Location: Buckingham Palace
Produced by: BBC
Theme: Speaking from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth II addresses the harsh economic climate of the time, including the problem of record inflation, but reassures her audience that Christmas reminds us of Christ's example and shows that small acts of goodness can have a combined effect: 'He showed that what people are and what they do, does matter and
does make all the difference'. Whether it is kindness and sympathy or courage and self-sacrifice, the Queen says everyone has their best to offer, which matters: 'If you throw a stone into a pool, the ripples go on spreading outwards...our daily actions are like those ripples, each one makes a difference, even the smallest.' The Queen encourages viewers to 'take heart from the Christmas message and be happy'.
Commentary: By the mid 1970s the view that the Message was merely a televised radio broadcast had gone; this was now a television production with television production values. Why, exactly, the decision was taken to film outdoors for the first time remains something of a mystery; it has little if anything to do with the subject matter of the Queen's speech, unless one takes the view that the bleakness of Her Majesty's surroundings is an allusion to the economic climate she describes. Clearly, however, someone thought it was a good idea. Elizabeth II stands in a bleak midwinter scene, her bottle-green outfit adding a small splash of colour amidst the shades of grey. A few ducks swim past on the Buckingham Palace lake, oblivious to their impending brief moment of fame. The Palace itself is visible, just about, through the December haze. Her Majesty delivers an admirably 'chipper' performance, seemingly unaffected by the wintriness. If the temperatures in London on that December day in 1975 matched the backdrop, one wonders whether Her Majesty was encouraged to perform the old filming trick of sucking ice cubes to combat the cold weather problem of visible, condensed breath. It was a change, however, and the by now familiar surroundings of the Regency Room would return the following year.
Perhaps it could be said that Elizabeth II balances the bleakness of the backdrop with the warmth of her words. Time and again over the years the Queen has returned to her deeply held view that small, positive acts combine to make a greater whole; as she eloquently puts it in this Broadcast, 'If enough grains of sand are dropped into one side of a pair of scales they will, in the end, tip it against a lump of lead'. You don't have to be a hero, Elizabeth II seems to be saying, just try to do something good each day. The Queen wants every positive contribution, however apparently small, to feel valued.
Trivia:
In addition to being the first to be filmed outdoors, this was the first Broadcast in which Elizabeth II delivered her entire speech standing up. She would do so again on occasions in the 1980s, and between 2003 and 2012 the Queen would deliver ten consecutive Messages from an entirely standing position.
Elizabeth II's second, and (to date) only other outdoors Broadcast would be six years later, in 1981.
For the first time the Queen is without her emergency script in case of autocue failure. By 1975 it appeared that Her Majesty had fully embraced the television age.
Full text here
Perhaps it could be said that Elizabeth II balances the bleakness of the backdrop with the warmth of her words. Time and again over the years the Queen has returned to her deeply held view that small, positive acts combine to make a greater whole; as she eloquently puts it in this Broadcast, 'If enough grains of sand are dropped into one side of a pair of scales they will, in the end, tip it against a lump of lead'. You don't have to be a hero, Elizabeth II seems to be saying, just try to do something good each day. The Queen wants every positive contribution, however apparently small, to feel valued.
Trivia:
In addition to being the first to be filmed outdoors, this was the first Broadcast in which Elizabeth II delivered her entire speech standing up. She would do so again on occasions in the 1980s, and between 2003 and 2012 the Queen would deliver ten consecutive Messages from an entirely standing position.
Elizabeth II's second, and (to date) only other outdoors Broadcast would be six years later, in 1981.
For the first time the Queen is without her emergency script in case of autocue failure. By 1975 it appeared that Her Majesty had fully embraced the television age.
Full text here
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