Children's Hour, initially The Children's Hour, was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting.
Children's Hour was broadcast from 1922 to 1964, originally from the BBC's Birmingham station 5IT, soon joined by other regional stations, then in the BBC Regional Programme, before transferring to its final home, the new BBC Home Service, at the outbreak of the second World War. Parts of the programme were also rebroadcast by the BBC World Service. For the last three years of its life (from 17 April 1961 until 27 March 1964) Last broadcast to use the title Children's Hour. Children's Hour was no longer used, the programmes in its timeslot going out under the umbrella heading of For the Young.
The programme takes its name from the first verse of the poem by Longfellow: "Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour".
Broadcast history In the United Kingdom, Children's Hour was broadcast from 5 pm to 6 pm every day of the week.Strictly speaking: 5 pm to 5.55. The last five minutes were assigned to the Weather Forecast.
It was founded by Cecil Arthur Lewis, or Uncle Caractacus, L. Stanton Jefferies, Rex Palmer and Arthur Burrows. From 1923 to 1934, the majority of listeners, few at all then, were part of "Radio Circles", clubs that maintained the BBC's connection to their audience. Birthday greetings were given out until 1933, excised due to overwhelming demand. In 1926 it was decided that the majority of presenters would drop the "Auntie" and "Uncle" from their titles.
Derek McCulloch, however, would retain his identity as "Uncle Mac". He was closely involved with the programme from 1929, and ran the department from 1933 until 1950, when he had to resign for health reasons. From 1928 to 1960, Children's Hour in Scotland was organised and presented by Kathleen Garscadden, known as Auntie Kathleen, whose popularity brought crowds to the radio station in Glasgow.W. H. McDowell, 'Garscadden, Kathleen Mary Evelyn (1897–1991)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 By 1933 however, many of the local versions of Children's Hour were replaced by regional broadcasts of London production. The Scottish writer John Keir Cross was the producer of Children's Hour from 1941 to 1944."Perth Author", Perthshire Advertiser, 1 March 1944, p. 6
From 1928 to 1960 Request Week determined what were the most popular Children's Hour programmes. Toytown was #1 for almost thirty years,BBC Handbook 1960, p.79 with various popular choices trailing behind being Zoo Man, Jennings at School, Norman and Henry Bones (which ended Children's Hour), Out with Romany, Worzel Gummidge and Winnie the Pooh.
The programme's closure was decided in 1964 by Frank Gillard following an enormous decline in listenership, as by the end of 1963 the number of listeners had fallen to 25,000. Gillard said that most of them were "middle-aged and elderly ladies who liked to be reminded of the golden days of their youth", and that young listeners had instead turned to watching television, listening to the BBC Light Programme or to pirate radio. There was considerable complaint about the closing of the service and questions were raised in Parliament.
Programmes Among popular series on Children's Hour were: TitleAuthorFirst broadcastLast broadcastNotesWinnie the PoohA. A. Milne16 September 192723 April 1959Cycle of stories from Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner (broadcast irregularly)ToytownS.G. Hulme Beaman19 July 1929 (adaptation of story from Tales of Toytown)16 September 1964 (as Children's Hour)29 stories written for radio (1929-1932) cycled monthly thereafter (except from 1941-1943)Out with RomanyGeorge Bramwell Evens12 January 19342 November 1943Worzel GummidgeBarbara Euphan Todd10 December 19356 September 1952Cycle of original stories by Todd (broadcast irregularly)Mary PlainGwynedd Rae17 February 19362 October 1945Cycle of original stories by Rae; not broadcast 1940-1945Norman and Henry BonesAnthony C. Wilson17 July 19439 April 1965Written for radioCowleaze FarmRalph Whitlock9 April 194513 September 1962Nature ParliamentN/A22 January 194629 December 1962Jennings at SchoolAnthony Buckeridge16 October 194824 March 1962Written for radio Sherlock HolmesArthur Conan Doyle15 October 195215 November 1957Series 1-3 onlyTinker and Tapp, Inc.Muriel Levy19 November 195327 February 1962Written for radio
People Among actors and presenters who were famous for their work on Children's Hour were: Peggy Bacon as producer and presenter ("Aunty Peggy") from 1947 Arthur Burrows ('Uncle Arthur' - also the first London wireless Uncle) Violet Carson David Davis Norman Ellison, Nomad the Naturalist Rev George Bramwell Evens, a.k.a. Romany Carleton Hobbs Rupert Gould ('The Stargazer') Derek McCulloch ('Uncle Mac') Kathleen Garscadden ('Auntie Kathleen') Jon Pertwee Wilfred Pickles Alan Rothwell Tony Warren David Seth-Smith, a.k.a. The Zoo Man Olive Shapley Norman Shelley (Winnie-the-Pooh, Mr. Toad) Stephen King-Hall William Glynne-Jones Gladys Young
L. Stanton Jefferies composed music for some early programmes.
Related Books Good Afternoon Children: Wireless stories and plays from The Children's Hour, edited by Columbus, with illustrations by Morton Sale (Hodder and Stoughton, 1932).
Notes and references
Further Reading Grevatt, Wallace (1988). BBC Children's Hour: A Celebration of those Magical Years, The Book Guild Ltd Hartley, Ian (1983). Goodnight Children... Everywhere: An Informal History of Children's Broadcasting, Midas Books
External Links