The Early Years of Television and the BBC by Jamie Medhurst book review: How the BBC embraced TV
This important book has been more than 10 years in the making and, by a fortunate chance, it has been published in the BBC’s centenary year, just a few years ahead of the centenary of television itself.
As Professor Medhurst points out, the history of television is an enormous subject. Its early days can be summarised by man of letters Samuel Johnson’s quotation about a dog walking on its hind legs: “It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all.”