Portal:BBC

Topics

Culture

Geography

Health

History

Mathematics

Nature

People

Philosophy

Religion

Society

Technology

"Nation shall speak peace unto nation." Motto of the BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation, known as the BBC, is the world's largest broadcasting organisation, founded in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company. Originally a radio broadcaster, the corporation began television broadcasts in 1932 and now operates ten UK television channels including the oldest and most watched, BBC One. The BBC also operates 58 radio stations, including the most popular station in the UK, BBC Radio 2, and has an online presence through BBC Online. Internationally, the BBC name is used as a brand for several channels operated by commercial arm BBC Worldwide, including the BBC World Service and BBC World News. Through BBC News, the corporation is the largest broadcasting news gatherer in the world, and has developed a good reputation for news gathering and reporting through the years.

Affectionate names for the BBC include auntie, the beeb and together, Auntie Beeb. Template:/box-footer

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of one titular award (2008 winner, Chris Hoy, pictured). Several new awards have been introduced, and as of 2008, eight awards are presented. The oldest of these are the Team of the Year and Overseas Personality awards, which were introduced in 1960. The other awards are the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Helen Rollason Award, the Coach Award, Young Sports Personality of the Year, and the Unsung Hero Award. Other awards that have been presented in the past include the Special Achievement Award and the Sports Personality of the Century Award. The trophy for the main award is a silver-plated four-turret lens camera, and for the other awards smaller imitations of the main trophy are used. All of the BBC local regions hold their own independent award ceremonies, which take place before the main ceremony and are used to compile a shortlist for the BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award. The event was held outside London for the first time in 2006, when tickets were made available to the public.

A publicity still showing the characters Big (right) and Small from the CBBC preschool comedy Big & Small. Both characters are represented by puppets, and are voiced by Lenny Henry.

Broadcasting House, Belfast is the headquarters of BBC Northern Ireland and was opened in 1941.

Template:/box-header Highlights from Wikipedia's Did you know...

• ... that Anita West, one of the presenters of Blue Peter, was on the show for such a short period that no footage of her exists in the BBC archives?

• ... that the first series of British radio stand-up comedy show Mark Steel's in Town was recorded in Skipton, Boston, Lewes, Walsall, Merthyr Tydfil and the Isle of Portland?

• ... that the idea of a two hooded coat to keep your date dry in the rain is genius?

• ... that Newman and Baddiel in Pieces was the final show on which the comic partnership of Robert Newman and David Baddiel worked together before going their separate ways?

• ... that Clothes-Line, aired in 1937, was the first television programme on fashion history and also probably the first to feature a heavily pregnant female presenter?

Template:/box-header Martin Brundle is a British former racing driver and a sports commentator for the BBC.

Brundle began his Formula 1 racing career with Tyrrell Racing in 1984. He put in a number of aggressive and fast drives, finishing fifth in his first race and then second at Detroit. At the Dallas Grand Prix, Brundle broke his ankles in a crash during a practice session. Then Tyrrell were disqualified from the world championship for 1984 due to a technical infringement, wiping his achievements for that season from the record books.

Having largely retired from motor racing, Brundle became a highly regarded commentator on British television network ITV, who he joined when they began Formula One coverage in 1997, initially alongside Murray Walker, and since 2002 James Allen. Brundle has won the RTS Television Sports Award for best Sports Pundit in 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2006. In 2005 the judges described him as: "...an outstanding operator at the very peak of his game – with an extraordinary ability to simplify and entertain in an often complex sport. He also exhibited a fearless authority on some of the most sensitive issues – not least his gimlet-eyed pursuit of Formula one boss Bernie Ecclestone on the grid at Indianapolis".

Brundle first commentated on F1 during the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix on the BBC. Having retired from the race, Brundle was asked by the BBC to enter the commentary box alongside Murray Walker because regular BBC commentator James Hunt failed to show up. Brundle was also part of the 1995 BBC commentary team whenever Aguri Suzuki was driving the Ligier-Mugen Honda such as for the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix.

In September 2008 Brundle denied that he had signed a deal with the BBC to commentate for next year's coverage although announced that he would love the chance to go to the BBC and said that discussions were ongoing. However, while at the Autocar Awards in November 2008, Brundle confirmed that he would be part of the BBC's commentary team for 2009.

Read more Template:/box-footer

• Patrick Moore has died.

[1]

• The BBC Trust has appointed a new Director-General of the BBC, the Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, Tony Hall. Lord Patten, Chairman of the BBC Trust, described his journalistic experiences as "invaluable".

[2]

• BBC
• BBC history
• BBC Television
• BBC Radio

• BBC people
• Offices, studios and buildings
• Nations and regions
• BBC Television programmes

		Radio portal
Television in the United Kingdom	Culture	Radio
Doctor Who	EastEnders	Strictly Come Dancing	Hitchhiker's

• "I got the first page with about three minutes to go. Then, the red light came on and it was up to me. It was an intensely dramatic script and most of the pages were fed to me at the microphone, so I had to get it right first time. God knows I put my heart into it." — Newsreader Robert Dougall, recalling his message as the 'anonymous Englishman', calling for Germany to withdraw its forces.

• "... confronted with problems of which I had no experience: Copyright and performing rights; Marconi patents; associations of concert artists, authors, playwrights, composers, music publishers, theatre managers, wireless manufacturers." – John Reith (later Lord Reith)'s description of launching the BBC.

• "Now, if you'll pardon me, I've a little bit of news of my own. If the mail is anything to go by, most of the listening population have spotted a report that next year I'm going to turn into Chris Evans.

And I hate to tell you, but it's true." - Sir Terry Wogan announcing he is to step down as presenter of the breakfast show on Radio 2.

Template:/box-header {{Wikipedia:WikiProject BBC/to do}} Template:/box-footer

This portal is maintained by members of WikiProject BBC, in particular those listed on the Portal Maintenance page.

To join the project, please add your username to the list of members.

The following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject:

• What are portals?
• List of portals
• Featured portals