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Buy a Bit of Bush House
Topic Started: Jul 15 2012, 11:50 AM (226 Views)
Mobson
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I changed the title of this thread, which was going to be the same as the programme I wanted to flag up, namely Goodbye to Bush House which John Tusa, who used to run Bush, will be presenting at 1.30pm today on Radio 4....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01kr7q7

The last programme from Bush House, the final one of countless millions since 1941, went out last Thursday 12th July and now within that iconic building on Aldwych, the studios have all fallen silent....BBC director general Mark Thompson bids farewell to Bush House in a special despatch here ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18805063

Designed by Harvey Corbett, Bush House was built in 1923 with further wings added between 1928 and 1935. This quintessentially British building was actually commissioned, designed and originally owned by American individuals and companies. The building was originally constructed for an Anglo-American trading organisation headed by Irving T. Bush, after whom it is named. It opened in July 1925, and later that decade was declared the ‘most expensive building in the world, having cost around £2 million and for millions of overseas listeners it remains the building which most represents the BBC.

Although the BBC has never owned Bush House. Its owners were variously the Church of Wales, the Post Office and now a Japanese-owned organisation; I'm not sure what the fate of this building is to be, perhaps it will be another grand hotel or eatery although probably not by two most famous restauranteurs, Chris Corbin and Jeremy King....they have already made an substantial investment in The Delauney at No 55 which opened at the beginning of this year....

However, the BBC does own the contents and its auctioning off everythine inside that is not actually fixed to the walls...you can buy anything from a small clock to a Steinway, old fashioned headphones or a full-blown broadcasting studio! Minimum bid £10. The biggest lots, @ estimate, will go for £10,000 plus.





Edited by Mobson, Jul 16 2012, 10:04 AM.
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Mobson
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Bush House contents: Bidding opened on July 13th - online only. To register, and to view an online catalogue, visit Peaker Pattinson Auctions, at ppauctions.com. To order a printed catalogue, or to book a viewing appointment at Bush House, ring 01778 590111. Bidding starts to close on July 25; deadlines expire in lot order, the last one on July 27th.

http://www.ppauctions.com/
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caissier
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Very sad ...... the fools. The atmosphere will be destroyed, whatever. I used to know the Langham when the Beeb had it ..... before it was tarted/poshed up.

They are blind to what places mean. It's in the news that Television Centre has been sold for £200m. To move to could-be-anywhere/could-be-anything characterless officeblock studios wherever.

People on vast pay with no soul.
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Mobson
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Very Sad! :(
Edited by Mobson, Jul 16 2012, 12:46 PM.
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Mobson
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caissier
Jul 16 2012, 12:32 PM
Very sad ...... the fools. The atmosphere will be destroyed, whatever. I used to know the Langham when the Beeb had it ..... before it was tarted/poshed up.

They are blind to what places mean. It's in the news that Television Centre has been sold for £200m. To move to could-be-anywhere/could-be-anything characterless officeblock studios wherever.

People on vast pay with no soul.

Bushwhacked ...is the word that comes to mind! <whistles>

They've moved the World Service to it's new home in Broadcasting House, just opposite the Langham in Portland Place and only a mile or two away from Bush House, where it will share the biggest newsroom in Europe with its domestic cousins - a vast emporium that licence payers can gaze down on while sipping espresso in the BBC's new Media Cafe...

Edited by Mobson, Jul 16 2012, 02:05 PM.
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Mobson
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I've just heard the news you mentioned in your post above Caissier...that the White City Television Centre 14 acre complex, part of which has protected status, has been sold for about 200 million pounds to the property developer Stanhope backed by the Japanese company Mitsui Fudosan...I knew it was on the market; I was at Westfield, Shepherds Bush last week and friends who work there were talking about the possible sale....

Television Centre was the setting for some of the broadcaster's most famous shows like Top of the Pops and Monty Python's Flying Circus.

The BBC will vacate by 2015 and relocate to the refurbished Broadcasting House, (where the World service now is) and to MediaCityUK in Salford, as part of its ongoing Cuts policy, to off-load property holdings by 30%....
Edited by Mobson, Jul 16 2012, 02:19 PM.
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caissier
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It's said the World Service will now be competing for funds with Strictly .......
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