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People in general have a fascination with behind-the-scenes events in popular entertainment..

Nothing shows this more than studio tours.  Now the province of theme parks, studio tours were once something to be given to potential advertisers and competition winners.  A small group would be led round, often by the chief engineer or the director of sales, and shown various parts of the organisation.

Some were more comprehensive than others.  A tour round Rediffusion's Kingsway headquarters amounted to fifteen minutes spent looking a various corridors.

A tour round Didsbury was simply not possible (instead, ABC took people around Granada's studios in Quay Street).

The Wembley Studios, belonging to Rediffusion London and later LWT, though, had a comprehensive tour.  Since the main administration work (and the people of importance - executives, politicians) was done in Holborn, Rediffusion could let the public see the entire complex without fear of running into John Spencer Wills or Harold Wilson in the boardroom or This Week studio respectively.

Tour goers were issued with a booklet "A Guide to Rediffusion Television Studios".  These booklets were printed on high-quality paper and artistically laid out, with operational details and company information.  Not of great interest to the screaming hordes to be found at a modern studio theme park, but pitched at middle-class businessmen with their hands on a company's purse strings.

Not of great interest to the masses - but now a fascinating glimpse of how television was done four decades ago.

A Guide to Rediffusion Television Studios

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