The 1981 globe
After many years sporting an ident which differed from that of other BBC1 presentation, the globe adopted the twin-stripe BBC1 logo in 1981. It should have been a straight-forward change but bosses weren't happy with the new globe. Several adjustments were made during its first ten months, mainly to the colour and size of the ident.
BBC1 Globe 1st TX & Closedownfrom 6.9.1981 (?) On its first day (05 September?) something was seriously wrong with the colour scheme. The intended blue was a very dark navy and the luminance was poor, especially on the globe itself.
Right clip - Martin King is on closedown duty but the clock is looking very drab, in what we believe is the first closedown with the new look.
But by 4:20pm Monday, blue was restored (image 1). The globe was now a bright yellow, almost pale green. Between then and October 1981, the BBC1 logo was scaled down to look more in proportion with the globe (image 2). But the picture was off-centre, and veered towards the upper screen. The globe is now more green than yellow.
BBC1's computer-generated clock arrived in December 1981. In the New Year attempts were made to standardise the size and screen position of the BBC1 logo, on both clock and globe (image 3). But it was tricky because the globe was still mechanical. Sometimes this globe would be yellow.
The globe was centralised and the BBC1 logo enlarged again (image 4), but eventually a new globe was built (image 5) which came into service around Summer 1982. Note how South Africa has a distinctive pointed end on the new model. And that's how things remained until February 1985.
Further continuity examples of the BBC1 globe in action...
So how did they do it?
The BBC Wales globe, you can see the mirror in the background. The network globe would have been identical but for the ident. Many thanks to Geraint on MHP for the image.
The BBC North West globe in its raw form, with the 1981 typographic ident.
BBC1 Mechanical Model2012
We would like to thank John Mundy for allowing TVARK to film his BBC1 globe, so we can show you how it worked. This clip recorded in 2012 shows the 1981 version of the globe in action. (You can read more about the Andrew Murray's globe design in the BBC1 1974 idents page) .
The frame of the box measures exactly 12 x 9 inches, which is exactly the 4:3 tv aspect ratio, and also the size of black and white graphic cards from the time that were placed infront of studio cameras usually with Letraset type in the days before electronic character generators.
Click these images to see the detail of this mechanical box
Incidentially Murray Andrew's initial idea for the globe was a solid black rubber ball with the landmasses as raised white mouldings, the idea was to light it externally, but it didn't work as well as he'd hoped, which is why Murray decided to make the globe hollow and light it internally.
Wogan's Guide to the BBC1982
The BBC1 globe was always silent on screen, but its motor made a very loud noise! This non-TX version from 1982 was built to show viewers how the real globe worked. It was much quieter and not internally lit; the globe easily detached from its spindle. Viewers saw Terry Wogan playing with it in his 1982 "Wogan's Guide To The BBC"; it also appeared on Tomorrow's World.1981
BBC1 Closedown1981
I have never seen such a rushed closedown on BBC1! Straight out of the weather forecast we go to the clock (which has now regained its full colour), with just a brief sign-off by Martin King. The tone kicks in just ten seconds after fadeout. A bad night?
Apparently not. An ex-BBC source has been in touch to explain the reason for the hurried activity; in 1981, the late shift officially ended at 12:15am and if things ran just one second over, the BBC would have had to pay everyone overtime. Don't forget these were the days when the unions could pull a station off the air over such issues.
BBC1 ClosedownAutumn 1981
When it was time for the clocks to go back at the end of October, the clock had regained its cheerful blue.
BBC1 Closedown (5 minutes)1981 A full closedown from 1981 which includes Michael Fish with the weather, a PIF and pictures of the overnight Radio 2 presenters.
BBC1 Christmas Idents1981
The first Christmas of the 1981 BBC1 look saw the BBC1 globe becoming a series of baubles showing the world with different coloured seas. Instead of finding a way to alert viewers to the fact that the next programme has subtitles, a special Ceefax-style page was created to inform viewers that Ceefax subtitles for the next programme were available on Page 170. Right clip: This clip includes the Christmas 1981 holding slides.
BBC1 Christmas Ident1981
Another use of a Ceefax page to mention that the next programme carries subtitles.
BBC1 Christmas & Closedown1981
Two more clips from Christmas 1981, the right clip being the Christmas Eve closedown.1982
BBC1 Clock goes forward1982
British Summer Time arrives so a timely reminder from Roger Maude to put your clocks forward. But as BBC1 won't be on air at 1am, they're doing theirs now! With the press of a button the time changes before your eyes - a feat made possible by the switch to electronic clocks.
BBC1 60 Years1982
The BBC celebrated its 60th anniversary in 1982, and instead of the BBC1 logo the globe bore the corporate "60 BBC Years" slogan.
BBC1 60 Years Startups1982
A big surprise for fans watching BBC1's startups during the August bank holiday. BBC1 revives Freddie Phillips' classic guitar opening themes, including "Blue Part Invention" (left). And there's more. Instead of a menu the 60 Years globe was left on screen for the whole two minutes!
BBC1 Christmas Day Start - Up25.12.1982
A real treat for Christmas fans as BBC1 really pulled out the stops for its 1982 Christmas Day startup. The sequence begins with a rousing "Joy to the World" followed by a holding slide-type rundown of the morning's programmes and then two verses of "O Come All Ye Faithful" before an introduction to the first programme of Christmas morning - The All-New Pink Panther Show.
BBC1 Christmas Ident28.12.1982
Nearing the end of its period on air, the BBC1 snowflake introduces The Kenny Everett Television Show.
BBC1 Christmas1982
A departure from the usual "table top" Christmas idents with this intricate 8-point snowflake. Each of the spines revolve with the central motor cleverly hidden behind the legend! Here is the first showing from just after lunchtime on Christmas Eve. Then, BBC1 turns in for the night but an unfortunate miscueing of the National Anthem means we don't see as much of the Snowflake as we could have done.1983
BBC1 Start-Up20.05.1983 BBC TV replaced trade test transmissions with Pages from Ceefax at the start of May 1983 but for a short while, they kept the two-minute start-up sequence rather than broadcasting Ceefax it was time to announce the next programme. Here we present a lunchtime start-up following a brief Ceefax transmission to fill the gap between the end of the morning's schools programmes and News After Noon.
BBC1 60 Years of Children's1983
Five months after the BBC celebrated its 60th anniversary, it commemorated 60 years of children's programmes on both radio and television. Enter a special ident for the mirror globe that mementous week.
BBC1 Christmas Ident1983
For 1983, BBC1 modified last year's snowflake. There were just six holographic branches which gave a great effect. And what fun Pres had with it; on one occasion David Allan forgot to start the model when introducing Play School, and a "subtitles" version saw the legend CEEFAX 170 sandwiched between the bottom spines.
There was an extra surprise at closedown - BBC1's first Christmas clock in seven years! It only appeared at the end of the day though, the regular clock introduced the news.
The Naked Snowflake1983
BBC1's Christmas symbol in its raw form and without lighting effects. Looks a bit different doesn't it? Click here for an extract from a Breakfast Time news item about the BBC's Christmas preparations in 1983. The piece largely focuses on the BBC2 ident, but look closely and you'll see both models together.1984
BBC1 Olympic Globe1984
In celebration of the Los Angeles games, the mirror globe was given a two-week break and in its place was this more fitting version. This recording was made on Monday 30th July.
BBC1 Olympic Closedowns1984
Two examples of sign-offs during the 1984 Olympics. In the first clip the BBC1 logo maintains the same on-screen position throughout, not so in the second version!
BBC1 Closedown1984
The end of another weekend in 1984, and as Sunday draws to a close David Miles comes up with some musical metaphors as he wishes us all goodnight.
BBC1 Closedown1984
The full closedown sequence from Monday 10 September 1984 starting with a full weather bulletin and a PIF followed by a rundown of some of tomorrow evening's programmes, then the clock and lastly the national anthem.Christmas 1984
BBC1 Christmas1984
New controller Michael Grade had just returned from America. When graphic designers came up with a snowman for BBC1's Christmas theme, Grade sent them away for a rethink. "I don't mind neutral snowmen but not specifically a snowMAN", he told them. The ident shows three jolly snowmen armed with Christmas crackers welcoming the festive season. The backcloth colour changed for daytime, evening or night-time; a full moon appeared in the last transmission.
BBC1 Christmas Ident25.12.1984
The nighttime version of the 1984 ident introduces The Paul Daniels Magic Christmas Show.
Michael Grade on Room 1012002 In 2002 Michael Grade appeared on BBC2's Room 101. During a discussion about how, as BBC1 controller, Grade axed beauty contests in a political correctness kick, host Paul Merton asks him about his 1984 ruling that BBC1's Christmas snowmen had to be "neutral". The result was that one of the snowmen in the ident ended up being a snow-woman, complete with feminine curves - as demonstrated by an archive clip.
1985
BBC1 Final Mirror Globe showings17 and 18.02.1985
The night before the big change - BBC1 closes down and we hear the National Anthem as usual. Nothing strange about that - except it would be the last time with this identity. Followed by the end of an era. The mirror globe spins for the last time at 5:35pm on Monday 18 February, introducing a new series of "Grange Hill". London viewers would see it one more time, before London Plus at 6:35pm.
A tale of two globes1988
From "Micro Live", the mirror globe finds its way out of the cupboard three years after it was withdrawn so that Fred Harris can compare a real model to a computer-generated one. This being a show about computers, the bias is towards the COW but note how the reflection comes up above the top of the globe, possibly due to the position of the studio cameras.