Television South (TVS) was the ITV franchise holder in the South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, initially as 'Television South plc' and then following reorganisation in 1989 as 'TVS Entertainment plc', with UK broadcasting activities undertaken by subsidiary 'TVS Television Ltd'.

During its 11-year history, TVS produced a number of notable programmes for the ITV network especially in the fields of drama, light entertainment and children's programming. It was also a significant regional broadcaster producing a wide range of programmes for its area with the flagship being the nightly award-winning news programme Coast to Coast produced as two separate editions for the South and South East.

TVS ceased broadcasting on 31 December 1992 after losing its franchise to Meridian Broadcasting during the review of franchise holders in 1991. The company was sold to the US firm International Family Entertainment in 1993.

The trademarks of Television South are now owned by an independent production company, while a majority of the company's back catalogue is now owned by The Walt Disney Company. TVS Television Ltd itself was in existence until 2018, and was ultimately a non-trading subsidiary of Virgin Media.

Formation

Television South was formed following discussions between television producer James Gatward, television executive Bob Southgate, who had previously worked at ITN, Thames Television, and journalist Martin Jackson to apply for the new 'South and South-East' of England ITV franchise in 1980. Finance was provided by Barclays Bank and Charterhouse investment bank. This area was the most hotly contested, with seven other applicants besides TVS and the incumbent Southern Television.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority had decided to increase the area covered by the South to now include the South East. This meant switching the main Bluebell Hill transmitter, and associated relays (including the important relay at Tunbridge Wells) to broadcast Television South (TVS) instead of ITV London.  To reflect this, the contract area served by Southern Television, which was previously titled the 'South of England' area, was renamed 'South and South-East of England'. To serve the new region better, the IBA expected the successful applicant to operate separate facilities for both the south and the south-east, known as a 'dual-region', with new additional facilities to be built in the South East.

Following the submission of its application, TVS was anticipating that it would be forced into a shotgun marriage with Southern, but in the end, TVS won outright against the seven other contenders since its plans for a better mix of programmes and greater investment were considered good enough to operate the franchise alone. This was the official line given by the IBA, but it was also considered that Southern's non-local ownership (the majority shareholders were Associated Newspapers, based in London, and D.C. Thomson, based in Dundee) and its very conservative nature led to it being dropped in favour of the more interesting proposals made by TVS in its franchise application.

By the start of 1981 a number of high-profile personalities had joined the station in preparation for the start of the new franchise:

 Michael Blakstad, formerly of Tomorrow's World, as director of programmes;
 Anna Home, formerly of BBC children's output, as head of programmes for children and young people;
 Michael Rodd, as head of science and industry programmes;
 Herbert Chappell, in charge features, education and music.

During 1981, TVS's ambitions were soon recognised for their desire to have a greater say in how ITV operated and its dismay on how it was being treated by the "Big Five" ITV companies: Thames Television, LWT, Central Independent Television, Yorkshire Television and Granada Television. The rationale was that the larger ITV companies should bear more of the production costs as their size enabled them to. This led to criticism in some quarters that the larger of the remaining 'regional' ITV companies, such as TVS, Anglia Television, Scottish Television, Tyne Tees Television and HTV, found it difficult to get network access for their major productions, and that they were left with softer non-primetime sectors such as children's and religious television.

Michael Blakstad, director of programmes, claimed ITV needed a shake up as an advertiser, and viewers did not like contemplating the ITV nightly programme offering and were thus hoping the 'Big Five' would welcome TVS with open arms as a chance to light up the schedules, as the only 'occasional flash of excitement' appeared from LWT's The South Bank Show. Blakstad also claimed none of TVS's £2 million worth of new programming had been accepted for networked transmission, and TVS was invited to the monthly contractors' meetings as observer only from May 1982. He also expressed doubts that Yorkshire Television would give up its monopoly of networked science programmes. Blakstad stated: 'TVS was awarded the franchise to bring a catalyst to ITV, but the authority may have to help them get into the laboratory first.'

In the days before the start of the new franchise, the Independent Broadcasting Authority made it clear that they were happy about the service changes, and were particularly impressed with TVS in connection with new programming for the ITV network in areas in which the IBA wished for improvements, mainly children's output and the sciences. TVS's aims were for a different line of programming in the early evening slots, to win back the 50,000 viewers it claimed were switching over to rivals, due to the poor service provided by Southern.

TVS began broadcasting at 9.30 am on Friday 1 January 1982. The new dual-regional station sprang to life with its new specially composed start-up theme – variously named but referred to in-house as TVS Gallop – accompanied by a programme menu and clock. Continuity broadcaster Malcolm Brown, formerly of Granada, made the opening announcement:

Following the first airing of the station's first ident, the first programme to air was a Coast to Coast special entitled Bring in the New, presented by Khalid Aziz. A number of presenters made the transition from Southern to TVS; all production staff were transferred as part of the then-union agreements within ITV that no technician should lose employment as a result of franchise changes. 200 staff were also recruited for the facilities at Gillingham and Maidstone, although a small number of these were made redundant after the company went on-air, as the studios struggled to reach production capacity, restricted by TVS's limited access to the ITV network.

Broadcasting years
Prior to broadcasting, TVS refused to take on most of Southern's programme stock, except the arrangement to cover two Glyndebourne operas each year. Following the launch of Channel 4 in November 1982, the operas were shown on that channel. Houseparty was replaced by Not For Women Only which recognised changes in women's social patterns, while a new Saturday morning children's series called No. 73 was also introduced, locally at first, before being networked.

Whitbread acquired a 20% stake in TVS from European Ferries in April 1984, as the latter wished to concentrate its financial and management resources on the shipping and property sectors, but sold on the stake in November 1986. Financial director Lionel Ross said:

In August 1984, Greg Dyke joined TVS as director of programmes, coming from TV-am. He was brought in to rejuvenate the station, and started to move programming away from its original philosophy of niche arts and science programming, and began producing more entertainment programmes. In 1985, an agreement was reached with LWT, which required help to fill its schedules with appropriate, domestically produced programming while not having to increase its budget; thus TVS was able to get more of its programmes onto the ITV network slots, such as Bobby Davro on the Box, Catchphrase, C.A.T.S Eyes, Five Alive, Kelly's Eye, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Summertime Special and other light entertainment programmes.

TVS retained their original philosophy for regional and children's programmes. By November 1986, the station became one of the most heavily criticised companies by the IBA over its programming; the criticism mainly concerned the Southampton editions of Coast to Coast while issues were raised over the quality of TVS's drama and light entertainment output. Their education series were 'too didactic', while the religious output was branded as having 'barely discernible religious content'. Dyke accepted the IBA criticism, but highlighted that TVS had already begun remedying the issues and faults, with a new editor for their Southampton news operation, and a new head of religious output was brought in, along with a controller of drama - a first for TVS. Once again, TVS expressed concern about their relationship with the Big Five ITV stations, and how they controlled the channel's output. In April 1987, Greg Dyke left TVS and returned to LWT.

By TVS's fifth anniversary in 1987, their profits had grown 62% since 1981 to £14.4 million, which was helped after TVS increased their share of programming for ITV network and growth in new business; warnings were made that inflation and cost was higher, but the projected growth of television operations would be around 7–8% during the rest of the year. The result was that the accounts revealed TVS had become bigger than Yorkshire Television in terms of advertising revenue, and was quickly catching up with the other Big Five ITV companies. By the following January, profits had increased again to £21.8m. There was speculation at the time that the technicians' strike at TV-am could have spread to TVS's operations over their plans to provide an overnight service, which become fully operational by June 1988.

With TVS continuing to generate large profits, but restricted in ITV network programming, the company started to search for other investments. In 1985, they launched failed bids to acquire Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment and the French television channel TF1. In 1986, TVS were successful in buying Midem, an organisation that promoted trade fairs; and Gilson International, a Los Angeles distribution company selling programmes outside the US. TVS also acquired a 3.5% stake in Australia Network Ten company Northern Star.

At the start of July 1988, speculation started to appear of a take-over bid for the American media company MTM Enterprises. Within a few days, MTM was bought for £190m, which gave owner and founder Mary Tyler Moore 5.1% shares in TVS, and Arthur Price, chief executive of MTM, a total of 6.6%.; both agreed not to sell for a period of five years. TVS paid for the deal partly by selling 10% stakes for £29.2m each to Générale D'Images (a cable television, film library and film production group) and Canal Plus, asking shareholders for £47.8m through a convertible preference share issue, with the remaining £38m taken out in a bank loan.  The deal created a unique company with productions operations in Ireland, UK and USA, along with a UK broadcasting franchise.

Uncertainty over the high price paid by TVS for MTM, coupled with a collapse of a US syndication market which affected many other US stations,
plus a £5.7m write-off from the disposal of Super Channel resulted in financial instability. In January 1990, TVS started searching for a buyer for a 49% stake in MTM, as part of the restructuring of MTM due to losses of £7.3m. A few days later, TVS confirmed profits were down 35% in 1989, which resulted in 140 redundancies across the UK; this was not as bad as expected, since TVS had planned to eliminate up to 200 jobs that summer.

Ahead of the ITV franchise round, James Gatward resigned from TVS, after being informed his services were no longer required, as the board believed he was not showing sufficient resolve in preparing TVS for the franchise bid. Further changes took place, with the TVS Television board being merged into the TVS Entertainment board, along with a further 100 redundancies to help strengthen the finances. In March 1991, four contenders were lined up to buy MTM, which would have seen the company being sold off for around £50m; there were hopes that the deal would be sorted by May before the ITV franchise application was submitted.

Loss of franchise
In 1990, the new Broadcasting Act was passed by parliament, which deregulated broadcasting in the UK and removed the monopoly on programme production held by franchise holders. Changes to network broadcasting and the introduction of cable and satellite channels meant that ITV needed to be leaner and fitter to compete with its new rivals.

The original draft of the Broadcasting Act stated that the applicant with the highest cash bid would win; however, following fears that this would financially stretch the network and diminish programme standards, the concept of a 'quality threshold' was introduced. Incumbents and applicants had to pass this first, before cash bids were even considered; even then, if a cash bid was deemed to impact on plans, the application could be rejected.

TVS passed the quality threshold – indeed, as the incumbent broadcaster, it could hardly have failed to do so, as failure would have called the regulatory regime of the new Independent Television Commission into question. The lucrative nature of the TVS contract area made it one of the most desirable franchises in the UK. Despite preparing vast amounts of audience research, programming proposals and an extremely comprehensive application document for the ITC, the TVS board – now minus its founder Gatward – calculated that it needed to outbid all opposition to retain its licence. This resulted in the 'bid high or die' strategy – in which the management calculated the highest possible bid that TVS could possibly afford. The result of these calculations was a massive £59 million per annum, payable for the following 10 years; it was the highest bid ever made by any UK television broadcaster.

The ITC announced the results of the franchise battle by releasing simultaneous faxes to the contending companies. Three companies had passed the so-called programme 'quality threshold' – TVS, Carlton and Meridian Broadcasting. Of these three, TVS's bid was the highest – and therefore should automatically have been awarded the licence for the South and South East of England. However, the ITC asserted that there was now a third criterion, a requirement that the ITC could confidently expect the winning company to sustain its annual payments throughout the entire period of the 10-year licence; the ITC used this to foot-fault TVS and claimed that the company would not be able to sustain the proposed annual £59 million licence payments. The ITC then awarded the licence to Meridian Broadcasting, which had bid only £36 million per year.

The ITC refused every attempt to get it to explain its decision. TVS could have sought a judicial review, but the legal advice that it received was that the prospect of success would be slim and the costs would be enormous. Whilst it carried on broadcasting to the end of its franchise period, it began partially liquidating the company. The studio facilities at Southampton were sold to the incoming franchise winner Meridian Broadcasting, even though they intended to operate as a 'publisher broadcaster' and would not be making anything like the amount of regional programming made by TVS. The Maidstone Studios were retained with the news facility being leased to Meridian as TVS planned to continue trading as an independent producer.

The unions started to negotiate with Meridian to absorb some of the 800 staff at TVS who were facing redundancy. Meridian planned to employ only 370 staff, as it intended to produce a far smaller amount of network programming and would use independent producers for the remainder of its programming. In the event, the projections of advertising revenue on which TVS had based its massive bid turned out to be correct. However, only three years later, all the high-bidding licensees – including HTV, which had nearly bankrupted itself to put forward a £25 million bid to win back the licence for Wales and the West – were allowed to reduce their payments, in some cases by more than half.

Closing night
TVS ceased broadcasting to the South and South East of England at just before midnight on 31 December 1992. While most other ITV stations were broadcasting the Thames Television farewell programme The End of the Year Show, Scottish and Grampian chose to opt out and instead aired their traditional Hogmanay special, while TVS chose to opt out and air its own final programme entitled Goodbye to All That, a 65-minute retrospective of its programming, presented by Fred Dinenage and Fern Britton and recorded in front of a studio audience at the Northam studios in Southampton on 13 December that year. The programme closed with an amended version of the TVS ident, along with the message 'Thanks for watching' before crossing to Big Ben for the New Year chimes at midnight and the handover to Meridian Broadcasting.

Post-franchise era
In the Autumn of 1992, a number of American companies were interested in acquiring TVS, from the likes of TCW Capital, International Family Entertainment Inc. (IFE) and Lorne Michaels. IFE originally made an bid worth £38.2m and received backing from a number of key shareholders for this to be accepted. A small number of shareholders, including Julian Tregar, rejected the offer from IFE. In November, TCW Capital made a counter bid, but pulled out a few weeks later, after reviewing the accounts of TVS. IFE increased their offer to £45.3 million, but continued to be opposed by Tregar who blocked the deal on technical grounds, as it was alleged that the offer was too low.
IFE finally revised and increased their offer to appease the remaining shareholders, and on 23 January 1993, the IFE offer of £56.5 million was finally accepted, with the deal being completed on 1 February that year. The following September, IFE launched a UK version of The Family Channel, based at The Maidstone Studios and using some elements of the TVS programme archive. Flextech was a partner in the venture, taking a 39% stake in the business.

In 1996, IFE sold its remaining 61% share to Flextech, giving it full ownership of the venture, and subsequently, in February 1997, Flextech rebranded the station as Challenge TV, focusing mainly on game shows. IFE was sold to Fox Kids Worldwide (a joint venture of News Corporation and Saban Entertainment), which in turn was acquired by Disney in 2001. The MTM Enterprises library was maintained by 20th Century Fox Television (which was acquired by Disney in 2019).

Liquidation

The corporate entity TVS Television Limited remained in existence until 2018, and was latterly a wholly-owned but non-trading subsidiary of Virgin Media.

A final account prior to dissolution had been signed on 4 January 2018. At the time of liquidation the only asset of value was an intercompany receivable balance from Flextech Broadband Limited. TVS Television Limited officially dissolved on 18 April.

Studio facilities

Northam, Southampton

The Southampton base was the company's corporate headquarters and its primary production and transmission centre. These studios were purchased by TVS from its predecessor Southern, but TVS was delayed in the purchase of the site by Southern and therefore had to initially operate prior to launch from temporary buildings in the Southern car park, leading to Southern contemptuously branding TVS as "Portakabin TV", as referenced in a satirical song performed by Richard Stilgoe on Southern's final programme. TVS finally completed the purchase of the Southampton site, equipment, news library and staff pension fund in August 1981. Also included in the sale was land purchased by Southern for planned new studios in Maidstone. Upon purchase TVS made significant investment, including building a new scenery block to the rear of the existing site. After losing its contract, TVS sold the studios to its successor Meridian Broadcasting in mid-1992. The studios were closed by Meridian in 2004, and demolished in 2010.

Vinters Park, Maidstone

The studios to serve the eastern section of TVS's transmission area were at Vinters Park near Maidstone in Kent. The site was originally acquired by Southern Television, which had commissioned a conceptual design for new studio facilities on the site. Following the award of the franchise to TVS, Southern Television sold the site to the new company at a premium. Construction commenced in early 1982, and the first studios at the centre became operational in mid-1983.

The Maidstone Studios, though significant (and home to many networked shows) were ancillary to those in Southampton which were the company's corporate headquarters. Meridian Broadcasting, the new licensee, were not offered the studios as TVS initially intended to become an independent producer. However, Meridian agreed to rent the newsroom and facilities for an initial 10-year period from 1993. Following the sale of TVS in that year, the studios were acquired by TVS's new owners IFE and Meridian's agreement came to a premature end. Meridian operated from elsewhere in Maidstone, but in 2004, after extensive cutbacks, it moved back into a small newsroom in The Maidstone Studios, which would later become the official trading and marketing name of the Vinters Park complex, when it was later sold-off as a standalone "four walls" studio complex, later used for shows on BBC and ITV, etc.

Dover
The studios on Russell Street were originally the eastern base of Southern Television, from which Scene South East and Scene Midweek were broadcast, and were essentially a news-gathering operation with transmission facilities for regional news opt-outs. TVS used Dover as a regional studio for a year until completion of Vinters Park when it disposed of the site; the buildings have since been demolished and the site is now St. James Retail Park, a shopping outlet.

TVS Television Theatre
TVS acquired the former Plaza Cinema in Gillingham, Kent, as a stopgap measure between the commencement of broadcasting and the completion of Vinters Park. The theatre was quickly converted for television use, ready for the start of broadcasting. The decision to operate a television theatre was against the trend in television at that time, as both the BBC and Thames Television were to dispose of similar facilities in the following two years.

Production at Gillingham was limited; it was used for several quiz shows and it was the base of the regional afternoon magazine show Not for Women Only while TVS recorded the UK inserts for Fraggle Rock at that base. TVS sold the theatre in 1988 to an independent production company. For a period afterwards, the site was used for other activities before being demolished to make way for redevelopment. A campaign to have it listed, failed as the large-scale conversion for television production had made it unsuitable for listing.

Regional offices
TVS maintained small news studios in Brighton, Reading and Poole. Each studio had a single camera and a cut down version of the interview set to enable down the line interviews; these centres were each manned by a news team, consisting of two reporters, a cameraperson, sound recordist and lighting electrician. with a helicopter links equipped vehicle. The studios were based in the Brighton Centre, Reading Civic Centre and Poole Arts Centre.

A studio at Westminster was created for parliamentary coverage; TVS had two cameras in the basement studio of the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Broad Sanctuary, as well as a news crew. This facility was available for hire to other broadcasting organisations, when not needed by TVS. One feature was a remote-control operated camera mounted on the roof of the centre, giving a clear shot of the Houses of Parliament for use as a live backdrop.

In addition, TVS had sales offices in London, which was converted from a former bakery, and Manchester.

Sub-regions
TVS operated a dual region, where the company both offered different services for the South and South East of England. This was primarily a different edition of the flagship Coast to Coast news programme, from a different base and with a different presenting team. However, some other local programming was produced solely for the South or South East and as a result, programming would differ either between sub-regions or pan-regional programmes.

At the beginning of TVS's time as contractor, the company used separate presentation for each sub-region, with a caption declaring the sub-region below the clock, so viewers could differentiate between programmes for the whole region, or for their sub-region. This practice was dropped after a year or so.

Identity

TVS's identity featured a six-coloured fleur-de-lis symbol that formed up in three stages from the outside in, before zooming out and sitting alongside the TVS lettering, accompanied by a shortened version of the station theme New Forest Rondo. There were different variations for weekdays and the weekend, which only differed in the zoom-out to the lettering. The ident was shot initially on film of a mechanical model, but was later shot using video effects and from 1985, a computer-generated version of the ident was used. Accompanying this ident was a clock on a black background, with the six TVS colours on either side, and an ident sequence following the theme 'For the best view of the South' which was used prior to the news.

On 7 September 1987, following the departure of Dyke from TVS, the station's presentation was completely overhauled, with the new idents designed by John Hayman and a new jingle by composer Ed Welch. The new idents featured metallic TVS lettering which would spin out, turning into a metallic logo before spinning back to the lettering; the rainbow colour effects were still included, when the logo spun. Three versions were produced: a normal ident, a short ident where the TVS logo rotated into the lettering, and a minute-extended ident featuring video from the regions that was used upon start-up and in some of the longer junctions. No clock was included in the new look. The idents were all against a grey gradient background and featured the caption 'Television South' below the end lettering. This change, in effect, brought a more 'corporate' feel to TVS Television.

This ident was altered slightly on 1 September 1989 following the TVS management restructuring, so that the ident was against a gradient blue background and cut in to the rotation of the logo into the lettering. The caption was changed to 'Television' to reflect the station's technical name of TVS Television, and the music was altered slightly to be bolder. Against the blue background, the metallic lettering now had the appearance of glass or perspex. This ident was used by TVS until it went off air on 31 December 1992, when a special ident with the caption 'Thanks for watching' used to close the final TVS programme, Goodbye to All That.

Programming

TVS produced a vast array of programming covering a wide aspect of areas. As part of the dual region, two entirely separate editions of the TVS regional news programme Coast to Coast were developed, to produce daily news coverage across the area. Both won the Royal Television Society's awards for the Best News Programme of the Year, in 1983 (for the South East edition), and in 1989 and 1991 (for the South edition).

TVS also innovated with the experimental Afternoon Club, a dedicated programme encompassing a number of afternoon soap operas, quiz shows etc. linked by general chat and guests etc. TVS also produced its own afternoon magazine series, Not for Women Only. TVS was also instrumental in providing separate non-news programmes for the South, South East and Thames Valley areas, including the chat show Coast to Coast People and the listings guide This Way Out. The award-winning series Country Ways, which examined the people and places of the region, began in 1984 and continued in production for ITV Meridian until 2008.

One of TVS's strongest performance was in children's programming. Early successes included the Saturday morning show No. 73 (which launched the career of Sandi Toksvig, and was networked from its second series) On Safari, the British version of Fraggle Rock and being one of the biggest contributors to Dramarama. In 1990, TVS brought back How as How 2, and began production of Art Attack.

As TVS established its deal with LWT, the company started to make significant contributions to the network with its own drama and entertainment series including: Catchphrase, C.A.T.S. Eyes, numerous Bobby Davro series, and the successful television adaptations of the novels of Ruth Rendell, with more than 15 programmes being made over a 10-year period.

TVS also provided a number of networked factual and science-based programmes, including In The Mouth of the Dragon and The Real World, the latter of which was twice broadcast in 3D (a ground-breaking television first in the UK) with special glasses given away with the magazine TV Times.

TVS continued Southern Television's tradition of providing classical music programmes, but these were broadcast on Channel 4 instead of ITV, principally involving The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under conductor Owain Arwel Hughes. Other contributions included opera from Glyndebourne and a performance of Mahler's 8th Symphony from Salisbury Cathedral to inaugurate Channel 4's stereo service on 28 July 1990. As well as classical music, TVS also produced a number of pop and light music programmes.

Other location programming included the usual round of sports coverage in the region, principally football. Also, extensive coverage of the various party political conferences from Brighton and Bournemouth. In the summer, a major light entertainment programme, Summertime Special, was produced for the ITV network on Saturday evenings.

Children's

Are We There Yet?
Art Attack (1990–92)
The Boy Who Won the Pools (1983)
The Castle of Adventure (1990)
Dramarama (1983–89)
Do It (1984–88)
Finders Keepers (1991–92)
Fraggle Rock (1984–90)
Get Fresh (1986–88)
The Haunting of Cassie Palmer (1982)
Henry's Leg (1986)
How 2 (1990–92)
Knights of God (1987)
Mr Majeika (1988–90)
Motormouth (1988–92)
No. 73 (1982–88)
On Safari (1982–84)
Panic Station (1988)
Running Loose (1986–88)
Rupert (1991)
Star Kids (1983–85)
The Storyteller (1988)
Telebugs (1986–87)
Travellers By Night (1985)
TUGS (1989)
What's Up Doc? (1992)
The Witches and the Grinnygog (1983)

Comedy and entertainment

All Clued Up (1988–91)
Bobby Davro on the Box (1985–86)
Bobby Davro's TV Weekly (1987–88)
Catchphrase (1986–94)
Challenge of the South (1987)
Concentration (1988–90)
Davro's Sketch Pad (1989)
Darvo (1990–91)
Etcetera
Five Alive (1987–88)
Goodbye to All That (1992)
The Help Squad
Hitman (1989)
Inn Quiz (1985)
It's A Dog's Life (1990)
Jeopardy! (1990–91)
Kelly's Eye (1985)
Love Me, Love Me Not (1988)
The Parlour Game (1985–87)
Pop the Question (1986)
Prove It (1988)
The Pyramid Game (1989–90)
Quandaries (1988)
Richard Digance
Salute to the Mayflower
Summertime Special (1986–88)
The Television Show (1987)
Tell the Truth (1989–90)
That's Love (1989–92)
That's What You Think (1986)
They Came From Somewhere Else (1984)
TV Weekly (1989–92)
Ultra Quiz (1983–85)
Vintage Quiz (1984)
Worldwise (1985–87)

ITV network series contributions

Morning Worship
The Time, The Place

Drama

Appointment With Fear: House of Glass (1992)
The Brief (1984)
C.A.T.S. Eyes (1985-87)
Day To Remember (1986)
The Endless Game (1989)
Exclusive Yarns (1987)
Gentlemen and Players (1988–89)
The Heroes (1989)
Heroes II: The Return (1991)
Mandela (1987)
Michelle Magorian's Back Home (1989)
Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989)
Il Magistrato (1990)
Perfect Scoundrels (1990–92)
Radio (1982)
Rules of Engagement (1989)
Run For Your Wife (Adaptation of stage play)
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987–92)
Secret Weapon (1990)

Documentaries and features

7 Days (1982)
A Taste of the Country (1992)
Afternoon Club (1982–84)
A Full Life (1982–89)
Agenda (1984–91)
Airport 90 (1990)
Arcade (1985–88)
Artbeat
Art of the Western World (1989–90)
An Englishman's Home (1986)
The Bottom Line (1984)
About Britain (1982–88)
Coast to Coast People
Country Ways (1984–92)
Enterprise South (1980s)
Facing South (1985–90)
Fascinatin' Rhythm
Farm Focus (1982–89)
Frocks on the Box / Posh Frocks and New Trousers (1987–90)
The Human Factor (1984–92)
Horses for Courses (1986–87)
An Idea of Europe (1987)
Just Champion
Just Williams (1982–85)
Lymington Cup
Not For Women Only (1982)
The Other Side of Me (1982–83)
Police 5 (1982–92)
Project Yankee (1987)
Putting on the South (1984–86)
Questions (1984–88)
Regrets
Steam Sunday (1990)
Tahiti Witness (1987)
Tall Ships' Race (1982)
Taste of the South (1987)
That's Gardening (1986–92)
The Boat Show  (1983–92)
The Purple Line (1984)
The Real World (1982–86)
The Spirit of Uppark
This Way Out (1990)
Ultrasail
Whitbread Round the World Race
Writers on Writing (1983–87)

Music

Action for Drugs Concert
The Barber of Seville (Glyndebourne)
DJ
Fidelio (Glyndebourne)
Il Seraglio (Glyndebourne)
La Traviata (Glyndebourne)
Just Liz (Liz Robertson)
The Love of Three Oranges (Glyndebourne)
The Magic Flute (Glyndebourne)
Mary O'Hara
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Glyndebourne)
Mahler's 8th Symphony (for Channel 4)
Off The Record
Royal Gala Performance (for New Zealand television)
Poole Promenade Concerts

See also
 Southern Television
 ITV Meridian
 ITV (TV network)
 History of ITV

References

External links
Transdiffusion Television Network From the South Part 1
Transdiffusion Television Network From the South Part 2
Transdiffusion Television Network Telecinema
TV Ark | Television South

ITV franchisees
Television in England
Mass media in Kent
Mass media in Essex
Mass media in Sussex
Mass media in Hampshire
Mass media of the Isle of Wight
Mass media in Dorset
Television channels and stations established in 1982
Television channels and stations disestablished in 1992

Television South


The Cromlech of the Almendres () is a megalithic complex (commonly known as the Almendres Cromlech), located 4.5 road km WSW of the village of Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, in the civil parish of Nossa Senhora da Tourega e Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, municipality of Évora, in the Portuguese Alentejo. The largest existing group of structured menhirs in the Iberian Peninsula (and one of the largest in Europe), this archaeological site consists of several megalithic structures: cromlechs and menhir stones, that belong to the so-called "megalithic universe of Évora", with clear parallels to other cromlechs in Évora District, such as Portela Mogos and the Vale Maria do Meio Cromlech.

History

The construction of these structures dates back to the 6th millennium BC. They were rediscovered in 1966 by Henrique Leonor Pina, who was carrying out field work relating to the country's geological charts.

The excavation of the site unearthed a series of both megalithic and neolithic construction phases; Almendres I  6000 BC (Early Neolithic), Almendres II 5000 BC (Middle Neolithic), and Almendres III 4000 BC (Late Neolithic). The relative chronology of the cromlech and menhirs is extremely complex and covers a period from the Neolithic  to Chalcolithic. It is believed that the monument either had a religious/ceremonial purpose or functioned as a primitive astronomical observatory.

Architecture
Located off the national roadway from Évora to Montemor-o-Novo, in the former-civil parish of Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, the cromlech is situated just after the village of Guadalupe, in Herdade dos Almendres (the Almendres Estate). It is located in the southwest of the property, while the menhir is situated on the eastern limits of the estate facing the sunrise  over the Serra de Monfurado, isolated from the local community. A pedestrian trail was defined by the local municipal council, and integrated into the municipality's "megalithic route" that follows the prehistoric remnants through the region.

The complex, organized in a circular pattern, is marked by a forest of about 95 granite monoliths, deposited in small groups. The older (Early Neolithic) monoliths are formed as two or three concentric circles of smaller monoliths in the western part of the complex, while the Middle Neolithic structures consist of two ellipses (irregular but concentric) and large menhirs. In the Late Neolithic phase the earlier constructions suffered modifications, transforming it into a site for social or religious rituals. Ninety-two of the menhirs form two grounds, which were built and oriented to different directions associated with the Equinox.

Many of the stones were unearthed where they stood/fell, and were rebuilt/erected by Mario Varela Gomes, based on criteria established from research and rediscovery of the original bases.  The complex's latitudinal position is about the same as the maximum moon elongation (38.55 degrees for 1500 BC); comparably, another latitude where this occurs is associated with Stonehenge (51.18 degrees for 2000 BC).

Although there are many large solitary 2.5 to 3.5 metres rounded/elliptical stones, most are smaller and formed into groups. The cromlech occupies an area of 70 by 40 metres, oriented along an axial alignment northwest to southeast. The columns show signs of profound erosion, especially in those surfaces exposed to the elements, although decoration is still visible. These designs take the form of lines and radials, at least two on each stone.

About a dozen monoliths exhibit some form of carved drawings,  of which four exhibit only small circular holes. Monolith number 8, with a cut flat top at about breast level and showing several dimples, might have served for finer astronomical observation, specially spring equinox observation, by putting small stones on the dimples. These observations might also be made from stone 39, on the eastern focal point of the elliptic layout. Menhir 48, also exhibits a schematized anthropomorphic representation, surrounded by circles and associated with a crozier.

An isolated single menhir, approximately 4.5 metres tall and 0.9 metres in diameter is located near the residences, or 1400 metres northeast of the main complex. A line from the Almendres Cromlech to this menhir points roughly towards the sunrise in the Winter solstice.

Views

Gallery

References

Notes

Sources

External links
 Câmara Municipal de Évora Archaeology site
 The Megalithic Portal: Cromlech of the Almendres
  The Megalithic Portal: Menhir of the Almendres
  360° Photos
 Megalithomania
 GEMA - Grupo de Estudos do Megalitismo Alentejano (Alentejo Megalithic Study Group)
 Photos of the Almendres Cromlech

National monuments in Évora District
Megalithic monuments in Portugal
Prehistoric sites in Portugal
Buildings and structures in Évora
Stone Age Europe
Prehistoric art
Tourist attractions in Évora District

Almendres Cromlech


A civilian in time of war is a person who is not a member of a country's military and any other fighting group. This is what the word means under the laws of war. Civilians are the opposite of soldiers and combatants, who fight in wars.

In an international armed conflict, civilians are generally protected by international humanitarian law from being harmed except:

Nationals under their own state authority except for refugees of the occupying power living in occupied territory prior to hostilities as long they don't commit crimes after hostilities or that violate their own laws which are also ordinary criminal offenses under the law of the occupied state.

Nationals of a neutral state who find themselves in a recognized territory of a belligerent nation as long their state maintains diplomatic relations with a belligerent country

Nationals of a co-belligerent (i.e., allied) state as long their state maintains diplomatic relations with a belligerent nation

The treatment of protected civilians in an international armed conflict is covered by the Fourth Geneva Convention. Prisoners are covered by the Third Convention. These are based on humanitarian doctrines (ethical beliefs) and that most countries follow them as law.

In an international armed conflict, protected civilians have the right to defend themselves. If they participate in other fighting, they are usually called partisans, and they can be tried for war crimes.

In a non-international armed conflict, Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocol II protect civilians regardless of nationality from the harmful effects of war. They can also be tried for harboring non-state armed groups since rebellion is a crime under the domestic law of most nations.

The modern use of the word also has problems:
 Many modern wars are civil wars. In a civil war, it can be difficult to make the distinction between the different parties at war, and it can also be difficult to make a difference between a civilian and a soldier.

 Guerilla warfare and terrorism rely on the fact that the people taking part cannot be distinguished from civilians; they look like civilians, and not like soldiers.
 Depleting the resources of the enemy has long been a method of war. Crops are burned and supplies blockaded so all, including enemy troops, will starve. In modern times strategic bombing may attack weapons factories, transport, and cities.

References

People

Civilian


The Mines and Collieries Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 99), commonly known as the Mines Act 1842, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act forbade women and girls of any age to work underground and introduced a minimum age of ten for boys employed in underground work. It was a response to the working conditions of children revealed in the Children's Employment Commission (Mines) 1842 report. The Commission was headed by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Member of Parliament, who was styled Baron Ashley at the time, a courtesy title, and would succeed his father as the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury in 1852.

At the beginning of the 19th century methods of coal extraction were primitive and the workforce, men, women and children, laboured in dangerous conditions. In 1841 about 216,000 people were employed in the mines. Women and children worked underground for 11 or 12 hours a day for lower wages than men. The public became aware of conditions in the country's collieries in 1838 after an accident at Huskar Colliery in Silkstone, near Barnsley. A stream overflowed into the ventilation drift after violent thunderstorms causing the death of 26 children; 11 girls aged from 8 to 16 and 15 boys between 9 and 12 years of age. The disaster came to the attention of Queen Victoria who ordered an inquiry.

In 1840 Lord Ashley headed the royal commission of inquiry, which investigated the conditions of workers (especially children) in the coal mines. Commissioners visited collieries and mining communities gathering information sometimes against the mine owners' wishes. The report, illustrated by engraved illustrations and the personal accounts of mineworkers was published in May 1842. Victorian society was shocked to discover that children as young as five or six worked as trappers, opening and shutting ventilation doors down the mine, before becoming hurriers, pushing and pulling coal tubs and corfs. Lord Ashley deliberately appealed to Victorian prudery, focussing on girls and women wearing trousers and working bare-breasted in the presence of boys and men, which "made girls unsuitable for marriage and unfit to be mothers". Such an affront to Victorian morality ensured the bill was passed.

Lord Londonderry, a coal-mine owner, opposed the bill in the House of Lords and pushed through amendments that watered it down. The bill passed the House of Lords at its third reading on 1 August 1842.

Results of the act
No females could be employed underground.
No child under 10 years old was to be employed underground.
Parish apprentices between the ages of 10 and 18 could continue to work in the mines

Citations

Sources

1842 in labor relations
Child labour law
Coal mining in the United Kingdom
Coal mining law
Health and safety in the United Kingdom
History of mining in the United Kingdom
Occupational safety and health law
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1842
United Kingdom labour law
Sexism in the United Kingdom
Women in mining

Mines and Collieries Act 1842


Rush Christopher Hawkins (September 14, 1831 – October 25, 1920) was a lawyer, Union colonel in the American Civil War, politician, book collector, and art patron. He was mustered out of the Union Army in 1863 but served in the New York Militia in 1865. In 1866, in consideration of his prior service, he was nominated and confirmed for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865.

Early life
Hawkins was born in Pomfret, Vermont to Lorenzo Dow Hawkins and Maria Louisa (Hutchinson) Hawkins. At age 15, Hawkins enlisted in the 2nd United States Dragoons for service in the Mexican–American War. After the war, he settled in New York City where he studied law.

Hawkins married Annmary Brown in 1860; she died in January 1903 of pneumonia.

Civil War
In 1861, Hawkins helped raise the 9th New York Infantry, a Zouave-styled regiment, popularly known as "Hawkins Zouaves" for service in the Civil War. Hawkins was appointed colonel of the regiment on May 4, 1861, and served with distinction in North Carolina early in the war. He was part of Benjamin F. Butler's expedition to capture Fort Hatteras in 1861.  Expecting to win a promotion to brigadier general for his service at Fort Hatteras he was instead relieved of command for insubordination. On October 8, 1861, a disgruntled Hawkins wrote "brigadier generals are made of such queer stuff nowadays, that I should not esteem it any great honor to be made one." Hawkins would in fact receive a brevet promotion to brigadier general in 1866 to rank from March 13, 1865. Despite his belligerence an early dispatch of Hawkins' caught the attention of President Abraham Lincoln. Hawkins was invited to the White House to confer with the President and General-in-Chief George B. McClellan. There he was instrumental in convincing the Union high command of the possibility of a combined operation against Pamlico Sound in North Carolina.

The idea became the objective of Ambrose Burnside's North Carolina Expedition. Hawkins was again conspicuous at the battles of Roanoke Island and New Bern in 1862. Upon the arrival of significant reinforcements to North Carolina in April 1862, he assumed command of a brigade. Hawkins' brigade was attached to Jesse L. Reno's division and fought at the Battle of South Mills on April 19, 1862, where he was wounded in the left arm.

After recovering Hawkins returned to Virginia with his regiment and briefly commanded the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division in the newly formed IX Corps.  He was not present with the brigade during the Maryland Campaign but resumed command during the battle of Fredericksburg.  After Fredericksburg, the 3rd Division, commanded by George W. Getty, was transferred to the VII Corps in southeast Virginia.  Hawkins led his brigade (now the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, VII Corps) during the siege of Suffolk.  Just two days before the siege was lifted, Hawkins turned over command of his brigade and on May 20, 1863, was mustered out of the volunteer service with his old regiment. He did not return to active duty. On July 9, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Hawkins for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on July 23, 1866.  He remained active in the New York Militia receiving a brevet promotion to brigadier general of New York Militia in 1865.

Later life
Hawkins was a Republican member of the New York State Assembly (New York Co., 11th D.) in 1872. He became a noted—and certainly obsessive—rare book collector, having started shortly before the Civil War.  He amassed a collection of 225 incunabula; his goal was to have the first and second books from every European printer before 1501.  Remarkably, he was able to acquire 130 of the 238 known fifteenth century European printers.  In 1990, the book collection was moved from the Annmary Brown Memorial at Brown University and transferred to the John Hay Library.

Hawkins and his wife were also avid art collectors and created an excellent collection of 19th century American art.  Hawkins was appointed Assistant to the Commissioner General for the United States Commission to the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France.  Hawkins was "Commissaire Expert des Beaux Arts" and was responsible for selecting and organizing American art works for the exhibition.  Hawkins feuded with James McNeill Whistler, who removed all of his work in protest and later wrote The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890), which in-part details his experiences with Hawkins.

While attempting to cross the street in front of his home at 42 5th Avenue in New York City, Hawkins was struck by a motorist and died from his injuries on October 25, 1920.  He is buried with his wife in a crypt at the Annmary Brown Memorial on the Brown University campus in Providence, Rhode Island.

See also

 List of American Civil War brevet generals (Union)
 Annmary Brown Memorial

Notes

External links

 Annmary Brown Memorial at Brown University
 "The Missing Sword Returns", Brown Alumni Magazine, Sept/Oct 2013

American book and manuscript collectors
American military personnel of the Mexican–American War
People of New York (state) in the American Civil War
Union Army generals
1831 births
1920 deaths
Road incident deaths in New York City
Pedestrian road incident deaths
People from Pomfret, Vermont

Rush Hawkins


Nickey Iyambo (20 May 1936 – 19 May 2019) was a Namibian politician and physician. He was a member of SWAPO. He served as the Namibia's first Vice-President, serving from 2015 to 2018.

Iyambo was a member of the Cabinet of Namibia since independence in March 1990. He was the Minister of Health and Social Services from 1990 to 1996, Minister of Regional and Local Government and Housing from 1996 to 2002, Minister of Mines and Energy from 2002 to 2005, Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry from 2005 to 2008, Minister of Safety and Security from 2008 to 2010, and Minister of Veterans' Affairs from 2010 to 2015.

Iyambo was born in Onayena, Oshikoto Region. He died in Windhoek on 19 May 2019, a day before his 83rd birthday.

References

1936 births
2019 deaths
SWAPO politicians
Physicians
Vice presidents

Nickey Iyambo