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30 years since the start of Operation Desert Storm

History (January 2021)

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RD
Roger Darthwell
30 years ago today marked the start of Operation Desert Storm, the military operation to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, because of this I have decided to share some historical material from 1991
CNN's live coverage of the outbreak of war

Prime Ministerial Broadcast by John Major on BBC1

End of Breakfast News and start of Gulf War news report on BBC1

End of Gulf War news report followed by closedown and Pages from Ceefax on BBC1

Here is a playlist with some of ITN's coverage of the outbreak of Operation Desert Storm https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQ-ncTDQQu7HFU2xWd0QgDReBKqnXJ7k
And here are loads of other footage https://www.tvark.org/?page=2387#/
Last edited by Roger Darthwell on 17 January 2021 4:24pm - 2 times in total
jonO, Si-Co and johnnyboy gave kudos
VM
VMPhil
Christ, that's quite a heavy BBC1 line-up in the second clip. PM, news, regional news, Question Time featuring news, news, vigil, news. I hope there was something lighter on BBC2!
PH
Philheybrookbay
I remember the invasion of Kuwait better, coming during the hottest August spell the UK had had in 1990. The prospect of war was all the more likely as the months dragged on before like the report stated- patience just snapped with Iraq.

30 years ago...jese.
RD
Roger Darthwell
Christ, that's quite a heavy BBC1 line-up in the second clip. PM, news, regional news, Question Time featuring news, news, vigil, news. I hope there was something lighter on BBC2!

On BBC2 that day there were all the programmes that were planned to go on BBC1! Even though that day Top Of The Pops was not aired, but yeah 30 years ago today BBC1 basically turned into a rolling news channel, also BBC Radio 4's FM frequencies were turned into Radio 4 News FM, also nicknamed Scud FM
JO
johnnyboy Founding member
Thanks for the clips, Roger.

I remember staying off college to watch the "War in the Gulf" programmes - 30 years, OMG.

How they filled that much airtime is a mystery. I got bored with it pretty quickly and went back to college as normal a few days in.

I do remember listening to Scud FM on my Walkman knockoff on the bus to college! How I wish Radio 5 Live was like that now.
MA
Markymark
I remember that day, and seeing all of those programmes on the then BBC World Service TV in both the hotel and the TV station we were working in Istanbul.
We'd flown out the day before on a deserted BA flight, and checked in to a deserted hotel. At the TV station they had CNN playing on every telly in the building. We put BBC WS on the monitor in our site office. It was like the current pandamic in the city at night, only without the social distancing or masks!
commseng and Roger Darthwell gave kudos
LL
London Lite Founding member
The CNN simulcasts on ITV and Radio 4 FM turning into 'Scud FM' were my broadcasting memories of the 1st Gulf War.
BC
Blake Connolly Founding member
My main memories were lots of maps showing various troop movements, positions of aircraft carriers and so on, either graphics with early use of telestrators (as parodied on KYTV shortly afterwards) or Peter Show's sandpit on Newsnight. I think at the time I was quite excited about those new graphics the BBC were using with the Gulf War "logo" as seen at the start of the news bulletin in the third video above.
BB
BBI45
If anybody wants to listen to some recordings from Scud FM, you can find a playlist on YouTube.
London Lite and Roger Darthwell gave kudos
RD
Roger Darthwell
Thanks for the clips, Roger.

I remember staying off college to watch the "War in the Gulf" programmes - 30 years, OMG.

How they filled that much airtime is a mystery. I got bored with it pretty quickly and went back to college as normal a few days in.

I do remember listening to Scud FM on my Walkman knockoff on the bus to college! How I wish Radio 5 Live was like that now.

No worries Sir! I had to share them because of this important anniversary!
BU
buster
The closedown clip suggests Breakfast News begins at 6am, however this clip starts with a similar caption suggesting BBC1 is starting up and it’s 7am according to the clock. And the start time in 1991 was usually 6.30am for Business Breakfast. (Odd caption too, Radio 2 news updates through the night - except it’s now 7am)

As a young telly geek my main memory was how it completely trashed the schedule, and I was expecting the 2003 Gulf war to do much the same, but in the end it was far more limited, perhaps due to the likes of News 24/5 Live/News Online now existing.

MA
Markymark
The closedown clip suggests Breakfast News begins at 6am, however this clip starts with a similar caption suggesting BBC1 is starting up and it’s 7am according to the clock. And the start time in 1991 was usually 6.30am for Business Breakfast. (Odd caption too, Radio 2 news updates through the night - except it’s now 7am)

As a young telly geek my main memory was how it completely trashed the schedule, and I was expecting the 2003 Gulf war to do much the same, but in the end it was far more limited, perhaps due to the likes of News 24/5 Live/News Online now existing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si0IsVPTAs4


I watched that morning's Breakfast News on BBC World Service TV, I'm pretty sure it started at 06:00 GMT

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