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Habsburg Monarchy. After the death of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria became the new king of Bohemia, and the country became a constituent state of the Habsburg monarchy. From 1599 to 1711, Moravia (a Land of the Bohemian Crown) was frequently raided by the Ottoman Empire and its vassals (especially the Tatars and Transylvania). Overall, hundreds of thousands were enslaved whilst tens of thousands were killed. Bohemia enjoyed religious freedom between 1436 and 1620 and became one of the most liberal countries of the Christian world during that period. In 1609, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, who made Prague again the capital of the empire at the time, himself a Roman Catholic, was moved by the Bohemian nobility to publish "Maiestas Rudolphina", which confirmed the older "Confessio Bohemica" of 1575. After Emperor Matthias II and then King of Bohemia Ferdinand II (later Holy Roman Emperor) began oppressing the rights of Protestants in Bohemia, the resulting Bohemian Revolt led to outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618. Elector Frederick V of the Electorate of the Palatinate, a Calvinist Protestant, was elected by the Bohemian nobility to replace Ferdinand on the Bohemian throne and was known as the Winter King. Frederick's wife, the popular Elizabeth Stuart and subsequently Elizabeth of Bohemia, known as the Winter Queen or Queen of Hearts, was the daughter of King James I of England and VI of Scotland.
After Frederick's defeat in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, 27 Bohemian estates leaders and Jan Jesenius, rector of the Charles University of Prague, were executed on Prague's Old Town Square on 21 June 1621, and the rest were exiled from the country; their lands were given to Catholic loyalists (mostly of Bavarian and Saxon origin). That ended the pro-reformation movement in Bohemia and the role of Prague as ruling city of the Holy Roman Empire. In the so-called "renewed constitution" of 1627, German was established as a second official language in the Czech lands. Czech formally remained the kingdom's first language, but both German and Latin were widely spoken among the ruling classes, although German became increasingly dominant, and Czech was spoken in much of the countryside. Bohemia's formal independence was further jeopardized when the Bohemian Diet approved administrative reform in 1749. It included the indivisibility of the Habsburg Empire and the centralization of rule, which essentially meant the merging of the Royal Bohemian Chancellery with the Austrian Chancellery.
At the end of the 18th century, the Czech National Revival movement, in cooperation with part of the Bohemian aristocracy, started a campaign for restoration of the kingdom's historic rights, whereby Czech was to regain its historical role and replace German as the language of administration. The enlightened absolutism of Joseph II and Leopold II, who introduced minor language concessions, showed promise for the Czech movement, but many of these reforms were later rescinded. During the Revolution of 1848, many Czech nationalists called for autonomy for Bohemia from Habsburg Austria, but the revolutionaries were defeated. At the same time, German-speaking towns elected representatives for the first German Parliament at Frankfurt. Towns between Karlsbad and Reichenberg chose leftist representatives, while Eger, Rumburg, and Troppau elected conservative representatives. The old Bohemian Diet, one of the last remnants of the independence, was dissolved, although Czech experienced a rebirth as romantic nationalism developed among the Czechs.
In 1861, a new elected Bohemian Diet was established. The renewal of the old Bohemian Crown (Kingdom of Bohemia, Margraviate of Moravia, and Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia) became the official political program of both Czech liberal politicians and the majority of Bohemian aristocracy ("state rights program"), while parties representing the German minority and small part of the aristocracy proclaimed their loyalty to the centralist Constitution (so-called "Verfassungstreue"). After Austria's defeat in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Hungarian politicians achieved the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, ostensibly creating equality between the empire's Austrian and Hungarian halves. An attempt by the Czechs to create a tripartite monarchy (Austria-Hungary-Bohemia) failed in 1871. The "state-rights program" remained the official platform of all Czech political parties (except for social democrats) until 1918. Under the state-rights program, appealing to the stability of Bohemia's borders over many centuries, the Czech emancipation movement claimed the right to the whole of the Bohemian lands over the Germans' right to the lands, amounting to a third of Bohemia, where they formed the majority.
Interbellum. After World War I, the German Bohemians demanded that the regions with German-speaking majority be included in a German state. But Czech political leaders claimed the entire Bohemian lands, including majority German-speaking areas, for Czechoslovakia. By the end of October, bilingual towns had been occupied by Czech forces. By end of November, many purely German-speaking towns had been occupied. German or Austrian troops, bound by the ceasefire agreement, did not support Bohemian German self-defense, while the Czechoslovak army, an Entente army, could freely operate. The absorption of the German-speaking areas in Czechoslovakia was hence a "fait accompli". As a result, all of Bohemia (as the largest and most populous land) became the core of the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia, which combined Bohemia, Moravia, Czech Silesia, Upper Hungary (present-day Slovakia) and Carpathian Ruthenia into one state. Under its first president, Tomáš Masaryk, Czechoslovakia became a liberal democratic republic, but serious issues emerged regarding the Czech majority's relationship with the German and Hungarian minorities.
German occupation and World War II. After the Munich Agreement in 1938, the border regions of Bohemia historically inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans (the Sudetenland) were annexed to Nazi Germany. The remnants of Bohemia and Moravia were then annexed by Germany in 1939, while the Slovak lands became the separate Slovak Republic, a puppet state of Nazi Germany. From 1939 to 1945, Bohemia (without the Sudetenland) and Moravia formed the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. During World War II, the Germans operated the Theresienstadt Ghetto for Jews, the Dulag Luft Ost, Stalag IV-C and Stalag 359 prisoner-of-war camps for French, British, Belgian, Serbian, Dutch, Slovak, Soviet, Romanian, Italian and other Allied POWs, and the Ilag IV camp for interned civilians from western Allied countries in the region. There were also 17 subcamps of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, in which both men and women, mostly Polish, Soviet and Jewish, but also French, Yugoslav, Czech, Romani and of several other ethnicities, were imprisoned and subjected to forced labor, and 16 subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, in which men and women, mostly Polish and Jewish, but also Czechs, Russians, and other people, were similarly imprisoned and subjected to forced labor.
Nazi authorities brutally suppressed any open opposition to German occupation, and many Czech patriots were executed as a result. In 1942, the Czechoslovak resistance assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, and in reprisal German forces murdered the population of a whole village, Lidice. In the spring of 1945, there were death marches of prisoners of several subcamps of the Flossenbürg, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald concentration camps in Saxony and Silesia, and Allied POWs from camps in Austria reached the region. In May 1945, Allied American, Polish, Czechoslovak, Soviet and Romanian troops captured the region, which was then restored to Czechoslovakia. After the war ended in 1945, after initial plans to cede lands to Germany or to create German-speaking cantons had been abandoned, the vast majority of the Bohemian Germans were expelled by order of the reestablished Czechoslovak central government, based on the Potsdam Agreement. The Bohemian Germans' property was confiscated by the Czech authorities, and according to contemporary estimates, amounted to a third of the Czechoslovak national income. Germans who were valued for their skills were allowed to stay to pass on their knowledge to the Czech migrants. The expulsion severely depopulated the area, and from then on, locales were called only their Czech names, regardless of their previous demographics. The resettlement of the formerly German-settled areas allowed many poorer people to acquire property, thus "equalizing" Czechoslovak society.
Recent history. The Communist Party won the most votes in free elections, but not a simple majority. Klement Gottwald, the communist leader, became prime minister of a coalition government. In February 1948, the non-communist members of the government resigned in protest against arbitrary measures by the communists and their Soviet protectors in many of the state's institutions. Gottwald and the communists responded with a "coup d'état" and installed a pro-Soviet authoritarian state. In 1949, Bohemia ceased to be an administrative unit of Czechoslovakia, as the country was divided into administrative regions that did not follow the historical borders. In 1989, Agnes of Bohemia became the first saint from a Central European country to be canonized (by Pope John Paul II) before the "Velvet Revolution" later that year. After the Velvet Divorce in 1993, the territory of Bohemia remained in the Czech Republic. The new Constitution of the Czech Republic provided for higher administrative units to be established, providing for the possibility of Bohemia as an administrative unit, but did not specify the form they would take. A 1997 constitutional act rejected the restoration of self-governing historical Czech lands and decided on the regional system that has been in use since 2000. Petr Pithart, former Czech prime minister and president of the Senate at the time, remained one of the main advocates of the land system, claiming that the primary reason for its refusal was the fear of possible Moravian separatism.
Bohemia thus remains a historical region, and its administration is divided between Prague and the Central Bohemian, Plzeň, Karlovy Vary, Ústí nad Labem, Liberec, and Hradec Králové regions, as well as most of the Pardubice and South Bohemian region, and parts of the Vysočina and South Moravian regions. In addition to their use in the names of the regions, the historical land names remain in use in names of municipalities, cadastral areas, railway stations and geographical names. The distinction and border between the Czech lands is also preserved in local dialects. Former parts. Žitava. Zittau () and Ostritz () in modern south-eastern Saxony were initially a part of Bohemia in the Middle Ages (and briefly Lower Silesia in 1319–1346). Žitava was a Bohemian royal city, granted city rights by King Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1255. In 1346, it co-formed the Lusatian League along with five most dominant Upper Lusatian cities, which were also under Bohemian rule, and had closer economic interests with those cities since. Žitava was not formally annexed from Bohemia to Upper Lusatia, however, it shared the history of Upper Lusatia since, and was annexed from the Kingdom of Bohemia by the Electorate of Saxony in 1635. The coat of arms of Zittau is a remnant of the city's ties to both Bohemia and Lower Silesia, as it contains the Bohemian lion and the Lower Silesian Piast Eagle.
In 1945, some 4000 Czechs were registered in Zittau, and formed a Czech National Committee. The Czechs made an attempt to reintegrate the city with Bohemia, and thus Czechoslovakia, but the efforts were decisively rejected in 1948. Kladsko. The area around Kłodzko (; ) in south-western Poland was culturally and traditionally a part of Bohemia but was also a part of Lower Silesia under rule of the Polish Piast dynasty in 1278–1290 and 1327–1341. Kłodzko Land has been again a part of Lower Silesia since its conquest by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1763. Referred to as "Little Prague", the Kłodzko Valley region on the Nysa Kłodzka River was the focus of several attempts to reincorporate the area into Czechoslovakia, one of several Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts. The last attempt occurred in May 1945, when Czechoslovakia tried to annex the area. The Czechs argued that because of the small Czech minority present in the western part of the Kłodzko Valley, which was called the region's "Czech Corner", the area should go over to Czechoslovakia instead of being assigned to Poland, as no relevant Polish minority lived in the area. Pressure brought on by the Soviet Union led to a ceasing of military operations, with the Czech minority being expelled to Germany and Czechoslovakia. According to canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, the area remained part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Prague until 1972. Capitalizing on interest regarding the Kladsko area in the Czech national psyche, a special tourist area in the Náchod District has been designated as the Kladsko Borderland Tourist Area (tourism district; ). The area, entirely within the Czech Republic, was formerly known as the Jirásek's Region (), Adršpach rocks (). Historical administrative divisions. Kraje of Bohemia during the Kingdom of Bohemia:
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, hip hop and indie, while its sister station 1Xtra plays Black contemporary music, including hip hop and R&B. Radio 1 also runs two online streams, Radio 1 Dance, dedicated to dance music, and Radio 1 Anthems, dedicated to throwback music; both are available to listen only on BBC Sounds. Radio 1 broadcasts throughout the UK on FM between and , digital radio, digital TV and BBC Sounds. It was launched in 1967 to meet the demand for music generated by pirate radio stations, when the average age of the UK population was 27. The BBC claims that it targets the 15–29 age group, and the average age of its UK audience since 2009 is 30. BBC Radio 1 started 24-hour broadcasting on 1 May 1991. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 7.5 million with a listening share of 4.9% as of December 2024.
History. First broadcast. Radio 1 was established in 1967 (along with the more middle-of-the-road BBC Radio 2) as a successor to the BBC Light Programme, which had broadcast popular music and other entertainment since 1945. Radio 1 was conceived as a direct response to the popularity of offshore pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London, which had been declared illegal by Act of Parliament. Radio 1's initial format was influenced in particular by Radio London's American-style Top 40 format, in which music was divided into categories played in strict rotation. The new service was initially promoted in the summer of 1967 by trails (voiced by Kenny Everett) which referred to it as "Radio 247", the station's temporary working title. Radio 1 was launched at 7:00am on Saturday 30 September 1967. Broadcasts were on AM (247 metres), using a network of transmitters which had carried the Light Programme. Most were of comparatively low power, at less than 50 kilowatts, and this resulted in the station only having patchy coverage.
The first disc jockey to broadcast on the new station was Tony Blackburn, who had previously been on Radio Caroline and Radio London, and presented what became known as the "Radio 1 Breakfast Show". The first words on Radio 1 – after a countdown by the Controller of Radios 1 and 2, Robin Scott, and a jingle, recorded at PAMS in Dallas, Texas, beginning "The voice of Radio 1" – were: This was the first use of US-style jingles on BBC radio, but the style was familiar to listeners who were acquainted with Blackburn and other DJs from their days on pirate radio. The reason jingles from PAMS were used was that the Musicians' Union would not agree to a single fee for the singers and musicians if the jingles were made "in-house" by the BBC; they wanted repeat fees each time one was played. The first music to be heard on the station was an extract from "Beefeaters" by Johnny Dankworth. "Theme One", specially composed for the launch by George Martin was played for the first time before Radio 1 officially launched at 7 am. The first complete record played on Radio 1 was "Flowers in the Rain" by The Move, the number 2 record in that week's Top 20 (the number 1 record, The Last Waltz by Engelbert Humperdinck, would have been inappropriate for the station's sound). The second single was "Massachusetts" by the Bee Gees. The breakfast show remains the most prized slot in the Radio 1 schedule, with every change of breakfast show presenter generating considerable media interest.
The initial rota of staff included John Peel, Pete Myers, and a gaggle of others, some transferred from pirate stations, such as Keith Skues, Ed Stewart, Mike Raven, David Ryder, Jim Fisher, Jimmy Young, Dave Cash, Kenny Everett, Simon Dee, Terry Wogan, Duncan Johnson, Doug Crawford, Tommy Vance, Chris Denning, and Emperor Rosko. Many of the most popular pirate radio voices, such as Simon Dee, had only a one-hour slot per week ("Midday Spin"). 1970s. Initially, the station was unpopular with some of its target audience who, it is claimed, disliked that much of its airtime was shared with Radio 2 and that it was less unequivocally aimed at a young audience than the offshore stations, with DJs such as Jimmy Young being in their 40s. The fact that it was part of an "establishment" institution such as the BBC turned off some, and needle time restrictions let it play fewer many than the offshore stations. It had limited finances and often, as in January 1975, suffered disproportionately when the BBC made financial cutbacks, strengthening an impression that it was a lower priority for BBC executives.
Despite this, it gained massive audiences, becoming the most listened-to station in the world, with audiences of more than 10 million claimed for some shows (up to 20 million for some of the combined Radio 1 and Radio 2 shows). In the early-to-mid-1970s, Radio 1 presenters were rarely out of the British tabloids, thanks to the publicity department. The touring summer live "Radio 1 Roadshow" – usually BBC Radio Weeks promotions that took Radio 1, 2 and 4 shows on the road – drew some of the largest crowds of the decade. The station played a role in maintaining the high sales of 45rpm single records, although it benefited from a lack of competition, apart from Radio Luxembourg, and from Manx Radio in the Isle of Man. (Independent Local Radio did not begin until October 1973, took many years to cover virtually all the UK and was initially a mixture of music and talk). Alan Freeman's Saturday Rock Show was voted Best Radio Show five years running by readers of a national music publication, and was then axed by controller Derek Chinnery.
News coverage was boosted in 1973 when "Newsbeat" bulletins aired for the first time, and Richard Skinner joined as one of the new programme's presenters. On air, 1978 was the busiest year of the decade. David Jensen replaced Dave Lee Travis on the weekday drivetime programme so that DLT could replace Noel Edmonds on the "Radio 1 Breakfast" show. Later in the year the Sunday teatime chart show extended from a Top 20 to a Top 40 countdown, and Tommy Vance, one of the original presenters, rejoined the station to present a new programme, "The Friday Rock Show". On 23 November, Radio 1 moved from 247m (1214 kHz) to 275 and 285m (1053 & 1089 kHz) to improve national AM reception, and to conform with the Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975. Annie Nightingale, whose first Radio 1 programme aired on 5 October 1969, was Britain's first national female DJ (the earliest record presenter is thought to be Jean Metcalfe of "Family Favourites", but given that Metcalfe only presented the programme she is not considered a "true" DJ) and became its longest-serving presenter, evolving her musical tastes with the times.
In 1978, Al Matthews became the first black disc jockey on Radio 1. His Saturday night show "Discovatin" was broadcast for over two years. During the summer a Wednesday show was also broadcast featuring live acts. 1980s. At the start of 1981, Mike Read took over "The Radio 1 Breakfast Show" from Dave Lee Travis. Towards the end of the year, Steve Wright started the long-running "Steve Wright in the Afternoon" show. 1982 saw the end of "Junior Choice" and it was replaced by "Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show", although the format based on children's requests continued for another two years. Adrian John and Pat Sharp also joined for the early weekend shows. Gary Davies and Janice Long also joined, hosting Saturday night late and evening shows respectively. In 1984, Robbie Vincent joined to host a Sunday evening soul show. Mike Smith left for a while to present BBC1's "Breakfast Time"; Gary Davies took over the weekday lunchtime slot. Bruno Brookes joined and replaced Peter Powell as presenter of the teatime show, with Powell replacing Tony Blackburn on a new weekend breakfast show, which no longer contained children's requests. Blackburn left Radio 1 at this point.
In 1985, Radio 1 relocated its studios in Broadcasting House to Egton House. In March 1985, Ranking Miss P became the first black female DJ on the station, hosting a reggae programme. In July, Andy Kershaw joined the station. Simon Mayo joined in 1986, while Smith re-joined to replace Read on the breakfast show. In response to the growth in dance and rap music, Jeff Young joined in October 1987 with the "Big Beat" show. At the end of the year Nicky Campbell, Mark Goodier and Liz Kershaw all joined, and Janice Long left. Mayo replaced Smith on the breakfast show in May 1988. In September, Goodier and Kershaw took over weekend breakfasts with Powell departing. Campbell took over weekday evenings as part of a move into night-time broadcasting as 1 October 1988 saw Radio 1 extend broadcast hours until 02:00; previously the station had closed for the night at midnight. From September 1988, Radio 1 began its FM switch-on, with further major transmitter switch-ons in 1989 and 1990 but it was not until the mid-1990s that all existing BBC radio transmitters had Radio 1 added. Previously, Radio 1 had "borrowed" Radio 2's VHF/FM frequencies for around 25 hours each week. 1990s.
On 1 May 1991, Radio 1 began 24-hour broadcasting, although only on FM, as the station's MW transmitters were switched off between midnight and 06:00. In 1992, Radio 1, for the first and only time, covered a general election. Their coverage was presented by Nicky Campbell. In his last few months as controller, Johnny Beerling commissioned a handful of new shows that in some ways set the tone for what was to come under Matthew Bannister. One of these "Loud'n'proud" was the UK's first national radio series aimed at a gay audience, which was produced in Manchester and aired from August 1993. Far from being a "parting quirk", the show was a surprise hit and led to the network's first coverage of the large outdoor Gay Pride event in 1994. The Man Ezeke became Radio 1's first black regular daytime presenter when he began hosting on Sunday lunchtimes in January 1993. Bannister took the reins fully in October 1993. His aim was to rid the station of its "Smashie and Nicey" image in order to appeal to the under-25s. Although originally launched as a youth station, by the early 1990s, its loyal listeners and DJs had aged with the station over its 25-year history. Many long-standing DJs, such as Simon Bates, Dave Lee Travis, Alan Freeman, Bob Harris, Paul Gambaccini, Gary Davies, and later Steve Wright, Bruno Brookes and Johnnie Walker left the station or were dismissed, and in January 1995, older music (typically anything recorded before 1990) was dropped from the daytime playlist.
Many listeners rebelled as the first new DJs to be introduced represented a crossover from other parts of the BBC (notably Bannister and Trevor Dann's former colleagues at the BBC's London station, GLR) with Emma Freud and Danny Baker. Another problem was that, at the time, Radio 2 was sticking resolutely to a format which appealed mainly to those who had been listening since the days of the Light Programme, and commercial radio, which was targeting the "Radio 1 and a half" audience, consequently enjoyed a massive increase in its audience share at Radio 1's expense. After the departure of Steve Wright, who had been unsuccessfully moved from his long-running afternoon show to the breakfast show in January 1994, Bannister hired Chris Evans to present the breakfast show in April 1995. Evans was a popular presenter but was dismissed in 1997 after he demanded to present the breakfast show for only four days per week. Evans was replaced from 17 February 1997 by Mark and Lard – Mark Radcliffe and his sidekick Marc Riley – who found the slick, mass-audience style required for a breakfast show did not come naturally to them. They were replaced by Zoe Ball and Kevin Greening eight months later in October 1997; Greening soon moved on, leaving Ball as sole presenter. The reinvention of the station happened at a fortuitous time, with the rise of Britpop in the mid-1990s – bands like Oasis, Blur and Pulp were popular and credible at the time, and the station's popularity rose with them. Documentaries like John Peel's "Lost in Music", which looked at the influence that the use of drugs have had over popular musicians, received critical acclaim but were slated inside Broadcasting House.
At just before 09:00 on 1 July 1994, Radio 1 broadcast on medium wave for the final time. In March 1995, Radio 1 hosted an "Interactive Radio Night" with Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq broadcasting from Cyberia, an internet café and featuring live performances by Orbital via ISDN. Later in the 1990s the Britpop boom declined, and manufactured chart pop (boy bands and acts aimed at sub-teenagers) came to dominate the charts. New-genre music occupied the evenings (indie on weekdays and dance at weekends), with a mix of specialist shows and playlist fillers through late nights. The rise of rave culture through the late 1980s and early 1990s gave the station the opportunity to move into a controversial and youth-orientated movement by bringing in club DJ Pete Tong amongst others. There had been a dance music programme on Radio 1 since 1987 and Pete Tong (now the current longest-serving DJ at the station) was the second DJ to present an all dance music show. This quickly gave birth to the Essential Mix where underground DJs mix electronic and club based music in a two-hour slot. Dance and urban music has been a permanent feature on Radio 1 since with club DJs such as Judge Jules, Danny Rampling, Trevor Nelson, and the Dreem Teem all moving from London's Kiss 100 to the station. 2000s.
Listening numbers continued to decline. Radio 1 was challenged by an increasing number of new radio stations targeting youth such as Galaxy, Kerrang! 105.2, NME Radio and Virgin Radio Xtreme, as well as BBC's own digital TV station BBC Three. The breakfast show and the UK Top 40 continued to struggle. In 2000, Zoe Ball was replaced in the mornings by close friend and fellow ladette Sara Cox. The success of Moyles' show has come alongside increased success for the station in general. In 2006, DJs Scott Mills and Zane Lowe won gold Sony Radio Awards, while the station itself came away with the best station award. A new evening schedule was introduced in September 2006, dividing the week by genre. 2010s. The licence-fee funding of Radio 1, alongside Radio 2, is often criticised by the commercial sector. In the first quarter of 2011 Radio 1 was part of an efficiency review conducted by John Myers. His role, according to Andrew Harrison, the chief executive of RadioCentre, was "to identify both areas of best practice and possible savings."
The controller of Radio 1 and sister station 1Xtra changed to Ben Cooper on 28 October 2011, following the departure of Andy Parfitt. Ben Cooper answered to the Director of BBC Audio and Music, Tim Davie. On 7 December 2011, Ben Cooper's first major changes to the station were announced. Skream & Benga, Toddla T, Charlie Sloth and Friction replaced Judge Jules, Gilles Peterson, Kissy Sell Out and Fabio & Grooverider. A number of shows were shuffled to incorporate the new line-up. On 28 February 2012, further changes were announced. Greg James and Scott Mills swapped shows and Jameela Jamil, Gemma Cairney and Danny Howard joined the station. The new line-up of DJs for "In New DJs We Trust" was also announced with B.Traits, Mosca, Jordan Suckley and Julio Bashmore hosting shows on a four weekly rotation. This new schedule took effect on Monday, 2 April 2012. In September 2012, Nick Grimshaw replaced Chris Moyles as host of "Radio 1's Breakfast Show". Grimshaw previously hosted Mon-Thurs 10pm-Midnight, Weekend Breakfast and Sunday evenings alongside Annie Mac. Grimshaw was replaced by Phil Taggart and Alice Levine on the 10pm-Midnight show.
In November 2012, another series of changes were announced. This included the departure of Reggie Yates and Vernon Kay. Jameela Jamil was announced as the new presenter of "The Official Chart". Matt Edmondson moved to weekend mornings with Tom Deacon briefly replacing him on Wednesday nights. Daniel Howell and Phil Lester, famous YouTubers and video bloggers, joined the station. The changes took effect in January 2013. Former presenter Sara Cox hosted her last show on Radio 1 in February 2014 before moving back to Radio 2. In March 2014, Gemma Cairney left the weekend breakfast show to host the weekday early breakfast slot, swapping shows with Dev. In September 2014, Radio 1 operated a series of changes to their output which saw many notable presenters leave the station – including Edith Bowman, Nihal and Rob da Bank. Huw Stephens gained a new show hosting 10pm1am MondayWednesday with Alice Levine presenting weekends 1pm4pm. Radio 1's Residency also expanded with Skream joining the rotational line-up on Thursday nights (10pm1am).
From December 2014 to April 2016, Radio 1 included a weekly late night show presented by a well known Internet personality called "The Internet Takeover". Shows have been presented by various YouTubers such as Jim Chapman and Hannah Witton. In January 2015, Clara Amfo replaced Jameela Jamil as host of The Official Chart on Sundays (4pm7pm) and in March, Zane Lowe left Radio 1 and was replaced by Annie Mac on the new music evening show. In May 2015, Fearne Cotton left the station after 10 years of broadcasting. Her weekday mid-morning show was taken over by Clara Amfo. Adele Roberts also joined the weekday schedule line-up, hosting the Early Breakfast show. In July 2015, the Official Chart moved to a Friday from 4pm to 5:45pm, hosted by Greg James. The move took place to take into account the changes to the release dates of music globally. Cel Spellman joined the station to host Sunday evenings. In September 2017, a new slot namely Radio 1's Greatest Hits was introduced for weekends 10am-1pm. The show started on 2 September 2017. On 30 September 2017, Radio 1 celebrated its 50th birthday. Commemorations included a three-day pop-up station, 'Radio 1 Vintage', celebrating the station's presenters and special on-air programmes on the day itself, including a special breakfast show co-presented by the station's launch DJ Tony Blackburn, which is also broadcast on BBC Radio 2.
In October 2017, another major schedule change was announced. Friction left the station. The change features Charlie Sloth gained a new slot called 'The 8th' which aired Mon-Thu 9-11pm. Other changes include MistaJam took over Danny Howard on the Dance Anthems. Katie Thistleton joined Cel Spellman on Sunday evenings, namely 'Life Hacks' (4-6pm) which features content from the Radio 1 Surgery, and Most Played (6-7pm). Danny Howard would host a new show on Friday 11pm-1am. Huw Stephens's show pushed to 11pm-1am. Kan D Man and DJ Limelight joined the station to host a weekly Asian Beats show on Sundays between 1-3am, Rene LaVice joined the station with the Drum & Bass show on Tuesdays 1-3am. Phil Taggart presented the Hype Chart on Tuesdays 3-4am. In February 2018, the first major schedule change of the year happened on the weekend. This saw Maya Jama and Jordan North join BBC Radio 1 to present the Radio 1's Greatest Hits, which would be on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Alice Levine moved to the breakfast slot to join Dev. Matt Edmondson would replace Alice Levine's original slot in the afternoon and joined by a different guest co-presenter each week. The changes took into effect on 24 February 2018.
In April 2018, another major schedule change was made due to the incorporation of weekend schedule on Fridays. This means that Nick Grimshaw, Clara Amfo and Greg James would host four days in a week. Scott Mills became the new host for The Official Chart and Dance Anthems, which replaces Greg James, and Maya Jama would present The Radio 1's Greatest Hits on 10am-1pm. Mollie King joined Matt Edmondson officially on the 1-4pm slot, namely 'Matt and Mollie'. The changes took into effect on 15 June 2018. In May 2018, it was announced that Nick Grimshaw would leave the Breakfast Show after six years, the second longest run hosting the show in history (only second to Chris Moyles). However, Grimshaw did not leave the station, but swapped slots with Greg James, who hosted the home time show from 4-7pm weekdays. This change took place as of 20 August 2018 for the Radio 1 Breakfast Show (which was then renamed to Radio 1 Breakfast). Grimshaw's show started on 3 September 2018. In June 2018, another series of schedule changes was announced. This sees the BBC Introducing Show with Huw Stephens on Sundays 11pm-1am. Jack Saunders joined the station and presented Radio 1 Indie Show from Monday-Thursday 11pm-1am. Other changes include the shows rearrangement of Sunday evenings. Phil Taggart's chillest show moved to 7-9pm, then followed by The Rock Show with Daniel P Carter at 9-11pm. The changes took into effect in September 2018.
In October 2018, Charlie Sloth announced that he was leaving Radio 1 and 1Xtra after serving the station for nearly 10 years. He was hosting The 8th and The Rap Show at that point. His last show was expected to be on 3 November 2018. However, Charlie had been in the spotlight for storming the stage and delivering a sweary, Kanye West-esque rant at the Audio & Radio Industry Awards (ARIAS) on Thursday 18 October 2018, which points towards Edith Bowman. Charlie was nominated for best specialist music show at the ARIAS – a category he lost out on to "Soundtracking with Edith Bowman" and prompting him to appear on stage during her acceptance. He apologised on Twitter regarding this issue and Radio 1 had agreed with Charlie that he will not do the 10 remaining shows that were originally planned. This meant that his last show ended on 18 October 2018. From 20 October 2018 onwards, Seani B filled his The Rap Show slot on 9pm-11pm and Dev covered "The 8th" beginning 22 October 2018. In the same month, B.Traits announced that she was leaving BBC Radio 1 after six years of commitment. She said she feels as though she can no longer devote the necessary time needed to make the show the best it can be, and is moving on to focus on new projects and adventures. Her last show was on 26 October 2018. The Essential Mix was then shifted earlier to 1am-3am, followed by Radio 1's Wind-Down from 3 am to 6 am. The changes took effect from 2 November 2018 onwards.
At the end of October 2018, Dev's takeover on The 8th resulted in the swapping between Matt Edmondson and Mollie King's show with Dev and Alice Levine's show. This meant that Matt and Mollie became the new Weekend Breakfast hosts, and Dev and Alice became the afternoon show hosts. The changes came into effect on 16 November 2018. On 15 November 2018, Radio 1 announced that Tiffany Calver, who has previously hosted a dedicated hip-hop show on the new-music station KissFresh, would join the station and host the Rap Show. The change took effect from 5 January 2019. On 26 November 2018, Radio 1 announced that the new hosts for the evening slot previously hosted by Charlie Sloth would be Rickie Haywood-Williams, Melvin Odoom, and Charlie Hedges. The trio previously presented on Kiss's breakfast show. The change took effect in April 2019. In July 2019 it was announced that there would be two new shows on the weekend, the weekend early breakfast show and best new pop, both of which started on 6 September 2019. The weekend early morning breakfast show would be and is currently hosted by Arielle Free. It is broadcast between 04:00–06:00 on Friday and Saturday and Sunday between 05:00–07:00. 2020s.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were temporary changes. In March 2020, "Radio 1 Breakfast" began later at 7 am to 11 am. Scott Mills would also present his show from 1 pm-3 pm with Nick Grimshaw starting until 6 pm. BBC Radio 1 Dance Anthems now started from 3 pm with 2 hours Classic Anthems and it would end at 7 pm. In July 2020, Alice Levine and Cel Spellman announced their resignation from BBC Radio 1. In September, Vick Hope was announced to join Katie Thistleton, replacing Spellman. In September 2020, a new schedule was announced, which saw "Radio 1 Breakfast" air from 7am to 10.30am, followed by Clara Amfo from 10.30am to 12.45pm, Scott Mills from 1pm to 3.30pm and Nick Grimshaw from 3.30pm to 5.45pm. Evening slos were also all brought forward by an hour. On 26 September 2020, MistaJam left BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra after 15 years. It was announced that Charlie Hedges would take over Dance Anthems from 3 October 2020. BBC Radio 1 Dance launched on Friday 9 October. In November 2020 it was confirmed that Dev Griffin, Huw Stephens, and Phil Taggart would all be leaving the station at the end of the year. From January 2021, "Radio 1 Breakfast" was to return to five days per week while Arielle Free would host Early Breakfast (Mon-Thu 0500–0700) and three new presenters were to take turns hosting the early breakfast slot on Fridays. Adele Roberts left Early Breakfast after five years, moving to Weekend Breakfast (Sat-Sun 0700–1030). Matt Edmondson and Mollie King returned to Weekend Afternoons (Fri-Sun 1300–1600). On Sunday evenings, Sian Eleri replaced Phil Taggart as host of the Chillest Show and Gemma Bradley replaced Huw Stephens on BBC Introducing.
On 9 April 2021, BBC Radio 1 and other BBC radio stations were cut at 12:10pm for the national anthem following the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the stations then carried the BBC Radio News special programme until 4pm. Radio 1 then played music without vocals and on 10 and 11 April 2021 played downtempo and chilled music. On 20 April 2021, Annie Mac announced she was leaving the station. She was replaced by Clara Amfo on Future Sounds on Monday to Thursday evenings, with Danny Howard taking over her Friday night Dance Party show. Rickie, Melvin and Charlie replaced Amfo in the daytime schedule, whilst Jack Saunders began hosting Monday to Thursday evenings from 8pm to 10pm. On 21 April 2021, Radio 1 Relax launched on BBC Sounds, playing relaxing music and sounds such as wind and rain. After 14 years on BBC Radio 1, Nick Grimshaw announced he would be leaving the station, with Vick Hope and Jordan North taking over the time-slot. Grimshaw broadcast his final show on 12 August 2021. Vick and Jordan's new show first aired on 6 September 2021. Vick continued to co-host Life Hacks alongside Katie Thistleton, while Dean McCullough joined BBC Radio 1 to host Friday-Sunday 1030–1300.
On 1 July 2022, it was announced that Scott Mills and Chris Stark would leave the station to host shows on BBC Radio 2 and Capital respectively. They were replaced in their daytime afternoon slot by Dean McCullough and Vicky Hawkesworth, who hosted their show from Salford, with Jack Saunders taking over from Mills as the host of The Official Chart. Katie Thistleton replaced McCullough on Friday and Saturday mornings, with Nat O'Leary hosting a new show, Radio 1 00s, on Sunday mornings from 11am to 1pm. On 8 September 2022, Radio 1 and the other radio stations were cut at 6:32pm to report the Death of Queen Elizabeth II and carried a BBC Radio News special. Radio 1 resumed broadcasts at 7am on 9 September 2022, playing downtempo music throughout the day and over the weekend. Radio 1 returned to normal programming on 11 September 2022. On 9 September 2023, Sam MacGregor and Danni Diston replaced Adele Roberts as the host of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show. On 7 February 2024, the BBC announced plans to launch a new Radio 1 spin-off station on DAB and online via BBC Sounds. The Radio 1 spin-off will focus on music from the 2000s and 2010s, catering to the appetite from young audiences for recent nostalgia. The spin-off station was eventually launched on 8 November 2024 as BBC Radio 1 Anthems.
On 16 February 2024, it was announced that Jordan North would leave the station to host Capital Breakfast alongside Siân Welby and Chris Stark. Katie Thistleton and Jamie Laing began hosting the Going Home show alongside Vick Hope from 4 March 2024. On 1 July 2024, a new schedule launched, which saw Matt Edmondson and Mollie King begin hosting the weekday afternoon show. Dean McCullough took over from Arielle Free as the host of Early Breakfast, which moved to Salford, with Vicky Hawkesworth and Nat O'Leary hosting Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings from 10.30am to 1pm. Edmondson and King were eventually replaced in their weekend slot by Sam MacGregor and Danni Diston from January 2025, with James Cusack joining the station to host Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show, which also moved to Salford. Broadcast. Studios. From inception for over 20 years, Radio 1 broadcast from an adjacent pair of continuity suites (originally Con A and Con B) in the main control room of Broadcasting House. These cons were configured to allow DJs to operate the equipment themselves and play their own records and jingle cartridges (called self-op). This was a departure from traditional BBC practice, where a studio manager would play in discs from the studio control cubicle. Due to needle time restrictions, much of the music was played from tapes of BBC session recordings. The DJs were assisted by one or more technical operators (TOs) who would set up tapes and control sound levels during broadcasts.
In 1985, Radio 1 moved across the road from Broadcasting House to Egton House. The station moved to Yalding House in 1996, and Egton House was demolished in 2003 to make way for an extension to Broadcasting House. This extension would eventually be renamed the Egton Wing, and then the Peel Wing. Until 2012, the studios were located in the basement of Yalding House (near to BBC Broadcasting House) on Great Portland Street in central London. They used to broadcast from two main studios in the basement; Y2 and Y3 (there is also a smaller studio, YP1, used mainly for production). These two main studios (Y2 and Y3) are separated by the "Live Lounge", although it is mainly used as an office; live sets are rarely recorded from it, for Maida Vale Studios is used instead for larger set-ups. The studios are linked by webcams and windows through the "Live Lounge", allowing DJs to see each other when changing between shows. Y2 is the studio from where "The Chris Moyles Show" was broadcast and is also the studio rigged with static cameras for when the station broadcasts on the "Live Cam".
In December 2012, Radio 1 moved from Yalding House to new studios on the 8th floor of the new BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place, just a few metres away from the "Peel Wing", formerly the "Egton Wing", which occupies the land on which Egton House previously stood: it was renamed the "Peel Wing" in 2012 in honour of the long-serving BBC Radio 1 presenter, John Peel, who broadcast on the station from its launch in 1967 until his death in 2004. Programmes have also regularly been broadcast from other regions, notably "The Mark and Lard Show", broadcast every weekday from New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester for over a decade (October 1993–March 2004). In August 2022, the studio 82A (from which Radio 1 broadcasts) was renamed 82Mills, following the departure of the long-running DJ Scott Mills. UK analogue frequencies. Radio 1 originally broadcast on AM (or 247 metres). On 23 November 1978, the station was moved to and (275 and 285 m). The BBC had been allocated three FM frequency ranges in 1955, for the then Light Programme (now BBC Radio 2), Third Programme (now BBC Radio 3) and Home Service (now BBC Radio 4) stations. When Radio 1 was launched, there was no FM frequency range allocated for the station. The official reason given was that there was no space, even though no commercial stations had yet been launched on FM. As a compromise, Radio 1 was allocated Radio 2's FM transmitters for a few hours each week - on Saturday afternoons from 1pm until 7pm, Sunday teatime from 5pm until midnight, Monday to Friday nights from 10pm until midnight (This was also due to the AM signal tropo interference from Europe at that time) and Bank Holiday afternoons from 2pm until 7pm when Radio 2 was broadcasting on medium wave, the holiday edition of "Sport on 2".
Full-time FM broadcasting. Due to the rising competition from commercial FM stations, the BBC began to draw up plans for Radio 1 to broadcast on FM full time. This process began in London on 31 October 1987, at low power on a temporary frequency of . The Department of Trade and Industry (predecessor to Ofcom) who were then the regulators for allocation of radio bandwidths in the UK, began to free up FM police and emergency communication frequencies which were operating from 97.9 MHz to 102.0 MHz. This was in preparation for new FM radio stations planned for the future. The BBC acquired 97.9 FM to 99.8 FM specifically for Radio 1. The rollout of Radio 1 on FM nationally began on 1 September 1988, starting with Central Scotland (98.6 MHz), the Midlands (98.4 MHz) and the north of England (98.8 MHz). On 24 November 1988, Belfast was added to the network on another temporary frequency on 96.0 MHz. From October 1988, due to the expansion of Radio 1's FM network, Radio 1 scaled back its airtime on Radio 2's FM frequencies in two phases - Phase 1 ending on weeknights (10pm–midnight) and Sunday evenings (7pm–midnight). As the FM engineering programme progressed, Phase 2 was introduced from March 1990 - ceasing Saturday afternoons (1pm to 7pm) and the Sunday slot for the UK Top 40 (5pm-7pm). After 23 years, the shared FM frequency alliance between Radios 1 and 2 came to an end.
This resulted with BBC Radio 2 transmitting on FM full-time, where Radio 2's former AM frequencies - 693 & 909 - were allocated to BBC Radio 5. Radio 1 made great efforts to promote its new FM service, renaming itself on-air initially as 'Radio 1 FM' and later as '1FM' until 1995. After reorganisation and a change of transmitter reallocation of the FM frequencies, especially in London (from 104.8 to 98.8 MHz), the Midlands (98.4 to 97.9 MHz) and Belfast (96.0 to 99.7 MHz), the engineering programme was completed in 1995. Until 2024, the station's RDS name displayed "Radio 1". Since 2024 the RDS name now displays as "BBC R1" in line with the other BBC stations. End of medium wave broadcasting - 1053 / 1089 kHz. The Conservative government decided to increase competition on AM and disallowed the simulcasting of services on both AM and FM, affecting both BBC and Independent Local Radio. Radio 1's medium wave frequencies were reallocated to Independent National Radio. Radio 1's last broadcast on MW was on 1 July 1994, with Stephen Duffy's "Kiss Me" being the last record played on MW just before 9am. For those who continued to listen, just after 9am, Radio 1 jingles were played in reverse chronological order ending with its first jingle from 30 September 1967. In the initial months after this closure, a pre-recorded message by Mark Goodier was played to advise listeners that Radio 1 was now an "FM-only" station and to retune to the FM frequency. Around this time, Radio 1 began broadcasting on spare audio subcarriers on Sky Television's via Astra's SES satellite analogue service; initially in mono (on UK Gold) and later in stereo (on UK Living) transponders. The 1053 / 1089 frequencies were allocated to the then newly created Talk Radio UK.
Digital distribution. The BBC launched its national radio stations on DAB digital radio in 1995; however, the technology was expensive at the time and so was not marketed, instead used as a test for future technologies. DAB was "officially" launched in 2002 as sets became cheaper. Today it can also be heard on UK digital TV services Freeview, Virgin Media, Sky and the Internet as well as FM. In July 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio began simulcasting Radio 1 across the United States as channel 11 on its own service and channel 6011 on Dish Network satellite TV. Sirius Canada began simulcasting Radio 1 when it was launched on 1 December 2005 (also on channel 11). The Sirius simulcasts were time shifted five hours to allow US and Canadian listeners in the Eastern Time Zone to hear Radio 1 at the same time of day as UK listeners. On 12 November 2008, Radio 1 made its debut on XM Satellite Radio in both the US and Canada on channel 29, moving to XM 15 and Sirius 15 on 4 May 2011. Until the full station was removed in August 2011, Radio 1 was able to be heard by approximately 20.6 million listeners in North America on satellite radio alone.
BBC Radio 1 can be heard on cable in the Netherlands at 105.10 FM. SiriusXM cancellation in North America. At midnight on 9 August 2011, Sirius XM ceased carrying BBC Radio 1 programming with no prior warning. On 10 August 2011 the BBC issued the following statement: The BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide has been in partnership with SIRIUS Satellite Radio to broadcast Radio 1 on their main network, since 2005. This agreement has now unfortunately come to an end and BBC Worldwide are in current discussions with the satellite radio station to find ways to continue to bring popular music channel, BBC Radio 1, to the US audience. We will keep you posted. Thousands of angry Sirius XM customers began a campaign on Facebook and other social media to reinstate BBC Radio 1 on Sirius XM Radio. One week later, Sirius and the BBC agreed on a new carriage agreement that saw Radio 1 broadcast on a time-shifted format on the Sirius XM Internet Radio platform only, on channel 815. Starting on 15 January 2012, "The Official Chart Show" began broadcasting on SiriusXM "20on20" channel 3, at 4pm and 9pm Eastern Standard Time.
Regionalisation. From 1999 until 2012, Radio 1 split the home nations for localised programming in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to allow the broadcast of a showcase programme for regional talent. Most recently, these shows were under the BBC Introducing brand. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had their own shows, which were broadcast on a 3-week rotational basis in England. From January 2011 until June 2012, Scotland's show was presented by Ally McCrae. Previously it was hosted by Vic Galloway (who also presents for BBC Radio Scotland); who had presented the show solo since 2004, after his original co-host Gill Mills departed. Wales's show was hosted by Jen Long between January 2011 until May 2012. Previously Bethan Elfyn occupied the slot, who had at one time hosted alongside Huw Stephens, until Stephens left to join the national network, although he still broadcasts a show for Wales – a Welsh-language music show on BBC Radio Cymru on Thursday evenings. Phil Taggart presented the Northern Ireland programme between November 2011 and May 2012. The show was formerly presented by Rory McConnell. Before joining the national network, Colin Murray was a presenter on "The Session" in Northern Ireland, along with Donna Legge; after Murray's promotion to the network Legge hosted alone for a time, and on her departure McConnell took her place.
The regional opt-outs originally went out from 8pm to 10pm on Thursdays (the "Evening Session"s time slot) and were known as the "Session in the Nations" (the "Session" tag was later dropped due to the demise of the "Evening Session"); they later moved to run from 7:30pm to 9pm, with the first half-hour of Zane Lowe's programme going out across the whole of the UK. On 18 October 2007 the regional programmes moved to a Wednesday night/Thursday morning slot from midnight to 2am under the "BBC Introducing" banner, allowing Lowe's Thursday show to be aired across the network; prior to this change Huw Stephens had presented the Wednesday midnight show nationally. In January 2011, BBC Introducing was moved to the new time slot of midnight to 2am on Monday mornings, and the Scottish and Welsh shows were given new presenters in the form of Ally McCrae and Jen Long. The opt-outs were only available to listeners on the FM frequencies. Because of the way the DAB and digital TV services of Radio 1 are broadcast (a single-frequency network on DAB and a single broadcast feed of Radio 1 on TV platforms), the digital version of the station was not regionalised.
The BBC Trust announced in May 2012 that the regional music programmes on Radio 1 would be replaced with a single programme offering a UK-wide platform for new music as part of a series of cost-cutting measures across the BBC. In June 2012, the regional shows ended and were replaced by a single "BBC Introducing" show presented by Jen Long and Ally McCrae. Content. Music. Because of its youth-orientated nature, Radio 1 plays a broad mix of current and potential future hits, including independent/alternative, hip hop, rock, dance/electronica and pop. This made the station stand out from other top 40 stations, both in the UK and across the world. Since its progressive view on modern electronic music, the BBC Radio 1 is well-liked and known in the worldwide drum and bass community, frequently hosting producers and DJs like Hybrid Minds or Wilkinson. Due to restrictions on the amount of commercial music that could be played on radio in the UK until 1988 (the "needle time" limitation) the station has recorded many live performances. Studio sessions (recordings of about four tracks made in a single day), also supplemented the live music content, many of them finding their way to commercially available LPs and CDs. The sessions recorded for John Peel's late night programme are particularly renowned. The station has continued to record live music with its Live Lounge feature and the Piano Sessions, which started in November 2014.
The station also broadcasts documentaries and interviews. Although this type of programming arose from necessity it has given the station diversity. The needletime restrictions meant the station tended to have a higher level of speech by DJs. While the station is often criticised for "waffling" by presenters, an experimental "more music day" in 1988 was declared a failure after only a third of callers favoured it. News and current affairs. Radio 1 has a public service broadcasting obligation to provide news, which it fulfills through Newsbeat bulletins throughout the day. Shared with 1Xtra and Asian Network, short news summaries are provided roughly hourly on the half-hour between 06:30 and 16:30, with two additional 15-minute bulletins at 12:45 and 17:45 and nine summaries over the weekend and Bank Holiday between 07:30 and 15:30. Online visualisation and social media. In recent years Radio 1 has used social media to help reach a younger audience. Its YouTube channel now has over 7.5 million subscribers. The highest viewed videos on the channel are predominately live music performances from the Live Lounge.
The station also has a heavy presence on social media, with audience interaction occurring through Facebook and Twitter as well as text messaging. It was announced in 2013 that Radio 1 had submitted plans to launch its own dedicated video channel on the BBC iPlayer where videos of live performances as well as some features and shows would be streamed in a central location. Plans were approved by the BBC Trust in November 2014 and the channel launched on 10 November 2014. Special programming. Bank Holiday programming. Radio 1 provides alternative programming on some Bank Holidays. Programmes have included 'The 10 Hour Takeover', a request-based special, in which the DJs on air would encourage listeners to select any available track to play, 'One Hit Wonder Day' and 'The Chart of the Decade' where the 150 biggest selling singles in the last 10 years were counted down and played in full. Anniversary programming. On Sunday 30 September 2007, Radio 1 celebrated its 40th birthday. To mark this anniversary Radio 1 hosted a week of special features, including a re-creation of Simon Bates' Golden Hour, and 40 different artists performing 40 different covers, one from each year since Radio 1 was established. On Saturday 30 September 2017, Radio 1 celebrated its 50th birthday. Tony Blackburn recreated the first ever Radio 1 broadcast on Radio 2, simulcast on pop-up station Radio 1 Vintage, followed by The Radio 1 Breakfast Show celebration, tricast on Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 1 Vintage, presented by Tony Blackburn and Nick Grimshaw, featuring former presenters as guests Simon Mayo, Sara Cox and Mike Read.
Charity. Radio 1 regularly supports the BBC's in house charities Comic Relief, Sport Relief and Children in Need. On 18 March 2011, BBC's Radio 1 longest-serving breakfast DJ Chris Moyles and sidekick Dave Vitty broadcast for 52 hours as part of a Guinness World Record attempt, in aid of Comic Relief. The pair stayed on air for 52 hours in total setting a new world record for 'Radio DJ Endurance Marathon (Team)' after already breaking Simon Mayo's 12-year record for Radio 1's Longest Show of 37 hours which he set in 1999, also for Comic Relief. The presenters started on 16 March 2011 and came off air at 10:30 am on 18 March 2011. During this Fearne Cotton made a bet with DJ Chris Moyles that if they raise over £2,000,000 she will appear on the show in a swimsuit. After passing the £2,000,000 mark, Cotton appeared on the studio webcam in a stripy monochrome swimsuit. The appearance of Cotton between 10:10 am and 10:30 am caused the Radio 1 website to crash due to a high volume of traffic. In total the event raised £2,622,421 for Comic Relief.
Drama. In 1981, Radio 1 broadcast a radio adaptation of the space opera film, "Star Wars". The 13-episode serial was adapted for radio by the author Brian Daley and directed by John Madden, and was a co-production between the BBC and the American Broadcaster NPR. In 1994, Radio 1 broadcast a radio adaptation of the "Batman" comic book storyline Knightfall, as part of the Mark Goodier show, featuring Michael Gough recreating his movie role as Alfred. Later that same year, Radio 1 also broadcast a re-edited version of the Radio 4 Superman radio drama. Comedy. Notable comedy programming includes two series of fast-paced sketches, songs and hoax phone calls by Victor Lewis-Smith in his signature style which garnered a Best Comedy Radio Programme award in the 1990 British Comedy Awards. Events. Radio 1 Roadshows. The Radio 1 Roadshow, which usually involved Radio 1 DJs and pop stars travelling around popular UK seaside destinations, began in 1973, as a response to the imminent introduction of local commercial radio stations. hosted by Alan Freeman in Newquay, Cornwall, with the final one held at Heaton Park, Manchester in 1999. Although the Roadshow attracted large crowds and the style changed with the style of the station itself—such as the introduction of whistlestop audio postcards of each location in 1994 ("2minuteTour")—they were still rooted in the older style of the station, and therefore fit for retirement.
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend. In March 2000, Radio 1 decided to change the Roadshow format, renaming it "One Big Sunday" in the process. Several of these "Sundays" were held in large city-centre parks. In 2003, the event changed again and was rebranded "One Big Weekend", with each event occurring biannually and covering two days. Under this name, it visited Derry in Northern Ireland, as part of the "Music Lives" campaign, and Perry Park in Birmingham. The most recent change occurred in 2005 when the event was yet again renamed and the decision taken to hold only one per year, this time as Radio 1's Big Weekend. Venues under this title have included Herrington Country Park, Camperdown Country Park, Moor Park–which was the first "Weekend" to feature a third stage–Mote Park, Lydiard Park, Bangor and Carlisle Airport. Tickets for each "Big Weekend" are given away free of charge, making it the largest free ticketed music festival in Europe. BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend was replaced by a larger festival in 2012, named 'Radio 1's Hackney Weekend', with a crowd capacity of 100,000. The Hackney Weekend took place over the weekend of 23–24 June 2012 in Hackney Marshes, Hackney, London. The event was to celebrate the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in London and had artists such as Rihanna, Jay-Z and Florence and the Machine.
In 2013, Radio 1's Big Weekend returned to Derry as part of the City of Culture 2013 celebrations. So far, Derry is the only city to have hosted the Big Weekend twice. In May 2014, Radio 1's Big Weekend was held in Glasgow, Scotland. Acts which played at the event included Rita Ora, The 1975, Katy Perry, Jake Bugg and Pharrell Williams. The event was opened on the Friday with a dance set in George Square, featuring Radio 1 Dance DJs such as Danny Howard and Pete Tong, and other well-known acts such as Martin Garrix and Tiesto. In 2015, the event was held in Norwich and featured performances from the likes of Taylor Swift, Muse, David Guetta, Years & Years and others. 2016 saw the event make its way to Exeter. It was headlined by Coldplay, who closed the weekend on the Sunday evening. The event was in Hull in 2017 and saw performances by artists such as Zara Larsson, Shawn Mendes, Stormzy, Katy Perry, Little Mix, Sean Paul, Rita Ora, The Chainsmokers, Clean Bandit and Kings of Leon. To take advantage of Glastonbury Festival's fallow year in 2018, 4 separate Big Weekends were held simultaneously between 25 and 28 May. Stylized as "BBC Music's Biggest Weekend", events were held in Swansea (with a line-up curated by Radio 1), Coventry and Perth (both curated by Radio 2) and Belfast (curated by Radio 6 Music). Tickets sold out for the Swansea, Perth and Coventry Big Weekends.
In 2020, the Big Weekend at Dundee was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, Radio 1 announced a virtual Big Weekend. It took place from 22 to 24 May and featured performances from artists like Mabel and Anne-Marie. Ibiza Weekend. Radio 1 has annually held a dance music weekend broadcast live from Ibiza since the 1990s. The weekend is usually the first weekend in August and has performances from world-famous DJs and Radio 1's own dance music talent such as Pete Tong and Annie Mac. BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards. In September 2008, Radio 1 launched an annual music event for teenagers aged 14 to 17 years. Originally named BBC Switch Live, the first event was held on 12 October 2008 at the Hammersmith Apollo. In 2009, the event became an annual awards ceremony and the following year was renamed BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards. The awards honoured inspirational teens alongside the best music, movies, TV and sport stars in a variety of categories. In 2011, it was moved to Wembley Arena and later Studio 1 at Television Centre, London. Highlights of the event has been broadcast across BBC Television.
Despite the awards ceremony not taking place since 2019, the main award, "Teen Hero", has continued to be awarded by Radio 1 as Teen Heroes. Presenters. The event has been hosted by various Radio 1 DJs and guest co-hosts. Edinburgh Festival. Radio 1 often has a presence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past events have included 'The Fun and Filth Cabaret' and 'Scott Mills: The Musical'. Europe's Biggest Dance Show. "Europe's Biggest Dance Show" is a series of dance music oriented radio specials produced by Radio 1. The first, Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2019, was broadcast on Friday 11 October 2019 where Radio 1 joined with several European radio stations, all members of the European Broadcasting Union, including Swedish SR P3, German 1LIVE and RBB Fritz, Belgian VRT Studio Brussel, Irish RTÉ 2fm, French Radio France Mouv and Dutch NPO 3FM. A second show, Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2020, was broadcast on Friday 8 May 2020. It had the same contributing stations as 2019; however, it had begun at 7 pm BST, rather than 8 pm as the previous year.
The third installment of Europe's Biggest Dance Show was broadcast on Friday 23 October 2020. French Mouv' dropped out of the broadcast until further notice while Finnish YleX and Norwegian NRK mP3 joined the show. A fourth show, Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2021, was broadcast on Friday 29 October 2021. It saw the first contribution of Austrian station FM4, while the Dutch NPO 3FM dropped out. The fifth installment, Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2022, was broadcast on Friday 14 October 2022. It saw the first contribution the Ukrainian Radio Promin of and the return of Dutch NPO 3FM to the show. Radio 1's summer stunts. Since 2018, BBC Radio 1 has performed format-breaking listener stunts. In 2018, Greg James and Nick Grimshaw played Hide and Seek on the radio and were found after 22 hours at the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool. In 2019 James and Grimshaw hid at the Grand Pier, Weston-super-Mare for almost 26 hours. In the summer of 2021 Radio 1 held "Radio 1's Summer Breakout", where James was locked inside a camper van and had to escape by entering a password. James escaped the van after 62 hours. The following year, James was booted off the Radio 1 Breakfast Show and had to complete a giant 20-piece jigsaw puzzle to find the missing pieces scattered across the United Kingdom. After six days, James completed the puzzle and was reinstated as host of the Breakfast show.
In the summer of 2023, all DJs other than Greg James went into hiding, with James and the listeners asked to piece back the schedule and find all 30 DJs. On 20 July, James and the listeners were informed that if any DJs were still missing by noon (UK time) on 21 July the station would go off air. Mollie King was still hidden at this time, so the station went off air for five minutes, between 12:00 and 12:05, before returning to broadcasting at 12:05 pm. Online-only sister stations. On 17 September 2020, the BBC announced that it would launch an online-only sister station for BBC Radio 1, called BBC Radio 1 Dance, which would primarily play all kinds of songs from the Dance genre. The station was launched on 9 October 2020 at 6 pm BST. A second online-only sister station, BBC Radio 1 Relax, was launched on 22 April 2021. The station played a selection of relaxation and well-being focused shows. The station closed on 24 July 2024, following the announcement that the BBC would be launching three new digital stations on BBC Sounds. In September 2024, The BBC launched 2 new online-only radio stations, one of them being BBC Radio 1 Anthems. Awards and nominations. International Dance Music Awards. Radio 1 has won the International Dance Music Awards' Best Radio Station every year from 2002 to 2020 with the exception of 2010.
BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to close on 30 January 2020, but the switch-off was suspended on 29 January 2020 following protests. History and branding. The service was launched on 23 September 1999 as BBC Text. It was relaunched in November 2001 under the BBCi brand and operated under this name until late 2008, when it was rebranded as BBC Red Button. The "red button" name refers to the common interface on remote controls for digital televisions and set-top boxes, a red push-button that launches digital teletext services. Although initially marketed as a spectacular new form of television, by 2008 this had given way to positioning interactive television as 'everyday'. This was due in part to the institutional landscape of television in the UK. In September 2009, the BBC celebrated 10 years of the digital interactive TV service.
BBC Text (1999–2001). BBC Text originally launched on digital terrestrial services on 23 September 1999, and was later introduced on satellite and cable platforms. In the first phase, the service was created using content migrated from the existing analogue teletext service, Ceefax. A digital text service had been available since the launch of digital terrestrial television in November 1998, but the BBC Text service was not publicly launched until November 1999, due to a lack of availability of compatible set-top boxes. BBC Text was considerably more advanced than Ceefax, in that it offered a richer visual interface, with the possibility of photographic images and designed graphics (as opposed to Ceefax graphics which were composed of simple blocks of colour). BBC Text also enabled channel association, the ability for the user to retain their selected television channel visible in one section of the screen whilst viewing the text service, in contrast to Ceefax, which could only be viewed as a full-screen display, or as a semitransparent overlay (i.e. opaque blocks of colour on top of the television channel, with the black background now transparent; not 'translucent blocks of colour with a translucent black background') above the television picture. The original text service had no return path, this being made available in later phases.
BBC Text pioneered an early form of "on-demand" interactive television, called Enhanced TV. During the 1999 Wimbledon Championships, the BBC presented a service that allowed viewers to select a video stream of different matches, and access additional information such as player profiles, scores and interactive quizzes. Although the experimental service was publicly available, there were no digital set-top boxes or receivers available on the market that could decode the signal, and the service was presented to the public only via BBC demonstrations using prototype receivers. The BBCi brand (2001–2008). The BBCi brand launched in November 2001 and was conceived as a cohesive multi-platform brand name for all the BBC's digital interactive services, encompassing the corporation's digital teletext, interactive television and website services. According to the BBC, the "i" in BBCi stood for "interactivity" as well as "innovation". The various services all took on a common interface device, an "i-bar" branded with the BBCi logo, which sought to emphasise the brand across different technologies by providing similar navigation. For example, the BBC website, which had previously been called BBC Online, took on the BBCi brand from 2001, displaying an i-bar across the top of every page, offering category-based navigation: Categories, TV, Radio, Communicate, Where I Live, A-Z Index, and a search. Similarly, BBC interactive television services all offered a horizontal i-bar along the bottom of television screens, with four colour-coded interactions linked to the four colour buttons on TV remote controls.
In 2003 some minor changes were made to the service, which saw a new "bridge"-style home page (the current style still used today ) replacing the previous i-bar, and all sections remained the same as before, but their headings along the top of the screen were colour-coded rather than using a single shade of blue. A further revamp took place in 2004 which saw a new look to all the section pages, as well as the introduction of Ceefax-style page numbers and an index page, replacing the previous BBCi menu, and an option to press "0" on the remote control to switch between the service and full screen TV. The previous home page was also retained in line with the new look, but with the "MAIN MENU" option becoming "INDEX". More changes took place in 2005, which included a new BBCi logo and another new "bridge"-style home page — which, unlike the previous home page, doesn't show any references of the current channel and programme, as it instead features MHEG text overlays giving highlights of the service. Additionally, new "Fastext" style buttons were introduced, and the colour scheme of the index page has changed from blue to black.
After three years of consistent use across different platforms, the BBC began to drop the BBCi brand gradually; on 6 May 2004, the BBC website was renamed bbc.co.uk, after the main URL used to access the site. Interactive TV services continued under the BBCi brand until late 2008. The BBC Red Button brand (2008). From 2008, the BBC gradually began to drop the BBCi name from its digital interactive TV services also, replacing it with the name BBC Red Button. The BBCi logo continued in on-screen presentation for some time. BBC Red Button HD. In June 2013, a HD version of BBC Red Button was launched for the summertime. It closed on 25 November 2013 after the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. It returned each year along with the other BBC Red Button channels as a temporary channel for the duration of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. On 26 March 2018, CBBC HD began its downtime and the relaunch of BBC Red Button HD took place to cover the 2018 Commonwealth Games. It was added on Sky on channel 981 and Freeview channel 602 on 3 April 2018 and closed on 16 April 2018 after the Games had concluded. Later in 2021, it was originally supposed to be closed on the end of Wimbledon but was kept on air for the 2020 Olympics.
On 15 February 2023, as part of the BBC's plan to upgrade all of its channels to high-definition as standard, the high-definition video feed of BBC Red Button was made the default on all television platforms, replacing the long-standing "standard definition" feed which was used outside of significant sporting events. BBC Connected Red Button (2012). BBC Connected Red Button launched in December 2012 on Virgin TiVo and on some Freeview and Freesat 'Smart TVs' in December 2013. The service is a composite IP and broadcast service and may be the future of Red Button on internet connected televisions. BBC Red Button+ (2015). The service was renamed BBC Red Button+ in April 2015. It launched with an updated brand. Partial closure (2020). After nearly 21 years of service, the BBC announced in 2019 that due to financial cuts, the text services on Red Button on all platforms would be removed from 30 January 2020. The video services, used during events like Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, however, would continue. On 29 January 2020, the BBC announced their suspension of the switch-off due to protests, one day before the service was due to have started being phased out. This announcement comes following a petition, organised by the National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK), which was submitted to the BBC and Downing Street. The petition expresses NFBUK's concerns with the switch-off, citing that the service is "vital for visually impaired, deaf, disabled and older people, as well as many other people who want to find out information independently in an easy, convenient and accessible format, who are not online." They're concerned that the withdrawal of the service would leave many already vulnerable people into further isolation and marginalisation from society. NFBUK states they cannot understand how the BBC can meet their obligations set in the Royal Charter following the cut of the Red Button Teletext service.
Availability. BBC Red Button is available on all digital television platforms in the UK, including digital cable through Virgin Media, digital satellite through Sky and Freesat and digital terrestrial television through Freeview. On Freeview interactivity does not permit users to submit data (such as answering questions in a quiz or requesting video on demand), as the platform does not provide a return path. The BBC currently provides one video stream to all platforms, which can be accessed directly from Freeview channel 601, Freesat channel 980, Sky channel 970 (UK only) and Virgin Media UK channel 991. Until mid-February 2023, the feed provided was only in standard definition, with a high-definition version of RB 1 (the primary feed) used for high-profile sporting events, which included the Olympics and Wimbledon. Since 15 February 2023 the standard definition feed has been replaced across all platforms with a high-definition version, as part of the BBC's plan to upgrade its channel offering into high-definition. One advantage of the feed is the DVR ability as the conventional Red Button interaction restricts DVR record / pause / rewind functions, and is a major caveat for many.
Prior to 2023, the BBC had the ability to increase the amount of streams during major events and had done so on numerous occasions, as follows: As of 2023, the BBC will no longer be providing additional Red Button streams for any events. Instead, it will be directing viewers to watch additional feeds via the BBC iPlayer. 2023 Wimbledon was the first major tournament not to provide any additional feeds on linear television. BBC Red Button 1 HD (originally launched as SD only) is a channel available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, and Virgin Media. It showcases many live events, such as live music (especially from BBC Radio live shows) and sports like football and rugby. It also features an extended version of Final Score, offering more in-depth analysis of the matches they cover. When the BBC announced the closure of all their SD channels on satellite, BBC Red Button 1 became permanently HD for the first time in its history (it was occasionally in HD for certain events like Wimbledon). Virgin Media followed suit by adding BBC Red Button 1 HD to their service and removing the SD version.
Content. Generally, BBC Red Button offers text and video based services, as well as enhanced television programmes which offer extra information, video or quizzes. In September 2005, BBCi launched an update to the interactivity available from the BBC's Radio channels on Freeview. Originally only Radiotext was available. After the update, users could access information about the programme, schedules, news, sport and weather. From 2005, Freeview users could access the CBBC Extra video stream. The same team behind the BBC's digital text service also launched the early incarnations of the BBC's Interactive Wimbledon and Interactive Open Golf services in 2000, which were awarded an Interactive BAFTA that year. The News Multiscreen was removed from the digital service in October 2009, to make room for future Freeview HD broadcasts. As of July 2022, the Question Time page on p155 appears to be outdated since January 2018, as it still states that the show will be returning on January 11 from Islington. Here is a table of the contents of the BBC Red Button as of March 2023:
Compatibility. The service was initially compatible with ONdigital and ITV Digital boxes, though loading speeds were slower than newer Freeview boxes. Page numbers were introduced in 2004 to aid navigation, with 3-digit page numbers matching with those of the analogue Ceefax in 2006. Pages exclusive to digital are given a four digit number. An index navigation screen was also introduced, replacing the previous BBCi Menu. The Teletext service from the UK commercial broadcasters had stopped supporting the old boxes in 2005. As of 2010, the ONdigital boxes only load pages 100 and 199 and some interactive services that use channel 301, if any other page is loaded it exits the service. Usage of these boxes dwindled further as technology developed. They used "original" technology and as such were not upgradable. Following each regional changeover to full digital TV broadcasting, the remaining units are no longer of use, as they do not support the "8K-mode" for DVB-T introduced across the UK as part of the digital switchover. On Freely, the service is available to users who have an aerial.
Backplane A backplane or backplane system is a group of electrical connectors in parallel with each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors, forming a computer bus. It is used to connect several printed circuit boards together to make up a complete computer system. Backplanes commonly use a printed circuit board, but wire-wrapped backplanes have also been used in minicomputers and high-reliability applications. A backplane is generally differentiated from a motherboard by the lack of on-board processing and storage elements. A backplane uses plug-in cards for storage and processing. Usage. Early microcomputer systems like the Altair 8800 used a backplane for the processor and expansion cards. Backplanes are normally used in preference to cables because of their greater reliability. In a cabled system, the cables need to be flexed every time that a card is added or removed from the system; this flexing eventually causes mechanical failures. A backplane does not suffer from this problem, so its service life is limited only by the longevity of its connectors. For example, DIN 41612 connectors (used in the VMEbus system) have three durability grades built to withstand (respectively) 50, 400 and 500 insertions and removals, or "mating cycles". To transmit information, Serial Back-Plane technology uses a low-voltage differential signaling transmission method for sending information.
In addition, there are bus expansion cables which will extend a computer bus to an external backplane, usually located in an enclosure, to provide more or different slots than the host computer provides. These cable sets have a transmitter board located in the computer, an expansion board in the remote backplane, and a cable between the two. Active vis-à-vis passive backplanes. Backplanes have grown in complexity from the simple Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) (used in the original IBM PC) or S-100 style where all the connectors were connected to a common bus. Due to limitations inherent in the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) specification for driving slots, backplanes are now offered as passive and active. True passive backplanes offer no active bus driving circuitry. Any desired arbitration logic is placed on the daughter cards. Active backplanes include chips which buffer the various signals to the slots. The distinction between the two isn't always clear, but may become an important issue if a whole system is expected to not have a single point of failure (SPOF) . Common myth around passive backplane, even if it "is" single, is not usually considered a SPOF. Active back-planes are even more complicated and thus have a non-zero risk of malfunction. However one situation that can cause disruption both in the case of Active and Passive Back-planes is while performing maintenance activities i.e. while swapping boards there is always a possibility of damaging the Pins/Connectors on the Back-plane, this may cause full outage for the system as all boards mounted on the back-plane should be removed in order to fix the system. Therefore, we are seeing newer architectures where systems use high speed redundant connectivity to interconnect system boards point to point with No Single Point of Failure anywhere in the system.
Backplanes vis-à-vis motherboards. When a backplane is used with a plug-in single-board computer (SBC) or system host board (SHB), the combination provides the same functionality as a motherboard, providing processing power, memory, I/O and slots for plug-in cards. While there are a few motherboards that offer more than 8 slots, that is the traditional limit. In addition, as technology progresses, the availability and number of a particular slot type may be limited in terms of what is currently offered by motherboard manufacturers. However, backplane architecture is somewhat unrelated to the SBC technology plugged into it. There are some limitations to what can be constructed, in that the SBC chip set and processor have to provide the capability of supporting the slot types. In addition, virtually an unlimited number of slots can be provided with 20, including the SBC slot, as a practical though not an absolute limit. Thus, a PICMG backplane can provide any number and any mix of ISA, PCI, PCI-X, and PCI-e slots, limited only by the ability of the SBC to interface to and drive those slots. For example, an SBC with the latest i7 processor could interface with a backplane providing up to 19 ISA slots to drive legacy I/O cards.
Midplane. Some backplanes are constructed with slots for connecting to devices on both sides, and are referred to as midplanes. This ability to plug cards into either side of a midplane is often useful in larger systems made up primarily of modules attached to the midplane. Midplanes are often used in computers, mostly in blade servers, where server blades reside on one side and the peripheral (power, networking, and other I/O) and service modules reside on the other. Midplanes are also popular in networking and telecommunications equipment where one side of the chassis accepts system processing cards and the other side of the chassis accepts network interface cards. Orthogonal midplanes connect vertical cards on one side to horizontal boards on the other side. One common orthogonal midplane connects many vertical telephone line cards on one side, each one connected to copper telephone wires, to a horizontal communications card on the other side. A "virtual midplane" is an imaginary plane between vertical cards on one side that directly connect to horizontal boards on the other side; the card-slot aligners of the card cage and self-aligning connectors on the cards hold the cards in position.
Some people use the term "midplane" to describe a board that sits between and connects a hard drive hot-swap backplane and redundant power supplies. Backplanes in storage. Servers commonly have a backplane to attach hot swappable hard disk drives and solid state drives; backplane pins pass directly into hard drive sockets without cables. They may have single connector to connect one disk array controller or multiple connectors that can be connected to one or more controllers in arbitrary way. Backplanes are commonly found in disk enclosures, disk arrays, and servers. Backplanes for SAS and SATA HDDs most commonly use the SGPIO protocol as means of communication between the host adapter and the backplane. Alternatively SCSI Enclosure Services can be used. With Parallel SCSI subsystems, SAF-TE is used. Platforms. PICMG. A single-board computer meeting the PICMG 1.3 specification and compatible with a PICMG 1.3 backplane is referred to as a System Host Board. In the Intel Single-Board Computer world, PICMG provides standards for the backplane interface: PICMG 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 provide ISA and PCI support, with 1.2 adding PCIX support. PICMG 1.3 provides PCI-Express support.
Baldric A baldric (also baldrick, bawdrick, bauldrick as well as other rare or obsolete variations) is a belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a weapon (usually a sword) or other implement such as a bugle or drum. The word may also refer to any belt in general, but this usage is poetic or archaic. In modern contexts, military drum majors usually wear a baldric. Usage. Baldrics have been used since ancient times, usually as part of military dress. The design offers more support for weight than a standard waist belt, without restricting movement of the arms, and while allowing easy access to the object carried. Alternatively, and especially in modern times, the baldric may fill a ceremonial role rather than a practical one. Most Roman tombstones in the third century had depictions of white baldrics. Design. One end of the baldric was broad and finished in a straight edge, while the other was tapered to a narrow strip. The narrow end was brought through a scabbard runner, it was probably wrapped around the scabbard twice. Circular metal discs called Phalera were attached to the broad end. Four leather baldrics were found in Vimose and Thorsbjerg. One of these measured 118 long and 8 cm wide.
Roman balteus. During ancient Roman times the balteus (plural "baltei") was a type of baldric commonly used to suspend a sword. It was a belt generally worn over the shoulder, passing obliquely down to the side, typically made of leather, often ornamented with precious stones, metals or both. There was also a similar belt worn by the Romans, particularly by soldiers, called a "cintus" (pl. "cinti") that fastened around the waist. The word "accintus" meaning a soldier (literally, "girt" as for battle) attests to this differing usage. Today. Many non-military or paramilitary organisations include baldrics as part of ceremonial dress. The Knights of Columbus 4th Degree Colour Corps uses a baldric as part of their uniform; it supports a ceremonial sword. The University of Illinois Marching Illini wore two baldrics as a part of their uniform until 2009, with one over each shoulder. They crossed in the front and back and were buttoned onto the jacket beneath a cape and epaulets. Today, the current Marching Illini wear one baldric with two sides, ILLINI on one side and the traditional orange and white baldric from the previous uniform on the other. A crossed pair of baldrics is often worn as part of the uniform of Morris dancers; different coloured baldrics help to distinguish different sides. In literature and culture. Baldrics appear in the classical literary canon, and later in fantasy and science fiction genres.
Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army under the command of Napoleon I was defeated by two armies of the Seventh Coalition. One of these was a British-led force with units from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, and Nassau, under the command of field marshal Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (often referred to as "the Anglo-allied army" or "Wellington's army"). The other comprised three corps (the 1st, 2nd and 4th corps) of the Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher; a fourth corps (the 3rd) of this army fought at the Battle of Wavre on the same day. The battle was known contemporarily as the Battle of Mont Saint-Jean in France (after the hamlet of Mont-Saint-Jean) and La Belle Alliance in Prussia ("the Beautiful Alliance"; after the inn of La Belle Alliance). Upon Napoleon's return to power in March 1815 (the beginning of the Hundred Days), many states that had previously opposed him formed the Seventh Coalition and hurriedly mobilised their armies. Wellington's and Blücher's armies were cantoned close to the northeastern border of France. Napoleon planned to attack them separately, before they could link up and invade France with other members of the coalition.
On 16 June, Napoleon successfully attacked the bulk of the Prussian Army at the Battle of Ligny with his main force, while a small portion of the French Imperial Army contested the Battle of Quatre Bras to prevent the Seventh Coalition army from reinforcing the Prussians. The Seventh Coalition army held their ground at Quatre Bras, and on the 17th, the Prussians withdrew from Ligny in good order, while Wellington then withdrew in parallel with the Prussians northward to Waterloo on 17 June. Napoleon sent a third of his forces to pursue the Prussians, which resulted in the separate Battle of Wavre with the Prussian rear-guard on 18–19 June and prevented that French force from participating at Waterloo. Upon learning that the Prussian Army was able to support him, Wellington decided to offer battle on the Mont-Saint-Jean escarpment across the Brussels Road, near the village of Waterloo. Here he withstood repeated attacks by the French throughout the afternoon of 18 June, and was eventually aided by the progressively arriving 50,000 Prussians who attacked the French flank and inflicted heavy casualties. In the evening, Napoleon assaulted the Anglo-allied line with his last reserves, the senior infantry battalions of the Imperial Guard. With the Prussians breaking through on the French right flank, the Anglo-allied army repulsed the Imperial Guard, and the French army was routed.
Waterloo was the decisive engagement of the Waterloo campaign and Napoleon's last. It was also the second bloodiest single day battle of the Napoleonic Wars, after Borodino. According to Wellington, the battle was "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life". Napoleon abdicated four days later, and coalition forces entered Paris on 7 July. The defeat at Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon's Hundred Days return from exile. It precipitated Napoleon's second and definitive abdication as Emperor of the French, and ended the First French Empire. It set a historical milestone between serial European wars and decades of relative peace, often referred to as the "Pax Britannica". In popular culture, the phrase "meeting one's Waterloo" has become an expression for someone suffering a final defeat. The battlefield is located in the Belgian municipalities of Braine-l'Alleud and Lasne, about south of Brussels, and about from the town of Waterloo. The site of the battlefield today is dominated by the monument of the Lion's Mound, a large artificial hill constructed from earth taken from the battlefield itself, but the topography of the battlefield near the mound has not been preserved.
Prelude. On 13 March 1815, six days before Napoleon I reached Paris, the powers at the Congress of Vienna . Four days later, the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, and Prussia mobilised armies to defeat Napoleon I. Critically outnumbered, Napoleon I knew that once his attempts at dissuading one or more members of the Seventh Coalition from invading France had failed, his only chance of remaining in power was to attack before the coalition mobilised. Had Napoleon succeeded in destroying the existing coalition forces south of Brussels before they were reinforced, he might have been able to drive the British back to the sea and knock the Prussians out of the war. Crucially, this would have bought him time to recruit and train more men before turning his armies against the Austrians and Russians. An additional consideration for Napoleon was that a French victory might cause French-speaking sympathisers in Belgium to launch a friendly revolution. Also, coalition troops in Belgium were largely second line, as many units were of dubious quality and loyalty.
The initial dispositions of Wellington, the British commander, were intended to counter the threat of Napoleon enveloping the Coalition armies by moving through Mons to the south-west of Brussels. This would have pushed Wellington closer to the Prussian forces, led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, but might have cut Wellington's communications with his base at Ostend. In order to delay Wellington's deployment, Napoleon spread false intelligence which suggested that Wellington's supply chain from the channel ports would be cut. By June, Napoleon had raised a total army strength of about 300,000 men. The force at his disposal at Waterloo was less than one third that size, but the rank and file were mostly loyal and experienced soldiers. Napoleon divided his army into a left wing commanded by Marshal Ney, a right wing commanded by Marshal Grouchy and a reserve under his command (although all three elements remained close enough to support one another). Crossing the frontier near Charleroi before dawn on 15 June, the French , securing Napoleon's "central position" between Wellington's and Blücher's armies. He hoped this would prevent them from combining, and he would be able to destroy first the Prussian army, then Wellington's.
Only very late on the night of 15 June was Wellington certain that the Charleroi attack was the main French thrust. In the early hours of 16 June, at the Duchess of Richmond's ball in Brussels, he received a dispatch from the Prince of Orange and was shocked by the speed of Napoleon's advance. He hastily ordered his army to concentrate on Quatre Bras, where the Prince of Orange, with the brigade of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, was holding a tenuous position against the soldiers of Ney's left wing. Prince Bernhard and General Perponcher were by all accounts better informed of the French advance than other allied officials and their later initiatives to hold the crossroads proved vital for the outcome. General Constant de Rebeque, commander of one of the Dutch divisions, disobeyed Wellington's orders to march to his previous chosen concentration area around Nivelles, and decided to hold the crossroads and send urgent messages to the prince and Perponcher. This fact shows how little Wellington believed in a fast French advance towards Brussels. He did not believe in recent intelligence given to him by General Dörnberg, one of his intelligence officials warning him of numerous French outposts south of Charleroi as well as some reports sent by the intelligence of the Prussian 1st corps. Had these two generals obeyed his orders, Quatre-Bras in all probability would have fallen to the French giving them time to support Napoleon's attack on the Prussians in the Sombreffe area via the fast, cobbled road, and the history of the campaign would have been significantly different.
Ney's orders were to secure the crossroads of Quatre Bras so that he could later swing east and reinforce Napoleon if necessary. Ney found the crossroads lightly held by the Prince of Orange, who repelled Ney's initial attacks but was gradually driven back by overwhelming numbers of French troops in the Battle of Quatre Bras. First reinforcements, and then Wellington arrived. He took command and drove Ney back, securing the crossroads by early evening, too late to send help to the Prussians, who had already been defeated. Meanwhile, on 16 June, Napoleon attacked and defeated Blücher at the Battle of Ligny, using part of the reserve and the right wing of his army. The Prussian centre gave way under heavy French assaults, but the flanks held their ground. went uninterrupted and seemingly unnoticed by the French. The bulk of their rearguard units held their positions until about midnight, and some elements did not move out until the following morning, ignored by the French. Crucially, the Prussians did not retreat to the east, along their own lines of communication. Instead, they, too, fell back northwards parallel to Wellington's line of march, still within supporting distance and in communication with him throughout. The Prussians rallied on Bülow's IV Corps, which had not been engaged at Ligny and was in a strong position south of Wavre.
With the Prussian retreat from Ligny, Wellington's position at Quatre Bras was untenable. The next day he withdrew northwards, to a defensive position that he had reconnoitred the previous year—the low ridge of Mont-Saint-Jean, south of the village of Waterloo and the Sonian Forest. Napoleon, with the reserves, made a late start on 17 June and joined Ney at Quatre Bras at 13:00 to attack Wellington's army but found the position empty. The French pursued Wellington's retreating army to Waterloo; however, due to bad weather, mud and the head start that Napoleon's tardy advance had allowed Wellington, there was no substantial engagement, apart from a cavalry action at Genappe. Before leaving Ligny, Napoleon had ordered Grouchy, who commanded the right wing, to follow the retreating Prussians with 33,000 men. A late start, uncertainty about the direction the Prussians had taken, and the vagueness of the orders given to him meant that Grouchy was too late to prevent the Prussian army reaching Wavre, from where it could march to support Wellington. More importantly, the heavily outnumbered Prussian rearguard was able to use the River Dyle to fight a savage and prolonged action to delay Grouchy. Napoleon would get this information from Grouchy on the early morning of 18 June at a nearby farmhouse, La Caillou, where he was staying for the night; he responded to the message in mid-day.
As 17 June drew to a close, Wellington's army had arrived at its position at Waterloo, with the main body of Napoleon's army in pursuit. Blücher's army was gathering in and around Wavre, around to the east of the town. Early the next morning, Wellington received an assurance from Blücher that the Prussian army would support him. He decided to hold his ground and give battle. Armies. Three armies participated in the battle: Napoleon's "Armée du Nord", a multinational army under Wellington, and a Prussian army under General Blücher. The French army of around 74,500 consisted of 54,014 infantry, 15,830 cavalry, and 8,775 artilleries with 254 guns. Napoleon had used conscription to fill the ranks of the French army throughout his rule, but he did not conscript men for the 1815 campaign. His troops were mainly veterans with considerable experience and a fierce devotion to their Emperor. The cavalry in particular was both numerous and formidable, and included fourteen regiments of armoured heavy cavalry, and seven of highly versatile lancers who were armed with lances, sabres and firearms.
However, as the army took shape, French officers were allocated to units as they presented themselves for duty, so that many units were commanded by officers the soldiers did not know, and often did not trust. Crucially, some of these officers had little experience in working together as a unified force, so that support for other units was often not given. The French were forced to march through rain and black coal-dust mud to reach Waterloo, and then to contend with mud and rain as they slept in the open. Little food was available, but nevertheless the veteran soldiers were fiercely loyal to Napoleon. In December 1814, the British Army had been reduced by 47,000 men. This was largely achieved by the disbandment of the second battalion of 22 infantry regiments. Wellington later said that he had "an infamous army, very weak and ill-equipped, and a very inexperienced Staff". His troops consisted of 74,326 men: 53,607 infantry, 13,400 cavalry, and 5,596 artillery with 156 guns plus engineers and staff. Of these, 27,985 (38%) were British, with another 7,686 (10%) from the King's German Legion (KGL). All of the British Army troops were regular soldiers, and the majority of them had served in the Peninsula. Of the 23 British line infantry regiments in action, only four (the 14th, 33rd, 69th, and 73rd Foot) had "not" served in the Peninsula, and a similar level of experience was to be found in the British cavalry and artillery. Chandler asserts that most of the British veterans of the Peninsular War were being transported to North America to fight in the War of 1812. In addition, there were 21,035 (28.3%) Dutch-Belgian and Nassauer troops, 11,496 (15.5%) from Hanover and 6,124 (8.2%) from Brunswick.
Many of the troops in the Coalition armies were inexperienced. The Dutch army had been re-established in 1815, following the earlier defeat of Napoleon. With the exception of the British and some men from Hanover and Brunswick who had fought with the British army in Spain, many of the professional soldiers in the Coalition armies had spent some of their time in the French army or in armies allied to the Napoleonic regime. The historian Alessandro Barbero states that in this heterogeneous army the difference between British and foreign troops did not prove significant under fire. Wellington was also acutely short of heavy cavalry, having only seven British and three Dutch regiments. The Duke of York imposed many of his staff officers on Wellington, including his second-in-command, the Earl of Uxbridge. Uxbridge commanded the cavalry and had "carte blanche" from Wellington to commit these forces at his discretion. Wellington stationed a further 17,000 troops at Halle, away to the west. They were mostly composed of Dutch troops under the Prince of Orange's younger brother, Prince Frederick of the Netherlands. They were placed as a guard against a wide flanking movement and also to act as a rearguard if Wellington was forced to retreat towards Antwerp and the coast.
The Prussian army was in the throes of reorganisation. In 1815, the former Reserve regiments, Legions, and "Freikorps" volunteer formations from the wars of 1813–1814 were in the process of being absorbed into the line, along with many "Landwehr" (militia) regiments. The "Landwehr" were mostly untrained and unequipped when they arrived in Belgium. The Prussian cavalry were in a similar state. Its artillery was also reorganising and did not give its best performance—guns and equipment continued to arrive during and after the battle. Offsetting these handicaps, the Prussian army had excellent and professional leadership in its general staff. These officers came from four schools developed for this purpose and thus worked to a common standard of training. This system was in marked contrast to the conflicting, vague orders issued by the French army. This staff system ensured that before Ligny, three-quarters of the Prussian army had concentrated for battle with 24 hours' notice. After Ligny, the Prussian army, although defeated, was able to realign its supply train, reorganise itself, and intervene decisively on the Waterloo battlefield within 48 hours. Two-and-a-half Prussian army corps, or 48,000 men, were engaged at Waterloo; two brigades under Bülow, commander of IV Corps, attacked Lobau at 16:30, while Zieten's I Corps and parts of Pirch I's II Corps engaged at about 18:00.
Battlefield. The Waterloo position chosen by Wellington was a strong one. It consisted of a long ridge running east–west, perpendicular to, and bisected by, the main road to Brussels. Along the crest of the ridge ran the Ohain road, a deep sunken lane. Near the crossroads with the Brussels road was a large elm tree that was roughly in the centre of Wellington's position and served as his command post for much of the day. Wellington deployed his infantry in a line just behind the crest of the ridge following the Ohain road. Using the reverse slope, as he had many times previously, Wellington concealed his strength from the French, with the exception of his skirmishers and artillery. The length of front of the battlefield was also relatively short at . This allowed Wellington to draw up his forces in depth, which he did in the centre and on the right, all the way towards the village of Braine-l'Alleud, in the expectation that the Prussians would reinforce his left during the day. In front of the ridge, there were three positions that could be fortified. On the extreme right were the château, garden, and orchard of Hougoumont. This was a large and well-built country house, initially hidden in trees. The house faced north along a sunken, covered lane (usually described by the British as "the hollow-way") along which it could be supplied. On the extreme left was the hamlet of Papelotte.
Both Hougoumont and Papelotte were fortified and garrisoned, and thus anchored Wellington's flanks securely. Papelotte also commanded the road to Wavre that the Prussians would use to send reinforcements to Wellington's position. On the western side of the main road, and in front of the rest of Wellington's line, was the farmhouse and orchard of La Haye Sainte, which was garrisoned with 400 light infantry of the King's German Legion. On the opposite side of the road was a disused sand quarry, where the 95th Rifles were posted as sharpshooters. Wellington's forces positioning presented a formidable challenge to any attacking force. Any attempt to turn Wellington's right would entail taking the entrenched Hougoumont position. Any attack on his right centre would mean the attackers would have to march between enfilading fire from Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte. On the left, any attack would also be enfiladed by fire from La Haye Sainte and its adjoining sandpit, and any attempt at turning the left flank would entail fighting through the lanes and hedgerows surrounding Papelotte and the other garrisoned buildings on that flank, and some very wet ground in the Smohain defile.
The French army formed on the slopes of another ridge to the south. Napoleon could not see Wellington's positions, so he drew his forces up symmetrically about the Brussels road. On the right was I Corps under d'Erlon with 16,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry, plus a cavalry reserve of 4,700. On the left was II Corps under Reille with 13,000 infantry, and 1,300 cavalry, and a cavalry reserve of 4,600. In the centre about the road south of the inn La Belle Alliance were a reserve including Lobau's VI Corps with 6,000 men, the 13,000 infantry of the Imperial Guard, and a cavalry reserve of 2,000. In the right rear of the French position was the substantial village of Plancenoit, and at the extreme right, the Bois de Paris wood. Napoleon initially commanded the battle from Rossomme farm, where he could see the entire battlefield, but moved to a position near La Belle Alliance early in the afternoon. Command on the battlefield (which was largely hidden from his view) was delegated to Ney. Battle. Preparation. Wellington rose at around 02:00 or 03:00 on 18 June, and wrote letters until dawn. He had earlier written to Blücher confirming that he would give battle at Mont-Saint-Jean if Blücher could provide him with at least one corps; otherwise he would retreat towards Brussels. At a late-night council, Blücher's chief of staff, August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, had been distrustful of Wellington's strategy, but Blücher persuaded him that they should march to join Wellington's army. In the morning Wellington duly received a reply from Blücher, promising to support him with three corps.
From 06:00 Wellington was in the field supervising the deployment of his forces. At Wavre, the Prussian IV Corps under Bülow was designated to lead the march to Waterloo as it was in the best shape, not having been involved in the Battle of Ligny. Although they had not taken casualties, IV Corps had been marching for two days, covering the retreat of the three other corps of the Prussian army from the battlefield of Ligny. They had been posted farthest away from the battlefield, and progress was very slow. The roads were in poor condition after the night's heavy rain, and Bülow's men had to pass through the congested streets of Wavre and move 88 artillery pieces. Matters were not helped when a fire broke out in Wavre, blocking several streets along Bülow's intended route. As a result, the last part of the corps left at 10:00, six hours after the leading elements had moved out towards Waterloo. Bülow's men were followed to Waterloo first by I Corps and then by II Corps. Napoleon breakfasted off silver plate at Le Caillou, the house where he had spent the night. When Soult suggested that Grouchy should be recalled to join the main force, Napoleon said, "Just because you have all been beaten by Wellington, you think he's a good general. I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad troops, and this affair is nothing more than eating breakfast".
Napoleon's seemingly dismissive remark may have been strategic, given his maxim "in war, morale is everything". He had acted similarly in the past, and on the morning of the battle of Waterloo may have been responding to the pessimism and objections of his chief of staff and senior generals. Later on, being told by his brother, Jerome, of some gossip overheard by a waiter between British officers at lunch at the King of Spain inn in Genappe that the Prussians were to march over from Wavre, Napoleon declared that the Prussians would need at least two days to recover and would be dealt with by Grouchy. Surprisingly, Jerome's overheard gossip aside, the French commanders present at the pre-battle conference at Le Caillou had no information about the alarming proximity of the Prussians and did not suspect that Blücher's men would start erupting onto the field of battle in great numbers just five hours later. Napoleon had delayed the start of the battle owing to the sodden ground, which would have made manoeuvring cavalry and artillery difficult. In addition, many of his forces had bivouacked well to the south of La Belle Alliance. At 10:00, in response to a dispatch he had received from Grouchy six hours earlier, he sent a reply telling Grouchy to "head for Wavre [to Grouchy's north] in order to draw near to us [to the west of Grouchy]" and then "push before him" the Prussians to arrive at Waterloo "as soon as possible".
At 11:00, Napoleon drafted his general order: Reille's Corps on the left and d'Erlon's Corps to the right were to attack the village of Mont-Saint-Jean and keep abreast of one another. This order assumed Wellington's battle-line was in the village, rather than at the more forward position on the ridge. To enable this, Jerome's division would make an initial attack on Hougoumont, which Napoleon expected would draw in Wellington's reserves, since its loss would threaten his communications with the sea. A "grande batterie" of the reserve artillery of I, II, and VI Corps was to then bombard the centre of Wellington's position from about 13:00. D'Erlon's corps would then attack Wellington's left, break through, and roll up his line from east to west. In his memoirs, Napoleon wrote that his intention was to separate Wellington's army from the Prussians and drive it back towards the sea. Hougoumont. Historian Andrew Roberts notes that "It is a curious fact about the Battle of Waterloo that no one is absolutely certain when it actually began". Wellington recorded in his dispatches that at "about ten o'clock [Napoleon] commenced a furious attack upon our post at Hougoumont". Other sources state that the attack began around 11:30. The house and its immediate environs were defended by four light companies of Guards, and the wood and park by Hanoverian "Jäger" and the 1/2nd Nassau.
The initial attack by Pierre François Bauduin's brigade emptied the wood and park, but was driven back by heavy British artillery fire, and cost Bauduin his life. As the British guns were distracted by a duel with French artillery, a second attack by Soye's brigade and what had been Bauduin's succeeded in reaching the north gate of the house. Sous-Lieutenant Legros, a French officer, broke the gate open with an axe, and some French troops managed to enter the courtyard. The Coldstream Guards and the Scots Guards arrived to support the defence. There was a fierce melee, and the British managed to close the gate on the French troops streaming in. The Frenchmen trapped in the courtyard were all killed. Fighting continued around Hougoumont all afternoon. Its surroundings were heavily invested by French light infantry, and coordinated attacks were made against the troops behind Hougoumont. Wellington's army defended the house and the hollow way running north from it. In the afternoon, Napoleon personally ordered the house to be shelled to set it on fire, resulting in the destruction of all but the chapel. Du Plat's brigade of the King's German Legion was brought forward to defend the hollow way, which they had to do without senior officers. Eventually they were relieved by the 71st Highlanders, a British infantry regiment. Adam's brigade was further reinforced by Hugh Halkett's 3rd Hanoverian Brigade, and successfully repulsed further infantry and cavalry attacks sent by Reille. Hougoumont held out until the end of the battle.
The fighting at Hougoumont has often been characterised as a diversionary attack to draw in Wellington's reserves which escalated into an all-day battle and drew in French reserves instead. In fact there is a good case to believe that both Napoleon and Wellington thought that holding Hougoumont was key to winning the battle. Hougoumont was a part of the battlefield that Napoleon could see clearly, and he continued to direct resources towards it and its surroundings all afternoon (33 battalions in all, 14,000 troops). Similarly, though the house never contained a large number of troops, Wellington devoted 21 battalions (12,000 troops) over the course of the afternoon in keeping the hollow way open to allow fresh troops and ammunition to reach the buildings. He moved several artillery batteries from his hard-pressed centre to support Hougoumont, and later stated that "the success of the battle turned upon closing the gates at Hougoumont". The struggle for Hougoumont became the key battle within the battle. Hougoumont proved to be decisive terrain.
The Grand Battery starts its bombardment. The 80 guns of Napoleon's "grande batterie" drew up in the centre. These opened fire at 11:50, according to Lord Hill (commander of the Anglo-allied II Corps), while other sources put the time between noon and 13:30. The "grande batterie" was too far back to aim accurately, and the only other troops they could see were skirmishers of the regiments of Kempt and Pack, and Perponcher's 2nd Dutch division (the others were employing Wellington's characteristic "reverse slope defence"). The bombardment caused a large number of casualties. Although some projectiles buried themselves in the soft soil, most found their marks on the reverse slope of the ridge. The bombardment forced the cavalry of the Union Brigade (in third line) to move to its left, to reduce their casualty rate. Napoleon spots the Prussians. At about 13:15, Napoleon saw the first columns of Prussians around the village of Lasne-Chapelle-Saint-Lambert, away from his right flank—about three hours march for an army. Napoleon's reaction was to have Marshal Soult send a message to Grouchy telling him to come towards the battlefield and attack the arriving Prussians. Grouchy, however, had been executing Napoleon's previous orders to follow the Prussians "with your sword against his back" towards Wavre, and was by then too far away to reach Waterloo.
Grouchy was advised by his subordinate, Gérard, to "march to the sound of the guns", but stuck to his orders and engaged the Prussian III Corps rearguard, under the command of Lieutenant-General Baron von Thielmann, at the Battle of Wavre. Moreover, Soult's letter ordering Grouchy to move quickly to join Napoleon and attack Bülow would not actually reach Grouchy until after 20:00. First French infantry attack. A little after 13:00, I Corps' attack began in large columns. Bernard Cornwell writes "[column] suggests an elongated formation with its narrow end aimed like a spear at the enemy line, while in truth it was much more like a brick advancing sideways and d'Erlon's assault was made up of four such bricks, each one a division of French infantry." Each division, with one exception, was drawn up in huge masses, consisting of the eight or nine battalions of which they were formed, deployed, and placed in a column one behind the other, with only five paces interval between the battalions. The one exception was the 1st Division (led by Quiot, the commander of the 1st Brigade). Its two brigades were formed in a similar manner, but side by side instead of behind one another. This was done because, being on the left of the four divisions, it was ordered to send one (Quiot's brigade) against the south and west of La Haye Sainte, while the other (Bourgeois') was to attack the eastern side of the same post.
The divisions were to advance in echelon from the left at a distance of 400 paces apart—the 2nd Division (Donzelot's) on the right of Bourgeois' brigade, the 3rd Division (Marcognet's) next, and the 4th Division (Durutte's) on the right. They were led by Ney to the assault, each column having a front of about a hundred and sixty to two hundred files. The leftmost division advanced on the walled farmhouse compound La Haye Sainte. The farmhouse was defended by the King's German Legion. While one French battalion engaged the defenders from the front, the following battalions fanned out to either side and, with the support of several squadrons of cuirassiers, succeeded in isolating the farmhouse. The King's German Legion resolutely defended the farmhouse. Each time the French tried to scale the walls, the outnumbered Germans somehow held them off. The Prince of Orange saw that La Haye Sainte had been cut off and tried to reinforce it by sending forward the Hanoverian Lüneburg Battalion in line. Cuirassiers concealed in a fold in the ground caught and destroyed it in minutes and then rode on past La Haye Sainte, almost to the crest of the ridge, where they covered d'Erlon's left flank as his attack developed.
At about 13:30, d'Erlon started to advance his three other divisions, some 14,000 men over a front of about , against Wellington's left wing. At the point they aimed for, they faced 6,000 men: the first line consisted of the 1st brigade (Van Bylandt's brigade) of the 2nd Netherlands Division, flanked by the British brigades of Kempt and Pack on either side. The second line consisted of British and Hanoverian troops under Sir Thomas Picton, who were lying down in dead ground behind the ridge. All had suffered badly at Quatre Bras. In addition, Bylandt's brigade had been ordered to deploy its skirmishers in the hollow road and on the forward slope. The rest of the brigade was lying down just behind the road. At the moment these skirmishers were rejoining their parent battalions, the brigade was ordered to its feet and started to return fire. On the left of the brigade, where the 7th Dutch Militia stood, a "few files were shot down and an opening in the line thus occurred." The battalion had no reserves and was unable to close the gap.
D'Erlon's men ascended the slope and advanced on the sunken road, Chemin d'Ohain, that ran from behind La Haye Sainte and continued east. It was lined on both sides by thick hedges, with Bylandt's brigade just across the road, while the British brigades had been lying down some 100 yards back from the road, Pack's to Bylandt's left and Kempt's to Bylandt's right. Kempt's 1,900 men were engaged by Bourgeois' brigade of 1,900 men of Quiot's division. In the centre, Donzelot's division had pushed back Bylandt's brigade. On the right of the French advance was Marcognet's division, led by Grenier's brigade, consisting of the 45e Régiment de Ligne and followed by the 25e Régiment de Ligne, somewhat less than 2,000 men, and behind them, Nogue's brigade of the 21e and 45e regiments. Opposing them on the other side of the road was Pack's 9th Brigade, consisting of the 44th Foot and three Scottish regiments: the Royal Scots, the 42nd Black Watch, and the 92nd Gordons, totalling something over 2,000 men. A very even fight between British and French infantry was about to occur.
The French advance drove in the British skirmishers and reached the sunken road. As they did so, Pack's men stood up, formed into a four-deep line formation for fear of the French cavalry, advanced, and opened fire. However, a firefight had been anticipated and the French infantry had accordingly advanced in more linear formation. Now, fully deployed into line, they returned fire and successfully pressed the British troops; although the attack faltered at the centre, the line in front of d'Erlon's right started to crumble. Picton was killed shortly after ordering a counter-attack, and the British and Hanoverian troops also began to give way under the pressure of numbers. Pack's regiments, all four ranks deep, advanced to attack the French in the road but faltered and began to fire on the French instead of charging. The 42nd Black Watch halted at the hedge and the resulting fire-fight drove back the British 92nd Foot, while the leading French 45e Ligne burst through the hedge cheering. Along the sunken road, the French were forcing the Anglo-allies back, the British line was dispersing, and at two o'clock in the afternoon Napoleon was winning the Battle of Waterloo.
Reports from Baron von Müffling, the Prussian liaison officer attached to Wellington's army, relate that, "After 3 o'clock the Duke's situation became critical, unless the succour of the Prussian army arrived soon." Charge of the British heavy cavalry. At this crucial juncture, Uxbridge ordered his two brigades of British heavy cavalry—formed unseen behind the ridge—to charge in support of the hard-pressed infantry. The 1st Brigade, known as the Household Brigade, commanded by Major-General Lord Edward Somerset, consisted of guards regiments: the 1st and 2nd Life Guards, the Royal Horse Guards (the Blues), and the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards. The 2nd Brigade, also known as the Union Brigade, commanded by Major-General Sir William Ponsonby, was so called as it consisted of an English (the 1st or The Royals), a Scottish (2nd Scots Greys), and an Irish (6th or Inniskilling) regiment of heavy dragoons. More than 20 years of warfare had eroded the numbers of suitable cavalry mounts available on the European continent; this resulted in the British heavy cavalry entering the 1815 campaign with the finest horses of any contemporary cavalry arm. British cavalry troopers also received excellent mounted swordsmanship training. They were, however, inferior to the French in manoeuvring in large formations, were cavalier in attitude, and, unlike the infantry, some units had scant experience of warfare.
The Scots Greys, for example, had not been in action since 1795. According to Wellington, though they were superior individual horsemen, they were inflexible and lacked tactical ability. "I considered one squadron a match for two French, I didn't like to see four British opposed to four French: and as the numbers increased and order, of course, became more necessary I was the more unwilling to risk our men without having a superiority in numbers." The two brigades had a combined field strength of about 2,000 (2,651 official strength); they charged with the 47-year-old Uxbridge leading them and a very inadequate number of squadrons held in reserve. There is evidence that Uxbridge gave an order, the morning of the battle, to all cavalry brigade commanders to commit their commands on their own initiative, as direct orders from himself might not always be forthcoming, and to "support movements to their front". It appears that Uxbridge expected the brigades of Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur, Hussey Vivian, and the Dutch cavalry to provide support to the British heavies. Uxbridge later regretted leading the charge in person, saying "I committed a great mistake", when he should have been organising an adequate reserve to move forward in support.
The Household Brigade crossed the crest of the Anglo-allied position and charged downhill. The cuirassiers guarding d'Erlon's left flank were still dispersed, and so were swept over the deeply sunken main road and then routed. Sir Walter Scott, in "Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk", described the following scene:Sir John Elley, who led the charge of the heavy brigade, was [...] at one time surrounded by several of the cuirassiers; but, being a tall and uncommonly powerful man, completely master of his sword and horse, he cut his way out, leaving several of his assailants on the ground, marked with wounds, indicating the unusual strength of the arm which inflicted them. Indeed, had not the ghastly evidence remained on the field, many of the blows dealt upon this occasion would have seemed borrowed from the annals of knight-errantry [...]Continuing their attack, the squadrons on the left of the Household Brigade then destroyed Aulard's brigade. Despite attempts to recall them, they continued past La Haye Sainte and found themselves at the bottom of the hill on blown horses facing Schmitz's brigade formed in squares.
To their left, the Union Brigade suddenly swept through the infantry lines, giving rise to the legend that some of the 92nd Gordon Highland Regiment clung onto their stirrups and accompanied them into the charge. From the centre leftwards, the Royal Dragoons destroyed Bourgeois' brigade, capturing the eagle of the "105e Ligne". The Inniskillings routed the other brigade of Quoit's division, and the Scots Greys came upon the lead French regiment, "45e Ligne", as it was still reforming after having crossed the sunken road and broken through the hedge row in pursuit of the British infantry. The Greys captured the eagle of the "45e Ligne" and overwhelmed Grenier's brigade. These would be the only two French eagles captured by the British during the battle. On Wellington's extreme left, Durutte's division had time to form squares and fend off groups of Greys. As with the Household Cavalry, the officers of the Royals and Inniskillings found it very difficult to rein back their troops, who lost all cohesion. Having taken casualties, and still trying to reorder themselves, the Scots Greys and the rest of the Union Brigade found themselves before the main French lines. Their horses were blown, and they were still in disorder without any idea of what their next collective objective was. Some attacked nearby gun batteries of the Grande Battery. Although the Greys had neither the time nor means to disable the cannon or carry them off, they put very many out of action as the gun crews were killed or fled the battlefield. Sergeant Major Dickinson of the Greys stated that his regiment was rallied before going on to attack the French artillery: Hamilton, the regimental commander, rather than holding them back cried out to his men "Charge, charge the guns!"
Napoleon promptly responded by ordering a counter-attack by the cuirassier brigades of Farine and Travers and Jaquinot's two Chevau-léger (lancer) regiments in the I Corps light cavalry division. Disorganized and milling about the bottom of the valley between Hougoumont and La Belle Alliance, the Scots Greys and the rest of the British heavy cavalry were taken by surprise by the countercharge of Milhaud's cuirassiers, joined by lancers from Baron Jaquinot's 1st Cavalry Division. As Ponsonby tried to rally his men against the French cuirassers, he was attacked by Jaquinot's lancers and captured. A nearby party of Scots Greys saw the capture and attempted to rescue their brigade commander. The French lancer who had captured Ponsonby killed him and then used his lance to kill three of the Scots Greys who had attempted the rescue. By the time Ponsonby died, the momentum had entirely returned in favour of the French. Milhaud's and Jaquinot's cavalrymen drove the Union Brigade from the valley. The result was very heavy losses for the British cavalry. A countercharge, by British light dragoons under Major-General Vandeleur and Dutch–Belgian light dragoons and hussars under Major-General Ghigny on the left wing, and Dutch–Belgian "carabiniers" under Major-General Trip in the centre, repelled the French cavalry.

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