The Queen’s Christmas message: 1957-2011
The Queen’s Christmas message – 2011
Thankfully, this “new medium” of television, as The Queen put it some 54 years ago, took hold thus allowing for The Queen’s Happy Christmas message to be seen and not just heard each year on Christmas Day. Following the tradition that was started in 1932 by King George V, this first televised Christmas broadcast by The Queen was filmed at Sandringham House in Norfolk in 1957. I love her calling television a landmark as it allowed “so many of you to see me”.
A bit of Christmas message history
Sir John Reith, the visionary founding father of the BBC, convinced King George V to speak “wirelessly” to the Empire to inaugurate the BBC World Service. It wasn’t a particularly easy task as he microphones at Sandringham were connected through Post Office land lines to the Control Room at Broadcasting House. From there connection was made to BBC transmitters in the Home Service, and to the Empire Broadcasting Station at Daventry with its six short-wave transmitters. The text of the first Christmas speech, which was transmitted a 3:05pm was written by poet and writer Rudyard Kipling.
For the inner-Anglophile in all of us, here’s a comprehensive transcript list of all Christmas message’s from The Queen from her initial message following the death of her father, King George VI in 1952 to present day.
Happy Christmas to all from Tellyspotting.
In: Odds & Sods
