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1 April 2019 tbs.pm/68815

An amazing find in our archives: the first ITN news bulletin in 1955. It’s the familiar ‘Non-Stop’ introductory music, but… wow!

 

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3 responses to this article

Nigel Stapley 2 April 2019 at 5:37 pm

And of course The Former Radio Show The Burkiss Way (With Burkiss Spelt Wrong) had a version which had the opening lines,

“Hi, I’m Reggie, he is Sandy/His is water, mine is brandy…”

which was cut after a letter from Reginald Bosanquet’s lawyers – received by the Broadcorping Castration in the few days between the originating broadcast and the scheduled repeat – which suggested that it might not be politic to imply that their client imbibed alcohol during programmes.

As far as I’m aware, the cut has never been restored in any subsequent broadcasts.

Nigel Stapley 4 April 2019 at 4:55 pm

Oh, and I still maintain that “Non-Stop” was an oddly jolly piece to put in front of news bulletins.

Kif Bowden-Smith 6 April 2019 at 12:54 pm

I have always disputed the oft made assertion that non stop was jolly. It was if you listened to the whole thing, but the tiny sliver that people actually heard always seemed both busy and urgent – just right for the news. Also it was picked in an era of cinema newsreels when news was presented as jolly then, anyway. The idea of news being dramatic is a notion which was an American import in the sixties. It’s seems quite dramatic to me when you only hear the famous seven seconds..

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