Children's Hour

For other uses, see The Children's Hour (disambiguation).

Children's Hour, initially The Children's Hour, was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting.

Children's Hour was broadcast from 1922 to 1964, originally from the BBC's Birmingham station 5IT,[1] soon joined by other regional stations, then in the BBC Regional Programme, before transferring to its final home, the new BBC Home Service, at the outbreak of the second World War. Parts of the programme were also rebroadcast by the BBC World Service. For the last three years of its life (from 17 April 1961 until 27 March 1964)[2] Children's Hour was no longer used, the programmes in its timeslot going out under the umbrella heading of For the Young.

The programme takes its name from a verse by Longfellow: "Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour."

  1. ^ Crisell, Andrew (2002). "The first programmes". An Introductory History of British Broadcasting. Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 0-415-24792-6. Retrieved 5 December 2008. Programmes for the young date from the very beginning of radio: Children's Hour originated in Birmingham in 1922
  2. ^ "Children's Hour (7th April 1961)". Retrieved 10 March 2024. Last broadcast to use the title Children's Hour.