Description
The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was created in 1922, when daily broadcasting began in Marconi’s studio in London on 14 November 1922.
The BBC was officially established by Royal Charter in January 1927, with John Reith becoming the first Director-General.
In November 1936 the BBC Television Service opened with programs such as drama, sport, outside broadcasts, and cartoons. However, TV broadcasting came to a halt with the outbreak of the Second World War.
In January 1938, the BBC began broadcasting in foreign languages, with its first radio service in Arabic. Foreign language broadcasting played a major role during the Second World War, as it became a source of propaganda news to the free world.
The 1950s and 1960s were marked by the increasing popularity of TV broadcasting, and the first full colour service in Europe was launched on BBC 2 in July 1967.
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, the BBC also contributed to English language education by publishing textbooks and audio-materials which were distributed internationally, often in collaboration with other publishing houses. For example, as regards the Italian context, Valmartina was responsible for adapting BBC books for the Italian audience. The books were often supplemented by recordings produced in the UK, as in the case of Calling all beginners (1958), Getting on in English (1963), and Spoken English (1961).
Currently, the BBC supports English language education through the platform BBC Learning English: this started its activities in 1943 as part of the BBC World Service, and it is freely accessible online.