60-629: ITV Schools (full name: Independent Television for Schools and Colleges ) was the educational television service set up in 1957 by the Independent Television Authority , broadcasting learning programmes for children ages 5 to 18 across ITV -affiliated stations. It was an example of public service broadcasting on a commercial television network (as opposed to the public BBC and their service BBC Schools ). ITV moved its schools programming to Channel 4 and S4C in autumn 1987 although ITV continued to produce programmes and
120-542: A 49% stake in Thames, and was under-represented in the management of the new company – a state of affairs to which Rediffusion strongly objected. The ITA replied that either Thames took the new contract, or ABC took over. Rediffusion chose the former and went off the air on 29 July 1968 at 12:26 am. Employees based at Wembley went to work for London Weekend Television whilst those at Television House were employed by Thames. Some managerial and presentation staff re-located to
180-427: A few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the length of time required to fill. A different theme for the holding slides was used each term, and usually each week a different slide would be used. Exactly one minute before the start of the programme, the slide was replaced by a clock showing sixty second-marks, which gradually disappeared until there were none left. This gave the teacher one final minute in which to calm
240-495: A form of trial, whilst ITV broadcast ITN's coverage of the 1987 general election and the State Opening of Parliament. On these occasions, after midday any regional variation programming was transmitted nationally. In the run up to the move to Channel 4 and S4C, trailers were shown after schools programmes (and, in some regions, during regular programming) to promote the move, as well while also acknowledging and commemorating
300-539: A highly successful telecast of his opera The Turn of the Screw in 1959. Associated-Rediffusion added new television studios at Wembley Park in 1960. Their size and unique design attracted worldwide attention. During the 1960s, the studios were home to some of the most popular programmes on the ITV network, including The Rat Catchers , Blackmail , At Last, The 1948 Show and The Frost Report . The Beatles appeared at
360-409: A memorable image fondly remembered by generations of British schoolchildren. Look Around You series 1 was also a satire of ITV Schools and BBC Schools. After 30 years on ITV, the service moved to Channel 4 and S4C from 14 September 1987, allowing ITV to concentrate on building a fully commercial daytime schedule. On Friday 12 June and Thursday 25 June the service had been broadcast on Channel 4 as
420-465: A menu of programmes with music prior to the transmission of schools programmes pre-recorded by announcer Nigel Lambert. After the introduction of breakfast television in April 1989, it was necessary to extend the first interval to five minutes due to the 9:25 am finish time of The Channel 4 Daily . For the first three minutes, Channel 4 would play one of their own interval tracks – between April 1989 and
480-563: A morning slot, between the hours of 09:30 and 12:00 during term time. This enabled the ITV broadcasters to open up the afternoon schedule to sell advertising between programmes; advertising was strictly prohibited during schools broadcasts. The ITV Schools broadcasts gave teachers access to a broad spectrum of teaching resources, such as documentary film with which to illustrate their regular lessons, or songs and stories for children to learn and discuss, and could be considered an early example of multimedia learning. Activities and booklets based on
540-500: A shareholder on Independent Television News . Thomas Brownrigg , the general manager of Associated-Rediffusion from 1955, had a very clear idea of what his new commercial television station was to be like – the BBC Television Service, with advertisements. To this end, the station had a heraldic-style on-air clock, referred to as "Mitch" by staff (after chief station announcer Leslie Mitchell , who had not only made
600-516: A small basement studio at Television House, Studio 9, was occasionally used for current affairs programmes and was home to Ready Steady Go! during its first few years. Television House had been known as Adastral House when it was the headquarters of the Air Ministry. This gave its name to A-R's logo, the 16-point Adastral Star, which appeared not only at the start and end of each commercial break but also between each advertisement. (The motto of
660-708: A smaller music provider, bought AEI Music in 2000. Mood Media bought DMX Music in 2005. The current owner remains Mood Media ; however, it trades under the MOOD: brand today. Mood Media Corporation own the previous trading names of Rediffusion Reditune, Rediffusion Music, AEI Rediffusion Music, AEI Music and DMX Music. The company's administrative headquarters and transmission facilities were at Television House in Kingsway , London. Most programmes were produced at Wembley Studios in Wembley Park, north-west London. However,
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#1732787967252720-465: A theatre space, prior to the site's planned redevelopment from 2019. Television House was used as Thames' headquarters until their Euston Road studios were built in 1970 and was subsequently sold off. When Rediffusion originally launched, as Associated-Rediffusion, presentation consisted of a simple animated ident, featuring the station name, and a spinning star called the Adastral. This first ident
780-577: The London area, the English Midlands , and Northern England (the Lancashire / Yorkshire belt of industrial cities from Liverpool to Hull and the surrounding countryside). All three franchise areas would be awarded on a divided weekday/weekend basis, and it was planned that the franchise holders for these areas would produce the great bulk of network programmes, while the companies given
840-572: The United Kingdom . The ITA existed from 1954 until 1972. It was responsible for determining the location, constructing, building, and operating the transmission stations used by the ITV network, as well as determining the franchise areas and awarding the franchises for each regional commercial broadcaster . The authority began its operations on 4 August 1954, a mere four days after the Television Act 1954 received royal assent , under
900-404: The "big four" weekday broadcasters Yorkshire, Granada, Thames and ATV, and were screened during the late morning and early afternoon, after which the network would close down until children's programmes commenced later in the afternoon. Following changes to the law taking effect from Monday 16 October 1972, which allowed an extra 20 hours of broadcasting a week, the schools broadcasts were moved to
960-507: The 30th anniversary of the service. Also a programme presented by Anna Ford looking back at 30 years of ITV schools output was transmitted in May 1987 but was repeated on 13 September 1987. Just two pieces of interval music were used after September 1987: The Journey for a 3D holding device, and Just a Minute which backed a redesigned clock. The music never changed on a termly basis during this era. The two pieces of music used on Channel 4 ,
1020-878: The ITA responsibility for organising commercial radio in the UK, and reconstituted the ITA as the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) with effect from Wednesday 12 July 1972. The IBA was subsequently replaced by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Radio Authority under the provisions of the Broadcasting Act 1990 , which themselves were replaced by the Office of Communications ( Ofcom ) at
1080-679: The ITA, and the company officially took control of the premises on Monday 6 May 1968 for a contractual minimum term of three years. London Weekend Television subsequently vacated the studios in the late summer of 1972. Somewhat confusingly, this Wembley studios site is the very same studio buildings site that would later be sold-off, renamed, re-purposed as film studios, then back to television studios, at various stages when used by later owners; London Weekend Television (Wembley), Lee International Studios (Wembley), Limehouse Television (Wembley), Fountain Television, before closing in 2018, and becoming
1140-513: The ITV network grew, for its programmes shown across the country. Boris Ford became Associated-Rediffusion's first head of schools broadcasting (1957–58), during which time he persuaded Benjamin Britten to compose his church opera Noye's Fludde for a series of programmes. Ford was dismissed before the opera was produced, allegedly for administrative shortcomings and inexperience. However, A-R continued its association with Britten, producing
1200-411: The ITV network, and continued for the next 30 years, broadcasting a schedule of memorable documentaries, drama and entertainment programmes aimed at children between the ages of 5 and 18. These were almost all made by the various companies of the ITV network, mainly the largest ones such as Thames Television , ATV , Central Independent Television , Granada Television and Yorkshire Television . Until
1260-545: The Journey and Just A Minute, were both written in 1986 by "James Aldenham", which was a pseudonym for Brian Bennett , former drummer with The Shadows , and who has, for many years, written TV themes, such as the BBC golf theme tune. Just a Minute also featured as background music on Coronation Street on 22 March 1998. The transmission times were the same, 09:30 to 12:00. At 09:28, the four ITV logos glided onto stage, followed by
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#17327879672521320-530: The London weekday franchise for another 24 years. Associated-Rediffusion Television was originally a partnership between British Electric Traction (BET), its subsidiary Broadcast Relay Services Ltd. (trading as Rediffusion), and Associated Newspapers , owner of the Daily Mail , which had been interested in commercial broadcasting as early as the 1920s. In the aftermath of the heavy financial losses made by
1380-575: The Royal Air Force is "per ardua, ad astra" - "through adversity to the stars".) The station's archives were also kept at these properties, with the original programme library situated on the roof of Television House with some storage in the film vaults at Wembley Studios . Following Rediffusion's loss of franchise and the creation of Thames Television, the Wembley studios were leased to the newly formed London Weekend Television by order of
1440-739: The S4C logo was keyed over the Channel 4 logo on the aston bar at the bottom of the screen. In preparation for Channel 4 becoming independent of ITV, all regional outputs ended at the end of the Summer Term in June 1992, with all programmes, such as Videomaths and How We Used to Live , fully networked. The only exception was S4C in Wales, which continued to opt out some English programmes for its Welsh-language programmes; this continued even after ITV Schools
1500-524: The West franchise held by TWW and the Wales West and North franchise held by WWN following the financial collapse of WWN. (In the event, a second commercial channel did not begin until 1982, under the guise of Channel 4 .) In January 1955 the ITA authorised the creation of ITN (Independent Television News), a company owned and operated by the ITV companies collectively, to provide a news service for
1560-548: The backlog of programmes from Yorkshire, Granada and Central which they couldn't transmit due to the dispute resulting in broadcast equipment being disabled by ACTT technicians. Schools programmes on ITV were generally between ten and twenty minutes in length. Unlike peak-time programmes (which were usually scheduled at times rounded up to the nearest five minutes), schools programmes were scheduled at very precise times, such as 10:03 or 11:32. Some individual regions, such as HTV Wales , sometimes showed their own programming instead of
1620-415: The chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Clark . The authority's first director general, Sir Robert Fraser was appointed by Clark a month later on 14 September. The physics of VHF broadcasting meant that a comparatively small number of transmitters could cover the majority of the population of Britain, if not the bulk of the area of the country. The ITA determined that the first three franchise areas would cover
1680-534: The class down before the programme began. A suitably timed piece of library music, changed once a term and often taken from the Bruton Music library, accompanied the animation. After this an announcement for teachers or details of how to order any accompanying material was broadcast before going into the programme. The image of the 'schools countdown clock' has taken on something of a cult status, as referenced in programmes such as Look Around You , and produced
1740-448: The complete audio of a further episode with fragments of film. In the 1990s, the name "Associated-Rediffusion Television" and the adastral trademark were acquired by British journalist Victor Lewis-Smith , and were used by his own production company. Productions included: Rediffusion Music , Reditune Rediffusion , Reditune Music and Rediffusion Thorsen (Germany) were sold to AEI Music Network of Seattle, WA in 1996. DMX Music ,
1800-466: The early 1970s, broadcasting hours were regulated by the British government . The commercial broadcasters, therefore, reserved their most commercial output for peak viewing hours and used the remainder of their broadcasting hours to put out their contractually obligated programming, conveniently enough, at a time when children were at school. Networked programmes for schools and colleges were mostly made by
1860-504: The end of 1991 over a still of the 3D clock and throughout 1992, the ITV "rotomotion" between 13 January 1992 and 1 December 1992. In both cases, at 09:27:50 the music and image would be faded out, and then at exactly 09:28 the 3D logos glided onto stage. At the same time the educational officers employed by the ITV companies saw their contracts terminated and a new company called the Educational Television Company
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1920-621: The end of 2003. Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion , later Rediffusion London , was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties , on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, and one of the " Big Four " companies that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes during this period. Rediffusion lost its franchise in 1968 but merged with another franchisee to form Thames Television , which continued to hold
1980-428: The end of schools programmes, the regional ITV announcers would make their own closing announcements over a holding slide, before introducing the lunchtime programming. On Channel 4, however, at the end of schools programming, on 12 June and 25 June, Nothing Doing played over a caption stating that schools programming would be shown the next day on ITV before showing the interval caption and then fading back to black before
2040-508: The first announcement when A-R went on the air in 1955, but had done the same when the BBC TV service started in 1936). Associated-Rediffusion took over the former Wembley Film Studio at Wembley Park in Middlesex . Associated-Rediffusion officially began broadcasting on 22 September 1955 at 19:15, with actress Marjie Lawrence uttering the first words. That night the BBC, which had held
2100-436: The first full day of transmissions on 23 September 1955. The London weekend contractor ATV launched two days later. This strategy was intended to allay fears that the new service would be aimed at the bottom of the market. Associated-Rediffusion sought to make ITV respectable. It did introduce popular game shows, but also provided quality programming across all genres gained large audiences both in its own London area and, as
2160-627: The first minute of The Journey, before gliding off stage. The 3D countdown clock spun onto screen at this point. For all other programmes the holding device would be faded up, and the music faded in at where it had reached. Once the tune had reached the end, the ITV logos glided off stage, and were replaced by the clock. Presentation was handled by Channel 4 in London with announcements for support material pre-recorded and voiced mainly by Central announcer Ted May in Birmingham (a role initially filled by Paul Veysey, another Central announcer). On ITV, at
2220-532: The main ITV Schools on Channel 4 service to show regional ITV Schools programmes such as Swings & Roundabouts . On S4C, Welsh-language programmes were seen under the S4C Ysgolion banner, and used their own holding devices and clock similar to ITV Schools, but used the same music as the national holding device. S4C used the traditional ITV Schools holding device for English language programmes, but
2280-539: The monopoly on broadcasting in the UK, aired a melodramatic episode of their popular radio soap opera The Archers on the BBC Home Service in which core character Grace Archer was fatally injured in a fire. This was seen as a desperate, and rather underhand, ploy to lure as much of the potential audience as possible from tuning in to the new station's opening night of broadcast entertainment. Britain's first female newsreader Barbara Mandell appeared during
2340-640: The network offerings, but would rejoin the network in time for the next scheduled programme, so it was necessary to devise a flexible presentation system which would allow the network to effectively fill the time between programmes without resorting to showing a blank screen. Until 1968 network schools presentation was provided initially by Associated-Rediffusion in London before it transferred to ATV and later, Central Independent Television in Birmingham with live announcements made by ATV and Central's staff announcers including Mike Prince , Stewart White , Peter Davies and Su Evans. Between programmes, interval music
2400-609: The new Yorkshire Television in Leeds . Much of Rediffusion's programme library was either lost or destroyed following the creation of Thames. Surviving titles from the Rediffusion archive are held by the BFI National Archive at Berkhamsted , Hertfordshire . Most titles are the intellectual property of Archbuild Limited , with the exception of some of Rediffusion's musical output such as Ready Steady Go! which
2460-400: The new ITV system in its initial years, Associated Newspapers sold the majority of its share to BET and Rediffusion, although the company did not drop the word "Associated" from its name until 1964. Associated Newspapers, later realising the potential of ITV, was a significant investor in the ITV franchise contractor for southern and south-east England, Southern Television and later on becoming
ITV Schools - Misplaced Pages Continue
2520-577: The new name now in a stripe and in a sans serif font. A new seven note strident theme was adopted to replace the original fanfare, and a new and simpler clock was designed featuring a 24-hour display at the bottom of the face and an adastral at the centre. The original timepiece 'Mitch' was given to the Science Museum , where it became the first ITV exhibit, and now resides in the National Media Museum , Bradford . Rediffusion used
2580-431: The new network. On 22 September 1955 the ITV service opened in the London area, where the ITA transmitter could reach a population of nearly 12 million. The first commercial on British television was for "Gibbs SR" toothpaste. When WWN went on the air on 14 September 1962, the ITV network was completed. However, due to the late commissioning of two of WWN's three transmitters, the company never received more than half
2640-465: The new television stations usually beginning their broadcasting one-to-two years later. During September 1963 the ITA invited new applications for franchises to operate from July 1964 for three years or until the arrival of a second commercial channel , whichever came first, but in fact no changes were made to any franchise holders at that time, except for confirming the merger of the South Wales and
2700-457: The programmes were available to teachers via the educational officers based at the local ITV companies, allowing students to develop a relationship with the regular broadcasts. Typically, schools were equipped for schools television with a couple of large television receivers, sometimes housed inside a wooden cabinet atop a wheeled trolley which could be moved between classrooms as required. This arrangement lasted until Monday 29 June 1987. However,
2760-570: The projected income and the company failed in January 1964; the two Welsh franchises were consequently merged, with TWW broadcasting to the whole of Wales. The 1967 franchise review involved substantial changes: The 1967 franchises were subsequently extended in stages to expire in 1976, then 1979, and finally to expire on 31 December 1981. See the entry for the IBA for details of the 1981 and 1991–2 franchise rounds. The Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 gave
2820-411: The service continued to use the ITV name for another six years. The last ITV Schools programme on Channel 4 aired on Monday 28 June 1993; Channel 4 continued to produce their own schools programmes for many years afterwards. The service started with a small audience, limited largely to the London area via its weekday franchise-holder Associated-Rediffusion . The service expanded as stations were added to
2880-477: The service during the autumn term 1979 was badly affected by the ITV dispute which meant that any schools programming due for transmission in the autumn term was transferred to the spring and summer terms of 1980 and during October 1984, any Thames Television-produced schools programming was not shown due to the Thames dispute but these were shown nationally in December 1984 and schools in the Thames area where shown
2940-462: The sizeable ABC, the ITA proposed ABC and Rediffusion should form a new company: Thames Television . This was not a merger or " forced marriage " as is commonly stated and is an urban myth . ABPC , the parent company of ABC, and BET, the parent company of Rediffusion, created Thames as a separate entity. Thames would use the resources and staff of ABC's Teddington Studios and Rediffusion's Television House . Rediffusion's parent company, BET , took
3000-424: The smaller franchises would produce mainly local programmes for their area only. The ITA awarded franchises to applicant companies, selecting between applicants on the basis of the financial soundness and structure of the company, the proposals for the service to be offered, and often on connections between the applicant company and the area to be served. Franchises were awarded initially between 1954 and 1961, with
3060-475: The studios on more than one occasion. In 1964, the company simplified its name to Rediffusion Television and rebranded the station on screen as "Rediffusion London", with a very hip 1960s style, the face of Swinging London in the shiny prosperous new Britain. However, the new Rediffusion did not survive for long – in October 1967 the Independent Television Authority announced to the company's shock that there
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#17327879672523120-541: The testcard and music. At the end of schools programming from 14 September, the ITV logos glided onto stage, with the first ten seconds of The Journey . This was rapidly faded to black, after which the Channel 4 logo appeared and the announcer introduced the next programme. On the first afternoon after schools programming, Channel 4 showed a film because programmes for the Open College and Business Daily began transmission week commencing 21 September 1987. If there
3180-928: Was The Technology Programme , at 11:41 am. Since 20 September 1993, the strand has been known as Channel 4 Schools (later 4Learning), and is now Channel 4 Learning. Another big change was the fact that for the first time independent production companies were now able to produce schools programming as well as the ITV companies, but by now Thames Television-produced schools programmes were still broadcast as an independent production company. Educational programmes for schools continued to be broadcast on Channel 4 until 2009, although they were usually moved into commercially unviable timeslots, such as overnight, where they could be video-recorded by teachers for later consumption. The usual standard Channel 4 presentation devices were employed between programmes. Between September 1987 and June 1992, Grampian Television, Scottish Television, Border Television, Ulster Television (UTV) and S4C opted out of
3240-402: Was a gap should schools programmes finish early, Channel 4 would show a menu of programmes beginning at 12.00 accompanied by music, but if programmes ended early in another ITV region (ie Scottish/Grampian/Border or Ulster) then the holding device would play until the network was ready to hand back to Channel 4. From Monday 9 January 1989, Sesame Street was shown at 8.30am so Channel 4 showed
3300-417: Was accompanied by a five note electronic fanfare, achieved by tapping out the morse code for 'A-R'. To accompany the ident, a timepiece was created based on a heraldic coat of arms and nicknamed 'Mitch' after Head of Presentation Leslie Mitchell. In 1964, Associated-Rediffusion rebranded itself on screen as Rediffusion London, using a black and grey ident featuring the same spinning star as previous, but with
3360-510: Was established to continue the relationship between teachers and the schools service when it came to ordering accompanying support material. From Monday 11 January 1993, the holding device was no longer used for the first programme, and the introduction cut into 40 seconds of the clock. The holding device did appear for all other programmes. This ended on Monday 28 June 1993, signalling the end of this particular era and style of schools television broadcast. The very last programme on ITV Schools on 4
3420-485: Was for a long time owned by Dave Clark International, and latterly by BMG Rights Management . Some Rediffusion shows have been rediscovered in recent years. In the late 1980s, a series of five At Last the 1948 Show compilations was found in the archives of Swedish broadcaster, SVT . In 2020 The British Film Institute released the most complete box set possible of the restored series, including all ten surviving episodes, two almost completely reconstructed episodes, and
3480-538: Was no place for Rediffusion in the redrawn franchise pattern. Following changes to the ITV network structure, which resulted in the abandonment of the Midlands and North weekend franchises held by ABC Weekend TV , ABC lost all its franchises along with the rights to take over the Midlands, held by ATV , or the London weekend franchise, awarded to the London Television Consortium . To preserve
3540-490: Was played and a holding slide shown onscreen, identifying the service as Independent Television For Schools And Colleges and thus differentiating the service from the similar schools TV service run by the BBC, which were listed as "For Schools, Colleges" in the Radio Times until BBC Schools broadcasting moved to BBC2 in autumn 1983 with a new title of Daytime on Two . This holding slide could be shown for anything from
3600-498: Was re-branded as Channel 4 Schools, with S4C adopting S4C Schools for its English programmes, continuing to use S4C Ysgolion for its Welsh programmes. Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority ( ITA ) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 ( 2 & 3 Eliz. 2 . c. 55) to supervise the creation of " Independent Television" (ITV) , the first commercial television network in
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