Black TV UK

[jazzy_dave]

I was reading an article in Wire from 1992 about the history of black TV here in the UK and  what little of it was recorded as TV originally was mostly live and broadcast tape was expensive or nonexistent at the time. . Anyway, the article mentions some snippets that have survived and here are some of them -

Adelaide Hall at the Nightingale Club, London (1948)

Billie Holiday - I Love You Porgy (Chelsea At Nine) iTV TV 1959

Billie Holiday performing "I Love You Porgy" on Granada TV's "Chelsea At Nine" February 1959. This was one of her last TV appearances before she passed away a few months later. This is videotaping would probably be one of Britain's earliest surviving B&W quad videotape recordings. This night was the last time Billie was ever on TV. She sang Please Don't Talk About Me and Strange Fruit after this song that night. 5 months later she died in New York City (Manhattan). She was 44 years old. She died from heavy drinking and drugs. She died with 70 cents in the bank and 750 dollars she had with her. Deeply sad life.

Cy Grant on Tonight BBC 1957

ENJOY