I think the more important move was for BBC1 to actually start broadcasting after Breakfast Time/News from 27 October 1986. Before that, we'd had a testcard until the midday news,
Not really, there were schools programmes on in the mornings on BBC1 for years, and children's programmes in the holidays. It wasn't just a testcard
It is totally mind blowing sometimes to think that's how it used to be. An entirely different world.
It was, but
everything
was different back then. However even today, I find watching TV during a normal weekday at home an odd thing to do, and I generally don't. It's always been the radio or music for me before 6pm, Probably because I'm normally at work during the day !