Armchair Nation (65 page)

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Authors: Joe Moran

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35
. ‘Obituary: Gerald Campion',
Independent
, 13 July 2002; Hansard, HC Deb, 15 May 1952, vol. 500, col. 1638.

36
. Audience Research Department, ‘Viewer research report:
Café Continental
– 28th February 1953', 11 March 1953, BBC WAC, LE VR/53/100; ‘Hélène Cordet',
TV Mirror
, 10 October 1953, 16.

37
. Whiteley,
Himoff!
, pp. 17, 12.

38
. Tony Currie,
The Radio Times Story
(Tiverton: Kelly Publications, 2001), pp. 77, 79.

39
. John Davies,
Broadcasting and the BBC in Wales
(Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1994), pp. 203–4.

40
. Norman Shacklady and Martin Ellen (eds),
On Air: A History of BBC Transmission
(Orpington: Wavechange Books, 2003), p. 123.

41
. Nick Clarke,
The Shadow of a Nation: How Celebrity Destroyed Britain
(London: Phoenix, 2004), pp. 24, 19, 30, 295.

42
. D. R. Thorpe,
Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan
(London: Chatto and Windus, 2010), p. 276; Reginald Pound, ‘The King's funeral',
Listener
, 21 February 1952, 318; Henrik Örnebring, ‘Writing the history of television audiences: the coronation in the Mass-Observation Archive', in Helen Wheatley (ed.),
Re-Viewing Television History: Critical Issues in Television Historiography
(London: I. B. Tauris, 2007), p. 176.

43
. Cassandra,
Daily Mirror
, 22 October 1952, 7; ‘Archbishop does not like TV',
Irish Times
, 12 September 1952.

44
. Ben Pimlott,
The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II
(London: HarperCollins, 1996), pp. 205, 190–91; Peter Hennessy,
Having it So Good: Britain in the Fifties
(London: Penguin, 2007), p. 242; Leonard Miall,
Inside the BBC: British Broadcasting Characters
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1994), p. 162.

45
. Gillian McIntosh,
The Force of Culture: Unionist Identities in Twentieth-Century Ireland
(Cork: Cork University Press, 1999), pp. 120, 122.

46
. Natasha Vall,
Cultural Region: North East England 1945–2000
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011), p. 39.

47
. John Moynihan,
The Soccer Syndrome: From the Primeval Forties
(London: MacGibbon and Kee, 1966), pp. 75–9.

48
. Martin Johnes and Gavin Mellor, ‘The 1953 FA Cup Final: modernity and tradition in British culture',
Contemporary British History
, 20, 2 (June 2006), 271.

49
. Clarke,
Shadow of a Nation
, p. 43.

50
. ‘Seven hours of comfort',
Manchester Guardian
, 3 June 1953; ‘Our London correspondence',
Manchester Guardian
, 3 June 1953.

51
. Kynaston,
Family Britain
, p. 299; Harry Hopkins,
The New Look: A Social History of the Forties and Fifties in Britain
(London: Secker and Warburg, 1963), p. 295; ‘20,000,000 saw Abbey service',
Manchester Guardian
, 13 June 1953; Philip Ziegler,
Crown and People
(London: Collins, 1978), p. 115; ‘Television at Finsbury Drive, Bradford', 2 June 1953, MOA, SxMOA1/2/69/6/C/8; ‘TV eyes and procession feet',
Daily Herald
, 30 May 1953.

52
. Örnebring, ‘Writing the history', pp. 177, 181–2.

53
. ‘Looks like a chair, actually it's a lavatory',
A Night in with Alan Bennett
, BBC2, 5 July 1992.

54
. ‘Coronation 1953 – children's essays', MOA, SxMOA1/2/69/3/D/8. The boy's name has been changed in accordance with the MOA's policy of protecting anonymity.

55
. Örnebring, ‘Writing the history', p. 179; Ziegler,
Crown and People
, p. 118.

56
. Örnebring, ‘Writing the history', pp. 178–9; Ziegler,
Crown and People
, p. 122; Joan Bakewell,
The Centre of the Bed
(London: Sceptre, 2004), p. 94; Joan Bakewell, ‘Diary',
New Statesman
, 7 April 2003, 8.

57
. Miall,
Inside the BBC
, p. 190.

58
. Arthur Bryant, ‘Our notebook',
London Illustrated News
, 29 May 1954, 898.

59
. ‘20,000,000 saw Abbey service'; ‘2 June 1953 – coronation day', in Kenneth Baily (ed.),
Television Annual for 1954
(London: Odhams, 1954), p. 68.

60
. ‘Viewers' views',
Radio Times
, 12 June 1953, 44; Ziegler,
Crown and People
, p. 104.

61
. ‘The year's retail trade',
The Times
, 29 December 1953.

62
. ‘“Sign” of the television age',
TV Mirror
, 12 September 1953, 7.

63
. John Moore, ‘TV in our village',
TV Mirror
, 12 September 1953, 7, 22.

64
. ‘Hessary Tor not the only site for Western TV mast',
Manchester Guardian
, 1 October 1953; Dartmoor Preservation Association, ‘Preliminary memorandum on the proposal of the British Broadcasting Corporation to establish a 750-ft television mast and installations at North Hessary Tor, Dartmoor', 10 December 1951, NA, COU 1/454; Mrs Sylvia Sayer to H. M. Abrahams, 25 November 1952, NA, COU 1/454.

65
. Mrs Aimee Havard to Sir David Maxwell Fife, 29 December 1953, NA, BD 24/200.

66
. ‘TV aerial put up in garden',
Manchester Guardian
, 15 July 1952; ‘Booster sets today and tomorrow',
Isle of Man Examiner
, 18 December 1953.

67
. Walker,
The BBC in Scotland
, p. 191.

68
. George Best,
Blessed: The Autobiography
(London: Ebury, 2002), pp. 24–6.

69
. Philip Norman,
Babycham Night: A Boyhood at the end of the Pier
(London: Pan, 2004), pp. 133, 148–9.

70
. Norman,
Babycham Night
, p. 263.

71
. David Bret,
The Real Gracie Fields: The Authorised Biography
(London: JR Books, 2010), p. 1; ‘Looking around, the Palace gets the new TV',
TV Times
, 20 September 1955, 17; Roy Blackman, ‘Teletecs',
Daily Mirror
, 11 April 1960.

72
. Jonathan Dimbleby,
The Prince of Wales
(London: Warner Books, 1995), p. 160.

4. The pale flicker of the Lime Grove light

1
. J. B. Priestley,
Thoughts in the Wilderness
(London: Heinemann, 1957), pp. 194, 196.

2
. Gilbert Harding,
Along My Line
(London: Putnam, 1953), p. 191; Wallace Reyburn,
Gilbert Harding: A Candid Portrayal
(Brighton: Angus and Robertson, 1978), p. 55; Andy Medhurst, ‘Every wart and pustule: Gilbert Harding and television stardom', in John Corner (ed.),
Popular Television in Britain
(London: BFI, 1991), p. 62.

3
. ‘Fascinating possibilities of TV medium',
Glasgow Herald
, 14 March 1952; Isobel Barnett, ‘Life has many “lines”',
TV Mirror
, 11 December
1954, 19; Peter Black,
Mirror in the Corner: People's Television
(London: Hutchinson, 1972), p. 26;
The Magic Rectangle
, BBC1, 18 November 1986.

4
. ‘Mr Harding may have been over-fortified',
Manchester Guardian
, 8 December 1952.

5
. Harding,
Along My Line
, p. 199.

6
. H. T. Himmelweit, A. N. Oppenheim and P. Vince,
Television and the Child: An Empirical Study of the Effect of Television on the Young
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958), p. 161.

7
. Ross McKibbin,
Classes and Cultures: England, 1918–1951
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 531; see also p. 98.

8
.
TV Mirror
, 5 December 1953, 3; A. J. P. Taylor, ‘Let's be rude!',
Daily Herald
, 30 May 1953.

9
. Stephen Grenfell (ed.),
Gilbert Harding: By His Friends
(London: André Deutsch, 1961), p. 121; Craig Raine,
T. S. Eliot
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. xiii; Gilbert Harding,
Master of None
(London: Putnam, 1958), p. 13; Reyburn,
Gilbert Harding
, p. 93;
The Magic Rectangle
, BBC1, 18 November 1986.

10
. ‘Gilbert Harding's notebook',
Picture Post
, 7 November 1953, 52.

11
. ‘Gilbert Harding's notebook',
Picture Post
, 9 January 1954, 37.

12
. John Humphrys,
Devil's Advocate
(London: Hutchinson, 1999), p. 160.

13
. ‘Gilbert Harding's notebook',
Picture Post
, 19 December 1953, 52; ‘Gilbert Harding's notebook',
Picture Post
, 12 June 1954, 11.

14
. ‘Gilbert Harding's notebook',
Picture Post
, 27 February 1954, 54; ‘Gilbert Harding's notebook',
Picture Post
, 12 March 1955, 44; ‘Christian name complex',
Manchester Guardian
, 23 January 1952; Brian Harrison,
Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom, 1951–1970
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2009), p. 492.

15
. Mark Lewisohn,
Funny Peculiar: The True Story of Benny Hill
(London: Pan, 2003), pp. 174, 176, 178, 206.

16
. Su Holmes,
Entertaining Television: The BBC and Popular Television Culture in the 1950s
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008), pp. 84–5; Brian Tesler, ‘The things they “Ask Pickles”',
TV Mirror
, 10 July 1954, 9.

17
. Himmelweit
et al., Television and the Child
, pp. 147, 149; ‘Gilbert Harding's notebook',
Picture Post
, 4 December 1954, 9; Hansard, HL
Deb, 25 November 1953, vol. 184, col. 521; Brian Pullan with Michelle Abendstern,
A History of the University of Manchester, 1951–1973
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 51.

18
. Peter Black, ‘A generation ago',
Listener
, 4 September 1969, 308.

19
. Joan Gilbert, ‘Tele-Talk',
Picture Post
, 17 October 1953, 36; David Attenborough,
Life on Air: Memoirs of a Broadcaster
(London: BBC, 2002), p. 20; Jacquetta Hawkes,
Adventurer in Archaeology: The Biography of Sir Mortimer Wheeler
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1982), p. 299.

20
. Paul Johnstone,
Buried Treasure
(London: Phoenix House, 1957), p. 101.

21
. ‘Obituary: Mr Paul Johnstone',
The Times
, 17 March 1976; Paul Jordan, ‘Archaeology and television', in
Antiquity and Man: Essays in Honour of Glyn Daniel
, eds John D. Evans, Barry Cunliffe and Colin Renfrew (London: Thames and Hudson, 1981), p. 209; Glyn Daniel,
Some Small Harvest: The Memoirs of Glyn Daniel
(London: Thames and Hudson, 1986), pp. 268, 365.

22
. Attenborough,
Life on Air
, p. 46; Audience Research Department, ‘Audience research report:
Zoo Quest
, Friday 9th November 1956', 3 December 1956, BBC WAC, VR/56/587.

23
. McKibbin,
Classes and Cultures
, pp. 410–11; Douglas Brent, ‘
Dancing Club
versus “The Creep”',
TV Mirror
, 1 May 1954, 23.

24
. David Kynaston,
Family Britain 1951–57
(London: Bloomsbury, 2009), p. 198; ‘Saturday night at the Palais',
The Economist
, 14 February 1953, 401; Elisabeth Maxwell,
A Mind of My Own: My Life with Robert Maxwell
(London: HarperCollins, 1994), p. 227.

25
. ‘1984: Wife dies as she watches',
Daily Express
, 14 December 1954.

26
. Daniel Lea, ‘Horror comics and highbrow sadism: televising George Orwell in the 1950s',
Literature and History
, 19, 1 (April 2010), 71; John Rodden,
George Orwell: The Politics of Literary Reputation
(New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2002), p. 279.

27
. John Sutherland,
Magic Moments
(London: Profile, 2008), p. 118.

28
. Hansard, HC Deb, 20 January 1954, vol. 522, col. 987; Joanna Bornat,
Oral History, Health and Welfare
(London: Routledge, 1999), p. 59; Roger Storey,
Gilbert Harding By His Private Secretary
(London: Barrie and Rockcliff, 1961), p. 13.

29
. ‘Driver “forced from car”',
Manchester Guardian
, 18 December 1954.

30
. Pam Ayres,
The Necessary Aptitude: A Memoir
(London: Ebury, 2011), pp. 113–14; ‘TV not as bad as it is painted',
Manchester Guardian
, 1 September 1956.

31
. Himmelweit
et al., Television and the Child
, p. 202; Jean Baggott,
The Girl on the Wall: One Life's Rich Tapestry
(London: Icon, 2009), pp. 267–8.

32
.
TV Mirror
, 6 March 1954, 25; ‘Rediffusion Television Survey 1955', MOA, SxMOA1/2/45/2/C.

33
. George Howard, ‘Pirates',
TV Mirror
, 20 February 1954, 10–11; ‘Tracking down TV “pirates”',
Manchester Guardian
, 11 September 1954.

34
. Tony Currie,
A Concise History of British Television 1930–2000
(Tiverton: Kelly Publications, 2000), p. 36; Christopher Green with Carol Clerk,
Hughie and Paula: The Tangled Lives of Hughie Green and Paula Yates
(London: Robson, 2004), p. 112.

35
. Iona and Peter Opie,
Children's Games with Things
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 213.

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