25 July 1953
The cameras are coming…
With the Queen’s Coronation on 2 June having led to a boom in the sales of television sets across the UK, the BBC decided that now would be a good time to bring the Proms to the small screen again, beginning with the 1953 First Night. Television had a natural showman in Malcolm ‘Flash Harry’ Sargent, who was positive from the outset, though not everyone was so keen. Many within the BBC didn’t want TV treading on radio’s patch, while others worried about the impact that bulky cameras might have on the experience of concert-goers. Both debates would continue well into the 1980s.