WHEN the first regular public wireless programmes were made by the British Broadcasting Company on November 14, 1922 – 80 years ago – there were several thousands of people in Great Britain waiting for that moment.

One of them was Harry Willis of 26 Worting Road, Basingstoke, who had already established himself in the town as a wireless engineer.

Early that year Mr Willis had invited people to his house to listen to the experimental transmissions made by the Marconi company at Chelmsford in Essex.

The programmes consisted of talks and music, and the look of amazement on the people’s faces as they heard the sounds in the headphones never failed to amuse him.

The receiver that he had made was of the best quality, but some folk in the town had to be content with making their wireless sets from odds and ends acquired from various sources.

The local ironmonger found that he was being asked for yards of thin wire, to be used as aerials, while the dress shop began to run out of wooden cotton reels, which were being used as insulators. Once the wirelesses were made it was just a matter of switching on, and touching the crystal with the “cat’s whisker” – another piece of wire – and, low and behold, voices were heard coming through the air and into the living room.

Harry Willis realised the potential of this new invention and began to make wireless sets for the local folk. As they came stumbling up and down the steps to his house, he arranged to rent a shop at 9 Winchester Street, a small but suitable place where he could sell and repair the sets at a reasonable price.

By 1930 he was in business with a Mr Smith, but after a few years he had moved to 67A Southern Road and was back to working on his own.

By then he had expanded his line of business to other electrical items, and his knowledge in this field was sought right up to the mid-1960s.

The history of wireless goes back to the days of Morse Code, with its dots and dashes, but development of a different aspect of this system led to wireless telephony in the First World War (1914-1918).

When peacetime came a great deal of interest by amateurs and wireless firms, who were already starting experiments on their own – including Marconi – brought about a national demand for a broadcasting service in Great Britain.

The USA had already established such a service through the work of Reginald Fessenden in 1906, and before long other countries were following their example.

A special meeting between 300 shareholders in early 1922 agreed that the British Broadcasting Company be formed, and with £100,000 from various wireless firms, the first programmes were produced at Savoy Hill in London later that year.

In 1927 it became a corporation, moved to Portland Place in a specially constructed building and, in the words of that famous saying, the rest is history.