BBC Archive"There may still be time for Britain to claim a role as the games Hollywood of the 21st century."
With the global success of British-made computer games, such as Core Design's Tomb Raider - starring virtual 90s icon Lara Croft - it might be expected that Britain would have a large share of the video game market. This is not the case, however, The Money Programme's Rajan Datar investigates why.
Rajan speaks to Heather Gibson, Stuart Atkinson and Gavin Rummery - some of the team that made Tomb Raider - about their surprise hit, and about how the British computing boom of the 1980s has furnished the UK with a supremely talented generation of programmers.
He also speaks to Peter Molyneaux - the founder of Bullfrog Studios, whose hits include Populous, Magic Carpet, Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper, and which in 1995 was acquired by the US publishing giant Electronics Arts. Molyneaux believes that if the UK fails to invest in British games companies, more and more will be forced to follow Bullfrog's example and look for US investment. Molyneaux's new studio, Lionhead, will also be releasing games through a US publisher.
Finally, Rajab speaks to Ian Livingstone - the chairman of Tomb Raider's British publisher, Eidos. Can the British games industry capitalize on the Britsoft boom? Can it continue to compete globally without massive investment?
Clip taken from The Money Programme, originally broadcast on BBC One, 30 November, 1997.
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1997: LARA CROFT and the rise of BRITSOFT | The Money Programme | Retro Gaming | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-10-08 | "There may still be time for Britain to claim a role as the games Hollywood of the 21st century."
With the global success of British-made computer games, such as Core Design's Tomb Raider - starring virtual 90s icon Lara Croft - it might be expected that Britain would have a large share of the video game market. This is not the case, however, The Money Programme's Rajan Datar investigates why.
Rajan speaks to Heather Gibson, Stuart Atkinson and Gavin Rummery - some of the team that made Tomb Raider - about their surprise hit, and about how the British computing boom of the 1980s has furnished the UK with a supremely talented generation of programmers.
He also speaks to Peter Molyneaux - the founder of Bullfrog Studios, whose hits include Populous, Magic Carpet, Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper, and which in 1995 was acquired by the US publishing giant Electronics Arts. Molyneaux believes that if the UK fails to invest in British games companies, more and more will be forced to follow Bullfrog's example and look for US investment. Molyneaux's new studio, Lionhead, will also be releasing games through a US publisher.
Finally, Rajab speaks to Ian Livingstone - the chairman of Tomb Raider's British publisher, Eidos. Can the British games industry capitalize on the Britsoft boom? Can it continue to compete globally without massive investment?
Clip taken from The Money Programme, originally broadcast on BBC One, 30 November, 1997.
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With the popular show entering its sixth series, the entire Open Air programme was coming live from Jersey, and there were plenty of questions for Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac himself (John Nettles) from near and far in the phone-in hosted by Eamon Holmes.
The phone-in also had one or two technical difficulties, as you will doubtless be able to discern (poor Pat in Newcastle!), but we have retained the audio as it was broadcast.
There were also plenty of questions for the new controller of BBC One, Jonathan Powell.
Clip taken from Open Air, originally broadcast on BBC One, Tuesday 5 January, 1988.
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Nationwide reporters pick their dream car from the showroom floor - Hugh Scully has his eyes on a Lotus Europa or a Citroen SM, the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow has piqued the interest of Bob Wellings, Diane Harron fancies the Triumph Spitfire, Michael Barratt would settle for a Ford Escort sport, and Donny MacLeod likes the idea of a Range Rover.
Once you have the car of your dreams, you'll might feel the need to accessorise it - Diane Harron looks at the latest Maserati air horns, Hugh Scully demonstrates a new type of car alarm that makes the horn sound, the headlights flash and immobilises the vehicle, and Donny Macleod reports on the latest developments in car aerials, windscreen wipers and heaters.
If it's in-car entertainment you're after, Bob Wellings demonstrates a car with the latest in stereo sound and headphones for the passengers.
A dream car needs a dream number plate. Michael Barrett looks at the boom in personalised number plates, and lists some celebrity autonumerologists.
Finally Joan Shenton reports - from a particularly noisey area of the exhibition - on the latest developments in child safety seats.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 19 October, 1971.
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Blue Peter's Caron Keating and Mark Curry imagine what life will be like in 30 years time - in the year 2020. Step into a world of figure-hugging futuristic fashion, where plug sockets are a thing of the distant past, food processors are computer-controlled, entire encyclopedias are contained in holographic crystal balls, robotic legs grace every living room, woodwind synth music dominates the charts, the humble toilet is pleasingly adjustable, and levitation rooms are standard in every home.
Roll on, 2020!
Clip taken from Blue Peter, originally broadcast on BBC One, 3 March, 1988.
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The Garthorpe Canaries - yet to win a match - meet the Knights Templar of Coventry, who have identified fitness as the key to ending their own abysmal run of form.
From the marvelously forthright and pragmatic team talks ("No laying down when the ball goes in the net... you're wasting time," and "We've been beaten time after time after time after time..." ), to a cameo pep-talk from England manager Don Revie, a stilt-walker falling over, and an underworked goalkeeper nonchalantly scratching his bum - this clip has a bit of everything.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 21 April, 1975.
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Clip taken from The O Zone, originally broadcast on BBC Two, Sunday 5 October, 1997.
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Canvey Island has multiple gas terminals and petro-chemical plants – one of the biggest concentrations of hazardous industrial processes in the UK.
There are sirens that will sound in the event of a large-scale industrial accident. The council produces a booklet detailing the evacuation plans. Schoolchildren have safety drills.
The locals fought for ten years to get the authorities to admit to the dangers they live alongside. But now, how much attention do they pay to that hard won information?
Clip taken from Secrets, originally broadcast on BBC One, Thursday 22 September, 1983.
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Could this be the beginning of the democratisation of video? Will we one day all run our own media empire?
Clip taken from The Net, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 8 June, 1994.
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Over the years, the fictional town of Cwmderi has been a who's who of Welsh acting talent, with performers such as Steffan Rhodri, Ioan Gruffydd, Iwan Rheon and Alexandra Roach making early appearances on the show.
Clip taken from People of the Valley, originally broadcast on BBC Two, Thursday 6 January, 1994
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Could this be the system to finally take answering machines out of the office and into our homes?
Clip taken from Tomorrow's World, originally broadcast on BBC One, 19 March, 1981.
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Readers of Melody Maker have voted Led Zeppelin the best world group, ending an eight-year sweep of the award by The Beatles. Melody Maker editor Ray Coleman considers this usurping of the Beatles nothing less than a revolution in popular music - the end of music fans' obsession with personality and celebrity, and a move towards a wider appreciation of younger bands.
Bob Wellings - who, like many dads, has not heard of them - sits down with Robert Plant and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin in their first ever appearance on British television. Sure, they're cool, they're groovy, they're the best band in the world - but can you whistle their tunes?
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 16 September, 1970.
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William Woolard reports from the Netherlands on Witkar - an ambitious new community transport system being developed in Amsterdam, that uses a network of ranks of battery-powered three wheeled cars. Could this be the solution to Amsterdam's - and eventually the world's - traffic congestion problem?
Clip taken from Tomorrow's World, originally broadcast on BBC One, 17 October, 1974.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1980: The JOY of ROLE-PLAYING GAMES | Heart of the Matter | Retro Gaming | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-10-06 | "People are turning themselves into wizards and demons, knights and clerics, and a bewildering variety of mythical figures."
As the new Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, is released in the UK to extraordinary box office figures, Heart of the Matter's Peter France investigates the current fascination for science fantasy. Is a basic human need for magic and mystery?
Beyond the cinema screen, France is interested in the burgeoning fantasy role-playing game scene. He speaks to Albie Fiore and Steve Jackson of Games Workshop about just what is is that appeals to people about these tabletop fantasy games.
Clip taken from Heart of the Matter: Swords and Sorcery, originally broadcast on BBC One, 25 May, 1980.
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Stallone shot to overnight international fame following the success of Rocky - which he both wrote and starred in - the story of an underdog boxer who gets an unlikely shot at the world title. Since then, his life - and the life of his character Rocky Balboa - has changed dramatically. How is he coping with his new found fame and fortune? What lessons has he learned from Rocky 1 to Rocky 3?
Sylvester Stallone is joined by former British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion Henry Cooper, who discusses memorably knocking down a young Muhammed Ali in 1963, and addresses recent calls by the British Medical Association for boxing to be banned.
Clip taken from Saturday Live, originally broadcast on BBC One, 17 July, 1982.
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They discuss Hellman's representation of, and roots in, the deep south, as well as her moralism as a writer.
Clip taken from Monitor, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Sunday 6 November, 1960.
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When Mr Max Jenkins bought his house - a substantial Victorian villa in the village of Bacton-on-Sea - he thought he'd snagged himself a bargain. There was only one, minor issue with the property - an unusual wooden structure, just three feet from his windows, obscuring the view of the sea - but he could surely dismantle that, couldn't he?
Nationwide reporter Susan Hall investigates this bizarre case involving the "law of ancient light", and the reclusive Miss Day.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 14 March, 1972.
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Industrial action by ITV technicians meant that, for an eleven week period in 1979, ITV ceased broadcasting programmes. Hence, British TV viewers had a tough decision to make. They could either turn their television sets off completely (rather drastic, that), stay tuned to ITV, watching a caption that stated programmes were off air due to the strike (which an estimated 1 million people did), or... tune in to the BBC.
Some ITV viewers did turn over to the BBC. Going by Barry Took's filled-to-bursting Points of View postbag, they were not amused...
Clip taken from Points of View, originally broadcast on BBC One, 31 August, 1979.
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Johnny Cash told of playing in Poland, the road to redemption and jamming with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
Kris Kristofferson covered everything from being a Rhodes scholar to landing a helicopter on Cash's lawn, while also treating us to a few bars of one of his biggest hits.
Billie Jo Spears explained why she had so many owls, eliciting tell of the curious case of Johnny Cash and the ostrich. Yes, that is correct.
Clip taken from Wogan, originally broadcast on BBC One, Monday 24 August, 1987.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archiveCOMMITMENT(S) to SWEARING: A RECORD number of F-WORDS? | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-30 | Bronagh Gallagher drops the f-bomb a fair bit in Alan Parker's 1991 movie The Commitments. So much so, she's up there with Joe Pesci in the swearing stakes. Bronagh, writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and director Alan Parker reflected on the incidence of industrial language when reflecting on the film's success in 2007.
Clip taken from Movie Connections, originally broadcast on BBC One, Monday 17 September, 2007.
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Clip taken from The Money Programme, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 17 December, 1995.
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Note well, viewers - only one of his predictions was correct. Test your knowledge of 1974 sport and politics - was it the cricket score or the general election result?
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, Tuesday 27 August, 1974.
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The singer explains her graft in the industry, promotes Taken For Granted (the lead single from her second album), mentions meeting Jeff Buckley and playing football with Cat Deeley, and discusses how she might deal with fame in the future, answering the question: "Do you draw a veil over your private life?".
Clip taken from Inside Tracks, originally broadcast on BBC Choice, Monday 22 May, 2000.
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Before that happened, Michael Harrison fondly looks back at the hotel run by Rosa Lewis, the Queen of Cooks, where "the visitors book read like a mixture of Debrett's and the New York Social Register" - as high society, secrets and scandal were fully entwined.
Rosa died in 1952, but her life story served as the inspiration for the 1970s BBC drama, The Duchess of Duke Street.
Clip taken from Tonight, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Monday 19 November, 1962.
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As the swinging '60s disappeared into the rearview mirror, Nationwide hosted a studio debate on the length of women's skirts. This broadcast, which features attitudes of its time, included the opinions of those campaigning to save the miniskirt - whose tactics included issuing 'save the mini-skirt!' windscreen stickers to lorry drivers.
At least, to show how progressive they were, 'Nationwide girls' Amanda Theunissen and Diane Harron were invited to join the debate, along with fashion designer Lee Bender.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, Thursday 17 September, 1970.
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Why do they dress the way they do? Should they have to dress differently to get a job? Is there pressure to conform to the norms of their tribe? How do these disparate groups view each other?
Clip taken from 16 Up: How Do I Look?, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 27 October, 1982.
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These savants of scents offer a sharper analysis and nuance than chemical testing of odours. They can synthesise any smell you should desire – from cheap knock-off perfumes to making plastic car seats smell of leather.
To help them, they have 1,200 bottles, each containing a different basic smell, and then 12,909 further bottles of various mixtures of the basic smells.
But can a human really have such a refined nose? Macdonald puts a couple of staff through their paces identifying his own crafty concoction.
Clip taken from Tonight: Smells, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Thursday 12 September, 1963.
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Clip taken from Wogan, originally broadcast on BBC One, Friday 25 October, 1985.
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Christopher Chataway reports on the British Sunday, when theatres, shops and restaurants are closed and most sporting events are prohibited.
Some people - like actor Jack Warner, who is the president of the Sunday Freedom Association, a group advocating for reform of the Sunday Observance Act - want the laws relaxed, so that charitable events can take place on Sundays. Others - like Harold Leggerton, secretary of the Lord's Day Observance Society - feel that, if anything, the current laws need to be stricter, to ensure that Sundays are preserved as a day of rest.
Clip taken from Panorama, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Monday 30 September, 1957.
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But no let up for this Rocketman, on down the Yellowbrick Road, next stop... global domination!
Clip taken from The Old Grey Whistle Test, originally broadcast on BBC Two, Tuesday 7 December, 1971.
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Clip taken from Film 78, originally broadcast on BBC One, Sunday 17 September, 1978.
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Clip taken from Harty, originally broadcast on BBC One, Wednesday 21 March, 1984.
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The BBC's regional news programme in the area, Look North West, sent report Alistair Macdonald out to bravely accompany Fred up to the top of the spire (previously untroubled since 1852) while Dibnah's right-hand-man, Donald Paiton, helped establish true north from the ground with his compass and a voice that carried.
Clip taken from Look North West, originally broadcast on BBC One (North West), Thursday 18 February, 1982.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1981: Who are the NEW ROMANTICS? | Newsnight | Fashion | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-18 | "If punk was all about rebellion, the new romantics are all about style."
Robin Denselow reports on the latest youth subculture - variously dubbed the 'Blitz kids' or the 'new romantics' - a group of young art students, pop musicians, fashion designers, writers and others who are creating a new style to succeed punk.
Who are the new romantics, and what is the ideology underpinning this new movement? Robin speaks to clothes designer and club organiser Chris Sullivan, writer Robert Elms, Steve Strange and Rusty Egan of Visage, Spandau Ballet's Martin Kemp and Gary Kemp, fashion designer John Baker and Perry Haines, the editor of I.D. magazine.
Clip taken from Newsnight, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 23 January, 1981.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1980: SUMO - The BIGGEST (and WIDEST) of SPORTS | MacLeod’s Japan | Niche Sports | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-17 | As part of Pebble Mill’s mission to conquer the entire world, Donny MacLeod reported from as far afield as America, Russia and Japan.
As part of his Japanese coverage, he explored sumo wrestling – a world of 6,000 calorie stews, timeless tradition and explosions of power and force.
Clip taken from Pebble Mill at One, originally broadcast on BBC One, Monday 19 January, 1981.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1948: New LOCOMOTIVE TESTING Facility | Newsreel | Retro Transport | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-16 | BBC Television Newsreel visits Rugby, where a new locomotive testing station for British Railways is being opened by Transport Minister, Alfred Barnes.
The first job at the new facility is to undertake speed trials on the Pacific class A4 steam engine, Sir Nigel Gresley.
Clip taken from BBC Television Newsreel, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Friday 22 October, 1948.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1960: Theatre Pioneer TYRONE GUTHRIE | Monitor | Classic Interviews | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-15 | Sir Tyrone Guthrie was an acclaimed theatre director, lauded by peers, some of who claim him to be the 'most important, British-born theatre director of his time'.
Following early success at the Old Vic and the Sadler’s Wells, he helped establish the Stratford Festival of Canada and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
He was also the first voice ever heard over the airwaves at the start of broadcasting in Northern Ireland upon the commencement of the British Broadcasting Company's 2BE on 15 September, 1924.
Clip taken from Monitor, originally broadcast on BBC One, Friday 22 May, 1960.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1990: JEFF GOLDBLUM Interview | Wogan | Classic Celebrity interviews | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-14 | Terry Wogan chats to the effervescent Jeff Goldblum, star of The Fly, about his two most recent roles - the titular characters in both Richard Curtis' directorial debut The Tall Guy, and Mister Frost, where he plays the Devil.
Clip taken from Wogan, originally broadcast on BBC One, 3 December, 1990.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1993: Could this man be ELVIS PRESLEYs SON? | Pebble Mill | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-13 | The folklore surrounding Elvis Presley following his untimely death at 42 is legendary, but one man in particular claims to have a very personal connection to the 'King of Rock and Roll'.
Born in 1961 and adopted at birth, Elvis Aaron Presley Jr believes he was the product of a union between Elvis and his mother, an extra in the film Blue Hawaii.
And while suspicious minds may doubt his claims, he told Judi Spiers that he was adamant on continuing to entertain in his own unique way.
Clip taken from Pebble Mill, originally broadcast on BBC One on Friday 12 February, 1993.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1951: FACTS about FLAX | Newsreel | World of Work | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-12 | In the fields of Northamptonshire, it was harvest time for flax. The BBC's agricutural correspondent Godfrey Baseley looked at the process to produce linen from the crop. From field to factory, the method had not changed much in a very long time.
Clip taken from Newsreel, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Monday 10 September, 1951.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1979: KATE BUSH prepares for her FIRST TOUR | Nationwide | Classic BBC Music | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-11 | "Most live artists make their mistakes either in private, or before a very small audience. Tonight, at the Liverpool Empire, Kate Bush starts at the top."
Kate Bush has had phenomenal success in a short space of time. Her debut single, Wuthering Heights, topped the UK Singles charts for four weeks, The Man with the Child in His Eyes broke into the top ten, and her debut album The Kick Inside went platinum. Her music is both popular and critically acclaimed - she has even been nominated for an Ivor Novello award for Best Pop Song.
Still only 20 years of age, Kate Bush is now preparing for her first tour. Rarely will an artist's first show have been performed under such a heady mix of intense scrutiny and fervent anticipation. For all her studio success, the question remains: can Kate Bush's unique blend of theatrics, dance and music - at once intimate and extravagant - translate to the live arena?
Nationwide's Bernard Clark follows the pop prodigy as she prepares for her tour. She is undertaking a gruelling regime of dance lessons and band rehearsals to ensure that she is at the top of her game in both disciplines. Realistically though, will it be possible for Kate to deliver vocally while performing the kind of choreography fans know from her videos, or will she have to compromise? On a purely technical level - is there a microphone in existence that can keep up with Kate Bush while she is in full flight?
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, Wednesday 4 April, 1979.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1978: FLYING FISTS and ONSCREEN SWORDS | Behind the Scenes | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-10 | Be it onscreen or on stage, we love bit of a tussle between the goodies and the baddies in our dramatic arts.
But how do actors avoid injuring each other for real? Years of training. These RADA students are being put through their paces as part of their studies.
Clip taken from Behind the Scenes: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, originally broadcast on BBC One, Wednesday 1 September, 1971.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1965: NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR - the Controversial 1954 BBC adaptation | Making of | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-09 | Late Night Line-Up looks back on the 1954 BBC television adaptation of George Orwell's "1984", starring Peter Cushing, Yvonne Mitchell, Donald Pleasance and André Morell.
The television play was performed live on the evening of Sunday 12th December and proved to be extremely controversial, drawing both intense criticism and praise from sections of the press and an unprecedented number of viewer complaints. Such was the strength of feeling that the play was even the subject of several Early Day Motions in Parliament.
In spite of the furore, the BBC proceeded with a repeat performance on Thursday 16th December, which - perhaps because of all the controversy surrounding it - drew the highest viewing figures of any BBC television broadcast since the Coronation.
Michael Dean discusses the play with its director Rudolph Cartier and scriptwriter Nigel Kneale, who had previously worked together successfully on The Quatermass Experiment. Were they taken aback by the audience's response to 1984? Dean also speaks to cast members Peter Cushing, Yvonne Mitchell and Andre Morell about how they felt having to do the repeat performance, knowing the extreme reaction the original broadcast had elicited, and level of scrutiny that they would face. Did they feel that the BBC was right to go ahead with the repeat?
Clip taken from Late Night Line-Up, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 27 November, 1965.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1978: The MARRIED MONK with a MODERN MIXED-SEX MONASTERY | Nationwide | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-08 | Kevin Jacobsen is a monk with a difference. He lives in a monastery he founded himself in Spiddal, County Galway, with nine acolytes - male and female. He himself is married with five children, who live in the family home thirty feet away.
Daily life in his order centres on devotion, prayer, fishing and Hawaii Five-0 (or Kojak, depending on what day it is).
A man of both vision and practicality, he explains here how he balances what may seem the conflicting aspects of his life.
Clip taken from Nationwide: Another Ireland, originally broadcast on BBC One, Friday 25 August, 1978.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1990: MICHAEL KEATON interview | Wogan | Classic Celebrity interviews | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-07 | Michael Keaton appears on Wogan to discuss his roles in the smash hit blockbusters Batman and Beetlejuice. How much of a challenge was it acting inside the rubber Batsuit, and how on earth do you prepare for a role as zany as Beetlejuice?
He is joined by writer and director Glenn Gordon Caron, the director of Keaton's latest film Clean and Sober, where he plays a real estate agent struggling with substance abuse problems.
Clip taken from Wogan, originally broadcast on BBC One, Wednesday 30 May, 1990.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1974: CHURCHILL EXHIBITION at Blenheim Palace | Nationwide | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-06 | Winston Churchill was born at his ancestral home, Blenheim Palace, in November 1874.
To assist with its upkeep costs, the stately home of Blenheim was one of the first to open to access to the public in 1950.
A centenary on from Churchill's birth, the then Duke of Marlborough, John Spencer-Churchill, invited Christopher Rainbow to talk about the former Prime Minister and inspect a variety of items and keepsakes from his life that were now available for the public to peruse.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, Friday 10 May, 1974.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1963: The Swiss DOLLS of YOUR NIGHTMARES | Tonight | Weird and Wonderful | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-05 | Tonight's Alan Whicker looked at some exceptionally creepy Swiss mechanical dolls from the 1700s. 'Henry', 'Marianne' and 'Charles' can draw, play the keyboard and write. Warning: You may not be able to sleep after watching this.
Clip taken from Tonight, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Thursday 5 September, 1963.
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Russell Harty chats to Fred Dibnah, the Bolton steeplejack and steam enthusiast who has become something of an overnight national treasure, after a BBC documentary showcased his extraordinary skill, bravery and down-to-earth Lancastrian wit. How did end up becoming a steeplejack?
Clip taken from Russell Harty, originally broadcast on BBC One, 11 December, 1980.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1975: Are ALIENS Abducting ENGLANDS DOGS? | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-03 | Some locals insist Clapham Wood outside Worthing has a dark, sinister side.
Mysterious footprints. Inexplicable noises. But most unsettling are the tales of dogs going missing. Is the Wood really on the flightpath of curious aliens? And would you have the courage to investigate?
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, Monday 1 September, 1975.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1988: The DARK ARTS of SUBBUTEO | DEF II | Niche Sports | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-02 | "A scandal that involves kidnapping, amputation and having your bottom sprayed with furniture polish."
Investigative journalist Trevor Ward uncovers some deeply distressing truths about Subbuteo. The globally popular table football game may seem like a harmless - even wholesome - passtime, but at professional level, the game is rife with cheating and corruption.
Trevor speaks to Subbuteo official, Trevor Spencer, about some of the worst things he has witnessed on the competitive circuit. For his own safety, whistleblower Trevor Spencer has not been identified.
Clip taken from DEF II: Reportage, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 14 December, 1988.
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You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive1978: DRIVEN by OBSSESSION with SPEED | The Blonde Bombshell | Weird and Wonderful | BBC ArchiveBBC Archive2024-09-01 | Barry Bowles is obsessed by speed. An eccentric English amateur driven by passion, he is determined to break the Land Speed Record.
The beach at the Welsh village of Pendine is six miles long – plenty of room to get up to a great speed. And it’s there that Barry is bringing the Blonde Bombshell, his rocket engine-powered vehicle.
But without big money or a big organisation behind him, is he taking his life in his hands? And what is he prepared to sacrifice along the way?
Clip taken from The Blonde Bombshell, originally broadcast on BBC One, Friday 18 August, 1978.
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