TV milestone

1922

18 October. BBC (British Broadcasting Company) founded

1929

Fiest transmissions of Scottish inventor John Logie Baird's experimental mechanical television system and in the USA Philo T.Farnsworth's electronic TV system

1936

22 November, BBC opens the world's first regular high definition television service from Alexandra Palace London

1937

21 june, Wimbledon Tennis Championships first broadcast

1938

30 April, television coverage of the Cup Final

31 May, first BBC TV panel game. Spelling Bee 21 September, first current affairs programme in the UK, News Map

1939

1 September BBC television servis Suspended throughout World War II

30 April Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first president to appear on TV, opening the World's Fair in New York

10 June the first king and queen on TV in the USA are king George V and Queen Elizabeth seen visiting the World's Fair

1941

1 July. the first ever TV commercial for a Bulova clock is broadcast by WNET New York during a game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies

1946

june, fist TV licences are isued in the UK (cost E2)

7 june BBC television broadcasts RESUME

7 july first British children's TV programme For the dire, is broadcast

1947

21 February America's first regular daytime serial or soap opera, A Woman to Remember begins its run

1948

29 july, London Olympic Games is televised

1951

24 December, in the USA Amahl and The Night Vision becomes the world's first commercial colour broadcast

1953

2 June, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth is watched live by about 20 million people in Britain and as many as 200 million worldwide

11 November, current affairs programme Panorama is launched, goes on to become the longest-running programme on British TV

1954

1 January, the Tournament of Roses parade at Pasadena, California, USA, becomes the first programme ever broadcast coast-to-coast

11 January, first TV weather forecast in the UK, by George Cowling

9 April, Britain's first TV soap opera,The Grove Family

1955 22 September, first TV advert in the UK, for Gibbs SR toothpaste

1957 13 May, first schools programmes broadcast in the UK

25 December, the Queen's first annual TV Christmas message broadcast

1958 16 October, Blue Peter starts, the longest running children's programme