Noddy (camera)

Noddy was a camera system used for generating identifications for the BBC1 and BBC2 television networks from 1963 to February 1985.

The Noddy video camera was servo-controlled to pan and tilt ('nod') across a matrix of pre-arranged physical objects - captions and mechanical models. The camera was black-and-white, with electronically synthesised colour added to its output. This system eliminated the delay associated with swapping graphics upon a conventional copy stand. It also allowed for the depth required by mechanical objects such as clocks and a rotating globe.

The BBC first employed the system in the 1960s, before the advent of colour. The system's remote operation allowed the announcer to control it with ease, and allowed the idents to be of no fixed length as the clock symbols could continue for many minutes at a time. A smaller black and white camera was introduced as camera technology progressed and, from 1969, a process was introduced to add colours to the camera output. This electronic addition of colour was convenient and made the networks' rebrands easy to perform.

The most famous idents of the Noddy system were the BBC1 mirrored globes used between 1969 and 1985, albeit with minor colour changes. The system machinery consisted of an internally lit, rotating globe in front of a concave mirror. The oceans were painted onto the globe in metallic black paint, leaving the land masses as unpainted patches. The original globe ident introduced on 15 November 1969 featured blue continents and legend against a black background. The legend included the word 'Colour' after the BBC1 corporate logo, to identify the new programme format and act as an advertisement to the vast majority of viewers, still watching in black and white: the colour version of the television licence which financed the BBC was much more expensive. The colours of blue and black were chosen because they were still easily distinguishable to those with black and white televisions. An early version of the globe without the 'Colour' legend was used before black-and-white programmes, of which there were still many in the BBC1 schedule in the early 70s.

The globe ident was modified in January 1972 to include a new BBC logo with rounded corners and an italic serif font for the 'Colour' legend. On 28 December 1974 the ident was reworked further, with yellow continents over a dark blue background and the term 'Colour' removed. The legend BBC1 was rendered in white, using a heavy weight of the Futura typeface. On 5 September 1981, the display was altered to green continents over a dark blue background with a double striped BBC1 legend in white.

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