Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 It had been four years since the demise of Tonight, the BBC's first early evening 'popular' current affairs magazine, so in 1969 they decided to revive the concept in a new programme which would go round the country and bring us stories from the four corners of the United Kingdom. And so, the first Nationwide took to the air on Tuesday 9th September 1969, from the BBC's Lime Grove studios. Seemingly too cautious to commit to a full five day week, the programme would only air from Tuesday to Thursday. A jaunty theme tune heralded the start, and the original opening title sequence (below) gave a namecheck to each of the regional news magazines (most of which still have the same name today). These now aired under the Nationwide banner from 6.00.            
Watch these opening titles   Then at 6.20 it was time to rejoin the scene Nationwide, 'co-ordinated' from London by Michael Barrett (left). Michael, as sole anchor, would link up with the various regions for guests and features, although this meant the show became something of a technical nightmare, and more often than not the link-ups would fall apart.
The start of the show must have been particularly complex - first a regional announcer would introduce the programme over the regional BBC1 ident; this was then followed by the Nationwide title sequence; then back to the regions for local headlines; then back to London again for a look ahead to 6.20; a Nationwide sting; then back to the regions again.   
After only a year on air, the programme was given what would be the first of many revamps (above) - in fact, during its 14 year life Nationwide got through countless sets of opening titles, and five theme tunes. However this first revamp saw the programme still in black-and-white, despite BBC1 having switched to colour transmission in November 1969. This was because Nationwide's home, Studio E at Lime Grove, had yet to be upgraded to colour - in fact the same was true of most of the regional centres.      
Autumn 1971 saw Michael Barrett joined in the studio by Bob Wellings from the London-only section of the programme (below left). Then in September 1972 Nationwide's most famous theme tune, 'The Good Word' by Johnny Scott , was introduced, along with a title sequence which featured a new cartwheeling logo (above). At last the programme was in colour, and, at last, it was on air five days a week - Nationwide's place in the nation's hearts was assured. Watch these opening titles   
To cope with the increased workload, the Nationwide family continued to expand, and Frank Bough, for years a familiar face on Grandstand, arrived as co-anchor. Sue Lawley joined the reporting team, and was promoted to a studio presenter in autumn 1973. At the same time Valerie Singleton (above middle) and Richard Stilgoe began presenting The Consumer Unit; while Jimmy Hill presented Friday's Sportswide.   
The mid 1970s was the defining period for Nationwide, as millions tuned in each night to watch a skateboarding duck, surfing dog and beer drinking snail.      
But at the same time Nationwide was a serious current affairs programme, and it gave the opportunity for members of the public in studios around the country to give a grilling to the politicians of the day such as TUC leader Vic Feather, as seen here. Other viewers were grilled on why they bought what they believed to be 'instant sea pets' (above right).   
Above: scenes from A Day in the Life of Nationwide from 1975. On the next page we continue the story of Nationwide. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 | 
