Investigations into the Emergence of British Television 1926-1936 1 Investigations into the Emergence of British Television 1926-1936 November 2017 A Critical Review submitted to Aberystwyth University in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD by Published Work) in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies Donald F McLean Aberystwyth University Investigations into the Emergence of British Television 1926-1936 2 Abstract This Critical Review discusses the significance of the author’s published works and their impact on the history of the emergence of British television between 1926 and 1936. Although events in television within this period have since been well- documented, the related debates have tended to be specialist in scope and restricted to technology-centric or institution-centric viewpoints. Within this period of complex, rapid technological change, the author’s published works introduce the principle of embracing multiple disciplines for comparative analysis. The author’s application of that principle opens up long- established views for further debate and provides a re-assessment of early British television within a broader context. The rewards of this approach are a view of events that not only avoids nationalistic bias and restrictions of a single institutional viewpoint, but also tackles the complex interdependencies of technology, of service provision and of content creation. These published works draw attention to the revolutionary improvements that enabled the BBC’s 1936 service and the re-definition of television, yet also emphasise the significance of the previous television broadcast services. The most important innovation within these works has been the author’s discovery and in-depth study of artefacts from that earlier period. His recovery, analysis and presentation of video recordings of historic early television from 1927- 1935 is original and remains unique. It has had a significant impact on the field of Media Archaeology, where Ernst considers the book Restoring Baird’s Image as a ‘seminal’ work and the overall restoration project ‘a brilliant case of “Digital Humanities” research’ (Appendix 2). The author’s curation of content from the period 1927-1935 enhances our understanding of a time where previously no direct television footage was thought to exist. The author extends his forensic-level investigative ‘hands-on’ techniques from this recovery to the analysis of the surviving artefacts from the time of John Logie Baird’s claimed first demonstration of television in 1926. The results clarify not only the functions of the equipment but also the circumstances and validity of the event, and hence its true place in the history of television. Keywords: television, history, Media Archaeology, broadcasting, video recording, BBC, Post Office, Baird, Phonovision, Marconi, EMI Investigations into the Emergence of British Television 1926-1936 3 Declaration: I hereby certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis is my own work and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due references and acknowledgements are made. It contains no material which has been previously submitted by me for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. This Critical Review has been self-funded and is not supported by any external financial or other award. All of the author’s published works were fully-funded by him, with the exception of CD/CD-ROM ‘The Dawn of Television Remembered’ (McLean 2005) which was partly supported by a Shiers Trust Award in 2004 administered by the Royal Television Society. Thesis by Published Works: I hereby certify that this thesis is in the form of a series of items: this document, (with Appendix 2 by Wolfgang Ernst, Professor of Media Theories at the Humboldt University, Berlin), a peer-reviewed monograph, a CD/CD-ROM set, and two peer-reviewed articles included in Appendix 3. For all items, except the material in Appendix 2 by Professor Ernst, I am the sole author, and in the case of the CD/CD-ROM, solely responsible for authoring, scripting of the narrative, production, processing, editing and compilation. The Published Works submitted by the author comprise the monograph Restoring Baird’s Image (McLean, 2000), the CD/CD-ROM set, ‘The Dawn of Television Remembered’ (McLean, 2005), and the articles ‘The Achievement of Television’ (McLean 2014) and ‘The Great British Broadcasting Competition’ (McLean 2018). Investigations into the Emergence of British Television 1926-1936 4 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................. 2 Table of Contents ............................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 7 1. Background .................................................................................................... 8 2. List of the Published Works submitted by the Author .....................................10 3. Introduction to the Author’s Published Works ................................................11 3.1 Structure ........................................................................................................... 11 3.2 Overview ........................................................................................................... 12 4. Description of the Published Works submitted by the Author .........................14 4.1 McLean (2000), Restoring Baird’s Image (monograph) ........................................ 14 4.2 McLean (2005), The Dawn of Television Remembered (CD/CD-ROM) ................... 15 4.3 McLean (2014), ‘The Achievement of Television’ (peer-revieweD journal article) . 18 4.4 McLean (2018), ‘The Great British Broadcasting Competition’ (peer-revieweD journal article) ......................................................................................................... 19 4.5 The NeeD for Common Terminology ................................................................... 20 4.5.1 Air Travel as an Analogy .................................................................................. 21 5. Literature Review relating to the Author’s Published Works ...........................22 5.1 Existing Literature .............................................................................................. 22 5.2 The Technical Histories ....................................................................................... 23 5.3 Burns-Briggs similarities ..................................................................................... 24 5.4 Briggs anD the Briggs-Jacobs Gap ........................................................................ 25 5.5 The 30-line era – Television Services or Experimental Transmissions? .................. 26 5.5.1 The 30-line Public Television Services ................................................................. 27 5.5.2 Services as ‘transmissions’ .................................................................................. 29 5.5.3 Remarks ............................................................................................................... 31 5.6 A Comment on References in Restoring Baird’s Image (McLean 2000) ................. 32 5.7 Literature Review of RelateD Publications ........................................................... 33 6. Significance & Impact ....................................................................................36 6.1 IntroDuction....................................................................................................... 36 Investigations into the Emergence of British Television 1926-1936 5 6.2 Significance of the Historical Aspects of Restoring Baird’s Image (McLean 2000).. 37 6.2.1 A Commercial Emphasis needed for BairD .......................................................... 39 6.3 Significance of the ViDeo RecorDings anD their Restoration (McLean 2000) .......... 40 6.3.1 Importance of the Recorded Content ................................................................. 40 6.3.2 ‘Restoration’ misunderstood .............................................................................. 42 6.3.3 Impact of the Restoration ................................................................................... 43 6.3.4 Classifications of the Restorations ...................................................................... 44 6.3.5 Reviewing Committee of the Export of Works of Art (RCEWA) (2015) .............. 46 6.4 Reviews of Restoring Baird’s Image (McLean 2000) ............................................. 47 6.5 Significance of The Dawn of Television Remembered CD/CD-ROM (McLean 2005) 49 6.6 Significance of ‘The Achievement of Television’ (McLean 2014) ........................... 51 6.6.1 Reducing confusion in Assessing Baird’s Achievements – McLean (2014) ......... 52 6.7 Significance of ‘The Great British Broadcasting Competition’ (McLean 2018)........ 53 6.7.1 Clarification on the EMItron/iconoscope ............................................................ 55 6.8 A Multi-Disciplinary MoDel across the Author’s Published Works ........................ 56 6.8.1 The Importance of Common Points of Reference .............................................. 57 6.8.2 The Quest for Consistency – the Benefit of a Multi-Disciplinary Model ............ 58 6.8.3 Alternative Multi-Disciplinary Approaches