The ITN 1955 Club is planning events this year to mark the 70th Anniversary of the launch of ITN.
As well as the AGM in April and the usual Christmas lunch in December, there will be a special 70th Anniversary Lunch In London in September, and the inaugural Sir David Nicholas Memorial Lecture in May.
Former ITN graphic designer Glen Miller has designed a special logo for the anniversary (see image above).
The Chair of the ITN 1955 Club, Alex Kingston, says: “We think it’s really important that the Club marks this anniversary. ITN has been such a big part of all of our lives, and anniversaries like this are a great way of remembering and celebrating what we all did at the company over so many years.”
Launch of ITN
ITN went on air on September 22nd September 1955 from a small studio in the new ITN headquarters at Television House in Kingsway.
Last year, the Newsletter carried a series of articles about Kingsway, ITN’s home from 1955 to 1969.
In an interview, Diana Edwards-Jones remembered the launch of the first programme in 1955. She said: “Everyone was enthusiastic. We all wanted to get it right. You have to remember it was such a small team”.
In another article, Peter Snow said of Kingsway: “I was stunned at the energy of the place. It was buzzing with masterly TV journalism and lively companionship.”
Duncan Jones, who joined ITN in 1968, remembered how noisy Kingsway was: “The newsroom was on the 7th floor, a constant cacophony of ringing phones, clattering typewriters and telexes, and reporters shouting across the newsroom.”
And Nick Ashton, an ITN sound engineer, summarised it neatly in his article on Kingsway, about the early years at the company: “I can’t help being envious of my 1950s colleagues. Simpler technology, yet used in a then new environment, requiring a huge team effort to deliver the bulletins in a new ground-breaking way.
“A continuing theme throughout ITN’s existence. Breaking the mould, doing things differently, being pioneers.”
For more details about ITN’s 70th Anniversary and the ITN 1955 Club anniversary events, contact the Newsletter Editor Nigel Dacre. Or send a message via our contact page.