The BBC at war saw fundamental changes in programme making practice, live reporting from battle scenes, and was a fundamental source of propaganda news to the free world.
Post war a TV news service was launched, the first post-war Olympic Games was televised, and Children's Television began. BBC engineers invented the first means of recording live TV, and extended the corporations international presence.
January 1942 - Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs was devised by Roy Plomley, who presented the first edition on 29 January 1942.
It was recorded two days earlier with comedian Vic Oliver, in the bomb-damaged Maida Vale Studios. The success of the programme has always owed much to its simple format, which allows for sometimes revealing interviews. However, early programmes were scripted, to comply with wartime censorship.
October 1946 - Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour was the first dedicated radio programme for women. From early on the programme was not afraid to tackle difficult issues facing women.
Even after the first few editions, politics and women’s citizenship featured prominently. By 1947 BBC managers were panicking at the prospect of the menopause being discussed. Topics such as 'keeping house', and child care featured less after the 1960s.
October 1946 - For the Children
A groundbreaking children's television service was inaugurated after the war, and one of its earliest successes was Muffin The Mule.
Muffin was a loveable puppet whose antics were accompanied on the piano by Annette Mills. The duo's routine was to last for 9 years, and was the first children's programme to appear from the BBC's new television studios at Lime Grove.
January 1948 - News comes to the Television Service
As interest in television grew, the demand for a dedicated news service increased.
Normally voiced by famous commentator John Snagge, BBC Newsreel painted a picture of the day's events as a filmed sequence of short reports.
London 1948 - The first televised Olympic Games
Approximately 100,000 UK households had a television in 1948, yet 68.5 hours of live Olympic coverage was broadcast by the BBC.
Most viewers watched on screens measuring about 25 by 20 centimetres. In its day, this was the most technically advanced outside broadcast undertaken by the BBC.
July 1949 - A first for the weather
Launched just before World War II then abandoned, regular TV weather forecasts were revived in July 1949.
They consisted of charts, with a disembodied voice reading the weather bulletin. The big change to the modern format came in January 1954, when a Met officer interpreted the map in vision. George Cowling was the BBC's first 'weatherman'.
