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Gallery

A gallery of women at work and leisure at the BBC from the 1930s to the 1960s

Image: Christine Eade, the BBC's first woman correspondent in the Parliamentary Press Gallery, in April 1973.

Six seated women smile at the camera. They are wearing dresses with extravagant halo-like headdresses. — Amateur Dramatics Society, Dick Whittington, 1930

Women telephone operators seated at their equipment, which have large fixed microphones. All wear dresses, many with pearls. — BBC Wales Telephone Exchange, 1968

A 1930s canteen. All of the people in the canteen are women. — Broadcasting House staff restaurant, 1932

A slightly staged photo inside a library - one woman is on a telephone, the others study books studiously. — Bush House Library, 1947

A woman adjusts the dress of another seated woman. All wear very brightly coloured floral dresses. The set is chintzy Victorian in design. — Training Course for Colour TV, 1967

A woman at a film editing station reviews the footage. — Film Library, Brentford, 1969

Florence Milnes writes a note at her very tidy desk. — Florence Milnes, BBC Librarian, 1932

Long rows of women typists at their workstations. — General Office, Broadcasting House, 1934

A strikingly angled image of a woman wearing headphones transcribing a telephone call on her typewriter. — Home Service Department typist, 1939

A woman standing discusses a script with three seated men. A lozenge shaped BBC microphone hangs from the ceiling. — Mary Adams, Producer, Transatlantic Quiz, 1944

A school photo-style picture of a netball team - 21 women in three rows. All wear white shirts with ties. — Netball team, 1939

An industrious scene - 11 women and a 1 teenage boy sort the post at two large tables. Sacks of mail await on the floor. — Opening the post, Broadcasting House, 1939

A woman on the telephone is shown a letter by another. Her desk is full of newspapers and books. — Radio Times staff, 1950

Two men and two women gathered around a microphone with scripts in hand. — Rhoda Power history lesson, with Mary Somerville, 1931

Three women aiming rifles at a rifle range. — BBC Club, the Rifle Range, 1939

Sallie Clarke smiles at the camera, having won the competition. — Sallie Clarke, Miss BBC, 1969

Eight women gathered around the male singer Sasha Distel — BBC Wales Newsroom staff, with the French singer Sasha Distel, 1960s

Two women at the gramophone, one supervising, the other operating the machine. — Mrs Laryea and Miss Tamakloe prepare sound effects at the Staff Training School, 1954

Two women being measured by wardrobe staff with tape measures. The women being dressed has a very 1960s beehive hairstyle. — Wardrobe Department, 1968

Three women gathered around the microphone. The female producer, standing, appears to have told a joke. — Woman’s Hour, 1956

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