Southern Television
Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was used on-air throughout its life. However, in 1966 during the application process for contracts running from 1968 the company renamed itself Southern Independent Television Limited, a title, used until 1980, when the company reverted to its original corporate name. Southern Television ceased broadcasting on the morning of 1 January 1982 at 12.43am, after a review during the 1980 franchise round gave the contract to Television South. When the Independent Television Authority advertised for applicants to run the south of England station in 1958, Southern Television beat eight other applicants for the contract, its initial shareholders were Associated Newspapers, the Rank Organisation and the Amalgamated Press, each holding one third of the company. Associated Newspapers was allowed to remain a shareholder in Southern only on the condition that it sold its remaining 10% stake in Associated-Rediffusion to avoid owning parts of two ITV companies.
The Amalgamated Press dropped out of the consortium. This led to Associated Newspapers and Rank increasing their stakes to 37.5% each, D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd taking the remaining 25%. Southern Television began transmissions on Saturday, 30 August 1958 at 5.30 pm with the first playing of Southern Rhapsody, the station theme, used to begin each day's transmission until 31 December 1981, written by composer Richard Addinsell and performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with Addinsell conducting. The first presenter on air was continuity announcer Meryl O'Keefe. Other opening night programmes included a Filmed Playhouse drama entitled The Last Reunion, a preview programme called Coming Shortly, an episode of the American crime drama Highway Patrol and a networked opening night programme entitled Southern Rhapsody, starring Gracie Fields and the Lionel Blair Dancers, televised from the station's studios in a converted cinema in the Northam area of Southampton and the ocean liner Caronia, berthed in Southampton docks.
Programmes produced by Southern Television included the regional news magazine Day by Day, presented by Cliff Michelmore, Christopher Peacock, Barry Westwood, Peter Clark, long-serving weatherman Trevor Baker. Southern Television produced a programme aimed at the farming community, presented by Mark Jenner, Farm Progress was broadcast at around 10:30 on Sunday mornings. A late-night epilogue was introduced by Roger Royle. Alongside'Trevor the Weather', weather forecasts were presented by Cyril Ockenden; the company produced more networked children's programmes than adult programmes, scoring a strong seller internationally with an adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Famous Five. Worth noting was the children's programme The Saturday Banana, hosted by Bill Oddie which saw the placing of a 20-foot-high fibreglass banana outside the studios, supported by its peeled'skin', they produced the children's game show Runaround, hosted by Mike Reid; the broadcaster was known for its enlightened classical music broadcasting, including studio concerts by the local Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Music in Camera.
From 1972, Southern Television broadcast up to two operas from Glyndebourne each season, some of which have since been issued on DVD. It has been long rumoured, in particular among the amateur Archive community, that the Southern Television archive may have ended up as part of the unrelated named, Australian company Southern Star, which in turn by 2018 could at least in part, have become part of the Endemol Shine Group's intellectual property and archive; however it was clarified that the Southern Television archive had been sold by Southern Star on to Renown Pictures. Renown Pictures now use parts of this archive within their own channel Talking Pictures TV, showing old Southern Television programming, amongst other old film libraries that Renown now own; the station's original studios were in a converted cinema in Southampton. With the advent of colour in 1969, the company moved to purpose-built new studios next door to the existing site, built on land reclaimed from the River Itchen; the studios at Northam were sold on to TVS in 1981, sold again by TVS to Meridian Broadcasting in 1992.
Meridian relocated to a much smaller office building in Whiteley in 2004, the site at Northam was sold to developers. The studio complex was demolished in 2010. Blocks of flats have now been erected on the site; the company ran production offices and a studio in Dover, to serve the eastern part of its region. The studios were opened in 1961, after the ITA's VHF Dover television transmitter went into operation the year before; the studios on Russell Street were used for regional news production although some non-news programmes including the long-running rural affairs series Farm Progress, feature series and documentaries such as Elusive Butte
ITV Tyne Tees
ITV Tyne Tees known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. The analogue signals in the Tyne Tees region were switched off in 2012, making the station, along with ITV London and UTV, one of the last ITV regions to broadcast digitally. Tyne-Tees Television Ltd and Tyne-Tees Television Holdings still exist; each of these companies is, along with most other regional companies owned by ITV plc, listed at Companies House as a "Dormant company". Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converted warehouse in City Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, remaining in the city until July 2005 when Tyne Tees moved to smaller studios in Gateshead. Tyne Tees has contributed various programming to the ITV network and Channel 4, as well as its regional output; some of Tyne Tees' best known programming includes the groundbreaking music show The Tube, critically acclaimed adaptations of Catherine Cookson novels, children's programmes such as Supergran.
The ownership and management structure of Tyne Tees has altered across its history in various mergers with Yorkshire Television. The two stations were managed by Trident Television during the 1970s, the two stations merged again in 1992 to form Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television. A series of takeovers and mergers across the ITV network, instigated by the large groups Granada and Carlton, led to Tyne Tees becoming part of ITV plc in 2004. Independent television was introduced to Britain in September 1955. Only available in the London region, commercial television became available in other regions. After a financially difficult time for the first ITV companies, the Independent Television Authority decided to offer independent television to the rest of the country and advertised for bids. Several offers were submitted, including from the existing four companies, to the ITA. North East England was the last of the English regions without a television transmitter. Sir Richard Pease headed a local consortium that included film producer Sydney Box and News Chronicle executives George and Alfred Black.
This consortium, was chosen from among eleven applicants because of its strong local links, commitment to local programming, concentrating on regional topical matters, educational and children's programmes. The contract was awarded on 12 December 1957. Experienced television executive Anthony Jelly was appointed as managing director, although historian Andrew Spicer credits the Black brothers as the driving force and public face of Tyne Tees; the company opened its first Newcastle office at Bradburn House on Northumberland Street, it was from there, on 3 January 1958, the company directors issued 300,000 ordinary shares at fours shillings each. Tyne Tees is named after two of the region's three primary rivers. ITA considered the original name, "North East England", was imprecise; some of the consortium's suggestions were rejected: "Three Rivers Television" for being obscure, "Tyne and Tees" for being too long. In October 1958, the name "Tyne Tees" was announced; the other major river, the Wear, was represented within Tyne Tees' early signature tune "Three Rivers Fantasy".
The BBC transmitted their programmes from the Pontop Pike transmitting station in County Durham. The ITA built a new transmitter nearby at Burnhope, to cover an area from Alnwick to Northallerton, west to Middleton-in-Teesdale. Television sets required a new aerial, the Yagi array, to receive the high frequency that the transmitter was using. Tyne Tees went on air at 5 pm on 15 January 1959, three years after the first British independent television station; the then-prime minister Harold Macmillan, the Member of Parliament for the nearby Stockton-on-Tees for two decades, was interviewed live on the opening night. This was followed by a live variety show, named The Big Show, broadcast from a small studio. However, this local content was followed by an episode of the American police series Highway Patrol and an evening of entertainment programmes including I Love Lucy and Double Your Money. In the 2006 documentary A History of Tyneside, veteran North East newsreader Mike Neville suggested that the launch of Tyne Tees enabled local people to be able to hear local accents and dialects on television, since early broadcasters those from the BBC, tended to speak in Received Pronunciation.
Scholar Natasha Vall suggests that the station's commitment to broadcasting comedy helped establish a regional identity. George and Alfred Black had toured working men's clubs looking for material for television. Local comic Bobby Thompson was invited to host a solo show. However, poor ratings and an unenthusiastic cast led to the show's cancellation after a year. Where most independent television companies published their schedules in the magazine TV Times, Tyne Tees produced their own listings magazine; the Viewer was published by News Chronicle, a company with connections to the station through the Black brothers. It was produced to satisfy "'Tyne Tees' policy to be most regional of all the independent stations". Produced from an office in Forth Lane, near Newcastle station, it moved to the City Road studios when Dickens Press took over publication in 1963; the magazine became the biggest selling magazine in the region, with a circulation of 300,000 per week. New contracts issued by the ITA in 1968 stipulated that all ITV companies publish their listings in the TV Times, which became a national magazine with regional variations for the listings.
After 498 editions, the last issues of The Viewer was published in September 1968. The first advert
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm to Monday mornings at 6:00 am. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Thames Television, there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights. From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Carlton Television, the transfer occurred invisibly during a commercial break as Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities. Like most ITV regional franchises, including Carlton's, the London weekend franchise is now operated by ITV plc; the “London Weekend” franchise was renewed by Ofcom in 2015 for a further ten years and is still separately licensed, but it is no longer distinguished on air in any way at all. LWT is now managed with Carlton Television as a single entity, the legal name for LWT is now ITV London. London Weekend Television Ltd is now listed at Companies House as a "dormant company"; the London Television Consortium was created and led by television presenter David Frost, who at the time was working for the London weekday ITV station, Rediffusion.
The consortium consisted of three ex-BBC members of staff: Michael Peacock, Frank Muir and Doreen Stephens. Rediffusion's Controller of Programmes, Cyril Bennett joined the consortium along with Clive Irving, theatre director Peter Hall and, for financial backing, Arnold Weinstock, managing director of GEC. Frost had considered applying for the new Yorkshire region franchise but the expected high number of applicants led to a change of plans; the second choice was to take on Rediffusion for their contract but although it held the largest and most profitable licence it was felt that the company was too powerful to challenge. Changes elsewhere in the system led Frost to believe that the existing Midlands weekday broadcaster ATV had a significant risk of losing its London weekend contract; the consortium's application promised a variety of high-brow arts and drama productions. It accordingly caught the attention of the regulator, the Independent Television Authority, it seemed to address concerns and criticisms raised in the Pilkington Report.
The authority had been worried by criticism of the network's output, seen as downmarket and the LTC plans were viewed by the ITA as being serious contenders to the quality educational programming of the BBC. So keen were the ITA that they were quoted at the time as saying the LTC had to have its chance, whatever the repercussions; the new company, renamed London Weekend Television, benefited from a slight extension in broadcasting hours, as they were allocated Friday evenings from 7 pm as well as Saturday and Sunday. The LTC had planned on buying the superior Teddington Studios of former contractor ABC, but following ABC's merger with Associated Rediffusion to form Thames Television, the LTC were forced by the ITA to purchase Rediffusion's site at Wembley and obliged to employ all members of staff, although the workforce was larger than LWT had wanted. Having worked weekdays for Rediffusion, transmission staff now had to work at weekends, as a result, wanted extra pay for the unsocial hours.
This led to threats of industrial action, with the dispute still unresolved, fifteen seconds into their opening night of 2 August 1968, technicians went on strike and the screens went blank. An emergency service was provided by management from the transmission centre of ATV at Foley Street, London. Upon resolving the dispute, LWT suffered poor rating figures as the station's evening viewing schedule included a Stravinsky musical drama, an avant-garde drama from French film director Jean-Luc Godard, a tribute to Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel and Georgia Brown Sings Kurt Weill; as a consequence viewers deserted their primetime offerings in favour of the more mainstream Saturday night viewing on BBC1. Other ITV stations refused to show LWT productions because of the poor ratings. ATV, now the seven-day Midlands franchise holder after losing their London contract to LWT, refused to transmit any of their programmes in peak time; the situation came to a head during a meeting of the Network Programme Committee on 9 September 1968.
The NPC was being chaired by Lew Grade, ATV's managing director, he is quoted as saying on this occasion: "I've succeeded in business by knowing what I hate," he told them. "And I know I hate David Frost." Frost no one else spoke out against LWT's programming policy. Meanwhile, the £6.5 million they had put up for the franchise began to drain away more than their audience figures. Michael Peacock, the architect in David Frost's vision for the future of television, wanted to stick to the principles of their contract with the ITA. ATV dropped Frost's major S
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but one using the electromagnetic spectrum, in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with AM radio, which came into popular use around 1920 with the spread of vacuum tube radio transmitters and receivers. Before this, all forms of electronic communication were one-to-one, with the message intended for a single recipient; the term broadcasting evolved from its use as the agricultural method of sowing seeds in a field by casting them broadly about. It was adopted for describing the widespread distribution of information by printed materials or by telegraph. Examples applying it to "one-to-many" radio transmissions of an individual station to multiple listeners appeared as early as 1898. Over the air broadcasting is associated with radio and television, though in recent years, both radio and television transmissions have begun to be distributed by cable; the receiving parties may include the general public or a small subset.
The field of broadcasting includes both government-managed services such as public radio, community radio and public television, private commercial radio and commercial television. The U. S. Code of Federal Regulations, title 47, part 97 defines "broadcasting" as "transmissions intended for reception by the general public, either direct or relayed". Private or two-way telecommunications transmissions do not qualify under this definition. For example and citizens band radio operators are not allowed to broadcast; as defined, "transmitting" and "broadcasting" are not the same. Transmission of radio and television programs from a radio or television station to home receivers by radio waves is referred to as "over the air" or terrestrial broadcasting and in most countries requires a broadcasting license. Transmissions using a wire or cable, like cable television, are considered broadcasts but do not require a license. In the 2000s, transmissions of television and radio programs via streaming digital technology have been referred to as broadcasting as well.
The earliest broadcasting consisted of sending telegraph signals over the airwaves, using Morse code, a system developed in the 1830s by Samuel F. B. Morse, physicist Joseph Henry and Alfred Vail, they developed an electrical telegraph system which sent pulses of electric current along wires which controlled an electromagnet, located at the receiving end of the telegraph system. A code was needed to transmit natural language using only these pulses, the silence between them. Morse therefore developed the forerunner to modern International Morse code; this was important for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communication, but it became important for business and general news reporting, as an arena for personal communication by radio amateurs. Audio broadcasting began experimentally in the first decade of the 20th century. By the early 1920s radio broadcasting became a household medium, at first on the AM band and on FM. Television broadcasting started experimentally in the 1920s and became widespread after World War II, using VHF and UHF spectrum.
Satellite broadcasting was initiated in the 1960s and moved into general industry usage in the 1970s, with DBS emerging in the 1980s. All broadcasting was composed of analog signals using analog transmission techniques but in the 2000s, broadcasters have switched to digital signals using digital transmission. In general usage, broadcasting most refers to the transmission of information and entertainment programming from various sources to the general public. Analog audio vs. HD Radio Analog television vs. Digital television WirelessThe world's technological capacity to receive information through one-way broadcast networks more than quadrupled during the two decades from 1986 to 2007, from 432 exabytes of information, to 1.9 zettabytes. This is the information equivalent of 55 newspapers per person per day in 1986, 175 newspapers per person per day by 2007. There have been several methods used for broadcasting electronic media audio and video to the general public: Telephone broadcasting: the earliest form of electronic broadcasting.
Telephone broadcasting began with the advent of Théâtrophone systems, which were telephone-based distribution systems allowing subscribers to listen to live opera and theatre performances over telephone lines, created by French inventor Clément Ader in 1881. Telephone broadcasting grew to include telephone newspaper services for news and entertainment programming which were introduced in the 1890s located in large European cities; these telephone-based subscription services were the first examples of electrical/electronic broadcasting and offered a wide variety of programming. Radio broadcasting. Radio stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common radio programs, either in broadcast syndication, simulcast or subchannels. Television broadcasting, experimentally from 1925, commercially from t
ITV Yorkshire
ITV Yorkshire known as Yorkshire Television or YTV is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was the historic county of Yorkshire and parts of neighbouring counties served by the Emley Moor and Bilsdale transmitting station transmitters. Following a re-organisation in 1974 the transmission area was extended to include Lincolnshire, northwestern Norfolk and parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, served by the Belmont transmitter, but lost much of North Yorkshire served by the Bilsdale transmitter which covered Tyne Tees Television, with transmissions available as far south as Harrogate. Two consortia applied for the franchise, Telefusion Yorkshire Ltd and Yorkshire Independent Television, the former having large financial backing and the latter having the better plans but fewer resources. On 1 January 2007, the company transferred its programme production business to ITV Studios Limited; as a consequence, Yorkshire Television Limited ceased to trade on 1 January 2007.
Yorkshire Television Ltd still exists, but its licence is now owned and operated by ITV plc under the licence name of ITV Broadcasting Limited. Yorkshire Television Ltd is, along with most other regional companies owned by ITV plc, listed with Companies House as a dormant company. ITV Yorkshire known as Yorkshire Television, sometimes abbreviated to YTV or Yorkshire, has its origins in the 1967 franchise round; that round stipulated that the influential pan-North region, the licence, owned by Granada Television and ABC, both based in Manchester, had to be split up. It was decided that Granada would keep the North West franchise and a new franchise created for Yorkshire. On 28 February 1967, national and regional newspapers carried numerous advertisements from the Independent Television Authority, each requesting applicants for various new ITV contracts, one of, Programme Contractor for Yorkshire Area – All Week. Ten formal bids were received by the closing date. Telefusion Yorkshire Limited, created by the Blackpool-based TV rental chain Telefusion and led by Grampian TV Managing Director G E Ward Thomas, was selected as the winning bid.
It was chosen on the condition that it'merged' with another applicant Yorkshire Independent Television. The latter, backed by a consortium of Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd, other local newspaper groups such as the Huddersfield Examiner and the Scarborough Evening News, several Yorkshire-based Co-operative societies, trade unions and local universities, was deemed by the Authority to have the better talent but suffered a lack of funding, whereas Telefusion had the backing of a cash-rich parent; the new venture chose the name Yorkshire Television Network but decided to drop the word'Network' before going on air. A few days after winning, the chairman Sir Richard Graham said: "We see ourselves as having a particular responsibility to convey to a mature audience the particular qualities and strengths of one of the most populous and most important areas outside London."The station began broadcasting on 29 July 1968 from new studios at Kirkstall Road in Leeds. Although they were purpose-built for colour production and equipped with £2.2 million of equipment, the majority of initial broadcasts were in monochrome until the ITV network formally launched its colour output on 15 November 1969.
After an opening ceremony led by The Duchess of Kent, the station's first programme was live coverage of the Test cricket match between England and Australia at Headingley. Other programmes broadcast on YTV's opening day included the first edition of its regional news programme Calendar, the station's first networked production – the'Playhouse' drama Daddy Kiss it Better – and a light entertainment special, First Night, hosted by Bob Monkhouse; the station was hit hard financially when the transmitter mast at Emley Moor collapsed in March 1969 under a heavy build-up of ice. This left the major part of the region uncovered by Yorkshire Television plus BBC2 who broadcast from the same mast. A temporary mast was erected and television to the West Riding of Yorkshire resumed, albeit with reduced coverage. From this, the company grew and by May 1970 the company was making profits of over £689,000. After a series of temporary masts at Emley Moor, the current 275 metre reinforced concrete tower — topped by a 55-metre steel lattice mast — began transmitting in 1971, resuming full area coverage for the YTV region.
In June 1969, talks began between Yorkshire and Anglia about achieving a cost cutting exercise by sharing equipment and facilities. Neither company planned a merger; the decision to form an association was purely down to the costs of the increased levy on the companies' advertising revenue by the government, the cost of colour TV. The ITA stated there was no reason why the companies should not have talks about sensible economies that could be made, but would examine all details before any association were to be implemented. In January 1970, a warning was given that regionalism would be abandoned and a forced merger with Anglia Television would happen unless the chancellor reduced the levy applied on advertising revenues, not helped by the high cost with colour television and the introduction of UHF, which the government agreed to a few months later. With the introduction of UHF broadcasting, YTV had failed to gain the Bilsdale transmitter in North Yorkshire, allocated instead to Tyne Tees Televi
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea, with a population of 260,700. Hull lies east southeast of York and northeast of Sheffield; the town of Wyke on Hull was founded late in the 12th century by the monks of Meaux Abbey as a port from which to export their wool. Renamed Kings-town upon Hull in 1299, Hull has been a market town, military supply port, trading hub and whaling centre and industrial metropolis. Hull was an early theatre of battle in the English Civil Wars, its 18th-century Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce, took a prominent part in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. After suffering heavy damage in the Second World War, Hull weathered a period of post-industrial decline, gaining unfavourable results on measures of social deprivation and policing. In the early 21st century spending boom before the late 2000s recession the city saw large amounts of new retail, commercial and public service construction spending.
Tourist attractions include The Hull People's Memorial, the historic Old Town and Museum Quarter, Hull Marina and The Deep aquarium. Sports teams include Championship League football club Hull City and rugby league clubs Hull F. C. & Hull Kingston Rovers. The University of Hull now enrols more than 16,000 students, it is ranked among the best in the Humber region. Hull was the 2017 UK City of Culture and in the same year the city's Ferens Art Gallery hosted the prestigious Turner Prize. Kingston upon Hull stands on the north bank of the Humber Estuary at the mouth of its tributary, the River Hull; the valley of the River Hull has been inhabited since the early Neolithic period but there is little evidence of a substantial settlement in the area of the present city. The area was attractive to people because it gave access to a prosperous hinterland and navigable rivers but the site was poor, being remote, low-lying and with no fresh water, it was an outlying part of the hamlet of Myton, named Wyke.
The name is thought to originate either from a Scandinavian word Vik meaning inlet or from the Saxon Wic meaning dwelling place or refuge. The River Hull was a good haven for shipping, whose trade included the export of wool from Meaux Abbey, which owned Myton. In 1293 the town of Wyke was acquired from the abbey by King Edward I, who on 1 April 1299 granted it a royal charter that renamed the settlement King's town upon Hull or Kingston upon Hull; the charter is preserved in the archives of the Guildhall. In 1440, a further charter incorporated the town and instituted local government consisting of a mayor, a sheriff and twelve aldermen. In his Guide to Hull, J. C. Craggs provides a colourful background to Edward's naming of the town, he writes that the King and a hunting party started a hare which "led them along the delightful banks of the River Hull to the hamlet of Wyke …, charmed with the scene before him, viewed with delight the advantageous situation of this hitherto neglected and obscure corner.
He foresaw it might become subservient both to render the kingdom more secure against foreign invasion, at the same time to enforce its commerce". Pursuant to these thoughts, Craggs continues, Edward purchased the land from the Abbot of Meaux, had a manor hall built for himself, issued proclamations encouraging development within the town, bestowed upon it the royal appellation, King's Town; the port served as a base for Edward I during the First War of Scottish Independence and developed into the foremost port on the east coast of England. It prospered by exporting wool and woollen cloth, importing wine and timber. Hull established a flourishing commerce with the Baltic ports as part of the Hanseatic League. From its medieval beginnings, Hull's main trading links were with northern Europe. Scandinavia, the Baltic and the Low Countries were all key trading areas for Hull's merchants. In addition, there was trade with France and Portugal; as sail power gave way to steam, Hull's trading links extended throughout the world.
Docks were opened to serve the frozen meat trade of New Zealand and South America. Hull was the centre of a thriving inland and coastal trading network, serving the whole of the United Kingdom. Sir William de la Pole was the town's first mayor. A prosperous merchant, de la Pole founded a family. Another successful son of a Hull trading family was bishop John Alcock, who founded Jesus College and was a patron of the grammar school in Hull; the increase in trade after the discovery of the Americas and the town's maritime connections are thought to have played a part in the introduction of a virulent strain of syphilis through Hull and on into Europe from the New World. The town prospered during the 16th and early 17th centuries, Hull's affluence at this time is preserved in the form of several well-maintained buildings from the period, including Wilberforce House, now a museum documenting the life of William Wilberforce. During the English Civil War, Hull became strategically important because of the large arsenal located there.
Early in the war, on 11 January 1642, the king named the Earl of Newcastle governor of Hull while Parliament nominated Sir John Hotham and asked his son, Captain John Hotham, to secure the town at once. Sir John Hotham and Hull corporation declared support for Parliament and denied Charles I entry into the town. Charles I responded to these events by besieging the town; this siege helped precipitate open conflict between the forces of Parliament a
Associated British Picture Corporation
Associated British Picture Corporation British International Pictures, was a British film production and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC owned 500 cinemas in Britain by 1943; the studio was owned by Warner Bros. from about 1940 until 1969. It formed one half of a vertically integrated film industry duopoly in Britain with the Rank Organisation; the company was founded during 1927 by Scottish solicitor John Maxwell after he had purchased British National Studios and its Elstree Studios complex and merged it with his ABC Cinemas circuit, renaming the company British International Pictures. The Wardour Film Company, with Maxwell as chairman, was the distributor of BIP films, he appointed Joseph Grossman manager of the Stoll Studios, his Studio Manager. During its early years the company's most prominent work was that directed by Alfred Hitchcock, including the film Blackmail regarded as the first British all-talkie. Hitchcock left the company in 1933 to work for the rival British Gaumont.
Under Maxwell's paternalistic management the company prospered and during 1933 it acquired British Pathé, which as Associated British Pathé now functioned as the distribution division. The company was renamed Associated British Picture Corporation in 1933 and was now in a position to vertically integrate production and exhibition of films. After Maxwell's death in October 1940, his widow Catherine sold a large number of shares to Warner Bros. who, although the Maxwell family remained the largest shareholders, were able to exercise a measure of control. The studio at Elstree was taken over by the government for the duration of the war, film production was restricted to B-Pictures made at the company's smaller studio in Welwyn Garden City; this studio complex closed in 1950. Much of the output of the studio was routine, which restricted its success outside the UK, but after World War II, the company contracted with Warner for the distribution of its films in the United States. Robert Clark was head of production for the company between 1949 and 1958, insisted on tight budgeting and the use of pre-existing properties such as books or plays as these had a demonstrated "public value".
Of the 21 films made by ABPC during the 1950s, only two were derived from original screenplays. German-born Frederick Gotfurt was Clark's scenario editor in this period, but his command of English was imperfect and the contracted actor Richard Todd doubted Gotfurt's ability to access the quality of the dialogue in a script. "It was a dreadful place", said Richard Attenborough when remembering ABPC's Elstree facility. "It created nothing in terms of a feeling of commitment." During this period though, the company produced its best remembered titles such as The Dam Busters, Ice Cold in Alex, whose director J. Lee Thompson was ABPC's most productive during the 1950s. Policies changed after Clark left in January 1958. New projects from the company were limited to those using contracted television comedy performers, investment in independent productions; the use of Elstree for television production increased. Successful features from ABPC itself included several films built around the pop singer Cliff Richard, such as The Young Ones and Summer Holiday.
In 1962, the company acquired 50% of the shares of Anglo-Amalgamated, made an arrangement with the Grade Organisation to support the production of films by independent producers. During the 1960s, the fortunes of the company declined, in 1967 Seven Arts, the new owners of Warner, decided to dispose of its holdings in ABPC, purchased in 1968 by EMI, who acquired the remaining stock the following year; the entire ABPC library is now owned by StudioCanal via Cannon Films. Associated British Productions Ltd. Associated British Cinemas Ltd. Associated British Pathé Ltd. Associated British Film Distributors Ltd. – only known by its initials: ABFD British and Overseas Film Sales Ltd. Pathé Laboratories Ltd. Associated British Cinemas Ltd. Associated British Corporation Ltd. Warner-Pathé Distributors Ltd. from 1958 Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors. From 1962 Associated British Picture Corporation on IMDb Documents and clippings about Associated British Picture Corporation in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics
