This Was Television On July 8
1952: The first international TV link is established
A series of joint broadcasts by the French and British were “the first ever to be transmitted simultaneously by two countries working on different television systems,” according to The Wireless and Electronic Trader. A week’s worth of programming—some captured by cameras perched atop the Eiffel Tower—crossed the English Channel to bring the City of Lights to the British telly.
Historians rank this event as one of the most successful in the long and tumultuous history of Franco-British collaboration, just behind the Battle of Amiens but well ahead of the disastrous attempt to throw Canada a party on its 5th birthday. -A.D.
Today’s Birthdays: Roone Arledge, groundbreaking ABC exec (d. 2002); Sophia Bush, starred in all 76 seasons of One Tree Hill despite only being (30); Robert Knepper, prison breakout (53); Eve Myles, Torchwoodbearer (34); Jeffrey Tambor, cornballer (68); Lee Tergesen, Oz inmate (47); Milo Ventimiglia, least powerful most powerful hero ever (35).
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