It was on Good Friday 1930 that listeners who tuned in to the BBC for the 6.30 evening news bulletin heard: 'There is no news tonight.' Piano music filled the hiatus before the next programme. In the same year the BBC's Variety Programmes and Policy Guide for Writers and Producers stated:

Programmes must at all costs be kept free of crudities. There can be no compromise with doubtful material. It must be cut. There is an absolute ban upon the following: jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind, suggestive references to honeymooning couples, chambermaids, fig leaves, ladies' underwear (e.g. winter drawers on), animal habits (e.g. rabbits), lodgers, commercial travellers. When in doubt - cut it out.

LRB 8 October 2009 | PDF Download