[AaronLancs]

Did a search over on the Blue Place to see if a precedent was set and it was. So I acknowledge and give thanks to TVF member Jonwo for setting one.

As per the subtitle of the thread with a slight minor adjustment:

A thread to ask questions about things you want to know about media but were too afraid to ask

This can cross board boundaries, channels, news & sport, programmes, online and industry. All of those "silly questions" that seem to pop into one's head. So I'll start it off over here with the following:

How did Yorkshire Television come to name their regional news programme Calendar?

[Spencer]

How did Yorkshire Television come to name their regional news programme Calendar?

I always presumed they didn’t want a geographical name like ‘Yorkshire Tonight’ or ‘Yorkshire News’ as they cover areas outside Yorkshire (even before the Belmont/Bilsdale region switch), so such a title might be misleading.

As for why they chose the name Calendar itself, I don’t think there was ever any special significance of the word to the region. I guess a calendar contains information events on a day-by-day basis, which I’d assume is why they chose it.

[Stooky Bill]

How did Yorkshire Television come to name their regional news programme Calendar?

Firstly remember that back then they were more regional magazine shows than full news bulletins. This goes for both ITV and BBC. 

Secondly, the name Calendar wasn't really unusual back then, Westwards equivalent was 'Diary', Borders was 'Lookaround' Southern had 'Day by Day', Thames had 'Tonight' etc

It's just Calendar is the only one left

[Former Member 406]

Why the blitering flip was the BBC's long-running children's magazine ever named "Blue Peter"?

A "blue peter" is a nautical flag. The programme's logo is a ship. The programme's theme tune is a "nautical" style of tune.

Given that the programme isn't, say, a documentary about the Royal Navy or whatever, the nautical branding has got precisely sod all to do with what kind of a programme it is.

I'd love to have been in the meeting room for the original programme pitch....

- "We've had an idea for a children's magazine format featuring viewer and presenter challenges, competitions, celebrity interviews, popular culture, and making arts & crafts items from household items."

- "Oh, yes? And what do you want to call it?"

- "Blue Peter. As in the nautical flag. With a ship for a logo, and a suitably nautical theme tune, to match."

I mean... Eh?

There must've been contraband substances flowing in that meeting room...

[all new phil]

It’s not that mad. I think it came about because of the connotations of going off on an adventure of discovery.

[Stooky Bill]

The reason for the name is well documented... The flag raised when a ship is about to set sail, the idea is that the programme was a 'voyage of discovery'. The fact that the name included a colour and a (then) common child's name were other reasons for choosing it.

Difficult to name a programme that's not about a specific thing, it always has to be something dull or abstract. Magpie was a similarly odd title of you think about it

[Joe]

Why the blitering flip was the BBC's long-running children's magazine ever named "Blue Peter"?

Your posts are quite angry

[Neil Jones]

Must be remembered of course in 1958 it was black and white TV. So to have "blue" anything on screen was purely subjective and left to the imagination. "a shade of grey Peter" doesn't quite roll off the tongue in the same way

But I dare say when colour TV became reality and they could use it, they could really go to town with the whole "Blue" name they already had.

[i.h]

Firstly remember that back then they were more regional magazine shows than full news bulletins. This goes for both ITV and BBC. 

Secondly, the name Calendar wasn't really unusual back then, Westwards equivalent was 'Diary', Borders was 'Lookaround' Southern had 'Day by Day', Thames had 'Tonight' etc

It's just Calendar is the only one left

although you could argue it persisted into the 2000s with some other regions. "Westcountry Live" isn't the most cryptic name, but IMO it also doesn't immediately scream news. (IIRC they originally also had shorter bulletins called "Westcountry Latest", which is more newsy)

[Stooky Bill]

although you could argue it persisted into the 2000s with some other regions. "Westcountry Live" isn't the most cryptic name, but IMO it also doesn't immediately scream news. (IIRC they originally also had shorter bulletins called "Westcountry Latest", which is more newsy)

'Westcountry Live' does at least mention the name of the area and TV station, whereas the examples I gave didn't even mention that.

Incidently, two I forgot to mention are Tyne Tees' 'Northern Life' and Ulster's 'Roundabout' which sounds more like a kids show

Although the original hour long Westcountry Live (like the original London Tonight) was more than just news, there was a lot of magaziney items and features too. So that's presumably why they didn't use the word news. They were probably more similar to those early regional magazines


Incidently, Westcountry's news bulletins had all sorts of names at the start such as Westcountry Latest and Westcountry Extra. They soon unified them except for Live