1920 in British radio

This is a list of events from British radio in 1920.

Events

• January – The first informal and spasmodic broadcasts in the United Kingdom are made by the Marconi Company from Chelmsford in Essex. These broadcasts include both speech and music. ^[1]
• 23 February–6 March – The Marconi Company broadcasts from Chelmsford a series of 30-minute shows repeated twice daily. These include live music performances. ^[1]
• 15 June – Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba becomes history's first well-known professional performer to make a radio broadcast when she sings two arias as part of the series of Marconi broadcasts from Chelmsford. ^[1]
• November – The Marconi broadcasts from Chelmsford cease after it is claimed they interfere with aircraft and ship communications. ^[1] They resume in 1922 regularly as 2MT.

Births

• 5 February – Frank Muir, comedy writer (died 1998)
• 2 April – Ian Messiter, panel game creator (died 1999)
• 2 May – Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, Scottish pianist, composer and broadcaster (died 1980) ^[2]
• 12 June – Peter Jones, comic actor (died 2000)
• 18 June – Ian Carmichael, actor (died 2010)
• 28 June – Irene Thomas, radio quiz show player (died 2001)
• 24 October – Steve Conway, singer (died 1952) ^[3]

References

1. The Shell Book of Firsts 1983. pp. 145–8.
2. "Joe "Mr. Piano" Henderson Songs, Albums, Revie..." AllMusic . Retrieved 28 May 2025.
3. "Steve Conway Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 September 2021.