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"Nation shall speak peace unto nation." Motto of the BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation, known as the BBC, is the world's largest broadcasting organisation, founded in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company. Originally a radio broadcaster, the corporation began television broadcasts in 1932 and now operates ten UK television channels including the oldest and most watched, BBC One. The BBC also operates 58 radio stations, including the most popular station in the UK, BBC Radio 2, and has an online presence through BBC Online. Internationally, the BBC name is used as a brand for several channels operated by commercial arm BBC Worldwide, including the BBC World Service and BBC World News. Through BBC News, the corporation is the largest broadcasting news gatherer in the world, and has developed a good reputation for news gathering and reporting through the years.

Affectionate names for the BBC include auntie, the beeb and together, Auntie Beeb. Template:/box-footer

The BBC Young Musician of the Year is a televised music competition, broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Four biennially, and hosted by the BBC. The competition is designed for British percussion, keyboard, string, brass and woodwind players, all of whom must be eighteen years of age or under. The competition was established in 1978 by Humphrey Burton and Walter Todds, both of whom are former members of the BBC Television Music Department. In 1994, the usage of percussion instruments were permitted, alongside the existing keyboard, string, brass and woodwind categories, and is still permitted for use nowadays. Since its introduction, the allowance of percussion instruments has increased interest in the competition among young people. Currently, the competition has five stages, which consist of regional auditions, regional finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. As a result of the success of the competition, the Eurovision Young Musicians competition was initiated in 1982.

Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer and Alison Steadman (left-to-right) during a recording of the BBC Radio 4 programme You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal.

The BBC Birmingham national network production centre is based in The Mailbox in Birmingham. The Mailbox also serves as the headquarters for BBC English Regions and is the home of BBC West Midlands.

Template:/box-header Highlights from Wikipedia's Did you know...

• ... that the proposed BBC television special Planet Relief, created to raise awareness of climate change, was cancelled before it was made, for fear that it would be biased against climate sceptics?

• ... that the episodes of the BBC 7 sitcom Knocker have titles such as "Privinvasionacy", "Obselejectivitysence" and "Confidentialitydence"?

• ... that BBC traffic reporter Sally Traffic has also narrated poetry albums for the blind?

• ... that Adam and Joe on BBC 6 Music won the Broadcasting Press Guild award for Radio Programme of the Year in its first six months of broadcast?

• ... that the composer Zbigniew Preisner wrote the title music for the monumental BBC documentary People's Century, which spans 26 parts?

Template:/box-header Martin Brundle is a British former racing driver and a sports commentator for the BBC.

Brundle began his Formula 1 racing career with Tyrrell Racing in 1984. He put in a number of aggressive and fast drives, finishing fifth in his first race and then second at Detroit. At the Dallas Grand Prix, Brundle broke his ankles in a crash during a practice session. Then Tyrrell were disqualified from the world championship for 1984 due to a technical infringement, wiping his achievements for that season from the record books.

Having largely retired from motor racing, Brundle became a highly regarded commentator on British television network ITV, who he joined when they began Formula One coverage in 1997, initially alongside Murray Walker, and since 2002 James Allen. Brundle has won the RTS Television Sports Award for best Sports Pundit in 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2006. In 2005 the judges described him as: "...an outstanding operator at the very peak of his game – with an extraordinary ability to simplify and entertain in an often complex sport. He also exhibited a fearless authority on some of the most sensitive issues – not least his gimlet-eyed pursuit of Formula one boss Bernie Ecclestone on the grid at Indianapolis".

Brundle first commentated on F1 during the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix on the BBC. Having retired from the race, Brundle was asked by the BBC to enter the commentary box alongside Murray Walker because regular BBC commentator James Hunt failed to show up. Brundle was also part of the 1995 BBC commentary team whenever Aguri Suzuki was driving the Ligier-Mugen Honda such as for the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix.

In September 2008 Brundle denied that he had signed a deal with the BBC to commentate for next year's coverage although announced that he would love the chance to go to the BBC and said that discussions were ongoing. However, while at the Autocar Awards in November 2008, Brundle confirmed that he would be part of the BBC's commentary team for 2009.

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• Patrick Moore has died.

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• The BBC Trust has appointed a new Director-General of the BBC, the Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, Tony Hall. Lord Patten, Chairman of the BBC Trust, described his journalistic experiences as "invaluable".

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• "I got the first page with about three minutes to go. Then, the red light came on and it was up to me. It was an intensely dramatic script and most of the pages were fed to me at the microphone, so I had to get it right first time. God knows I put my heart into it." — Newsreader Robert Dougall, recalling his message as the 'anonymous Englishman', calling for Germany to withdraw its forces.

• "... confronted with problems of which I had no experience: Copyright and performing rights; Marconi patents; associations of concert artists, authors, playwrights, composers, music publishers, theatre managers, wireless manufacturers." – John Reith (later Lord Reith)'s description of launching the BBC.

• "Now, if you'll pardon me, I've a little bit of news of my own. If the mail is anything to go by, most of the listening population have spotted a report that next year I'm going to turn into Chris Evans.

And I hate to tell you, but it's true." - Sir Terry Wogan announcing he is to step down as presenter of the breakfast show on Radio 2.

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