Savoy Hill opening

Savoy Hill is just off the Strand in London. The premises became the home of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, a natural place for the BBC (then the British Broadcasting Company) to be leased space in 1923.

These were sedate days, and it's said that early radio contributors at Savoy Hill included HG Wells and George Bernard Shaw, who were offered whisky and soda as they relaxed in this gentleman's club atmosphere. Radio was then growing apace and the two studios quickly became nine, with a tenth in a warehouse a mile away.

Drama grew here too; and on the 23 April 1923 (Shakespeare's birthday), Savoy Hill staged its first production from its new home.

It was cramped, and as the C came to denote Corporation, not Company, its new Civil Engineer, MT Tudsbery, started the search for a new headquarters. The BBC moved to purpose-built Broadcasting House in 1932. More than twenty sites were considered at the time the BH site was identified, including the Langham Hotel, the Philharmonic Hall in Great Portland Street and Bush House, all of which eventually became home to some part of the BBC.