'Jasmine Bligh' (born
May 20 1913 in
London,
England,
United Kingdom; died
July 21 1991) was one of the first three
BBC Television Service presenters in the
1930s, along with
Leslie Mitchell and
Elizabeth Cowell, providing continuity announcements and introducing programmes in-vision. She rejoined the service in
1946 after its
Second World War hiatus and was the first person to appear when broadcasting was resumed, greeting viewers with the words "Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?" After twenty minutes she introduced the
Mickey Mouse cartoon ''Mickey's Gala Premiere'', which had been the last programme shown before the beginning of the Second World War in 1939.
[1]
Later she presented the BBC's ''Television for Deaf Children'' in the
1950s. She continued to work in television up until the
1970s, when she presented ''Good Afternoon'' for
Thames Television.
Bligh was a descendant of Captain
William Bligh, the commander famously usurped in the
mutiny on the Bounty in the
18th century.
External links
★
Photographs of Jasmine Bligh at the National Portrait Gallery website