1938 in television

The year 1938 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1938.

Events

• February 21 - The BBC Television Service broadcasts the first ever piece of television science-fiction, a 35-minute adaptation of a segment of the play R.U.R. by the Czech playwright Karel Capek.
• March 12 - First news bulletin carried by BBC television, in sound only. Previously, the service had aired British Movietone News cinema newsreels.
• April 1 - The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race is first televised by the BBC.
• April 19 - The first televised football (soccer) match, England v Scotland, shown on the BBC.
• April 23 - The FA Cup Final is televised for the first time by the BBC.
• May 12 - W2XBS telecasts the 1937 film Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel. The staff projectionist accidentally played the last reel out of order, ending the film 20 minutes early. NBC was unable to obtain the rights to first run movies for many years to follow.
• May 14 - The first quiz show, Spelling Bee, is televised by the BBC.
• May - Communicating Systems, Inc. of New York introduces the first electronic television sets available to the general public in the U.S. Model with 3-inch (76 mm) tube is $125–$150, 5-inch tube is $195–$250. Image only; sound apparatus is $15 more. Sets reach department stores in June.
• June - DuMont introduces television sets in U.S. receiving both pictures and sound. $650 for a 10 by 8-in. screen, $395 for 8¼ by 6½ in.
• June 24 - Test Match Cricket is broadcast for the first time by the BBC, with coverage of the second test of The Ashes series between England and Australia, live from Lord's Cricket Ground.
• September 29 - License for W9XAT Minneapolis, granted in 1929, expires. TV doesn't return to the area for a decade.
• November 12 - NBC's W2XBT airs what was the first telecast of an unscheduled event, a fire which broke out on Ward's Island.
• John Logie Baird gives the world's first public demonstration of a colour television broadcast.^[1] The 120-line image is projected at the Dominion Theatre, London on a 12 by 9 feet (3.7 by 2.7 m) screen in front of an audience of 3,000.
• December 12 - Start of daily TV broadcasting in Moscow (USSR).
• December 31 - 9,315 television sets have been sold in England.

Television shows

Debuts

• August 10 – Telecrime (UK), the first television crime series, debuts on the BBC (1938-1939; 1946).

Ending this year

• Theatre Parade (UK) (1936–1938)

Births

• January 8 - Bob Eubanks, game show host
• January 13 - Billy Gray, child actor
• February 1 - Sherman Hemsley, African American actor
• April 6 - Paul Daniels, magician
• April 28 - Madge Sinclair, actress (d. 1995)
• July 9 - Brian Dennehy, actor
• July 20 - Diana Rigg, actress
• July 29 - Peter Jennings, journalist (d. 2005)
• August 6 - Peter Bonerz, actor, director
• September 2 - Mary Jo Catlett, actress
• September 17 - Paul Benedict, actor (d. 2008)
• October 18 - Dawn Wells, actress
• October 22 - Christopher Lloyd, actor
• November 19 - Ted Turner, broadcaster

References