go to top of page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

go to top of page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

go to top of page

Links and bibliography

Thanks...

I am grateful for the use of the logos and other images which have been copied from several other sites or scanned from hard copies in old out-of-print books and publications.  I hope I have offended nobody by using them.  If you own the copyright to any image on this site and wish it to be removed, contact me and I shall be happy to do so immediately.

I am particularly grateful to the following for taking the trouble to provide me with corrections, further information or photographs.  Where they have websites of their own you can visit them by clicking on the name:

Roy Adcock, Cliff Ainsworth, Jean Ainsworth, John Aizlewood, Glenn Aylett, Steve Bailey, Malcolm Baird,  Louis Barfe, Roger Beckwith, Adrian Bishop-Laggett, Derek Brady, John Brady, Alan Brett, Richard Broadhurst, Roger Beckwith, Roger Brunskill, Bob Buckler, Dave Buckley, John Burgess, Paul Burton, Guy Caplin, Giles Chapman, John Constable, Lester Cowling, Maurice Dale, Derek Donoghue, Ian Dow, Mike Emery, James Ewart, Victoria Ewart, Mike Fitch, Doug Ford, Andrew Fullerton, Joe Godwin, Richard Greenough, Dave Griffiths, Geoff Hale, Andy Hame, David Harper, Peter Harris, Michael Harrison, Bob Hart, Martin Hawkins, Paul Hayes, Ian Hillson, Jeremy Hoare, John Holmes, Charles Hope, David Hounsell, Dickie Howett, Cliff Hughes, Nick Jenner, Chris Jones, Steve Jones, Linda Kaye, Simon King, Martin Kisner, Antony Koeller, Bill Lee, Russ Lee, Clive Leighton, Graham Le Page, John Liffen, Ray Liffen, Stephen Livingston, James Lund, Aidan Lunn, Paul Marshall, Dick McCarthy, Tony McKay, Howard Michaels, Paul Middleton, Mitch Mitchell, Sam Morrison, Dave Mundy, Jeff Naylor, Patrick Neill, Peter Neill, Bernard Newnham, Chris Patten, David Petrie, Matt Phelps, Danny Popkin, Geoff Posner, Andrew Prince, Bob Redman, Mike Renshall, Graham Rimmington, Pete Rogers, Steve Rush, Colin Russell, Richard Russell, David Scott-Cowan, Len Shorey, Duncan Stewart, Roderick Stewart, Alan Stokes, Raphael Szynowski, Gerry Taylor, James Taylor, Clint Thomas, Peter Thurlow, Catherine Trigg, Brian Turner, Tony Tyrer, Malcolm C Walker, Graeme Wall, Nick Way, Dennis Weinreich, Rosemary Wenzerul, Keith Wilkinson, Ronald Wolstencroft, Kevin Wood, Andrew Wright.

Clearly none of the above is responsible for any errors or opinions expressed on this website.  Those are entirely down to me!

Each of the above has provided useful information but special mention must go to Richard Greenough.  He was a BBC designer at Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove and in 1955 became head of design at ATV until they left Elstree in 1983.  He has provided me with a fascinating summary of his career and plans of all the studios he worked in.  He has also kept all the studio schedules from the first day of ATV at Foley Street and Wood Green to the last day at Elstree so has proof of when each studio opened and closed.  This information has cleared up many confusions and helped me enormously!

Many thanks to those staffers who have provided me with information but asked that their names are not published.  Also, I am especially grateful that so many people have contacted me and simply said they enjoyed reading the site.  Thanks to you all for taking the trouble to write.

For further information you might like to go to the following websites which are not in alphabetical order - sorry:

BBC:

History of the BBC (official website)

BBC technical operations history site (unofficial anecdotes, stories and stills)

BBC VT history site (history of videotape in the BBC from Vera to digital.  Some excellent images.)

BBC engineering info (unofficial site with recollections of BBC engineering from 1922 - 1997)

BBC TV from Alexandra Palace (unofficial site)

Official BBC Comedy site

Old Radio Broadcasting Equipment and Memories

ITV:

Transdiffusion (network of several interesting sites - highly recommended!)

Twickenham Museum (includes history of Teddington Studios)

The Unofficial Thames TV home page

Thames Television ex-staffers site (with 'amusing' anecdotes)

The unofficial 'Ultimate LWT website'

Television House - history of ATV and Rediffusion

general TV history:

Baird Television (website run by the great man's son)

Historical Television Website

TV and Radio Bits (useful dates)

British Film Institute - television history

British TV History (includes extensive links page)

RTS (site includes documents listing historical TV buildings)

TV Ark - the television museum

Strandarchive (history of Strand Electric Lighting)

Digital Spy - TV news

625.UK (TV news and loads of archive stuff)

Television Heaven

UK Gameshows website

TV Comedy Resources

Dinosaur TV - British black and white TV shows

1950s TV nostalgia

TV Cream

Trumptonshire Web (unofficial site about all things Trumpton)

Film studios:

History of Southall Film Studios ( these little-known studios produced a 1950s TV series on film called Colonel March of the Yard)

Unofficial History of Elstree Film Studios

Elstree Screen Heritage (historical organisation)

Avengerland (website with images showing studios and locations used in various '60s filmed TV series)

Britmovie - the home of UK films

Gaumont-British - history of the company that built Lime Grove Studios

 

I would be grateful if you could let me know of any other sites that include interesting background material relating to the history of London's TV studios.  I have not listed links to all the studios' own websites as they are very easily found using any good search engine.  However, several do include historical information about their studios.

Should you wish, for reasons of your own, to visit my website which is an on-line CV aimed at producers and directors - follow the link below:

www.martinkempton.com

 

Bibliography in a non-alphabetical order...(sorry!)

Cinema:

 

 

British Film Studios (1995)

Patricia Warren

Batsford

Movies From the Mansion - a history of Pinewood Studios (1976)

George Perry

Elm Tree Books

The Pinewood Story (2006)

Gareth Owen with Brian Burford

Reynolds and Hearn

Shepperton Studios - an independent view (1994)

Derek Threadgall

BFI

Elstree - the British Hollywood (1983)

Patricia Warren

Elm Tree Books

The British Film and Television Yearbook 1961-62

Peter Noble

British and American Film Press

The British Film and Television Yearbook 1968

Peter Noble

British and American Film Press

BBC studios:

 

 

Scenery Block, BBC TV Centre (magazine article published in August 1954.)

Graham Dawbarn and M T Tudsbery

The Architect and Building News

Television Centre Stage V set of architect's plans and drawings Oct '85

BBC architectural and civil engineering dept.

BBC

The BBC Television Centre (published 1960) (book)

 

BBC

BBC Television Centre (published 1970) (pamphlet)

  

BBC

BBC Television Centre technical guide (1970) (pamphlet)

 

BBC

History of BBC Television Centre (2001)

Guy Saitch

internal paper

article in magazine - probably Wireless World, 27th May 1950 (includes proposed dimensions of TV Centre studios)

 

 

BBC Handbook 1958

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1959

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1960

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1961

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1962

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1963

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1964

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1965

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1966

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1967

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1968

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1969

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1970

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1971

 

BBC

BBC Handbook 1972

 

BBC

BBC Television Picture Book 1930-1950

David Clayton

BBC

Television Jubilee - the story of 25 years of BBC Television

Gordon Ross

W H Allen

Twenty-five years of BBC Television (BBC Engineering)

Harold Bishop

BBC

Technical description - Open University, Alexandra Palace (1975)

K S Mossman

BBC

The Fantasy Factory - Lime Grove Studios 1915-1991 (1996)

Jocelyn Lukins

Venta Books

BBC Riverside TV studios - the architectural aspects (1957)

E A Fowler

BBC

BBC Riverside TV studios - aspects of technical planning and equipment

Nickels and Grubb

BBC

Eng Inf (BBC engineering quarterly newsletters) (1980 - 1990)

 

BBC

ITV studios:

 

 

ITV 1964 A Guide to Independent Television

 

ITA

ITV 1968 A Guide to Independent Television

 

ITA

ITV 1972 Guide to Independent Television

Eric Croston

ITA

ITV 1973 Guide to Independent Television

Eric Croston

ITA

ITV 1974 Guide to Independent Television

Eric Croston

IBA

ITV 75 Guide to Independent Television

Eric Croston

IBA

Television and Radio 1977

Eric Croston

IBA

Television and Radio 1978

Eric Croston

IBA

Television and Radio 1981

Eric Croston

IBA

Television and Radio 1982

Eric Croston

IBA

Television and Radio 1983

Eric Croston

IBA

Television and Radio 1984

Eric Croston

IBA

Television and Radio 1985

Eric Croston

IBA

Independent Television in Britain (1982)  Vol 1 - 1946-62

Bernard Sendall

IBA / Macmillan

Independent Television in Britain (1983)  Vol 2 - 1958-68

Bernard Sendall

IBA / Macmillan

25 Years on ITV 1955-1980

 

ITV / Michael Joseph

ITV: The People's Channel - ITV 50 (2005)

Simon Cherry

Reynolds and Hearn

ITV Cultures - independent television over 50 years

Johnson and Turnock

OU

From Dawn Till Dusk (2007) - a history of independent television in the Midlands

John W Pettinger

Brewin Books

Television studio planning.  (Papers from a symposium held by the Television Society at the IEE in 1963)

 

ABC TV / The Television Society

The Story of Teddington Studios (2002)

John Tasker

 

Both Sides of the Camera (ABC TV - 1960)

Marie Donaldson

Weidenfeld and Nicolson

Anatomy of a Television Play (ABC TV - 1962)

John Russell Taylor

Weidenfeld and Nicolson

A Tour of the ATV Television Theatres (article in 'Practical Television', January 1957)

 

 

Emergency-Ward 10 souvenir booklet (1958)

Antony Kearey

ATV

ATV Television Star Book (1960)

 Joan Griffiths

 Purnell

ATV Television Show Book (1961)

 

Purnell

An Arabian Night - souvenir booklet on opening of Wembley studio 5 (1960)

 

Associated-Rediffusion

Television - Behind the scenes in the television studios (1961)

Kenneth Ody

Associated Newspapers

Chelsea Palace Music Hall (article in 'Practical Television', February 1958)

 

 

Independent studios:

 

 

Spring Meeting at Limehouse (article in 'Television Lighting' magazine, 1984)

John O'Keefe and Ken MacGregor

Society of Television Lighting Directors

Limehouse Studios (article fom 'Building' magazine - April 1984)

Anthony Williams

 

Limehouse Goes On Stream (article from 'Professional Video' October 1983)

Tim Leigh Smith

 

Limehouse Studios 1983-1989 RIP (article from 'Zerb' magazine Autumn 1989)

Martin Hawkins

Guild of Television Cameramen

General television history:

 

 

John Logie Baird - A Life (2002)

Antony Kamm and Malcolm Baird

NMS Publishing

Richard R Greenough - BBC 1948-1955, ATV 1955-1983 autobiographical paper summarising career as BBC designer and head of design at ATV (2004)

Richard Greenough

 

Coming to you Live - Behind-the-screen Memories of 40s and 50s TV (1985)

Denis Norden, Sybil Harper and Norma Gilbert

Methuen

40 Years of British television (1992)

Harbord and Wright

Boxtree

The Penguin TV Companion (2006)

Jeff Evans

Penguin

The Television History Book (2003)

Michelle Hilmes

BFI

Old Television

Andrew Emmerson

Shire

Film and Television Parade (approx 1950)

 

Heirloom

TV Mirror Annual 1956

 

TV Mirror

Television Annual for 1950/51

Kenneth Baily

Odhams

Television Annual for 1957

Kenneth Baily

Odhams

Television Annual for 1960

Kenneth Baily

Odhams

405 Alive (magazine articles published between 1989 and 2001)

Dicky Howett plus others

British Vintage Wireless Society

The Bulletin (magazine of British Vintage Wireless Society - various editions)

various authors

British Vintage Wireless Society

Sixty Years of Light Work

Fred Bentham

Strand Lighting

Most Secret War (1978) (description of the use of AP for jamming Luftwaffe radio signals)

R V Jones

Hamish Hamilton

go to top of page