Yum. Chocolate cake.
Today marks 93 years to the day that the British Broadcasting Company was established.
To mark the moment, we’ve cut ourselves a slice of cake and done something we don’t normally do on the About the BBC Blog: drawn up a list.
Here's a list of 15 things or people that started the same year the BBC did.
1. Hattie Jacques
Star of numerous Carry On films and various TV and radio creations at the BBC. Immortalised in a BBC Four bio-pic with Ruth Jones in the title role.
2. Patrick MacNee
Star of the Avengers, Patrick also made appearances in live TV dramas for the BBC. He died earlier this year.
3. Insulin
Well, strictly speaking, this is more of a discovery than a birth or a beginning. 1922 was the year of the first successful test of insulin, conducted on 14 year old Canadian boy Leonard Thompson.
4. Absorption Refrigerator
Basically, using heat as a source of energy to drive the cooling process. AB Arctic started making absorption refrigerators in 1923 and were bought up by Electrolux in 1925.
5. Ulysses
James Joyce’s Ulysses was published. A first edition was sold for £275,000 at auction in 2009.
6. Vegemite
Dr Cyril P Callister at the Fred Walker Cheese Company (became Kraft Foods in 1926) invented a ‘tasty, spreadable paste’ labelled "Pure Vegetable Extract”. It was first sold commercially in 1923. Other spreads are available, of course.
7. Pierre Cardin
Fashion designer.
8. Judy Garland
Wizard of Oz fame plus numerous other films. Mother of Liza Minelli.
9. Mollie Sugden
English comedy actress, well-known for her appearances on BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?
10. David Croft
One half of the writing duo behind Are You Being Served, Allo! Allo!, Hi de Hi!, Dad’s Army and other BBC sitcoms in the fifties, sixties and seventies.
11. Water skiing
Although he didn’t patent his idea, Ralph Samuelson used a pair of boards as skis and a clothes line as a towrope in Minnesota in 1922. Nifty.
12. Reader’s Digest
First issue of the Reader’s Digest is published in New York in 1922.
13. Quantas Airlines Airmail Services
Quantas actually set up in 1920 (with a fleet of 2 planes acquired in 1921). In 1922 the start running their first airmail service. So, they’re sort of the same age as us. Kind of.
14. National Union of Students
Set up in 1922. The NUS has an interesting video explaining the origins of the movement.
15. Time Inc.
Publisher of the iconic Time magazine plus a host of other publications. According to the Time Inc. website, “Time magazine co-founders Henry Luce and Briton Hadden acknowledged that no magazine had yet adapted to the needs of the ever-busier reader who wished to stay informed.”
Jon Jacob is Editor, About the BBC Blog
