Computer Originated World
Encyclopedia
The Computer Originated World (COW) was the method of creating the BBC1
symbol that was used between February 1985 and February 1991. It was later used by the international, commercial television service BBC World Service Television
from it's launch until c.1994.
at 7pm on 18 February 1985. The globe was created by the BBC
graphics and BBC
computer
departments and work began in 1983. The need to replace the NODD globes came about as the globes were the only mechanically produced idents around on television, as more and more television companies started to use computer graphics, made popular by the launch of Channel 4
. The COW was originally planned to launch on the 1 January 1985, but Michael Grade
, then controller of BBC1
, delayed the launch to coincide with a larger schedule change that resulted in the soap Eastenders
, and updated and renewed weather
graphics. This launch was hoped to reinvent BBC1 following ratings slide and ever increasing competition from their commercial rivals at ITV
.
The globe itself launched at 7pm on the 18 February, introducing one of the new flagship programmes: Wogan
a chat show hosted by Terry Wogan
and featuring a variety of guests. Prior to the launch at 7, the old NODD globe was used for the rest of the days continuity.
The COW went down well with the public, with many liking the new look. It improved opinions and perceptions of the channel immensely.
. The globe revolved at a steady pace throughout, and had the effect of a spotlight added to the surface. The continents were placed in such a way that the continents appeared to float on the water. The caption had the option of displaying the legend 'Ceefax 888' in reference to the subtitles available with the programme. Regional variations also included a legend with the region name, also in gold, below the BBC1 legend. The globe was generated when needed by the computer programme located in a metal box. This box had switches on the front that could turn the BBC1 caption, regional caption and subtitles caption on and off, as these elements were added later. These generators were delivered to all 11 regions and installed before Christmas 1984.
The look also featured an altered clock face to that used previously. This clock was once again electronic, but was changed to a black background, blue counters and gold hands to match the ident. The updated BBC1 legend also featured below the clock. The nations of Scotland
, Wales and Northern Ireland
and the sole English Region; the West Midlands
did receive their own variations of the clock, however it is not believed that any other English Regions
received their own variations. A notable occlusion of the look, was that the network BBC One clock didn't have a centre dot; this was never rectified throughout the run of the clock, however the dot was present on regional variations.
The new look also marked a change in programme slide design. These new slides featured the BBC1 legend upright and sideways in a black sidebar to the left of the screen. The remainder of the screen featured a picture of the programme and the programme name located at the bottom. However, the programme slides were still optically developed. This was changed in 1986 when the introduction of Quantel Paintbox
allowed captions to be created digitally. The design was altered slightly with the BBC1 legend made more textured, slightly smaller and moved to the bottom of the screen. The font was also changed to Optima, with text remaining in the same position. All this would now be located over the image rather than separate from it.
Promotions were not uniform, but were based on a seasonal scheme before being replaced. The promotions usually didn't contain any channel branding but would occasionally feature parts of the BBC1 legend in the design.
lacked the BBC name entirely.
in 1991 to replace BBC TV Europe
, the channel reused the COW symbol. Technically, the globe itself remained the same with changes made only to presentational style and the caption below the globe and the whole look being brought into line with corporate branding at the time.
The ident itself was modified with the caption beneath showing a BBC corporate logo, with the slanted legend 'World Service Television' beneath, in the same style as used for regional variations of the BBC1 ident at the time
. No clock accompanied the look, due to the various time zones used around the world, with serious or news programming being introduced by the globe.
Presentational style mirrored by that used on BBC1 and 2 at the time, and featured a static globe, positioned with Britain
, Europe
and Africa
in view, with BBC logo beneath located in the top left corner of the screen. The logo was present throughout the presentation. Static captions also featured this globe symbol in the top left corner, located in a sidebar of generic lines, with programme title overlaid the image at the bottom of the screen. The station was also unusual, in the fact that it had a static, opaque Digital on-screen graphic
(DOG) of the BBC logo in the top right corner of the screen.
The look appears to have been dropped c
.1994.
.
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
symbol that was used between February 1985 and February 1991. It was later used by the international, commercial television service BBC World Service Television
BBC World Service Television
BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV, was the name given to two of the BBC's international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting...
from it's launch until c.1994.
Launch
The Computer Originated World replaced the previous NODD globe symbolsNODD (Nexus Orthicon Display Device)
NODD , which stands for Nexus Orthicon Display Device , was the method used for generating identifications for the BBC1 and BBC2 television networks from 1963 to February 1985.-About NODD:The term NODD can be used to mean a variety of different things...
at 7pm on 18 February 1985. The globe was created by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
graphics and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
departments and work began in 1983. The need to replace the NODD globes came about as the globes were the only mechanically produced idents around on television, as more and more television companies started to use computer graphics, made popular by the launch of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
. The COW was originally planned to launch on the 1 January 1985, but Michael Grade
Michael Grade
Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth CBE is a British broadcast executive and businessman. He was BBC chairman from 2004 to 2006 and executive chairman of ITV plc from 2007 to 2009.-Early life:...
, then controller of BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, delayed the launch to coincide with a larger schedule change that resulted in the soap Eastenders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, and updated and renewed weather
BBC Weather
BBC Weather is the BBC's department in charge of preparing and broadcasting weather forecasts and is now part of BBC News. The broadcast meteorologists are employed by the Met Office...
graphics. This launch was hoped to reinvent BBC1 following ratings slide and ever increasing competition from their commercial rivals at ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
.
The globe itself launched at 7pm on the 18 February, introducing one of the new flagship programmes: Wogan
Wogan
Wogan was a chat show on British television, hosted by Terry Wogan. It followed the format of a series broadcast in 1980 entitled What's On Wogan?, which failed to gather viewers. The Wogan show was initially broadcast on Tuesday evenings on BBC1 in 1981 and from 1982 to 1984, it moved into the...
a chat show hosted by Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
and featuring a variety of guests. Prior to the launch at 7, the old NODD globe was used for the rest of the days continuity.
The COW went down well with the public, with many liking the new look. It improved opinions and perceptions of the channel immensely.
Components of Look
The Computer Originated World itself is a semi-transparent blue globe with golden continents and gold "BBC1" legend located below the globe in a font similar to that used in the early days of the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. The globe revolved at a steady pace throughout, and had the effect of a spotlight added to the surface. The continents were placed in such a way that the continents appeared to float on the water. The caption had the option of displaying the legend 'Ceefax 888' in reference to the subtitles available with the programme. Regional variations also included a legend with the region name, also in gold, below the BBC1 legend. The globe was generated when needed by the computer programme located in a metal box. This box had switches on the front that could turn the BBC1 caption, regional caption and subtitles caption on and off, as these elements were added later. These generators were delivered to all 11 regions and installed before Christmas 1984.
The look also featured an altered clock face to that used previously. This clock was once again electronic, but was changed to a black background, blue counters and gold hands to match the ident. The updated BBC1 legend also featured below the clock. The nations of Scotland
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
, Wales and Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
and the sole English Region; the West Midlands
BBC West Midlands
BBC West Midlands is the BBC English Region producing local television, radio, web and teletext content for West Midlands metropolitan county, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and parts of Northern Gloucestershire - although the county as part of the south west...
did receive their own variations of the clock, however it is not believed that any other English Regions
BBC English Regions
BBC English Regions is the division of the BBC responsible for local television, radio, web and teletext services in England. It is one of the BBC's four 'Nations' - the others being BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland....
received their own variations. A notable occlusion of the look, was that the network BBC One clock didn't have a centre dot; this was never rectified throughout the run of the clock, however the dot was present on regional variations.
The new look also marked a change in programme slide design. These new slides featured the BBC1 legend upright and sideways in a black sidebar to the left of the screen. The remainder of the screen featured a picture of the programme and the programme name located at the bottom. However, the programme slides were still optically developed. This was changed in 1986 when the introduction of Quantel Paintbox
Quantel Paintbox
The Quantel Paintbox was a dedicated computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics. Its design emphasizes the studio workflow efficiency required for live news production...
allowed captions to be created digitally. The design was altered slightly with the BBC1 legend made more textured, slightly smaller and moved to the bottom of the screen. The font was also changed to Optima, with text remaining in the same position. All this would now be located over the image rather than separate from it.
Promotions were not uniform, but were based on a seasonal scheme before being replaced. The promotions usually didn't contain any channel branding but would occasionally feature parts of the BBC1 legend in the design.
Special idents
| Title | Air dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
A cartoon graphic reading BBC Christmas 1 made up of various Christmas Christmas Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days... motifs such as various presents, a candle, holly and ribbons. The short animation was designed to tie into the end of promotions. Promotional style featured a panning view into a child's nursery, before a bag falls, pouring out streamers and ribbons. This streamer animation would be played at the end of the promotion to link into the ident. It was designed by Bernard Newnham. |
|||
A partridge flies onto a mountain of pears and sits on them, with the ‘BBC1’ logo superimposed on top. Two versions were made one for day-time and one for night-time. At the end of each day the partridge would fly away again. |
|||
The globe is a spinning top, spinning at the bottom of a Christmas tree Christmas tree The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century... with a ribbon around with the ‘BBC1’ logo on it. Again linked in with end promotions, which would link in by means of a toy train passing in front of the screen. |
|||
The globe appears superimposed on a face on the cover of a pop-up book about magic. The introduction sequence and promotions all featured the book opening and a wizard dancing round casting magic upon a variety of objects, often with a time feel, such as a large clock face and and hour glass. This was the last Christmas ident not to have corporate branding. |
|||
Replacement
The COW globe itself was popular with the public and the channel symbol was only changed so that the BBC could introduce a similar, corporate look to both BBC1 and 2. At the time, the channels were too dissimilar with each other making cross promotion difficult: this move would make it easier to make both channels look like they are from the same organisation, as the BBC2 symbol at the timeBBC Two 'TWO' ident
The BBC Two 'TWO' ident was the station identification used on BBC2 between 31 March 1986 and 15 February 1991. It was the last non corporate look for the channel, and the only look to date that did not feature a numeral '2' in the design.-Launch:...
lacked the BBC name entirely.
Components of Look
Upon the launch of BBC World Service TelevisionBBC World Service Television
BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV, was the name given to two of the BBC's international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting...
in 1991 to replace BBC TV Europe
BBC TV Europe
BBC TV Europe was a BBC subscription-funded television service founded in 1987 serving continental Europe. It was available on satellite and cable....
, the channel reused the COW symbol. Technically, the globe itself remained the same with changes made only to presentational style and the caption below the globe and the whole look being brought into line with corporate branding at the time.
The ident itself was modified with the caption beneath showing a BBC corporate logo, with the slanted legend 'World Service Television' beneath, in the same style as used for regional variations of the BBC1 ident at the time
BBC One 'Virtual Globe' ident
The "Virtual Globe" was the method of creating the BBC1 symbol that was used between 16 February 1991 and 3 October 1997.-Launch:The Virtual Globe replaced the Computer Originated World on 16 February 1991 and was designed by Martin Lambie-Nairn, owner of the Lambie-Nairn design agency...
. No clock accompanied the look, due to the various time zones used around the world, with serious or news programming being introduced by the globe.
Presentational style mirrored by that used on BBC1 and 2 at the time, and featured a static globe, positioned with Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in view, with BBC logo beneath located in the top left corner of the screen. The logo was present throughout the presentation. Static captions also featured this globe symbol in the top left corner, located in a sidebar of generic lines, with programme title overlaid the image at the bottom of the screen. The station was also unusual, in the fact that it had a static, opaque Digital on-screen graphic
Digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
(DOG) of the BBC logo in the top right corner of the screen.
The look appears to have been dropped c
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
.1994.
Replacement
The look on BBC World Service Television was dropped in favour of a look consisting entirely of fictional flags on the screen, with a single large BBC logo in centre screen. This was to emphasise the role that news played on the channel, and to associate itself more closely as a news channel, rather than BBC1. This is primarily evident, as the look was re-used for that purpose upon the channels split into BBC WorldBBC World
BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world...
.
See Also
- NODD (Nexus Orthicon Display Device)NODD (Nexus Orthicon Display Device)NODD , which stands for Nexus Orthicon Display Device , was the method used for generating identifications for the BBC1 and BBC2 television networks from 1963 to February 1985.-About NODD:The term NODD can be used to mean a variety of different things...
- BBC One 'Virtual Globe' identBBC One 'Virtual Globe' identThe "Virtual Globe" was the method of creating the BBC1 symbol that was used between 16 February 1991 and 3 October 1997.-Launch:The Virtual Globe replaced the Computer Originated World on 16 February 1991 and was designed by Martin Lambie-Nairn, owner of the Lambie-Nairn design agency...
- BBC World Service TelevisionBBC World Service TelevisionBBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV, was the name given to two of the BBC's international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting...