2012-04-28
post/21949536340
Eight years of BBC handbook covers, from 1961 to 1969. Some are from Between Channel’s three posts on the handbooks, but where his graphics were a little smaller, I headed off to Deptford Dralons and LoopZilla on Flickr.
The BBC Handbook was produced annually (with a short break) for nearly sixty years. As the British Online Archives site puts it,
Sir Ian Jacob, a former Director General of the BBC provides us with a useful statement of the handbooks’ aims:
“To provide a clear and reliable guide to the workings of the BBC, to survey the year’s work in British broadcasting, and to bring together as much information about the BBC as can be assembled within the covers of a small book.” (BBC Handbook, 1955)
Most of the handbooks follow the same template – a review of the BBC’s year, information on notable programmes, and other basic factual material including names of senior staff and governors, engineering developments, audience trends, the accounts, and a copy of the BBC’s charter.
There’s something particularly charming about the covers in this decade of change, with the Light, Home, and Third radio programmes still appearing on one early cover before television steps completely into the limelight by 1969.
To see all the 1960s covers, try Auntie’s Nuggets.
