BBC Charity Appeals - History
History
The BBC broadcast appeals for charity from its very beginning. The first was on 17th Feb 1923, three months after broadcasting began. It raised £26 6s 6d for the Winter Distress League, a charity representing homeless veterans of the First World War. The announcer was Ian Hay.
On-air charitable appeals continued over the next few years and the BBC took advice from Mr E.C. Price of the Charity Organisation Society as to appropriate causes for airtime.
The BBC's first Charity Appeals Advisory Committee
In 1926 it was decided to regulate appeals centrally through an advisory board. The Central Appeals Advisory Committee first met on 1st December 1927. The Chairman was R.C. Norman, who later became the BBC’s Chairman. The Committee was responsible for the administration and allocation of donations.
The growth of Charity Appeals
Local radio stations broadcast appeals fairly autonomously and with more frequency in the 1930s. Regional Advisory Committees were set up in 1934.
Although television Appeals were considered in 1938, it was decided not to go ahead because the pre-war television audience was so small.
Terry Wogan presents Children in Need in 1981
Initially, the BBC gave some specific charities the status of a guaranteed annual appeal, often on a fixed day. These were the British Legion, St Martin's Fund, Queen Alexandra Rose Day and the Wireless for the Blind Fund, whose first appeal at Christmas 1928 was broadcast by Winston Churchill. The annual Christmas broadcast for children’s charities, given from 1934 by Children's Hour's "Uncle Mac" was the predecessor for the current Children In Need appeal. At this time, different regional Children’s Hour programmes had their own appeals four times a year.
Listen to some early charity appeals
- Jean Metcalfe & Cliff Michelmore talk about the value of telephones for the blind – 1984 | Download text only version (MS Word, 28kb)
- H V Morton – National Trust Fund – 1938 | Download text only version (MS Word, 26kb)
- Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch Launceston Hospital – 1938
- Winston Churchill - RAF Benevolent Fund | Download text only version (MS Word, 28kb)
- George Arliss – Actors Beneveolent Fund - 1934 | Download text only version (MS Word, 28kb)
From 1930 ad-hoc appeals were more regulated and The Week's Good Cause became a regular broadcast. By this time, the BBC had developed a policy governing the kinds of cause they could support and the nature of the broadcast. This only changed with the outbreak of the Second World War, when Appeals became concentrated on charities connected to the conflict.
History written by Katharine Schöpflin with thanks to Jeff Walden of the Written Archives CentreRelated links
Non-flash text version of quotes
Useful links
- BBC World Service Trust
- Using the creative power of media to reduce poverty and promote human rights
- Grace Wyndham Goldie Trust
- Assistance for people currently or previously in broadcasting, their children and dependants.
- Children in Need small grants programme, distributed by the Frank Buttle Trust
- Small grants for individual children in need.
- Wireless for the Bedridden Society
- Provides televisions and/or radios for people who are housebound and in financial need.
- BBC Corporate Social Responsibility
- BBC Annual Report
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