1972 – 1988Murdoch acquires the British newspapers, Th e
Times and Sunday Times, having been exempted
from a monopolies enquiry by the Conservative
government, led by Margaret Th atcher.• (^) The microprocessor makes possible the
introduction by the IBM company of the fi rst
personal computer.
1982 UK: Hunt Committee on Cable Expansion
and Broadcasting Policy.
• (^) UK: Channel 4 television begins transmission.
1983 Breakfast TV starts on the BBC; the CD
player, the pocket TV and the first cordless
telephone are introduced to the UK.
1984 UK: first satellite TV channel – Rupert
Murdoch’s Sky – begins transmission, 16 Janu-
ary.
• (^) Civil servant Clive Ponting is acquitted by
a jury of breaking the Offi cial Secrets Act. His
relevation to the press of details concerning the
British sinking of the Argentine battleship Th e
Belgrano were justifi ed in court as being in the
public interest. Later the Act was redrafted to
exclude public interest as a defence.
• (^) Robert Maxwell takes over the Daily Mirror
group.
• (^) Apple launch the Macintosh personal
computer.
1985 Rupert Murdoch buys American film
company 20th Century Fox.
• (^) Panasonic of Japan introduces to the UK the
first VHS camcorder in January, and in May
Sony launches the digital video-recorder.
• (^) British Board of Film Censors issues age clas-
sifi cation for videos, following the passing of the
Video Recordings Act (1984).
1986 Eddy Shah’s To d a y newspaper, published
in the UK, is the fi rst to use on-the-run colour.
Launched on 4 March the 44-page paper carried
16 pages in colour.
• (^) Australian TV soap Neighbours is introduced
to UK on BBC.
• (^) USSR: Michail Gorbachev announces new
policy of Glasnost, ‘openness’.
• (^) Wapping, London: thousands of print work-
ers picket Murdoch’s new premises, protesting
about computerization and the loss of jobs.
• (^) Czechoslovakia: the Jazz Union is closed down
for urging the freedom of the arts.
1987 Sydney, Australia, September: British
government is rebuff ed in its courtroom appeal
against the decision to permit the publication of
Spycatcher.
1988 Th e fi rst transatlantic optical fi bre cable is
laid, costing 220 million, between the US and
UK/France, able to carry simultaneously 40,000
telephone calls.
the News of the World.
• (^) Denmark: fi lm censorship is abolished.
• (^) UK: York University launches fi rst university
radio station.
1972 US: fi rst pre-recorded video tapes off ered
for hire by Sears, Roebuck. Pre-recorded tapes
were not available in the UK until 1979, supplied
initially by Intervision who acquired 200 fi lm
titles from United Artists for 250,000. By the
end of the year they had franchised some 150
outlets. Such was the immediate competition
that Intervision soon went under despite the
increase in the sales of VCRs and rental outlets.
• (^) The UK Sunday Times is banned on 17
November from publishing a series of articles on
Th alidomide, a drug taken by expectant mothers
and causing horrifi c deformities in babies.
• (^) Cable TV transmission starts in UK.
1973 London Broadcasting (LBC) is the first
commercial radio station in mainland UK, on air
8 October.
1974 UK: BBC inaugurates Ceefax, the UK’s fi rst
teletext service.
1975 Angela Rippon becomes fi rst regular female
newsreader on British terrestrial television
(BBC). ITN’s News at Ten waited until 1978
before employing Anna Ford to front the news.
1977 UK: Annan Commission Report on Broad-
casting and the McGregor Commission Report
on the Press.
1978 UK: fi rst series of the comprehensive school-
set series Grange Hill.
• (^) First video cassette recorder introduced in the
UK.
• (^) Japan: the Sony Walkman is launched.
• (^) 1979 UK: Williams Committee Report on
Obscenity and Film Censorship.
• (^) First digital recording, by Decca, of a New
Year’s Day concert in Vienna; recorded live by
the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and issued
in April.
1980 The compact disc (CD), developed by
Philips over several years, is demonstrated at the
Salzburg Festival in April. By agreement with
Philips, the Japanese fi rm Sony launched the fi rst
CD in 1982. With a playing time of 75 minutes,
the CD used a grooveless miniature 12cm disc
using a laser beam to read digitally encoded
information.
• (^) MacBride Commission Report for UNESCO.
• (^) UK: ITV documentary Death of a Princess
causes offence to the government of Saudi
Arabia; millions of pounds in trade orders are
lost as a result. Th e British government apolo-
gizes to the Saudis, 22 April.
1981 UK: Australian media baron Rupert