1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
3.
ITV Granada
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ITV Granada is the Channel 3 regional service for North West England. The licence for the region has been held by ITV Broadcasting Limited since November 2008 and it is the largest independent television-franchise producing company in the UK, accounting for 25% of the total broadcasting output of the ITV network. It had been held by Granada Television, which was founded by Sidney Bernstein and this was the only surviving company of the original four Independent Television Authority franchisees from 1954, Granada Media Group merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc in 2004. It covers Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, northwestern Derbyshire, part of Cumbria, on 15 July 2009, the Isle of Man was transferred to ITV Granada from ITV Border. Broadcasting by Granada Television began on 3 May 1956 under the North of England weekday franchise and it was marked by a distinctive northern identity, and used stylised letter G logo forming an arrow pointing north, often with the tagline Granada, from the north. Granada plc merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc in 2004 after a duopoly had developed over the previous decade, Granada Television Ltd still legally exists. Along with most other companies owned by ITV plc, it is listed on www. companieshouse. gov. uk as a Dormant company. Other companies listed are Granada Television International and Granada Television Overseas Ltd, the North West region is regarded as ITVs most successful franchise. The Financial Times and The Independent once described Granada Television, the franchise holder. Nine Granada programmes were listed in the BFI TV100 in 2000, some of its most notable programmes include Coronation Street, Seven Up. The Royle Family, The Jewel in the Crown, Brideshead Revisited, World in Action, University Challenge, notable employees have included Paul Greengrass, Michael Apted, Mike Newell, Jeremy Isaacs, Andy Harries, Russell T Davies and Leslie Woodhead. Granada Television, a subsidiary of Granada Ltd, originated in Granada Theatres Ltd and it was founded in Dover in 1930 by Sidney Bernstein and his brother Cecil. The company was incorporated as Granada Ltd in 1934 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1935 and it is named after the Spanish city of Granada. Channel 59 from Winter Hill and started broadcasting in colour in the Autumn of 1969, the Bernsteins became involved in commercial television, a competitor to the cinema chains. Bernstein bid for the North of England franchise, which he believed would not affect the companys largely southern-based cinema chain, in 1954, the Independent Television Authority awarded Granada the North of England contract for Monday to Friday, with ABC serving the same area on weekends. The North and London were the two biggest regions, Granada preferred the North because of its tradition of home-grown culture, and because it offered a chance to start a new creative industry away from the metropolitan atmosphere of London. Compare this with London and its suburbs—full of displaced persons, and, of course, if you look at a map of the concentration of population in the North and a rainfall map, you will see that the North is an ideal place for television. Bernstein selected a base from Leeds and Manchester, Granada executive Victor Peers believed Manchester was the preferred choice even before executives toured the region to find a suitable site
4.
Diana, Princess of Wales
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Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II. Diana was born into a family of British nobility with royal ancestry and was the child and third daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp. She grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, in 1975, after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer, she became known as Lady Diana Spencer. She came to prominence in February 1981 when her engagement to Prince Charles was announced and her wedding to the Prince of Wales on 29 July 1981, held at St Pauls Cathedral, reached a global television audience of over 750 million people. While married, Diana bore the titles Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, the marriage produced two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were then respectively second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and she was celebrated for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. She was involved with dozens of charities including Londons Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, Diana remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, Diana was born on 1 July 1961, in Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, the Spencer family has been closely allied with the British Royal Family for several generations. Both of Dianas grandmothers had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, on 30 August 1961, Diana was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, with wealthy commoners as godparents. Diana had three siblings, Sarah, Jane, and Charles and her infant brother, John, died shortly after his birth one year before Diana was born. The desire for an added strain to the Spencers marriage. Diana grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, the Spencers leased the house from its owner, Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal Family frequently holidayed at the neighbouring Sandringham House, and Diana played with Princes Andrew, Diana was seven years old when her parents divorced. Her mother later had an affair with Peter Shand Kydd and married him in 1969, Diana lived with her mother in London during her parents separation in 1967, but during that years Christmas holidays, Lord Althorp refused to let Diana return to London with Lady Althorp. Shortly afterwards he won custody of Diana with support from his former mother-in-law, Ruth Roche, in 1972, Lord Althorp began a relationship with Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of Alexander McCorquodale and Dame Barbara Cartland. They married at Caxton Hall, London in 1976, as an upper-class child at the time, Diana was first educated under the supervision of her governess, Gertrude Allen. She began her education at Silfield Private School in Gayton, Norfolk, and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Diss
5.
1966 FIFA World Cup
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The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the Jules Rimet Trophy, with this victory, England won their first FIFA World Cup title and became the third World Cup host to win the tournament after Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1934. The 1966 Final, held at Wembley Stadium, was the last to be broadcast in black, the tournament held a FIFA record for the largest average attendance, for 28 years, until it was surpassed by the United States in 1994. England was chosen as host of the 1966 World Cup in Rome, Italy on 22 August 1960, over bids from West Germany. Despite the Africans absence, there was another new number of entries for the qualifying tournament. After all the arguments, FIFA finally ruled that ten teams from Europe would qualify, along with four from South America, one from Asia and one from North, Portugal and North Korea qualified for the first time. Portugal would not qualify again until 1986, while North Koreas next appearance was at the 2010 tournament and this was also Switzerlands last World Cup finals until 1994. Notable absentees from this tournament included 1962 semi-finalists Yugoslavia and 1962 finalists Czechoslovakia, the Africans felt that winning their zone was enough in itself to merit qualification for the finals. They also protested against the readmission of South Africa to FIFA in 1963, South Africa was subsequently assigned to Asia and Oceania qualifying group, before being suspended again under pressure from other African nations in October,1964. The format of the 1966 competition remained the same as 1962,16 qualified teams were divided into four groups of four, each group played a round-robin format. Two points were awarded for a win and one point for a draw, the top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage. In the knockout games, if the teams were tied after 90 minutes,30 minutes of time were played. For any match other than the final, if the teams were tied after extra time. The final would have been replayed if tied after extra time, in the event, no replays or drawing of lots was necessary. The 1966 World Cup had a rather unusual hero off the field, in the build-up to the tournament, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen from an exhibition display. A nationwide hunt for the icon ensued and it was later discovered wrapped in newspaper as the dog sniffed under some bushes in London. The FA commissioned a replica cup in case the cup was not found in time. This replica is held at the English National Football Museum in Manchester, where it is on display
6.
Fawlty Towers
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Fawlty Towers is a BBC television sitcom first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. The show was created and written by John Cleese and Connie Booth and they were married at the time of series 1, but divorced before recording series 2. One of the best loved shows in British popular culture, it was ranked No.1 on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a hotel in the seaside town of Torquay — pronounced taw-key in the English vernacular — on the English Riviera. In May 1970 the Monty Python team stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming on location, John Cleese became fascinated with the behavior of the owner, Donald Sinclair, whom Cleese later described as the rudest man Ive ever come across in my life. Sinclair justified his actions by claiming the hotel had staff problems and he also criticised the American-born Terry Gilliams table manners for not being British. Cleese and Booth stayed on at the hotel after filming, furthering their research of the hotel owner, Cleese later played a hotel owner called Donald Sinclair in the 2001 movie Rat Race. At the time, Cleese was a writer on the 1970s British TV sitcom Doctor in the House for London Weekend Television, an early prototype of the character that became known as Basil Fawlty was developed in an episode of the third Doctor series. In this edition, the character checks into a small town hotel, his very presence seemingly winding up the aggressive. The show was broadcast on May 30,1971, Cleese parodied the contrast between organizational dogma and sensitive customer service in many personnel training videotapes issued with a serious purpose by his company, Video Arts. Cleese said in 2008 that the first Fawlty Towers script he, and Jimmy himself said, Youre going to have to get them out of the hotel, John. You cant do the thing in the hotel. Whereas, of course, its in the hotel that the pressure cooker builds up. Cleese was paid £6,000 for 43 weeks work and supplemented his income by appearing in television advertisements. He said that when he read the first scripts he could see nothing funny in them and he said the commercial channels, with their emphasis on audience ratings, never would have let the program get to the production stage on the basis of the scripts. Although the series is set in Torquay in Devon, no part of it was shot in Southwest England, for the exterior filming, the Wooburn Grange Country Club in Buckinghamshire was used instead of a hotel. In several episodes of the series the entrance gate at the bottom of the states the real name of the location. This listed building later served for a time as a nightclub named Basils after the series ended
7.
Thames Television
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Thames Television was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding area on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Formed as a joint company, it merged the interests of British Electric Traction owning 49%. It was both a broadcaster and a producer of programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered and for networking nationally across the ITV regions. Thames covered a broad spectrum of commercial television, with a strong mix of drama, current affairs. Consequently, ABC applied for both the Midlands seven-day operation and the contract to serve London at the weekend, preferring the latter and it was widely expected that the company would be awarded the weekend franchise. After an impressive application, it was awarded to what became London Weekend Television in a consortium led by David Frost and this led to a serious problem for the ITA as ABC was a popular station, whose productions earned vital foreign currency. Its station management and presentation style were well-admired, and it could have been controversial to dismiss that as a result of administrative changes. Rediffusion had believed that its renewal was a formality, and its application reflected this complacency. In the early days of ITV, the company had worked hard to keep the network on-air during financial crises that threatened the collapse of other companies, particularly Granada Television. It was reported that Rediffusions chairman Sir John Spencer Wills felt the ITA owed his company a debt of gratitude for this, the outcome proposed by the ITA was a shotgun marriage between ABC and Rediffusion. The combination of two companies, announced ITA Chairman Lord Hill, seemed to the Authority to offer the possibility of a programme company of real excellence. The resultant company was awarded the contract to serve London on weekdays, control of the new company would be given to ABC, a move unpopular with Rediffusion. Questioning the ITAs decision, Rediffusion attempted to slow down the merger, the structure of the new company was also a problem. The answer was found to be a new holding company, Thames Television Ltd, ABC had majority control of the new company and the make-up of its board predominantly came from ABC. The use of ABCs old studios at Teddington meant the workforce was predominantly ex-ABC and this name had been previously considered and rejected by London Weekend Television. On 30 July 1968 Thames began broadcasting to London, from the start of broadcasting on Monday until its handover to London Weekend Television at 19,00 GMT on Friday, the former ABC studios at Teddington became Thames main production base. When Thames was formed the new company acquired other properties of the former franchise holders. Rediffusions main studio complex at Wembley was leased to London Weekend Television by order of the ITA before being sold to Lee International in 1977, ABCs Midlands base in Aston, Birmingham, co-owned with ATV, was sold in 1971 when ATV moved to new colour television facilities
8.
Dad's Army
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Dads Army is a BBC television sitcom about the British Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on the BBC from 1968 to 1977, the sitcom ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio version based on the television scripts, a feature film and a stage show. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still repeated worldwide, the Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either because of age or by being in professions exempt from conscription. Dads Army deals almost exclusively with over age men and featured older British actors, including Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Arnold Ridley, younger members in the cast included Ian Lavender, Clive Dunn, Frank Williams, James Beck, and Bill Pertwee. In 2004, Dads Army was voted fourth in a BBC poll to find Britains Best Sitcom and it had been placed 13th in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and voted for by industry professionals. The series has influenced British popular culture, with the series catchphrases and it highlighted a forgotten aspect of defence during the Second World War, although it greatly distorted the true history and function of the Home Guard. The Radio Times magazine listed Captain Mainwarings You stupid boy, among the 25 greatest put-downs on TV. A new feature film of Dads Army with a different cast was released in 2016, originally intended to be called The Fighting Tigers, Dads Army was based partly on co-writer and creator Jimmy Perrys experiences in the Local Defence Volunteers. Perry was only 17 years old when he joined the 10th Hertfordshire Battalion and his mother did not like him being out at night and feared he might catch cold, he partly resembled the character of Private Pike. An elderly lance corporal in the often referred to fighting under Kitchener against the Fuzzy Wuzzies and was the model for Corporal Jones. Other influences included the work of such as Will Hay whose film Oh. Featured a pompous ass, an old man and a man which gave him Mainwaring, Godfrey. Another influence was the Lancastrian comedian Robb Wilton, who portrayed a work-shy husband who joined the Home Guard in numerous sketches during WW2. Croft was impressed and sent the script to Michael Mills, the BBCs Head of Comedy, in his book Dads Army, Graham McCann explained that the show owes much to Michael Mills. It was he who renamed the show Dads Army and he did not like Brightsea-on-Sea so the location was changed to Walmington-on-Sea. He also suggested adding a Scot, Jimmy Perry had produced the original idea but needed an experienced man to see it through. Mills suggested David Croft and so their partnership began, when an episode was shown to members of the public, to gauge audience reaction prior to broadcast of the first series, the majority of the audience thought it was very poor. The production team put the report containing the negative comments at the bottom of David Crofts in-tray and he only saw it several months later, after the series had been broadcast and had received great acclamation
9.
BBC One
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BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service and it was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997. The channels annual budget for 2012–13 is £1.14 billion, the channel is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBCs other domestic television stations, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising. It is currently the most watched channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership. As of June 2013 the channel controller for BBC One is Charlotte Moore, the BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15,00, Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying, Good afternoon everybody. Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh, the Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later. The competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities following a reduction in its audience. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and it therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC. The station, renamed BBC TV in 1960, became BBC1 when BBC2 was launched on 20 April 1964 transmitting an incompatible 625-line image on UHF. The only way to all channels was to use a complex dual-standard 405- and 625-line, VHF and UHF, receiver. Old 405-line-only sets became obsolete in 1985, when transmission in the standard ended, although standards converters have become available for enthusiasts who collect, BBC1 was based at the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, London between 1960 and 2013. In the weeks leading up to 15 November 1969, BBC1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system, to test it. At midnight on 15 November, simultaneously with ITV and two years after BBC2, BBC1 officially began 625-line PAL colour programming on UHF with a broadcast of a concert by Petula Clark, colour transmissions could be received on monochrome 625-line sets until the end of analogue broadcasting. In terms of share, the most successful period for BBC1 was under Bryan Cowgill between 1973 and 1977, when the channel achieved an average audience share of 45%. On 30 December 1980, the BBC announced their intention to introduce a new breakfast television service to compete with TV-am. On 17 January 1983, the first edition of Breakfast Time was shown on BBC One, becoming the first UK wide breakfast television service and continued to lead in the rating until 1984. The first major overhaul was to axe the deeply unpopular Sixty Minutes current affairs programme and its replacement was the BBC Six OClock News, a straight new programme in a bid to shore up its failing early evening slot
