6th March 1962 – ‘Ideal Home Exhibition’ event (Olympia, London)

A visit to the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1962 – along with a million other people -would have had you tripping over BBC shows covering the event. Woman’s Hour (Light Programme) were reporting from there every week for three editions whilst Science And The Home’s (Home Service) Nan Macdonald looked at technology.

Meanwhile, the “People Make Programmes” exhibit publicised television personalities. This was an immersive experience where you were moved through. “’a kind of magic carpet from which visitors can see many of the faces of people who have made BBC programmes memorable”, according to the exhibition guide (cf Television for Women: New Directions).

The music for this exhibit was provided by Maddalena Fagandini. A gentle, playful piece composed from mostly acoustic and musical sources, chiefly amongst these is a xylophone plinking out jazzy riffs, zippy glissandos and tumbling phrases augmented by echoes. A variety of other Radiophonic sourced musical phrases are blended with the occasional whoosh and shush. The piece on BBC Radiophonic Workshop – 21 is just over a minute and that might have been the length of the travellator as you were processed through to the other side.