IT IS known as the birthplace of television — the venue for the world’s first public television broadcast. But 70 years on all trace of the former BBC studios in Alexandra Palace, North London, could disappear to make way for offices.

“This is direct television from Alexandra Palace,” were the words uttered by the presenter Elizabeth Cowell as the cameras rolled live for the first time on November 2, 1936. For the next 45 years the BBC used the studios to broadcast to the nation, channelling through it such historic events such as the 1953 coronation.

With the proposed sale of Alexandra Palace to Firoz Kassam, a businessman, in its final stages, there is no agreement that any part of the original studios will be preserved.

Historians and politicians last night called for an urgent review of the project. Robin Reynolds, head of heritage at the BBC, said: “What happened at Alexandra Palace 70 years ago has made a huge impact on the world. The studios tell a story not just about the first pioneers of television, but about a great British achievement.”

John Trenouth, former curator for television for the Science Museum, said: “The studios are just a small part of the palace and to destroy them would be a national disgrace.”

Lynn Featherstone, Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, has tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament to highlight the issue and the Charity Commission is due to hold a public consultation.

The initial television service consisted of mainly live programmes for two hours a day, except for Sundays. Light entertainment dominated, with assorted musicians, entertainers and even penguins from London zoo making appearances in the studios. Presenters such as Elizabeth Cowell and Jasmine Bligh spoke in clipped tones and wore evening dress.

Transmission was halted during the war, but the palace’s transmitter was secretly used to jam the German aircraft navigation system, causing bombers destined for London to drop their loads on the fields of Kent.

When BBC TV News left in 1969 the studios were used to house the Open University until 1981. One studio is now derelict. The other houses a small museum set up by amateur enthusiasts which the BBC is not allowed to spend licence-payers’ money to support.

The terms of Mr Kassam’s 125-year lease state that there should be a museum within the palace but it does not automatically guarantee the retention of the original BBC studios.

The studios are high-ceilinged rooms, 30ft by 70ft. One still contains a glass-windowed director’s gallery, accessed by a metal ladder.

Mr Kassam, managing director of Firoka, plans to spend £70 million transforming Alexandra Palace from a loss-making exhibition centre and ice rink into a leisure and entertainment venue with a cinema, hotel, nightclub, casino, bowling alley and health club.

He said: “The studios are very dilapidated and not easily accessible. If the BBC don’t want to throw money at it then why should they expect me to throw money at it? They have been empty for 25 years.

“The studios may stay where they are, they may not, but the heritage will be preserved."

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