https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63583081 BBC Homepage * Skip to content * Accessibility Help * Your account * Home * News * Sport * Reel * Worklife * Travel * Future * More menu More menu Search BBC * Home * News * Sport * Reel * Worklife * Travel * Future * Culture * Music * TV * Weather * Sounds Close menu BBC News Menu * Home * War in Ukraine * US Elections 2022 * Coronavirus * Climate * Video * World * US & Canada * UK * Business * Tech More * Science * Stories * Entertainment & Arts * Health * In Pictures * Reality Check * World News TV * Newsbeat * Long Reads * Entertainment & Arts Mystery of BBC radio's first broadcasts revealed 100 years on * Published 1 day ago * comments Comments Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Victor Smythe reads a script at a munitions factory Image caption, Victor Smythe reads a radio script at a munitions factory in Manchester By David Sillito Media and Arts Correspondent The BBC is celebrating the centenary of its first official broadcast - a news bulletin that included a court report from the Old Bailey, details of London fog disruption, and billiards scores. It was broadcast by London station 2LO, but new research shows many early BBC moments came from northern England. Manchester station 2ZY aired the first children's show and introduced the first regular weather forecast. Birmingham's 5IT station broadcast the first "official concert" The BBC that began broadcasting at 6pm on 14 November 1922 was not the British Broadcasting Corporation of today. It was in fact the British Broadcasting Company and was made up of separate stations around the country operated by different companies. London 2LO was run by the Marconi company. Manchester's station was operated by Metropolitan-Vickers. However, in these early days few records were kept of what was broadcast. Arthur Burrows sits at a desk in front of a microphone Image caption, The first voice on the BBC - Arthur Burrows read the 6pm news bulletin on 14 November 1922 But new research on the BBC's very early days has been carried out by Steve Arnold, a self-confessed Radio Times obsessive. His tricky task was to try to piece together the BBC's schedules before the Radio Times - so named as it listed the times that the new medium's shows were being broadcast - was first published in September 1923. He explained he found information in "gossip columns [in regional newspapers] mainly, people saying we listened to this last night and this is the only record of some of these things". Now, using sources from archive documents and newspapers, Steve has begun to piece together a picture of what the early BBC was doing. * Queen features on new coin marking BBC centenary * BBC Centenary: BBC Weather's most memorable moments * BBC 100 - Celebrating 100 Years of the BBC * Explore the BBC 100 years ago He says the Manchester station, which operated out of Trafford Park, seems to have been the best organised. "It looks as though the Manchester station is probably the origins of the BBC as much as the Marconi 2LO station (in London)," he said. "They seem to have had a far more professional approach. There's a lot more documentation and it seems they knew their onions. I'd love to know more." Skyline of London with Marconi House in the foreground Image caption, Marconi House in central London where 2LO was broadcast from The record of Manchester's pioneering children's programme reveals that on 15 November 1922, Miss A Bennie, known as The Lady of the Magic Carpet, read The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. One excited listener wrote: "I first clapped the phones to my ears, a recitation was in progress, and then a voice announced 'Now, children, listen to this lovely fairy story'." Algy's Priceless Piffle, featuring Victor Smythe, was a pioneer of radio satire and again, came from Manchester. Manchester also broadcast, according to the Liverpool Echo, the first variety acts on 24 November 1922, two months before 2LO's first official variety programme, Veterans of Variety. Early days of BBC broadcasting Image caption, The BBC's first director of music Stanton Jefferies with an early amplifier The importance of the BBC in Manchester also lay in how far it reached. At the beginning it could only be heard in an area around 25 miles from Trafford Park. However, over the next few years the signal was relayed to other transmitters in Liverpool (6LV), Leeds/Bradford (2LS), Hull (6KH), Nottingham (5NG) and Stoke-on-Trent (6ST). Other services covering the UK were also set up in the months after the first broadcast in November 1922. In Glasgow, 5SC opened on 6 March 1923 and broadcast excerpts of an opera. Cardiff's 5WA broadcast the first full performance of a new orchestral opera on 30 May 1923. The BBC has been celebrating its centenary over the past month with a series of events and special programmes, which launched on 18 October - as that was the 100th anniversary of the date that the BBC was officially created and named. As it found its way on air in the early months, there was much in the way of experimentation. Even the first bulletin on 2LO 100 years ago was repeated. That was because bosses asked for it to be read twice, once at normal speed, and then again at half-speed before listeners were asked to say which speed they preferred. Ten decades later, the BBC now has 10 UK-wide radio networks, a further two national radio services each in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and 39 local radio stations across England and the Channel Islands. That is on top of TV services broadcasting in the UK and around the world and an extensive range of digital services. Subtitles, audio described content and signed content are offered to serve BBC viewers with accessibility needs but, based on that very first piece of viewer feedback in 1922, none of the programmes offer the opportunity to listen back at half-speed. Some of those early radio moments will be rebroadcast from 18:00 GMT on BBC Radio 4 as the station's Six O'Clock News marks exactly 100 years since the evening the BBC first took to the air with its own Centenary Bulletin. More on this story * Queen features on new coin marking BBC centenary + 10 October A 50p coin commemorating the BBC's centenary * BBC Centenary: BBC Weather's most memorable moments + 11 February Weather map from 1936 View comments Related Internet Links * Home - BBC Programme Index The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Related Topics * BBC * Manchester * Radio Top Stories * Live. Missiles land in Poland, killing two - reports * Zelensky snubs Russia as he addresses 'G19' + Published 8 hours ago * Violent protests put China's zero Covid under strain + Published 12 hours ago Features * Why US election results are taking so long Arizona electoral official * Weekly quiz: What was Trump's nickname for rival? 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