
A rare live 1960s television news bulletin announcing Winston Churchill’s death has been released from the ITN Archive.
The archive team at ITN have unearthed a rare live 1960s television news bulletin announcing Winston Churchill’s death on 24th January 1965. The 16mm film reel has now been digitised to mark the 60th anniversary of his passing, thanks to funding by the International Churchill Society (ICS), and scanning work by Cinelab Film & Digital.
The full live broadcast marking the death of the former prime minister is unique piece of broadcast history. Recordings of live television from the 1960s are exceptionally rare and don’t tend to survive. The footage would have been captured by a film camera recording the TV screen onto 16mm as it aired and is one of a small number of examples of live 1960s television that exist.
The 30-minute bulletin, presented by ITV newsreader Andrew Gardner, was a special news broadcast which went out on ITV at 2.20pm on 24th January 1965. Bulletins were usually much shorter then, and the length demonstrates the significance of the story at the time.
Matt Harris, Archive Content Lead at ITN discovered the reel while going through boxes of old recordings that would all have been in danger of being lost – because film can degenerate over time. It had a cloth strip across it with a short description typed along the side [see attached image]
Matt says: “Given the technical difficulties of recording live television at the time, it’s exceptionally rare and important to have any live broadcasts from this period, let alone covering such a historically important event. It’s one of many treasures stored in our vaults, including the first TV satellite broadcast from the US, and early bulletins covering the Vietnam War. We’re incredibly grateful to the ICS for their help in preserving this unique bit of British and global history.”
Randolph Churchill, President of the International Churchill Society, says “The International Society and the Churchill family are very pleased to participate with ITN in bringing to life this historic broadcast first aired on the day of my great-grandfather’s death sixty years ago which will now be available for viewing by a world-wide audience.”
The full broadcast will be released and exhibited by the ICS in due course, and a clip is now available on the ITN Archive and International Churchill Society YouTube channels.
Notes to Editors:
The ITN Archive is a unique and remarkable repository of British cultural history, featuring iconic news footage ITN’s first broadcasts in 1955 to the present day. With more than a million video clips available, the ITN Video Archive covers a wide range of genres, including UK and international news, sport, entertainment, war, disasters, politics, the environment, and the royals. Internationally recognised for its journalistic excellence, ITN’s award-winning camera operators have captured some of history’s most unforgettable moments; including the Beatles, Nelson Mandela, the fall of the Berlin Wall and decades of Royal engagements. The collection is updated daily with agenda-setting news footage.
The International Churchill Society (ICS), founded in 1968 shortly after Churchill’s death, is the world’s preeminent member organisation dedicated to preserving the historic legacy of Sir Winston Churchill. At a time when leadership is challenged at every turn, that legacy looms larger and remains more relevant than ever. By celebrating the timeless values of Sir Winston Churchill, ICS will embolden all generations to understand the historical context of his life and defend, enhance, and promote the values he embodied: freedom, democracy, and human rights.
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