{"id":804,"date":"2023-12-14T14:07:15","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T14:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/?p=804"},"modified":"2023-12-20T10:15:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T10:15:05","slug":"100-years-of-radio-times-celebrating-a-century-of-christmas-covers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/2023\/12\/14\/100-years-of-radio-times-celebrating-a-century-of-christmas-covers\/","title":{"rendered":"100 years of Radio Times: Celebrating a century of Christmas covers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Lindsay Crook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There aren\u2019t many magazine publications that can claim they are 100 years old, but the Radio Times achieved this incredible milestone in 2023.  The Keep holds an extensive collection of the periodical \u2013 the world\u2019s first ever broadcast listing guide \u2013 donated by the wife of Christopher Griffin-Beale<\/a> in 2006, spanning 36 years from 1953 to 1989. This compliments our holdings dating from 1990 which can be found in the journals section of the North Basement in the main Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Christmas Radio Times 21 December 1991 Issue <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Christmas issue of the Radio Times has become somewhat of a British institution over the past century and the contents reveal a fascinating insight into our changing popular culture. I began my own collection at the age of 13 when there were only four TV channels to choose from, unless of course you were lucky enough to have satellite television. Internet wasn\u2019t freely available to the public, streaming of films and programmes was unheard of and VHS was still a luxury; so it wasn\u2019t unusual for terrestrial TV audience figures to reach several million in one sitting (the 1986 Christmas Day episode of\u00a0EastEnders<\/em>\u00a0drew a record 30 million viewers).\u00a0 December was the only time of year my parents bought a TV guide, so it became a traditional purchase in the annual Christmas supermarket shop alongside the shortbread biscuits and chocolate coins, signalling the start of the festive season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do I love about collecting the Christmas Radio Times? Well there\u2019s something very special about the covers and I look forward each year to seeing what design the editorial team have opted for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Radio Times issue 13, when it sold 6 pence, in 1923<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If we reverse back to December 1923, issue number 13 of the Radio Times (available to read on the BBC Programme Index<\/a>) was a bit different to the previous ones that had been on sale since the first edition was launched in September of that year.  Rather than the usual black and white newspaper-style cover, there is instead a glorious colour illustration of a smartly dressed family sitting by the fire listening to Love’s Old Sweet Song<\/em><\/a>\/Just a Song at Twilight<\/em> on the wireless.  This type of cover was a first for the Radio Times \u2013 in fact colour illustrations were kept only for special occasions, such as Christmas, right up until 1967 when television itself started to move away from the black and white TV era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100 years ago the Christmas issue cost six pence, 2\u00bdp in today\u2019s money. There is an advert for Women\u2019s Hour<\/em> on the inside cover \u2013 a radio programme still going strong to this day \u2013 whilst the contents include a mixture of wireless listings for the week ahead, articles on yuletide customs and traditions, short stories, fun activities for children, features on broadcasters of the day, letters from listeners, amusing illustrations and advertisements for products such as the Hornby trainset, Wright\u2019s coal bar soap, Swan \u201cfountpens\u201d and of course the latest in radio gadgets. Britain\u2019s first national radio broadcasting service had only been launched by the BBC a year earlier, so radio was very much in its infancy \u2013 although one cartoon on page 9 of the Christmas issue predicts: As soon as we get those combined \u201clooking\u201d and \u201clistening\u201d sets, it will be a distinct advantage<\/em>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A wartime issue of Radio Times reverting back to black and white with much reduced content.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With the introduction of regular television broadcasts in 1936, the listings were expanded accordingly. This was short-lived, however, because by 1939 television was taken off air again due to the on-set of World War II and remained so until 1946 when the war ended. Remarkably, the Radio Times stayed in production during the war, but the black and white Christmas illustrations and reduced content very much reflected the mood of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colour was reintroduced to the festive covers in 1957, three years after rationing ended. In the decades that follow, we have seen a mixture of traditional and contemporary festive illustrations, religious images and celebrities of the day adorn the cover of the magazine that for many years has been dubbed \u201cthe legendary double issue\u201d<\/em>. We\u2019ve also seen the price rise to a whopping \u00a35.50! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My own collection of Christmas issues depict as many as 12 different versions of Father Christmas, five styles of snowmen, various Raymond Briggs characters, Doctor Who<\/em>, Harry Potter<\/em> and more traditional illustrations such as angels, robins and holly wreaths. This year I was convinced the editorial team would take the opportunity to recreate the 1923 issue, but instead it is Judith Kerr\u2019s Mog the Forgetful Cat<\/em> \u2013 another favourite character from my childhood \u2013 who claims the top spot, to celebrate an animated Christmas special on Channel 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Festive
Left to right: Festive illustration of 1959.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"A
The Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise were the cover stars of 1973<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Two
Two issues were released in 2009 to celebrate Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"The
Left: My favourite cover is from 1994 and is a re-design of the 1924 issue.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

These days, with a wealth of different channels to choose from and on-demand streaming available from a multitude of devices, the magic of opening the Christmas issue of Radio Times doesn\u2019t quite have the same sparkle as it used to, but that doesn\u2019t dissuade from those heart-warming festive covers that peer out at me from the shelf at the newsagents each December. My ultimate dream would be to design the cover myself one year \u2013 now that would be a Christmas to remember!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lindsay Crook There aren\u2019t many magazine publications that can claim they are 100 years old, but the Radio Times achieved this incredible milestone in 2023.  The Keep holds an extensive collection of the periodical \u2013 the world\u2019s first ever…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4491],"tags":[4119,4098],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/files\/2023\/12\/231214-RadioTimesImages-Image2.jpg?fit=434%2C566&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":352,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/2021\/02\/19\/our-treasure-trove-of-printed-journals\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":0},"title":"Our treasure trove of printed journals","date":"19 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"By Chloe Dobson - Collection Development Librarian Did you know that we have a basement area in The Library which is full of printed journals from all subject areas? 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Established two years ago, the Wellbeing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Library"","img":{"alt_text":"A student draws a window painting on the glass windows looking into the Wellbeing area.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/files\/2024\/04\/image.jpeg?fit=743%2C641&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":826,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/2023\/12\/20\/archiving-and-administering-the-library-and-afras-at-sussex-guest-blog-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":2},"title":"Archiving and administering the Library and AFRAS at Sussex: guest blog post","date":"20 December 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Reposted from the Decolonial Maps of Library Learning blog By Alice Corble and Rhiann Tester This overdue blog post features a guest contributor, Rhiann Tester, Assistant Library Administrator at Sussex. 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I bet you love them, eh? In my last blog post I talked about how Artificial Intelligence has been saving me time with long textual documents. Now I want to focus the labour-saving\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Library"","img":{"alt_text":"AI generated Librarian creating a spreadsheet.","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/files\/2024\/02\/240902-AIgeneratedimage-LibraryLookoutBlog-e1707495118288.png?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":475,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/2021\/05\/14\/well-meet-again-or-how-i-gambled-away-vera-lynns-autograph-and-ended-up-in-a-zambian-jungle-with-a-bunch-of-hippies\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":4},"title":"We\u2019ll meet again \u2013 or how I gambled away Vera Lynn\u2019s autograph and ended up in a Zambian jungle with a bunch of hippies\u2026","date":"14 May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"By Danny Millum - BLDS Metadata and Discovery Officer Normally when you tell your family \/ friends about what you do, unless you\u2019re a fireman or a nurse they just zone out (especially when your job title is Metadata Discovery Officer). 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The workshop started with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Library"","img":{"alt_text":"Students sitting in front of the Library on Library square","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/files\/2024\/07\/141124_LibraryUsers_StudentsSitting-scaled.jpg?fit=915%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":824,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions\/824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/librarycollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}