Few revolutions are fronted by 50-year-old men sporting a grey velour V-neck and a half-hearted combover. But when consummate broadcaster Frank Bough took to the screen 40 years ago, a new age of television began. “It’s 6.30 on Monday, January 17, 1983,” declared Bough, “and you’re watching Britain’s first ever regular, early morning television programme.”
The BBC’s Breakfast Time, helmed by Bough, Selina Scott and Nick Ross, was Europe’s first breakfast show, 31 years after NBC’s Today launched in the US. Previously, morning TV had been restricted to Open University and schools programming – or nothing at all.
