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:''for the Australian radio program, see Argonauts Club'' ''Children's Hour''—at first: "''The'' Children's Hour", from a verse by Longfellow〔''Between the dark and the daylight,'' ''When the night is beginning to lower,'' ''Comes a pause in the day's occupations'' ''That is known as the Children's Hour.''〕—was the name of the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Children's Hour'' was broadcast from 1922 to 1964, originally from the BBC's Birmingham station 5IT, soon joined by other regional stations, then in the BBC Regional Programme, before transferring to its final home, the new BBC Home Service, at the outbreak of the second World War. Parts of the programme were also rebroadcast by the BBC World Service. For the last three years of its life (from 17 April 1961 until 27 March 1964), the title ''Children's Hour'' was no longer used, the programmes in its "time-slot" going out under the umbrella heading of ''For the Young''. ==Broadcast history== In the United Kingdom, ''Children's Hour'' was broadcast from 5 pm to 6 pm every day of the week, with the biggest listening figures being at weekends when parents joined in too. It was the time of day during the week when children could be expected to be home from school, and was aimed at an audience aged about 5 to 15 years. Programming was imbued with Reithian virtues, and ''Children's Hour'' was often criticised, like "Auntie" BBC itself, for paternalism and middle-class values. It was nonetheless hugely popular, and its presenters were national figures, their voices instantly recognisable. Derek McCulloch was closely involved with the programme from 1926, and ran the department from 1933 until 1950, when he had to resign for health reasons. From 1928 to 1960, ''Children's Hour'' in Scotland was organised and presented by Kathleen Garsgadden, known as Auntie Kathleen, and whose popularity brought crowds to the radio station in Glasgow.〔W. H. McDowell, ‘Garscadden, Kathleen Mary Evelyn (1897–1991)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 ()〕 Popular nature study programmes on the Scottish ''Children's Hour'' were presented by Tom Gillespie (the 'Zoo Man'), James Douglas-Home (the 'Bird Man'), and Gilbert Fisher (the 'Hut Man') during the 1940s and '50s. The definitive history of the programme can be found in the book ''BBC Children's Hour'' by Wallace Grevatt, edited by Trevor Hill and published by (The Book Guild ) in 1988. With a foreword by David Davis, who became synonymous with the programme, its 21 chapters trace the chronological history and also deal with the BBC's six regions: Midland, Northern, West of England, Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Ireland. Trevor Hill was one of the key producers on ''Children's Hour'' and was based in Manchester but later moved across to BBC Television where he introduced ''Children's Television Club'', the original Northern-based presenters being Geoffrey Wheeler and Judith Chalmers, before it moved to London. A full account of Hill's wide-ranging career can be found in his autobiography ''Over the Airwaves'' (2005), which includes much detail about ''Children's Hour''. He was later asked by the BBC to write and produce radio programmes in tribute to three ''Children's Hour'' regulars, Derek McCulloch (Uncle Mac), Wilfred Pickles and Violet Carson. The programme's closure was decided in 1964 by Frank Gillard following an enormous decline in listenership—by the end of 1963, the number of listeners had fallen to 25,000. Gillard said that most of them were "middle-aged and elderly ladies who liked to be reminded of the golden days of their youth", and that young listeners had instead turned to watching television, listening to the BBC Light Programme or to pirate radio. There was considerable complaint about the closing of the service and questions were raised in Parliament. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Children's Hour」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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