Armchair Nation (72 page)

46
. Allan Brown, ‘BBC Alba shows power of Gaelic lobby',
Sunday Times
, 5 October 2008.

47
. Andrew Tolmie, ‘Cho tin ris a pearraid',
Daily Mail
, 18 February 2008; Kathleen Nutt, ‘Gaelic TV station loses a third of its viewers',
Sunday Times
, 1 February 2009.

48
. Tom Nairn,
The Break-Up of Britain: Crisis and Neo-Nationalism
(Altona, Victoria: Common Ground, 2003), p. 150.

49
. John Durham Peters,
Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), pp. 52, 155.

50
. Sheila Whitely,
Too Much Too Young: Popular Music, Age and Gender
(London: Routledge, 2005), p. 173; ‘Telescope technical know-how helps give TV audience star-maker power',
PR Newswire Europe
, 8 February 2002.

51
. Peter Bazalgette, ‘Foreword', in Stephen Coleman,
A Tale of Two Houses: The House of Commons, the Big Brother House and the People at Home
(London: Hansard Society, 2003), p. 3.

52
. Institute of Education, University of London, University of Sheffield, University of East London and British Library,
Children's Playground Games and Songs in the New Media Age 2009–2011: Project Report
(2011), pp. 13, 21; Sanna Inthorn and John Street, ‘“Simon Cowell for
prime minister”? Young citizens' attitudes towards celebrity politics',
Media, Culture and Society
, 33, 3 (April 2011), 6.

53
. Marista Leishman,
My Father: Lord Reith of the BBC
(Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 2006), pp. 112–13.

54
. Ned Temko, ‘Brown outlines his vision for an “X Factor” Britain',
Observer
, 5 November 2006; Jonathan Freedland, ‘Inspired by TV, Brown gets the X factor',
Guardian
, 13 February 2008; Gordon Brown, ‘We'll use our schools to break down class barriers',
Observer
, 10 February 2008.

55
. Tony Benn,
Years of Hope: Diaries, Letters and Papers, 1940–1962
(London: Hutchinson, 1994), p. 567; Peter Hitchens,
The Abolition of Britain
(London: Quartet, 2000), p. 7; Adam Sherwin, ‘Phone lines go quiet as the Idol bubble pops',
The Times
, 20 December 2003.

56
. David Cameron, ‘I am pro-BBC',
Evening Standard
, 27 April 2010.

57
. Jeremy Hunt, Speech at the Royal Television Society, London, 28 September 2010.

58
.
Commercially Viable Local Television in the UK: A Review by Nicholas Shott for the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport
(December 2010), p. 12.

59
. Piers Morgan,
Misadventures of a Big Mouth Brit
(London: Random House, 2010), p. 10.

60
. Pete Waterman, ‘Why I refuse to watch X Factor',
Daily Mail
, 11 December 2009; Adam MacQueen,
Private Eye: The First 50 Years
(London: Private Eye, 2011), p. 168.

1
. Ronald Blythe,
Word from Wormingford: A Parish Year
(Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2007), p. 49.

2
. ‘How Emley Moor's giant crashed',
Yorkshire Post
, 20 March 1969.

3
. ‘Yorkshire's giant TV mast crashes on village',
Yorkshire Post
, 20 March 1969; Malcolm Barker, ‘Ice crushes the TV monster',
Yorkshire Post
, 20 March 1969.

4
. ‘YTV could be back tonight',
Yorkshire Post
, 21 March 1969; ‘ITV back soon for 4m viewers',
Yorkshire Post
, 21 March 1969.

5
. Simon Armitage,
All Points North
(London: Penguin, 1999), p. 22; Jonathan Meades,
Even Further Abroad: I Remember the Future
, BBC2, 15 February 1996.

6
. Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts,
Edgelands: Journeys into England's True Wilderness
(London: Jonathan Cape, 2011), p. 159.

7
. ‘Manchester on TV: Ghosts of Winter Hill' at news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/low/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8332000/8332589.stm (accessed 13 March 2009).

8
. Rosie Millard, ‘Do not adjust your mindset',
The Times
, 21 April 2012.

9
. ‘Seen and heard',
Manchester Guardian
, 1 April 1930.

10
. Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz,
Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), p. 1.

11
. Jonathan Eberhart, ‘Giving ourselves away',
Science News
, 113, 9 (4 March 1978), 138–9.

12
. Jean Heidmann,
Extraterrestrial Intelligence
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 174–5.

During some of the writing and research for this book I held a British Academy Mid-Career Research Fellowship, and I am grateful to the British Academy for this support, which freed me from teaching and administrative duties and provided funding to visit archives. The Mass Observation material quoted in the book is reproduced with the permission of the Trustees of the Mass Observation Archive, and is copyright © the Trustees of the Mass Observation Archive. The material from the BBC's Written Archives is reproduced with permission of the BBC and is copyright © the BBC. Jessica Scantlebury at the Mass Observation Archive at Sussex and Louise North at the BBC Written Archives at Caversham were particularly helpful in retrieving material for me and dealing with my queries. Jez Lowe kindly allowed me to quote some words from his song ‘Mike Neville Said It (So It Must Be True)', which are copyright © Jez Lowe/Lowelife Music. I would like to thank the following people for reading draft material or offering ideas, information and other assistance: Jim Barnard, Michel Byrne, Jo Croft, Ross Dawson, Alice Ferrebe, Elspeth Graham, Colin Harrison, Jackie Kelly, Liam Moran, Michael Moran, Wynn Moran, Glenda Norquay, Joanna Price, Amber Regis, Helen Rogers, Gerry Smyth, Karolina Sutton, Kate Walchester and Andy Young. Penny Gardiner and Penny Daniel took enormous care in preparing the manuscript for publication. And, as usual, this book has been immeasurably improved by the work of my wonderful editor, Daniel Crewe.

1. Family watching television, 1954. Daily Herald Archive/SSPL/Getty Images.

2. Poster advertising John Logie Baird's demonstration of television at the London Coliseum, July 1930. Museum of Hastings.

3. Max Hastings and friends watching television, Kensington, 1950. Max Hastings.

4. Frances Day, Jerry Desmonde, Elizabeth Allen and Gilbert Harding on
What's My Line?
, 29 August 1951. BBC/Corbis.

5. A woman adjusts her TV set, 1960s. Mary Evans Picture Library.

6. Carole Hersee, daughter of test card designer George Hersee, posing for a new version of Test Card F at the Thames studios in Teddington, 10 March 1969. Ian Tyas/Keystone/Getty Images.

7. Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman on
Countdown
, 1980s. Granada Archives. ITV/Rex Features.

8. Delia Smith, 1971. David Reed/Corbis.

9. Jade Goody being interviewed on the big screen after her eviction from the
Big Brother
house, 26 July 2002. Press Association.

10. Stacked Old Televisions, 2011. Lindsay Blair Brown. www.lindsayblairbrown.com
.

While every effort has been made to contact copyright-holders of illustrations, the author and publishers would be grateful for information about any illustrations where they have been unable to trace them, and would be glad to make amendments in further editions.

Figures in
italics
indicate illustrations.

7:84 theatre company
205

24
342

77 Sunset Strip
118

2001: A Space Odyssey
(film)
184

A

A Certain Ratio
369

A for Andromeda
227

Abbey Road studios, London
35

ABC Television
118

About Anglia
124

About the Home
76

Ackroyd, Peter
281

Adam, Kenneth
161
,
163
,
173

Addinsell, Richard
218

Adventures of Colonel March, The
105

Adventures of Robin Hood, The
107
,
110

aerials
1
,
11
,
19
,
21
,
37
,
42
,
45
,
60
,
62
,
63
,
71
,
77
,
79
,
82
,
83
,
104
,
119
–20,
128
–32,
143
,
150
,
216
,
221
,
266
,
292
,
324
,
325
,
326
,
355
,
375

Aeroplane, The
magazine
58
–9

agricultural programmes
219
–20

Airport
310

Akenfield
(film)
352
–3

Akenfield, Suffolk
352
,
353

Aladdin
187

Alagiah, George
334

Albu, Margaret
16

Aldenham bus overhaul works, Elstree, Hertfordshire
165

Alexander, Jean
304

Alexandra Palace, north London
28
–9,
30
,
31
,
32
,
36
,
39
,
41
–44,
46
,
52
,
60

mast
28
,
29
,
49
,
51
,
55
,
72

garden
44
,
47

‘battle of the beams'
48

Holme Moss's opening night
65

1967 happening
162

analogue switched off
345

Alice in Wonderland
164

All Creatures Great and Small
229

Allan, Elkan
236

Allaun, Frank
141
,
142

Allen, Elizabeth
88

Almond, Marc
212

Alperovici, Boris
18
–19

Alpha Bangla
345

America's Got Talent
363

Amis, Kingsley
8
,
300
–308,
310

Amis, Martin
281
,
296

Amis, Sally
303

Ammonds, John
224
,
227

Amos 'n' Andy
(American comedy show)
86

analogue television
312
,
331
,
344
–50,
362
,
370
,
371
,
372
,
374

And Now for Something Completely Different
… (film)
225

Anders, Neil
180

Andrews, Eamonn
90
,
138
,
151

Andy Pandy
96

Ang, Ien
273

Anglers' Corner
167

Anglia Television
124
–5,
128
–29,
134
,
181
,
217
,
218
,
348

Animal Hospital
309
–10

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?
97
,
104
,
179

Annan Committee on Broadcasting
214
,
217
,
355

Annan Report (1977)
214
,
219
–20,
226
,
249

Anne, HRH The Princess Royal
87
,
194

announcers
46
,
47
,
57
–8,
93
,
268
,
348

Anouilh, Jean:
Time Remembered
145
–6

Anthology 3
(album)
298

Apollo missions
180
,
181
–2,
184
,
185
,
186
,
287

Appleton, Professor E.V.
30

Archers, The
84
,
97
,
273

Archie Andrews
90

archiving
224
–7

Ardener, Edwin
170

Are You Being Served?
214

Armitage, Simon
369

Armstrong, Fiona
350

Armstrong, Neil
182
,
183

Army Game, The
371

Art and Artists
110

Arts Council
116
,
302

Ascent of Man, The
320

Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon
161

Ask Pickles
96
,
138

Askey, Arthur
110

Astra satellite
287
,
288

AT&T
150

Atkinson, Rowan
342

Attenborough, David
97
,
98
–9,
163
,
164
–5,
193
,
230
,
279
,
337
–9,
340
,
371
–2

ATV
110
,
129
,
216
,
239
–43,
330
,
348

Aubertin, George
96

audience research
107
,
182
,
223
,
250
,
253