Global transmission
A power switchboard at the Daventry transmitting station, from which the BBC began its short-wave Empire Service broadcasts in 1932
BBC/BRIDGEMAN
Only months after decamping to the grandeur of Broadcasting House, the BBC celebrated another momentous step in its rise to international status. On Monday 19 December 1932, the Empire Service (now the World Service) was born, hurling its signal across thousands of miles and in all directions from the powerful new Daventry transmitter. This new service was an opportunity to keep Britons in what the BBC called “the back of beyond” in touch with their homeland – and for the homeland, in turn, to “diffuse its ideas and culture” to other parts of the globe.