First live TV from the continent

Image: Hassan Abd-El-Rehim, the egyptian Channel swimmer, is greeted by M. Gasron Bertha, Mayor of Calais, on the platform outside the town hall. Richard Dimbleby and Alan Adair gave commentaries on the festivities and interviewed local personalities in the front of the cameras.

The first outside broadcast from France was made on 27 August 1950 in a one hour special Television Crosses the Channel. Richard Dimbleby introduced live pictures of the Hotel de Ville in Calais, and a long programme of civic celebration and entertainment. The event - timed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first cross-channel telegraph message - showed the people of Calais en fete, in a city still devastated by the war.

Dimbleby commentated on the torchlight procession, speeches and presentations. Alan Adair interviewed local figures and the rest of the programme comprised songs, dancing, and gymnastics by local groups. The star turn came from chanteuse Lieta Freckal, before the festivities climaxed with a firework display.

The technical challenge of transmitting the signal 95 miles to London was met by sending it in four stages, starting from the tower of the Calais town hall, and ending on the roof of the London University Senate House building. From there it went by cable to Alexandra Palace and thence out to the network. The success of the transmission laid the foundations for the Eurovision network and ambitious Europe wide programmes such as the Eurovision Song Contest.