1964-74 1974-91 1964-67 
BBC2 launched on 20th April 1964, and the first channel in the UK to transmit on 625 lines UHF. This is the very first BBC2 ident.
  
The opening of BBC2 was famously disrupted by a massive power cut across west London - it was left to Gerald Priestland (above middle) to hold things together at Alexandra Palace. No recording of the fateful night was known to exist until a videotape was unearthed in 2003. Read more about this amazing find here (external site).   
BBC2 finally stumbled on air the following morning at 11.00 with the first Play School. Then that evening they had another shot at the opening night, this time with rather more success. Denis Tuohy is seen here in the Line-Up studio, holding a candle in recognition of the events of the night before. Click here to see the programmes scheduled for the opening night, which included a special firework display from Southend Pier (above right), featuring the channel's mascots Hullabaloo and Custard. These cartoon kangaroos' lives were prematurely cut short by David Attenborough when he took control of BBC2 in 1965, as part of a move to revamp the channel's output. 
BBC2 used a clock with roman numerals in its early days, presumably in an attempt to be 'different'. Watch a clip 
  
Although getting off to a faltering start (for example a whole evening of educational programmes on Tuesdays did not turn out to be a massive success), BBC2 soon began to make its mark. Long-running documentary strands such as Horizon and Man Alive were introduced, while each night on BBC2 closed with the live, open-ended discussion Late Night Line-Up.
1967-74 On 1st July 1967 BBC2 became the first channel in the UK to broadcast in colour, albeit for a minority of its output; the 'full' colour service began on 2nd December. But as for presentation, things during the early days of colour are somewhat unclear. It is likely that during the initial 'launching period', the original 1964 '2' symbol remained in use, with colour electronically added to the captions. With the introduction of the full colour service, a new symbol was introduced - a distinctively shaped '2' with a dot in the middle (below). During the late 60s it seems that programmes were introduced by static captions, with this new '2' symbol, fully blue including the dot, appearing on a black strip down the left-hand side with the /B/B/C/ /2/ COLOUR legend, also in blue, displayed on two lines underneath it. A colour photograph illustrating the upcoming programme took up the other two thirds of the screen. If anyone can confirm the above information and/or provide more details about the state of BBC2's presentation in the late 1960s, please get in touch! 
By (or on) the launch of colour on BBC1 and ITV on 15th November 1969, the captions were replaced by an animated version of the dotted '2' symbol. BBC2 decided to go down the same route as BBC1 by using a rotating logo. In BBC2's case this was a cube with a '2' on each face, each a different colour - blue, red, green and white.   
Unlike the BBC1 globe, however, this ident was not operated live on air - instead it was an animation, which began with red, green and blue circles merging to form the white circle; then the blue '2' would draw around it. When the '2' was fully formed, the animation then seemlessly switched to a filmed sequence of the cube rotating.  
Left: the ident was modified in the early 1970s - each of the four '2's was now cyan, with a horizontal line added and the font changed to match the contemporary BBC1 globe. The cube now rotated live on air, and would no longer spin continuously; instead it typically turned two or three times before coming to rest. This image shows that the symbol initially retained the black background, but it is not clear when the change was made, or how long the ident appeared like this. (It may be reasonable to suggest that it coincided with the update to the BBC1 globe, which would date it to late 1971 or 1972). Right: what is certain, however, is that the background had changed to blue by 1973. There was still some inconsistency with this symbol - the horizontal line and lettering sometimes appeared in white, as shown above, and sometimes in cyan.
Watch a brief clip 
Meanwhile the clock with roman numerals had given way to the same design of clock used on BBC1.
  
  
The BBC2 of the late 60s and early 70s has become regarded as a benchmark in British television. Following the transition to colour, landmark documentaries were commissioned such as Kenneth Clark's Civilisation, Alistair Cooke's America and Jacob Bronowski's Ascent of Man. But it wasn't all highbrow - BBC2 also became home to classic comedy, such as Pete and Dud in Not Only...But Also... The onset of colour led to a resurgence in the popularity in snooker, with Pot Black, while progressive rock was given a weekly platform in The Old Grey Whistle Test. Click onto the next page as BBC2's ident history continues into the mid 1970s... 1964-74 1974-91 | 
