August 27

The programme was transmitted from the Hotel de Ville in Calais

England have

The BBC has transmitted the first ever live television pictures across the Channel.

A two-hour programme was broadcast live from Calais in northern France to mark the centenary of the first message sent by submarine telegraph cable from England to France.

In spite offormidabledifficulties, this pioneer venture was successful, though the picture quality was far from perfect.

British viewers were able to watch the town of Calais "en fete", with a torchlight procession, dancing and a firework display all taking place in the Place de l'Hotel de Ville.

Presenters Richard Dimbleby and Alan Adair gave commentaries on the festivities and interviewed local personalities in front of the cameras.

The historic transmission, which has taken more than two months to plan, was made possible largely because of recent developments in portable television radio links.

In the past the working range for outside broadcast units was just 25 miles (40 km).

Five portable radio-link stations, designed to receive and send microwave signals, were set up temporarily along the 95-mile (153 km) route from Calais to London.

The first was installed at the top of the Hotel de Ville in Calais.

The microwave links work on wave-lengths of a few centimetres and concentrate the radio energy into sharp beams.

The idea is to direct as much energy as possible towards the next receiving station, which in this case was situated high above Dover at the Air Ministry Radar Station at Swingate.

There were initial teething problems when it was found that the strength of the signal fluctuated greatly according to the weather, the tide and shipping in the Channel.

Technical adjustments were required and the broadcast signals were eventually received by equipment situated at the top of London University's 200-ft (61m) Senate House, having passed through the towns of Lenham and Harvel in Kent.

From there the pictures were transmitted via cable to Alexandra Palace and onto Sutton Coldfield by the GPO radio-link from where they were beamed to the nation.

Lord Mountbatten visited Ireland every year

One of the earl's twin grandsons, Nicholas, 14, and Paul Maxwell, 15, a local employed as a boat boy, also died in the explosion.

The attack was followed only hours later by the massacre of 18 soldiers, killed in two booby-trap bomb explosions near Warrenpoint close to the border with the Irish Republic.

The IRA has already admitted carrying out the attack on Lord Mountbatten.

A statement from the organisation said: "This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country."

Lord Mountbatten (79) and his family had traditionally spent their summer holiday at their castle in County Sligo, north west of Ireland.

They were aboard his boat, Shadow V, which had just set off from the fishing village of Mullaghmore, when the bomb detonated around 1130 BST.

A witness said the blast blew the boat "tosmithereens" and hurled all seven occupants into the water.

Nearby fishermen raced to the rescue and pulled Lord Mountbatten out of the water.

But his legs had been almost severed by the explosion and he died shortly afterwards.

Other survivors were pulled out of the water and rushed to hospital.

At least one person is believed to be in a critical condition.

The attack has called into question the security arrangements surrounding the Mountbatten party. Lord Mountbatten never had a bodyguard.

The local police kept watch on Classybawn castle for the one month a year Lord Mountbatten spent there.

But his boat was left unguarded in the public dock in Mullaghmore where it was moored.

The village is only twelve miles from the Northern Ireland border and near an area known to be used by IRA members as a refuge.

formidable: extremely impressive in strength or excellence（艰难的；可怕的）

smithereens: a collection of small fragments considered as a whole（碎片）