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“A Correspondent” (AC) writes at length in The Times about television drama and whether it is “live” or filmed beforehand. It provides a useful description of the state of the art in late 1955. (more…)

The Guardian’s Radio Critic (RC), who has been away for a fortnight, has returned and is already glued to the gogglebox despite it looking, “more sharply grotesque after the interval”. (more…)

One F. Platt of Bolton writes to the editor of The Observer. It would be unfair for me to précis this, so it follows in full:

Sir, I have ordered a television set, somewhat against my better judgment, and am now concerned as to how my two daughters, aged twelve and seven years, shall be allowed to use it.

I have, of course, views of my own on the subject, but as many readers must already have faced this problem, I would be grateful for other ideas.

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“TV Couple Tied Up by Gun Raiders” is the lurid headline in the Daily Express. Who can it be? (more…)

Curious use of television in The Times small ads. Under the classification “Kennel Farm and Aviary / Dogs”, a Mrs Chivers of Farningham in Kent advertises three bitch puppies. They’re Dalmations, a breed that she describes as “the TV favourite”. (more…)

The Liberal leader, Mr Clement Davies, along with four of his colleagues, has tabled a motion against the fourteen-day rule. It reads “That this House, which is the representative and protector of a people which cherishes the right of free discussion deplores the ban by which the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Independent Television Authority are prevented from sponsoring programmes on matters of public interest within fourteen days of the date on which they are to be debated in Parliament.” (more…)

The Guardian’s front page carries the news that Sir George Barnes, “Director of Television at the BBC since 1950, is resigning next year to become Principal of the North Staffordshire University College, Keele”. The appointment takes effect on 1 September 1956. He will be the college’s third Principal since its formation in 1949. The paper’s London Correspondence column speculates on the identity of Sir George’s replacement at the BBC and suggests Cecil McGivern, the Controller of Programmes, as the most likely choice. The Times also carries this news.

In the more immediate term, there are other vacancies at the BBC: (more…)

The Times carries the British Radio Equipment Manufacturers’ Association’s latest figures for sales of television and radio receivers, these covering the month of September. The total number of television sets sold was 138,000 (compared to 64,000 in August and 61,000 in July); the number of radio sets was 79,000 compared to 73,000 and 84,000. (more…)

The Daily Express’s dynamic duo are both present in today’s paper, but Robert Cannell writes little and says less. He mentions, seemingly in passing, last night’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium, but it’s more a general review of its star, Johnnie Ray, than of the programme itself. Cannell notes that Ray’s performance “was reinforced by a band of his fans” and finds that “The squealing, shouting girls now seem an important, if not an integral, part of the Johnnie Ray act.” Thanks Robert. Now, Cyril… (more…)

Maurice Richardson, writing in The Observer, notes that, “This is the thirty-ninth day of commercial television”. On such an august October day he appears to feel that it is time to make some judgements on the new service. (more…)