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August 27
The programme was transmitted from the Hotel de Ville in Calais
1950: Television crosses the Channel
England have
The BBC has transmitted the first ever live television pictures across the
Channel.
A two-hour programme was broadcast live from Calais in northern France to
mark the centenary of the first message sent by submarine telegraph cable from
England to France.
In spite of formidable difficulties, this pioneer venture was successful,
though the picture quality was far from perfect.
British viewers were able to watch the town of Calais "en fete", with a
torchlight procession, dancing and a firework display all taking place in the
Place de l"Hotel de Ville.
Presenters Richard Dimbleby and Alan Adair gave commentaries on the
festivities and interviewed local personalities in front of the cameras.
The historic transmission, which has taken more than two months to plan,
was made possible largely because of recent developments in portable television
radio links.
In the past the working range for outside broadcast units was just 25 miles
(40 km).
Five portable radio-link stations, designed to receive and send microwave
signals, were set up temporarily along the 95-mile (153 km) route from Calais to
London.
The first was installed at the top of the Hotel de Ville in Calais.
The microwave links work on wave-lengths of a few centimetres and
concentrate the radio energy into sharp beams.
The idea is to direct as much energy as possible towards the next receiving
station, which in this case was situated high above Dover at the Air Ministry
Radar Station at Swingate.
There were initial teething problems when it was found that the strength of
the signal fluctuated greatly according to the weather, the tide and shipping in
the Channel.
Technical adjustments were required and the broadcast signals were
eventually received by equipment situated at the top of London University"s
200-ft (61m) Senate House, having passed through the towns of Lenham and Harvel
in Kent.
From there the pictures were transmitted via cable to Alexandra Palace and
onto Sutton Coldfield by the GPO radio-link from where they were beamed to the
nation.
Lord Mountbatten visited Ireland every year
1979: IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten
Artificially 1969: FilmTheTheAA . The Queen"s cousin, Lord Louis
Mountbatten, has been killed by a bomb blast on his boat in Ireland.
One of the earl"s twin grandsons, Nicholas, 14, and Paul Maxwell, 15, a
local employed as a boat boy, also died in the explosion.
The attack was followed only hours later by the massacre of 18 soldiers,
killed in two booby-trap bomb explosions near Warrenpoint close to the border
with the Irish Republic.
The IRA has already admitted carrying out the attack on Lord
Mountbatten.
A statement from the organisation said: "This operation is one of the
discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the
continuing occupation of our country."
Lord Mountbatten (79) and his family had traditionally spent their summer
holiday at their castle in County Sligo, north west of Ireland.
They were aboard his boat, Shadow V, which had just set off from the
fishing village of Mullaghmore, when the bomb detonated around 1130 BST.
A witness said the blast blew the boat "to smithereens " and hurled all
seven occupants into the water.
Nearby fishermen raced to the rescue and pulled Lord Mountbatten out of the
water.
But his legs had been almost severed by the explosion and he died shortly
afterwards.
Other survivors were pulled out of the water and rushed to hospital.
At least one person is believed to be in a critical condition.
The attack has called into question the security arrangements surrounding
the Mountbatten party. Lord Mountbatten never had a bodyguard.
The local police kept watch on Classybawn castle for the one month a year
Lord Mountbatten spent there.
But his boat was left unguarded in the public dock in Mullaghmore where it
was moored.
The village is only twelve miles from the Northern Ireland border and near
an area known to be used by IRA members as a refuge.
Vocabulary:
formidable : extremely impressive in strength or excellence(艰难的;可怕的)
smithereens: a collection of small fragments considered as a whole(碎片) |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:18:12