THE HISTORY OF BBC.

TELEVI-
SION AND RADIO IN BRITAIN.
READ THE TEXT AND TALK ABOUT THE MAIN FACTS OF THE HISTORY OF BBC WORDS RELATED
TO THE TOPIC
Broadcasting, the greatest invention of the last century, has come a long way; and the
BBC is one of the most important and trusted broadcasters in the world today.
The British Broadcasting Company was established in 1922. Four years later, it changed
AVOID
its name to the British Broadcasting Corporation, better known as the BBC. It wasn’t the first
BROADCAST
world's radio station, there had already been public radio broadcasts in Britain before 1920.
From the beginning the BBC was a public service radio, but also an independent operator.
COMPETITION
In the early days of BBC radio, there was not a lot of news on the radio. There were music, CONCERN
drama, discussions and children's programmes; but news was not broadcast until after 7 p.m., DETERMINE
to avoid competition with the newspapers. DISCUSSION
In 1936 the BBC began the world's first television service. Only a few thousand people in ENTERTAINMENT
London could receive those first flickering images. Nevertheless, people liked what they saw, ESTABLISH
and as the number of transmitters increased, more and more people went out to buy new TV EXPERIENCE
sets. In 1937, tennis was broadcast from Wimbledon for the first time. Then in 1938, foot- EXPORTER
ball's Cup Final could be seen by hundreds of thousands of people for the first time ever. So, FLICKERING
BBC World television has become one of the most important international TV channels. GOVERNMENT
On September 1st, 1939, in the middle of a Mickey Mouse cartoon, BBC TV stopped INSTITUTION
broadcasting. The Second World War had begun. Except during the war years, BBC has never MINORITY
been controlled by the government. It wasn’t until June 8th 1946, on the day of the great Vic-
MAJOR
tory Parade, that BBC television started again.
RELIABLE
Since then, the BBC has become one of Britain's most famous institutions. Today it has
TRUST
several national television channels, lots of radio channels and a growing number of interna-
SOURCE
tional services. It provides non-stop music, entertainment, minority interests, e. g. classical
music, art programmes and academic materials for education (some for Open University
courses), sport commentating, news and discussion programmes (podcasts). There are also a lot
of independent local radio stations, which provide news, information, music and other enter-
tainment, coverage of local events, chat shows and different programmes. It also has a very
popular Internet site, with news and stories from Britain and around the world.
As far as programme production is concerned, the BBC is Europe's biggest and most suc-
cessful exporter of audio-visual material. In International competitions, the BBC regularly
wins more prizes than other broadcasters. In tomorrow's world, communications and the media
will become more and more important. With almost 100 years of experience, the BBC is deter-
mined to remain one of the world's major players. Throughout the world people listen to the
BBC World Service as a reliable and honest source of news.

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALSE?

1. The BBC World Service broadcasts only in

1. When was the BBC established?
Britain.
2. What were the first programmes
2. The BBC is the British Broadcasting Com-
on the BBC?
pany.
3. When did the BBC begin first
3. In 1937, tennis was broadcast from Wimble-
television service? don for the first time.
4. What does the BBC provide now? 4. During the war BBC hasn’t been controlled by
5. What popular broadcasters do the government.
you have in your country? What do 5. The BBC was established in 1920.
https://freetime4english.blogspot.com
they provide? 6. BBC provides programmes only on the TV.