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Pres fans await the new look BBC One

Posted on 18th February 2020
By Andrew Nairn
Last updated on 30th December 2022
Filed under Features
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ARCHIVE: Dave Baldwin, The TV Room

Recently we looked at the benefits of a big relaunch – schedule changes along with a new look over a series of piecemeal changes. But what was the big day like for Pres fans?

The new globe had been trailed in Radio Times. There were hints from January onwards when the new gold ‘BBC1’ logo (but not the globe) appeared in corporate adverts for a higher licence fee. Then the week before, a short feature on the new globe opened a series of articles in the magazine about the new programmes.

VIDEO: the final BBC One closedown to feature the mechanical globe. Announcer: Mark Waddington. TX DATE/TIME: 18th February 1985, 12.12am. COPYRIGHT: BBC.

The old globe, Radio Times said, would be seen for the last time on Sunday. So were some young Pres enthusiasts up early on Monday before Breakfast Time to get a look? If so, they’d have been disappointed. On came the green and blue globe as normal.

VIDEO: the mechanical globe was still in use for much of the day on the 18th – as here at breakfast time. Announcer: TBC. TX DATE: 18th February 1985. COPYRIGHT: BBC.

Maybe some outside England thought their local announcers had made a mistake? Or that it would only be shown by network? Any mystery was solved if you watched the TV preview on that day’s Breakfast Time. It treated us to an extended look at the old globe and said there’d be a new one before Wogan but gave no spoilers.

All through the day it was business as usual. If you hadn’t seen Breakfast Time you perhaps thought it had all been abandoned. The new look weather appeared as planned at lunchtime preceded by a special introductory programme.

So as 7pm came close, tension built. The old network globe got its last proper airing before Grange Hill at 5.35pm but had a little swansong in London an hour later. The original version of the BBC One electronic clock ticked its last before the Six o’Clock News. Then at 7pm the big reveal.

VIDEO: the first on air appearance of the new BBC One globe symbol. Announcer: Mark Waddington. TX DATE: 18th February 1985. COPYRIGHT: BBC.
VIDEO: the first on air appearance of the new BBC One clock. Announcer: Mark Waddington. TX DATE: 18th February 1985. COPYRIGHT: BBC.

It is easy to underestimate now the simple elegance of the Computer-Originated World or COW. Especially as the gold branding might now be seen to mean “gold as in old” rather than gold standard.

In the nations, having a symbol absolutely identical in quality to network’s was a revelation too – especially in Northern Ireland where the local symbol had been rather fuzzy.

New slides ensured BBC One presentation never looked quite the same again – but it was soon obvious the changes were just cosmetic and the values were the same. Just executed so much more stylishly.

It was an unforgettable day.

Related

Acknowledgements

FEATURE IMAGE:
PICTURED: BBC One ident: COW. COPYRIGHT: BBC.

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Sidebar

Broadcaster/Channel: BBC, BBC One
Broadcast Area: UK: National

OSP Category: Clock, Full Junction, Ident, Partial Junction, Standard Presentation, Start-Up

OSP Package: BBC One: February 1985 - February 1991, BBC One: September 1981 - February 1985

Ident: BBC One ident: Globe (1981), BBC One ident: Globe/COW (Computer-Originated World) (1985)

On Air Talent: Announcer TBC, Mark Waddington

Programme Genre: News

Title: Breakfast Time

Decade: 1980s

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