Monthly Archive: August 1955

The Times’ classifieds report that the Summer issue (a bit late, surely) of the advertising quarterly magazine Impact is entirely devoted to the subject of commercial television. I wonder if I can get hold of a copy. (more…)

Once again Clifford Davis is on the front page of the Mirror. This time it’s to report that the BBC will be spending an extra million pounds during the first six months of commercial television to give viewers “the best programmes it has ever offered.”

The BBC has already ensured that it can’t lose access to the F.A. Cup Final, Ascot, the Boat Race and Wimbledon by agreeing a three-year (two years in the case of Ascot) non-exclusive contract. They are also looking at similar agreements for the Derby, the Grand National and next year’s Test Matches. (more…)

The Guardian’s Radio Critic enjoyed what he saw of Thornton Wilder’s new play A Life in the Sun but with only the first act broadcast he was disappointed that there was no more despite the difficulty in capturing the action. (more…)

The Stage’s TV Page reports on a series entitled Strange Experiences which Derick Williams will produce and direct. Each episode will last just 3½ minutes and will feature the actor Peter Williams (no relation) who will “tell of some of the odd things that have happened to him or to his friends.” These are being made for the Associated Broadcasting Company, but it doesn’t say how many there will be. (more…)

After yesterday’s Mirror featured a portable television set from Ekco, today’s Express finds a similar new production, this time from Murphy. Cyril Aynsley writes that this model features a 12″ screen but weighs nor more than the Ekco set I mentioned yesterday and costs £10 less. (more…)

A portable television set is front page news in the Mirror. Clifford Davis reports that “The carry it around television set is here. It can be set up and watched in moving buses, cars and trains.” This is one of the products unveiled at the National Radio Show in Earls Court, and it has been developed by E. K. Cole Ltd of Southend. (more…)

The Guardian brings the sad news of the death of Reginald Tate who collapsed outside his Putney home, and later died in hospital in London last night. Perhaps most famous as Professor Bernard Quatermass in the serial The Quatermass Experiment, Mr Tate had been moving into television production and had appeared on the BBC on Saturday night in his own adaptation of Murder in Pimlico. (more…)

The Daily Express reports that homes in the Queens Park area of north west London were without radio or television for three hours because of an electricity breakdown. The Ladbroke telephone exchange switched to emergency batteries. (more…)

Peter Dimmock, the BBC’s head of outside broadcasts has apparently convinced Kempton Park racetrack officials that television can increase the number of racegoers, according to the Daily Express. The racetrack has signed a £20,000 contract with the BBC but – supposedly in an attempt to “baffle the men of commercial TV” no-one’s saying how long the contract lasts. (more…)

The Express’s Cyril Aynsley was not too keen on last night’s play The Two Virtues which, he says, “probably brought the house down” when it was originally performed on the stage in 1914, but now, despite an “excellent cast” and a “slick production” it was a “hard and emotionless comedy” and a “museum-piece”. (more…)