Elizabethan TV

Elizabethan Tuning Signal

Late in 1953 the whole of one evening was devoted to one subject - "An Evening's Diversion" of Elizabethan tv, and special programmes were shown, just as if there had been television at that time.

Sylvia Peters introduced the evening - "Now we ask you to imagine that in 1596 the Elizabethans had a television service of their own, and join us as we put back the clock....."

The "Elizabethan" announcer was Noelle Middleton, and I thought she looked absolutely beautiful in costume.

ANNOUNCEMENT May we bring it to your remembrance that Her Majesty's Privy Council do will and command that you must have a licence for the enjoyment of these entertainments. The money should be made payable in Pennies, Groats, Henry or Philip & Mary Shillings, or any other coin current in the Realm, to your Chief Justice, your Constable, or Head Borough. If you do fail to pay this sum, being duly apprehended, you shall suffer a fine of two Duckats. But if any be convicted of the said offence a second time, they are immediately adjudged to be grievously whipped, as a manifestation of their wickedness, and as due punishment for the same.

The "Elizabethan transmission" of Tuesday 7th November began with a special Elizabethan edition of TNR. It's title sequence was of folk dancing round the maypole as the letters "Oyez! Oyez! What News? What News?" went round the maypole "mast".

Elizabethan news cameras covered all major events, and the first story was naturally a Royal occasion.

The one which followed, highly topical, would be of great importance to the whole country. There was also an item on someone getting dunked in the village pond for being a gossip!

Of great interest to Elizabethan viewers, cookery programmes with Philip Harben and Jeanne Heal were not to be missed.

There was even an Elizabethan Interlude..... The whole of the Evening was telerecorded, and still exists in the BBC's archive. As this special Elizabethan Evening began at 8pm the regular TNR was shown at 7.45pm.

About Britain Around this time there was a series of programmes called "About Britain" with, I think, Richard Dimbleby. One of them was about Oxford, and I was showing it during the evening on transmission. One sequence showed people getting out of a train at the railway station, and among them I noticed a man leaving the train carrying a suitcase with white letters on the side. I still have the script somewhere with my original note about it. - But who perpetrated it?

BACK

NEXT -

The Coronation