BBC Spotlight's first ever broadcast
This week in Guernsey
Guernsey’s local news programme, Spotlight, first aired this week in 1963 from studios in Plymouth. It was broadcast in black and white until 1975. The specific opt-outs from Spotlight for hyper-local Channel Islands news weren’t introduced until the 1990s. Spotlight has featured a number of presenters who became famous in much bigger roles, including Kate Adie, Sue Lawley, Angela Rippon and Hugh Scully.
Guernsey Post Office was established this week in 1969 when, on 1 October, it gained independence from the British General Post Office. To celebrate its independence, it repainted the island’s red post boxes Oxford Blue. Only one retained its original colour: the first pillar box erected, in Union Street.
Sark voted for democracy this week in 2006 in a move that ended centuries of feudal rule. As a result, the number of members sitting in the Chief Pleas was reduced from 52 to 28 fully elected representatives.
Guernsey switched to using Reichsmarks this week in 1941, but not the same Reichsmark as were used in Germany. This was a special occupation currency that could only be spent locally, presumably to avoid devaluing the currency back home. Locals had already been forced to move their clocks forward by an hour to match Berlin time, and switch to driving on the right.
Herm’s tenant, Major Peter Wood, died this week in 1998. He and his wife Jenny took over the lease of the island not long after the war and they did much to revive it. Its viability today is largely thanks to their efforts. He is buried at St Trugal’s Chapel on the island.
A Guernsey planning dispute headed to the European courts this week in 2000 when the bailiff refused permission to convert a flower packing shed into a home. Europe was asked to rule whether someone who was the island’s most senior judge, as well as sitting on the executive, should be allowed to make such a decision. The outcome had radical effects on mainland law, too.
Twelve British Commandos raided Sark and captured a German soldier who was taken back to the mainland this week in 1942. The daring raid started with the Commandos scaling the cliffs at Dixcart Bay before creeping into the Dixcart Hotel, where the German soldiers were sleeping. A memorial to the raid was unveiled in 2017 to mark its 75th anniversary.
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