Children's Hour

See also: The Children's Hour

for the Australian radio program, see Argonauts Club

Children's Hour—at first: "The Children's Hour", from a verse by Longfellow^[1]—was the name of the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") during the period when radio dominated broadcasting.

Children's Hour was broadcast from 1922 to 1964, originally from the BBC's Birmingham station 5IT,^[2] soon joined by other regional stations, then in the BBC Regional Programme, before transferring to its final home, the new BBC Home Service, at the outbreak of World War II. Parts of the programme were also rebroadcast by the BBC World Service. For the last three years of its life (from 17 April 1961 until 27 March 1964), the title Children's Hour was no longer used, the programmes in its "time-slot" going out under the umbrella heading of For the Young.

In the United Kingdom, Children's Hour was broadcast from 5pm to 6pm every day of the week with the biggest listening figures being at weekends when parents joined in too. It was the time of day during the week when children could be expected to be home from school, and was aimed at an audience aged about 5 to 15 years. Programming was imbued with Reithian virtues, and Children's Hour was often criticised, like "Auntie" BBC itself, for paternalism and middle-class values. It was nonetheless hugely popular, and its presenters were national figures, their voices instantly recognisable. Derek McCulloch was closely involved with the programme from 1926, and ran the department from 1933 until 1950 when he had to resign for health reasons. From 1928 to 1960, Children's Hour in Scotland was organised and presented by Kathleen Garsgadden who was known as 'Auntie Kathleen' and whose popularity brought crowds to the radio station in Glasgow.^[3] Popular nature study programmes on the Scottish Children's Hour were presented by Tom Gillespie (the 'Zoo Man'), James Douglas-Home (the 'Bird Man'), and Gilbert Fisher (the 'Hut Man') during the 1940s and 50s.

The definitive history of the programme can be found in the book "BBC Children's Hour" by Wallace Grevatt, edited by Trevor Hill and published by The Book Guild in 1988. With a foreword by David Davis, who became synonymous with the programme, its 21 chapters trace the chronological history and also deal with the six regions: Midland, Northern, West of England, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland.

Trevor Hill was one of the key producers on "Children's Hour" and was based in Manchester but later moved across to BBC Television where he introduced "Children's Television Club", the original Northern-based presenters being Geoffrey Wheeler and Judith Chalmers, before it moved to London. A full account of Hill's wide-ranging career can be found in his autobiography "Over the Airwaves" published by The Book Guild in 2005, which includes much detail about "Children's Hour". He was later asked by the BBC to write and produce radio programmes in tribute to three Children's Hour regulars, Derek McCulloch (Uncle Mac), Wilfred Pickles and Violet Carson.

Programmes

Among popular series on Children's Hour were:

• Jennings at School
• Just So Stories
• Toytown
• Inishban
• Mary Plain
• Norman and Henry Bones
• Nature Parliament
• Out with Romany
• Sherlock Holmes
• Worzel Gummidge
• Winnie the Pooh

and serialisations of stories by children's authors such as Malcolm Saville, Rosemary Sutcliff and Arthur Ransome. Well-known musicians such as Peter Maxwell Davies composed music for the programme.

People

Among actors and presenters who were famous for their work on Children's Hour were:

• Arthur Burrows ('Uncle Arthur' - also the first London wireless Uncle)
• Violet Carson
• David Davis
• Norman Ellison, aka Nomad the Naturalist.
• Carleton Hobbs
• Stephen King-Hall ('The Stargazer')
• Derek McCulloch ('Uncle Mac')
• Kathleen Garsgadden ('Auntie Kathleen')
• Jon Pertwee
• Wilfred Pickles
• David Seth-Smith, aka The Zoo Man
• Norman Shelley
• Barrie Hesketh

Notes and references

1. ^ Between the dark and the daylight,
   When the night is beginning to lower,
   Comes a pause in the day's occupations
   That is known as the Children's Hour.
2. ^ Crisell, Andrew (2002). "The first programmes". An Introductory History of British Broadcasting. Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 0415247926. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KwzYIYCE4jsC&pg=PA20. Retrieved 2008-12-05. "Programmes for the young date from the very beginning of radio: Children's Hour originated in Birmingham in 1922" 
3. ^ W. H. McDowell, ‘Garscadden, Kathleen Mary Evelyn (1897–1991)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/49649