Attempted Start of BBC2

The BBC's second television channel, BBC2, was due to launch in the evening of 20th April 1964. Unfortunately, BBC Television Centre was affected by a power failure shortly before the planned start time - which put paid to the broadcast of the whole evening schedule.
An impromptu news report was hurriedly put to air instead, from Studio A at Alexandra Palace, which was unaffected by the power cut. The abortive attempt at a launch of BBC2 was thought never recorded. However, in 2003, this recording was discovered. It was recorded, off-air, at the BBC Research Department at Kingswood Warren in Surrey.
There is no sound for the first 2 minutes - and this is as transmitted.

The recording is also the earliest example of a UK 625 line TV broadcast.
(Note that there are two uses of an offensive word in the news report - albeit quoted from a third-party).

[johnking]

One of the good things that happened was the power cut occurred at 6.30pm, right in the regional news slot, meaning all BBC One regions were broadcasting their own regional news until 6.35pm with London/SE airing their own "Town And Around" regional programme from Alexandra Palace, which meant they were not using any BBC TV Centre facilities, and it helped BBC One to remain on air.

[quizmaster]

Considering how (I assume) so few black-and-white BBC videotapes from the 1960s exist today, this moment itself is a rare gem in its own right.

[richardbrown]

Apart from the lack of dinner jacket, this absolutely has to be the inspiration for John Cleese's newsreader in Monty Python. The delivery and mannerisms are spot on!

[MadameSomnambule]

Wild that this ended up being recorded off air all those decades ago and in such a clean state. The video quality and framerate are as smooth as butter and the sound is so crisp and clear. I'm betting this quality is close to how you'd see the broadcast if you had good enough signal with the sound quality probably being a bit lower depending on the tv you had then. It's also kinda neat to see the newsroom and the other folks behind the announcer just doing their thing as usual and the later interruptions from the phone. Feels especially human and real in a way. Even more amazing to see this since most archived BBC broadcasts that are commonly found now are from the 70s and later.

(for reference, my mom was born just a year after this happened, I was born in the mid 90s, so it's always interesting for me to find tv recordings made around the time my parents and even grandparents were younger)

[TheKnobCalledTone.]

That newsreader might not win a John Cleese lookalike contest, but he'd be one of the runners-up.

[hebneh]

6:20 - The orchestra music during the "BBC 2 Will Start Shortly" title is the song "You Are Beautiful" from the American musical stage play "Flower Drum Song".

[markpunt]

What an absolute pro Gerald was – way before auto queue and all those interruptions from the gallery on the telephone not to mention the subeditor handing him wire stories. He is absolutely fluff less.😮

[johnking]

BBC One switched very quickly their transmission feed to Alexandra Palace. The power cut occurred at around 6.30pm with BBC 2 engineers hoping to do what BBC One had done, and get Alexandra Palace to launch the channel. It could not be arranged in time.

[patrickswan]

Magnificent! Comedy scenarios & timing (the start of the audio) that Monty Python would be proud of; together with ultra unflappable, authoritative delivery and of course important moments in history such as Mandela in court. A stunning historical document.

[gdplayer]

audio starts at 2:59
fault happens at 6:17

[fazbell]

What a professional crew. I had no idea that anything like this ever happened. I thought this was a Monty Python skit, at first.

[nknguyen]

phone call at 6:03:
"Hey there, we’re going to have to repeat the summary in 1 minute. Ok? Right."

[voice.of.reason]

Phone calls in the middle of the news - brilliant!

[johnking]

The telephone on the newsdesk was needed, as in 1964 there wasn't any ear pieces for news presenters to use to connect to the gallery. That would come in during the 1970s.

[halfbakedproductions]

Later in life, Gerald Priestland became a Quaker and worked as the BBC's religious affairs correspondent as of the 1970s. He died on 20th June 1991 aged 64.

[robinburn]

Now you know where Monty Python got their inspiration

[bobacrey]

Surprised the bespectacled man behind him has not put a sign up saying "Hello Mum"

[kellymarieangeljohnson]

The piwercut was caused by a fire in an underground cable tunnel from Battersea powerstation

[Toothily]

BBC2: *silence*
Nobody: ...
BBC2: 3:00 _"stinking wogs"_
Literally the first spoken sentence on BBC2 is basically "racist keeps their job", jfc 😂

[davedobbin]

There had been months of advertising, including the use/sale of two 'cartoon' characters - Hullabaloo and Custard. These were a kangaroo (Hullabaloo) with a joey (Custard) in her pouch. Despite this, the BBC got more news coverage for the new channel from its failure to start.
BBC was the first national channel to broadcast in 625 lines, rather than the 405 lines that had been used previously so was in a higher definition, although still transmitting in monochrome. One of the programmes planned for the launch evening was a firework display from Southend Pier which, to me, was strange because a colourful display could only be seen in black and white!
They just shifted the launch programme schedule to the following evening.