Bombing of Broadcasting House

Image: Bomb damage to Broadcasting House. 

On 15 October 1940 a delayed-action 225kg bomb smashed through a seventh floor window of Broadcasting House in central London, before coming to rest in the music library two floors below. It exploded just after 21.00, when attempts were made to move it, killing 4 men and 3 women.

Bruce Belfrage, who was reading the news in the BH basement, paused briefly, and then continued. Listeners at home heard a distant impact but were otherwise unaware of the event.

Plans for the wartime operation of Broadcasting House ensured that there was never any interruption to the Home Service. Although studios above ground took three years to restore, the main broadcasting operation was already going on from the basement of BH, and so was saved.

The bomb destroyed the switchboard, but operators managed to keep 8 out of the normal 70 phone lines open. The news library was also wrecked, and the next morning the librarian was almost arrested as a looter while trying to retrieve files that had been blown into the street.

The BBC handbook of 1941 reported the damage to Broadcasting House and included a photograph of a burnt out studio. The Corporation demonstrated its resilience in the face of enemy action, in common with the country at large, and its confidence that it would continue to broadcast, come what may.