The 1958 Broadcast

Location:  Sandringham

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:

Elizabeth II uses one of her favourite themes in her Christmas Messages through the years; faith and family.  The Queen talks of the importance of both spiritual and family values as she explains the reasons why she has declined requests for her two young children to appear in the Broadcast and details the number of foreign trips which will be made by members of her family in the forthcoming year.  The Queen recognises the importance of scientific development, but also highlights the importance of spirituality in the history of mankind:  'prophets and dreamers, philosophers, men of ideas and poets, artists in paint, sculpture and music, the whole company who challenge and encourage or who entertain and give pleasure' as well as 'the teachers in Church, school and university, whose enormous job it is to awaken the minds of the younger generations and instil into them the essence of our accumulated civilisation.'

 

Commentary:

It would be tempting, though quite unfair, to consider the 1958 Broadcast as the 'poor relation';  subordinate to its much more famous and celebrated older 'sibling' from 1957.  In fact, this production has much going for it in its own right.  What was not known at the time was that this would prove to be the last Christmas Message to be shown live and the second of only two live television Broadcasts.

An editorial decision had evidently been made that each year's production should have its own individual identity.  Although the Broadcast is filmed in the Long Library, with all its associations with the twenty-six year history of the Royal Christmas Message, here we see the first concerted effort to turn the room into a 'set'.  The Queen is seated on a sofa, with a small table at the side of her where her speech is placed, to be referred to periodically as required.  Flowers are placed in the background on a table next to a writing desk, on which stand a smattering of Christmas cards.  The effect is that of a cosy sitting room, which is achieved with even better results than the year before:  Her Majesty is not relaxing in this room on Christmas Day, but it looks as though she is.  It is an illusion which would be re-created countless times down the years.

Elizabeth II's personal  appearance in the programme was also considered important.  Her Majesty is once again formally dressed in an evening gown and sporting a whopping four-strand pearl necklace.

This broadcast is probably best remembered for the touching explanation as to why the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh had not taken the risk of allowing their children Prince Charles, then ten, and Princess Anne, eight, to take part in the programme following numerous requests from members of the public for them to appear:  'We would like our son and daughter to grow up as normally as possible so that they will be able to serve you and the Commonwealth faithfully and well when they are old enough to do so. We believe that public life is not a fair burden to place on growing children. I'm sure that all of you who are parents will understand' Her Majesty says.  This would doubtless have been a relief to Prince Charles, whose leg was reportedly in plaster at the time following an accident at school!

Notes:

A technical problem with sound transmission resulted in millions of radio listeners missing the first eight words of the Message.  The television 'go ahead' had been given three seconds too early for sound.

The Queen's two younger children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward (nether of whom were yet born in 1958) would appear some years later in the 1971 Broadcast.  By this time, Elizabeth II was a fully experienced mother and monarch.  There was also the 'safety net' of pre-recording.

As Elizabeth II lists a busy forthcoming year of travelling for a number of members of the extended Royal Family (many of them so long gone they will be unknown to modern audiences), she deploys a joke:  'We have no plans for space travel - at the moment.'

The Christmas Broadcast would not return to Sandringham for another thirty-four years, when it would be the base for a five-year stint between 1992 and 1996.  The Long Library would be seen in the 1993 and 1995 productions. 

 

Almost sixty years after the Broadcast was made a long-forgotten report re-emerged which told how an intrepid poodle named Sam had discovered a copy of the speech in King's Lynn market place, eight miles away from Sandringham, a few hours before the Queen was due to deliver her Message.  Sam was being walked by 20 year old John Harvey, the son of a local publican.  Harvey immediately recognised the significance of what had been found and handed in the document to a local police station.   The manuscript in fact belonged to Antony Craxton of the BBC production team and was annotated with vital producer's notes.  The speech was returned to Sandringham with all due speed; but there was an interval before it could be reunited with Craxton who, realising his briefcase was missing, had done a U-turn on his way to Sandringham back to King's Lynn (where he was staying) only to discover that the briefcase had already been handed in to the police!

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