Monday 23rd December 1974 BBC1 - Christmas Eve - Closedown - Christmas Symbol - Rare Recording 

Me too!

My grandparents always stood at the end of the day's programmes, as they would in a cinema then when the national anthem was playing. You were conditioned to this as a mark of respect for your country.

@@Glenn1967ful Have you seen the episode of 'Dad's Army' in which the platoon visit the cinema? As the National Anthem begins there's a rush for the door and Mainwaring is trampled underfoot!

And mine 😊

Merry Christmas. All you've got to go on is the length of the pause before he speaks and the intake of breath - so it must be that.

@@ffibnogab7644 ... and happy new year to you too. Well, you are very close to the answer here. You just need to add the characteristic tongue click from the roof of his mouth on inhalation before starting speaking and you have the full answer. I really should have got out more when I was younger. I read from another announcer that Roger Maude was the calmest and most laid back of all the announcers he worked with. Nothing fazed him apparently. I do miss the old team of network announcers, most of whom have now shuffled off this coil. If I had my way, I would reintroduce the old globe, complete with font and curved mirror. Doubt it will ever happen though.

@@archibaldchuff3557 I'll be listening out for the 'Maude Click' from now on : )

Roger Maude was an announcer until 1995

I believe so.

Interesting stuff Tripp1993. Unlike the current month-long outings for Christmas symbols, we could only enjoy these idents from Christmas Eve until Boxing day. Wonderful stuff.

@@archibaldchuff3557 They _were_ good days, huh?

@GoHomeAndGetYourFuckinShineBox More likely to have been a Philips N1500 - the first "consumer" VCR format (still massively expensive though at the time). Umatic was always a more semi pro / pro format.

The wealthy and some schools had early VCRs.

Probably might be a Reel to Reel Video Tape Recorder.

@@tsmith7146 I can vouch for VCRs being terribly expensive back then. I had a Umatic, IIRC it cost over $4,000 US in 1976 (I was a university professor and needed one for that job). Blank tapes were terribly expensive as well, there was virtually no pre-recorded material for the format. The N1500 was a UK centric thing. I can't speak to the N1500 but I saw Umatics still in use well into the 1990's. I bought my first VHS VCR in about 1980 for $1800 US. Thankfully, prices came down -- the VHS VCR currently connected to my computer monitor cost me about $50 US in the early 2000's.