BBC history research

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting house in the city of westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff. Its main responsibility is to provide impartial public service broadcasting in the united kingdom, channel islands  and isle of man.

The BBC is a semi-autonomous public service broadcaster that operates under a royal charter and a Licence and Agreement from the home secretary. Within the United Kingdom its work is funded principally by an annual television license fee, which is charged to all British households, companies and organisations using any type of equipment to record and/or receive live television broadcasts; the level of the fee is set annually by the british government and agreed by parliament.

Outside the UK, the BBC world service has provided services by direct broadcasting and re-transmission contracts by sound radio since the inauguration of the BBC Empire Service in December 1932, and more recently by television and online. Though sharing some of the facilities of the domestic services, particularly for news and current affairs output, the World Service has a separate Managing Director, and its operating costs have historically been funded mainly by direct grants from the British government. These grants were determined independently of the domestic licence fee and were usually awarded from the budget of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As such, the BBC's international content has traditionally represented – at least in part – an effective foreign policy tool of the British Government. The recent BBC world service spending review has announced plans for the funding for the world service to be drawn from the domestic licence fee.

The 1920s

The 1920s see the creation of the BBC as an insititution and as a broadcaster. John Reith, the BBC's founding father, moulds its ethos – to inform, educate and entertain – which still endures to this very day, setting the model for many other public service broadcasters. 

Radio quickly takes off with the British public in this decade, as listeners cluster around their crystal sets. Broadcast 'first' follows broadcast 'first' – from first news bulletin to first outside broadcast, from first royal address to the very first sound of Big Ben on the BBC. The BBC also faces its first major government confrontation over editorial independence, during the General Strike of 1926.

The 1930s

The BBC expands with real confidence in this decade, symbolically marked by the construction of Broadcasting House, the first ever purpose-built broadcast centre in the UK. 

Innovation follows innovation, as the BBC pioneers an ever expanding range of radio broadcasts across arts, education and news, launches the Empire Service (forerunner of the World Service), and experiments with the world's first ever regular TV service under John Logie Baird.

But World War II put a rapid stop to further development - the last broadcast before the shutdown was on 1 September 1939.
TV remained silent until 1946, and the BBC radio's national and regional programmes were replaced by the Home Service.And this was the face of British broadcasting until after the war, when normal services began to resume.

The 1940s

The outbreak of World War 2 brings a pivotal role for BBC radio (the TV service closes during this period). Winston Churchill makes his famous inspirational speeches over the BBC airwaves, and BBC news becomes a lifeline for countless listeners in the UK and around the world, as the source of objective and independent journalism.

But Radio finds a lighter entertainment voice too -  through new music and variety formats; it launches some of its long-running programmes such as Woman's Hour and Book at Bedtime; and creates the groundbreaking Third Programme (later to become Radio 3).

The 1950s

This is the decade of television – triggered by the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, when 20 million BBC viewers watch the young queen crowned. Subsequent television innovations include Attenborough’s Zoo Quest, Blue Peter for children, the creation of daily news bulletins and analysis programmes such as Panorama, and the first ever British TV soap.

Radio in turn brings memorable comedy, the lyrical and unique Under Milk Wood, and the longest running radio soap drama in the world, The Archers.

The 1960s

This decade sees the confident expansionism of BBC TV and Radio, symbolised partially by the building of the first ever purpose-built TV centre in the world. From here come groundbreaking social drama (The Wednesday Play), sweeping adaptations of the classics (The Forsyte Saga) and the anarchic comedy of Monty Python's Flying Circus, while on BBC radio pop music is reinvented by the birth of Radio 1.

This era also witnesses momentous technological breakthrough, as the nation gasps at pictures of man on the moon and observes the transition to new colour television.

The 1970s

The 1970s see yet more evolution in BBC broadcasting. Morecambe and Wise make the whole nation laugh, while The Family shows us ourselves as never before in the first fly-on-the-wall documentary, and Attenborough continues to reveal the natural world in new and revelatory ways. Drama expands to span both the dark and the literary, from Dennis Potter to the BBC Shakespeare Project. 

New broadcast partnerships include the BBC's link with the Open University, which breaks new ground in universalising education.

The 1980s

A war-torn world gives a renewed focus to the BBC, whether reporting the Falklands War or mounting the groundbreaking Live Aid concert. Meanwhile, one of the largest TV audiences ever is recorded for Charles and Diana's wedding, television finally colonises the House of Commons and even our breakfast tables, and the BBC launches its most popular TV soap of all time, EastEnders.

There is a serious rift with the government over editorial independence, this time around the Northern Irish issue - probably the most serious since the General Strike of 1926.

The 1990s

BBC enters the digital age in this decade, developing a range of digital broadcasting and internet services. As it makes this transition, traditional genres are continually refreshed. Andrew Davies's Pride & Prejudice captivates the nation, Only Fools and Horses makes us laugh, and Teletubbies transforms programming for young children on a global scale.

News goes 24 hours, Princess Diana dominates the documentary headlines and, by the end of the decade, 19 million people will watch her funeral.

The 2000s

This decade is the digital decade, as the BBC responds increasingly to audiences' need to have programme content 'anytime, any place, anywhere'. The IBBC iPlayer launches successfully at the end of 2007, enabling viewers in the UK to catch up on programmes screened over the previous seven days. The BBC website grows exponentially, receiving an average of 3.6 billion hits per month.

The BBC is increasingly global – its coverage of the 2008 Olympics available on TV, radio, online and by mobile phone. Its popular programmes, such as Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing, become universal hits.