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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF LAW, ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES School of Humanities British Television, 1925 – 1936: Attitudes and Expectations by Mark Peter Alfred Aldridge Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2008 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF LAW, ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES Doctor of Philosophy BRITISH TELEVISION, 1925 - 1936: ATTITUDES AND EXPECTATIONS by Mark Peter Alfred Aldridge This thesis assesses attitudes towards, and expectations of, British television between 1925 and 1936. This covers the period from the first public demonstration of an early form of the technology until the official launch of a full high-definition BBC service. The assessment is achieved via an analysis of four key factors. Chapter One covers the first of these, the private individuals working on television, with an emphasis on the publicity-hungry efforts of John Logie Baird. The second chapter investigates the public institutions, most particularly the BBC and the Post Office, which would eventually be of great importance to television’s ongoing development. Chapter Three covers the reporting of the developments in television by the popular press, allowing us to gain an insight into broader attitudes towards television. The final chapter considers the content of the first official broadcasts, which demonstrate how television was ultimately implemented. The study argues that television’s development was not pre-determined, and that its placement under the control of the BBC as a part of its public service broadcasts was not inevitable. This forms part of the wider question of what was expected from television, and how people’s attitudes toward it changed. This is answered through use of new empirical research, based on original documentation and an extensive survey of press reports. The findings of this research question many presumptions about early television’s development and the subsequent pre-war service. This study’s conclusions demonstrate how fluid the medium was in its early years, and that pre-war programming requires close analysis so as to more clearly demonstrate that television as seen in this period was distinct from later eras that have been more heavily researched and assessed. 2 Contents Index of Illustrations..................................................................................................................... 5 Declaration of Authorship ............................................................................................................ 6 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 8 Television’s Early Development ................................................................................................ 10 The Role of this Study .............................................................................................................. 13 Other Histories of Television .................................................................................................... 19 Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 25 Historical Context .................................................................................................................... 29 The ‘Television’ of this Study .................................................................................................... 35 Chapter One: John Logie Baird and Television in the Private Sphere .......................................... 41 Early Demonstrations .............................................................................................................. 43 From Experiments to Business ................................................................................................. 49 The Technology of Baird’s Early Television ............................................................................... 55 Public Investment for a Public Product? ................................................................................... 59 Collaborating with the BBC ...................................................................................................... 65 Baird’s Future at the BBC ......................................................................................................... 71 Television Hobbyists ................................................................................................................ 78 High-Definition Television and the Official Launch ................................................................... 84 The Overall Role of Baird ......................................................................................................... 88 Chapter Two: The Institutional View of Television ..................................................................... 95 The BBC’s Initial Expectations ................................................................................................ 102 The Corporation Concedes ..................................................................................................... 108 The BBC Takes Control ........................................................................................................... 110 Alternatives to Baird .............................................................................................................. 115 Deciding on Television’s Future .............................................................................................. 117 The Public Demonstrations .................................................................................................... 123 The BBC’s Publications ........................................................................................................... 126 The Overall Role of the BBC ................................................................................................... 134 3 Chapter Three: Views of Television from the Outside .............................................................. 137 Baird Goes Public: Press Reports in 1926................................................................................ 139 Developing Interest: Press Reports in 1927 ............................................................................ 148 Development and Stagnation: 1928 to 1935 .......................................................................... 150 Television as a Public Concern: Press Reports in 1936 ............................................................ 152 The Official Launch ................................................................................................................ 161 Overall Impressions ............................................................................................................... 169 Chapter Four: Programming for the Public ............................................................................... 172 The Range of Programming ................................................................................................... 174 The Methodology of this Chapter........................................................................................... 178 The First Television Programmes ........................................................................................... 180 The Placement of Drama on Pre-War Television .................................................................... 188 The Views of Viewers ............................................................................................................. 191 The Practical Realities of Television Drama ............................................................................ 196 Case Studies .......................................................................................................................... 203 Overall Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 213 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 217 Attitudes and Expectations .................................................................................................... 221 Content and Technology ........................................................................................................ 227 The Multiple Factors of Television’s Early History ................................................................... 230 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................