[11:04] Petrol “set to surge almost 50 cents a litre” if tax perk goes

Petrol prices are set to go up by 25.8 cents a litre on January 1, with further rises in in...

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2025/03/petrol-set-to-surge-almost-50-cents-a-litre-if-tax-perk-goes/

#25.8cents #January1

January 1

This day in history:

• 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
• 1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black-majority republic and second independent country in North America after the United States.
• 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
• 1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba.

Births:

• 1929 – Haruo Nakajima, Japanese actor and stuntman, portrayed Godzilla from 1954 to 1972 (d. 2017)
• 1950 – Wayne Bennett, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1988 – Marcel Gecov, Czech footballer

Deaths:

• 1496 – Charles d'Orléans, count of Angoulême (b. 1459)
• 1617 – Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1558)
• 1793 – Francesco Guardi, Italian painter and educator (b. 1712)

Holidays:

• Triumph of the Revolution (Cuba)
• Earliest day on which Handsel Monday can fall, while January 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of the year (Scotland)
• Euro Day (European Union)

Random Article of the day:

Tommy Clarke

The thread about the dawn of BBC radio in Edinburgh and the centenary of the first Scottish Hogmanay programming

A fact that passed me by until this morning (January 1st, 2025); yesterday marked the 100th anniversary (in Edinburgh at least) of the tradition of special Hogmanay programming from BBC Scotland. I think the fact possibly also passed the Beeb by too, even though they were very aware of celebrating the centenary of the general launch in 2023… So follow me now on a brief thread that explores the early history of BBC Radio in the capital and the city’s claim to being the home of the now ubiquitous annual Hogmanay broadcasting extravaganza.

The BBC’s first and principal Scottish transmitter was named 5SC, was based in Glasgow and started transmission in March 1923. It had a power of 1.5kw and a notional range of 75 miles; but only if you had the right sort of valve wireless set at home; in Edinburgh, 75% of homes with sets didn’t, they used cheaper, crystal sets. This fact allied with the wavelengths used and Edinburgh’s particular topography meant that the BBC was largely unreceivable across the capital.

To make up for 5SC‘s lack of coverage the BBC planned small repeater stations for the main cities in Scotland. Aberdeen got 2BD in October 1923 and the following year Edinburgh would get 2EH in May and Dundee 2DE in November. However, broadcasting from a transmitter within Edinburgh posed the early radio engineers a pair of unique geographical problems. Firstly, at the wavelengths the station operated at (328m), the city’s hills were a challenge to get the signal to go either around or over, leaving a shadow of no or poor reception behind them. Secondly it proved very difficult to properly earth the transmitter owing to the geology beneath the city centre. As a result, even at just 2 miles distance from 2EH, it required home users to fit a 100ft long outdoor aerial to pick up the signal on the prevalant crystal receiver sets and the City Corporation were reluctant to permit antennae to be strung across the streets between tenements.

After searching for the best possible broadcast spot the men from the BBC installed the technological marvel of 2EH‘s transmitter equipment in a wooden shed behind the University’s medical school at Teviot Place, the 150 foot (46m) aerial strung from the chimney stack. The studio and control room was at 79 George Street initially.

2EH was commissioned on May Day 1924 with a special live broadcast and concert from the Usher Hall. It commenced at 730PM with the callsign “2EH Calling. 2EH Calling” being the first words heard by any listeners. Music was provided by the band of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and an organ recital was played by Dr W. B. Ross. Speeches began at 9PM when the Lord Provost, Sir William Lowrie Sleigh, officially announced the opening, followed by a speech by J. C. W. (later Lord) Reith. After 10 more minutes of military piping at 930 the relay from London was plugged in and “2LO Calling” (London’s callsign) was announced to the listening public in Edinburgh – which probably amounted to no more than 800 at this time. 2EH then took over again and Mr G. K. Marshall, station director, read the local news from George St., bringing the small audience of lucky listeners an update on a fire in South Bridge and “other interesting intelligence” such as the escape of the Zoo’s sealions. The evening then settled down to the London broadcast of the opera Faust.

2EH‘s main job was as a broadcast relay for 2LO in London and Scottish content from 5SC in Glasgow, but it did put out a small volume of local programming and outside broadcasts from its tiny 20sq ft studio on George Street. These premises were rented from Townsend & Thomson’s music shop and proved totally inadequate (the “offices” were merely a through corridor, the studio the proprietor’s living room) so they were soon moved to more commodious and efficient space along the road at 87 George Street. The transmitter also proved rather hopeless and complaints were numerous in the Evening News and so it too was soon replaced. In October 1924, the BBC sent up the now surplus transmitter it had installed to broadcast live from that summer’s British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium.

A heavy rivalry existed between 2EH and its nominal parent at 5SC in Glasgow and as a result listeners in Edinburgh were treated to more than their fair share of relayed content from 2LO in London instead.

This brings us to Hogmanay broadcasting. Listeners in the reception range of 5SC in Glasgow were treated to some of Scotland’s first BBC Hogmanay programming in 1923, but it was a basic schedule from 5PM onwards, with a mixed content (although interestingly it included some Gaelic language singing) and handed over to London at 10PM for the rest of the night.

Most listeners in Edinburgh would have to wait a whole other year for the privilege of allowing Auntie into their living rooms and 2EH pulled out the stops to put on its own, special Hogmanay show for them. There were something like ten to twenty thousand wireless licenses issued by the Post Office in Edinburgh at this time, giving you an idea of the potential audience. Highlighting the rivalry with 5SC in the west, the Evening News reported that station’s schedule as a passive aggressive footnote under 2EH subtitled “Glasgow Fare“.

So if you’d strung your 100ft wireless antennae, got the crystals warmed up, pulled up your armchair and tuned in on Hogmanay 1924, what would you have heard?

The show began at 3PM with an hour of piano music live from George Street, followed by an hour’s intermission and then an hour of children’s programmes. The stories, half of which were specifically Scottish, told by “Uncle Leslie” and “Auntie Mollie” (an early example of the anthropomorphising of the BBC into a benevolent relative in the wooden box in the corner of the room?) After another intermission, at 7PM the bells of Big Ben were broadcast from London (I believe SB in the schedules stands for syndicated broadcast), followed by a weather forecast and news bulletin. Mr C. H. B. Quennell then gave a lecture from London to fill up the rest of the half hour slot on “Every Day Life in Stuart and Georgian Times“. With everyone warmed up by that, at 730PM the Hogmanay “Scottish Night” special started proper, with the pipers of the 4/5th Battalion, The Royal Scots, introduced by announcer Miss Rosaline Masson, a well known local novelist. The pipers, a vocal octet and varous other musicians then took turns playing and singing a programme of largely traditional Scots music until the 930PM news and weather from London. The heavy part that a variety of Trad music has to play in the BBC’s Hogmanay scheduling is something that continues to this day.

Auntie in London then got folk really in the mood for the biggest night of the year with a 30 minute lecture on Horticulture by Mr J. S. Chisolm before everyone must have breathed a collective sigh of relief and woken up from their snoozes as the switch was once again thrown back to Edinburgh. More popular music now followed when a live outside broadcast was switched on from the Palais de Dance at Fountainbridge and The Romany Revellers band, “Scotland’s Finest Dance Band” and a regular at the establishment which could lay claim to being Scotland’s premier night spot at this time. This must have been quite a revolutionary event at the time. Music, live from a dance hall! Again, the incorporation of popular contemporary music and artists remains in the BBC’s Hogmanay template to this day, as does the “lounge” studio atmosphere with guests drawn from members of the public arrayed at table and chairs. One key difference was however that the Palais was a dry venue at this time and the strongest drink served by its cocktail bar was fruit juice!

With just 15 minutes until the bells, the party in full swing and fever pitch building to a crescendo, the broadcast switch was thrown once again. This time it took the home listeners to St. Columba’s Church of Scotland in London for a blessing from the Rev. Archibald Fleming followed by the hymn “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow“. Just before midnight, that great tradition of Auld Lang Syne being sung was broadcast from St. Columba’s followed by the bells of Big Ben one final time and the message “A Happy New Year to All” crackled over the airwaves from London. Finally the plugboard was rewired one last time in George Street and the “Romany Revellers” returned to the wireless sets of Edinburgh live from the Palais for a final hour of the latest hits.

That is except, to paraphrase the old Scottish joke about BBC programming, except for listeners in Glasgow. Listeners of 5SC got no such local treat that year, from 930PM they only got the London broadcast, with music from the Savoy Hotel Orpheans and Havana bands, and come midnight the plug was pulled and it closed down just after midnight after the Rev. Fleming’s and Big Ben’s chimes. I’m sure readers from the west will be quick to point out that Glaswegians did not need the BBC on the wireless to keep the music and the party going after midnight! But on this basis, Edinburgh has a pretty strong claim for producing the first full BBC Scotland Hogmanay show 100 years ago, and in a format we would largely recognise today. And the rest, as they say, is, history and various artists have been butchering Auld Lang Syne just before the bells, every year hither!

For a fuller history of the 2EH Edinburgh station of the BBC, please head on over to the excellent page on the subject at Scotland on Air.

If you have found this useful, informative or amusing, perhaps you would like to help contribute towards the running costs of this site (including keeping it ad-free and my book-buying budget) by supporting me on ko-fi. Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends.

These threads © 2017-2025, Andy Arthur

#BBC #DanceHalls #December31 #Entertainment #GeorgeStreet #Hogmanay #January1 #Radio #Written2025

In 1914, the world's first airline started operation in St. Petersburg, Florida. Called the "St. Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line". The somewhat appropriately named Tony Jannus was the pilot.

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on January 1st

https://topicaltens.blogspot.com/2021/12/1-january.html

#ThisDayInHistory #otd #OnThisDate #OnThisDay #1January #January1

My blog is 11 years old today. Here's the very first post:

https://topicaltens.blogspot.com/2014/01/10things-celebrated-on-january-1-st.html

Things other than the New Year which are celebrated on this date.

#1January #January1 #NewYear

It's 5 a.m. on January 1.

We seem to be starting the year with some fireworks.

#Sunrise #Photography #January1

[12:15 PM] Key law changes in the Netherlands effective Jan. 1, 2025

ANP has compiled its overview of the most important legislative and regulatory changes coming into effect on January 1, 2025.

https://nltimes.nl/2024/12/28/key-law-changes-netherlands-effective-jan-1-2025

#ANP #January1,2025

DC WEEKLY! ⚠️
DC Comics will release at least eleven brand new comics on Wednseday, January 1, 2025, including comics from Superman, Justice League and Batgirl!

See: https://comixnow.com/2024/12/26/dc-weekly-dc-comics-available-on-january-1-2025/

#DCWeekly #DCComics #January1 #Comics

[08:15 AM] Some of the most important law changes taking effect on 1 January 2025

At the start of every year, the Dutch government implements law changes. Here is a summary of some important changes that take effect on January 1.

https://nltimes.nl/2024/12/22/important-law-changes-taking-effect-1-january-2025

#thestartofeveryyear #Dutch #January1

[07:15 AM] Cabinet gives in: Municipalities can implement zero-emission zones next year

The Dutch cabinet has authorized municipalities to implement zero-emission zones for delivery vans and trucks starting January 1, 2025.

https://nltimes.nl/2024/11/23/cabinet-gives-municipalities-can-implement-zero-emission-zones-next-year

#Dutch #zero #January1,2025

[13:51] Tesco lifts pay for staff and extends paid maternity leave to 26 weeks

Tesco Ireland has announced a 3pc pay increase from January 1 for most staff and has extended paid maternity leave from 14 to 26 weeks.

https://www.independent.ie/business/tesco-lifts-pay-for-staff-and-extends-paid-maternity-leave-to-26-weeks/a2024581897.html

#TescoIreland #3pc #January1 #14to26weeks

[18:01] Tolls to increase for M50, national roads and Dublin Tunnel from January 1

A number of toll charges across Ireland’s road network are set to increase from January 1, with southbound prices in the Dublin Port Tunnel rising to €13 during morning peak hours.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/tolls-to-increase-for-m50-national-roads-and-dublin-tunnel-from-january-1/a180741862.html

#Ireland #January1 #theDublinPortTunnel #13 #morning

[15:44] Cost of stamps to go up to €1.14, rise of 11% in 12 months

The cost of posting a letter is to go up to €1.21 from January 1, an increase of 11% in...

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/10/cost-of-stamps-to-go-up-to-e1-14-rise-of-11-in-12-months/

#upto€ #1.21 #January1 #11%

So, how many of you have received "Happy Birthday" greetings today, on 1/1, from websites that asked you for personal details when you signed up?

#NobodyKnowsYoureADogOnTheInternet #HappyBirthday #PII #DOB #January1 #January1st

✨📜🖋️✨👀🐲🐯💞

#PenQuote #January1 #JRRTolkien #Gildor #TheFellowshipoftheRing

Song of the Day January 1 2024

In honor of the birth of Joseph Saddler bka Grandmaster Flash

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_Flash

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - “The Message”

https://youtu.be/aFhEIlXAAwU?si=fFB-t2foZYv7KAnb

#SongOfTheDay #SOTD #SOTD2024 #January1 #JosephSaddler #GrandmasterFlash #TheMessage #HipHop #Rap #OldSchoolRap #1980s #Music

Song of the Day January 1 2024

In honor of the birth of Joseph Saddler bka Grandmaster Flash

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_Flash

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - “The Message”

https://youtu.be/aFhEIlXAAwU?si=fFB-t2foZYv7KAnb

#SongOfTheDay #SOTD #SOTD2024 #January1 #JosephSaddler #GrandmasterFlash #TheMessage #HipHop #Rap #OldSchoolRap #1980s #Music

In 1660, Samuel Pepys recorded the first entry in his Diary: "This morning (we lying lately in the garret) I rose, put on my suit with great skirts, having not lately worn any other clothes but them."

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 1 January:

https://topicaltens.blogspot.com/2021/12/1-january.html

#ThisDayInHistory #otd #onthisday #OnThisDate #1January #January1

Double birthday today: my grandfather Hendrik Paulus (about 18 years old in this picture) and Geisha (about 7 in the picture). One a great example, the other one of the lights of our lives.

#birthday #January1 #genealogy #cat #cats

January Idea: Create a “joy jar” and write down the funny, happy, memorable experiences that happen throughout 2023. Big or small, trivial or monumental. You can add to the jar daily, weekly, or spontaneously, whatever suits you.

Next December 31st, empty the jar and read about the amazing year you had!

#HisAndHearsePress #JoyJar #Memories #NewYear #NewYearsEve #Remember #LoveNotesToYourself #January1 #December31