Memories come flooding back, I used to love the 70s 80s clock especially at Christmas, really festive and warm feelings to me . Then as time went by the clocks disappeared and now the naff intro that we see now , please bring back the clock, so nice and simple.
there's actually a good reason they don't use the clock any more - digital television decoding delays mean it's impossible to broadcast an accurate one.
@@thebestspork They've 'moved' the clock motif into the news intro though so it still lives on in a way (of course its also a reference to the radio time signal).
Oh my god memory unlocked I wasn’t around for most of these (2000s kid) but the 2006-2016 idents were so calming I remember the cyclist one I was mesmerised lolll
The "1" mirror globe is absolutely iconic 90s, no doubt about it. Everyone remembers it well. When I was at primary school circa 1992-3 that's how I wrote the number 1, because that's what influenced me - my parents and teachers hated it of course. People said it stayed on air too long and looked dismally dated by the end. I disagree, if anything fits that description it was that hideous mirror globe which should have gone well before 1985. And that electronic stripey 2 was rocking the 1970s all the way up to Easter 1986.
@@David-uf8ex It's even worse in some other languages. Early broadcasts from Belgium and the Netherlands seem interchangeable. In the 1980s localisms started to creep in, and nowadays you can hear not just what country presenters are from, but even from what town. I long for the days there was a standard Dutch, owned by both nations. Not that I was alive then.
@@ixlnxs I remember in 1997 when Channel 5 launched, there was a newsreader who spoke with a proper London accent. It was a real shock because I was so used to the RP and neutral voices heard on other channels.
There must be a way to generate a graphical clock using a TV or set-top box’s internal time (which is set by the internet so usually accurate), a bit like how local ads can be fed at postcode level. Just a thought!
You can almost see the transition during the 1990s to how the BBC regarded and presented itself. Up until the 1990s the BBC was confident in its place as uber-broadcaster and had no need to be anything other than a friendly but authoritative centralised (usually London centred) presence. After that it became increasingly about getting out and about, and dipping into everyday lives and activities (albeit in a highly choreographed and rehearsed way). In many ways I preferred the old self-confident BBC which was reassuringly "up there" - but of course so many things mean that can no longer be, Saville, the Internet, the never ending scamble to try to please everyone and keep the license fee arrangement and so on. One wonders how big a part the BBCs loss of its confident place at the heart of the nation has to do with the fragmentation of our society and the resulting loss of national cohesion. Clearly many factors bear on that, but I think that the diminution of confidence in the BBC is definitely one of them.
The 2000s onwards were brutal for the BBC. They never really recovered their credibility from the Iraq War, where they came to be seen as the governments (and, increasingly, Tony Blairs own personal) propagandists. Ever since then they've been cringingly servile to the government of the day, which has made any attempt at being auhoritative or factual untenable. At the same time Freeview, quickly followed by streaming, has decimated their entertainment brand. On top of that the new found de-facto federalisation of the UK demand *much* more extensive localised programming in each country, which was both expensive, and culturally difficult for an organisation deeply wedded to it's Englishness, suddenly needing to produce quality content for the very different cultures of Wales, Scotland and NI. It's a mess mostly of their own making, but it still must be horrible for their mid-rank staff who just want to get on with making content.
@@fastcars393 I think they were always a bit liberal, in the 1970s they seemed to great delight in upsetting Mary Whitehouse. that didn't take much. It has got worst in the last 15 years plus we notice it more now because in fact we are the that have 'awoken' to this lunacy.
@@fastcars393 Damn straight! Back in 1979 I was in Iran when the Shah was deposed. The BBC was how we found out what was going on........factual and truthful. Similar situation now....I would not trust anything the BBC reported. It is simply PRAVDA with a diversity agenda.
One bemusing thing is that with satellite delays and even longer delays with iPlayer "live" streaming, the BBC eventually had to give up the onscreen clock as part of their continuity output. Even the BBC News channel that airs today only shows the time in hours and minutes onscreen (so it will only be wrong some of the time compared to showing the seconds, where it would be wrong all of the time).
@@anonUK it’s weird I remember the ‘TWO’ ident of that era but not the COW, not introducing programmes at least. But I do remember it as a BBC Video ident!
The mirror globe was a huge part of my childhood and I remember it well. When I was at primary school 30 years ago and learning to write and count, I even wrote the number 1 in the style of the BBC ident - my parents and teachers hated me for that. But it was such a big influence, so I didn't understand how or why it was wrong.
I love the old idents. The first one I remember was the colour globe. Unfortunately they just became more boring as the years passed. The Oneness ident was just annoying.
There's something reassuring about these classic and calm time announcements. I first heard one in a film from 1949; it sounded like a clock's chime followed by an ident and the time of 7:30. Evening had come on and it was cold and rainy out, but the modest small house was cozy while 'Mum' and her son-and-law had tea and listened to the 'wireless'. (The brief film covered an unsavory subject after that intro, but still.) I was a child of the 70's, and have never lived anywhere but the U.S., but I'm charmed by vintage British media.
Some of us don't "get" routines easily. It took me about 6 months to learn a single song. Still fluffed up the actual performance. Showed it to a friend *once*, they had it down perfectly.
@@jocramkrispy305 I guess I’d be 6 years getting it right but seeing this was supposed for professional presentation purposes and the money the BBC would have wasted….
Oddly enough, I remember the earlier idents ( late 60s to 70s) better than the later ones. After moving to Holland in 1988, I only watched British television occasionally on visits home.
The clock shown as '1991-1997' wasn't used for that long. It was used only for a brief period in 1991 at the beginning of the 'virtual globe' ident's life, and replaced by a second version used until 1997.
the 90's - early 2000's idents, seems like only yesterday. I still have many VHS tapes of TV shows I taped back in the day, complete with those channel idents.
Since when did the BBC used digital idents or computer-drawed blocks? In spain since 1974 or 1977. And man it was so awesome to have television in 1936 already :O
Early television pictures were in 4:3, so either they have to be presented in glorious Squashovision or with bars at either the sides or the top and bottom!
@@arthurvasey Bars at the side would be perfectly acceptable for this imo. "Early" TV pictures were 5:4 or even portrait aspect. 4:3 lasted from the 1950s to the 90s.
Weird how the presenter was an off-voice. In Germany, when we still had people presenting the programmes, they were actually shown, and not hidden behind a clock. The clock only came before the news, e.g. the Tagesschau.
@@lorrainewilkinson3134 and the Wooden tops, Bill & Ben, Picture Book, Rag Tag & Bobtail etc...... My children watched Chorlton & the Wheelies. My grandchildren loved Mopatop and the Tweenies. I'm still a child at 68!
@@lorrainewilkinson3134 I couldn't have put it better. Visible strings and jerky actions. A bit like the old monster movies in the fifties. I love them too.
Much prefer the pre 21C Idents. To see( and hear the 1963 announcemmet of the programme on the death of JFK !) and the announcer hid his emotions very well
And the tiny round screen TVs that it was designed for - we had a 9 inch in our house in a cabinet the size of an American Fridge. It got so hot after a couple of hours that the wooden cabinet started to burn .
It would have been great to see Gordon honeycombe or sandy gall 👍 or Mr Chomondley warner with his sidekick Grayson. 😅..... followed by a quickly decreasing white dot in the center.
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The circles were on air way too long and people largely got sick of seeing them (I know I did). I heard the BBC wanted shot of them sooner but just couldn't decide what to do. Oneness didn't last long and they've been changed yet again.
I do remember the 1953-60 ident, but if it didn't show the BBC at the bottom, and you asked me to tell you what it was, I would definitely have picked either ATV or Rediffusion. Which shows that my memory is much less than perfect, and idents don't really work long term - not sure they work short term actually, they seem a bit of self-indulgence by the TV companies. I find the endless stream of animated idents at the start of movies very irritating - a long string of soulless corporations thinking they deserve a bit of recognition for investing to make a profit.
That poor little old lady at the end of the front row at 4:40, made worse by the woman next to her in the "46" shirt flying all over, even more than the instructor.
I have an old tv licence in my drawer from 2001. If the goons come round asking for my licence I will show them the old one. When they say "This is 20 years out of date" I will say "So are the damned programmes!"
Yes, even for the 1960 & 1963 versions. In 1960, when they rebranded to "BBC TV", they used an ident called "The British Map". And a clock looks like a target. Four years later, in 1963, they introduced "The Globe" as their ident. The clock, same. In 1966, they took the globe to a watch strap, when their ident is brand new & improved. Even for the clock, which looks like a watch. In 1968, when they introduced their last black and white ident, the globe is by itself, like you can find in everywhere, floating in place. The clock is floating as well. In 1969, the globe isn't realistic. It's mechanical-based. Even for that, it has a mirror effect. That'll last until 1985, when it's in a 3D style. That'll last 1997, when the globe has turned into a hot air balloon.
Excellent for highlighting the destruction of the traditional British way of speaking and distinctive clear, respectable dialect that disappears around the 1985 mark. Also perfect at showing how content gets far less informative and useful and gradually turns into entertainment and “comedy”.
The 'destruction of the traditional British way of speaking'. You mean the way that no-one spoke even BEFORE TV was invented, but was artificially used because they felt that 'regional' accents would be too hard to understand.
It's that feeling of ah finally I recognise one, which happened with the ones about half way through, with the 80s ones, tbh I think the 90s ones are the most polished and relaxing to look at. The modern ones are awful, too much going on, the simple globe and colours is more than enough, it's almost like the BBC lost its strong, easily identifiable identity. That's when I stopped watching terrestrial TV as well.
