b'10 Member News November 2022From the archivesThe golden eraThis year the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) celebrates its centenary. They have an exciting, diverse and long history, starting at Marconi House before moving to Savoy Place, where they housed themselves for almost 10 years. The 19th century saw the birth ofdrama studios, two talk studios and broadcasting and in the UK, the Postnearly 400 employees in Savoy Hill.Office was encouraged by a parliamentaryIn the early years visitors found it a committee to bring together electricalbustling, friendly and an unpretentiousBBC BuildingsSavoy Hill, October 1926and wireless manufacturers to discussplace, with one critic saying, Savoy the creation of a broadcastingHill was quite the most pleasant system. Their first meeting was heldclub in London. It was reported that on neutral ground at the Institutionvisitors were welcomed with whisky of Electrical Engineers (IEE) venue. and sodas in cosy, private rooms and Negotiations and meetings continuedyoud always run into great men like until October 1922, when in the main IEEH.G Wells, George Bernard Shaw, lecture theatre, 200 representatives fromG.K Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. various firms agreed to form the BBC. The lack of space was a problem from It was on 14 December 1922 whenthe beginning. They even wrote to John Reith was appointed Generalthe Institutions architects about the Manager of the BBC and his first taskpossibility of adding another storey to was to find suitable accommodationthe building, but nothing came of the for them to work. Chairman of the BBCproposal. John realised that the BBC and IEE council member, Sir Williamneeded a much larger building as it Nobel, suggested the Institutionscontinued to expand and in 1927, he venue as a potential premises.began the search for a new location and eventually found a site north of Oxford On first look, John recalls theCircus for a purpose-built headquarters.Goodnight everybody from Savoy Hillbuilding being depressing and difficult to imagine any convenientThe move to the BBCs broadcasting set up for studios. Nevertheless, thehouse in Portland Street began in April BBC made the west wing of Savoy1932, spanning across four weekends. Place their home from March 1923,The only staff who remained at Savoy Hill bringing along their 31 employees.until the end was the engineering staff who transmitted the final programme on It wasnt long until their first studio was14 May 1932 titled, The End of Savoy Hill. installed on the top floor, then their second, larger studio and then theySavoy Hill was the cradle of the BBC, continued to grow and expand intobeing dubbed the golden era by the adjoining Savoy Mansions building,John Reith. From the meeting of the renaming the complex Savoy Hill.manufacturers in 1922 to the company taking over the buildingits here where In July 1925, the Daventry Transmitterthe company became a public service opened, which meant a huge increasecorporation, creating programmes in the output from Savoy Hill, andcovering almost all forms of human the BBC had to bring several newactivity and developing a sophisticated studios into use. In the end, they hadnational broadcasting network intoMastermind filming at Savoy Placefour specialised music studios, threethe BBC we know and love today.'