arrested for crimes against acting.
David Wheeler's documentary Suez The Nine Day War broadcast. The first episode of North & South broadcast on BBC2.
Ken Russell's Isadora broadcast.
The National Youth Theatre's production of Troilus & Cressida broadcast, directed by Bernard Hepton and featuring the TV débuts of Timothy Dalton and Kenneth Cranham.
The first episode of Talking To A Stranger broadcast as part of the Theatre 625 strand on BBC2 and the first episode of The Woman In White broadcast on BBC1.
The first episode of Joe broadcast as part of the Watch With Mother strand.The first episode of Top Of The Pops featuring Simon Dee broadcast.
The Machine Stops broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
The first episode of Barry Cunliffe's Roman Britain broadcast as part of BBC2's Outlook strand.
The Cybermen appeared on Doctor Who for the first time.
The first episode of Bridges For Pleasure - presented by Joan Bakewell - broadcast as part of the Merry-Go-Round strand.
Hancock At The Royal Festival Hall broadcast on BBC2. The Late Show - featuring John Bird, John Fortune, Eleanor Bron and, for probably the first time on British TV playing Dame Edna, Barry Humphries - broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of Daktari. Mark Gatiss born in Sedgefield.
The Ford Cortina MK2 was launched.
The day of the Aberfan disaster. One hundred and forty four people (including one hundred and sixteen school children) were killed by a collapsing coal spoil tip.
The spy George Blake escaped from Wormwood Scrubs - presumably, whilst most of the screws were watching episode three of The Tenth Planet.
Ken Taylor's adaptation of Days To Come broadcast as part of BBC1's Play Of The Month strand. The first episode of BBC2's Broome Stages broadcast..
The first episode of Breaking Point broadcast on BBC2.The first UK broadcast of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E on BBC1. JB Priestley's dramatisation of Level Seven broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
The first episodes of Out Of Town Theatre and Harry Worth broadcast.
Dennis Potter's Where The Buffalo Roam broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
John Lloyd's documentary The Discovery Of Television broadcast.
The first episode of Vendetta broadcast. Fulton Mackay's The Great Kopalsi broadcast as part of the Out Of Town Theatre strand.
Patrick Troughton replaced William Hartnell as The Doctor.
Hugh Whitemore's Amerika broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
The Rootes Group launched the Hillman Hunter, a four-door family saloon to compete with the Austin 1800, Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Victor.
Brian Gear's A Pretty Row Of Pretty Ribbons - featuring Cherie Lunghi's TV début - broadcast as part of the Out Of Town Theatre strand. Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin piloted Gemini 12 into space.
The first episode of Anthony Steven's adaptation of The Three Musketeers - starring Jeremy Brett and Brian Blessed - broadcast.
Harry Roberts was arrested near London and charged with the murder of three policemen in August.
Jeremy Sandford's Cathy Come Home broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. Viewed by approximately a quarter of the British population, it is considered as influential on public attitudes towards homelessness and the related social issues it dealt with.
The first episode of The Illustrated Weekly Hudd broadcast on BBC1. The World In Silence broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown.Elaine Morgan's Why Me? broadcast as part of the Out Of Town Theatre strand.
An episode of Meeting Point about 'young people working in clubs in Soho' included interviews with Bert Jansch and Paul Simon.
Fay Weldon's Wife In A Blonde Wig broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Bat Out Of Hell broadcast as part of the Francis Durbridge Presents ... strand.
Simon Raven's A Pyre For Private James broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
With a young Joan Cruyff in dazzling form, Ajax spanked Liverpool five-one in a European Cup second round tie in Amsterdam.
The Who's A Quick One, Cream's Fresh Cream and Geno Washington & The Ram-Jam Band's Hand Clappin' Foot-Stompin' Funky-Butt ... Live! all released.
Henry Livings's Brainscrew broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Big Bad Mouse - featuring Eric Sykes and Jimmy Edwards - broadcast. Harry Roberts, John Whitney and John Duddy were sentenced to life (each with a recommended minimum of thirty years) for the murder of three West London policemen.
Little Master Minds broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Hugh Whitemore's Too Many Cooks broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of the Unknown strand.
The first episode of Alan Bennett's On The Margin broadcast on BBC2.
Keith Dewhurst's The Towers Of Manhattan broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Alun Owen's The Making Of Jericho broadcast as part of the Play Of the Month strand.
The first episode of Quiz Ball broadcast on BBC1. William Trevor's Walk's End broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
Horizon's Christmas special was Richard Wade's Hand Me My Sword, Humphrey.
Alcoholic wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon appeared in the Boxing Day episode of Not Only ... But Also playing the role of a nightclub doorman. Reportedly, when the sequence was filmed (on Sunday 27 November outside a public lavatory on Broadwick Street in Soho) a tramp approached Lennon and said 'I know you! Y've come down in the world since y'said y'were bigger than Jesus!' Jonathan Miller's adaptation of Alice In Wonderland broadcast.
Hugh Leonard's adaptation of Satisfaction Guaranteed broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
The first episode of The Dark Number and James Cameron's Man Alive film I Wish I Loved The Human Race broadcast on BBC2. As was The Roman Goose March episode of Chronicle. Thieves stole millions of pounds worth of paintings from Dulwich Art Gallery.
1967
The first episode of Giles Copper's three-part adaptation of Sword Of Honour broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.The first episode of Trumpton broadcast. The Vatican condemned clergy who used 'modern beat music' during services. The first episode of My Music broadcast on The Home Service.
Donald Campbell, attempting to become the first man to break the three hundred miles per hour barrier on water, died when his Bluebird turbo-jet crashed on ConistonWater. Also the day of the 'one-armed bandit murder of Angus Sibbet in South Hetton. The following trial resulted in life sentences for Dennis Stafford and Michael Luvaglio. The case subsequently provided inspiration for the movie Get Carter.
The day The Doors was released. The premiere of Blowup.
The first episode of The Forsyte Saga broadcast on BBC2 and The Monkees UK début on BBC1.The first episode of Look & Read broadcast.
The second episode of Masterworks Bach broadcast. A viewer, one JP McCartney of St John's Wood, heard Dave Mason playing the piccolo trumpet on The Brandenburg Concerto and, had an idea for song he'd just written. The first episode of Mind & Motive broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Whitehall Worrier broadcast on BBC1. Music From The North East - featuring Owen Brannigan and the Northern Symphonia - broadcast live from Newcastle City Hall on BBC2.
Lot 249, the first episode of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle broadcast on BBC2. The United Kingdom entered the first round of negotiations for entry into the EEC in Rome.
NF Simpson's Four Tall Tinkles broadcast on BBC2.
Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler, was extremely sentenced to life for the murder of thirteen women. Jeremy Thorpe became leader of the Liberal Party.
Tom Clarke's Everybody's Rich Except Us broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Acting In The Sixties broadcast on BBC2.
Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire during a rehearsal test for Apollo 1 at Cape Canaveral. The UK, Soviet Union, and USA signed The Outer Space Treaty.
The first UK broadcast of Mark Lane's Rush To Judgment as part of BBC2's The Death Of Kennedy.
The first episode of Before The Fringe broadcast on BBC2.ITV broadcast the episode of The Frost Programme in which David Frost memorably confronted the insurance fraudster Emil Savundra, generally regarded as the first example of 'trial by television' in the UK. Meanwhile, on BBC1 ...
The first episode of Girl In A Black Bikini broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of The Rolf Harris Show broadcast. Not that you'll be seeing a repeat of that any time soon.
Harold Pinter's A Slight Ache broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
Racist, repatriationist party the National Front was founded by AK Chesterton from a merger of the British National Party, the League of Empire Loyalists and various other sick fascist bad'uns.
Tom Stoppard's Teeth broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. Andrew Davies's Who's Going To Take Me On? broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand on BBC1.
The day the Drug Squad, in collusion with some louse from the Scum of the World, raided Keith Richards' gaff, Redlands, and busted Keef and Mick Jagger - having, allegedly, waited until George and Patti Harrison left the gaff. Within hours, stories about Marianne Faithful, a fur rug and a Mars Bar were doing the rounds.
The first broadcast of the English-dubbed version of The Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe on BBC1. Harold Pinter's A Night Out broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
Anthony Bloomfield's Turn Off If You Know The Ending broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. The Bona Law episode of Round The Horne broadcast on The Light Programme. 'We've got a criminal practice that takes up most of our time.' 'Yes, but apart from that ...'
Eric Coltart's Wear A Very Big Hat - directed by Ken Loach - broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Harold Pinter's The Basement broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
Scottish Neil Oliver (and his lovely hair) born in Renfrewshire.
Peter Coke's An Absolute Treasure broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Kenneth Williams and Joe Orton were among the guests of BBC2's Call My Bluff.
David Mercer's In Two Minds broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Alun Richards' Taffy Came To My House broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. Michael Standing's Another Day, Another Dollar broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The day The Velvet Underground & Nico was released.
The first episode of The Paradise Makers broadcast on BBC2.
The oil tanker Torrey Canyon was wrecked in storms off the Cornish coast between Land's End and the Scilly Isles, leading to the worst environmental disaster in Britain to date. Ten days later the RAF were forces to bomb the stricken vessel and sink it.
Thomas Murphy's A Crucial Week In The Life Of A Grocer's Assistant broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The New Sound - 'an enquiry into the current poetry-reading boom in England' - featuring contributions from Allen Ginsberg, Spike Milligan, Roger McGough, Adrian Henri and Brian Patten broadcast on Network Three.
The first episode of The Revenue Men broadcast.
John Finch's Wanted broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
At the London Astoria, Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar on stage for the first time during a performance of 'Wild Thing'. He was taken to hospital after suffering burns to his hands.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed 'Purple Haze' on Dee Time.
One-hundred-to-one outsider Foinavon won The Grand National. 'Puppet On A String' performed by yer actual Sandie Shaw (music and lyrics by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter) won The Eurovision Song Contest, becoming the first English Language Eurovision winning song. Luxembourg's entry, Vicky Leandros's 'L'Amour Est Bleu' (arguably, a much better song) came fourth.
The day fifty people were arrested in Brussels after demonstrations in which rotten eggs were thrown at the motorcade of US Vice-President Herbert Humphreys, NASA's report into the Apollo 1 disaster highlighted 'many deficiencies' and The Last Exit to Brooklyn obscenity trial began.
Tom Clarke's A Brilliant Future Behind Him broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Vladimr Komarov became the first cosmonaut to be killed during a mission when Soyuz 1 crashed during re-entry.
The first episode of Witch Hunt broadcast on BBC2. The Alexandra Palace hosted the Fourteen Hour Technicolour Dream, a benefit party for the underground International Times newspaper, described as 'the first tribal gathering of the British beautiful people' occurred. When they could all have been at in their gaffs watching episode four of The Faceless Ones and having a much better time, frankly. Extracts of the event were broadcast on 17 May in the Man Alive documentary What Is A Happening?
The first of Alun Owen's The Loser trilogy broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
The first episode of The Further Adventures Of Lucky Jim broadcast.
Dennis Potter's Message For Posterity broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand on BBC1 and Dawn Pavitt and Terry Wale's The Isle Is Full Of Noises broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre.
The British-designed satellite Ariel 3, the first to be developed outside the Soviet Union or United States was launched.
The first episode of One Pair Of Eyes broadcast on BBC2.
The 1967 NME Poll Winners Concert held at the Empire Pool, Wembley. Compèred by dirty old scallywag and right rotten rotter Jimmy Savile and Simon Dee it featured acts including The Beach Boys, The Small Faces, Dusty Springfield, Cat Stevens, Cliff Richard (who apparently 'got things going'), The Troggs, Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band, The Move, Paul Jones and Cream.
The first episode of Mickey Dunne broadcast.
Peter Nichols' play A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg premièred at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow.
The Pink Floyd performed 'Astronomy Domine' on The Look Of The Week after which Syd Barrett and Roger Waters got a right earful from Professor Hans Keller for being 'too loud'. Liverpool's Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral Of Christ The King was consecrated.
The first episode of The Reluctant Romeo broadcast.
Frank Norman's The Sufferings Of Peter Obnizov broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.Stottingtot Hotshots beat Chelsea two-one in the first all-London FA Cup Final. Convicted kiddie-fiddler Chris Denning and Kenny Everett interviewed The Be-Atles on The Light Programme's Where It's At.
The first episode of Alexander Baron's adaptation of Further Adventures Of The Musketeers - starring Joss Ackland, Brian Blessed and John Woodvine - broadcast.
Charles Wood's Drum Along The Avon broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand on BBC1 and Tom Clarke's Haven't You People Got Homes? broadcast as part of BBC's Thirty Minute Theatre.
'The Lions of Lisbon', Glasgow Celtic beat Inter Milan in the European Cup final. Enoch Powell described Britain as 'the sick man of Europe' in his latest verbal attack on the Labour government. Alcoholic wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon's psychedelic-painted Rolls Royce was photographed in London by most of the papers. Because, they didn't have any real news to report, obviously.The first episode of Not In Front Of The Children broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
American scientists at the University of Arizona stated that, after careful consideration, they had determined the planet Venus to be 'hot, dry and dead'. No shit? A state of emergency was declared in Nigeria after Biafran separatists under Colonel Ojukwu spoke in favour of regional independence, Martin Burney, a newspaper and souvenir seller, spent the weekend guarding a few yards of pavement outside the Post Office Tower after having been told by officials that he was being evicted to make way for some potted shrubs - when he could have been at home watching The Evil Of The Daleks episode two. The Duke of Edinburgh was injured after falling heavily during a game of polo at Windsor.
The first episode of Champion House broadcast. Francis Chichester completed his solo circumnavigation of the world in Gypsy Moth.
Noel Thomas David Gallagher born in Manchester. Barbeque 67, a popular music festival, at The Tulip Bulb Auction Hall in Spalding, featured The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, The Pink Floyd and Zoot Money's Big Roll Band.
Bayern Munich beat Glasgow Rangers in the European Cup Winners Cup final in Nuremberg.
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released. As was David Bowie. One sold considerably more than the other, if you were wondering.
The first episode of The Way For Murder broadcast on BBC2.
The Six Day War between Israeli and Arab forces began.
John Mortimer's translation of A Flea In Her Ear - starring Anthony Hopkins and Edward Hardwicke - broadcast.
The première of You Only Live Twice.
The first episode of Three Of A Kind - featuring Mike Yarwood, Lulu and Ray Fell - broadcast on BBC2.
Alun Owen's The Wake broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The opening day of the Monterey Pop Festival in California. It would be remembered for the first major American appearances by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, Eric Burdon & The New Animals and Ravi Shankar, the first large-scale public performance of Big Brother & The Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin) and the introduction of Otis Redding to a predominantly white audience. Other acts on the bill included Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, Booker T & The MG's, The Grateful Dead and The Mamas & The Papas. The Kinks were invited but could not get visas because of a long-standing dispute with the American Federation of Musicians. The Beach Boys were forced to pull out due to Carl Wilson's forthcoming court case over his refusal to be drafted. Electronic music pioneers Paul Beaver and Bernie Krause set up a booth at Monterey to demonstrate the new electronic synthesizer developed by Robert Moog, gaining the interest of The Byrds, Brian Jones, Paul McCartney, Mickey Dolenz and Paul Simon. Philip Larkin completed work on one of his most famous pieces, Annus Mirabilis, published later in the year in the collection High Window.
The first episode of AP Herbert's 'Misleading Cases' broadcast. Muhammad Ali fought the law. The law - temporarily - won.
The day seventeen British troops died in Aden during an Arab army mutiny, convicted Great Train Robber Gordon Goody sued the Sunday People over allegations made in an article in 1964, Paul McCartney was criticised by Billy Graham following Macca's recent admission that he had taken LSD, the company owning a helicopter used in an episode of The Saint were fined over a stunt which contravened Board of Trade flying regulations, the 'mini-car murder' trial of Raymond Cook, Eric Jones and Kim Newell took place at Oxford Assizes, UN Secretary General U Thant bitterly criticised remarks made by Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban, racial violence broke out in Atlanta following a speech by black activist Stokely Carmichael, the West German government reached agreement with Brazilian authorities over the extradition of alleged war criminal Franz Stangl and NBC aired a documentary highly critical of New Orleans DA Jim Garrison's ongoing criminal investigations into the assassination of President Kennedy. The day President Johnson and Soviet Premier Kosygin met in New Jersey, comments made by Manny Shinwell MP during a Commons debate provoked an angry response from Colonel Lohan, secretary of the D-Notice committee concerning his relationship with Chapman Pincher the defence correspondent for the Daily Scum Express, Mary Whitehouse wrote to the Prime Minister requesting that the new BBC Chairman of Governors should have a salaried position 'significantly in excess' of the Director General (her bête noire, Hugh Greene) 'to leave no doubt who holds the senior position' and it was announced that the jurisdiction of the Lord Chamberlain's office over the content of theatre productions was to be abolished the following year.
Our World, the first live, intercontinental, satellite television production was broadcast featuring The Be-Atles premièring 'All You Need Is Love'.
Jeremy Brooks's Death Happens To Other People broadcast on BBC2. The first automatic cash machine was installed in the office of Barclays Bank in Enfield.
Tom Stoppard's Another Moon Called Earth broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Johnny Speight's To Lucifer: A Son broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards got some serious Richard III for naughty drugs (subsequently overturned on appeal).
The first episode of The Old Campaigner broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The day colour transmissions began on BBC2 with coverage of Wimbledon.
Donovan Meets Logue broadcast.
Parliament decriminalised male homosexuality in England and Wales with the Sexual Offences Act.
The first episode of Rainbow City broadcast.
The beginning of two days of live coverage of Chris Bonington's teams - ultimately successful - climb of The Old Man Of Hoy.
The first episode of Ask The Family broadcast. To the delight of all Home Counties chartered accounts and their really ugly children.
Hugh Leonard's The Late Arrival Of The Incoming Aircraft broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. Astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish became the first to observe a pulsar.
David Howarth's documentary The Hunt For Robin Hood broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Kenilworth broadcast on BBC2.
The TV debut of Paul Freeman in an episode of Champion House.
The first episode of Sorry, I'm Single broadcast.
The first episode of Face The Music broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Boy Meets Girl broadcast.
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn released.
The first episode of the radio adaptation of The Likely Lads broadcast on The Light Programme. The Home Secretary ordered the closing of Court Lees Approved School, near Godstone in Surrey, after a report found that boys there were caned 'with excessive severity.'
The day Joe Orton was murdered by his lover, Ken Halliwell, who subsequently took his own life.
The football season opened with Manchester United and Tottenham Hotshots drawing three-three in the Charity Shield. Match Of The Day cameras witnessed the unusual occurrence on a goalkeeper (Spurs's Pat Jennings) scoring a goal.
The Marine & Broadcasting (Offences) Act declared participation in offshore pirate radio in the United Kingdom naughty and extremely illegal.
The Five-Nineteen broadcast as part of the Late Night Theatre strand.
Jimmy Hill, manager of Coventry City who had been just promoted to the First Division for the first time in their history, announced that he was leaving management to concentrate on a television career.
The first episode of Whistle Stop - presented by Roger Whittaker - broadcast.
The day Keith Moon's twenty first birthday party at a Hotel Inn in Flint, Michigan got, ahem, 'a bit out of hand' and a Lincoln Continental ended up in the swimming pool. Allegedly.
The first episode of Sexton Blake - starring William Franklyn - broadcast on The Home Service.
The first episode of The Queen's Traitor broadcast.
The first episode of The Big M broadcast on BBC2.
The first UK broadcast of Jeux Sans Frontieres first broadcast.
Eric Burdon & The Animals performed 'Good Times' on Whistle Stop.
John Hale's The Picnic broadcast as part of the Out Of Town Theatre strand.
The first episode of Nemone Lethbridge's adaptation of Pride & Prejudice broadcast.
The first epsiode of BBC2's The Impresarios broadcast.
The Man Alive film Six Of the Best broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The White Rabbit broadcast on BBC2. Tony Jacklin hit the first televised hole-in-one in the Dunlop Masters tournament at Sandwich.
The first episode of The World This Weekend broadcast on The Home Service.
Kenny Lynch, Christopher Wray, Jo Kendall and Nicky Henson presented the one-off Get it - Got It - Good.
The National Youth Theatre's production of Peter Terson's Zigger, Zagger broadcast. Oi, Oi, Oi.The day Mark Dignam, Philip Guard and Johnny Bryning made an unwitting appearance on a Be-Atles record via The Third Programme. The first episode of The Prisoner broadcast on ITV. Or, you could have been watching Not In Front Of The Children on BBC1.
The first appearance of The Yeti in Doctor Who. Radio 1 began transmission on this day. And, this was what you would have heard on it. Radio 2, Radio 3 and Radio 4 also began broadcasting, replacing The Light Programme, The Third Programme and The Home Service respectively. Marshall McLuhan appeared on the first episode of BBC2's Release.
John Peel's BBC début, co-presenting the first episode of the revived Top Gear on Radio 1 with Pete Drummond. Music on the first show included The Pink Floyd, The Move, Tomorrow, Traffic and Tim Rose. The first record played was Martha & The Vandellas 'Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone'.
The first broadcast of the English-dubbed version of Belle & Sebastian.
The first episode of A Series Of Bird's broadcast.
Bernard Kops's The Lost Years Of Brian Hooper broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
Derrick Sherwin's The Time-Keepers broadcast part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. Revolutionary spirit and left-wing icon Che Guevara was killed in Bolivia by government forces.
Harold Wilson won a libel action against rock group The Move after they depicted him in the nude in promotional material for their single 'Flowers in the Rain'.
Desmond Morris's The Naked Ape published.
The first episode of Omnibus broadcast.
David Campton's Silence On The Battlefield broadcast as part of the Out Of Town Theatre strand. The first episode of Rex Tucker's adaptation of Huxley's After Many A Summer broadcast on BBC2.An adaptation of Girls In Uniform broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand. The first episode of After Many A Summer broadcast on BBC2.
The Who performed 'I Can See For Miles' on the opening episode of Twice A Fortnight.The Tape Recorder broadcast as part of the Thirty Minute Theatre strand, thought to be the first drama production on British TV shown in colour.
Edward Boyd's A Black Candle For Mrs Gogarty broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The day abortion was legalised in England, Scotland and Wales with the passing of The Abortion Act.
Ronald Eyre's The Single Passion broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
Paul Wheeler's Have It On The House broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Peter Luke's adaptation of The Devil A Monk Wou'd Be broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. Also, the first UK broadcast of Casey Jones.
NASA launched the unmanned Apollo 4, the first flight of the Saturn V rocket.
Henry Livings' William Blake biopic Tyger Tyger broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand. Cream's Disraeli Gears released.
The first appearance of The Ice Warriors in Doctor Who.
The Lions Of Longleat broadcast.
Fay Weldon's Fall Of The Goat broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Movement of animals was banned in England and Wales due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
The pound was devalued. Harold Wilson defended this decision, assuring voters that this course of action would tackle the 'root cause' of the nation's current economic problems and, that it would not affect 'the pound in your pocket.' The First Freedom broadcast.
The first episode of Lord Reith Looks Back broadcast in which the BBC's first Director General discussed his experiences at Passchendaele with Malcolm Muggeridge.
Paul McCartney performed an impromptu rendition of 'All Together On The Wireless Machine' on Kenny Everett's Where It's At on Radio 1.
Giles Cooper's Kittens Are Brave broadcast as part of the Theatre 625 strand.
The first episode of The Very Merry Widow broadcast. PC Jersild's Notice! Meeting In Progress broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. Charles de Gaulle vetoed British entry into the European Economic Community. Again. He really didn't like us very much, did he?
The first pulsar was observed by Jocelyn Bell and Antony Hewish at Cambridge.
Ewart Alexander's Dial Rudolph Valentino One One broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
A line-up that included The Jim Hendrix Experience, The Move, The Pink Floyd, Amen Corner, The Nice, The Outer Limits and Eire Apparent played two shows at Newcastle City Hall. Fifteen shillings for the best seats, eight and six for the cheapest.Popular beat combo The Be-Atles opened The Apple Shop on Baker Street. To the joy of shoplifting hippies everywhere.
The Private Life Of A Kingfisher, part of BBC2's Look strand, became the first national history programmes to be broadcast in colour. Hugh Leonard's A Time Of Wolves & Tigers broadcast as part of the Thirty Minute Theatre strand. Vickery Turner's Kippers & Curtains broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand on BBC1.
The first UK broadcast of The High Chaparral on BBC2.
The first episode of Once More With Felix broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Charlie Drake Show broadcast on BBC2.
Robert Muller's Death Of A Private broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The Who Sell Out released.
John Wiles's adaptation of Come Death broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre.
The first episode of Just A Minute broadcast on Radio 4.
Radio 1's Top Gear - presented by John Peel and Tommy Vance - featured sessions by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Traffic, The Family. David Bowie and The Art Greenslade Orchestra, plus 'the coolest sounds around on disc.'
Popular beat combo The Be-Atles' The Magical Mystery Tour broadcast (in black and white, rather pointlessly) on BBC1.
Derrick Sherwin's dramatisation of The Metal Martyr broadcast as part of the Thirty Minute Theatre strand on BBC2. Bob Dylan's John Welsey Harding released.
The first episode of At The Eleventh Hour broadcast.
1968
The first episode of Alan Plater's To See How Far It Is broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand. Cecil Day-Lewis was announced as the new Poet Laureate.
The first UK broadcast of A Man Called Ironside.
The first episode of Alan Freeman's All Systems Freeman broadcast. The first episode of Gardeners' World broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Portrait Of A Lady broadcast on BBC2.
Harold Wilson endorsed the - faintly ridiculous - 'I'm Backing Britain' campaign, encouraging workers to work extra hours without pay. It, predictably, went down like a sack of shite.
Desmond Lowden's The News Benders broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Len & The River Mob broadcast as part of the Look & Read strand. Alan Plater's To See How Far It Is broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
Michael Frayn's Jamie, On A Flying Visit broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Towards Tomorrow: The World In A Box broadcast.
David Mercer's The Parachute broadcast as part of the the Play Of The Month strand.
Donald Tosh's Happiness Is E Shaped broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. The Tet offensive began as Communist forces launched a series of attacks on South Vietnam.
John Peel co-presented - with dirty old scallywag Jimmy Savile - an episode of Top Of The Pops for the first time. Peelie opened the show protesting at the lack of any Captain Beefhart and Tyrannosaurus Rex, then forgot the name of Amen Corner (they were about to perform 'Bend Me, Shape Me'). He was told after the show by the producer, Johnnie Stewart, that he would never be invited back. Apart from an appearance with his friends The Faces in 1971, John would not be seen on Top Of the Pops again until Christmas Day 1981.
The first episode of Cilla broadcast.
The first episode of The Herbs broadcast as part of the Watch With Mother strand.
Thomas Murphy's Snakes & Reptiles broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first appearance of Colonel (later Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who.
England's cricket vice-captain Fred Titmus lost four toes in a boating accident in Barbados during the MCC tour of the West Indies. Despite this, Fred would return to playing within weeks and have a tribute song written about him by Half Man Half Biscuit.
The naked body of twenty five-year-old nurse, Patricia Docker, was found in Glasgow. She had been raped and strangled. The previous night, she had told her parents that she was going out dancing at a nearby club, the Majestic Ballroom in Hope Street, She was the first of three women found strangled in an around Glasgow during 1968 and 1969 by a killer known only as 'Bible John'. Although police investigated the murders for over twenty years, the murderer was never identified although serial killer Peter Tobin was a suspect.
The day Jim Callaghan passed the Commonwealth Immigration Act. The first performance of an Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in its original form as a pop cantata, by pupils of Colet Court preparatory school in Hammersmith.
The first episode of Simon Raven's adaptation of Point, Counterpoint broadcast on BBC2. Daniel Wroughton Craig born in Chester.The first episode of Beryl Reid Says Good Evening broadcast on BBC1 featuring the TV début of Jake Thackery. Giles Cooper's To The Frontier broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand. Patricia Jude Francis Kensit born in Hounslow.
John Peel hosed Radio 1's Night Ride for the first time, with a session by The Incredible String Vest and poetry from Adrian Mitchell.
The first UK broadcast of White Horses on BBC1. Hugh Whitemore's Party Games broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
The day of the My Lai massacre. A demonstration in London's Grosvenor Square against US involvement in Viet'Nam lead to loads of violence with peace-lovin' hippies proving to be surprisingly tasty in a good hard scrap with the bobbies.
Ibsen's Ghosts broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
The first episodes of Sword Of Honour broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand. The first episode of Quiz Time, Gentlemen, Please! broadcast.
Set a generous declaration by Gary Sobers, England chased down two hundred and fifteen in just over two sessions to win the fourth test against the West Indies at Port of Spain.
The first episode of Children Thinking broadcast.
Brian Edward Cox born in Oldham.
The documentary Tolkien In Oxford broadcast as part of BBC2's Release strand.
The first episode of Moira Anderson Sings broadcast. Tragically, it wasn't the last.
The first episode of Mum's Boys broadcast.
The day Martin Luther King was assassinated.
The first episodes of Ooh La La! and The Spanish Farm broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The First Lady broadcast. Jim Clark died driving in a Formula Two race at the Hockenheimring in Germany when his Lotus crashed into a tree.
David Mercer's Let's Murder Vivaldi broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Champion House broadcast.
The first UK TV broadcast of Pyscho.
The Golden Vision broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
London Bridge was sold to American entrepreneur Robert McCulloch who intended to rebuild it at Lake Havasu City, Arizona. And, contrary to an urban myth, no he didn't think he was buying Tower Bridge.
Hugh Leonard's dramatisation of No Such Thing As A Vampire, the first episode of Late Night Horror broadcast on BBC2.
Enoch Powell made his - despicably racist - 'Rivers of Blood' speech in Birmingham.
Powell was extremely dismissed from the Shadow Cabinet by Edward Heath over his sick racist utterings, despite several opinion polls claiming that 'the majority of the public' shared Powell's fears.
The first episode of Brain Of Britain - previous a part of What Do You Know? - broadcast on Radio 2. Five and ten pence coins were introduced in the run-up to Decimalisation, which would be complete within the next three years.
State Of The Union - featuring Les Dawson - broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.The Abortion Act came into effect, legalising abortion on a number of grounds, with free provision through the National Health Service.
The first episodes of Marty Feldman's Marty and The Glory That Remains broadcast.
Charlotte and Denis Plimmer's Standing By For Santa Claus broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.The Paris riots began.
The first episode of Wink To Me Only broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. Ray Bradbury's Leviathan '99 broadcast on Radio 3. Frederick West becomes Britain's first heart transplant patient. He died forty six days later.
Tony Blackburn hosted the 1968 NME Poll Winners concert at the Empire Pool, featuring The Rolling Stones, Amen Corner, The Herd, Love Affair, The Move, Don Partridge, The Shadows, The Tremeloes, The Status Quo, Scott Walker, Lulu, Dusty Springfield, The Association and Paper Dolls.
Jonathan Miller's bowel-shatteringly scary adaptation of Whistle & I'll Come To You broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand.
John Mortimer's Infidelity Took Place broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. Cecil King, the head of the International Publishing Corporation, held a meeting with Lord Mountbatten, the Daily Mirra journalist Hugh Cudlipp and Sir Solly Zuckerman, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the government. King, according to Cudlipp, 'expounded his views on the gravity of the national situation, the urgency for action and then embarked upon a shopping list of the Prime Minister's shortcomings.' He explained that in the crisis he foresaw as being 'just around the corner', the Government would disintegrate, there would be bloodshed in the streets and the armed forces would be involved in, effectively, a coup d'etat. He then asked Mountbatten would he agree to be the head of a new administration in such circumstances? Mountbatten is alleged to have asked for the opinion of Zuckerman, who stated that the comments amounted to treason and left the room. The Kray Twins, were among eighteen men arrested in dawn raids across London by Nipper Reid's Murder Squad. They stood accused of a series of crimes including murder, fraud, blackmail, assault and being very naughty men. Their older brother, Charlie, was one of the other men taken into custody.
The Family Of Fred - with Freddie Frinton - broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. It would subsequently be developed into the sitcom Thicker Than Water the following year.
The day Don Fox missed a sitter in the Rugby League Challenge Cup final for Wakefield Trinity and got much sympathy from Eddie Waring. The government faced a back-bench rebellion over prices and income policy. The student riots in Paris reached their height as Prime Minister Pompidou, after consultation with President de Gaulle, ordered the police to withdraw from the Latin Quarter and the Sorbonne was closed. A German professor parachuted into a field in Scotland to highlight the continued imprisonment in Spandau of Rudolph Hess, Manchester City dramatically snatched the First Division Championship with a memorable last day four-three win at Newcastle whilst rivals The Scum were losing at home to Blunderland. The first meeting between American and North Vietnamese representatives took place in Paris. Ted Heath got a right soaking when his boat - Blue Harbour - capsized.
The first episode of the BBC's second adaptation of The Railway Children broadcast. The nation caught its first glimpse of Jenny Aguttar's underwear. Though, by no means, its last. Home Sweet Honeycomb broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand. John Tully's The Broken Sword broadcast as part of the Merry-Go-Round strand featuring the TV debut of David Calder.
Barry Took's adaptation of Stiff Upper Lip broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Jeff Astle scored an extra-time winner as West Bromwich Albinos beat Everton in the FA Cup Final. Also, probably the day that alcoholic wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon called a meeting at Apple's offices at 95 Wigmore Street, to inform his surprised colleagues that he was, in fact, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. The meeting broke up shortly afterwards so that Paul, George and Ringo could process this information.
An adaptation of Nicholas Bethell's The Pistol Shot broadcast as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand featuring an uncredited cameo by David Bowie.
The first episode of Lulu's Back In Town! broadcast.
The first episode of Wild Wild Women broadcast. The Small Faces' Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake released.
David Bowie's first session for BBC Radio 1 with The Tony Visconti Orchestra broadcast on John Peel In Top Gear.
The Scum beat Benfica four-one at Wembley to win the European Cup.
The first appearance of Pan's People on Top Of The Pops (dancing to 'US Male' by Elvis Presley).
The first episode of What Maisie Knew broadcast on BBC2.
The day Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. Alan Mullery became the first player to be sent off in an international for England as they lost to a Dragan Džajić goal against Yugoslavia in the semi-finals of the European Nations Cup. Melanie Claire Sophie Giedroyc born in Epsom.
The first episode of B-and-B broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. The start of Ford sewing machinists strike at Dagenham: women workers wanted pay comparable to that of men.
Goals from Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst gave England a two-nil victory over the Soviet Union in the - utterly pointless - Nations Cup third play play-off. The suspect in the murder of Martin Luther King, James Earl Ray, was arrested in London.
The first episode of Castors Away! broadcast. Italy beat Yugoslavia two-nil in a replayed Nations Cup final in Rome.
The first episodes of Colour Me Pop on BBC2 and The Basil Brush Show and Me Mammy - as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand - on BBC1 broadcast.
The first episode of Cold Comfort Farm broadcast on BBC2.
The Seekers Down Under broadcast on BBC2. Meanwhile, in Australia, Tony Hancock died.
The Blue-Veiled Men broadcast as part of BBC2's The World About Us strand featuring Delia Derbyshire's atmospheric and beautiful Radiophonic score.
The Pentangle made their TV début on Degrees Of Folk. The first episode of The Long Way Home broadcast. The first episode of Anything Legal Considered broadcast on BBC2. The Band's Music From The Big Pink released.
The first episode of The Expert broadcast on BBC2.
Farewell The Seekers broadcast.
The first episode of Bobbie Gentry broadcast on BBC2. We never did find out exactly why Billie Jo MacAllister jumped off the Talllahatchie Bridge. Which was annoying, frankly. The first episode of Middlemarch also broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Tennis Elbow Foot Game broadcast on BBC2.
Obi Egbuna's Wind Versus Polygamy broadcats as part of BBC2's Theatre 625 strand.
'Once upon a time. Or maybe twice ...' The UK première of Yellow Submarine.
The first episode of The World Of Beachcomber - with Spike Milligan - broadcast on BBC2. The Spinners, Manfred Mann and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown appeared on the first episode of How It Is on BBC1.
The first episode of Dora Bryan's According To Dora broadcast.
The first episode of The Man In The Iron Mask broadcast.
The Year Of The Sex Olympics broadcast. Nigel Kneale's play about a TV-obsessed totalitarian state which appeared to show a vision of mankind's future as a crass, indolent, lobotomised race, wallowing in a gutter of hardcore pornography and degradation. And, after a decade of Big Brother and The X Factor, it's hard not to award Nige ten out of ten for foresight. Apart from uncannily predicting the rise of reality TV - and viewers' voyeuristic interaction with it - however the play was, actually, Kneale's rather heartfelt acknowledgement of (if not, necessarily, endorsement of) the permissive society; 'the new honesty' as the author described it in a spectacularly forthright piece for Radio Times that had the editors quick to make sure their readers knew these were not, necessarily, the views of anybody else at the BBC.
The first episode of Dad's Army broadcast.
Lee Gordon McKillop born in Southport.
From The North favourite Gillian Leigh Anderson born in Chicago.
The first episode of Football Preview (later Football Focus) presented by Sam Leitch broadcast as part of Grandstand.
4472-Flying Scotsman: An Epitaph For The Age Of Steam broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Scott Walker's Scott broadcast.
The first episode of Kindly Leave The Stage broadcast.
Warsaw Pact forces invasion Czechoslovakia, threatened since Alexander Dubček began his liberalisation policies in the spring, finally happened.
The Nice performed 'America' on How It Is - complete with Keith Emerson sticking knives in his Moog keyboard.
Elwyn Jones's Combination broadcast on BBC2.
The Henry Moore documentary I Think In Shapes broadcast on BBC2. Princess Maria of Kent died from a brain tumour. When torrential rain swamped The Oval on the final day of the Ashes series with Australia struggling at eighty five for five, it looked as if England's hopes of levelling the series had been washed away. But a frantic mop-up operation by The Oval crowd meant play was able to restart with little over an hour remaining. Deadly Derek Underwood was in his element on a drying wicket and bowled England to a memorable win with just seven minutes to spare. Plans were announced to remove the colliery waste tip from Aberfan, prison officers at Parkhurst fought with seven high-security prisoners, strikes by busmen in Great Yarmouth, Plymouth and Dundee continued, seventy arrests followed clashes between police and 'yippies' at an anti-war demonstration in Chicago and a woman who bought a 'love potion, guaranteed to make spouses amorous' from a 'wandering charlatan' in Peru was arrested after her husband alleged she had tried to poison him.
The Lost Leader broadcast.
The day Gary Sobers hit six sixes for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan. The newly opened Victoria Line on London's underground had a busy start, there were riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago and some delegates became victims of heavy-handed policing by Mayor Daley's stick-wielding officers breaking-up anti-war demonstrations, Alexander Dubček issued a statement that the Czech Communist party had 'not taken enough note of the strategic and general interests of the USSR and other member of the Warsaw pact.' After a recent fire at Nottingham Forest's City Ground, the chief officer of Coventry Fire Brigade called for new safety measures for football stadia. United action by immigration organisations was being considered against institutions which operated a 'colour bar.' A spokesman for Batley Trades & Friendly Club, which had such a policy, stated 'a man has a choice of deciding with whom he spends his leisure time. Our members felt they would prefer to spend that time among their own kind', Sirhan Sirhan and James Earl Ray - awaiting trial respectively for the murders of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King respectively - were both said to have sold the film rights to their stories, a consumer group in Basingstoke announced the price of fish and chips had 'risen alarming' and the cross-Channel hovercraft Princess Margaret was out of action due to ‘wear and tear to her skirt.’ The first Ise of Wight Fesitval took place at Ford farm, near Godshill. The headline act was Jefferson Airplane and others on the bill included The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, The Move, Smile, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Plastic Penny, Fairport Convention and The Pretty Things.The first episode of The Morecambe & Wise Show broadcast on BBC2.
Peter Nichols' The Gorge broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand on BBC1. And The Tape Recorder broadcast as part of the Thirty Minute Theatre strand on BBC2.
Led Zeppelin - still going under the name The New Yardbirds - played their first gig at Gladsaxe Teen Club in Denmark.
The first episodes of Hector's House and The Stanley Baxter Show broadcast. Ray Butler's Baby broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episodes of The Sandie Shaw Supplement - on BBC1 - and The Jazz Age - on BBC2 - broadcast. Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, The Pink Floyd, Vera Lynn and, erm, Stuart Hall were among those involved in The Sound Of Change on BBC2.
With Geoff Allen in dazzling form, Newcastle United made their European début in the Inter City Fairs Cup - qualifying, despite having finished tenth in the previous year's First Division, thanks to the 'one city one club' rule - beating the highly fancied Feyenoord four-nil at St James' Park. Meanwhile, due to a fixture pile-up, on the same day, Leeds United won the previous season's competition over two-legs against Ferencvaros in Budapest.
The first episode of A Touch Of Venus broadcast on BBC2. William Trevor's A Night With Mrs Da Tanka broadcast on BBC1 as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Sportnight With Coleman broadcast.
The first episode of Oh, Brother! broadcast.
The first episode of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherock Holmes - starring Peter Cushing - broadcast.The winter MCC tour of South Africa was cancelled over The D'Oliveira Affair.
The day dockers' leader Jack Dash told a Young Conservatives Supper Club in Epsom he had been 'ashamed' of his colleagues recent march in support of Enoch Powell. To silence his occasionally noisy London neighbour, Herman Richards drilled a hole in the wall and 'gave him a whiff of gas' (Richards pleaded extremely guilty to 'maliciously administering coal gas with intent to annoy'). After persuading 'a young woman of considerable means' to invest ten grand in his music magazine, Beat Wave, Robin Allen took his mother and a female friend to Paris for the weekend, a court was told. Allen stated the object of the trip was to 'photograph The Monkees.'
The first episode of Presenting Nana Mouskouri broadcast on BBC2.
Peter Brent's The Flag broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
JB Priestley's Anyone For Tennis? broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The Theatres Act ended decades of censorship of the British theatre. Since 1737, scripts had been licensed for performance by the Lord Chamberlain's Office, a measure initially introduced to protect Robert Walpole's administration from political satire. By the late Nineteenth Century the Lord Chamberlain's Office had become, effectively, the arbiter of moral taste on the stage. From now on, you could say, fuck', shit', get yer knob out, anything you wanted.
John Peel finally managed to get Tyrannosaurus Rex onto primetime telly on How It Is. Hair opened its West End run at the Shaftesbury Theatre. The opening night was delayed until the abolition of theatre censorship so that the show could include plenty of nudity and profanity. The original London cast included Sonja Kristina, Peter Straker, Paul Nicholas, Melba Moore, Elaine Paige, Paul Korda, Marsha Hunt, Floella Benjamin, Alex Harvey, Oliver Tobias, Richard O'Brien and Tim Curry.
Charlotte and Denis Plimmer's The Chequers Manoeuvre broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Sheila Thorns from Birmingham gave birth to the first recorded instance of live Sextuplets in the UK.
The Old Lion Inn in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire successfully applied for an extended licence so that customers could watch the forthcoming Olympics coverage overnight on 'the only colour TV set in the village.' Hopefully, they celebrated this victory by watching episode four The Mind Robber. In black and white.
The day 'The Troubles' began in earnest in Northern Ireland with Republican riots in Londonderry against sectarian discrimination. British drivers Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and John Surtees took the first three places at the US Grand Prix.
Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham piloted the first of NASA's manned Apollo missions, Apollo 7.
The Opening Ceremony for the Mexico Olympics broadcast.Jim Hines became the first man to break the ten second barrier in winning the gold medal at the Olympics one hundred metres.
David Heremy won the Olympic four hundred metres hurdles gold medal.
Hugh Whitemore's Hello, Good Evening & Welcome broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed the so-called 'Black Power' salute at the Mexico Olympics. Rite on, brothers. Pergamon Press, owned by Robert Maxwell, made a twenty six million quid takeover bid for the Scum of the World, John Stonehouse, the Postmaster General, assured MPs that the new two-tier postal system was 'going better than we expected', Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Spiro Agnew promised to standardise welfare if elected, at the UN Argentina asserted its sovereignty claims over the Falkland Islands and The Scum lost to Estudiantes - striped shirts, black panties - in an astonishingly violent World Cup Championship. Alcoholic wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon and his lover, Yoko Ono were arrested by the Drug Squad - led by the notorious Nobby Pilcher (who brought his own to be on the safe side). To his dying day, Lennon claimed that he had been planted, having been tipped off three weeks previously by Don Shorter, a Daily Mirra journalist, that Pilcher, the man who had previously busted Donovan, Mike Jagger and Keith Richards had Lennon next on his 'hit list'. Bob Beamon broke Lynn Davies's world Long Jump record to win Olympic gold, Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis married in Skorpios, legislative moves to make Canada a bilingual country were set in motion. The National Giro open for business through the General Post Office, with administrative headquarters at Bootle. A witness in the trial of Ronnie and Reggie Kray told the court that, on the night of the murder of Jack 'The Hat' McVitie she had encountered the twins who were wearing socks on their hands and who told her there had been 'a bit of trouble' and they were 'tidying up the mess.'
Kenya's Kip Keino won the Olympic fifteen hundred metres gold. Dick Fosbury won High Jump with a rather unusual technique which was named after him and would, soon, become the standard style for all jumpers.
Rodney Pattison and Iain McDonald-Smith in their boat Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious won Olympic sailing gold in the Flying Dutchman class.
While standing on the medal podium after the Olympic gymnastics balance beam event final where Natalia Kuchinskaya of the Soviet Union had controversially taken the gold, Czechoslovakian gymnast Věra Čáslavská quietly bowed her head during the playing of the Soviet national anthem. The action was Čáslavská's protest against the recent Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and was repeated when she accepted her own gold medal for her floor exercise routine when the judges changed the preliminary scores of the Soviet Larisa Petrik to tie with Čáslavská who won four golds and two silvers during the competition. While Čáslavská's countrymen supported her actions and her opposition to Communism (she had publicly signed and supported Ludvik Vaculik's 'Two Thousand Words' manifesto), the new hard-line Czech regime responded by banning her from both sporting events and international travel for many years.
George Foreman beat the USSR's Jonas Čepulis to win the Olympic Heavyweight Boxing gold. Britain's Chris Finnegan won the Middleweight gold.
The second Grosvenor Square anti-war demonstration got a bit less than peaceful with the punching and the chinning and the smoke bombs.
The first episode of Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden's Broaden Your Mind broadcast on BBC2.
Julia Jones's A Bit Of A Crucifixion, Father broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
'Noise! Adventure! Glitter!' The first episode of Zokko! broadcast.
Tony Palmer's Omnibus film All My Loving broadcast on BBC1. The first episode of The Undersea World Of Jacques Cousteau broadcast as part of The World About Us strand on BBC2. Graham Hill won the World Drivers' Championship at the Mexican Grand Prix. Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios accepted the resignation of Interior Minister Polycarpos Georghadjis after charges from Athens that he had 'masterminded' the attempted assassination of Greek Prime Minister Papadopoulos. Prince Rainier of Monaco and his wife, Grace Kelly, competed in the RAC's London to Brighton veteran car rally.
Richard Nixon narrowly defeated Hubert Humphreys in the US presidential election.
The first episode of B&B broadcast. Appearing on Radio 1's Night Ride, the satirist John Wells made a series of strong comments about Prime Minister Harold Wilson's alleged indifference to the suffering caused by the civil war in Nigeria. Wilson, notoriously sensitive to media criticism, demanded an apology from the BBC, which John Peel was obliged to read out on the following programme.
The first episode of Braden's Week broadcast.
Charlotte and Denis Plimmer's Cause Of Death broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of BBC2's adaptation of Tolstoy's Resurrection broadcast.
Dennis Potter's A Beast With Two Backs broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The Be-Atles' White Album and The Kinks Are ... The Village Green Preservation Society released.
The Race Relations Act was passed, making it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services to people in Britain because of their ethnic background.
David Mercer's On The Eve Of Publication broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Astral Weeks was released. Agatha Christie's By The Pricking Of My Thumbs published.
The Trade Descriptions Act came into force, preventing shops and traders from describing goods in a misleading way. In theory, at least.
The day The Cybermen came out of the sewers and invaded London in Doctor Who.
Beggars Banquet was released.
The Rolling Stones, The Who, Taj Mahal, Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithfull and supergroup The Dirty Mac (John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell and Yoko Ono) were filmed at Intertel Studios, Wembley as part of a proposed ITV special The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus. Due to a number of reasons - chiefly The Stones dissatisfaction with their own performance - and, apart from the astonishing clip of The Who's 'A Quick One While He's Away' (included on 1979's The Kids Are Alright), the entire show would not appear until 1996. It was The Stones' final performance with Brian Jones. Lennon and Ono also appeared on Radio 1's Night Ride begin interviewed by John Peel about the recently released Two Virgins.
Eleven year old Newcastle schoolgirl Mary Bell was very convicted of the manslaughter of two young boys and sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.
David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were shot and killed in Benicia, California, the first of a series of murders subsequently attributed to the Zodiac Killer.
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performed a set which included 'I'm The Urban Spaceman' and 'Canyons Of Your Mind' on BBC2's Colour Me Pop. The Muddy Waters Blues Band appeared on Once More With Felix. Apollo 8 was launched.
Frank Clements's Swallowing The Anchor broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders on board Apollo 8 became the first men to obit the Moon.
Rex Tucker's The Three Princes broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Happening For Lulu broadcast. The TV debut of Ali Bongo on Zokko!
Michael Page's Game, Set & Match broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre.
The first episode of The Borderers broadcast on BBC2.
1969
The first episode of Quiz Bingo - presented by dirty old scallywag and filthy kiddle-fiddling albino scum Jimmy Savile - broadcast.
The first episode of Holiday 69 broadcast.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience played an impromptu tribute for the recently disbanded Cream - 'Sunshine For Your Love' - on an episode of Happening For Lulu. Much to the chagrin of the show's producer.Tony Palmer's Omnibus film of Cream's farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall and the first episode of Ken Dodd & The Diddymen broadcast.
Charlotte and Denis Plimmer's Where Have They Gone, All The Little Children? broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Mary Queen Of Scots broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand. Led Zeppelin's eponymous debut LP released.
The first episode of Scobie In September broadcast.
Fay Weldon's Smoke Screen broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The day Czech student Jan Palach, attempted suicide in Prague's Wenceslas Square by setting fire to himself as protest against his country's occupation by the Soviet Union.
Don Taylor's The Woman From The Shadow broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand.
Hugo Charteris's Doctor Atkinson's Daughter broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of The Possessed broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Jimmy Logan Show broadcast on BBC2.
Jean Benedetti's These Men Are Dangerous: Hitler broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre.
Alan Plater's Terry broadcast as part of the Scene strand.
Donald Bull's Something In The Cellar broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
The first UK broadcast of Marine Boy.
An adaptation of John Wyndham's Random Quest broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
Michael Frayn's Birthday broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Edward Lucie-Smith's Cubism broadcast on Radio 4.
The first episode of Thicker Than Water broadcast.
Robert Muller's adaptation of The Naked Sun broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown.
Jim Allen and Ken Loach's The Big Flame broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of The Philpott Files broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Civilisation broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Charge! - starring Robert Morley - broadcast.
The day Concorde made its first flight.
Apollo 9 - piloted by Jim McDivitt, Dave Scott and Rusty Schweickart - launched.
The day Ronnie and Reggie Kray were extremely sentenced to a life stretch in the pokey for the brutal murders of Jack The Hat and George Cornell.
Nigel Kneale's Bam! Pow! Zapp! broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of University Forum broadcast.
The Flying Burrito Brothers made their only UK TV appearance on the opening episode of How Late It Is.
The day the Kray Twins were found not guilty of the 1966 murder of Frankie 'The Mad Axeman' Mitchell, James Earl Ray recanted the confession he made in court in Memphis when jailed for ninety nine years for shooting Martin Luther King, Third Division Swindon beat The Arse in the League Cup Final at Wembley, one hundred people died in an air crash in Venezuala, Britain's third successful heart transplant was carried out at Guy's Hospital and Venus Five, a Soviet probe, landed on the planet.
Clive Exton's adaptation of Target Generation broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
A film clip of Led Zeppelin performing 'Communication Breakdown' on Swedish television was shown on How Late It Is, the band's first ever UK TV appearance.
The first episodes of Spike Milligan's Q5 and Yesterday's Witness broadcast on BBC2.
The first UK broadcast of The Flashing Blade. Dusty In Memphis released.
Roy Minton's Sling Your Hook broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episodes of The Way We Live Now and Bird's Eye View broadcast on BBC2.
Yer actual Keith Telly Topping attended his first ever association football match - his beloved (though, even then, unsellable) Magpies beating Sheffield Wednesday three-two in front of a twenty five thousand crowd at St James Park. The goals came from Benny Arentoft, Keith Dyson and Arthur Horsfield.
Barry Bermange's Invasion broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of The Liver Birds broadcast.
The first episode of Peter Sarstedt broadcast on BBC2.
Dennis Potter's Son Of Man broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand to the incandescent fury of righteous Godbotherers everywhere. Who, seemingly, forgot about Matthew 7:1. Just sayin'.
Petula Clark's Portrait Of Petula broadcast.
The first episode of The Elusive Pimpernel broadcast.
Errol John's The Exiles broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
A Nice Cool Pad In The Sky broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of The Dave Allen Show broadcast. Manchester City beat Leicester City in the FA Cup Final.
BBC2 began weekly coverage of The John Play League with a match between Middlesex and Yorkshire at Lord's.
The first UK broadcast of Shazzan! Within weeks, the new Telly Topping family cat arrived and got lumbered with the name Kaboobie - after the 'magical flying camel' in the cartoon.
David Rudkin's Blodwen, Home From Rachel's Marriage broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of As Good Cooks Go broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of Sinister Street broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Gnomes Of Dulwich broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of Whatever Next? broadcast. Jimmy Scott and Jackie Sinclairnclair scored as Newcastle United beat Glasgow Rangers in the semi-final of the Inter City Fair Cup amid a riot with kids getting chinned and aal sorts.
Apollo 10 - piloted by Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan and John Young - launched. Stafford and Cernan orbited the moon in the Lunar Module four days later.
Charlotte and Denis Plimmer's ... And Was Invited To Form A Government broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of The Very Merry Widow And How broadcast. England cricketer Colin Milburn was involved in a car crash which resulted in him losing the sight in one eye. The Who's Tommy released.
The Mothers Of Invention performed 'King Kong' on BBC2's Late Night Line-Up.
AC Milan beat Ajax Amsterdam four-one in the European Cup final in Madrid. On Radio 1's Night Ride, John Peel admitted that he had once suffered from VD in the course of an interview with Tony Van Den Bergh of Radio 4, who was due to present a programme aimed at reducing the stigma associated with the subject. Peel's account of the behaviour of visitors to the VD clinic that he attended was both wry and amusing, but it led to calls for his sacking from some voices - with a sick agenda - in the popular press. Calls which were, thankfully, ignored by the BBC. Nevertheless, when John appeared as a defence witness during the Oz obscenity trial in 1971, this revelation was used by the prosecution to attack his 'morals.'
Bob Moncur scored twice as Newcastle United beat Ujpest Dózsa three-nil in the first leg of the Inter City Fairs Cup final.
The first episode of W Somerset Maugham broadcast on BBC2.
The World Of Val Doonican released.
The BBC used Booker T & The MG's 'Soul Limbo' as the theme music for their test cricket coverage of the first time to co-incide with the beginning of the three game series against the West Indies.
Richard Cawston's documentary Royal Family broadcast; it was watched by an estimated audience of over thirty million viewers and remains in the top five most-watched programmes in the history of British television.
The first episode of BBC2's World In Ferment broadcast.
The Investiture of the Prince Of Wales broadcast.
The day Lulu the elephant 'ran amok' on Blue Peter and Brian Jones was - allegedly - murdered in his swimming pool.
The Rolling Stones played a - really not very good - free concert in Hyde Park to half-a-million stoned hippies and lots of dead butterflies.
The first episode of Star Trek broadcast in the UK.
The day Tony Jacklin - in his garish purple jumper - became the first Englishman to win the British Open in eighteen years. IPC was expected to back a bid by Robert Maxwell to buy the Sun, stone-throwing youths fought running battles with police on the streets of Londonderry,Marianne Faithful regained consciousness after her suicide attempt in Sydney where her fiancé, Mick Jagger, was filming Ned Kelly, the Soviet Union launched an unmanned moon rocket, Luna Fifteen, three days before NASA's forthcoming Apollo 11, Teignmouth Electron, the boat of round-the-world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, was found adrift and unoccupied in the Atlantic. One man was killed and two were described as 'gravely ill' after the annual 'running of the bulls' in Pamplona.
Apollo 11 - piloted by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins - launched.
Edward Kennedy drove his car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island, killing campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne.
The day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. On ITV, Man On The Moon, hosted by David Frost, mixed reportage with Sunday night variety show via 'special studio guests Englebert Humperdinck, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black and Lulu.' Comedian Michael Palin recorded 'the extraordinary thing about the evening was that, until 3:56 am … we had seen no space pictures at all and yet ITV somehow contrived to fill ten hours with a programme devoted to the landing.' Science Fiction author Ray Bradbury reportedly found the whole thing 'frivolous' and walked out of the studio before he was due to be interviewed. In Johannesburg claims that a fifty eight year old woman had given birth were revealed to be a hoax, typists in the Department of Economic Affairs, the offices of which were suffering form infestation by mice, had pleaded with officials to 'bring back the cats', Eddy Merckx won his first Tour De France in Paris and a survey among schoolchildren revealed television was more popular than 'courting.'
The first episode of Pot Black broadcast on BBC2.
David Buckton's electronic music documentary The Same Trade As Mozart broadcast as part of BBC2's Workshop strand. Denis Lawson's TV début on an episode of Dr Finlay's Casebook.
Charles Manson's Family murdered the actress Sharon Tate and four friends in Bel Air.
Mission: Impossible first broadcast in the UK.
The first episode of Jack Pulman's adaptation of Christ Recrucified broadcast on BBC2.
Bob Dylan & The Band played their first gig since 1966 at the Isle Of Wight Festival.Also on the bill were The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Edgar Broughton Band, Joe Cocker, Family, Free, Marsha Hunt & White Trash, The Moody Blues, The Nice, The Pentangle, The Pretty Things, Third Ear Band and The Who.
Jack Stewart won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza to take his first World Drivers' Championship.
The first episode of Counterstrike broadcast.
The first episodes of Nationwide and Decidedly Dusty broadcast.
Hugo Charteris's Remote Control broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Up Pompeii! broadcast.
Lillian Board won eight hundred metres gold at the European Athletics Championships in Athens. John Sherwood (four hundred metres hurdles) and Lynn Davies (long jump) both won silver.
The day Abbey Road was released. The entire LP was played, accompanied by stock footage, on BBC2's Late Night Line-Up.
The Ryder Cup between American and Britain & Ireland was drawn for the first time when Jack Nicklaus conceded a - potentially missable - putt to Tony Jacklin on the final green at Royal Birkdale.
The first episode of A Handful Of Thieves broadcast. Susan Elizabeth Perkins born in East Dulwich.
Robin Smyth's Gangster broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Mick Vickers demonstrated the Moog synthesizer on Tomorrow's World.
Peter Terson's The Last Train Through Harecastle Tunnel broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus broadcast. To an initial audience of insomniacs, intellectuals and burglars.
The first episode of Chigley broadcast.
The first episode of Mary, Mungo & Midge broadcast and the first UK showing of The Wacky Races. Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac appeared on the first episode of Monster Music Mash, presented by Alan Price.
The first episode of Graham Kerr's The Galloping Gourmet broadcast.
William Trevor's The Mark II Wife broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
In the first of three Free For All documentaries, 'several hundred young people, including hippies, greasers, skinheads and Hell's angels, have been invited to forget their differences and meet under one roof to tell us about themselves.'
Alan Plater's Close The Coalhouse Door broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The first episode of BBC2's adaptation of The Canterbury Tales broadcast.
Motown Chartbusters Volume III released.
The TV début of Slade - playing, of all things, a cover of 'Martha My Dear' - on Monster Music Mash.
England beat an emergent Netherlands side - containing Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Krol and Rensenbrink - one-nil in a friendly international in Amsterdam with a late goal from Colin Bell.
A Year In The Life For Rebel Rocker Tony broadcast on BBC2.Canada Goose broadcast on BBC2.
The first colour programme, An Evening With Petula, broadcast on BBC1. Apollo 12 - piloted by Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Al Bean - launched.
Full colour transmissions began on BBC1. Liverpool beating West Hamsters United two-nil at Anfield was the first Match Of The Day broadcast in colour (though the BBC had been recording occasional games in colour since 1968). Also, the day that many people discovered Starfleet uniforms were actually red, yellow and blue rather than various shades of grey as Star Trek was shown in colour for the first time in the UK (a classic episode too, Arena).
The first episodes of Clangers and Special Project Air broadcast.
The first episodes of Take Three Girls and Pegasus broadcast.
The first episode of The Doctors broadcast. Hugo Charteris's There Is Also Tomorrow broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. Pete Conrad and Al Bean became the third and fourth men (respectively) to walk on the moon.
The first episode of Paul Temple broadcast.
The night Callers' department store on Newcastle's Northumberland Street burned down, the biggest fire the city had seen since the war. Eighty eight firefighters using fifteen appliances struggled for five hours to bring the blaze under control.
Let It Bleed released. Thirty year old 'public-relations man', briefly, international sprinter and future convicted perjurer Jeffrey Archer won the Louth by-election for the Tories. In Los Angeles, the District Attorney applied for a 'Conspiracy to Murder' indictment against Charles Manson, described as 'the bearded high-priest of the hippy commune believed responsible for the Sharon Tate killings.'
Meredith Hunter was murdered by a group of Hell's Angels at The Rolling Stones disastrous free concert at Altamont Speedway Stadium in California. Sandy Brown scored a memorable own goal in the Merseyside derby on Match Of The Day. William Calley – the officer accused of the My Lai massacre – appeared before a military board of enquiry, a group of students occupied Harvard University in a demonstration organised by the militant Organization for Black Unity, former Olympic long-distance champion Emil Zatopek was dismissed as a Colonel in the Czech army for 'violating legal norms' and Liverpool footballer Alun Evans received sixty stitches to his face after being glassed in a Wolverhampton nightclub.
The episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus featuring The Parrot Sketch was broadcast. It was not dead. Merely resting.
The Edgar Broughton Band recorded a live set in front of an invited audience at Abbey Road studios. Although the only initial results were an edited version of the single 'Out Demons Out', the full concert was eventually released in 2004 as Keep Them Freaks A Rollin'.
Noel Coward's The Vortex broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The Twenty Four Hours documentary The World Of John & Yoko broadcast.
James Hanley's It Wasn't Me broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Tony Palmer's documentary Will The Real Mister Sellers ... ? broadcast. The UK première of On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
The first episode of The Spinners broadcast.
Georgie Fame and Alan Price's The Price Of Fame Or Fame At Any Price featured performances by Billy Preston, Doris Tory and Delany & Bonny (with Eric Clapton). Sir John Betjean's Bird's-Eye View: Beside The Seaside broadcast.
The Miles Davis Quartet appeared on BBC2's Jazz Scene. Nice. The first episode of John Hale's adaptation of Hardy's The Distracted Preacher and The Coward Revue broadcast. If It Moves - It's Rude! The Story Of The Windmill Theatre broadcast on BBC1.
Ten Years Of What? broadcast on BBC2. Robert Holles' The Discharge Of Trooper Lusby broadcast as part of the Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The last night of the decade was celebrated with Pop Go The Sixties!
1970
The first Uk broadcast of The Banana Splits. The Triumph Of Death broadcast as part of the Late Night Horror strand.
Jon Pertwee replaced Patrick Troughton as The Doctor. The Be-Atles (or, three of them, anyway) began their final recording session at Abbey Road, cutting 'I, Me, Mine' and doing some overdubs for 'Let It Be'. The alcoholic wife-beating junkie was missing in Denmark having previously told Paul, George and Ringo that he 'wanted a divorce.'
Omnibus featured the documentary Ian Fleming: Creator Of The James Bond Myth.
The first episode of A Question Of Sport and the first UK broadcast of Dastardly & Muttley In Their Flying Machines on BBC1. The first episode of Barry Humphries' Scandals broadcast on BBC2.
The Season Of The Witch broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. The first UK broadcast of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
The first episode of Week Ending broadcast on Radio 4.
The first episode of Germinal broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Hardy Heating Company Ltd broadcast on BBC2.
Fourteen black and two white inmates from the maximum-security section of California's Soledad Prison were released into a recreation yard. Officer Opie G Miller, an expert marksman armed with a rifle, watched over the inmates from a guard tower. A fist fight ensued and Miller opened fire on the prisoners. Three black inmates were killed in the shooting: WL Nolen and Cleveland Edwards died in the yard, while Alvin Miller died in the prison hospital hours later. A white inmate, Billy D Harris, was wounded in the groin and lost a testicle.
The first episode of Solo broadcast on BBC2.
Roy Minton's The Haunting Of Lionel Crane broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The day Bridge Over Troubled Water released.
Alan Plater's Rest In Peace, Uncle Fred broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Tony Palmer's Jack Bruce documentary Rope Ladder To The Moon broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand.
The first episode of A Stranger On The Hills broadcast.
Tom Clarke's Mad Jack broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The Kenneth Williams Show broadcast on BBC1.
The World Of George Best broadcast.
The first episode of Doomwatch broadcast.
Sixty Nine Theatre Company's adaptation of When We Dead Awaken broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Woodlanders broadcast on BBC2. Ken Russell's mental adaptation of Dance Of The Seven Veils broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand.
Adeline Collier's What A Pity You Can't Stay Longer broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre. Barry Endean's diving header caused a major sensation as Third Division Watford knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup on Match Of The Day.
Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong born in Rothbury.
The first episode of The Faces Of Evil broadcast.
David Mercer's The Cellar & The Almond Tree broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
A musical adaptation of Alun Owen's No Trams To Lime Street broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
Jimmy Greaves scored twice on his debut for West Ham as The Hamsters beat Manchester City five-two at Maine Road on Match Of The Day.
The first episode of That's Your Funeral broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of Marty Amok broadcast. The episode featured an appearance by Vivian Stanshall's Big Grunt.
The first episode of The Adventures Of Parsley broadcast. The first episodes of Start The Week - initially presented by Richard Baker - and PM broadcast on Radio 4.
The first episode of Codename broadcast on BBC2.
The day Paul McCartney announced that The Be-Atles had extremely broken up.
Dirty Leeds and Chelsea drew two-two in the FA Cup Final at Wembley, the match going to extra time and causing a delay in the broadcast of episode four of The Ambassadors Of Death. Apollo 13 launched - piloted by Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon (or, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert, if you prefer reality).
The first episode of Fact Or Fantasy? broadcast.
The day Apollo 13 told Houston that it had 'a problem'.
Nigel Kneale's Wine Of India broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand. Glasgow Celtic beat Dirty Leeds two-one in the second leg of the European Cup semi-final in front of a crowd of one hunred and thirty six thousand at Hampden Park (still a record for a UEFA competition).
Somewhat optimistically, Radio Times informed readers that BBC1's morning schedule would featured 'highlights from day two on the moon' from Apollo 13. Instead, James Burke, Patrick Moore, Cliff Michelmore and Michael Charlton had more life-and-death matters to discuss.
The day George Best was sent off for throwing mud at the referee whilst playing for Northern Ireland against Scotland. Lovell, Haise and Swigert splashed-down in the Pacific after their death-defying, pant-shatting flight. That, gentlemen, is how we do that. Lady Kathleen Pelham-Clinton-Hope, daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, was remanded, along with 'three youths', on drugs charges. Black Power leader Michael X was charged with robbery and 'making unwarranted demands with menaces.' British Leyland announced cessation of production of the Morris Minor. American photojournalists Sean Flynn and Dana Stone went missing in Cambodia, suspected abductees of the Khmer Rouge. The Reverend Ian Paisley won a seat at Stormont in the Bannside by-election. Colin Mafham, editor of the Stone Advertiser, was refused entry to the Top of the World Ballroom in Stafford because he 'had long hair.'
The first episode of The Culture Vultures broadcast.The first episode of The Spoils Of Poynton broadcast.
The day a complaint was made to the fuzz under the 1965 Race Relations Act by one Peter Tooms of Oxfordshire against the Prime Minister, John Arlott, Peter Hain, the Right Reverend David Sheppard and others who had voiced their disapproval of Apartheid in a BBC Panorama documentary about the cancellation of a proposed South African cricket tour to Britain. The Arse won the Inter-City Fairs Cup four-three on aggregate against Anderlecht. Supporters of the Black Panthers and the recently jailed Chicago Eight were alleged to be planning 'an armed confrontation' with police at Yale University. A mother in Florida was sentenced to three hundred days in jail for giving her ten year old daughter LSD. The Morecambe & Wise Show and The Benny Hill Show were Britain's entries into the Golden Rose of Montreaux TV festival.
Chelsea beat Dirty Leeds in the replay of the FA Cup Final, one of the roughest games of football ever witnessed. In 1998, Premiership referee David Elleray was asked by Sky Sports to 'replay' the match under then-current FIFA rules. He concluded that six men would have been sent off and every player, bar Leeds goalkeeper David Harvey, booked. In the actual match, the referee Eric Jennings booked just one player – Ian Hutchinson for an angry retaliatory push on Billy Bremner. The game - broadcast on both BBC1 and ITV - had a combined audience in excess of thirty two million (the fact it overran because of extra time caused the postponement of episodes of Callan and The Troubleshooters). Elsewhere, Manchester City beat Poland's Górnik Zabrze two-one in Vienna to win the European Cup Winners Cup.
The first episode of Football Champions Of The World broadcast.
The day of the Kent State massacre in Ohio.
A man of the match performance by Wim Van Hanegem helped Feyenoord beat Glasgow Celtic two-one in the European Cup Final at the San Siro.
Let It Be - the LP, the film and the court case - was released.
Andrew Davies's Is That Your Body, Boy? broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand featuring Ron Moody and the TV début of Michael Kitchen. Family and Groundhogs appeared on Disco 2. Groundhogs' drummer, Ken Pustelnik played with two black eyes and broken nose having been beaten up earlier in the day by a Hell's Angel.
David Mercer's Emma's Time broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play strand.
The day of the Bobby Moore, Bogata bracelet incident. To quote Serious Drinking: 'News At Ten and Tina heard, Bobby could be doin' bird.'
Tony Parker's Chariot Of Fire broadcast as the final episode of The Wednesday Play strand.
The Roy Castle Show broadcast.
The first episode of Tarbuck's Luck broadcast.
Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin's The Great Inimitable Mister Dickens broadcast on BBC2.
The 1970 World Cup - generally regarded as the greatest ever football tournament, certainly of the television age - began in Mexico City with, ironically, one of the very worst games you will ever have the misfortune to see, a deadly dull nil-nil drawn between the hosts and the USSR.
Brazil beat reigning champions England one-nil in the World Cup in Mexico. Gordon Banks made that save. Jeff Astle did that miss. Pele and Bobby swapped shirts at the end. Indelible image, isn't it? Also, fifty Hell's Angels faced a long walk to their bikes after being arrested by police at The Devil's Punchbowl near Hindhead and then taken for questioning in Aldershot twenty miles away.
The Edgar Broughton Band's Sing Brother Sing released.
Jenny Barraclough's harrowing documentary Gale Is Dead broadcast.
Sir Alf's Mexican dream slipped through Peter Bonetti's fingers as West Germany came from two goals down to beat England three-two in the Quarter Finals of the World Cup. David Coleman memorably greeted Gerd Müller's extra-time winner with fifteen second of silence.
Italy beat West Germany four-three in a memorable World Cup Semi Final, after extra-time. In the other Semi, the Brazilians beat Uruguay three-one.
The day of the 1970 General Erection. The Tories won.
Ted Heath formed his first cabinet. Presumably he did it early in the day so that everyone could be home in time to watch the final episode of Inferno.
Brazil beat Italy four-one in the World Cup Final to retain the Jules Rimet Trophy, playing a brand of football that everyone who saw it will never forget. The fourth goal, scored by Carlos Alberto, followed a nine-man move which began deep in Brazil's half.
Riots broke out in Londonderry after MP Bernadette Devlin was arrested having lost an appeal against a six month jail sentence.
The Bath Festival Of Blues & Progressive Music took place, featuring Santana, Led Zeppelin, Hot Tuna, Country Joe McDonald, Colosseum, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds (who played an acoustic set because it rained), Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention, Canned Heat, It's A Beautiful Day, Steppenwolf, Johnny Winter, John Mayall with Peter Green, The Pink Floyd, Pentangle, Fairport Convention and Keef Hartley. Leo Knowles's An Uncertain Sound broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Score With The Scaffold broadcast.
John Ronald Simm born in Blackpool.
The first episode of It's Lulu broadcast. Doug Sanders missed a three-foot putt to win The Open at St Andrews. The following day, Sanders lost by one stroke to Jack Nicklaus in a play-off round.
Keith Waterhous's The Old Contemptible broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of The Timeless Moment broadcast on BBC2 including an interview with Pete Townshend.
Roy Minton's Good Times broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The third Isle Of Wight Festival begins featuring performances by The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, The Doors, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues, Free, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Donovan, John Sebastian, Miles Davis and - surprise hit of the festival - Tiny Tim.
The day Oh! Calcutta! opened its London run at The Roundhouse.
Christopher Marlowe's Edward II - starring Ian McKellan - broadcast on BBC2.
During the trial of the Soledad Brothers - George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette - for murder, Jackson's heavily-armed seventeen year old brother, Jonathan, attempted to stage an escape of the three from Malin County Court House. The resulting shootout left four dead, including both Jackson and the judge, Harold Haley. The event received intense media coverage, as did the subsequent hunt and trial of Angela Davis, an ousted assistant professor from UCLA with connections to the Jackson brothers and the Black Panthers. Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and John Lennon and Yoko Ono all recorded songs about the case and those involved in it.
The first episode of Sentimental Education broadcast on BBC2.
The day of the UK première of Performance.
Hawkwind's self-titled debut LP released.
The World About Us documentary American Samoa: Paradise Lost? broadcast.
Don Levy's Herostratus broadcast as part of BBC2's World Cinema strand.
The first episode of Jean Benedetti's three-part These Men Are Dangerous broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The Scissors & The Little Girl broadcast.
Lancashire beat Sussex by six wickets in the Gillette Cup final.
Leila Khaled and Patrick Argüello attempted the hijack of El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York.
Atomic Rooster's Death Walks Behind You released.
The first UK broadcast of The Pink Panther Show.
The first episode of The Black Tulip broadcast.
The BBC Nine O'Clock News - presented by Robert Dougall - was first broadcast. As was the first episode of Ryan International.
The first episode of Bachelor Father broadcast.
Jimi Hendrix choked on his own vomit and died. The first episode of Ask Aspel broadcast.
The first Glastonbury Festival took place. Performers included David Bowie, Mighty Baby, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Joan Baez, Hawkwind, Skin Alley, The Worthy Farm Windfuckers and Melanie. Neil Young's After The Goldrush was released.
All Things Must Pass was released. The first episode of Spike Milligan's Oh In Colour broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Menace broadcast on BBC2.
Rudolph Cartier's adaptation of The Year Of The Crow broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. Also the first episode of Take It Or Leave It.
Ernie Hunt's volley, set up by Willie Carr's donkey kick', was a highlight of Coventry City's win over Everton on Match Of The Day.
The first episode of Roads To Freedom broadcast. Janis Joplin died from smack. Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert was released. 'Paint it Black, you devils!' Emerson Fittipaldi won the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Jacky Ickx's fourth place meant that the late Jochen Rindt (who had died in practice at the Italian Grand Prix in September) became World Drivers' Champion posthumously.
The first episode of You & Yours broadcast on Radio 4. Led Zeppelin III released.
Everest 1924: The Mystery Of Mallory & Irvine broadcast. Edward Boyd's Good Morning, Yesterday! broadcast as part of BBC2's Menace strand.
Joni Mitchell appeared on the first episode of BBC2's In Concert.
Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch was published. An international bestseller it became an important text in the feminist movement. Mott The Hoople made their TV début on BBC2's Disco 2.The first episode of Radio 3's Study On Three: Personality & Power broadcast.
Alan Sharp's The Long Distance Piano Player, the first Play For Today broadcast on BBC1, starring Ray Davies. The first UK broadcast of The Johnny Cash Show on BBC2.
The first UK broadcast of The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop.
The first episode of Biography broadcast on BBC2.
John Osborne's The Right Prospectus broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Ed & Zed broadcast.
Ben Travers's She Follows Me About broadcast on BBC1. The Move and Slade featured on BBC2's Disco 2.
Dennis Potter's Angels Are So Few broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. Also the first episode of Top Of The Pops featuring CCS's cover of 'Whole Lotta Love' as the theme music (it wouldn't be replaced until 1981).
Felix Dennis became the first person to use the word 'cunt' on British television during a live broadcast of ITV's The Frost Programme.
The first episode of The Goodies broadcast.
Lindisfarne's Nicely Out Of Tune released.
The first episode of Screen Test broadcast.
I Can't See My Little Willy broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Derek Marlowe's A Requiem For Modigliani broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand.
The first episode of Drama Playhouse broadcast.
Maurice Edelman's A Distant Thunder broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of The Befrienders broadcast as part of the Drama Playhouse strand.
The first episode of Waugh On Crime broadcast as part of BBC2 Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Martin Worth's Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed? broadcast as part of BBC2's Menace strand.
John Bowen's Robin Redbreast broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Colin Welland's The Hallelujah Handshake broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Peter Shaffer's Five Finger Exercise broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
Whom God Hath Joined and It's A Terrible Waste Of An Egg broadcast on BBC2.
The Bee Gees' downright weird 'musical comedy' Cucumber Castle broadcast on BBC2, with guests Spike Milligan, Frankie Howerd, Lulu, Blind Faith and Vincent Price. Jimmy Perry's 'Wiltons' - The Handsomest Hall In Town also broadcast on BBC2.
The first UK TV broadcast of A Hard Day's Night.
The Who performed 'Naked Eye' and 'I Don't Even Know Myself' on Into 71.
1971
The first appearances of The Master and Jo Grant in Doctor Who. A crowd crush at Ibrox in the final moments the Glasgow derby between Rangers and Celtic caused the deaths of sixty six spectators. BBC Radio Newcastle began transmission.
Open University broadcasts began on BBC2. But, Radio Times was on strike that week so you might have missed it. The Mysterious Mr Eliot broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand.
The first episode of The Craftsmen broadcast on BBC2.
The TV debut of Pauline Quirke in an episode of Dixon Of Dock Green.
The first episode of Anatomy Of Pop - presented by Michael Parkinson. With contributions by The Soft Machine, Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention, Fairport Convention's Dave Swarbrick and Marmalade.
The Employment Secretary Robert Carr's home was bombed by The Angry Brigade.
Stephen Gilbert's Circle Line broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of The Last Of The Mohicans broadcast.
Tony Read's Hell's Angel broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. The Tragedy Of King Richard II - directed by and starring Ian McKellan - broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Some Matters Of Little Consequence broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Ian Curties' trilogy Long Voyage Out Of War broadcast on BBC2.
Clare Victoria Balding born in Chiswick.
Apollo 14 - piloted by Alan Shepard, Stu Roosa and Ed Mitchell - launched. Shepard would, later, become the first man to play golf on the moon.
The world première (in Los Angeles) of Get Carter.
The day Rolls Royce Engines was placed in receivership putting the future of the RB211 engine into doubt.
The first episode of Jude The Obscure broadcast on BBC2.
A day of reet malarkey and discombobulation at the final Ashes test at Sydney. Terry Jenner retired hurt when he ducked into a short delivery from John Snow and was crowned on the bonce. The umpire, stroppy, officious Lou Rowan, warned Snow for intimidatory bowling. Snow and Ray Illingworth objected strongly, the captain saying 'That's the only bouncer he's bowled' and stating that he would complain to the ABC. The bowler was loudly booed and when he returned to his fielding position at long-leg Snow - in best pantomime villain style - was pelted with bottles, cans and partially eaten pies. Then he was grabbed by a drunk at Paddington Hill and had to pull himself free. To avoid injury to his team Illingworth took his men to the dressing room without the permission of the umpires, an unprecedented move in test cricket at the time. He later justified his action by saying 'I've seen people hit by bottles and it makes a bloody mess of them.' The England tour manager, David Clark, tried to push Illingworth back onto the field and Rowan reportedly told them that if they did not immediately return they would forfeit the match (and the Ashes) and was supported by Alan Barnes of the ABC. A furious Illingworth said he would not return until the playing area had been cleared and the crowd had calmed down. It took seven minutes for the groundstaff to move the debris, during which one was hit on the head with a beer-can and had to be taken to hospital. The Australian batsmen Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee remained at the crease throughout the incident which wound the crowd up even more. Inspired by veteran Ray Crawford, Fourth Division Colchester United knocked Dirty Leeds out of the FA Cup with a three-two victory in the Fifth Round.The day decimal currency began in the UK.
The first episode of Elizabeth R broadcast. England regained the Ashes after twelve years, Ray Illingworth's side gaining a two-nil victory in an ill-tempered seven match series. The last wicket was Terry Jenner caught by Keith Fletcher off Derek Underwood, after which the England team chaired Illingworth off the field in celebration. The highlights were shown on BBC2.
The first episode of Peter Cook's disastrous chat-show Where Do I Sit? broadcast on BBC2. The biggest name booked as a guest was Kirk Douglas (in London to plug a movie). Instead of asking 'How are you?', a somewhat hammered Peter asked Kirk 'Who are you?!' The show was cancelled after three episodes.
The first episode of Joe & The Gladiator broadcast. Hugo Charteris's Asquith In Orbit - starring Charles Gray and Peter Barkworth - broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.The first episode of Mr Benn broadcast.
The Edgar Broughton Band appeared on Radio 1's In Concert.
Rhys Adrian's No Charge For The Extra Service broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Joe Bugner controversially beat Henry Cooper in the latter's final fight. An audience, mainly composed of Cooper fans, did not appreciate this and the decision was booed with BBC commentator Harry Carpenter asking, 'How can they take away the man's titles like this?'
The first episode of Sunset Song broadcast. Tuneless hippies Emerson, Lake & Palmer recorded their wretched Pictures At An Exhibition at Newcastle City Hall. Get yer hair cut, you three.
Ronnie Corbett In Bed and the first episode of Imperial Palace broadcast.
Just Harry & Me broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. It would later be developed into the series Now, Take My Wife. The Ronnie Barker Yearbook broadcast.
Uncle Tulip broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.The first episode of The Two Ronnies broadcast.
The first episode of It's Awfully Bad For Your Eyes, Darling broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. George C Scott became the first actor to reject an Oscar for his role in the movie Patton, claiming that the Academy Awards were 'a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons' and that he did not feel himself to be 'in competition' with other actors. The Barbican Centre was given formal planning permission,
The Monty Python's Flying Circus Montreux 1971 episode broadcast. London saw a large demonstration of East Pakistanis calling for the recognition of the state of Bangladesh. The retiring head of the British Board of Film Censors, John Trevelyan, addressed a seminar and warned of the dangers of violence in film and TV whilst hoping that censorship would not be allowed to interfere with artistic integrity. He used the examples of The Wild Bunch and Performance to illustrate movies which had 'something to say about society.' Conservative MP Sir Gerald Nabarro urged that the makers of the sex education film Growing Up should be prosecuted and that Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher should 'warn' local authorities about the film's 'undesirability.' Egypt, Syria and Libya, at the instigation of Colonel Ghaddafi, formed a Federation of Arab States which sought to unify foreign policy, Howard Moore, a defence lawyer for black activists Angela Davies and the Soledad Brothers arrived in London seeking European support for the case, Time Out magazine was banned by WH Smiths. Penny Brahams, an actress and model, aged twenty and the widow of millionaire property developer Clive Raphael, challenged her late husband’s will which left her one shilling and four nude photographs of herself.
The first episode of Meanwhile On BBC2 ... presented by Kenneth Williams broadcast. The Pope was criticised by the Italian conservative press for holding an audience with 'young people' which included 'members of rock bands' and 'girls in hot pants.' West Bromwich Albinos beat Dirty Leeds at Elland Road in controversial circumstances which ended with a geet rive-on and a pitch invasion that appeared to be actively encouraged by commentator Barry Davies on Match Of The Day.
David John McDonald born in Bathgate.
The first episode of Brett broadcast.
Waris Husain's Melody with its gorgeous Bee Gees soundtrack was released. John Wiles's Taste Of Evil broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
The first episode of The Rough With The Smooth broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The day Sticky Fingers released.
Neil Young made an appearance on BBC2's In Concert.
Eight members of the Welsh Language Society went on trial for destroying English language road signs in Wales. British Leyland launched the Morris Marina which succeeded the Minor and Oxford models and was similar in size to the Ford Cortina, Vauxhall Victor and Hillman Hunter.
Michael J Bird's To Lay A Ghost broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
Rhys Adrian's The Foxtrot broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. John Lloyd and Graeme Garden's Equal Partners broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first of The World About Us's two-part documentary Thor Heyerndahl's Ra Experditions broadcast on BBC2.
Kingsley Amis's The Importance Of Being Hairy broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand and Tony Parker's When The Bough Breaks broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Champagne Charlie George scored the winner as The Arse beat Liverpool in the FA Cup Final. Two days later they would become the first side to win The Double since Tottenham a decade earlier. Roy Smith, the Croydon headmaster who suspended a thirteen year old boy who refused to accept the cane said that he would take the same action again. West Germany and the Netherland floated the Mark and the Guilder to restore financial stability. The government announced it was changing the locks on official safes after the revelation that tools existed which could detect combinations. Pakistani forces shelled the Indian border area of Sonamura. In the Vietnamese city of Huế a Buddhist monk committed suicide by setting himself ablaze. The first US attempt to send a spacecraft into orbit around Mars ended when Mariner Eight crashed into the Atlantic. John Pestridge, aged seventy eight, claimed to have spent fifty years fighting for a pension after his sight was damaged during the First World War. Legal aid was 'a waste of time and money' according to Lord Hailsham who noted 'a judicious plea of guilty accompanied by a discreet and concise plea for mitigation will, if he would only realise it, often get a defendant off with less.' Robert Pounder of County Durham revealed police had located his wife whose disappearance had led to the digging up of his garden. She was alive and well and living in Newcastle but 'declined her husband's invitation to return home.'The first episode of Look, Mike Yarwood! broadcast.
Jim Allen's The Rank & File broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand,
Marvin Gaye's What's Going On? was released. Chelsea beat Real Madrid two-one in a replay to win the European Cup Winners Cup.
Simon Gray's The Man In The Sidecar broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Ajax Amsterdam beat Panathinaikos two-nil at Wembley in the European Cup Final. Martin Worth's The Last Witness broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand. Man Alive's The Black American Dream profiled Stokely Carmichael.
Dirty Leeds won the Inter-City Fairs Cup on the away goals rule against Juventus.
Filthy kiddie-fiddler Rolf Harris's Rolf's Walkabout broadcast.
The day Blue Peter buried a time capsule in the grounds of BBC Television Centre, due to be opened on the first episode of the year 2000. Which it was. Alan Wells's Something For The Children broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Where Do I Stand? broadcast.
The first episode of Crystal Tipps & Alistair broadcast.
The first episode of Birds On The Wing broadcast on BBC2.
Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher proposed to cut free school milk to children over the age of seven sparking the first of many angry protests which would characterise her political career. The future Prime Minister earned the nickname 'The Milk Snatcher'. During a fierce Parliamentary debate, Labour education spokesman Ted Short described the plans as 'the meanest and most unworthy thing' he had seen as an MP.
Nigel Kneale's The Chopper broadcast as part of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown strand.
The first episode of Parkinson broadcast.
'David Bowie and Friends' appeared on Radio 1's John Peel In Concert. Bowie unveiled a new composition, 'Kooks', written to celebrate the birth of his son, Zowie, two days earlier.
The day the Oz obscenity trial began.
A try by Ian McLauchlan and two penalties by Barry John gave the British Lions a nine-three victory against the All Blacks in the opening test at Dunedin.
The Shattered Eye, the final episode of BBC2's Out Of The Unknown broadcast.
Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Olkov and Viktor Patsayev died from asphyxiation when Soyuz 11 depressurised before re-entry.
The day overweight drunk Jim Morrison died in a Paris bathtub.
The first episode of What's The Sense? - presented by Cardew Robinson (and his massive teeth) - broadcast. Also, the first TV broadcast of Help! opened a new series of Pop Go The Movies. Subsequent weeks included the first telly broadcasts of movies like Catch Us If You Can, Everyday's A Holiday (with Freddie & The Dreamers), Up Jumped A Swagman (with Frank Ifield) and What A Crazy World (with Joe Brown & The Bruvvers).
The first episode of Hope & Keen's Crazy House broadcast.
The first episode of We Want To Sing - introduced by Bernard Cribbins - broadcast.
Francois Reichenbach's documentary Review Elmyr: The True Picture about the art forger Elmyr De Hory broadcast on BBC2. Much footage from the programme would subsequently be reused by Orson Welles in his 1973 movie F For Fake.
Apollo 15 - piloted by Dave Scott, Al Worden and Jim Irwin - launched.
The Oz trial ended with Richard Neville, Felix Dennis and James Anderson, the editors of the magazine convicted of obscenity at the Old Bailey over the 'schoolkidz' edition. They were found not guilty of 'conspiring to corrupt morals.' A subsequent appeal found that Justice Argyle had 'grossly misdirected' the jury 'on numerous occasions' and the sentences were quashed. Lancashire beat Gloucestershire in a thrilling Gillette Cup semi-final which didn't finish until almost nine o'clock, Labour's NEC voted not to support Britain joining the Common Market, The Minister for Aerospace announced that the government would continue to support Rolls Royce's RB211 engine even if the intended client, Lockheed's Tristar Airbus, did not secure funding from Congress.
Jimmy Reid made his famous 'there will be no bevvying' speech to shipyard workers in Glasgow.
The day of George Harrison's Concert For Bangladesh.
Philip Larkin's This Be The Verse first published in New Humanist magazine.
The first episode of Cousin Bette broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Vivian Stanshall's Radio Flashes broadcast on Radio 1, featuring a guest appearance by Keith Moon.
We Want To Sing broadcast in which convicted sex offender Dave Lee Travis joined three hundred children 'in rousing, uninhibited singing of songs they want to sing. Abetted by The Spinners.'
Colchester United won the Watney Cup on penalties after a four-four draw with West Bromwich Albinos.David Jenkins won the four hundred metres for Great Britain at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki,
The day Harvey Smith 'flicked the V' at Hickstead. The football season started with a 'relatively quiet' Saturday, police reporting only seventy three arrests across the country, this, despite the cancellation of all plod leave in Derby where The Scum supporters had reportedly threatened to 'smash the town up.' Kevin Keegan scored on his debut for Liverpool, who beat Nottingham Forest three-one. Who's Next was released. In New Zealand, two penalties by Barry John and a drop kick by JPR Williams helped The British Lions to a fourteen-all draw in the fourth test against The All Blacks, thus winning the series two-one the first, and, to date only, time that the Lions have won a series there.
The day Soviet writer and noted dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn complained about the activities of the KGB. Prime Minister Heath won the Admiral's Cup aboard his yacht Morning Cloud. President Nixon announced a suspension of the gold standard relating to the US dollar. There were calls by both politicians – including Shadow Home Secretary Jim Callaghan - and civil rights groups to end internment in Northern Ireland. An 'International Socialists' rally in Hyde Park included a man brandishing a placard mounted with a pig's head describing the Prime Minister as 'a war criminal.' A top Scotland Yard officer, known only as Commander X, was asked to investigate an explosion at an army recruiting office for which The Angry Brigade had claimed responsibility. Jackie Stewart won his second World Drivers' Championship despite crashing in the Austrian Grand Prix. A strike by TV technicians who refused to operate colour recording equipment meant that episodes of some ITV show - including Budgie, Upstairs, Downstairs, Timeslip and Escape Into Night - were filmed in monochrome. The Los Angeles Times claimed several US servicemen 'in charge of atomic weapons' has been caught taking marijuana and LSD. Comedian Felix Bowness was fined one hundred quid by the actors union Equity for refusing to strike at his summer show in Bognar Regis.Malcolm MacDonald scored a hat-trick on his home début for yer actual Keith Telly Topping's beloved (though unsellable) Magpies, against Liverpool.
The first episode of Trial broadcast on BBC2.
Getaway With Cliff broadcast.
Clive Lloyd scored sixty six as Lancashire retained the Gillette Cup against Kent, despite Asif Iqbal's Man Of The Match performance. The Forgotten War, the story of the Allied attack on Soviet Russia in 1918 broadcast on BBC2.
The first UK broadcast of Harlem Globetrotters.
An Hour With Harry H Corbett broadcast. Martin John Christopher Freeman born in Aldershot.
The Attica State Riots took place at the New York prison. Based upon prisoners' demands for better living conditions and political rights, the riot was one of the most well-known and significant uprisings of the Prisoners' Rights Movement. Two weeks after the killing of George Jackson at San Quentin Prison, about one thousand of the Attica's approximately two thousand two hundred inmates rioted and took control of the prison, taking forty two staff hostage. During the following four days of negotiations, authorities agreed to twenty eight of the prisoners' demands. By the order of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, state police took back control of the prison. When the uprising was over, at least forty three people were dead, including ten correctional officers and civilian employees, and thirty three inmates. Only one death was definitely attributed to the prisoners.
The first episode of Presenting Lena Martell broadcast. A gang tunnelled into a branch of Lloyds Bank at the junction of Baker Street and Marylebone Road and robbed the safe deposit boxes which were stored in the vault. The robbers had rented a leather goods shop named Le Sac two doors down from the bank, and tunnelled a distance of approximately forty feet, passing under the Chicken Inn fast food restaurant located between the shop and the bank. This would subsequently become the basis for the 2008 movie The Bank Job. The film's producers claimed they had 'an inside source,' identified in press reports as George McIndoe. The movie's plot concerning the issuance of a D-Notice, because one safe deposit box held sex pictures of Princess Margaret with London gangster-turned-actor John Bindon, is almost certainly fictional. A possible connection to black activist (and, later, convicted murderer) Michael X was, apparently, based on information provided by McIndoe, though the veracity of this 'information' remained unclear.
The first episode of Eyeless In Gaza broadcast on BBC2.The first episodes of Dave Allen At Large, Owen MD and Barlow At Large broadcast.
The first episode of Bachelor Father broadcast.
Jim Allen's Walt, King Of the Dumper broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of The Old Grey Whistle Test broadcast on BBC2 featuring performances by Alice Cooper, America and Lesley Duncan.
The first episode of The Search For The Nile broadcast on BBC2.
The day Electric Warrior was released.
The Nationwide Festival of Light, a short-lived movement formed by British Christians concerned about the development of the permissive society, held rallies in Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park. Its notable members included the clean-up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse, the journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge and Cliff Richard.
Chelsea beat Luxembourg's Jeunesse Hautcharage thirteen-nil at Stamford Bridge in the first round of the Cup Winners Cup to go along with an eight-nil victory in the first leg. The aggregate score, twenty one-nil was, at the time, a UEFA record.
The first episode of The Generation Game broadcast.
The first episode of The Witch's Daughter broadcast.
Nic Roeg's Walkabout released.
Hawkwind's In Search Of Space and Focus's Focus II released. A warning to the unwary; the latter contained yodelling.
Lindisfarne performed 'Fog On The Tyne' and 'Meet Me On The Corner' on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Dennis Potter's Traitor - with a BAFTA-winning performance by John le Mesurier - broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of The Onedin Line broadcast. Lindisfarne's Fog On The Tyne released.
Jeremy Sandford's Edna, The Inebriate Woman broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episodes of The Passenger - part of the Francis Durbridge Presents ... strand - and Ali Bongo's Cartoon Carnival broadcast.
The probable broadcast date of the legendary BBC North East documentary All Dressed Up & Going Nowhere about rival gangs of skinheads and 'hairies' in Newcastle, shown as part of the Look North strand. The rest of the country got Nationwide instead.
Rhys Adrain's Evelyn broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
A bomb exploded in the Post Office Tower causing extensive damage but no injuries. The Kilburn Battalion of the IRA claimed responsibility.
William Trevor's O Fat White Woman - with its eerie, unsettling Delia Derbyshire soundtrack - broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Now Look Here broadcast. Elton John's Madman Across The Water released.The first episode of The Runaway Summer broadcast.
The first episode of Anthony Steven's adaptation of Tom Brown's Schooldays broadcast. The first episode of Wives & Daughters broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Dennis Potter's adaptation of Casanoa broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Play Away broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The View From Daniel Pike broadcast on BBC2.
The Inner London Education Authority announced a ban on corporal punishment in primary schools.
Alun Owen's Pal broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
'Some stupid with a flare-gun' started the fire which burned down the Montreux Casino during a gig by Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention, an event later commemorated in Deep Purple's turgid, hippy dirge 'Smoke On The Water'. Lindisfarne recorded Lindisfarne Live at Newcastle City Hall. Which began with Ray Jackson whinging about his beloved (though unsellable) Newcastle United's inability to beat Chelsea at St James' Park that afternoon (it was a goalless draw).
Elton John performed 'Tiny Dancer' on The Old Grey Whistle Test, an episode which also featured an appearance by the American female group, ahem, Fanny. No sniggering, please.
David Bowie's Hunky Dory - still this blogger's favourite LP of all time - released.
The first A Ghost Story For Christmas - The Stalls Of Barchester - broadcast.
Hugh Whitemore's adaptation of Cider With Rosie broadcast on BBC2.
Wildlife Spectacular - introduced by Peter Cushing and David Bellamy - broadcast.
Rod Stewart & The Faces performed 'Maggie May' on the Christmas Top Of The Pops - Rod, Ronnie Wood and Ronnie Lane had a kick-about with a football during the closing seconds to prove that they were miming. The mandolin part - played on the record by Lindisfarne's Ray Jackson - was mimed here by The Faces' friend John Peel (still, unofficially, banned from presenting the programme over the 1968 'forgetting the name of Amen Corner' incident). On the same show, T-Rex performed 'Get It On' with Elton John guesting on piano. Also the day that yer actual Keith Telly Topping bought Motown Chartbusters Volume 3 at JG Windows. And, his life was never the same again.Paul Gallico's adaptation of The Snow Goose - with Jenny Agutter - and Private Eye TV broadcast on BBC2. The first UKTV broadcast of what was to become a British Christmas tradition over the next few years The Great Escape on BBC1.
The UK première of Diamonds Are Forever. The Electronic Tunesmiths, George Lucie's documentary on the output of the Radiophonic's Workshop broadcast on Radio 4.
1972
The first episode of The Shadow Of The Tower broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of BBC2's Way Of Seeing broadcast.
The first episodes of Englebert With The Young Generation - featuring comedy inserts from The Goodies - and Boomph With Becker broadcast.
The first episode of Sounding Out featured tuneless prog-rock dinosaurs Yes.
The first episode of The Adventures Of Sir Prancelot broadcast. Julia Jones's Still Waters broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The most important day in the history of popular music, bar none. Chicory Tip released 'Son Of My Father'. Graham Chapman and Bernard McKenna's Idle At Work - starring Ronnie Barker - broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of The Moonstone broadcast.
Willis Hall's They Don't All Open Men's Boutiques broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Tom Clarke's Stockers Copper broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Up Sunday broadcast as a spin-off from Late Night Line-Up.
William Trevor's The Penthouse Apartment broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand,
Piers Paul Read's The House On Highbury Hill broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Man Of Straw broadcast on BBC2. The day of 'Bloody Sunday'.
Bernadette Devlin slapped Home Secretary Reggie Maulding across the chops in the House of Commons when he claimed - wrongly - that the Paras had fired in self-defence.
The first episode of Film '72 broadcast. Hewlett-Packard released the HP-35, the world's first hand held electronic pocket calculator.
Dara Ó Briain born in Bray, County Wicklow.
Ronnie Radford scored 'the goal of the Century' as non-league Hereford dumped yer actual Keith Telly Topping's beloved (though, unsellable) Newcastle out of the FA Cup.
Two of the Britain's biggest brewers - Watneys and Courage - announced a rise in the price of beer, the miners strike continued and power-cuts were threatened as NUM pickets were arrested in pithead battles in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, Britain officially recognised Bangladesh as an independent state. Both A Clockwork Orange and The French Connection opened in the UK. In Rhodesia, the daughter of former Prime Minister Todd, Judith, went on hunger strike protesting at being held in prison without charge.The Bishop of Southwell, made a speech extolling the virtues of discipline. '[It's] almost a dirty word these days. The more acceptable word seems to be "permissiveness."' Millwall fan Roger Holmes celebrated the birth of his son, Spencer, by giving him nineteen middle names, those of the entire first team squad. 'They're a great team' noted Roger.
David Bowie & The Spiders performed 'Queen Bitch' and 'Five Years' on The Old Grey Whistle Test. A version of 'Oh! You Pretty Things' was also filmed but not broadcast until many years later.
The blockade of Saltley Coke Works in Birmingham by striking miners began.
The first episode of The Scobie Man broadcast.
Henry Lincoln's Chronicle film, The Lost Treasure Of Jerusalem? broadcast, a piece of speculative nonsense followed by two sequels, several books and which was, ultimately, responsible for The Da Vinci Code. Thanks a bunch, Henry.
The first episode of Fingerbobs broadcast. Neil Young's Harvest released.
The first episode of Chlochemerle broadcast.
The first episode of The Befrienders broadcast.
The first episode of Anne Of Green Gables broadcast.
The first episode of The Regiment broadcast. Brian Finch's An Arrow For Little Audrey broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first appearance of The Sea Devils in Doctor Who.
The first episode of Treasure Over The Water broadcast. John Hopkins' That Quiet Earth - featuring an early career appearance by David Bradley - broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand
John Hopkins's Walk Into The Dark broadcast on BBC2.
British schoolboy Timothy Davey was jailed in Turkey for selling pot. Five died when the SRN-6 hovercraft capsized in the Solent. Violent demonstrations in the Hague caused the Dutch government to delay the release of the country's three remaining imprisoned war criminals. Trinidad police continued investigations into the murder of Gale Benson following the arrest of Michael X. Britain was to decide whether to keep its bases on Malta following meetings between Maltese Premier Dom Mintoff and Lord Carrington. A leading psychoanalyst stated depressed adolescents should not be told to 'snap out of it' by parents and teachers. Ian Storey Moore's proposed transfer from Nottingham Forest to Derby County collapsed. Dirty Leeds give Southampton a footballing lesson, winning seven-nil at Elland Road in front of Match Of The Day cameras. George Eastham scored the winner as Stoke City beat Chelsea in the League Cup final.The first episode of The Brothers broadcast.
The first episode of Spy Trap broadcast.
Anthony Terpiloff's Poet Game - featuring Anthony Hopkins - broadcast on BBC2.
EA Whitehead's Under The Age broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Roy Minton's Horace broadcast on BBC2. Judee Sill performed a spellbinding version of 'Jesus Was A Crossmaker' on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The first episode of It's Murder, But Is It Art? broadcast.
David Yallop's To Encourage The Others - directed by Alan Clarke - and Treasures Of Tutankhamun broadcast on BBC2.
The Faces appeared on BBC2's Sounds For Saturday.
The first episode of Tutankhanum's Egypt broadcast.
The first episode of John Craven's Newsround broadcast.
The first episode of Lord Peter Wimsey broadcast.
Mike and Albie set off in search of Uncle Ebenezer's treasure in the first episode of Hope & Keen's Crazy Bus.
The first UK broadcast of The Wonderful World of Disney.
Don Taylor's Actor, I Said broadcast as part on the Omnibus strand. The Goodies Montreaux remake of Kitten Kong broadcast on BBC2.
Keith Dewhurst's The Sit In broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. The first episode of Tales From The Lazy Acre broadcast on BBC1.
Apollo 16 - piloted by John Young, Charlie Duke and Ken Mattingly - launched. Public apathy meant that coverage had now transferred to BBC2.
A film clip of Iggy Pop & The Stooges featured on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Maxwell Confait, a twenty six year old male prostitute, was found murdered in his burning Catford flat, having been strangled. Three teenagers - Colin Lattimore, Ronnie Leighton and Ahmet Salih - were arrested. All had alibis for the time which the police surgeon and the pathologist had estimated the time of death, nevertheless, they were convicted of murder and arson at the Old Bailey in November. In 1975, the three successfully appealed. Lord Scarman heavily criticised the police for their handling of the case, claiming they should have put more emphasis on the fact that there had been no struggle, suggesting Confait knew his killer. After the acquittals, Roy Jenkins ordered an enquiry chaired by Sir Harry Fisher. His primary remit was to make recommendations about the Judges' Rules stipulating how police should treat suspects, particularly minors and 'the educationally subnormal', which was 'palpably in need of review.' In his report, Fisher made a number of recommendations, but he also, controversially, said that he believed two of the defendants were 'guilty on balance of probability.' In February 1980, Detective Chief Superintendent George and Inspector Ellison presented a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions identifying the late Douglas Franklin as Confait's murderer (Franklin had committed suicide shortly after being interviewed by the officers). In August 1980, Sir Michael Havers prepared a statement to Parliament declaring Lattimore, Leighton and Salih 'innocent.' When he sent for Fisher asking him to concur with this statement. Fisher refused to do so.
The first episode of Michael J Bird's The Lotus Eaters broadcast on BBC2.
Four Balck September terrorists - Ali Taha Abu Snina, Abed al-Aziz Atrash, Rima Tannous and Theresa Halsa - hijacked a Sabena aircraft carrying ninety nine passengers and ten crew from Brussels to Tel Aviv. At Lod Airport, in a mission titled Operation Isotope, sixteen members of Sayeret Matkal - led by Ehud Barak and including Benjamin Netanyahu, both future Israeli Prime Ministers - posed as refuelling personnel and stormed the plane, killing two of the terrorists and releasing the passengers, of whom three were wounded. The surviving terrorists, Halsa and Tannous were sentenced to life imprisonment. They were freed in November 1983, in a prisoner exchange.
Sniffer Clarke scored the winner as Dirty Leeds beat The Arse in the Centenary FA Cup Final.
'Kids Lib' leader Ginger Finch was charged with using insulting behaviour and obstruction after a mass 'pupil power' demonstration in North London. Eight hundred pupils from five schools met to urge teenagers away from their classrooms. The demo was called by the Rebel Schools' Action Union, who were protesting against caning, detention, uniforms and 'headmaster dictatorship.' After the crowd were joined by pupils from Sarah Siddons Girls' School the demonstrators set out on an eight-mile march to enlist support from other schools. At Marylebone Grammar School twenty invaders broke into the school building where they kicked classroom doors and shouted 'Everybody Out.' Dirty Leeds's defeat by Wolves (in a game which was subsequently the subject of - unproven - allegations of attempted match-fixing) and Liverpool's goalless draw with The Arse meant that Brian Clough's Derby County were Football League champions for the first time. The post-Jim Morrison Doors appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The first episode of The Man Outside broadcast. Exile On Main Street was released.
Elton John's Honky Chateux released.
Sottingtot Hotshots beat Wolverhampton Wanderers three-two on aggregate in the final of the UEFA Cup.
The first episode of Right Charlie - featuring Charlie Caroli 'the clever comical clown' - broadcast.
England beat Wales three-nil in the Home International Championship in Cardiff.
John Mortimer's Mill Hill broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand, featuring Peter Cook in a rare straight acting role. Also, the Horizon film Do You Dig National Parks? and John Betjeman's A Land For All Seasons broadcast as part of the Bird's-Eye View strand.
Glasgow Rangers beat Dynamo Moscow three-two in the Nou Camp to win the European Cup Winners Cup though the victory was marred by a violent pitch invasion.
The UK TV debut of Focus on The Old Grey Whistle Test performing 'Hocus Pocus'.
Johan Cruyff scored twice as Ajax retained the European Cup against Internazionale in Rotterdam.
Peter Terson's The Fishing Party broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The jury in the trial of Angela Davis return a not-guilty verdict on charges of aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder relating to the Malin County court shootout.
The first episode of His Lordship Entertains broadcast on BBC2.
The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars was released.
The start of a memorable Ashes series as the first test at Old Trafford began (perhaps, inevitably, with a day constantly interrupted by rain showers). Tony Greig made his England début and this was also most English cricket fans' first sight of Dennis Lillie, Rod Marsh and Greg Chappell.
Peter Terson's The Gregorian Chant broadcast as part of BBC2's The Sextet strand.
The first episode of The Burke Special broadcast. The first episode of The Visitors and Box Me A Bongo broadcast on BBC2.
The day of the Watergate break-in. Just think, if only Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt had got the Cubans to watch episode five of The Time Monster instead of breaking into the Democrats campaign office, how different US political history might have been.
Peter Ransley's Night Duty broadcast as part of BBC2's The Sextet strand. Roxy Music made their TV début on The Old Grey Whistle Test playing 'Ladytron' and 'Remake/Remodel'.
Bob Massie took sixteen wickets on his debut as Australia won the second test at Lord's by eight wickets.
The first episode of Cabbages & Kings broadcast.
The first Gay Pride march held in London.
Frank Muir interviewed Groucho Marx in A Dignified Comic Set-To broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand.
Dennis Potter's Follow The Yellow Brick Road broadcast as part of BBC2's The Sextet strand.
John Elliot's Shelley - with Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter and Peter Bowles - broadcast on BBC2.
David Bowie performed 'Starman' on Top Of The Pops with The Spiders and camped it up with Mick Ronson like a good'un.
The day Stan Smith beat Ille Nastasi at Wimbledon.
The first episode of The Virgin Fellas broadcast.
The first episode of No Exit broadcast.
Hawkwind's TV début, a filmed performance of 'Silver Machine' at the Aylesbury Friars' Club broadcast on Top Of The Pops. That Stacia was a fine lookin' lady.
Highlights of the Bickershaw Festival broadcast on BBC1. Aided by an outrageous chip from a bunker on the difficult seventeenth at Muirfield, Lee Travino became the first golfer since Arnold Palmer a decade earlier to retain The Open Championship, narrowly beating Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin.
Leicestershire beat Yorkshire by five wickets in the inaugural Benson & Hedges Cup final. Chuck Berry appeared on Sounds For Saturday.
Keith Michell At The Piccadilly broadcast as part of BBC2's Show Of The Week strand.
Derek Underwood bowled England to victory inside three days in the fourth test at Headingley as England retained The Ashes.
Basil Deane's fantasy drama Parade - starring Cyril Shaps as Erik Satie - broadcast as part of BBC2's Music On 2 strand.
The London Rock & Roll Show took place at Wembley, featuring Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard Bill Haley & His Comets. Chuck Berry, Joe Brown, Emile Ford & The Checkmates, Screaming Lord Sutch, Heinz, Billy Fury, Wizzard, The MC5 and Gary Glitter & The Glitter Band.
Fay Weldon's Hands broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The last US combat troops left Vietnam. Australia won a thrilling fifth and final test at The Oval to square The Ashes' series two-two with one test drawn.
Elton John performed 'Honky Cat' on Top Of The Pops dressed as, well, a cat - introduced by a rather startled-looking Tony Blackburn. Tragically, footage of this performance no longer exists in the BBC archives..
Victoria Elizabeth Coren born in Hammersmith.
The Opening Ceremony of the Munich Olympics broadcast. One which would be memorable for numerous athletic feats but also, sadly, for horrible the spectre of international terrorism invading the world of sport.
No Peace On The Western Front broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. Fifteen year old Australian schoolgirl Shane Gould won three gold swimming medals at the Olympics.
Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky in the most controversial and widely covered World Chess Championship ever. Olga Korbut won three Olympic gymnastic golds, as did her teammate Lyudmilla Turisheva. The first episode of Love & Mr Lewisham broadcast on BBC2.
Iceland announced that British trawlermen fishing inside a fifty mile radius would be arrested, starting the 'Cod War'. Lancashire won the Gillette Cup for the third year in succession, beating Warwickshire by four wickets at Lord's. John Akii-Bua won Uganda's first ever Olympic gold medal in the four hundred metres hurdles. David Hemery took bronze. East Germany's Renate Stecher - who was, obviously, in no way pumped full of performance-enhancing drugs. Oh no, very hot water - won the women's one hundred metres ahead of Australia's Raelene Boyle.
Britain's Mary Peters won Pentathlon gold at the Olympics, beating West Germany's Heide Rosendahl by a mere ten points.
Members of the Arab terrorist group Black September broke into the Olympic Village and took a number of Israeli athletes, coaches and officials hostage in their apartments. Two of the hostages who resisted were killed; the subsequent stand-off lasted for eighteen hours. During the early hours of the siege sporting events continued. US swimmer Mark Spitz won a record of seven Olympic gold medals. Valeriy Borzov completed the sprint double by winning the two hundred metres gold and Kenya's Kip Keino won the three thousand metres steeplechase.Lindisfarne appeared on Sounding Out. Bill Palfrey, Copper broadcast.
The day of the Munich Massacre. Nine Israeli athletes, five guerrillas and a policeman were killed during a horribly-botched hostage rescue by West German police at Munich airport. The Black September massacre led the German federal government to re-examine its anti-terrorism policies and to the creation of the elite counter-terrorist unit GSG 9. It also saw Israel launch a campaign known as Operation Wrath Of God, in which those suspected of involvement with the terrorists were systematically tracked down and assassinated.
The first episode of Are You Being Served? broadcast as a last minute replacement for the cancelled Olympic Grandstand.
The Soviet Union dramatically beat the United States by one point in the final second of the Olympic Basketball final amid all manner of malarkey, shenanigans and stroppy accusations over reset clocks. The US team were so pissed off by their unexpected defeat (their first ever at an Olympics) that they refused to accept their silver medals which remain, to this day, locked in a bank vault in Switzerland. Cuba's Teofilio Stevenson would the Heavyweight boxing gold.Poland - recently drawn in England's group in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers - gave notice of how shit-hot they were, beating Hungary two-one in the Olympic Football final. Finland's Lasse Viren won the five thousand metres gold to go with the one he'd already won for the ten thousand a week earlier. Great Britain's four by four hundred metres relay team - Martin Reynolds, David Hemery, Alan Pascoe and David Jenkins - won a surprise silver medal behind Kenya. Emerson Fittipaldi won the Italian Grand Prix and the World Drivers' Championship.
The first episode of Midweek, presented by Ludovic Kennedy, broadcast. Yes's Close To The Edge released.
The first episodes of Sykes and NJ Crisp's The Man Who Was Hunting Himself broadcast. The Godfather released in the UK.
The first UK broadcast of Help! ... It's The Hair Bear Bunch! and the first episode of Michael Bentine Time.
The first episode of Sam On Boffs' Island broadcast.
The first episode of My Wife Next Door broadcast.
The first episode of BBC2's Six Faces broadcast.
The first episode of The Long Chase broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of Josie & The Pussycats.
David Rudkin's Bypass - featuring the TV debut of Bob Peck - broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Jack Pulman's adaptation of War & Peace broadcast on BBC2. The UK première of Dracula AD 1972.
The first episode of Pebble Mill At One and Terry Nation's The Incredible Robert Baldick broadcast.
Mrs Warren's Profession broadcast as part of BBC2's Stage 2 strand.
Genesis's Foxtrot released. Oi,Gabriel! take that flower off your head, you look effing ridiculous.
The first episodes of PJ Hammond's adaptation of The Hole In The Wall broadcast on BBC1 and Barry Took's adaptation of Scoop broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Full House broadcast on BBC2. Hawkwind appeared on Radio 1's In Concert.
Tony Parker's A Life Is Forever broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Colditz broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of Cannon.
England's goalkeeper Gordon Banks suffered a serious eye injury which would end his career in a car crash in Staffordshire.
Grossly overweight bully and - alleged - kiddie-fiddler Cyril Smith won the Rochdale by-election for the Liberal Party.
Slade's Slayed? released.
Brian Clark's Ten Torrey Canyons broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Don Taylor's The Exorcism broadcast as part of the Dead Of Night strand.
David Halliwell's Triple Exposure broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The Gangster Show: The Resistable Rise Of Arturo Ui broadcast on BBC2.
The world's first geostationary communications satellite, Canada's Anik-1, launched from Florida.
Susan Pleat's I Wouldn't Tell On You, Miss broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The Fivepenny Piece accompanied by The Augmented Northern Dance Orchestra conducted by Bernard Herrmann appeared on Reflections.
Robert Holmes's Return Flight - part of the Dead Of Night strand - and Alistair Cooke's America broadcast on BBC2..
John Elliot's Better Than The Movies broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Hawkwind's Doremi Fasol Latido released.
The first episode of Michael Voysey's adaptation of Cranford broadcast.
The first episode of The Edwardians broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of But Seriously, It's Sheila Hancock broadcast.
The trial of the Stoke Newington Eight, members of The Angry Brigade, ended with a series of lengthy prison sentences for their naughty bombing ways. A truly terrible indictment on what happens when public schoolgirls get access to weaponry.
The final Apollo mission - Apollo 17, piloted by Gene Cernan, Ron Evans and Jack Schmitt - launched.
Lindisfarne performed 'All Fall Down' on an episode of Full House broadcast from Newcastle which also included Peter Terson's The Divinding Fence featuring an early TV appearance by Alun Armstrong.
John McGrath's The Bouncing Boy broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Focus performed 'Hocus Pocus' and 'Sylvia' on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Gene Cernan became the last man, to date, to walk on the Moon.
John Bowen's A Woman Sobbing broadcast as part of the Dead Of Night strand.
The first episode of Poems & Pints broadcast on BBC2. In Concert featured a performance by Judee Sill.
Ted Hughes's The Coming Of The Kings broadcast as part of the Jackanory Playhouse strand. Hawkwind recorded Space Ritual at the Liverpool Stadium.
During The Scum's one-one draw with Dirty Leeds at Old Trafford, featured on Match Of The Day, a bovver boy ran on the pitch and took a shot before being violently hacked by both Peter Lorimer and a policeman.
A Warning To The Curious broadcast as part of the A Ghost Story For Christmas strand. And Around The World In Eighty Minutes broadcast. Alan Bennett's A Day Out and Milligan In Winter broadcast on BBC2.
Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape broadcast.
Thirteen year old Jeremy Clarkson made his BBC début in the role of Atkinson in Radio 4's adaptation of Anthony Bickeridge's Jennings At School.
1973
The day Great Britain joined the EEC.
Britain, Ireland and Denmark's entry into the EEC was celebrated with a football match - The Three versus The Six - at Wembley.The first episode of Last Of The Summer Wine broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. And it went on and on and on. And on. David Bowie & The Spiders From Mars performed The Jean Genie live on Top Of The Pops, introduced by disgraceful old scallywag and right rotten rotter Jimmy Savile. Goodness, gracious.
The first episode of Teddy Edward broadcast.
The first appearance of Omega in Doctor Who.
Peter Terson's Shakespeare - Or Bust broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. The first episode of Fish broadcast.
The first episode of TV's finest sitcom, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? broadcast on BBC1. The first episode of Leap In The Dark broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Woodstock broadcast.
Alan Plater's Land Of Green Ginger broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Times Rememebered broadcast on BBC2. John Harris's Playthings broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
Noddy Big Hat from The Slade appeared on the Behaviour & Belief episode Do You Believe In Rock & Roll on BBC2. NF Simpson's Elementary My Dear Watson - with John Cleese and Willie Rushton - broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Roy Castle broke the world's fastest tap-dance record on an episode of The Record Breakers. That was dedication.
In one of the least likely bookings ever, Slade appeared on the BBC2 variety show They Sold A Million hosted by Vince Hill and also featuring Jack Jones and The Younger Generation. Casablanca was shown of the first time on BBC1.
Colin Welland's Kisses At Fifty broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. The US supreme Court upheld Roe Versus Wade.
Tom Woodall's Is Nellie Dead? broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of Whoops Baghdad! broadcast. The actor Derren Nesbitt was fined two hundred and fifty quid when he pleaded extremely guilty to two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on his wife, Anne Aubrey, in October the previous year. He admitted thrashing her with a leather strap after she told him that she was having an affair.
Elton John's Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player released.
The Who performed 'Relay' and 'Long Live Rock' on BBC2's The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Godfrey Harrison's Marry The Girls broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first episode of The Wombles broadcast. Willis Hall's Song At Twilight broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand..
Dennis Potter's Only Make Believe broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of The Viaduct broadcast.
The first episode of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em broadcast, in the process giving bad impressionists an entire career 'doing Frank Spencer'. Andy Ashton's And All Who Sail In Her - featuring one of the first TV appearance by Bob Hoskins - broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of A Little Princess broadcast.
John Burrows and John Harding's For Sylvia Or The Air Show broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The day Bob Ferris and Terry Collier spent a desperate day trying to avoid hearing the result of the Bulgaria versus England football match to win a ten pound bet with Brian Flint.
The first episode of Val Meets The VIPs broadcast.
The day George Foreman chinned Smokin' Joe Frazier, big-style in Kingston, Jamaica. The underground comic Nasty Tales, prosecuted as an obscene publication, was part of 'a long tradition of satirical writing' according to defence witness Germaine Greer. Former England goalkeeper Gordon Banks was fined for dangerous driving over the collision which ended his career. Work on the Keilder Reservoir project in Northumberland was deferred until alternatives had been assessed. The appeal of Michael Lavaglio and Dennis Stafford, jailed for the 1967 murder of Angus Sibbett, took place. Last Tango In Paris opened in UK cinemas. Tokyo Zoo reported that Lan Lan and Kang Kang, two giant pandas given to them by China, were 'eyeing each other up' and had 'even appeared to kiss each other, briefly.'
Sir John Betjeman's Metro-Land broadcast on BBC2.
Dark Side Of The Moon was released.
A highly unlikely combination of Thin Lizzy and The New Seekers were the guests on Crackerjack.
The first episode of Hugh Whitemore's The Pearcross Girls broadcast on BBC2.
William Trevor's Access To The Children broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Mike Leigh's A Mug's Game? broadcast as part of the long-running children's drama strand Scene.
The day of an infamous episode of Parkinson in which Kenneth Williams, having previously expressed trenchant views about the trade union movement, was invited to debate the subject with Jimmy Reid. Their abrasive confrontation - which Reid easily won - turned an entertainment show into something more akin to a serious current affairs programme. The then Controller of BBC1, Paul Fox, reported directed that the programme was not to venture into that sort of territory again.
Mike Leigh's Hard Labour broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Lizzie Dripping broadcast. John Martyn - performing 'I'd Rather Be The Devil' and 'May You Never' and Roger Daltrey appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
David Rudkin's Atrocity broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand. The Kinks appeared on In Concert.
David Hare's Man Above Men broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure released.
Open All Hours, the first episode of Dick Clement and Ian La Franais' Ronnie Barker anthology Seven Of One broadcast on BBC2. This was last-minute replacement for the scheduled episode, I'll Fly You For A Quid - postponed because of the Lofthouse Colliery disaster four days earlier. It was eventually broadcast on 6 May.
Sir Mortimer: Digging Up People broadcast as part of BBC2's Chronicle strand.
The day Red Rum won his first Grand National.
Prisoner & Escort, the pilot of Porridge, broadcast as part of BBC2's Seven Of One strand. The first episode of Away From It All also broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of The New Road broadcast on BBC1.
The first episode of Open Door broadcast.
The first episode of Barnaby broadcast.
The Faces' Ooh La La released.
Sayeret Matkal commandos - led by future Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak - and Mossad agents launched raids into Beirut and Sidon, assassinating several high-level PLO officials including some with links to the 1972 Munich massacre. The first episode of Kaliedoscope broadcast on Radio 4
The day Aladdin Sane was released. David McGreavy, a lodger in the home of his friends Clive and Elsie Ralph, murdered the Ralphs' three children, Paul, Dawn and Samantha. Afterwards he mutilated their bodies with a pickaxe and impaled them outside on the spikes of a wrought-iron fence. McGreavy, called The Monster of Worcester in the press, later pleaded very guilty to all three murders and was sentenced to multiple life terms.
The first episode of Hugh Whitemore's A Thinking Man As Hero broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Gordon Peters Show broadcast.
An Evening With Frankie Howerd broadcast on BBC2. Under Secretary of State for Defence, Lord Lambton's sex-and-drug liaisons with prostitutes were revealed in the tabloids. Colin Levy, the owner of a Soho mucky-book shop and husband of one of the prostitutes, Naughty Norma, had secretly taken compromising photographs of Lambton. It subsequently emerged that Naughty Norma - known as The Nun - was part of a prostitute ring run by society madam Jean Horn, whose clients included Lord Jellicoe, Leader of the House of Lords, who - like Lambton - resigned in shame and disgrace.
The Wailers made their UK TV début on The Old Grey Whistle Test - playing 'Concrete Jungle' and 'Stir It Up' - and the first episode of A Picture Of Katherine Mansfield broadcast on BBC2.
John Gale's Kamikaze In The Coffee Bath broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.In the biggest footballing upset in decades, Second Division Sunderland beat Dirty Leeds in the FA Cup Final. The first episode of filthy old scallywag and right rotten kiddie-fiddler Jimmy Savile's Clunk Click broadcast. On BBC2, there was the début of Doctor Bronowski's The Ascent Of Man.
The first episode of Scotch On The Rocks broadcast. Hawkwind's Space Ritual released.
The NASA space station Sky Lab launched. It would go on to house three groups of astronauts over the next two years and then, finally, crash back to Earth in Western Australia in July 1979.
Dirty Leeds were controversially defeated by AC Milan in the European Cup Winners Cup Final. The Greek crowd reacted furiously to perceived bias towards Milan by the referee, Christos Michas. Despite protests, the result was not overturned. UEFA later banned Michas for life due to match fixing and other nefarious skulduggery. The Caucasian Chalk Circle - starring Leo McKern, John Thaw, Robert Powell and Linda Thorson - broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
Fay Weldon's Comfortable Words broadcast as part of the Menace strand. Alfred Fagon's Shakespeare Country broadcast as part of BBC2's Thirty Minute Theatre strand.
The first episode of 'that Doctor Who story with the maggots' (The Green Death) broadcast. Alice May Roberts born in Bristol.
The first UK broadcast of M*A*S*H on BBC2.
Hugh Whitemore's adaptation of Cidar With Rosie broadcast.
Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach three-two on aggregate in the final of the UEFA Cup.
The first episode of The Song Of Songs broadcast on BBC2.
Bernard Falk's infamously sneering report on David Bowie's gig at Bournemouth's Winter Gardens was broadcast on Nationwide.
Pete Conrad, Joe Kerwin and Paul Weitz began their twenty six days on board Sky Lab.
The first episode of That's Life! broadcast.
John Peel devoted twenty five minutes of his Sounds Of The 70s Radio 1 show to playing side one of Mike Oldfield's wretched hippy drivel Tubular Bells. For which, Peelie was, one imagines, rightly ashamed for the rest of his life and turned to punk rock by way of penance.
Johnny Rep scored the winner as Alax won their third successive European Cup against Juventus in Belgrade.
Postponed from two weeks earlier, Sarah Sutton scared the bejesus out of a generation of impressionable youths as a psychotic teenage arsonist in James MacTaggert's Menace play Boys & Girls Come Out To Play.
Newcastle United beat Fiorentina two-one in Florence in the the final of the Anglo Italian Cup.
The first episodes of Sutherland's Law and Son Of The Bride broadcast. Poland beat England two-nil in Chrozow in a World Cup qualifier in a game chiefly remembered for England's vile canary yellow strip, Bobby Moore's calamitous error which presented Wlodek Lubanski with Poland's second goal and Alan Ball getting himself sent off for fisting a hapless Pole in the face.
The first episode of Warship broadcast.
John Harvey-Flint's Edward G - Like The Filmstar broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Don Taylor's The Roses Of Eyam broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of We Are The Champions broadcast.
Julia Jones's The Stretch broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The second test against New Zealand at Lord's threatened a major shock as the Kiwis dismissed England for two hundred and fifty three and then scored five hundred and fifty one in reply. But, a century by Keith Fletcher spared England's blushes and the game ended in a draw.
The first episode of Two Women broadcast on BBC2.
The day of the UK première of Live & Let Die.
The Goodies special Superstar broadcast on BBC2. In it, John Peel - wearing a blond wig - did a sarcastic impression of filthy old scallywag Jimmy Savile introducing an episode of Top Of The Pops ensuring that this twenty four carat comedy classic is unlikely ever to be repeated.
The Average White Band performed 'Put It Where You Want It' on The Old Grey Whistle Test with Hamish Stuart sporting the most outrageous ginger Afro in the history of mad-haircuts.
The first episode of Jack The Ripper broadcast. David Bedford broke Lasse Viren's world ten thousand metres record by over seven seconds. 'Hippies' in St Ives were told by the council if they kept away from the West Pier they would not be 'harassed' by security guards. With dogs. Court proceedings against Derek Smalls, charged with various bank robberies, were dropped after he agreed to turn Queen's evidence and snitch-up his co-accused like a Copper's Nark. Former cabaret singer Janie Jones was imprisoned for seven years for her involvement in 'controlling prostitutes.' By the time she got out, The Clash had immortalised her in song. Rose Dugdale charged with robbery from her father's home – the proceeds of which were allegedly sent to the IRA – was on hunger strike protesting at 'the tyranny of imprisonment without trial.' Paul Getty III, the sixteen year old grandson of the American oil magnate, was kidnapped in Rome by The Calabrian 'Ndrangheta.
Tom Weiskoff won The Open at Troon.
Ginger Baker In Africa broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand.
The Edgar Winter Group performed 'Frankenstein' - all nine minutes of it - on The Old Grey Whistle Test. As Bob Harris noted: 'Amazing!'
Places Where They Sing - featuring the TV debut of Phil Daniels - broadcast as part of the Centre Play strand on BBC2.
Gordon' Carr's documentary The Angry Brigade broadcast. Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong at the age of thirty two from an acute cerebral edema.
Broadcaster, writer and humorist Clement Freud won the Isle of Ely by-election for the Liberals. The first episode of A Pin To See The Peepshow and Irwin Shaw's The Girls In Their Summer Dresses broadcast on BBC2.
Al Bean, Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma began their record-breaking fifty eight day mission on Sky Lab.
Stevie Wonder's Innervisions was released.
James Beck, who played Private Joe Walker in Dad's Army, died from a burst pancreas at the age of forty four.
BBC2's Show Of The Week featured The Young Generation Big Top and a rare BBC appearance by Mike and Bernie Winters. Who, as usual, were about as funny as a big hairy wart on the end of one's chap.
Michael Palin and Terry Jones's Secrets broadcast as part of BBC2's Black & Blue strand.
The first episode of Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go Out And Do Something Less Boring Instead? broadcast.
Philip Mackie's The Middle-Of-The-Road Roadshow For All The Family broadcast as part of BBC2's Black & Blue strand.
Hugh Leonard's High Kampf broadcast as part of BBC2's Black & Blue strand.
Mike Proctor scored ninety four and took two for twenty seven as Gloucestershire beat Sussex in the Gillette Cup final.
Julian Mitchell's Rust broadcast as part of BBC2's Black & Blue strand.
The first episode of Then & Now broadcast on BBC2.
Vic Feather Of The TUC broadcast.
The first episode of Moonbase 3 broadcast. Jackie Stewart's fourth place at the Italian Grand Prix saw him claim his third World Drivers' Championship.
The Provisional IRA bombsed London's King's Cross and Euston stations, injuring twenty people.
Michael O'Neill's Soap Opera In Stockwell broadcast as part of BBC2's Black & Blue strand.
Thirty two-year-old legal secretary Wendy Sewell was murdered in Bakewell, Derbyshire. Seventeen-year-old council worker, Stephen Downing, was subsequently arrested, tried and convicted of the crime. Following a campaign by a local newspaper, his conviction was overturned in 2002, after Downing had served twenty seven years in prison; he had been ineligible to apply for parole at an earlier stage as he had always maintained his innocence. The case is thought to be the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
The first episode of Casanova '73 broadcast.
The first episode of The Donati Conspiracy broadcast. 
The day the Wigan Casino held its first 'Northern Soul' all-nighter with Russ Winstanley as the DJ. Performers included Jackie Wilson, Edwin Starr and Junior Walker. The first episode of The Dragon's Opponent broadcast on BBC2.
Disgraceful kiddie-fiddler Jimmy Savile, Tony Blackburn, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett presented the five hundredth episode of Top Of The Pops. The Sound Makers - 'a studio miscellany of music, sound and words by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop' - broadcast on Radio 3.
Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road released.
The first episode of Second House broadcast on BBC2. French driver François Cevert was killed during practice for the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Cevert's teammate, Jackie Stewart, already world champion and who had been due to retire after the race (his one hundredth) chose instead not to take part in tribute to his friend. The race was won by Ronnie Petersen ahead of James Hunt.
Alan Coren and Lawrence Gordon Clark's The British Hero - starring Christopher Cazenove - broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand. The first episode of Pollyanna broadcast. A bitter public row broke out over a decision by Essex County Council to bring back the cane in a county's boys' homes. The decision was taken by the social services committee under a forty-year-old code of practice which permitted up to twelve strokes of the cane for boys over fifteen. Younger boys could be given up to six strokes. Alderman Fred Hodgson, committee chairman, claimed that corporal punishment was rarely used but was needed to 'help' staff at approved schools and community homes.
The first episode of Second City Firsts broadcast on BBC2.
The Wicker Man opened as part of a double-bill with Don't Look Now.In response to the escalating Yom Kippur war, OPEC, the Arab oil producing countries, cut production and quadrupled the world price of petroleum. This move effectively ended the relative affluence on which, as Ian MacDonald wrote in Revolution In The Head, 'the preceding ten years of happy-go-lucky excess in the West had chiefly depended.' The knock-on effects of the Oil Crisis included spiralling inflation, the virtual destruction of the British film industry and a widespread vinyl shortage. On the same day Poland knocked England out of the World Cup with a one-one draw at Wembley. This failure to reach the final stages of a tournament that England had won just seven years previously may seem insignificant to some. But, just as that famous 'some people are on the pitch' victory in 1966 appeared to encapsulate the spirit of an age – when England (and, specifically, London) was, literally, on top of the world – so the gloom that settled over the country during the winter of 1973-74, with its three-day weeks, power cuts, industrial disputes and 'cod war' with Iceland, was inextricably tied to the failing fortunes of Sir Alf Ramsey's ageing side. So, you see, it really was all Norman Hunter's fault.
The Who's Quadrophenia was released.
Peter Nichols's The Common broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
John Hale's Ego Hugo broadcast on BBC2.
Jimmy O'Connor's Her Majesty's Pleasure - with John Bindon and Bob Hoskins - broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Brian Glover's If A Man Answers broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand.
The nasty U-Boat captain (Philip Madoc) threatened to put Pike's name on 'Ze-List' in Dad's Army.
Roxy Music's Stranded released.
Alan Bennett's A Day Out broadcast on BBC2. The TV debut of Brinsley Schwarz - featuring Nick Lowe - on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The first episode of Wessex Tales broadcast on BBC2.
Peter Terson's The Ballad Of Ben Bagot broadcast as part of the Scene strand and John Bowen's The Emergency Channel broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Ken Hill's Wipers Three broadcast.
The first episode of The Terracotta Horse broadcast.
Jerry Carr, Bill Pogue and Ed Gibson began their eighty three day mission on board Sky Lab.
BBC2's Second House In Liverpool featured contributions from Roger McGough, Alun Owen, John McGrath, Willy Russell and David Lincoln reading extracts from Alab Bleasdale's short story Scully.
The first episode of Hawkeye, The Pathfinder broadcast.
Sue Boyd's documentary By Way Of A Change about The Global Village Trucking Company and their Norfolk hippy commune broadcast.
Uri Geller appeared on The Dimbleby Talk-In and bent a lot of spoons.
The UK TV debut of The New York Dolls on The Old Grey Whistle Test - performing 'Jet Boy' and 'Looking For A Kiss' - after which buck-toothed hippie Whispering Bob Harris sneered 'mock-rock!' Was it any wonder Sid Vicious and Jah Wobble went after him with a rusty bike chain at The Speakeasy four years later?
Tony Perrin's Shutdown broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Last Night, Another Soldier ... broadcast.
Paul McCartney & Wings' Band On The Run was released.
The first episode of Vienna 1900 broadcast on BBC2.
Northern Ireland Secretary Willie Whitelaw signed the power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement despite loud Loyalist opposition.
Ted Heath announced the start of the Three Day Week.
Yes's painfully rotten Tales From Topographic Oceans released. Eighty minutes of a fat man farting would be more harmonically interesting.
The first appearances of The Sontarans and Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who.
Shaw's Pygmalion broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
The Outspan Mini - a car that looked like an orange - featured on an episode of BBC2's Wheelbase. It was accompanied by a - tragically now long-forgotten - song which included the lyric 'if all the cars were oranges it wouldn't be a jam/it would be a marmalade!'
The first episode of Sporting Scenes - England, Their England, directed by Stephen Frears - broadcast on BBC2.
The Goodies & The Beanstalk broadcast on BBC2. The Cornet Lesson broadcast as part of the Centre Play strand.
Lost Hearts broadcast as part of the A Ghost Story For Christmas strand. Also the Christmas Pantomime, Robin Hood, featuring Anita Harris, Terry Scott, Billy Dainty and Freddie Parrot Face Davies (as Samuel Tweet).
Paul and Linda McCartney hosted the Boxing Day episode of Disney Time. Emerson Lake & Palmer appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test. So, that would have been worth avoiding.
The first episode of Romark broadcast.
The first episode of Superstars broadcast.
1974
The first episode of It Ain't Half Hot Mum broadcast.
BBC2's Second House featured a studio performance of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. Get yer hair cut, hippies. The British Army carried out Operation Marmion, the occupation of Heathrow Airport, as a supposed training exercise for a possible terrorist incident at the terminal. It, allegedly, took place without the Prime Minister's foreknowledge. The operation was repeated on three further occasions in June, July and September. These military deployments were perceived by some as a practice-run for a potential military coup and, it has been claimed, were part of Clockwork Orange, a secret security services project which was alleged to have involved a right-wing smear campaign against British politicians from 1974 to 1975. The black propaganda led Harold Wilson to fear that elements of MI5 were preparing a coup d'état. Although there is some circumstantial evidence to support the claims, they have never been conclusively proven.
Alan Plater's The Needle Match broadcast as part of BBC2's Sporting Scenes strand.
The first episode of Tom's Midnight Garden broadcast.
Richard Harris's When The Boys Come Out To Play broadcast as part of BBC2's Sporting Scenes strand.
The first episode of You & Me broadcast.
On Tour With The Osmonds broadcast.
The first episode of Perils Of Pendragon broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Pallisers broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of John Halifax, Gentleman broadcast. The Changeling broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
The Opening Ceremony Of The Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, broadcast. The Berwyn Mountain UFO incident (the so-called 'Welsh Roswell') occurred.
The UK TV debut of Can on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The first episode of Carrie's War broadcast.
Trevor Griffiths's All Good Men broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the 'urban guerrilla' Symbionese Liberation Army. Eight soldiers and four civilians were killed by the Provisional IRA in the M62 coach bombing.
The first episode of Bagpuss broadcast.
Dennis Potter's Joe's Ark broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.Arthur Hopcraft's Humbug, Finger Or Thumb? broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand.
Yer actual Keith Telly Topping attended his first away football match, travelling with his dad (and about ten thousand others) on the train to watch his beloved, though unsellable, Magpies take on West Bromwich Albinos in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup. With Jinky Jim Smith and Tommy Cassidy in outstanding form, Malcolm MacDonald, Stewie Barrowclough and Hallelujah John Tudor scored in United's three-nil win broadcast on Match Of the Day. It meant Keith Telly Topping missed the final episode of Invasion Of The Dinosaurs. So, no great loss there.
Shadow Chancellor Dennis Healey, in a speech in Lincoln, said that a future Labour government intended to 'squeeze property speculators until their pips squeak'. The first UK broadcast of The Waltons on BBC2.
The first episode of The Fortunes Of Nigel broadcast.
King Thrushbread & The Proud Princess broadcast.
The day of the first General Erection of 1974. It ended in a draw.
Goals from Kenny Hibbitt and John Richards gave Wolverhampton Wanderers victory over Manchester City in the League Cup Final at Wembley.
The first episode of Bedtime Stories broadcast on BBC2.
Prime Minister Edward Heath extremely resigned shortly after the Liberals rejected his coalition terms, allowing Harold Wilson to return to power as leader of a Labour minority government.
Brian Clark and Ronnie King's Easy Go broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
With half an hour to go in the Sixth Round FA Cup tie, Keith Telly Topping's beloved (though unseallbe) Magpies were losing three-one to Nottingham Forest and the referee, Gordon Kew, had just sent off Pat Howard (for nowt). At which point, about three hundred kids ran on the pitch, along with four blokes (led by one Terry Conway, who took about five law to bring him down). On the resumption, Terry McDermott, Hallelujah John Tudor and Bob Moncur scored in a remarkable comeback. Which was, instantly, annulled by the Football Association. Newcastle eventually progressed to the semi-finals ten days later after winning a second replay at Goodison Park.
John Arlott's Arlott's Innings broadcast.
The first episode of Fall Of Eagles broadcast.
The day Ian Ball made an armed attempt to kidnapped Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips.
David Rudkin's memorable Penda's Fen was broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Malcolm MacDonald scored twice as Newcastle United reached the FA Cup final for the first time in nineteen years, beating Burnley at Hillsborough.
The first episode of The Family broadcast on BBC1. Shoulder To Shoulder started on BBC2. Liverpool beat Leicester City three-one in an FA Cup semi-final replay.
The first UK broadcast of Seven Little Australians. Tony Greig took thirteen wickets in the match as England won the fourth test in Trinidad against the West Indies to square the series.
Little-known Swedish beat combo ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton.
Peter Terson's Three For The Fancy broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. John Poulson and T Dan Smith were jailed for fraud and corruption in local government.
Alan Plater's Wish You Were Here broadcast as part of the Omnibus strand. The first TV broadcast of Yellow Submarine.
Pan's People appeared on BBC2's In Concert.
The first episode of The Carnforth Practice broadcast on BBC2.
George House's Vindolanda: A Smell Of The Romans and the first episode of Success Story - Isherwood's Cabaret - broadcast on BBC1. The first episode of Masquerade (Caryl Churchill's Turkish Delight) and John Elliott and John King's The Fox broadcast on BBC2.
Dirty Leeds - who had gone twenty nine games unbeaten earlier in the season - won the Football League Championship with two matches to spare. Newcastle United beat Burnley in the final of the Texaco Cup. Diamond Dogs was released.
Magnus Magnusson's A Taste Of The Romans, the one hundredth episode of Chronicle, broadcast.
A cheeky back-heel by Manchester City's Denis Law relegated his former club, The Scum, at Old Trafford. Which was funny.
Howerd's History Of England broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Sir Alf Ramsey was sacked as England's manager after the team's failure to qualify for the World Cup finals.
Kevin Keegan scored twice as Liverpool thrashed a horribly below-par Newcastle in the FA Cup Final. Yer actual Keith Telly Topping cried all night.
Charles Wood's Mutzen Ab! broadcast as part of BBC2's Masquerade strand.
The first episode of Happy Ever After broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Adrian Mitchell's Something Down There Is Crying broadcast as part of BBC2's Masquerade strand.
Bayern München beat Atlético Madrid four-nil in the European Cup final replay.
The first episode of Dial M For Murder - John Peacock's If You Knew Suzie - broadcast.
The first episode of Mr Big broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The first simultaneous stereo broadcast featuring Van Morrison &the Caledonian Soul Orchestra at The Rainbow Theatre, broadcast on BBC2 on The Old Grey Whistle Test and Radio 1's Bob Harris Show.
Roy Clarke's It's Only Me - Whoever I Am broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Spurs were defeated four-two on aggregate by Feyenoord in the UEFA Cup final. And, collected a one year European ban after some of their fans caused 'a bit of bother' in the streets of Rotterdam afterwards.
Brian Parker's Steven broadcast on BBC2.
John McGrath's The Cheviot The Stag & The Black Oil broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The Provisional IRA planted a bomb at the Houses of Parliament, causing extensive damage and injuring eleven people.
Playing their their only World Cup, Haiti appeared on the verge of causing a major shock, taking the lead against Italy. The Italians recovered to win three-one.
Billy Bremner and Rivalino spent the night kicking lumps out of each other as Scotland drew with Brazil at the World Cup. Captain Beefhart & The Magic Band performed 'Upon The Oh My My' and 'This Is The Day' on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Johan Cryuff left Jan Olsson swinging at thin air as he produced The 'Cryuff Turn' on a world stage for the first time as the Netherlands' played Sweden at the World Cup. (What is often forgotten is that the game was goalless draw, albeit, one of the best nil-nil draws you'll ever see.)
Dennis Potter's Schmoedipus broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The single greatest moment in the history of football occurred - Zaire's Mwepu Ilunga kicking the ball away whilst the Brazilians prepared to take a free-kick. Scotland's inability to beat Yugoslavia coupled with Brazil scoring one more goal than the Scots against the hapless Africans condemned Willie Ormand's men to a first round exit despite being unbeaten in their three games. In Hamburg, Jürgen Sparwasser scored as East Germany beat West Germany.
In farcical waterlogged conditions, West Germany controversially beat Poland one-nil to qualify for the World Cup final.
In a bruising but utterly brilliant display, the Netherlands beat reigning champions Brazil in the most memorable game of the 1974 World Cup.
Playing in only his second test, David Lloyd scored two hundred and fourteen not out as England beat India by an innings and seventy eight runs at Edgbaston.
The day ruthless West German efficiency beat maverick Dutch totaalvoetbal flair in the final of the World Cup. No justice.
Horizon's The Race For The Double Helix about the discovery of DNA broadcast.
The first episode of Wodehouse Playhouse broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The day the IRA bombed Birmingham and Manchester. Gary Player won The Open at Royal Lytham & St Anne's, four-strokes ahead of Peter Oosterhuis. There was a call to end 'political shilly-shallying' after two Commons votes ended in ties. Chinese Prime Minister Cho En-Lai suffered a heart-attack. Sybil Hathaway, the Dame of Sark, died aged ninety. Michael Heseltine, shadow trade minister launched a bitter attack on nationalisation plans announced by Tony Benn's Department of Industry Planning. The Senate Watergate report proposed the creation of a special prosecutor independent of the President. It also suggested White House 'smears' had caused Edmund Muskie's failure to win the 1972 Democratic nomination. Frank Sinatra told a Sydney audience that President Nixon was 'delighted' with press coverage of Sinatra's troubled Australia tour because it kept Watergate off the front pages. Noel Edmonds was injured driving in a rally in Wales. Tragically, the injury wasn't serious.
The first episode of The Double Dealers broadcast.
Tom Hadaway's God Bless Thee, Jacky Maddison broadcast as part of BBC2's Centre Play.
Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingness' First Finale was released. Richard Harris's Is It Something I Said? broadcast as part of BBC2's Centre Play strand.
Tries by Roger Uttley and Andy Irvine gave the British Lions and thirteen-all draw in the fourth and final test against South Africa. The Lions won the - incredibly violent - series three-nil.
Cass Elliot died from a heart attack in Harry Nilsson's Mayfair flat at Curzon Place. Four years later Keith Moon would die in the same flat, at the same age - thirty two - and from the same cause.
Richard Nixon resigned.
Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan were sent off for fighting at the FA Charity Shield. Phillipe Petit who tightrope talked between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre escaped prosecution. Greece and Turkey were poised on the brink of war over Cyprus. A publicity campaign to recruit 'better-educated boys' to the police was seen as a failure. Twenty people were arrested in Hyde Park during an anti-internment demonstration after they refused police requests to remove their black berets. Joseph McKee, serving seven years for arms offences, escaped from a Belfast hospital whilst dressed as a woman. Police secured London's biggest drug seizure – forty thousand LSD tablets. Amnesty International challenged a South African claim that floggings in Namibia were 'tribal law and custom.'
The first episode of The Osmonds - presented by Noel Edmonds - broadcast.
A Redditch woman who pioneered horse-riding lessons for handicapped children was fined three hundred and fifty pounds for lining up seven other children in her farmyard and hitting them with a riding crop. Audrey Steel disciplined the seven, she said, because they were 'larking about.'
The first episode of The Haggard Falcon broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of A Thinking Man As Hero broadcast on BBC2.
Kojak first broadcast in the UK.The BBC's Bank Holiday movie was the first showing of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Keith Telly Topping spent that afternoon down the coast at Tynemouth with his mates Stephen Scott, Brian Cook and Andy Burnham and lost his best football in the sea during a kickabout. As a consequence, after he got home, he spent the rest of the week having difficulty sitting down. At The Oval, Dennis Amiss was hit with beamer bowled by Sarfraz Nawaz during the third test against Pakistan and had to retire, very hurt.
Steve Ovett won his first major medal, a silver in the European Athletics Championship eight hundred metres in Rome. Alan Pascoe won gold in the four hundred metres hurdles.
The first episode of Porridge broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of Harry O. Hawkwind's Hall Of The Mountain Grill released.
Kent beat Lancashire in a low-scoring, rain-interrupted Gillette Cup final which didn't get concluded until the following Monday.
Brendan Foster won the European five thousand metres title in Rome. Ian Thompson won the marathon and Britain's four by four hundred metres relay squad - Glen Cohen, Bill Hartley, Alan Pascoe and David Jenkins - also collected gold. President Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon of any crimes he may, or may not, have committed whilst in the White House. Twelve thousand barrels of brandy went up in smoke after a fire at a Martell warehouse in Cognac. Evel Knievel spectacularly failed to jump Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls, Idaho.
Brian Clough was sacked after forty four days in charge of Dirty Leeds. The events of Cloughie's period at Elland Road would subsequently form the basis for David Peace's award-winning novel The Damned United.
The first episode of Microbes & Men broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Sir Mortimer & Magnus broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Cheri broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Anno Domini broadcast.
Melyn Bragg interviewed Pete Townshend on an episode of Second House, which also featured extended highlights of The Who's summer gig at Charlton Athletic's The Valley. The Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings by the Provisional IRA left four off duty soldiers and a civilian dead and forty four injured.
The first episode of The Case Of Eliza Armstrong broadcast.
The second General Erection of 1974. Labour won.The first episode of Martin Worth's dramatisation of Heidi broadcast.
The first episode of Roobarb broadcast.
The first episode of Second Time Around broadcast.
The first episode of Bogeyman - Prophet - Guardian broadcast on BBC2. Open House featured 'an anarchist from the Northampton steel town on Corby' who explained 'why he believes we need revolutionary social change.' Ah, bless. Thin Lizzy played The Greyhound in Croydon supported by teenage Woking four-piece, The Jam, playing their first ever date in London.
Brian Glover's Pig Bin broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand.
Muhammad Ali beat George Foreman in The Rumble In The Jungle. Clerical staff at the London HQ of the engineering workers union went on strike, describing the AUEW's President, Hugh Scanlon, as 'a terrible employer!' The Shrewsbury Two – Ricky Tomlinson and Dennis Warren – lost their appeal against a 1973 conviction for conspiracy to intimidate and returned to jail.
Colin Welland's Leeds United broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Kraftwerk's Autobahn was released.
The first episode of Notorious Woman broadcast.
Lord Lucan allegedly murdered his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett and then went extremely missing.
The first episode of Cakes & Ale broadcast on BBC2.
Peter Davison's TV début in an episode of Warship. Although, he had previously been spotted in the audience at an episode of Top Of the Pops in 1970 featuring The Dave Clark Five.
James McDade, a lieutenant in the Birmingham Battalion of the Provisional IRA was killed in a premature explosion whilst planting a bomb at the Coventry telephone exchange.
Scenes from Willy Russell's John, Paul George, Ringo ... and Bert - featuring Bernard Hill and Trevor Eve - broadcast as part of BBC2's Second House strand.
The day former Postmaster General John Stonehouse faked his own death and disappeared.
The Birmingham pub bombings, twenty one killed and one hundred and eighty injured by the IRA.
The first episode of Ken Dodd's World of Laughter broadcast.
The first episode of The Early Life Of Stephen Hind broadcast on BBC2.
The first episodes of A Day With Dana (on BBC2) and David Copperfield (on BBC1) broadcast.
The first episode of Melissa broadcast as part of the Franics Durbridge Presents ... strand.
Muhammad Ali appeared on Parkinson and launched into a tirade when Parky challenged him on the nature of his religious belief and, in particular, the treatment of women in Islam.
Newcastle United retained the Texaco Cup with a three-one aggregate victory over Southampton.
Too Much Monkey Business broadcast.
The day Jeff Thomson hit David Lloyd reet in the Jacob's cream crackers at Perth during the - bruising - second test between England and Australia.
The UK première of The Man With The Golden Gun. Christmas Oneupmanship broadcast on BBC2. Tony Bilbow's location report from the set of Monty Python's Holy Grail broadcast on Film Night.
The Omnibus film Cuckoo: A Celebration Of Mister Laurel & Mister Hardy broadcast with commentary by Eric Morecambe.
The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas broadcast as part of the A Ghost Story For Christmas strand. Spike Millgan's The Last Turkey In The Shop Show broadcast on BBC2.
Elton John's concert at the Hammersmith Odeon was broadcast on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Tom Baker replaced Jon Pertwee as The Doctor. The first episode of An Unofficial Rose broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Churchill's People broadcast.
The fiirt episode of Mister Men broadcast.
1975
The first episode of The Secret Garden broadcast on BBC1. Margaret McCall's documentary The Cat broadcast on BBC2.
The first episodes of An Unofficial Rose, The Roman Way and After That, This broadcast.
The first episode of The Changes broadcast.
The first episode of The Ventures broadcast.
The first episode of Gangsters broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Sportstown broadcast.
The first episode of The 60 70 80 Show broadcast.
The day Donald Neilson - 'The Black Panther' - kidnapped the heiress Lesley Whittle.
William Trevor's Mrs Acland's Ghosts broadcast as part of BBC2's Playhouse strand.
Malcolm Bradbury's The After Dinner Game broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Little Feat performed 'Rock n Roll Doctor' and 'Fat Man In The Bath Tub' on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Also featured were John Martyn, Bachman Turner Overdrive and a Robert Plant interview.
Peter Ransley's The House On The Hill broadcast as part of BBC2's Centre Play strand.
The first episode of The Love School broadcast on BBC2.
Bruce Johnston performed a stunning solo piano version of 'Disney Girls' on The Old Grey Whistle Test, during which Bob Harris appeared to fall asleep.
Alan Yentob's Omnibus film Cracked Actor - featuring a frequently snowflaked-off-his-tits David Bowie - broadcast. The first episode of Anne Of Avonlea broadcast.
The day Maggie Thatcher ousted Ted Heath as leader of the Conservatives.
The School For Scandal broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
Alan Bennett's Sunset Across The Bay broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti released.
PC Stephen Tibble was fatally shot by Liam Quinn, a member of the Provisional IRA during a chase through Central London.
Roy Minton's Funny Farm broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Forty three people died in the Moorgate Tube disaster. The first episode of Dennis Potter's adaptation of Late Call broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of You're On Your Own broadcast. Jack Rosenthal's The Evacuees broadcast on BBC2.
Hugh Whitemore's Goodbye broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Richard & Linda Thompson performed 'Jet Plane In A Rocking Chair' and 'A Heart Needs A Home' on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The first episode of The Master Of Ballantrae broadcast.
Colin Bell and Malcolm MacDonald scored as England beat the World Champions West Germany two-nil at Wembley.
Peter McDougall's Just Another Saturday - starring Billy Connolly - broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Dr Feelgood performed 'Keep It Out Of Sight', 'She Does It Right', and a legendarily wired version of 'Roxette' on The Old Grey Whistle Test. And, in three minutes flat, Wilko Johnson gave Paul Weller an entire career-plan.
The first episode of Hong Kong Phooey broadcast in the UK. Panoriffic!
The first episode of The Fight Against Slavery broadcast. Good old mad-as-toast Ken Russell's adaptation of Tommy released.
Alan Bleasdale's TV début Early To Bed broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand.
Further Up Pompeii broadcast.
James Robson's Waiting At The Field Gates broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand.
The first episode of The Good Life broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of The Rockford Files.
Monty Python & The Holy Grail opened in London. Viv Stanshall appeared on BBC2's One Man's Week.
Mike Leigh's The Permissive Society broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand.
The first episode of Terry Nation's Survivors broadcast.
Alcoholic, wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon's final British TV interview, with an obscenely sycophantic Bob Harris on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The episode of Z Cars (PJ Hammond's Distance) broadcast in which Joe Skinner was murdered.
Ipswich Town's drew with Manchester City meaning that Derby County were the Football League Champions for the second time.
The first episode of Sam & The River broadcast.
The first episode of The Glen Campbell Music Show broadcast on BBC2.
Kraftwerk made their first appearance on UK TV on an episode of Tomorrow's World performing 'Autobahn'. Brian Clark's The Saturday Party broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. Precious McKenzie set the world powerlifting record on Blue Peter.
The Hamsters beat Poor Bloody Fulham Haven't Got A Chance two-nil in one of the less memorable FA Cup Finals of the seventies. The first episode of Ken Taylor's adaptation of The Girls Of Slender Means broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Inside Story broadcast on BBC2.
Hawkwind's Warrior On The Edge Of Time released.
The first episode of Rutland Weekend Television broadcast on BBC2.
The day The Godfather Part II was released in the UK.
The trial of West German terrorists Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and other members of the Red Army Faction began in Stuttgart.
David Hare's Brassneck broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of The Balloon Game - the most bizarre game show in TV history presented by Magnuss Magnusson - broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Looking For Clancy broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of David Attenborough's The Tribal Eye broadcast on BBC2. Paul McCartney & Wings's Venus & Mars released.
Bayern Munich retained the European Cup controversially beating Dirty Leeds in an ill-tempered match at the Parc Des Princes. The night ended with Leeds hooligans on the rampage in the streets of Paris and kids gettin' spanked and aal sorts.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band performed 'Give My Compliments To The Chef' and a hilarious version of 'Delilah' on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Mad! As! Toast!
The first episode of Jim'll Fix It broadcast. Not that you'll ever be seeing that again.
Rockin' Ronnie Wood replaced Mick Taylor in The Rolling Stones.
In what would be remembered as a summer almost as hot of the one of the following year, a cricket match between Derbyshire and Lancashire at Buxton was delayed when 'snow stopped play'!
The day of the United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum. Brexit lost.
The kidnapped Italian magnate Vallarino Gancia was freed after a shoot out between the police and members of the terrorist Red Brigades.
The notoriously politically incorrect The Melting Pot - with Spike Milligan, John Bird and Frank Carson - broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenias' Only On Sunday - starring Trevor Bannister and Peter Bowles - broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand. The first episode of The Poisoning Of Charles Bravo broadcast on BBC2.
The West Indies beat Australia in the first Prudential Cricket World Cup Final at Lord's. In Uganda, Idi Amin ordered a stay of execution for Briton Dennis Hill, convicted of treason, after the Queen sent a personal envoy to Kampala. Robert Mark head of the Metropolitan Police ordered the transfer of Commander Kenneth Hannam who had recently remarked 'the attitudes of some MPs have greatly contributed to the decline in respect for the law by the general population.' Refugees from the civil war in Angola were 'flooding' into Portugal. A row was brewing in the Tory party with Peter Walker and Sir Keith Joseph clashing on economic policy. Chrysler's UK car production was halted by a strike at the company's Coventry plant. MP Jack Ashley called for the removal of Judge Christmas Humphreys who the previous week had freed a self-confessed double rapist. James Hunt won the Dutch Grand Prix. Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios met the PLO's Yassir Arafat in Syria and said that he supported the Palestinians 'just struggle.' The inquest into the death of Sandra Rivett, the Lucan family nanny, concluded. The verdict was that the missing Lord Lucan had murdered her. The first episode of Ten From The Twenties broadcast on BBC2.
The perfectly terrifying episode At The Cradle Foot of the American anthology chiller Ghost Story was broadcast in the UK. It was so diarrhoea-inducing to eleven year old Keith Telly Topping that he couldn't sleep for days afterwards.
The first episode of Seaside Special broadcast.
Brian Clark's Post Mortem broadcast as part of BBC2's Centre Play strand
Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music released. If you had teeth fillings, you were advised to prepare to have them rattled.
Tom Watson won a play-off against Jack Newton to win The Open at Carnoustie.
The first episode of My Honourable Mrs broadcast.
The first episode of The Rough With The Smooth broadcast.
Apollo 18 - piloted by Tom Stafford, Vance Brand and Deke Slayton - docked with Soyuz 19 - and its crew, Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov. NASA had calculated that the historic event would occur whilst the two spacecraft were over Bognor Regis. Sadly, for the sleepy Sussex seaside town, a slight delay meant that the actual docking occurred over Metz in France. The mission was considered a great success, both technically and in term of public relations.
Sandra Clark's Holding On broadcast as part of BBC2's Centre Play strand.
The Old Grey Whistle Test featured an hour - an hour - of Yes. Horrifying. Even Seaside Special - with Tony Blackburn, Cilla Black and Don Maclean - on BBC1 was preferable to that.
Th first episode of the radio adaptation of Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? broadcast on Radio 2.
The day Michael Angelow streaked across the pitch at Lord's. And was caught at Long Leg by the bobbies. Three female 'professional pickpockets' from Chile on holiday in London were jailed after being caught 'loitering' in an Oxford Street store. The hot summer continued with temperatures in the nineties. London was hotter than North Africa on this particular day, as this blogger who got spectacularly sunburned whilst sitting in the Nursery End watching the streaker well remembers.
Peter Weir's Picnic At Hanging Rock released.
The World About Us film In Deepest Britain broadcast, which would later spawn its own series.
Supporters of the convicted bank robber George Davis dug up the pitch at Headingly overnight causing the abandonment of the Third Test.
Tom Baker hosted the Bank Holiday episode of Disney Time.
The first episode of Oil Strike North broadcast.
The first episode of I Didn't Know You Cared broadcast.
The first episode of Quiller broadcast.
The first appearance of The Zygons in Doctor Who.
The first episode of Angels broadcast. Don Shaw's Judge The Bloody City broadcast as part of BBC2's Centre Play strand.
The first episode of The Growing Pains Of PC Penrose broadcast.
Clive and David Lloyd helped Lancashire win their fourth Gillette Cup in six years in another low-scoring match against Middlesex.
Niki Lauda finished third at the Italian Grand Prix - in a race won by Clay Regazzoni - to win his first World Drivers' Championship.
The first episode of Days Of Hope broadcast. The first UK broadcast of Salty.
Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here released.
Yer actual Keith Telly Topping attended his very first ever rock and/or roll gig - Paul McCartney & Wings at the Newcastle City Hall on the Venus & Mars tour. On a school night, an'all.
The first episode of Fawlty Towers broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Hill Of The Red Fox broadcast. Adrian Mitchell's Daft As A Brush broadcast on BBC2. Dougal Haston and Doug Scott, part of Chris Bonington's expedition, reached the peak of Everest by the South-West face.
The first episode of The Wild West Show broadcast on BBC2.
Arnold Wesker's Chips With Everything broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand. The Spaghetti House Siege began in London. Franklin Davies, claiming to be a member of The Black Liberation Front, and two other gunmen, took staff prisoner when an armed robbery went wrong. The siege lasted for six days. Radio 1 devoted an hour of their Insight strand to 'the Northern Soul phenomena.'
Herbert Wise's adaptation of The Secret Agent broadcast on BBC2. Muhammad fought Smokin' Joe in The Thrilla In Manilla.
The first group of four murders attributed to the notorious Ulster loyalist criminal gang The Shankhill Butchers took place at Casey's Bottling Plant in Millfield.
The first episodes of Poldark and Ballet Shoes broadcast. Lesley Susan Molseed an eleven-year-old schoolgirl was sexually assaulted and murdered on Rishworth Moor near Rochdale. Stefan Ivan Kiszko, a local tax clerk, served sixteen years in prison after he was wrongly convicted of the crime. He died in 1993 shortly after being released when his conviction was quashed. The circumstances of his ordeal was described by one MP as 'the worst miscarriage of justice of all time.' Ronald Castree, a retired local taxi driver, was eventually found guilty of the crime in November 2007 and very jailed for life.
The first episode of Arena and Stuart Brge's adaptation of Under Western Eyes broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of On The Move broadcast.
A tragically stoned Paul Kossoff - the former guitarist with Free - appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test, in theory to be interviewed by Bob Harris. Kossoff died the following March from heart failure on a flight from Los Angeles to New York.
The Russian space probe Venera Nine sent back the first image from the surface of Venus. Prometheus: The Life Of Balzac broadcast on BBC2.
The Guildford Four - Paul Hill, Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong and Carole Richardson - were sentenced to life for the 1974 Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings. The trial judge Justice Donaldson expressed regret the four had not been charged with treason, which still carried a mandatory death penalty. Just as well, perhaps, otherwise when they were discovered to have been wholly innocent eighteen years later, the then Home Secretary would have been making apologetic noises to four graves. Four men pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering car dealer Ginger Marks in 1965. A witness at the trial of John Stonehouse, the MP who faked his own death, said his secretary and co-accused, Sheila Buckley, had mentioned her plans to visit friends in Australia where the MP was hiding. A Westminster environmental inspector described in the court the cockroach-infested conditions he found in the kitchens of the Golden Orient tandoori restaurant in Soho.
The day incompetent hit man Andrew Newton shot Norman Scott's dog, Rinka (but, not Scott himself which he had, allegedly, been paid to), an event which would, eventually, lead to the trial (and acquittal) of Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe for conspiracy to murder.
The first appearance of Sutekh in Doctor Who.
Christopher Hamilton's The Philanthropist broadcast on BBC2.
Peter Sutcliffe - The Yorkshire Ripper - murdered his first victim, Wilma McCann, in Leeds.
The first episode of Spirit Of The Age broadcast on BBC2.
The day Norman Hunter chinned Franny Lee on Match Of The Day.
The first episode of Circus broadcast on BBC1. Peter Nichols' Forget-Me-Not Lane broadcast on BBC2.
The Sex Pistols played their first gig at St Martin's College in London.
The acclaimed documentary about Belfast schoolchildren It's Not All Bombs broadcast.
Brian Glover's Keep An Eye On Albert broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. Lynyrd Skynard appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test, inevitably performing 'Freebird'. All forty two bastard hours of it.
The day the Sex Discrimination Act became law.
Bob Mason's On The Good Ship Yacki-Kicki-Doola - featuring the TV debut of David Threlfall - broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand.
The first episode of Emu's Broadcasting Company broadcast.
The first episode of Trinity Tales broadcast.Mike Stott's Thwum broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand.
The first episode of The Legend of Robin Hood broadcast.
The first episode of The Doll broadcast as part of the Francis Durbridge Presents ... strand. John Challen's After The Solo broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of Moll Flanders broadcast on BBC2.
The day Ross McWhirter was murdered by the IRA.
The only episode of The Generation Game not presented by Bruce Forsyth broadcast (Roy Castle guested as Brucie had 'flu). Tuneless, frightful hippy dirge 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by turgid, pompous rockers The Queen Group reached number one. It would remain there for a depressingly long time. Graham Hill was killed when his plane crashed returning to the UK from a race meeting in France.
The day The Times ran an article quoting gobshite Tory MP Norman Tebbit as accusing Michael Foot of 'undiluted fascism'. And, let's face it, Norm should know. Alec Guinness's reading of TS Eliot's The Waste Land broadcast on Radio 3.
Trevor Griffiths's Through The Night broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of State Of Emergency broadcast.
The Balcome Street Siege began.
Leon Griffiths's A Passage To England broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The episode of Q6 featuring the 'Pakistani Dalek' sketch broadcast.
The Parish Boy's Progress broadcast as part of BBC2's Second House strand.
The first episode of Rumpole Of The Bailey broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Andrew Davies's adaptation of Poe's The Imp Of The Perverse broadcast as part of BBC2's Centre Play strand. The Ulster Defence Association bombed Biddy Mulligan's pub in Kilburn. Five people were injured. The UDA claimed it bombed the pub because it was frequented by republican sympathisers.
The day Carlos The Jackal led a terrorist team that attacked a meeting of OPEC leaders in Vienna. Goodies Ruke - OK? broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Bod broadcast. And The Ash Tree broadcast as part of the A Ghost Story For Christmas strand.
The Old Grey Whistle Test's annual Christmas concert featured turgid, pompous rockers The Queen Group at the Hammersmith Odeon. If this blogger had been there, he would have thrown things at them and shouted rude words.
The first TV broadcast of Let It Be on BBC1. Meanwhile, on BBC2, George Harrison was appearing as Pirate Bob on Christmas With Rutland Weekend Television.
The first UK broadcast of Frankenstein: The True Story on BBC2. Simply Simon broadcast on BBC1.
JB Priestley's When We Are Married broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand. Prime Minister Harold Wilson reportedly discussed whether there were 'too many hippies' at the BBC in talks with the corporation's then-chairman, Sir Michael Swann. The pair discussed 'hippie influences' when Swann met Wilson at a dinner party. Swann said he would not say the BBC was clear of such problems but it was a 'picnic' compared to his time as head of Edinburgh University.
1976
The first appearance of Morbius in Doctor Who and the first episode of It's Cliff & Friends broadcast.
The first episodes of Read All About It and The Prince & The Pauper - featuring Nicholas Lyndhurst in the title role(s) - broadcast. The Fivepenny Piece appeared on That's Life performing 'Without A Doubt They Tell Us Owt (They Must Think That We Know Nowt)'.
The first episode of Paddington broadcast. Former Beatles road manager Mal Evans was shot dead by Los Angeles police after refusing to drop what the police only later determined was an air rifle.Pupils at Heaton School in Newcastle went on strike after the headmaster, Henry Askew, proposed that, in the name of 'equality', 'uncouth and nasty' girl pupils would be caned as well as boys. 'If I'm ever due the cane, I will run home,' one uncouth and nasty girl told the Evening Chronicle. Askew's announcement was followed by two days of demonstrations when two hundred teenage girls 'went on the rampage', including running onto a football pitch during a game and stealing the ball. Way to go, sisters! Presumably, they were all home in time for the first episode of Rentaghost.
Tompkinson's School Days, the pilot episode of Michael Palin and Terry Jones's Ripping Yarns broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Kenneth Cope's Striker broadcast on BBC1.
The first episode of When The Boat Comes In broadcast. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai died.
Tim Aspinall's You Talk Too Much broadcast as part of BBC2's Centre Play strand. Graham Chapman's Out Of The Trees broadcast.
The UK terrestrial TV debut of Roger Corman's The Masque Of The Red Death broadcast. Dame Agatha Christie died.
Mike Leigh's Nuts In May broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
Would-be Gerald Ford assassin Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison.
In a case that was to become something of a cause celebre, electrician and amateur boxing coach Liddle Towers was arrested outside the Key Club in Birtley for being drunk and disorderly. After 'a struggle' he was put into a black maria by six policemen, taken to Gateshead police station and - he later alleged - given a right braying. He died on 9 February at Dryburn Hospital from his injuries. The first episode of Landscapes Of England broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Play Rugby broadcast on the day that Wales gave England a thrashing at Twickenham. On BBC2, Centre Play featured Derek Fuke's 'modern ghost story' Mirror, Mirror.
In Stuttgart, the trial of Andraes Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe – the leaders of the Red Army Faction - was taking place. Also on trial, in the US, was kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, charged with bank robbery after (alleged) 'indoctrination' by her captors, The Symbionese Liberation Army. The arrival of Argentine sappers in the Falkland Islands to build an airstrip brought a predictably rabid response from the islanders. Government Chief Whip Bob Mellish used a radio broadcast to appeal to John Ryman, the Labour MP for Blyth who hadn’t been seen at Westminster 'for several months', to attend the Commons for a crucial vote on devolution. Ryman, who was facing court proceedings over allegations about false election expenses, said that he would not be 'cajoled or browbeaten' into voting. Two people were killed and thirteen injured when a bomb was thrown into a pub on Belfast's Catholic New Lodge Road. James Martin, detained for four months in Zaire for alleged 'mercenary activities', was freed. The Soviet Union planned to recommence nuclear tests just as Strategic Arms Limitation Talk were due to start. Liz Taylor revealed that she and Richard Burton had decided to remarry after she was told she may have had cancer. Ten members of the 'Free George Davis Campaign' held a weekend vigil outside Wandsworth Prison. MPLA Forces continued to rout the demoralised Western-backed FLNA army in the Angolan civil war. Right-wing Falangist militia stormed into a Muslim district of Beirut only eight hours after the latest ceasefire had come into force. The Child Poverty Action Group called for an end to 'spying' on claimants by social security offices. Jaws was the most watched movie in Britain. The Blue Peter cat, Jason, died. Three thousand spectators at an cricket match in Perth were convinced they had seen a trio of lady streakers. But, one of them turned out to be 'female impersonator' Stephen Burns who was charged, along with his two - genuine - lady friends, with 'exposing their naked persons in public.'Eric Coltart's Doran's Box broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of The Glittering Prizes broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Kizzy broadcast on BBC1. The initial commercial Concorde flight took place. Goals from Alan Gowling, Glenn Keeley and Geoff Nulty gave Newcastle United a three-two aggregate victory over Tottenham Hotshots in the semi-final of the Football League Cup.
David Bowie's Station To Station released.
Twelve Provisional IRA bombs exploded in the West End of London.
The Vegan Society produced the Open Door documentary To A Brighter Future.
The Chinese Central Committee issued a Top-Priority Directive, officially transferring Deng Xiaoping to work on 'external affairs' and, thus, removing Deng from the party's power apparatus.
John Hopkins's A Story To Frighten The Children broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The opening ceremony of the Innsburk Winter Olympics was broadcast. The first episode of The Mike Read Show broadcast on BBC2. Ter. Riff. If.
Franz Klammer won the Men's Downhill at the winter Olympics on the same day as Blue Peter broadcast the episode where John Noakes tried to go down the Cresta Run in a bobsleigh and, ended up, going down the last bit of it on his arse. A huge earthquake devastated several towns in Guatemala. Two British frigates were involved in stand-offs with Icelandic fisherman. Equatorial Guinea's dictator, Francisco Macías Nguema, was accused of human rights violations by refugees from the country. Annie Macguire's appeal against her conviction for possession of nitroglycerine was told that prosecution forensic evidence was 'unreliable.' Which it was but Annie and her friends still ended up having to do several further years in pokey before this gross miscarriage of justice was uncovered. The RSPCA announced it considered angling to be a 'cruel' sport. Particularly for those who had to spend all day, bored, on the riverbank watching their dads doing it.
The first episode of Jumbo Spencer broadcast.
John Curry won gold for Britain in the Olympic figure-skating. The MPLA seized power in Angola. Allegations that British troops tortured Republican internees during 1971 threatened Anglo-Irish relations. Dirty fat paedophile Cyril Smith was quizzed over comments he made concerning the pressure group Aims For Freedom & Enterprise about whom he was critical just months after having written to them seeking finance for the Liberal Party. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest opened in the UK. A range of food and fuel price increases were to be held at five per cent. A voting mix-up saw the government defeated in a motion to reduce the salary of Industry Secretary Eric Varley by a thousand quid. Clydeside shipbuilders leader Jimmy Reid quit the Communist party citing disenchantment. Freddie Laker replied angrily to the government's decision to cancel his proposed cheap-fare Skytrain Transatlantic service. Daily Express editor Alastair Burnet left the newspaper to join ITN. Anti-monarchist MP Willie Hamilton apologised for libelling the Prince of Wales' former tutor Edward Millward, a leading figure in Plaid Cymru.
The first episode of One Man & His Dog broadcast on BBC2. The Jumping Bean Bag broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of The Freddie Starr Show broadcast on BBC2.
The TV show featuring the least accurate title ever, Max Boyce Entertains, broadcast. Dennis Tueart's overheard kick gave Manchester City victory in a memorable League Cup Final against Newcastle.
The first episode of The Flight Of The Heron broadcast.
The first episode of Our Mutual Friends broadcast on BBC2. Home Secretary Merlyn Rees ended Special Category Status for those sentenced for terrorist crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland.
The first episode of The Barry Humphreys Show broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Rocky O'Rourke broadcast on BBC1.
The first episode of Saturday Night At The Mill broadcast.
The Who's Keith Moon collapsed onstage ten minutes into a performance at the Boston Garden.
The first episode of Barry's Took's adaptation of One-Upmanship - starring Richard Briars - broadcast on BBC2. An episode of Arena focused on the new art-form of video art.
James Hunt won the Daily Mail Race Of Champions at Brands Hatch as the BBC's regular coverage of Formula One began.
Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister in rather curious circumstances never fully explained but with some allegations of dark doings involving elements of the security services. Wilson's Prime Minister's Resignation Honours included many businessmen and celebrities, along with his political supporters. His choice of appointments caused lasting damage to his reputation, worsened by the - never proved - suggestion that the first draft of the list had been written by his political secretary Marcia Williams on lavender notepaper (it became known as 'the Lavender List').
Nic Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth - starring yer actual David Bowie - opened in the UK.
The first episode of BBC2's Battle Of The Sexes broadcast.
Patty Hearst was found very guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank. Given a seven year stretch in The Big House she was eventually freed after twenty two months.
Argentina's military forces deposed president Isabel Perón and replaced her government with a junta.
The first episode of A Secret England broadcast. Maggie Wadey's An Accident Of Class & Sex broadcast as part of BBC2's Playhouse strand. Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak LP released. Which told us that 'tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town.' The jail, probably.
The first episode of Go With Noakes broadcast.
Apple Computer Company was formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
The movie adaptation of The Likely Lads opened in the UK. 'In The Chocolate Box Of Life, the top layer's already gone and somebody's nicked the Orange Creme from the bottom!'
Brotherhood Of Man won The Eurovision Song Contest with the turgid 'Save All You Kisses For Me'.
The day Howard Hughes died, James Callaghan became Prime Minister and the (first) Tiananmen Square Incident took place in Beijing.
The day on which Dennis Potter's challenging Brimstone & Treacle was originally scheduled to be broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. But, it had been cancelled a fortnight earlier by the BBC's Director of Television Programmes Alasdair Milne who said he found it 'nauseating' though 'brilliantly made'. Although, really, it was because some BBC executives, including Milne, were shit-scared about what Mary Whitehouse and the Daily Scum Mail would say about it. It was replaced by another Potter play, Double Dare. Brimstone & Treacle was remade as a - not particularly good - movie in 1982. The original 1976 version was finally shown on BBC2 in August 1987 as part of a Banned Season of productions. Also, the first UK broadcast of The Olympiad.
Ewart Alexander's The Button Man broadcast as part of BBC2's Playhouse strand.
The first episode of John Macnab broadcast.
The first episode of No Strings broadcast as part of the Comedy Playhouse strand.
The Chester Mystery Plays broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
John Arlott's Long High Summer broadcast on BBC2.
The first UK broadcast of Starsky & Hutch. The Ramones release their eponymous debut LP.
Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels made an on-air offer to pay The Be-Atles three thousand dollars to reunite, live, on the show. In a 1980 interview, alcoholic wife-beating Scouse junkie John Lennon stated that he and Paul McCartney happened to be watching the show together at Lennon's apartment in New York and considered walking down to the SNL studio 'for a gag' but were 'too tired.' When George Harrison appeared on the show later in the year, he asked his quarter of the money.
The day Sid James died on stage at the Sunderland Empire during a performance of the play Run For Your Wife.
The first episode of The BBC1 Documentary broadcast. Rick Wakeman & The English Rock Ensemble performed 'extracts from King Arthur & The Knights Of the Round Table and The Six Wives of Henry VIII' to the traumatised citizens of The Maltings in Farnham on The Old Grey Whistle Test. And, to think, there are still people that will try to convince you that the 1970s were preferable to the Middle Ages. At least in the latter, a plague would come along every few years to put you out of your misery.
Pan's People performed their final routine on Top Of The Pops before being replaced by a new dance troupe, Ruby Flipper.
Bob Marley & The Wailers' Rastman Vibration released.
Second Division Southampton beat The Scum at Wembley in the FA Cup final. The last episode of Dixon Of Dock Green was broadcast after twenty one years of 'evening all.' BBC2's play was an adaptation of Peter Terson's Zigger Zagger. With the government and TUC on the verge of agreeing the next stage of pay policy, Dennis Healey said that the deal could bring Britain within eighteen months to a world in which shopping was 'no longer a nightmare.' Former Californian Governor and out-of-work actor Ronald Reagan won a landslide victory over President Ford in the Texas Republican primary. Noise from Concorde was said to be 'a danger to hearing' in a report commissioned by a pressure group. The Daily Express was officially rebuked by the Press Council over allegations that the Government, 'smarting under a left-wing backlash', had ordered there were to be no more 'conspiracy trials' following the prosecutions over the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings.
Having recently expressed the somewhat controversial opinion that Britain would 'benefit' from 'fascist leadership', David Bowie arrived back in the UK at Victoria Station for the start of his Thin White Duke Tour in an open-top Mercedes and was reported by some witnesses to have given 'a Nazi salute' to the crowd. Bowie claimed, plausibly, that photographers had caught him 'mid-wave'.
Paul McCartney & Wings started their Wings Over America Tour in Fort Worth. This was the first time that Macca has performed in the US since The Be-Atles' last tour in 1966.
Liverpool came from a goal down to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers three-one and won the Football League title. They finished a point ahead of Queens Park Rangers.
The first episode of Star Turn - presented by Bernard Cribbins - broadcast.
The episode of Starsky & Hutch - Death Notice - in which David Soul sang 'Black Bean Soup' broadcast in the UK for the first time.
Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction was found hanged in an apparent suicide, in her Stuttgart-Stammheim prison cell.
The Patti Smith Group performed 'Horses' and 'Hey Joe' on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The first episode of Barry Cunliffe's A Throne Of Kings broadcast. Bayern Munich won their third consecutive European Cup, beating one of the cult sides of the 1970s, France's Saint Etienne one-nil at Hampden Park. Two months after his resignation as Prime Minister, Harold Wilson summoned BBC journalists Roger Courtiour and Barrie Penrose to his office and, effectively, offered to become their 'Deep Throat' in the matter of South African involvement in British affairs, alleged coup d'état plots in 1968 and 1974 and attempts by MI5 to destabilise Wilson's government following the 1974 general erection. Wilson claimed that plans had existed to install Lord Mountbatten as interim Prime Minister following any coup. He also claimed that ex-military leaders had built up private armies in anticipation of 'wholesale domestic liquidation' and that 'elements' within MI5 had spread 'black propaganda' to right-wing journalists suggesting that Wilson and his private secretary Marcia Williams were Soviet agents, apparently with the intention of helping the Conservatives win the 1974 erection. The extent of any South African interference was never established and the journalists couldn't make much headway with the security services, but Penrose and Courtiour, acting upon one of Wilson tip's, uncovered a completely different scandal, the alleged homosexual affair between Norman Scott and the leader of the Liberal Party, Jeremy Thorpe, a case which had been, thus far, assiduously covered up by Thorpe's friends in government. Their book, The Pencourt File (published in August 1978) would eventually lead to Thorpe's arrest and trial for conspiracy to murder.
England lost to Scotland at Hampden Park in the Home International Championship. Kenny Dalglish scored the winner when his shot went between the legs of England's goalkeeper Ray Clemence.
John Noakes collapsed during a live episode of Blue Peter 'due to exhaustion'.
Muhammad Ali stopped Richard Dunn in the fifth round of their - extremely mismatched - world heavyweight championship bout in Munich.
The first episode of Second Verdict broadcast.
The first UK broadcast of Centennial.
The first episode of Mike Yarwood - In Persons broadcast. The Who Put the Boot In Tour - so-called in reference to the venues being major football stadia - began with a show at Charlton's The Valley which would feature in the Guinness Book Of Record for what was, at the time, the loudest rock and/or roll concert ever. Its volume from fifty meters away from the stage was measured at an ear-shattering one hundred and twenty decibels.
England's cricket captain, Tony Greig, was interviewed at Hove by BBC's Sportsnight for broadcast the following evening as a prelude to forthcoming test series against the West Indies. England had announced their side would include the recalled forty five year old Brian Close. During the interview Greig said, regarding the opposition, 'if they get on top they are magnificent cricketers. But if they're down, they grovel. And I intend, with Closey and a few others, to make them grovel.' It was a hugely unfortunate choice of words - as Greigy himself, quickly, came to realise. A South African-born Caucasian, using an emotive term like 'grovel' in relation to a team of black men didn't sit well with pretty much anyone. As Trevor McDonald said in his biography of Vivian Richards, although it almost certainly didn't occur to Greig at the time, 'to publicly threaten [to humiliate] the West Indies was probably the closest any cricketer ever came to making a formal declaration of war.' 'We thought, "this guy needs to be put in his place"' Michael Holding told the author David Tossell many years later. It must be remembered that 1976 - the longest, hottest summer in Britain for decades - was one that climaxed with the Notting Hill riots and a general increase in racial tension. Not insignificantly one of ITV's most popular sitcoms of the era was Vince Powell and Harry Driver's Love Thy Neighbour which concerned a bigot, Eddie Booth (played by Jack Smethurst), living next door to Jamaican, Bill Reynolds (Rudolph Walker). With a script littered with the casual usage of words like 'nig-nog' and 'sambo' the programme, nevertheless, had a huge audience. On the other hand, some commentators have noted that Greig – albeit in a very ham-fisted and awkward fashion – did have a point concerning the West Indies then-current form. The previous winter the Caribbean stars had been beaten five-one in Australia and, just two months previously, with a three-spinner attack they had lost a test at home to India after setting their opponents a world record target of four hundred and six in the fourth innings. From then on Clive Lloyd had decided that if spinners could lose him games he would rely on pace, pace and more pace. 'Grovel! Greig! Grovel' became a regular chant for jubilant West Indies supporters at test grounds all summer in what turned out to be a memorable series - and one in which it was England that would be doing all of the grovelling. The UK and Iceland officially ended the Cod War.An outstanding two hundred and thirty two from Viv Richards helped the West Indies to a massive first innings total of four hundred and ninety four in the first test at Trent Bridge as England's bowlers toiled for two days in the scorching heat. A century from David Steele and some obstinate defence by John Edrich and Brian Close on the final day gained England a hard-fought draw.
The Sex Pistols played their first date outside London, at Manchester's Lesser Trade Hall. The show was attended by Tony Wilson, who would subsequently give the band their first TV slot on his Granada arts programme So It Goes, Stephen Morrissey (who wrote a glowing review for Melody Maker) and future members of Buzzcocks (Pete Shelley and Howard Devota promoted the gig), Joy Division and The Fall.
Ross Markham Noble born in Cramlington.
The trial began at Oxford Crown Court of The Black Panther Donald Neilson.
The Soweto uprising in South Africa began; it would end with the deaths of over one hundred people in the township. Welsh referee - and full-of-his-own-importance berk - Clive 'The Whistle' Thomas sent off Johan Neeskens and Vim Van Hanegem as the Netherlands were beaten three-one by Czechoslovakia in controversial circumstances in the semi-final of the European Championships. During extra time, Thomas had completely failed to spot a foul by Antonín Panenka on Johan Cruyff, after which Zdenek Nehoda scored the decisive goal for the Czechs. The Dutch were so furious about the decision, Van Hanegem stroppily refused to kick off afterwards giving Thomas the gleeful opportunity to produce another red card.
Barry Collins' The Witches Of Pendle broadcast on BBC2.
Czechoslovakia beat West Germany on penalties to win Euro 76 after Uli Hoeneß virtually sent the ball into orbit from his spot kick. The game had ended two-two after extra time thanks to Bernd Hölzenbein's last-minute equaliser. The US Navy evacuated Western citizens from war-torn Beirut. Emperor Haile Selassie may have been murdered according to allegations made in Ethiopia. An armed gang robbed an Arab Prince, the brother of the Ruler of Qatar, in London's Hilton Hotel. Several opposition politicians were arrested as Jamaica declared a State of Emergency. Britain's only steam-operated railway, between Loughborough and Leicester, was to close. Former White House Chief of Staff Bob Halderman published his memoirs in which he said President Nixon's 'tragic mistake' was not granting a blanket pardon to everyone involved in Watergate.
Whilst filming an episode of European Superstars at Bracknall Sports & Leisure Centre, Kevin Keegan famously fell off his bike. The crash occurred when Keegan was racing against the Belgian footballer Gilbert Van Binst. Keegan was leading the overall competition but admitted prior to the race that 'I'm more used to a car than a bike.' At the first corner Van Binst moved ahead and Keegan, already wobbling heavily clipped the Belgian's back wheel. Carnage ensued. 'Keegan's gone! That is a terrible crash' shouted the commentator, David Vine, as Kev hit the cinder track and then slid for an alarmingly long distance. Shaken, and with nasty abrasions to his arm and back which now looked as red as his Liverpool shirt, Kevin's cause was not helped by the close attentions of co-commentator Ron Pickering who noted 'Hell of a bump, wasn’t it?' When the episode was finally broadcast by the BBC, on 1 December, the audience must have been near enough every single person in Great Britain judging by the frequency with which the incident has been referenced over the years. At London's Roundhouse, The Ramones made their UK live debut watched - according to legend - by just about everybody who would be anybody in the subsequent British punk movement. It was another mad hot day in this hottest of summers, with temperatures reaching the high eighties in London. Speaking at an EEC conference in Luxembourg, the Chancellor Dennis Healey brushed aside warnings from the US treasury about the 'need for changes' in the British economy. French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing returned from a 'frank but cordial' summit with Prime Minister Callaghan. An injunction banning The Sunday Times from printing an article on the background to the Thalidomide tragedy was lifted. Labour won the Rotherham by-election but with a much reduced majority. The Civil Service was considered to be 'almost entirely free' from high-level corruption, 'essentially because its bureaucratic machinery ensures few decisions rest with individuals.' Thirteen members of the Third World Action Group were fined three hundred Swiss francs by a Berne court for libel after they used the title 'Nestlé Kills Babies' in one of their publications. Egypt and Syria restored diplomatic relations. GLC member Tony Banks told the Coordinating Committee that they should investigate ways of helping London football clubs in financial difficulties. Particularly his beloved Chelsea, obviously. Passenger charges of up to £13.50 could be levied at Heathrow to reduce congestion, it was announced. Risks from asbestos were to be 'studied' by the Health and Safety Commission. If present trends in Britain's inner cities continued the country could 'experience serious social disorder' in under five years Graham Lomas of London Social Services told a conference. Brenda Thompson, a headmistress from Hackney, published a book in which she claimed children who stay up late to watch television are often 'badly behaved and irritable.'The first UK terrestrial broadcast of Hitchcock's Psycho shown as part of the BBC's The Great American Picture Show strand. The first episode of Private Affairs broadcast on BBC2. In Gregg Versus Georgia, the US Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was not 'inherently cruel or unusual' and was a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment overturning the Furman Versus Georgia case of 1972. The great heatwave in the United Kingdom, which was currently suffering from drought conditions, reached its peak on this day with some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Britain.
The BBC marked America's Bicentennial with two classic Westerns, True Grit and Davy Crockett as well as the special Uncle Sam Celebrates. As Americans celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of George Washington's revolution and President Ford told the US to be 'the model of liberty' in its third century, Israeli commando's carried out a daring raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda, freeing over one hundred hostages and killing five Palestinian and two West German hijackers. In Tel Aviv, Israeli Defence Minister Shimon Peres accused the Ugandan President, Idi Amin, of 'collusion' with the hijackers. Taiwan announced a boycott of the forthcoming Olympics because the People's Republic of China exerted pressure on the Montreal organising committee. The ROC refused a proposed compromise that would have allowed Taiwan to use the ROC flag and anthem. Taiwan did not participate again until 1984. Nine people, including four children, were killed in a coach crash on the M4 near Swindon. Five catholic priests were murdered in Argentina, apparently by the authorities in reprisal for a recent bombing at a police station. Edward Heath made a stinging attack on his successor, Margaret Thatcher, and her 'tactics' in the House of Commons. Many Liberals felt that the forthcoming party leadership content between John Pardoe and David Steel was in danger of descending into a slanging match. At the NUM conference in the Isle of Man, Yorkshire Miner's leader Arthur Scargill challenged a ruling by NUM president Joe Gormley that resolutions calling for pay increases could not be debated. Scotland Yard was attempting to extradite Stephen Raymond from Switzerland in connection with a two million pound currency theft at Heathrow. There was finally a break in the hot weather with flash floods in Wales and Hampshire though the drought – which was hitting Europe as well as Britain – was reported to be threatening attempts to reduce the EEC's 'dairy mountain.' Adolfo Suarez was King Juan Carlos's choice for the new Prime Minster of Spain. The US Viking space probe landed on Mars. Princess Anne was chosen for the British Three Day Event team at the forthcoming Olympics. Her husband, Captain Mark Phillips, was the reserve. Bet that caused a row. Meanwhile, at The Black Swan pub in Sheffield, London five-piece The Clash were playing their first ever gig, supporting another young rock group from the capital, The Sex Pistols. The times, they were about to change. And, not a moment too soon.
David Steel became leader of the Liberal Party in the aftermath of the scandal which forced out Jeremy Thorpe.
On the first day of the third test at Old Trafford, Middlesex's Mike Selvey (on his test debut) reduced the West Indies to twenty six for four. Thanks to a remarkable one hundred and thirty four by Gordon Greenidge the tourists recovered to two hundred and eleven. The next day, England were dismissed for just seventy one with Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel in terrifying form. A cartoon in the Sun the next morning had Tony Greig ringing the golfer Tony Jacklin - who had scored a poor round of seventy six at The Open – and asking if he'd like to 'swap scores!'
After the West Indies had batted again - a dazzling four hundred and eleven for five declared with Greenidge and Richards both scoring centuries - there were eighty minutes left for play on Saturday evening as John Edrich and Brian Close, with a combined age pushing eighty five, walked out in the oppressive Manchester heat. What followed was one of the most sustained pieces of hostility ever witnessed on a sport field. Andy Roberts could generate terrifying pace, but Mikey Holding was even faster. He had missed the first test through glandular fever and wasn't fully fit during the second. This was the first time on tour he had bowled at full speed. Close - as he had done thirteen years earlier at Lord's against another West Indies pace pair, Wes Hall and Charlie Griffiths - stood tall and took everything they bowled at him, as did Edrich. The two left-handers survived a barrage of short-pitched bowling and were both hit on several occasions. The sight of Close almost-but-not-quite sagging at the knees as he took a rising ball from Holding in the chest remains sickeningly vivid. ('Close is going to be a mass of bruises when he gets back to the pavilion' said Jim Laker with obvious sympathy concerning his former England colleague.) Anger was directed by many in the crowd (and, subsequently in the press) at the umpires Lloyd Budd and Bill Alley who seemed reluctant to intervene against what was, clearly, intimidatory and dangerous bowling. A moment of humour interrupted the carnage as a besuited fan ran onto the field with a comedy oversided bat and handed it to Edrich who, for a moment, seemed keen to used it. The torture ended when spinner Albert Padmore bowled the final over of the day. The disappearance of Dora Bloch the seventy four year old British woman who vanished in Uganda after the Entebbe hijacking caused outrage after President Amin denied all knowledge of her fate. Four mercenaries – three Britons, including Costos 'Callan' Georgiou, and the alleged CIA-spy, Daniel Gearheart – were executed in Angola after President Neto rejected international pleas for clemency. A general strike brought Australia to a standstill. The master of a Soviet tanker went missing on Tyneside as the ship was about to launch from Swan Hunters. Jimmy Carter met Walter Mondale and John Glenn as he searched for a running-mate for November's presidential elections. Home Secretary Roy Jenkins had George Davis, jailed for armed robbery, released by 'Exercise of the Royal Prerogative' because of doubts over evidence presented by police at his original trial. The severe drought was said to be depleting fish stocks and forest fires started in Surrey and Hampshire. Conservative MP Ian Sproat described horrifying levels of 'scrounging and fiddling on Social Security' whilst the Association of Careers Officers was told some jobless teenagers were being thrown out of their homes by parents who saw them as 'layabouts.' Johnny Miller narrowly beat nineteen year old Severiano Ballesteros in The Open at Royal Birkdale. Aldo Moro resigned as Prime Minister of Italy. Vanessa Redgrave won 'substantial damages' in a libel action against the Daily Mail. UK immigration policies were 'fundamentally racist' according to Liberal peer Lord Avebury. Enoch Powell described Britain as 'committing political suicide' over its membership of the EEC. A survey claimed caravans were not to blame for traffic queues. Jeremy Clarkson disagreed. The first episode of BBC2's Orde Wingate broadcast.
The opening ceremony of the Montreal Olympics broadcast. Some African countries - along with Guyana and Iraq - announced a boycott of the games when the International Olympic Committee would not support, as had other international sporting organisations, the banning from competition of those countries whose athletes had participated in sporting events in South Africa because of the apartheid regime with more joining the boycott over subsequent days. The New Zealand rugby team had recently touring South Africa and caused all this bother.
Fourteen year old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci earned the first of seven perfect scores of ten on the parallel bars at the Olympics. Nadia would go on to win three gold medals, including the Individual event. The organisers of the Olympics had been assured that a score of ten was impossible and, thus, the scoreboard only had three digits. Nadia's score was, therefore, shown as '1.00.' In women's gymnastics three gold medals were also won by Nellie Kim of the Soviet Union. James Hunt won the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch although two months afterwards, Hunt was disqualified due to a technicality and Niki Lauda was awarded the victory. There were reports of a cabinet rift on spending cuts. The government rejected a ten-point plan to reduce prison overcrowding. Six constituency parties tabled motions to conference that all members of the Labour party should have a vote in future elections for party leader. Robert Relf of Leamington, jailed for putting a sign outside his home saying 'for sale to an English family only', had the sign stolen. Boris Onishchenko, a member of the Soviet Union's Modern Pentathlon Olympic team, was disqualified after it was discovered that he had rigged his fencing épée to register hits when there wasn't one. Because of this, the USSR team was also disqualified. The Great Britain team - Adrian Parker, Danny Nightingale and Jim Fox - went on to win the gold medal. Donald Nielson, received four life sentences for murder. The left-wing Tribune group warned that further cuts in public expenditure could lead to a government defeat in the Commons. Angus Ogilvy offered to resign from the Rank Organisation after being criticised for his role as a Lonrho director in a Department of Trade report. Willie Hamilton MP challenged the government to reveal what contributions it had made to the World Wildlife Fund. Yachtsman Rodney Pattinson failed in his bid for gold at a third successive Olympics, finishing fourth in the Flying Dutchman class. Disciplinary action was taken against the headmaster and five teachers at the William Tyndale Junior School in Islington. The affair involved internal arguments over teaching methods. A court was told bank robbers Keith and Kenneth Littlejohn used toothpaste to disguise saw marks on the bars of their cell as they escaped from Mountjoy prison. Leslie Paisner, a London solicitor whose part in a legal dispute between Sir James Goldsmith and Private Eye was criticised in the High Court, resigned from his partnership. Six Newcastle schoolboys and three girls were charged with criminal damage in scenes described as 'resembling the storming of a medieval castle.' The Western Isles finally received colour television, seven years after everyone else in Britain. Future reggae star Dennis Bovell had a conviction for affray quashed by the appeals court. The National Film Development Fund was set up to help the ailing British film industry. Demetri Demetrious, a Cypriot who tried to persuade a police officer to steal secrets for him from Special Branch was jailed for eighteen months. The son of actors Tim Carlton and Wanda Ventham was born in Hammersmith. The poor wee brat got saddled with the name Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch.
NASA's Viking 1 successfully landed on Mars. Japanese Olympic gymnast Shun Fujimoto broke his knee on the floor exercise but, due to the closeness in the standings with the USSR, hid the extent of the injury. He was able to complete his performance on the rings with a perfect triple somersault dismount to help his team win the gold medal. He raised his arms after a perfect finish before collapsing in agony. The dismount worsened his injury, dislocating his broken kneecap and tearing ligaments in his right leg. Fujimoto stated that he had not wanted to 'let his team down'. Later, when asked whether he would do what he did again, he replied: 'No, I would not!'
John Elliot's The Madness broadcast on BBC2.
Lasse Viren retained his Olympic ten thousand metres title. Brendan Foster won Britain's only track and field medal at the games, a bronze. Five days later, the remarkable Viren also retained his five thousand metres gold.
Breaststroker David Wilkie became the first British swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since Anita Lonsborough in 1960. Trinidad's Hasley Crawford beat Jamaica's Don Quarrie in a memorable one hundred metres final. The malfunctioning mechanical arm on the Viking 1 probe was freed to enable the taking of Martian soil samples. The Conservatives Northern Ireland spokesman, Airey Neave, responding to the assassination of Britain's ambassador to Eire, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, called for 'an all-out war' on the IRA. Home Secretary Roy Jenkins appealed to 'moderate and sensible' majority of British people to 'avoid confrontation' with those who are 'openly and unapologetically racist or fascist.' New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon defended his government's policy of non-interference in sporting links with South Africa. In a television interview, Edward Heath denied he was 'a bad loser' but, was less-than-enthusiastic when asked if his successor would make a good Prime Minister. A curate from Edgeworth was jailed for thirty days in Yugoslavia after 'becoming involved in a dispute between police and a girl travel courier.'
Ed Moses broke the world record to win the Olympic four hundred metres hurdles gold.
Two impressive innings from Tony Greig almost led England to an improbable victory in the fourth test at Headingley. But, he eventually ran out of partners and the West Indies won by fifty five runs. Britain broke diplomatic relations with Uganda in response to the hijacking of Air France Flight 139. Delegates attending an American Legion convention at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, began falling ill with a form of pneumonia: this would eventually be recognised as the first outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease and ended in the deaths of twenty nine attendees.
In New York, the serial killer Son Of Sam (David Berkowitz) carried out the first in a series of gun attacks which would terrorise the city for the next year. Alberto Juantorena of Cuba became the first man to win both the four hundred and eight hundred metres golds at the same Olympics. When, according to David Coleman, he 'opens his legs and shows his class.'
The first episode of Morecambe and Wise's It's Childsplay broadcast.
NASA released the infamous 'Face on Mars' image, taken by Viking 1. Lasse Virén, having achieved the five and ten thousand metre track double, finished fifth in the Olympic marathon just failing to equal Emil Zátopek's 1952 achievements. Sugar Ray Leonard won Light-Welterweight Boxing gold, Leon Spinks the Light-Heavyweight title and his brother, Michael, the Middleweight gold. Teofilio Stevenson retained his Olympic Heavyweight title. Alan Plater's A Tyneside Entertainment broadcast on BBC2.
BBC2 celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the BBC's television serivce with Forty Years. At the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Nikki Lauda's Ferrari swerved off the track and burst into flames with Lauda trapped in the wreckage. Fellow drivers arrived at the scene but, before they were able to pull Lauda from his car, he suffered severe burns to his head and inhaled hot toxic gases that damaged his lungs. He returned to racing only six weeks (and three races) later, appearing at the Monza press conference with his fresh burns still heavy bandaged. In Lauda's absence, the race was won by James Hunt. Fire destroyed the pierhead of the world's longest pier in Southend. Scotland Yard's anti-corruption detectives began an investigation into allegations that a drug squad informer, Cornelius Buckley, acted as an agent provocateur, entrapping two men into committing a criminal offence. Several airlines pressed the government to 'clarify' its policy on licensing long-distance routes. Classroom violence and truancy were said to be 'the inevitable products of the educational system' according to a study by the Alternative Society Organisation. Leyland announced radical changes in the design, comfort and handling of MGB sports cars. Rebel priest Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre stated his intention to defy the Pope and continue to celebrate a traditional, Latin Mass. Idi Amin responded to Britain's decision to break off diplomatic relations with Uganda by issuing dire warnings to the country's remaining Britons.
Festival Forty - a month-long series of repeat broadcasts of 'outstanding and memorable programmes' to mark BBC TV's fortieth birthday began on BBC2 with an episode of It's A Square World.
The first episode of the wildlife series Man & Boy - featuring a very young Simon King - broadcast.
The first episode of Sailor and Ralph McTell Sings broadcast. Julia Jones's Back Of Beyond broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. Eric Clapton made a drunken declaration of support for former Conservative minister Enoch Powell ('Enoch was right ... get the foreigners out, get the wogs out, get the coons out') at a concert in Birmingham, an incident which eventually led to the formation of the Rock Against Racism movement. Big Ben's clock suffered internal damage and stopped running for over nine months.
Former Postmaster General John Stonehouse was sentenced to seven years in jail for fraud, theft and forgery.
The first in a series of Midnight Movie double bills - Masters Of Terror - began on BBC2.Despite a double century by Dennis Amiss, the West Indies won the fifth and final test at The Oval by two hundred and thirty one runs. This was thanks, in no small part to two astonishing spells of pace bowling on a flat and unhelpful pitch by Michael Holding who ended the match with figures of eight for ninety two and six for fifty seven. As Prince Far-I would note soon afterwards in his song 'Tribute To Michael Holding', 'Him fulla bowling! Heavy, heavy bowling!' Mikey even managed to upstage Viv Richards whose innings of two hundred and ninety one was a thing of rare and terrifying beauty. This was also the match in which it was alleged Brian Johnston, commentating for Test Match Special, told listeners that 'the bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey.' Johnston mentioned the story in his 1979 collection of anecdotes Rain Stops Play and numerous listeners claim to this day to have heard Brian say it but, subsequent searches of the BBC's sound-archives have failed to find the piece of commentary in question, suggesting that it was either said during an unrecorded piece for the World Service, or that the story is, sadly, apocryphal. A tsunami killed seventeen hundred people in the Philippines. Shopkeepers reported 'widespread vegetable hoarding' after price rose due to the continuing drought. A survey suggested immigrant dependants legally entitled to enter the UK were often denied permission by staff who either didn't understand the rules or did but showed 'a clear racial bias.' Steven Biko was arrested in South Africa. He would die in custody four weeks later in suspicious circumstances. A strike by stage staff brought the National Theatre to a standstill. A teacher was bound over after being convicted of possessing an offensive weapon (a brick) during a demonstration outside Winson Green jail.
The first known outbreak of Ebola virus occurred in Yambuku, Zaire.
Hawkwind's Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music released.
The Screen On The Green cinema in Islington presented a Midnight Special show with The Clash (playing their third gig) and Buzzcocks (playing their second) supporting The Sex Pistols in a showcase event organised by Malcolm Maclaren. If everyone who has, subsequently, claimed to be there actually had been, the audience would have been bigger than Woodstock. On BBC2 David Frost introduced the finale of the Festival Forty series, What Do You Think Of It So Far?
With tensions stoked by - alleged - 'arbitrary harassment' and arrests of young black attendees by police, the Notting Hill riot kicked-off big-style over the Bank Holiday in London.
The first episodes of The Duchess Of Duke Street and Spike Milligan's memorably mental The Phantom Raspberry Blower Of Old Lonon Tower The Two Ronnies serial broadcast. A man of the match performance by Peter Willey helped Northamptonshire to a four wicket victory over Lancashire in the final of the Gillette Cup at Lord's.
The first episode of Lorna Doone broadcast.
Frank Sinatra brought Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, reuniting the popular comedy team for the first time in over twenty years.
The first episode of The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin broadcast.
Chairman Mao Zedong died of a heart attack. The first episode of Summer Of 76 broadcast on BBC2.
The first episodes of Noah & Nelly In ... Sky/Ark and Potter's Picture Palace broadcast.
Jack Rosenthal's Bar Mitzvah Boy broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first NASA space shuttle, Enterprise, was unveiled to the public in Palmdale, California.
The episode of The Two Ronnies featuring the 'Four Candles' sketch broadcast.
The first episodes of BBC2's The Lively Arts (The Vet Who Writes Books, a profile of James Herriot) and Plays From 'A' broadcast.
The first episode of I, Claudius broadcast on BBC2. The 100 Club Punk Festival on Oxford Street ignited the careers of several influential punk and post-punk bands - The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks, The Damned and Subway Sect - sparking the punk movement's introduction into mainstream culture. Siouxsie &The Banshees (with Sid Vicious on drums) made their live debut at the event.
The first UK broadcast of The Water Margin on BBC2. The first episode of The Dick Emery Show broadcast on BBC1.
The TV debut of Bill Nighy in an episode of Softly Softly: Task Force.
The first episode of Well, Anyway broadcast on BBC2.
The Lively Arts' Rod Stewart profile Rod The Mod Has Come Of Age broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Max Bygraves Says "I Wanna Tell You Story" broadcast on BBC2.
Bernard Kops's Rocky Marciano Is Dead broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life released.
David Halliwell's Meriel: The Girl Ghost broadcast as part of BBC2's Playhouse: The Mind Beyond strand.
The first episode of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop broadcast.
Alan Plater's Seven Days That Shook Young Jim broadcast.
The inquest into the death of Liddle Towers returned a verdict of 'justifiable homicide'. This was heavily criticised, causing considerable disquiet over both the integrity of the Northumbria Police and of police behaviour and accountability in general. The verdict was appealed and, in June 1978, was set aside by the Queen's Bench Divisional Court, which ordered a new inquest. That, held in Bishop Auckland in October 1978, reached a verdict of 'death by misadventure.'
The first episode of Katy broadcast on BBC1. The Lively Arts documentary The Unlikely Lads - a profile of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais - broadcast on BBC2.
ABBA's Arrival released.
The first UK broadcast of The Gemini Man featuring Ben Murphy. The first episode of The Great Grape Ape Show broadcast. Joe Bugner extremely chinned Richard Dunn in the first round of their 'grudge match' for the British, Commonwealth and European Heavyweight title. The Gang of Four – Mao's widow Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen - were extremely arrested for treason in China. Estimates of oil output from BP's Forties field would 'boost the economy' according to the Energy Secretary, Tony Benn. BBC Director-General Charles Curran retired. Clifford Reed, a father accused of cutting his daughter's throat, told Lincoln Crown Court that he believed she was possessed by the devil. Three of Richard Nixon's former advisors – John Mitchell, John Ehrlichman and Bob Haldeman - jailed for their part in the Watergate cover-up lost their appeals.
The final appearance of Ruby Flipper on Top Of The Pops.
The Jam made their first important London live performance, setting up their gear in Soho Market and playing an energetic set to a crowd of onlookers that included The Clash - having breakfast in the cafe over the road - and reporters from Sniffin' Glue fanzine (co-editor Danny Baker) and Melody Maker. The good press generated by this eventually led to the band being signed by Polydor.
Roy Kendall's Housewives Choice broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first appearance of Legs & Co. on Top Of The Pops.
The first punk rock single, The Damned's 'New Rose' released on Stiff Records.
In torrential rain James Hunt finished third in the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji behind Mario Andretti to win the world championship after Niki Lauda retired on the second lap due to the weather conditions making the track too dangerous. He later said 'my life is worth more than a title.' Dominic Behan's To Glasgow With Love broadcast as part of BBC2's Plays From 'A' strand. Economist Milton Friedman said that Britain was 'on the verge of collapse' resulting from 'excessive government spending.' The New York Times endorsed Jimmy Carter in the forthcoming Presidential elections. Three people were killed in Soweto when police fired rubber bullets on a crowd at the funeral of a student who died in detention. William Whitelaw criticised the Children and Young Persons Act of 1969 saying that it left courts powerless and had become 'a charter for young thugs.' Talks took place in Geneva between the Rhodesian government and African nationalist leaders including Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo and Canaan Banana. The Emergency Water Resources Committee considered a report which suggested the public were better able to cope with rationing than standpipes in the street. Brighton Dolphiarium saw the first birth of a baby dolphin in captivity in Britain.
Colin Welland's Your Man From Six Counties broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand.
The first episode of The Big Time broadcast.
The first episode of The Shirley Bassey Show broadcast.
The first episode of The Government Inspector broadcast. Saudi Rules, OK? a documentary on Jimmy Hill's venture in Saudi Arabian football broadcast as part of BBC2's Summer Of 76 strand. The Goodies - Almost Live broadcast on BBC2. Jimmy Carter became the US President defeating Gerald Ford.
That episode of Superstars in which, during the pistol shooting round, Stan Bowles managed to shoot the table was broadcast. After a night out on the lash with fellow international jet-set playboy, James Hunt, the pair had to run a steeplechase with massive hangovers! Stan also sank his canoe - as did John Conteh and Malcolm MacDonald - and ended up with the worst ever score in the history of the programme, a mere seven points. Legend!
The infamous Gwen Troake's Banquet episode of The Big Time broadcast which, single-handedly destroyed what was left of Fanny Craddock's TV career.
The third episode of the well-remembered Doctor Who story The Deadly Assassin ended with Chancellor Goth (Bernard Hosfall) holding Tom Baker's head underwater in an attempt to drown him. It came in for criticism, particularly from the whinging 'clean-up TV' busybody Mary Whitehouse who completely lost her shit over the incident. She often cited this scene in interviews as one of the most frightening in Doctor Who, her reasoning being that children would not know if The Doctor survived until the following week. But, he did.
Brian Glover's Summer Season broadcast as part of BBC2's Second City Firsts strand. Headmistress Janet Dines was cleared of caning fourteen-year-old Lynne Simmonds at Northwich Girls' Grammar School. Dines, pleaded not guilty to assaulting Lynne, after she was caught eating crisps during a Maths lesson. Under cross-examination, Lynne admitted cheating and lying, telling a teacher she was pregnant 'for a joke', telling blue jokes during scripture lessons, 'making up fanciful tales' about her sexual prowess in order to disrupt the class, blowing raspberries behind the teacher's backs, telling lies to cover up her failure to do homework and taking a teacher's pen and offering it for sale at one pound.
The first episode of Little Lord Fauntleroy broadcast. An adaptation of John Osborne's Look Back In Anger broadcast as part of the Play Of The Month strand.
In San Francisco, The Band held their farewell concert, The Last Waltz filmed by Martin Scorsese for the - really pretentious - movie of the same name.
'Anarchy In The UK' by The Sex Pistols released.
The Sex Pistols and their entourage - including Siouxsie Sioux - appeared at short notice on ITV's London regional magazine programme The Today Show. Broadcast live and uncensored at 6pm, that was rather asking for trouble. The Pistols were a late replacement for EMI labelmates Queen who dropped out because Freddie Mercury reportedly had toothache. Egged on by Grundy to 'say something shocking' a completely bladdered Steve Jones, complied: 'What a fuckin' rotter!' The shit, as it were, hit the fans. And Grundy, whose TV career was, effectively, ended by this.
The Daily Mirror's infamous headline The Filth & The Fury - referring to The Sex Pstiols/Bill Grundy debacle was published.
A Pink Floyd cover shoot for their forthcoming Animals LP in South London went awry when a large inflatable pig broke free of its moorings over Battersea Power Station and drifted out of sight. Two days before Smile Jamaica, the reggae concert organised by Prime Minister Michael Manley to help ease tension between the island's warring political groups, Bob Marley, his wife Rita and his manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by gunmen at Marley's Kingston home. The first episode of Brensham People broadcast on BBC2.
Match Of The Day featured First Division two games with a whopping total of sixteen goals as Malcolm MacDonald scored a hat-trick for his new club, The Arse, in a five-three victory over his old club, Newcastle and Kenny Burns also bagged three as Birmingham won six-two at Leicester. The IMF agreed to a two billion pound loan to Britain. Labour announced they were to investigate alleged Trotskyite infiltration of the party. Twenty nine passengers were taken ill during a London to Sydney flight. Composer Benjamin Britten died. MP Maureen Colquhoun admitted to hitting a parking attendant. 'I bonked him one,' she noted. Clashes took place in Paris between police and striking workers. A hanger fire destroyed half of Australia's anti-submarine aircraft. Elizabeth Taylor married for the seventh time, to future US Senator John Warner. A silent vigil in Moscow lead by dissident physicist Andrei Sahkarov ended in a violent mêleé with members of the KGB. The Sex Pistols Anarchy Tour - with support bands The Clash, The Damned and Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - was supposed to begin two days after the Bill Grundy incident. However, the first three gigs - at Norwich University, King's Hall Derby and Newcastle City Hall - were instantly cancelled. The latter prompted a furious response from the promoters. 'I hate Newcastle councillors for what they have done to The Kids,' Dave Cork of Endale Associates told the Journal. The newspaper reported the rest of Cork's statement contained four-letter words and, therefore, couldn't be printed. Councillor Arthur Stabler, Chairman Newcastle's Arts Committee, said that the cancellation was 'to protect youngsters in the audience.'
The Anarchy Tour finally got underway with a legendary performance by The Pistols and their support acts at Leeds Polytechnic. It was attended by future members of Soft Cell, Danse Society, The Cult and The Gang Of Four.
John Peel broadcast his first 'Punk Special' on his Radio 1 show featuring a session by The Damned and records by The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Pere Ubu, Television, The Saints and The New York Dolls.
The Horizon episode Halfway To 1984 broadcast on BBC2.
Denis Healey announced to Parliament that he had successfully negotiated a £2.3bn loan from the International Monetary Fund and that Britain was, as a consequence, no longer completely bloody skint.
The Winter Warrior broadcast. Dickens's The Signalman broadcast as part of the A Ghost Story For Christmas strand.
The first of the annual Festive Fifty was broadcast as part of The John Peel Show which also featured Rod Stewart in concert.
The first episode of The Val Doonican Music Show broadcast.
John Arlott's The Fiery Summer broadcast on BBC2
The first episode of The Phoenix & The Carpet and the Omnibus film Pleasure At Her Majesty's broadcast.
The first episode of Wings broadcast.
The first episode of The Secret War - presented by William Woollard - broadcast.
The first episode of Mr Big broadcast.
The final episode of The Secret War (Still Secret) revealed to the general public for the first time 'the best kept secret of the Second World War', the breaking of the German Enigma codes at Bletchley Park. In a dazzling display of total football, the Netherlands beat England two-nil at Wembley.
And, that takes us to the start of 1977. We may return to this exceptionally Asperger's-like list, if yer actual Keith Telly Topping can a) be bothered to do 1977 to 1981 and b) manages to convince himself that doing this sort of thing doesn't make him look, dear blog reader, like a complete glake.
So, no change there, then.
