BBC News nostalgia, including BBC World

Digressing from the thread, but I also recall when BBC World News was named simply as BBC World. And towards the end of that branding, the on-air introductions for a few years became “Welcome to BBC News from BBC World. I’m XYZ........”. And, eventually, the channel name changed to its current BBC World News.

The vast majority of people I know within and outwith still call it BBC World. (Or just ‘World’). Even it’s twitter handle is just @BBCWorld

As much as I hate to admit it, I can kind of understand the thinking behind the BBC World name change. Back in the original BBC World days, the channel was a really good mixture of news, current affairs and lifestyle programming. But by 2008 it was pretty much exclusively devoted to news. Programmes like Top Gear, Holiday and documentaries like Great Railway Journeys were long gone by that point. So, changing the name to BBC World News - at least for me - was understandable. However, I think the two channel names should have been BBC World News and BBC News 24 from 2008. Dropping News 24 was a mistake.

I'm showing my age now, but way before it became BBC World, it was known as BBC World Service Television.

Blimey! You’re from the Riz Khan, Julian Marshall and Pamela Armstrong era!!!

(So am I, actually..........)

Wasn't it effectively two different channels at that point? I'm sure I've read somewhere that there was a European version which was essentially content from BBC1 and BBC2, with the occasional WSTV News bulletin thrown in? And I think that was preceded by something called BBC TV Europe. And then there was a separate WSTV channel in Asia. Then in 1995 BBC World became one channel, with BBC Prime showing the entertainment content that had previously been shown on WSTV.

By the way, on a similar note, did anyone ever see Superchannel in Europe? I'd loved to have seen the ITN World News on that - sadly my only experience is from a smattering of YouTube clips.

I always thought BBC World launched in 1991. So what were these titles from 1987 for? There is a description in the YouTube video but I'd much rather ask the experts on here.

I was 16 doing work experience at TVC when Breakfast News was presented by Nick Witchell and Jill Dando (rip). Tanya Silem was one of the World Service presenters in a rather smallish studio.

Those were test idents way before it launched.

Yes I've seen that before, too, and I'm not sure. Maybe an early pilot for a world news service?

Pinning down an exact start date for BBC World News is pretty difficult, really. The best option is to go with 1995 as that's when the channel we know and love today launched. Before 1995 it seems it was a collection of different experiments in various markets - Europe and Asia. It's roots - from that clip - seem to extend back to 1987 - which is probably about right, as ITN launched its own World News on Superchannel in 1987. There must have been a "space race" of sorts in '87!

Yeah, TV Ark has clips of her on Look North.

I can remember working in Turkey the week the Gulf War started, January 1991. There was the rudimentary BBC World TV service then , it just consisted of live or 'as seen live' BBC 1 and BBC 2 non copyright programmes (i.e. news,current affairs, and docs) Often the output would flick between 1 and 2 as if you were at home changing channel with your remote. Very basic stuff, but more useful (if you were a Brit abroad than what it's developed into). I can remember watching BBC Breakfast, the Nine O'clock News, and NewsNight on it. We all sat in the empty hotel bar, and watched John Major's Prime Ministerial Broadcast on the day the war started