Announcing the Coronation to the nation

Sylvia Peters was one of two women on the presenting team at the BBC in 1953

Sylvia Peters was given her announcer's script introducing the BBC's television coverage of the Queen's coronation the night before the historic event took place on 2 June 1953. It was quite short notice, given the magnitude of her task. But she didn't start memorising it until the following morning, shortly before going on air.

"I could learn a script very quickly - but it would go out of my memory very quickly as well!" she told me, stressing the fact that there would have been no point in her rehearsing her words over and over again the previous evening because she would have forgotten them by the following day.

Judged against the broadcasting technology of today, however, her achievement was quite magnificent. There was no autocue, and if announcers had an actual script anywhere near them it was kept well out of shot. This meant they had to speak directly to the camera from memory. And on this occasion Miss Peters spoke for a staggering two and a half minutes, word-perfect and without a script, as she set the scene for the first massive outside broadcast challenge to face British television.

Checking through the running order recently she was able to note that from 9:15 a.m. on that momentous day all that viewers would have seen, initially, was the test card. At 10.10 a.m. music was played. Then, at 10:15 a.m. came the chime of Big Ben. Ten seconds later Miss Peters appeared on screen to prepare people for the stunning proceedings that would shortly be unfolding before their eyes - as they were actually happening.

In those days BBC television was broadcast from Alexandra Palace in north London and there were only three announcers - Miss Peters, Mary Malcolm and McDonald Hobley. Miss Peters happened to be the one on duty when the coronation took place, so the task of presenting it fell to her.

Cameras captures the Coronation.

She became an on-screen announcer in 1947, when very few people had a television set. "We didn't have many viewers," she said. "The coronation was the turning point. The coronation just made television, and everyone wanted one after that."

When the coronation came along Miss Peters had been doing the job for six years and by then, still only in her mid-twenties, she was a seasoned operator. This, however, was something different. "I was a little bit nervous," she said. "I wasn't normally that nervous." Everything went very smoothly, but she still had to remain on stand-by in case of a technical breakdown during the transmission. "There could have been the odd camera going down, but even that didn't happen," she said. "Nothing like that happened. It was quite magical."

She thinks she might have had a cup of tea in the control room while the proceedings were being broadcast, but can't remember precisely. "We were all a bit keyed up and very excited by what was happening on the screen and the way it was coming over," she said.

The coronation coverage ended shortly after 5pm and Miss Peters recalls that she made a closing announcement saying that viewers in Europe had had wonderful television reception from London.

'Living legend'

Sylvia Peters worked at the BBC until the late 1950s

Interestingly, given the perceived bias against women in television, there were two female announcers and only one man at the time of the coronation. "I don't think there a bias against women," she said. "There were a lot of women in important positions at the BBC in those days."

What did she think about women who'd complained about losing their jobs as television presenters when they reached a certain age? "A lot of ladies are asked to leave when they get older," she said. "I didn't expect to be doing it when I was much older, but if they want to do it why shouldn't they, as long as they're good at their jobs?"

Miss Peters left the BBC in 1958, when she was still in her early thirties. "I still worked and freelanced and didn't stop doing television," she said. "But I didn't go on until I was 50. I didn't want to." As one of the on-screen pioneers she could almost be described as a living legend, particularly since her name still resonates with people of a certain age. For a time she was the face of television in this country.

Why does she think she is still so well-remembered? "I was much younger than Mac and Mary, and perhaps that had something to do with it," she said.

I whimsically asked her if her recent experience in a BBC studio - when she recorded her memories of the coronation - had prompted an urge to return to television announcing. "I wouldn't want to go back on screen," she laughed. "It was very strange to have my 26-year-old self behind me and me in front at this age. It was quite odd..."