Time after time, the BBC pips are no simple job

Given the current interest in the birth of the BBC pips, the time signal that was first broadcast a century ago on 5 February 1924, I have been reminded of a film I saw in Brighton during the second world war. It starred Arthur Askey as the BBC’s operator of the pips. It was his responsibility to arrive in a limousine with due pomp and ceremony, don a pair of white gloves, be escorted to the hallowed room containing the box with the button, and, as the moment arrived, begin the momentous pressing of the button.

There must have been a plot, but it escapes me. It probably involved a dastardly scheme to sabotage the pips, thus rendering us open to German perfidy. I don’t know. What I do know is that for years I really thought that was how it was done.
Yvonne Whalley
Sherburn in Elmet, North Yorkshire

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