January 1960 highlights A typical day on the BBC's single television channel at the start of 60s; in October it was to receive a much-needed makeover, as was the Radio Times. But for the moment, both were firmly stuck in the 1950s. The main BBC news was actually transmitted at 10.00 on this evening, 40 years before it permanently took this timeslot, although in 1960 it was a moveable feast, airtimes varying between 9.35 and 10.05 this week. The early evening news was also transmitted in its current slot, 6.00, but over the next 16 years the start time would gradually move backwards. The 6.00 start was reinstated in September 1984. Patrick Moore was introducing one of television's longest running shows on this day, The Sky at Night, while the impressionist Stanley Baxter could be seen in the farcical comedy play The Amorous Prawn. One feature of the 1960 schedule was the regular showing of programmes in Welsh, usually around lunchtime and sometime late night, on some English, as well as Welsh, transmitters. In 1960 it was Wenvoe, Holme Moss and Sutton Coldfield, in order to ensure the output was available to every viewer in Wales, and for the benefit of Welsh ex-pats. In 1962, after continued requests, Crystal Palace was added to the list. This pattern continued, though to a lesser extent, into the early 80s until all of the BBC's Welsh-language programming was transferred to Sianel 4 Cymru in 1982. On radio this day, there was no pop at all on the BBC Light Programme - instead the day was made up of a mixture of light music, speech, comedy and drama.
And in Radio Times 17-23 January 1960 Price 4d  The Radio Times of 1960 looked remarkably similar to that of ten years earlier. It had a thoroughly outdated appearance, with listings horizontally centered within the columns and the use of serif typefaces almost everywhere. The next revamp - designed by Abram Games - was less than a year away, however, and would take Radio Times through the next nine years with only minor updates along the way which mostly served only to clutter the layout.
 The two biggest changes to come from 8 October were the change of weekly layout from Sunday-Saturday to Saturday-Friday; although a summary of programmes for the following Saturday would remain.
The second change was the movement of radio details from the back of the magazine, to follow each day's television. Radio and television were not separated again until 1989. At this point listings for the three BBC radio networks still took up much more space than the single BBC television channel. In this week's edition the French actress Francoise Rosay starred on the cover and in the play Colombe, which also featured Dorothy Tutin and a youthful Sean Connery (left). The centre four pages were the shortlived 'Junior Radio Times', which included guides to making silhouette films and toboggans, a strip cartoon 'The Adventures of Tom and Vera' and an Archers-based story, 'Manhunt in Ambridge'. 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Radio Times Covers | 
