It was two years ago when as Mayor I decided to closedown the original Ident City site, which was originally hosted by Geocities. I had been working on it part time since 1998, and with the fact that I was working most of the time, and the fact it took many hours work to encode each page and add the various files and links, I decided that I couldn’t do the site any favours by leaving it on site without adding new material on a regular basis. So I closed the site down and started a blog, with which I could experiment with.
The blog was called Viewpoint, and in those past two years, the blog has moved and grown from strength to strength. Now, I’m ready to return to Ident City, and once again, as mayor of this proud borough, let me welcome you back.
I aim to cover a lot more ground on this Ident City blog, than I ever could at the original site. Thanks to the developments in internet video, it’s possible for me to provide a much more content rich site than I could at the original.
To prove this, let me show you what gem I have discovered on You Tube. The video itself dates back to 1968, at around the time when ABC Weekend Television and Rediffusion London, through the instructions of the Independent Television Authority, were forming a joint operation as the new London Weekday franchisee, to be called Thames Television.
Thames would continue broadcasting to London until 1992. But the footage I present below, found on YouTube, is some original 405 line test footage of the early black and white version of what would become their best known and most loved identity. The London Skyline.
Listen out for the old ABC chimes in there, and towards the end of the video, a piece of music will come on that will be instantly familiar to anybody who watched any Thames Television output, anywhere in the world.
And this is what the final version looked like, in it’s original black and white glory!
It’s good to be back in Ident City.
Tags: 1968, 1992, Black and White, ITV, London Skyline, London Weekday, Thames Television
Ident City 
April 6, 2008 at 2:22 pm |
Hi, this is a comment.
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April 6, 2008 at 4:33 pm |
Hey, Where are all the Idents???
April 9, 2008 at 7:54 pm |
Being added slowly to the blog, as well as startups/sign-ons, closedowns, news intros and any other related bits of interest.