1950s-60s 1969-81 1981-91 The world's first television channel began in November 1936, although the title BBC1 was not applied until April 1964 when its sister channel BBC2 was launched. Beforehand it was known as the BBC Television Service, or later as BBCtv. This section takes you through a selection of idents and captions from the 1950s onwards.. 1950s-60s 
The first BBC Television identification symbol of them all, first seen on 2nd December 1953. Designed by Abram Games, this rather complex contraption was made up of a tiny spinning globe in the middle with two 'eyes' rotating around it, and lightning flashes at each side. Watch a clip (no audio)  This wasn't the last time we'd see a spinning globe on a BBC ident of course ...but first we'd have to get a map of Britain out of the way...
 
Left: BBC Television's ident from the early 1960s. The circle and the BBCtv caption would appear first, then the map of the BBC regions. Right: the clock from around the same time. The BBC had been experimenting with digital clocks at the start of the 1960s, but they soon reverted to this more traditional mechanical device. It didn't take long for the map of the regions to give way to a somewhat grander symbol. In 1963 BBC controller Donald Baverstock introduced the famous globe would identify the BBC's main channel for the next 39 years...
 
Left: this is the globe's first incarnation, the first appearance of which has been dated to 30th September 1963. It would appear on screen without the BBCtv boxes, then following some continuity patter the caption would appear on top of the globe, with the announcement 'This is BBC Television'. Watch a simulation On the night of President Kennedy's assassination on 22nd November 1963, this globe was shown rotating in silence, and then with music, for extended periods of time, but without the BBCtv caption. Right: an updated, and somewhat more circular-looking clock, now featuring the sloping BBC boxes.  
Left: the secondary ident which was also used at this time. This would usually be shown at the end of programmes. The '/tv/' box could be replaced by 'Newsflash', 'Weather Forecast' or a regional name. Right: despite the arrival of the globe symbol, there was still a place for in-vision continuity in the early 1960s - the BBC's announcing team included Michael Aspel, Valerie Singleton, Judith Chalmers, Sandra Chalmers, Corbett Woodall, Anne Gregg and Meryl O'Keefe, amongst others. Shown here is June Imray, who went on to become one of the lead announcers on Grampian Television. Watch a clip
 
Left: the second globe, which was introduced on the same day that BBC2 launched on 20th April 1964. The main channel now found itself known as BBC1 - but, strangely, someone forgot to add the '1' to the new globe... Continuity announcements, on the other hand, did acknowledge the new name. This ident remained in use until 17th April 1966. Watch a clip Right: the accompanying clock.  
The secondary ident now had a big '1' added to it.
A rarely seen version of the globe, introduced on 18th April 1966, and the first to incorporate the /B/B/C/ /1/ legend. This symbol lasted only a few weeks, and looking at it, it’s not difficult to understand why…
 
On or around 6th June 1966 the ugly white bars were replaced by striped ones to produce what is often nicknamed the ‘watch strap globe’, shown here with the accompanying clock. The regions' variants had the regional name written across the watch strap, without the globe in the middle. In-vision continuity had been phased out by this time.
Watch a clip of the globe Watch a clip of the clock
 
Left: the watch straps were removed around 7th July 1968, and the globe was given a very dodgy lighting arrangement. Sometimes it would be accompanied by a short jingle. The change was in order to help freshen up BBC1's presentation in the face of an influx of new ITV licencees, including London Weekend, Thames and Yorkshire. However this globe still looks rather old fashioned, contrasting greatly with the much more contemporary-style BBC2 symbol in use at the same time. The secondary ident was dropped at this point; the globe would now appear between the end of programmes and before trailers. Right: in 1968 the familiar clock face was introduced, which would remain until 1981. This image is a reconstruction - in reality, the hour markings were slightly thinner than shown here.  
The regions now used idents based on the design, but with their own logo in a circle replacing the globe, for example BBC East's eastward-facing eye and BBC North Newcastle's 'N' (above). It appears there was another change to the BBC1 globe sometime after July 1969. As there are sadly no known pictures or clips, it is unclear whether this was a new globe or a modification to the existing one - in either case it is thought to have been very similiar in appearance to the 1968 globe shown above. If you know any more, please get in touch! On the next page we move into the era of colour... 1950s-60s 1969-81 1981-91 | 
