Alexandra Palace unveiled a World Origin Site plaque and a clock counting down to 2036 for TV's 90th anniversary. The free display runs until 30 November.

Alexandra Palace has a new World Origin Site plaque, unveiled on Monday evening, 90 years to the day after the BBC launched its television service from the building.

A countdown clock was started at the same event in the Palace’s East Court. It counts the years until television’s centenary in 2036.

You can go and see the story behind it for nothing. The free BBC TV 90 at Ally Pally display in the East Court stays open until 30 November, daily from 9am to 5pm. The Palace is about a mile north of Crouch End Broadway in a straight line.

Emma Dagnes and Katie Derham applauding either side of a microphone beneath the green World Origin Site plaque on a brick pillar, with a BBC TV 90 poster on the wall beside it
Emma Dagnes OBE, left, and Katie Derham at the newly unveiled plaque in the East Court. Photo: Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust / SLB Photography

What the plaque says

World Origin Site plaques recognise places where something of international significance was first invented, discovered or first used.

This one is numbered WOS 0126. Its wording reads: “World’s First Regular Public Television Service Began Broadcasting From Alexandra Palace By the BBC, 2nd November 1936.”

Close view of the round green World Origin Site plaque fixed to a brick wall, carrying the words World's First Regular Public Television Service Began Broadcasting From Alexandra Palace By the BBC, 2nd November 1936, WOS 0126
The World Origin Site plaque in the East Court. Photo: Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust / SLB Photography

The clock counting to 2036

The clock has the same round green shape as the plaque. It is marked “TV 1936” on one side and “100 2036” on the other, with years, days, hours, minutes and seconds running down the middle.

In one of the Palace’s pictures from the night, it reads 9 years and 364 days.

Emma Dagnes and Katie Derham with their backs to the camera, looking up at a lit steel lattice display, with the round countdown clock above it and guests watching on the rightClose view of the illuminated countdown clock, reading 9 years, 364 days, 3 hours, 29 minutes and 47 seconds, marked TV 1936 and 100 2036, Count Down, BBC TV Service, Alexandra Palace

2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust / SLB Photography

Who was there

The evening brought together BBC representatives, broadcasters, television historians, heritage organisations and members of Haringey Council.

The speakers were:

  • Emma Dagnes OBE, Chief Executive of Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust
  • Katie Derham, BBC broadcaster and presenter
  • Kirsten Forrest, Curatorial and Interpretation Manager at Alexandra Palace
  • Martin Wilkie, Founder of World Origin Site

The broadcaster and journalist Nicholas Owen was among the guests. So were Tove Okunniwa MBE of the BBC and Catherine West MP. Iain Logie Baird, grandson of the television inventor John Logie Baird, gave a talk at the Palace earlier that day.

Four people posing beneath the World Origin Site plaque, the second holding a framed certificateIain Logie Baird speaking at a lectern with a laptop and microphone, in front of a brick wall

2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust / SLB Photography

The Palace’s transmitter tower was lit up for the anniversary too. The Palace’s own photographs show it in blue above the darkened building.

Alexandra Palace at night with its windows lit orange and the transmitter tower lit blue behind it
The transmitter tower lit blue above Alexandra Palace. Photo: Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust / SLB Photography

What the Palace says

Dagnes and Forrest set out the point of the season when the Palace announced it.

Dagnes said: “Alexandra Palace has always been a place where innovation meets entertainment. 90 years ago, television changed forever, shaping the modern world as we know it today. ‘BBC TV 90 at Ally Pally’ celebrates that pioneering spirit and we’re looking forward to sharing the remarkable people, ideas and creativity that put Alexandra Palace at the heart of one of the greatest innovations of the twentieth century.”

Forrest said: “Alexandra Palace holds a place in the hearts and minds of millions of visitors every year. Through ‘BBC TV 90 at Ally Pally’, we’re inviting people to connect with one of the Palace’s most important histories in fresh and engaging ways.”

She added: “As custodians of this extraordinary building and parkland, creating opportunities for people to engage with our heritage is central to our vision for the future.”

Ninety years on the hill

These dates come from fact sheets the Palace issued for the anniversary.

Timeline of television at Alexandra Palace: BBC studios move in 1935; the service begins at 3pm on 2 November 1936; suspended 1 September 1939; resumes 7 June 1946; BBC Television News home until 1969; Open University work moves to Milton Keynes in 1981; World Origin Site plaque and countdown clock 2 November 2026; centenary in 2036
Television at Alexandra Palace from 1935 to the centenary. Graphic by Crouch End News
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX
  • 1935: The Palace became home to the BBC’s television studios.
  • 2 November 1936, 3pm: Leslie Mitchell opened the service with the words “This is direct television from the studios at Alexandra Palace.” That first afternoon lasted one hour, then the service closed down for five.
  • 1 September 1939: Television stopped as Britain prepared for war. The last thing shown was a Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey’s Gala Premiere.
  • 7 June 1946: Regular broadcasting returned. Jasmine Bligh asked viewers: “Do you remember me?”
  • Until 1969: The studios were the home of BBC Television News, after becoming so in the 1950s.
  • 1970 to 1981: The BBC’s work with the Open University was made at the Palace, until it moved to Milton Keynes.

The Palace says the first audience may have been as small as 500 people, because a set cost around £100. By the 1953 Coronation an estimated 20 million people in Britain were watching.

It also traces several familiar formats to the hill:

  • Gardening: Cecil Henry Middleton presented In the Garden from a purpose-built garden at the Palace on 21 November 1936.
  • Children’s television: Muffin the Mule appeared with Annette Mills in For the Children in 1946.
  • Election night: the BBC’s first televised results programme began at 10.45pm on 23 February 1950, with Richard Dimbleby presenting and Grace Wyndham Goldie behind its development.
  • Daily news: BBC television news bulletins began on 5 July 1954 with News and Newsreel.

The tower built for television

The steel tower was built for television in 1936. The Palace describes it as the oldest working television transmission tower in the world.

The 220ft mast put the aerials around 600ft above sea level, the Palace says, and that height is one of the main reasons television came here at all. Pictures went out from the top, with sound from a second system just below.

Its fact sheet also records what happened in the canteen. During test transmissions in August 1936, staff found the new equipment could make sparks fly from their cutlery.

During the Second World War, the sheet says, the equipment was reportedly adapted to interfere with radio signals guiding German bombers.

The transmitter tower lit blue against a black sky, rising from the Palace's tower block with its windows lit orange
The transmitter tower, lit for the anniversary. Photo: Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust / SLB Photography

What it means for you

  • The East Court display is free. It is open daily from 9am to 5pm until 30 November. It uses archive imagery to tell the story of the people, programmes and technology of early television.
  • Look out for the prototype. The Palace says a 5.3m steel section from the top of the 200ft experimental tower at Hayes is on show in the East Court, from the collection of the EMI Archive Trust.
  • There is one more event in the season. What Are You Looking At? is on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 November in the Creativity Pavilion, 7.30pm to 9.30pm, doors 7pm. The Palace’s Young Actors Company (ages 16 to 28) and the Ally Pally Ensemble (ages 50 and over) each perform a new piece. Advance tickets were listed at £5 to £15 when the season was announced.
  • Mind this weekend’s fireworks. Alexandra Palace Way is closed from 2pm on Friday 6 to 3pm on Monday 9 November, so a weekday visit next week may be easier.

The full programme is on our BBC TV 90 page and on the Palace’s own site. For what else is happening nearby, see What’s On in Crouch End.

The Palace's short film for the BBC TV 90 at Ally Pally season, showing the transmitter mast. Video: supplied by Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust

More pictures from the evening

A large crowd of guests standing in the East Court under its arched glass roof, looking upGuests talking at tables in the East Court, lit in blue, with the display at the far endA steel lattice tower section lit green and red in the East Court, with guests seated and standing around itAn audience seen from behind, facing a speaker at a lectern and a large screen showing an old picture of Alexandra Palace and its mastEmma Dagnes and Katie Derham at a stand beside a lit steel display, with the countdown clock above and guests watchingThe round countdown clock mounted above a steel lattice display, with brick arches behindThe World Origin Site plaque on a brick wall, in an upright viewFour people posing beneath the plaque, one holding a framed certificateFour people posing under the plaque with a framed certificate and a BBC TV 90 poster behind themFour people smiling together in front of the steel lattice displayFive people posing in front of a display panel, one holding a framed certificateFour people posing together with the East Court and other guests behind themFive people posing together against a pale stone wall with tall dark windows behindA group of seven people posing with a framed certificate, a large silver number and a long black baton in front of the displayThe transmitter tower lit blue, seen from the park with the Palace lit orange at its footThe Palace's rose window and front lit orange at night across dark trees, with the tower lit blue to the right under cloudUpright view of the transmitter tower lit blue through dark treesLooking up the brick face of the Palace, lit orange, with the blue-lit tower at the top right and a Transmitter Hall sign over the doorway

18 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust / SLB Photography

Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust runs the Palace and its 196 acres of parkland. The photographs are by SLB Photography, courtesy of the Trust.