Hello, and thank you for listening to The Witness History Podcast from the BBC World

Service with me, Vicki Vankham.

Today I'm taking you back 70 years to how the BBC's Fight to Broadcast Queen Elizabeth

the Second's Coronation, from Inside Westminster Abbey, resulted in a watershed moment for television.

So in the glittering state coach now setting out on its eighth coronation journey, the Queen

and her husband began their royal progress to Westminster.

All along the mall, everywhere we went in this lovely coat, people were cheering, screaming

and sobbing to her, they were so excited.

That's Lady Jane Reign Lacey.

In 1953 she was stunned to receive a letter inviting her to be one of the Queen's six

maids of honour at the coronation.

I was very unsophisticated 90-year-old.

We lived in the country with hardly ever saw any young people at all.

I was terrified, I have to say, I was really, really frightened.

I didn't know at that point it was going to be televised.

As the teenage Jane prepared for her momentous day, newspapers started reporting a rift between

the government and the BBC about covering the event.

As can be heard in the 1983 BBC documentary, nobody minded the rain.

The big question was whether permission would be granted to televised the service from

inside Westminster Abbey.

The late Peter Dimmick was the BBC's head of outdoor broadcast at the time.

Years later he gave an interview about the big fuss.

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