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155-544: The characters gained a higher national profile in the UK in the mid-1970s as a result of the popularity of a BBC -commissioned children's television show which used stop-motion animation . A number of spin-off novelty songs also became hits in the British music charts. The Wombles pop group was the idea of British singer and composer Mike Batt . The Womble motto is "Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish". This environmentally friendly message

310-460: A Womble named "Wandle" as a club mascot, named after the local River Wandle . After the 2002 relocation of the club to Milton Keynes , the licence to use the character was not renewed beyond June 2003. In 2006, the club's Wimbledon successor, AFC Wimbledon , made a licensing deal with Beresford and launched its own Womble mascot. After a naming competition in which the final name was chosen by Elisabeth Beresford herself, AFC Wimbledon announced that

465-693: A censorship apparatus for the inevitability of war. Due to the BBC's advancements in shortwave radio technology, the corporation could broadcast across the world during the Second World War. Within Europe, the BBC European Service would gather intelligence and information regarding the current events of the war in English. Regional BBC workers, based on their regional geo-political climate, would then further censor

620-476: A circulation of 150,000 in March 1914, due to a reduction in price. The Times had a circulation of 248,338 in 1958, a circulation of 408,300 in 1968, and a circulation of 295,863 in 1978. At the time of Harold Evans' appointment as editor in 1981, The Times had an average daily sale of 282,000 copies in comparison to the 1.4 million daily sales of its traditional rival, The Daily Telegraph . By 1988, The Times had

775-427: A circulation of 443,462. By November 2005, The Times sold an average of 691,283 copies per day, the second-highest of any British " quality " newspaper (after The Daily Telegraph , which had a circulation of 903,405 copies in the period), and the highest in terms of full-rate sales. By March 2014, average daily circulation of The Times had fallen to 394,448 copies, compared to The Daily Telegraph' s 523,048, with

930-531: A circulation of 5,000. Thomas Barnes was appointed general editor in 1817. In the same year, the paper's printer, James Lawson, died and passed the business onto his son, John Joseph Lawson (1802–1852). Under the editorship of Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane , the influence of The Times rose to great heights, especially in politics and amongst the City of London . Peter Fraser and Edward Sterling were two noted journalists, and gained for The Times

1085-474: A collection of short stories entitled The Invisible Womble and Other Stories (1973); these stories were based on episodes from the TV series, although they occasionally refer to events in the novels. In addition to these books, many annuals, picture books and children's early readers have been published over the years, some of which were also written by Beresford. A stop-motion animated series of five-minute episodes

1240-449: A court hearing in a Tower Hamlets fostering case. In April 2019, culture secretary Jeremy Wright said he was minded to allow a request by News UK to relax the legal undertakings given in 1981 to maintain separate journalism resources for The Times and The Sunday Times . In 2019, IPSO upheld complaints against The Times over their article "GPS data shows container visited trafficking hotspot", and for three articles as part of

1395-623: A forgery, The Times retracted the editorial of the previous year. In 1922, John Jacob Astor , son of the 1st Viscount Astor , bought The Times from the Northcliffe estate . The paper gained a measure of notoriety in the 1930s with its advocacy of German appeasement ; editor Geoffrey Dawson was closely allied with government supporters of appeasement, most notably Neville Chamberlain . Candid news reports by Norman Ebbut from Berlin that warned of Nazi warmongering were rewritten in London to support

1550-416: A game called "Wombles and Ladders". Some older Wombles play this game too, though most regard it as childish. Below a certain (unspecified) age, all Wombles are nameless; upon being deemed to be of working age, a Womble chooses his or her name by looking through Great Uncle Bulgaria's large atlas until they find a name that suits them. Some, Bungo for example, "merely shut their eyes tight and point and hope for

1705-461: A larger brand: in 2003, BBC Choice was replaced by BBC Three , with programming for younger adults and shocking real-life documentaries, BBC News 24 became the BBC News Channel in 2008, and BBC Radio 7 became BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2011, with new programmes to supplement those broadcast on Radio 4. In 2008, another channel was launched, BBC Alba , a Scottish Gaelic service. During this decade,

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1860-579: A libel case they had brought against The Times newspaper. In June 2020, a report in The Times suggested that Cage and Begg were supporting a man who had been arrested in relation to a knife attack in Reading in which three men were murdered. The Times report also suggested that Cage and Begg were excusing the actions of the accused man by mentioning mistakes made by the police and others. In addition to paying damages, The Times printed an apology. Cage stated that

2015-403: A new business venture. At that time, Henry Johnson invented the logography, a new typography that was reputedly faster and more precise (although three years later, it was proved less efficient than advertised). Walter bought the logography's patent and, with it, opened a printing house to produce books. The first publication of The Daily Universal Register was on 1 January 1785. Walter changed

2170-554: A news and information service. In 1978, BBC staff went on strike just before the Christmas, thus blocking out the transmission of both channels and amalgamating all four radio stations into one. Since the deregulation of the UK television and radio market in the 1980s, the BBC has faced increased competition from the commercial sector (and from the advertiser-funded public service broadcaster Channel 4 ), especially on satellite television, cable television, and digital television services. In

2325-489: A number of additional channels and radio stations have been launched: Radio 5 was launched in 1990, as a sports and educational station, but was replaced in 1994, with BBC Radio 5 Live to become a live radio station, following the success of the Radio 4 service to cover the 1991 Gulf War . The new station would be a news and sport station. In 1997, BBC News 24 , a rolling news channel, launched on digital television services, and

2480-684: A proposal to cut 4,000 jobs, and to privatise parts of the BBC, disrupted much of the BBC's regular programming. In 2006, BBC HD launched as an experimental service and became official in December 2007. The channel broadcast HD simulcasts of programmes on BBC One , BBC Two , BBC Three and BBC Four as well as repeats of some older programmes in HD. In 2010, an HD simulcast of BBC One launched: BBC One HD . The channel uses HD versions of BBC One's schedule and uses upscaled versions of programmes not currently produced in HD. The BBC HD channel closed in March 2013 and

2635-539: A series of strikes; however, the BBC stated that the cuts were essential to move the organisation forward and concentrate on increasing the quality of programming. On 20 October 2010, the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced that the television licence fee would be frozen at its current level until the end of the current charter in 2016. The same announcement revealed that the BBC would take on

2790-468: A series on pollution in Britain's waterways: "No river safe for bathing," "Filthy Business," and "Behind the story." IPSO also upheld complaints in 2019 against articles headlined "Funding secret of scientists against hunt trophy ban," and "Britons lose out to rush of foreign medical students." In 2019, The Times published an article about Imam Abdullah Patel that wrongly claimed Patel had blamed Israel for

2945-530: A variety of plants, fungi, and tree products that human beings cannot (or will not) eat, so daisy buns, moss pie, acorn juice, fir-cone soufflé , elm bark casserole, and grass bread sandwiches are part of the Womble menu – augmented by any food left behind on the Common by human beings. All Wombles are strong swimmers and can even survive for long periods in ice-cold water. Several sub-species of Womble are revealed throughout

3100-497: A variety of supplements. Beginning on 5 July 2003 (issue 67807) and ending after 17 January 2009 (issue 69535), Saturday issues of The Times came with a weekly magazine called TheKnowledge containing listings for the upcoming week (from that Saturday to the next Friday) compiled by PA Arts & Leisure (part of Press Association Ltd ). Its taglines include "Your pocket guide to what's on in London", "The World's Greatest City, Cut Down To Size", and "Your critical guide to

3255-473: Is included in the newspaper on Mondays, and details all the weekend's football activity ( Premier League and Football League Championship , League One and League Two. ) The Scottish edition of The Game also includes results and analysis from Scottish Premier League games. During the FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euros, there is a daily supplement of The Game. The Saturday edition of The Times contains

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3410-500: Is obviously of paramount importance." Reith succeeded in building a high wall against an American-style free-for-all in radio in which the goal was to attract the largest audiences and thereby secure the greatest advertising revenue. There was no paid advertising on the BBC; all the revenue came from a tax on receiving sets. Highbrow audiences, however, greatly enjoyed it. At a time when American, Australian and Canadian stations were drawing huge audiences cheering for their local teams with

3565-589: Is of national scope and distribution. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The Times had an average daily circulation of 365,880 in March 2020; in the same period, The Sunday Times had an average weekly circulation of 647,622. The two newspapers also had 304,000 digital-only paid subscribers as of June 2019. An American edition of The Times has been published since 6 June 2006. Due to its widespread availability in libraries and its comprehensive index, The Times has received considerable use from academics and researchers. A complete historical file of

3720-456: Is responsible for operational management and delivery of services within a framework set by the board, and is chaired by the director-general , currently Tim Davie , who is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief. The corporation has the following in-house divisions covering the BBC's output and operations: The Times Defunct The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under

3875-499: Is stated that Wombles live all around the world, Beresford's collection of stories, as well as the television series and the music, focus on a group living in Wimbledon Common in London, England, with the sole exception of The Wombles Go Round The World . Wombles care for and educate their young at a communal level. As with human children, immature Wombles are taught reading, writing and athletic skills, which they learn by playing

4030-454: Is working on a reboot with Will Davies writing a script for it. Later character names for the film Wombling Free and second Wombles TV series were developed in the same manner: Some other characters were detailed in the books but never appeared in the television series: Other characters: In the first book, Bungo is the youngest and least experienced of the team, and the story is mostly viewed through his eyes. Later Wellington (who

4185-580: The Encyclopædia Britannica using aggressive American marketing methods introduced by Horace Everett Hooper and his advertising executive, Henry Haxton. Due to legal fights between the Britannica's two owners, Hooper and Walter Montgomery Jackson , The Times severed its connection in 1908 and was bought by pioneering newspaper magnate , Alfred Harmsworth , later Lord Northcliffe. In editorials published on 29 and 31 July 1914, Wickham Steed ,

4340-577: The Archbishops of Canterbury and York came to St Paul's to broadcast to the UK and the world on the National Day of Prayer. BBC employees during the war included George Orwell who spent two years with the broadcaster. During his role as prime minister during the war, Winston Churchill delivered 33 major wartime speeches by radio, all of which were carried by the BBC within the UK. On 18 June 1940, French general Charles de Gaulle , in exile in London as

4495-577: The BBC Television Service ) started from Alexandra Palace in November 1936, alternating between an improved Baird mechanical 240-line system and the all-electronic 405-line Marconi-EMI system which had been developed by an EMI research team led by Sir Isaac Shoenberg . The superiority of the electronic system saw the mechanical system dropped early the following year, with the Marconi-EMI system

4650-478: The British Broadcasting Company , it evolved into its current state with its current name on New Year's Day 1927. The oldest and largest local and global broadcaster by stature and by number of employees, the BBC employs over 21,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 17,200 are in public-sector broadcasting. The BBC was established under a royal charter , and operates under an agreement with

4805-584: The Independent Press Standards Organisation and sued The Times for libel. In 2020, The Times issued an apology, amended its article, and agreed to pay Choudhury damages and legal costs. Choudhury's solicitor, Nishtar Saleem, said, "This is another example of irresponsible journalism. Publishing sensational excerpts on a 'free site' while concealing the full article behind a paywall is a dangerous game". In December 2020, Cage and Moazzam Begg received damages of £30,000 plus costs in

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4960-488: The London 2012 Olympics and the issuing of a series of souvenir front covers, The Times added the suffix "of London" to its masthead. In March 2016, the paper dropped its rolling digital coverage for a series of 'editions' of the paper at 9am, midday, and 5pm on weekdays. The change also saw a redesign of the paper's app for smartphones and tablets. In April 2018, IPSO upheld a complaint against The Times for its report of

5115-936: The MediaCityUK development in Salford , with BBC Three moving online only in 2016, the sharing of more programmes between stations and channels, sharing of radio news bulletins, more repeats in schedules, including the whole of BBC Two daytime and for some original programming to be reduced. BBC HD was closed on 26 March 2013, and replaced with an HD simulcast of BBC Two; however, flagship programmes, other channels and full funding for CBBC and CBeebies would be retained. Numerous BBC facilities have been sold off, including New Broadcasting House on Wilmslow Road in Manchester. Many major departments have been relocated to Broadcasting House in central London and MediaCityUK in Salford, particularly since

5270-525: The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport . Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts or to use the BBC's streaming service, iPlayer . The fee is set by the British Government , agreed by Parliament , and is used to fund

5425-608: The Times's Chief Editor, argued that the British Empire should enter World War I . On 8 May 1920, also under the editorship of Steed , The Times , in an editorial, endorsed the anti-Semitic fabrication The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion as a genuine document, and called Jews the world's greatest danger. In the leader entitled "The Jewish Peril, a Disturbing Pamphlet: Call for Inquiry", Steed wrote about The Protocols of

5580-431: The 2003 murder of a British police officer by a terror suspect in Manchester. The story also wrongly claimed that Patel ran a primary school that had been criticised by Ofsted for segregating parents at events, which Ofsted said was contrary to "British democratic principles." The Times settled Patel's defamation claim by issuing an apology and offering to pay damages and legal costs. Patel's solicitor, Zillur Rahman, said

5735-514: The 2025–26 season of the Women's Super League campaign. The BBC is a statutory corporation , independent from direct government intervention, with its activities being overseen from April 2017 by the BBC Board and regulated by Ofcom . The chairman is Samir Shah. The BBC is a state owned public broadcasting company and operates under a royal charter . The charter is the constitutional basis for

5890-467: The BBC announced a BBC News savings target of £80 million per year by 2022, involving about 520 staff reductions. The BBC's director of news and current affairs Fran Unsworth said there would be further moves toward digital broadcasting, in part to attract back a youth audience, and more pooling of reporters to stop separate teams covering the same news. In 2020, the BBC reported a £119 million deficit because of delays to cost reduction plans, and

6045-565: The BBC is subject to an additional 'Agreement' between it and the Culture Secretary , and that its operating licence is to be set by Ofcom, an external regulatory body . It used to be that the Home Secretary be departmental to both Agreement as well as Licence, and regulatory duties fall to the BBC Trust , but the 2017 charter changed those 2007 arrangements. The charter, too, outlines

6200-741: The BBC released minutes of the board meeting which led to Greg Dyke's resignation. Unlike the other departments of the BBC, the BBC World Service was funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office . The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, more commonly known as the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad. A strike in 2005 by more than 11,000 BBC workers, over

6355-440: The BBC suddenly became the primary source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position. On the one hand Reith was acutely aware that the government might exercise its right to commandeer the BBC at any time as a mouthpiece of the government if the BBC were to step out of line, but on the other he was anxious to maintain public trust by appearing to be acting independently. The government

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6510-477: The BBC was granted sufficient leeway to pursue the government's objectives largely in a manner of its own choosing. Supporters of the strike nicknamed the BBC the BFC for British Falsehood Company. Reith personally announced the end of the strike which he marked by reciting from Blake's " Jerusalem " signifying that England had been saved. While the BBC tends to characterise its coverage of the general strike by emphasising

6665-531: The BBC", was priced at tuppence (two pence ) on newsstands, and quickly sold out its run of a quarter of a million copies. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee. By now, the BBC, under Reith's leadership, had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified (monopoly) broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit

6820-459: The BBC's airwaves. In 1937, a MI5 security officer was given a permanent office within the organisation. This officer would examine the files of potential political subversives and mark the files of those deemed a security risk to the organisation, blacklisting them. This was often done on spurious grounds; even so, the practice would continue and expand during the years of the Cold War. There

6975-535: The BBC's censorship office, which surveilled and edited American coverage of British affairs. By 1940, across all BBC broadcasts, music by composers from enemy nations was censored. In total, 99 German, 38 Austrian and 38 Italian composers were censored. The BBC argued that like the Italian or German languages, listeners would be irritated by the inclusion of enemy composers. Any potential broadcasters said to have pacifist, communist or fascist ideologies were not allowed on

7130-446: The BBC's international 24-hour English-language news services BBC News , and from BBC.com, provided by BBC Global News Ltd. In 2009, the company was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in recognition of its international achievements in business. Since its formation in 1922, the BBC has played a prominent role in British life and culture. It is sometimes informally referred to as

7285-663: The BBC's radio, TV, and online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. Since 1 April 2014, it has also funded the BBC World Service (launched in 1932 as the BBC Empire Service), which broadcasts in 28 languages and provides comprehensive TV, radio, and online services in Arabic and Persian . Some of the BBC's revenue comes from its commercial subsidiary BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide ), which sells BBC programmes and services internationally and also distributes

7440-510: The BBC, and sets out the BBC's Object, Mission and Public Purposes. It emphasises public service , (limited) editorial independence , prohibits advertising on domestic services and proclaims the BBC is to "seek to avoid adverse impacts on competition which are not necessary for the effective fulfilment of the Mission and the promotion of the Public Purposes". The charter also sets out that

7595-680: The Beeb or Auntie . In 1923 it launched Radio Times (subtitled "The official organ of the BBC"), the first broadcast listings magazine; the 1988 Christmas edition sold 11 million copies, the biggest-selling edition of any British magazine in history. Britain's first live public broadcast was made from the factory of Marconi Company in Chelmsford in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mail ' s Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe and featured

7750-575: The British government's asylum policy on social media. Lineker was suspended from his position on Match of the Day before being re-instated after receiving overwhelming support from his colleagues. The scandal was made worse due to the connections between BBC's chairman, Richard Sharp, and the Conservative Party. In April 2023, Richard Sharp resigned as chairman after a report found he did not disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest in his role in

7905-500: The CBBC Channel and CBeebies Channel. In addition to the television channels, new digital radio stations were created: 1Xtra , 6 Music and Radio 4 Extra . BBC 1Xtra was a sister station to Radio 1 and specialised in modern black music, BBC 6 Music specialised in alternative music genres and BBC7 specialised in archive, speech and children's programming. The following few years resulted in repositioning of some channels to conform to

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8060-638: The Communists, leading Winston Churchill to condemn him and the article in a speech to the House of Commons. As a result of Carr's editorial, The Times became popularly known during that stage of World War II as "the threepenny Daily Worker " (the price of the Communist Party's Daily Worker being one penny). On 3 May 1966, it resumed printing news on the front page; previously, the front page had been given over to small advertisements, usually of interest to

8215-676: The Corporation's governance and regulatory arrangements as a statutory corporation, including the role and composition of the BBC Board. The current Charter began on 1 January 2017 and ends on 31 December 2027; the Agreement being coterminous. The BBC Board was formed in April 2017. It replaced the previous governing body, the BBC Trust, which itself had replaced the board of governors in 2007. The board sets

8370-552: The Elders of Zion : What are these 'Protocols'? Are they authentic? If so, what malevolent assembly concocted these plans and gloated over their exposition? Are they forgery? If so, whence comes the uncanny note of prophecy, prophecy in part fulfilled, in part so far gone in the way of fulfillment?". The following year, when Philip Graves , the Constantinople (modern Istanbul ) correspondent of The Times , exposed The Protocols as

8525-642: The GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee. The committee recommended a short-term reorganisation of licence fees with improved enforcement in order to address the BBC's immediate financial distress, and an increased share of the licence revenue split between it and the GPO. This was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee to fund broadcasts. The BBC's broadcasting monopoly

8680-498: The GPO proposed that it would issue a single broadcasting licence to a company jointly owned by a consortium of leading wireless receiver manufacturers, to be known as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd , which was formed on 18 October 1922. John Reith , a Scottish Calvinist , was appointed its general manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. L. Stanton Jefferies

8835-498: The Prime Minister, maintained the censorship of editorial opinions on public policy, but allowed the BBC to address matters of religious, political or industrial controversy. The resulting political "talk series", designed to inform England on political issues, were criticised by members of parliament, including Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and Sir Austen Chamberlain . Those who opposed these chats claimed that they silence

8990-576: The UK and reached No. 55 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with 1974's, "Wombling Summer Party" single on Columbia Records. They were awarded the Music Week Award for Top Singles Band of 1974. Reissues of the Wombles' music in the late 1990s and early 2000s also charted, extending their number of UK chart hits to thirteen. Stop-motion animation is an expensive means of making a programme, due to

9145-478: The UK was driven by the popularity of the TV programme and books, but there were restrictions on toy advertising in the UK that kept TV merchandising in check. The Wombles were merchandised in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Products include stuffed toys along with stationery, stickers, small figurines, bath soap, night lights, lamp shades, chocolate bars, gelatin pudding kits, posters, games, shirts, badges (buttons), cloth patches, and other items. The revival of

9300-492: The UK's first Independent local radio station, LBC came on-air in the London area. As a result of the Pilkington Committee report of 1962, in which the BBC was praised for the quality and range of its output, and ITV was very heavily criticised for not providing enough quality programming, the decision was taken to award the BBC a second television channel, BBC2 , in 1964, renaming the existing service BBC1 . BBC2 used

9455-507: The Wimbledon Wombles maintain a large library of books left by humans on the Common, and Great Uncle Bulgaria is fond of reading The Times . There were five novels and a short story collection: All of these were out of print for many years until they were republished by Bloomsbury, from 2010 to 2011, along with the 1973 short-story collection The Invisible Womble , with all-new illustrations by Nick Price. In The Wandering Wombles ,

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9610-494: The Wombles in the books followed the design of the Ivor Wood TV puppets, with the exception of original editions of The Wombles (1968) and first printings of The Wandering Wombles , which preceded the TV series and depicted the Wombles as teddy bear-like creatures. When the 1973 animated Wombles series was in pre-production, a decision was made to change the design of the characters so that they did not resemble teddy bears, as it

9765-521: The Wombles' initial merchandising was conducted in a haphazard way. Following the overwhelming success of merchandising for the Star Wars franchise, merchandising became the prime driver of and precursor to new productions. Prior to Star Wars , the story had come first and its popularity led to the commissioning of a TV series, followed by merchandise. After Star Wars , the situation reversed itself, and toy design came first. Demand for Wombles merchandise in

9920-579: The Year in 2005 and Nadiya Hussain , winner of The Great British Bake Off . The Times and The Sunday Times have had an online presence since 1996, originally at the-times.co.uk and sunday-times.co.uk , and later at timesonline.co.uk . There are now two websites: thetimes.co.uk is aimed at daily readers, and the thesundaytimes.co.uk site provides weekly magazine-like content. There are also iPad and Android editions of both newspapers. Since July 2010, News UK has required readers who do not subscribe to

10075-622: The air and forced the British government finally to regulate radio services to permit nationally based advertising-financed services. In response, the BBC reorganised and renamed their radio channels. On 30 September 1967, the Light Programme was split into Radio 1 offering continuous "Popular" music and Radio 2 more "Easy Listening". The "Third" programme became Radio 3 offering classical music and cultural programming. The Home Service became Radio 4 offering news, and non-musical content such as quiz shows, readings, dramas and plays. As well as

10230-493: The amount of time required. Animation production houses used to rely on international sales of their productions to cover costs, and merchandising was once considered a welcome bonus. Rising labour and production costs, however, have made merchandising a necessary revenue stream for any new programme. The Wombles TV series had originally been commissioned because of the popularity of the stories on UK children's TV programme Jackanory , with little thought given to merchandising, so

10385-595: The appeasement policy. Kim Philby , a double agent with primary allegiance to the Soviet Union , was a correspondent for the newspaper in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Philby was admired for his courage in obtaining high-quality reporting from the front lines of the bloody conflict. He later joined British Military Intelligence ( MI6 ) during World War II , was promoted into senior positions after

10540-522: The best". They then leave Miss Adelaide's "Womblegarten" and join in the communal work of the burrow, which is mostly clearing up and recycling human refuse. Wombles are very careful to keep their existence secret from human beings – at least in the books and TV series – fearing that discovery of their existence will lead to the Great Womble Hunt. For the most part, adult human beings rarely take notice of them, or fail to distinguish them from humans. In

10695-511: The books, Wombles are pictured as bear-like and between 3 and 5 feet (about 1–1.5 metres) in height, making them only slightly smaller than adult humans. This changed with the TV series, in which they were portrayed as being about knee-high to humans, with pointy snouts like those of hedgehogs . In the book and film Wombling Free , they are described as "short, fat, and furry", roughly between three or four feet (about 1 metre) in height. Wombles are herbivores and are very fond of mushrooms. They eat

10850-399: The books: the Loch Ness Monster is actually part of a clan of water Wombles and the yeti of the Himalayas are giant snow-white Wombles. Wombles have a sixth sense that allows them to sense green spaces and wildlife: this is first mentioned in the Wandering Wombles but developed to a keen long-range telepathic sense by Dalai Gartok Womble in The Wombles Go Round The World . Though it

11005-410: The broadcast of baseball, rugby and hockey, the BBC emphasised service for a national rather than a regional audience. Boat races were well covered along with tennis and horse racing, but the BBC was reluctant to spend its severely limited air time on long football or cricket games, regardless of their popularity. John Reith and the BBC, with support from the Crown , determined the universal needs of

11160-453: The case "highlights the shocking level of journalism to which the Muslim community are often subject". In 2019, The Times published an article titled "Female Circumcision is like clipping a nail, claimed speaker". The article featured a photo of Sultan Choudhury beside the headline, leading some readers to incorrectly infer that Choudhury had made the comment. Choudhury lodged a complaint with

11315-606: The challenge of better reflecting and representing a changing UK". Since 2017, the BBC has also funded the Local Democracy Reporting Service , with up to 165 journalists employed by independent news organisations to report on local democracy issues on a pooled basis. In 2016, the BBC Director General Tony Hall announced a savings target of £800 million per year by 2021, which is about 23% of annual licence fee revenue. Having to take on

11470-464: The closure of BBC Television Centre in March 2013. On 16 February 2016, the BBC Three television service was discontinued and replaced by a digital outlet under the same name, targeting its young adult audience with web series and other content. Under the new royal charter instituted in 2017, the corporation must publish an annual report to Ofcom, outlining its plans and public service obligations for

11625-408: The corporation began to sell off a number of its operational divisions to private owners; BBC Broadcast was spun off as a separate company in 2002, and in 2005, it was sold off to Australian -based Macquarie Capital Alliance Group and Macquarie Group Limited and rebranded Red Bee Media . The BBC's IT , telephony and broadcast technology were brought together as BBC Technology Ltd in 2001, and

11780-545: The cultural week". These supplements were relaunched on 24 January 2009 as: Sport , Saturday Review (arts, books, TV listings, and ideas), Weekend (including travel and lifestyle features), Playlist (an entertainment listings guide), and The Times Magazine (columns on various topics). The Times Magazine features columns touching on various subjects such as celebrities, fashion and beauty, food and drink, homes and gardens, or simply writers' anecdotes. Notable contributors include Giles Coren , Food and Drink Writer of

11935-406: The damages amount would be used to "expose state-sponsored Islamophobia and those complicit with it in the press. ... The Murdoch press empire has actively supported xenophobic elements and undermined principles of open society and accountability. ... We will continue to shine a light on war criminals and torture apologists and press barons who fan the flames of hate". The Times features news for

12090-410: The digitised paper, up to 2019, is available online from Gale Cengage Learning. The Times was founded by publisher John Walter (1738–1812) on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, with Walter in the role of editor. Walter had lost his job by the end of 1784 after the insurance company for which he worked went bankrupt due to losses from a Jamaican hurricane. Unemployed, Walter began

12245-553: The division was later sold to the German company Siemens IT Solutions and Services (SIS). SIS was subsequently acquired from Siemens by the French company Atos . Further divestments included BBC Books (sold to Random House in 2006); BBC Outside Broadcasts Ltd (sold in 2008 to Satellite Information Services ); Costumes and Wigs (stock sold in 2008 to Angels Costumes ); and BBC Magazines (sold to Immediate Media Company in 2011). After

12400-407: The facilitation of a loan to Prime Minister Boris Johnson . Dame Elan Closs Stephens was appointed as acting chairwoman on 27 June 2023, and she would lead the BBC board for a year or until a new permanent chair has been appointed. Samir Shah was subsequently appointed with effect from 4 March 2024. In October 2024 it was announced that the BBC along with Sky Sports signed a deal to broadcast

12555-415: The family had associations with. Wombles are essentially burrowing animals. Beresford's original book describes them as "a bit like teddy bears to look at but they have real claws and live beneath Wimbledon Common". As they mostly live in long-established burrows, they rarely use their claws, even for digging. Their size and physical appearance has changed somewhat over the years: in the original editions of

12710-404: The famous Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba . The Melba broadcast caught the people's imagination and marked a turning point in the British public's attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, the pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among

12865-405: The fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its early life, the profits of The Times were very large and the competition minimal, so it could pay far better than its rivals for information or writers. Beginning in 1814, the paper was printed on the new steam-driven cylinder press developed by Friedrich Koenig (1774–1833). In 1815, The Times had

13020-448: The film Wombling Free this is reversed as the Wombles seek to get humans to listen to their pleas to "make good use of bad rubbish". Wombles generally have a low opinion of other animal species, though they are never unkind to them. They have a poor opinion of humans in general, though there are exceptions, such as royalty, especially the Queen. They also have a respect for human literature;

13175-447: The first fully electronic television system in the world to be used in regular broadcasting. The success of broadcasting provoked animosities between the BBC and well-established media such as theatres, concert halls and the recording industry. By 1929, the BBC complained that the agents of many comedians refused to sign contracts for broadcasting, because they feared it harmed the artist "by making his material stale" and that it "reduces

13330-480: The first half of the paper; the Opinion/Comment section begins after the first news section, with world news normally following this. The Register, which contains obituaries, a Court & Social section, and related material, follows the business pages on the centre spread. The sports section is at the end of the main paper. The Times ' main supplement, every day, is times2 , featuring various columns. It

13485-429: The following year, BBC Choice was launched as the third general entertainment channel from the BBC. The BBC also purchased The Parliamentary Channel, which was renamed BBC Parliament . In 1999, BBC Knowledge launched as a multimedia channel, with services available on the newly launched BBC Text digital teletext service (later rebranded as BBC Red Button), and on BBC Online . The channel had an educational aim, which

13640-453: The forthcoming ending of the remaining £253 million funding towards pensioner licence fees would increase financial pressures. In January 2021, it was reported that former banker Richard Sharp would succeed David Clementi , as chairman, when he stepped down in February. In March 2023, the BBC was at the centre of a political row with football pundit Gary Lineker , after he criticised

13795-499: The four national channels, a series of local BBC radio stations were established in 1967, including Radio London . In 1969, the BBC Enterprises department was formed to exploit BBC brands and programmes for commercial spin-off products. In 1979, it became a wholly owned limited company, BBC Enterprises Ltd. In 1974, the BBC's teletext service, Ceefax , was introduced, created initially to provide subtitling, but developed into

13950-612: The full cost of running the BBC World Service and the BBC Monitoring service from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and partially finance the Welsh broadcaster S4C . Further cuts were announced on 6 October 2011, so the BBC could reach a total reduction in their budget of 20%, following the licence fee freeze in October 2010, which included cutting staff by 2,000 and sending a further 1,000 to

14105-633: The government. Throughout the 1930s, political broadcasts had been closely monitored by the BBC. In 1935, the BBC censored the broadcasts of Oswald Mosley and Harry Pollitt . Mosley was a leader of the British Union of Fascists , and Pollitt a leader of the Communist Party of Great Britain . They had been contracted to provide a series of five broadcasts on their parties' politics. The BBC, in conjunction with The Foreign Office of Britain, first suspended this series and ultimately cancelled it without

14260-625: The guidance of Mike Batt's Dramatico Productions, who bought the rights to The Wombles for Channel 5 's preschool slot Milkshake! , was intended for airing in 2015. Ray Winstone and Cribbins were confirmed as the voices of this new series. Only two of the planned episodes were screened, however, at the Cambridge Film Festival in November 2016. Batt filed for bankruptcy the following year in September, and resigned as director of Dramatico Productions. Songwriter and producer Mike Batt wrote

14415-405: The higher resolution 625-line standard which had been standardised across Europe. BBC2 was broadcast in colour from 1 July 1967 and was joined by BBC1 and ITV on 15 November 1969. The 405-line VHF transmissions of BBC1 (and ITV) were continued for compatibility with older television receivers until 1985. Starting in 1964, a series of pirate radio stations (starting with Radio Caroline ) came on

14570-590: The interval entertainment at Eurovision Song Contest 1974 . Due to the Wombles' association with the area, some local sporting teams representing Wimbledon are sometimes affectionately nicknamed "the Wombles". These teams include the Ladies side of Wimbledon RFC , whose mascot is "Alderney", the Wimbledon Volleyball Club, and the Wombles Netball Club. From 2000 to June 2003, Wimbledon F.C. used

14725-534: The late 1980s, the BBC began a process of divestment by spinning off and selling parts of its organisation. In 1988, it sold off the Hulton Press Library, a photographic archive which had been acquired from the Picture Post magazine by the BBC in 1957. The archive was sold to Brian Deutsch and is now owned by Getty Images . In 1987, the BBC decided to centralize its operations by the management team with

14880-665: The leader of the Free French, made a speech, broadcast by the BBC, urging the French people not to capitulate to the Nazis. In October 1940, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret made their first radio broadcast for the BBC's Children's Hour , addressing other children who had been evacuated from cities. In 1938, John Reith and the Government of the United Kingdom , specifically the Ministry of Information which had been set up for WWII, designed

15035-535: The loss-making consortium, and Reith was keen that the BBC be seen as a public service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 United Kingdom general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production, and with restrictions on news bulletins waived,

15190-524: The management to shut down the paper for nearly a year, from 1 December 1978 to 12 November 1979. The Thomson Corporation management was struggling to run the business due to the 1979 energy crisis and union demands. Management sought a buyer who was in a position to guarantee the survival of both titles, had the resources, and was committed to funding the introduction of modern printing methods. Several suitors appeared, including Robert Maxwell , Tiny Rowland and Lord Rothermere ; however, only one buyer

15345-700: The material their broadcasts would cover. Nothing was to be added outside the preordained news items. For example, the BBC Polish Service was heavily censored due to fears of jeopardising relations with the Soviet Union . Controversial topics, i.e. the contested Polish and Soviet border, the deportation of Polish citizens, the arrests of Polish Home Army members and the Katyn massacre , were not included in Polish broadcasts. American radio broadcasts were broadcast across Europe on BBC channels. This material also passed through

15500-615: The merchandising copyrights to the Wombles in a new company, Wombles Copyright Holdings, of which Batt became the principal shareholder with creative control held by Beresford's heirs. This included the purchase of the Wombles TV series from DHX Media , who had acquired it with their purchase of Cookie Jar Entertainment in 2012. A feature-length live-action movie Wombling Free was released in 1977, written and directed by Lionel Jeffries and starring The Wombles, David Tomlinson , Frances de la Tour and Bonnie Langford . A soundtrack album

15655-586: The modest, church-going elderly or a member of the Clergy . Until 1928, entertainers broadcasting on the BBC, both singers and "talkers" were expected to avoid biblical quotations, Clerical impersonations and references, references to drink or Prohibition in the United States , vulgar and doubtful matter and political allusions. The BBC excluded popular foreign music and musicians from its broadcasts, while promoting British alternatives. On 5 March 1928, Stanley Baldwin,

15810-526: The moneyed classes in British society. Also in 1966, the Royal Arms , which had been a feature of the newspaper's masthead since its inception, was abandoned. In the same year, members of the Astor family sold the paper to Canadian publishing magnate Roy Thomson . His Thomson Corporation brought it under the same ownership as The Sunday Times to form Times Newspapers Limited . An industrial dispute prompted

15965-459: The new Womble would be known as "Haydon", after Haydons Road , the nearest railway station to Wimbledon's original home ground, Plough Lane . Twelve years later, the club announced plans to return to their original neighbourhood; Haydons Road is also the closest station to their new ground . Beresford also gave permission for a team of Wombles to run the London Marathon. Altitude Television

16120-413: The new corporation adopted the coat of arms , including the motto "Nation shall speak peace unto Nation". British radio audiences had little choice apart from the upscale programming of the BBC. Reith, an intensely moralistic executive, was in full charge. His goal was to broadcast "All that is best in every department of human knowledge, endeavour and achievement.... The preservation of a high moral tone

16275-457: The news, Murdoch stated that the law and the independent board prevented him from exercising editorial control. In May 2008, printing of The Times switched from Wapping to new plants at Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, and Merseyside and Glasgow , enabling the paper to be produced with full colour on every page for the first time. On 26 July 2012, to coincide with the official start of

16430-473: The next year. In its 2017–18 report, released July 2017, the BBC announced plans to "re-invent" its output to better compete against commercial streaming services such as Netflix . These plans included increasing the diversity of its content on television and radio, a major increase in investments towards digital children's content, and plans to make larger investments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to "rise to

16585-413: The notice of the public. Less radical politicians faced similar censorship. In 1938, Winston Churchill proposed a series of talks regarding British domestic and foreign politics and affairs but was similarly censored. The censorship of political discourse by the BBC was a precursor to the total shutdown of political debate that manifested over the BBC's wartime airwaves. The Foreign Office maintained that

16740-494: The number of digital subscribers at around 400,000, and ranked The Times as having the sixth highest trust rating out of 13 different outlets polled. The Times Digital Archive is available by subscription. The Times has had the following eight owners since its foundation in 1785: The Times had a circulation of 70,405 on 5 September 1870, due to a reduction in price and the Franco-Prussian War . The Times had

16895-541: The opinions of those in Parliament who are not nominated by Party Leaders or Party Whips, thus stifling independent, non-official views. In October 1932, the policemen of the Metropolitan Police Federation marched in protest at a proposed pay cut. Fearing dissent within the police force and public support for the movement, the BBC censored its coverage of the events, only broadcasting official statements from

17050-407: The people of Britain and broadcast content according to these perceived standards. Reith effectively censored anything that he felt would be harmful, directly or indirectly. While recounting his time with the BBC in 1935, Raymond Postgate claims that BBC broadcasters were made to submit a draft of their potential broadcast for approval. It was expected that they tailored their content to accommodate

17205-407: The political position of The Times is considered to be centre-right . The Times was the first newspaper to bear that name, inspiring numerous other papers around the world, such as The Times of India and The New York Times . In countries where these other titles are popular, the newspaper is often referred to as The London Times or The Times of London , although the newspaper

17360-440: The pompous/satirical nickname 'The Thunderer' (from "We thundered out the other day an article on social and political reform."). The increased circulation and influence of the paper were based in part to its early adoption of the steam-driven rotary printing press. Distribution via steam trains to rapidly growing concentrations of urban populations helped ensure the profitability of the paper and its growing influence. The Times

17515-435: The positive impression created by its balanced coverage of the views of government and strikers, Seaton has characterised the episode as the invention of "modern propaganda in its British form". Reith argued that trust gained by 'authentic impartial news' could then be used. Impartial news was not necessarily an end in itself. The BBC did well out of the crisis, which cemented a national audience for its broadcasting, and it

17670-476: The post, with a note saying 'We regret, etc.'" In the 1930s music broadcasts also enjoyed great popularity, for example the friendly and wide-ranging BBC Theatre Organ broadcasts at St George's Hall , London by Reginald Foort , who held the official role of BBC Staff Theatre Organist from 1936 to 1938. Television broadcasting was suspended from 1 September 1939 to 7 June 1946, during the World War II , and it

17825-471: The practice of printing correspondents' full postal addresses. Published letters were long regarded as one of the paper's key constituents. According to its leading article "From Our Own Correspondents," the reason for the removal of full postal addresses was to fit more letters onto the page. In a 2007 meeting with the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, which was investigating media ownership and

17980-451: The print edition to pay £2 per week to read The Times and The Sunday Times online. Visits to the websites have decreased by 87% since the paywall was introduced, from 21 million unique users per month to 2.7 million. In April 2009, the timesonline site had a readership of 750,000 readers per day. In October 2011, there were around 111,000 subscribers to The Times ' digital products. A Reuters Institute survey in 2021 put

18135-459: The public should not be aware of their role in the censorship. From 1935 to 1939, the BBC also attempted to unite the British Empire's radio waves, sending staff to Egypt, Palestine , Newfoundland , Jamaica, India, Canada and South Africa. Reith personally visited South Africa, lobbying for state-run radio programmes which was accepted by South African Parliament in 1936. A similar programme

18290-423: The radio and television divisions joining forces together for the first time, the activities of the news and currents departments and coordinated jointly under the new directorate. During the 1990s, this process continued with the separation of certain operational arms of the corporation into autonomous but wholly owned subsidiaries , with the aim of generating additional revenue for programme-making. BBC Enterprises

18445-443: The sales of OBs and costumes, the remainder of BBC Resources was reorganised as BBC Studios and Post Production , which continues today as a wholly owned subsidiary of the BBC. The 2004 Hutton Inquiry and the subsequent report raised questions about the BBC's journalistic standards and its impartiality. This led to resignations of senior management members at the time including the then Director General, Greg Dyke . In January 2007,

18600-530: The series in the late 1990s brought with it another wave of merchandise which included lunch boxes, umbrellas, flannels (face cloths), hot water bottle covers, slippers, a Steiff doll, and a set of postage stamps for Alderney , a Channel Island that served as the name for one of the Wombles and the home of Beresford until her death. More recently, the Wombles were part of a set of UK postage stamps honouring classic British children's TV programmes. In 2013, Mike Batt and Elisabeth Beresford's two children consolidated

18755-436: The series' theme tune, but negotiated the musical rights to the characters in place of the traditional composer's fee. In an effort to promote the Wombles' first single, he had his mother make him a Womble costume, which he wore for most of the working week. After the Wombles' first chart hit, he went on to perform and produce a number of successful novelty singles as The Wombles in the 1970s. They amassed eight Top 40 singles in

18910-455: The setting moved from Wimbledon Common to Hyde Park in central London, but The Wombles to the Rescue saw them return to Wimbledon Common. Four of the books were illustrated by Margaret Gordon . The Wombles at Work (1973) was illustrated by Barry Leith, who worked on set design for the original FilmFair series. The Wandering Wombles (1970) was illustrated by Oliver Chadwick. The appearance of

19065-497: The shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988. He wrote in detail about his reasons for resigning from the paper due to meddling with his stories, and the paper's pro-Israel stance. In June 1990, The Times ceased its policy of using courtesy titles ("Mr", "Mrs", or "Miss" prefixes) for living persons before full names on the first reference, but it continues to use them before surnames on subsequent references. In 1992, it accepted

19220-460: The staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office (GPO), was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests and moved to rescind its ban in the wake of a petition by 63 wireless societies with over 3,000 members. Anxious to avoid the same chaotic expansion experienced in the United States,

19375-427: The strategy for the corporation, assesses the performance of the BBC's executive board in delivering the BBC's services, and appoints the director-general. Ofcom is responsible for the regulation of the BBC. The board consists of the following members: The executive committee is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the broadcaster. Consisting of senior managers of the BBC, the committee meets once per month and

19530-486: The time), along with Stepney (who appeared in none of the earlier versions). The Wombles are parodied (as Rumbles - haughty, rat-like creatures that can't pronounce their 'R's) in Michael de Larrabeiti 's novel The Borribles . BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC ) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London , England. Originally established in 1922 as

19685-426: The title The Daily Universal Register , adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times (founded in 1821), are published by Times Media, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK , in turn wholly owned by News Corp . The Times and The Sunday Times , which do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have had common ownership only since 1966. In general,

19840-572: The title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times . In 1803, Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name. Walter Sr's pioneering efforts to obtain Continental news, especially from France, helped build the paper's reputation among policy makers and financiers, in spite of a sixteen-month incarceration in Newgate Prison for libels printed in The Times . The Times used contributions from significant figures in

19995-600: The two retaining respectively the second-highest and highest circulations among British "quality" newspapers. In contrast, The Sun , the highest-selling "tabloid" daily newspaper in the United Kingdom, sold an average of 2,069,809 copies in March 2014, and the Daily Mail , the highest-selling "middle market" British daily newspaper, sold an average of 1,708,006 copies in the period. The Sunday Times has significantly higher circulation than The Times , and sometimes outsells The Sunday Telegraph . In January 2019, The Times had

20150-486: The two titles. The Royal Arms were reintroduced to the masthead at about this time, but whereas previously it had been that of the reigning monarch, it would now be that of the House of Hanover , who were on the throne when the newspaper was founded. After 14 years as editor, William Rees-Mogg resigned upon completion of the change of ownership. Murdoch began to make his mark on the paper by appointing Harold Evans as his replacement. One of his most important changes

20305-493: The use of "Ms" for unmarried women "if they express a preference." In November 2003, News International began producing the newspaper in both broadsheet and tabloid sizes. Over the next year, the broadsheet edition was withdrawn from Northern Ireland , Scotland , and the West Country . Since 1 November 2004, the paper has been printed solely in tabloid format. On 6 June 2005, The Times redesigned its Letters page, dropping

20460-563: The value of the artist as a visible music-hall performer". On the other hand, the BBC was "keenly interested" in a cooperation with the recording companies who "in recent years ... have not been slow to make records of singers, orchestras, dance bands, etc. who have already proved their power to achieve popularity by wireless." Radio plays were so popular that the BBC had received 6,000 manuscripts by 1929, most of them written for stage and of little value for broadcasting: "Day in and day out, manuscripts come in, and nearly all go out again through

20615-569: The war ended, and defected to the Soviet Union when discovery was inevitable in 1963. Between 1941 and 1946, the left-wing British historian E. H. Carr was assistant editor. Carr was well known for the strongly pro-Soviet tone of his editorials. In December 1944, when fighting broke out in Athens between the Greek Communist ELAS and the British Army, Carr in a Times leader sided with

20770-509: The £700 million cost for free TV licences for the over-75 pensioners, and rapid inflation in drama and sport coverage costs, was given as the reason. Duplication of management and content spending would be reduced, and there would be a review of BBC News . In September 2019, the BBC launched the Trusted News Initiative to work with news and social media companies to combat disinformation about national elections. In 2020,

20925-494: Was a reflection of the growing environmental movement of the 1970s. Elisabeth Beresford took her young children for a Boxing Day walk on Wimbledon Common, where her daughter Kate repeatedly mispronounced it as "Wombledon Common", sparking the idea of the Wombles in her mother's mind. On getting home, Beresford wrote down the idea and started developing the characters and storylines. She developed most of her Womble characters around members of her family, and named them after places

21080-442: Was a widely reported urban myth that, upon resumption of the BBC television service after the war, announcer Leslie Mitchell started by saying, "As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted ..." In fact, the first person to appear when transmission resumed was Jasmine Bligh and the words said were "Good afternoon, everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh ... ?" The European Broadcasting Union

21235-495: Was adopted in Canada. Through collaboration with these state-run broadcasting centres, Reith left a legacy of cultural influence across the empire of Great Britain with his departure from the corporation in 1938. Experimental television broadcasts were started in 1929, using an electromechanical 30-line system developed by John Logie Baird . Limited regular broadcasts using this system began in 1932, and an expanded service (now named

21390-475: Was discontinued in early March 2010, but reintroduced on 12 October 2010 after discontinuation was criticised. Its regular features include a puzzles section called Mind Games . Its previous incarnation began on 5 September 2005, before which it was called T2 and previously Times 2 . The supplement contains arts and lifestyle features, TV and radio listings, and theatre reviews. The newspaper employs Richard Morrison as its classical music critic. The Game

21545-513: Was divided on how to handle the BBC, but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PM's own. Although Winston Churchill in particular wanted to commandeer the BBC to use it "to the best possible advantage", Reith wrote that Stanley Baldwin 's government wanted to be able to say "that they did not commandeer [the BBC], but they know that they can trust us not to be really impartial". Thus

21700-470: Was felt that there were too many children's shows with teddy bear characters. There is a reference in the first book to dark brown being the colour of their fur (with the exception of the oldest Wombles whose fur turns white) but this was changed to silvery grey, save for the neck, which is black. Some of the toys and book illustrations do not show the black fur on the neck. There is an audiobook of The Wombles , narrated by Bernard Cribbins . Beresford wrote

21855-640: Was followed by the Government's acceptance of the recommendation made by the Crawford Committee (1925–26) that the British Broadcasting Company be replaced by a non-commercial, Crown-chartered organisation: the British Broadcasting Corporation. The British Broadcasting Corporation came into existence on 1 January 1927, and Reith – newly knighted – was appointed its first director general. To represent its purpose and (stated) values,

22010-474: Was formed on 12 February 1950, in Torquay with the BBC among the 23 founding broadcasting organisations. Competition to the BBC was introduced in 1955, with the commercial and independently operated television network of Independent Television (ITV) . However, the BBC monopoly on radio services would persist until 8 October 1973 when under the control of the newly renamed Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA),

22165-521: Was in a position to meet the full Thomson remit, Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch . Robert Holmes à Court , another Australian magnate, had previously tried to buy The Times in 1980. In 1981, The Times and The Sunday Times were bought from Thomson by Rupert Murdoch's News International . The acquisition followed three weeks of intensive bargaining with the unions by company negotiators John Collier and Bill O'Neill . Murdoch gave legal undertakings to maintain separate journalism resources for

22320-504: Was its first director of music. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved domestic manufacturers. To this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to "inform, educate and entertain". The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate. Set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between

22475-575: Was left to BBC Radio broadcasters such as Reginald Foort to keep the nation's spirits up. The BBC moved most of its radio operations out of London, initially to Bristol , and then to Bedford . Concerts were broadcast from the Bedford Corn Exchange ; the Trinity Chapel in St Paul's Church, Bedford was the studio for the daily service from 1941 to 1945, and, in the darkest days of the war in 1941,

22630-465: Was made between 1973 and 1975, along with two half-hour specials. Narration and all Womble voices for these were provided by Bernard Cribbins . Further animated episodes, using new animation models and sets, were made by Cinar/Filmfair in 1998–1999. These were ten minutes long and had several Canadian actors provide the voices. Background music was adapted from the Wombles' records along with new compositions. A CGI animated series of 52 episodes, under

22785-486: Was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, as was the prohibition on advertising. To avoid competition with newspapers, Fleet Street persuaded the government to ban news bulletins before 7 pm and the BBC was required to source all news from external wire services. The Radio Times , the world's first and longest-running radio and television listings magazine, was launched by Reith in September 1923. The first edition, subtitled "The official organ of

22940-400: Was modified later on in its life to offer documentaries. In 2002, several television and radio channels were reorganised. BBC Knowledge was replaced by BBC Four and became the BBC's arts and documentaries channel. CBBC , which had been a programming strand as Children's BBC since 1985, was split into CBBC and CBeebies , for younger children, with both new services getting a digital channel:

23095-468: Was not introduced until the second book) took over the role of "new boy", and even later on, Shansi takes Bungo's place as the youngest working Womble. Alderney and Miss Adelaide appeared in the earlier books but were not included in the original 1970s TV series. Alderney was re-introduced in the later TV shows produced in the 1990s (the Channel Island of Alderney was actually Elisabeth Beresford's home at

23250-523: Was one of the first newspapers to send war correspondents to cover particular conflicts. William Howard Russell , the paper's correspondent with the army in the Crimean War , was immensely influential with his dispatches back to England. The Times faced financial failure in 1890 under Arthur Fraser Walter , but it was rescued by an energetic editor, Charles Frederic Moberly Bell . During his tenure (1890–1911), The Times became associated with selling

23405-474: Was released in 1978. A region 2 DVD of the film was released by Network in 2006, containing the film in its theatrical aspect ratio, the original theatrical trailer, and archive interviews with Jeffries, Tomlinson and Langford. A feral pack of Wombles appeared in BBC comedy series The Goodies in the episode " The Goodies Rule – O.K.? ", engaging in a fierce wrestling match with Bill Oddie . In 2011, The Wombles performed live at Glastonbury. The Wombles were

23560-457: Was reorganised and relaunched in 1995, as BBC Worldwide Ltd. In 1998, BBC studios, outside broadcasts, post production, design, costumes and wigs were spun off into BBC Resources Ltd. The BBC Research & Development has played a major part in the development of broadcasting and recording techniques. The BBC was also responsible for the development of the NICAM stereo standard. In recent decades,

23715-479: Was replaced by BBC Two HD in the same month. On 18 October 2007, BBC Director General Mark Thompson announced a controversial plan to make major cuts and reduce the size of the BBC as an organisation. The plans included a reduction in posts of 2,500; including 1,800 redundancies, consolidating news operations, reducing programming output by 10% and selling off the flagship Television Centre building in London. These plans were fiercely opposed by unions, who threatened

23870-506: Was still not achieved, and this was to remain an interim measure until the Wapping dispute of 1986, when The Times moved from New Printing House Square in Gray's Inn Road (near Fleet Street ) to new offices in Wapping . Robert Fisk , seven times British International Journalist of the Year, resigned as foreign correspondent in 1988 over what he saw as "political censorship" of his article on

24025-516: Was the introduction of new technology and efficiency measures. Between March 1981 and May 1982, following agreement with print unions, the hot-metal Linotype printing process used to print The Times since the 19th century was phased out and replaced by computer input and photocomposition. The Times and the Sunday Times were able to reduce their print room staff by half as a result. However, direct input of text by journalists ("single-stroke" input)

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