About the BBC Blog

Cameras like the one the BBC used in colour broadcasts in the late sixties and seventies are potent symbols. For people of a certain age, they're a shortcut to childhood memories, in this case the BBC's weekly pop music programme Top of the Pops.

The camera like that pictured above is one of a collection that makes up a special exhibition across the UK that tells the story of broadcasting innovation. The exhibition is open to the public and staged alongside demonstration screenings of the 2012 Olympics in Super Hi-Vision in London and Glasgow. Entry to the exhibition and screenings are free. Further details are available on the BBC's Shows and Tours website. Super Hi-Vision screenings are also being staged at the National Media Museum in Bradford.

Before a special visit made by representatives from NHK to New Broadcasting House, London, to see the exhibition and for a Super Hi-Vision screening earlier this week, I spoke to Head of BBC History Robert Seatter and BBC Technology Advisor John Trenouth about the appeal of broadcasting history and how the Olympics have helped fuel advances in broadcasting.

Jon Jacob is Editor of the About the BBC Blog.

Head of BBC History Robert Seatter recently blogged about the Olympics, Broadcasting Innovation and Super Hi-Vision on the About the BBC blog.

Entry to the broadcast innovation exhibition in the BBC's Scotland headquarters in Pacific Quay in Glasgow and New Broadcasting House in London is free.

Super Hi-Vision screenings are open to the public are free but require a ticket. Book tickets for London and Glasgow on the BBC Shows and Tours website and on the National Media Museum website for Bradford.

Learn more about the BBC's past on the History of the BBC website.