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Swingometer | Remembering election nights with the pollster's favourite pendulum
About this collection
A mainstay of BBC election night coverage, the swingometer was designed to explain the unfolding results in visual terms. It has kept pace with evolving broadcast technology and developed from a simple hand-made prop into the latest in computer wizardry.
In this collection, we examine the evolution of this political pendulum and meet some of the presenters who made the device their own. Extracts from election nights over the decades remind us of dramatic victories and losses and demonstrate some of the stresses of a live television broadcast.
Features
- Gallery | Broadcasting the Election
Behind the scenes on election night
Image Gallery
- Decision '79 | Swingometer banter
Decision '79
- Nationwide | Election results with Sue Lawley
- McKenzie's Lore
McKenzie's Lore
Swingometer Collection
- Programmes (9)
- Galleries (1)
Decision '79
Swingometer banter from 1979 with the irrepressible Bob McKenzie.
McKenzie's Lore
The king of the swingometer remembered by friends, colleagues, politicians and pundits.
Nine O'Clock News
Analysis of the 1997 election.
Peter Snow drives the graphics for the 1997 election.
Newsnight
A preview of 2005's election coverage.
A virtual swingometer for Peter Snow in 2005.
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