Notts on the box
Cinema newsreels & black & white TV

Cinema newsreels
Though not strictly anything to do with Television, historical value demands the inclusion of this section devoted to Newsreels which would be screened at cinemas, before a movie, a week or so after the match.

27/09/1902 Notts County 2 (Humphreys, Ross) Middlesbrough 0
The earliest known film footage of a Notts match is this Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon (Norden Films) production which is described as follows "Main (replacement) title (00.08). Game in progress. Nottingham wears vertically-striped shirts and dark shorts; Middlesbrough wears white shorts and dark shirts. There are large signs for Newton's perambulators, Westgate Road around the ground. Large crowds. At one end of the pitch is a long, tall industrial-looking building. The covered stand has another small, pagoda-like-stand built into the roof. The match is filmed from both wings and at the goal-mouth of Notts County."
This was a top-flight match played at Trent Bridge, estimated to have been watched by around 10,000. The victory put Notts on top of the First Division. Parts of the film (crowd only) were included on a DVD "Mitchell & Kenyon: Edwardian Sports" released in 2007.

25/03/1922 Huddersfield Town 3 (Mann, Smith, Stephenson) Notts County 1 (Hill) FA Cup Semi-Final
Since winning the competition in 1894, Notts had done poorly in the FA Cup until this epic campaign of 1922. 2nd tier Notts had battled through no less than 9 matches (including 5 replays) to reach this Semi-final. Over 46,000 attended the match at Burnley's Turf Moor, a supposed neutral venue that involved considerably less travelling for supporters of their First Division opponents, although it was reported that Notts enjoyed the greater vocal backing, perhaps encouraged by locals who's side had been knocked out by Huddersfield earlier in the competition. Harold Hill, signed from a Hucknall miners club, scored the Notts equaliser after Town had gone ahead in the 2nd minute. The Yorkshire outfit regained the lead 5 minutes into the 2nd half before Stephenson made it 3-1 just three minutes later. See line-ups and match report here. Although Notts were denied a place in the final (the very last to be played at a League ground before it would be staged at Wembley stadium) County were to achieve success the following season by winning promotion to the top flight as champions, whilst this semi-final appearance was to remain as County's best Cup run of the 1900's.

02/02/1924 Crystal Palace 0 Notts County 0 (FA Cup Round 2).
A Topical Film Company production. There was action from three games including Palace v Notts. Both the replay and 2nd replay also ended in goalless draws before Palace won the 3rd replay 2-1.

20/02/1926 Notts County 0 Fulham 1 (Prouse) FA Cup 5th Round
Titled "Fulham Fight Hard" this Pathe newsreel is the earliest known surviving film shot at Meadow Lane. The referee is seen shaking hands with the two team captains, the Notts skipper is wearing the period Chevron shirt and the recently opened County Road Stand can be seen in the background. We then see some shots of the match taken from behind the Meadow Lane end goal looking towards the Main Stand with the Fulham keeper making lots of saves. Notts goalkeeping legend Albert Iremonger, who had the road that runs behind the Kop named after him, played in this match but sadly he was not captured on this film, nor was the late winning goal scored three minutes from time. Notts were relegated at the end of 1925/26 - Nobody could have imagined then that only the youngest Notts supporters would live to see their team grace the highest level again.

Footage of Notts in the 1930's was shown at an exhibition of football history given at Nottingham Castle in 1983 courtesy of the Nottingham Historical Film Unit. It showed a few fleeting glimpses of players running onto the pitch and kicking off. The main owner of the film unit died some years ago but the collection should still be in existence.

15/11/1947 Northampton Town 1 Notts County 2 (Lawton, Marsh)
Notts may have been languishing in the 3rd Division South, but they were now back in the big time thanks to the surreal signing of England's most famous striker, Tommy Lawton. His Notts debut was captured on film by Pathe, scenes included general views of the huge crowd of spectators as well as various shots of the game spotlighting Lawton who scored with a header in the first 5 minutes.

29/11/1947 Notts County 9 (Lawton 3,Sewell 3, Marsh 2, Freeman) Horsham 1 (FA Cup Round 1)
Lawton's FA Cup debut for Notts was filmed by British Movietone. The film opens with  Lawton walking into camera in civilian clothes and overcoat and is seen signing autographs. On the field, Lawton and Hughes (Horsham) shake hands, toss up and kick-off, there are various shots of Lawton attacking the Horsham end plus goals and cut-ins of cheering crowds.

07/01/1950 Notts County 1 (Johnston) Burnley 4 (FA Cup 3rd Round)
A Pathe film once again focussing on Tommy Lawton, the Notts hero is seen chatting with fans outside the ground and showing his England caps and medals with Mrs Lawton, players are seen leaving the dressing room, some of the 44,000 crowd are seen entering the ground through the turnstiles and match action includes the Notts goal scored by Johnston after a pass from Lawton.
Notts had entered the 1950's with a temporary blip of defeats, but they were soon back to winning ways and as champions they were finally promoted (as only champions at this level were). With Forest attracting smaller crowds and now a division below, Notts cemented their position as Nottingham's chief club.
Tommy Lawton also starred in a cinema commercial for John Player cigarettes around this time.

02/02/1952 Notts County 1 (Lawton) Portsmouth 3 (FA Cup 4th Round)
British Paramount filmed this Cup tie, the scenes are described as follows...... "Crowd / Fighting crowd / Policemen trying to organize crowd / Mounted policemen on edge of pitch / Notts County kick off /  Play in Portsmouth half, player slithers over on ice, ball goes out of play / Type with pipe / Play around Notts County goal / Gaillard scores Portsmouth's first goal after 5 minutes / 2 young Notts supporters looking grim /  Crookes of Notts County & Gunter of Portsmouth, dribbling in Portsmouth half / Gunter gets ball & passes it to goal area. Tommy Lawton heads it in, scoring equalizer for Notts in 8 minutes / Play around Notts goal, Mundy scores Portsmouth's 2nd. goal, Crowd cheer /  Play round Portsmouth goal, Notts score an off-side goal / Crowd / Play round Notts goal, Play, ball is passed, Reid scores 3rd goal for Pompey."

20/12/1952 Notts County 2 (Evans, K.McPherson) Leicester City 2
With the Lawton era now over, British Movietone filmed this 2nd tier Midlands derby.

03/01/1953 Nottingham Forest 1 Notts County 0
Forest had quickly re-joined Notts in the 2nd tier and in this match gained revenge for the 3-2 defeat earlier in the season, the Pathe film includes match action and plenty of crowd shots.

19/02/1955 Notts County 1 (Broadbent) Chelsea 0 (FA Cup 5th Round)
A suggested newsreel that sadly I can find no record of.

12/03/1955 Notts County 0 York City 1 (FA Cup Quarter Final)
Notts record attendance of 47,310 witnessed this cup upset. Pathe cameras caught sight of two disallowed goals for offside (one for each side) and the pitch invasion that greeted the final whistle. British Movietone were also there and this film shows "Kick-off. Notts on the offensive and seen opening the attack. Tommy Forgan, York goalie makes a save. Now York fight back. Second half - York attacking the Notts goal. The winning goal which Arthur Bottom scores from a mix-up involving Bill Hughes and Sid Storey. The crowd surge onto the pitch to congratulate the 3rd Division winners."

All of the above Pathe newsreels can be downloaded from Pathe's site
 

Television comes to Nottingham
It wasn't until December 1949 that watchable Television transmissions could be picked up in Nottingham with the building of the UK's 2nd TV mast at Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham. In 1955, BBC television launched "Sports Special", a weekly late Saturday night series that was the first programme to regularly include football league highlights, although they were only allowed to show 5 minutes from each game (10 minutes in exceptional circumstances) and they sometimes missed goals whilst changing the film reels!
There was still only one channel available (BBC) until the staggered addition of local commercial stations between 1955 and 1962. Thirteen independent television stations were set up to provide regional services funded by advertising, the Midlands being the 2nd region to get a commercial service when ATV (Monday to Friday) and the weekend channel ABC began sharing a transmitter at Lichfield in 1956, but they wouldn't begin showing regular football league highlights until the middle of the following decade.

ATV's 23rd August 1957 edition of "Midlands News" (6:55-7:00pm) included a 2:03 minute report on Tommy Lawton's return to Meadow Lane as manager. Standing inside the Meadow Lane ground, Dicky Leeman interviewed Tommy Lawton, his assistant Frank Broome, the team captain Ron Wylie and club secretary 'Chick' Heath. Some players could also be seen training in the background.
 
 
 

05/12/1959 Notts County 0 Bath City 1 (O'Neill) FA Cup 2nd Round
                  commentator: Ken Wolstenholme for BBC television
It was Saturday Sports Special that covered Notts on television for the first time and the cameras captured what the producer had probably been hoping for, a Non-league upset (Three years earlier Notts had been knocked out by another Non-league outfit, Rhyl). The goal came in the 50th minute when a centre from the right wing re-bounded off a County defender to the foot of O'Neill who instantly drove the ball into the roof of the net. Notts had opportunites to save the day but these were all wasted. The commentator, who had rosettes of both teams pinned to his lapels whilst introducing the game, would later go on to spout those famous words "They think it's all over, it is now" at the 1966 World Cup final.
*Note: Matches were still being recorded onto film rather than videotape in 1959 (video was still in its' infancy at the time) but it is unlikely that any footage of Notts' first televised match was retained. The BBC junked a huge percentage of their archive when the tape and film library moved premises in the early 1970's.

County's televised FA Cup embarrassment illuminated the troubled times Notts now found themselves in. A double relegation to the newly created Division Four had come at the worst possible time as neighbours Nottingham Forest won promotion to the top flight and then proceeded to win the FA Cup. The repercussions were to be felt throughout the next decade to almost fatal degrees.
 

The 1960's

15/11/1961 Margate 1 Notts County 1 (Loxley) FA Cup 2nd Round
The matchday programme for the replay at Meadow Lane (which Notts won 3-1) referred to the drawn match at Margate.... "The press & television cameras were there in force to witness what they expected to be another giant-killing act......". The TV footage was probably broadcast as a local news report - most likely on Southern TV's "Day by Day".

On 12th February 1962, ATV Midland News reported on the damage done to the region by a fierce gale, including the toppling over of one of the floodlight pylons at Meadow Lane (first erected in 1953), brief silent footage of the wreckage still exists. Notts installed a new set later in the year.

??/??/1962 Centenary Programme - Title & channel unknown
One Notts supporter recalled that a special programme commemorating Notts' centenary was screened on Television, Trevor Wooley remembers "My only memory of it was the end scene where a young lad about my age was kicking one of the old plastic tea-cups up County Road past the wooden fence behind the stand. I associated with that, as I used to do it as well." County were, of course, the first League club to reach the 100 year landmark which must have attracted a good deal of media attention - For certain there was a BBC radio special broadcast on 24/04/1962.

On 19th April 1963, ATV filmed an interview with the new Notts manager Eddie Lowe, a 33 second extract survives. Later that year, ATV included a report on the departure of Notts striker Tony Hateley (pictured) to Aston Villa on the 29th July 1963 edition of "Midlands News" from which a 28 second silent reel survives. "Midlands News" were back at Meadow Lane on 14th December 1965 to show Andy Beattie, currently an unpaid professional advisor to the club, paying his first visit to the ground (a 17 second silent reel still exists).

Match of the Day begins on BBC2.
Frustrated at still only being able to offer 5 minutes worth of highlights, the BBC finally dropped "Saturday Sports Special" in 1963. The following year the League agreed to allow the BBC to broadcast extended highlights, but only to an exclusive audience. "Match of the Day" began on Saturday 22nd August 1964 at 6:30pm on the new higher definition (but still black & white) 625 line channel BBC2, but only people living in the London area with specially adapted sets and new aerials could receive it. The first programme offered 55 minutes of videotaped highlights from Liverpool v Arsenal, yet fewer people than were actually at the game were estimated to have tuned in. For 1965/66 the programme moved to a later time slot after 10pm and the programme was shortened to 45 minutes with the League still deciding which matches would be shown. The success of the 1966 World Cup finals staged in England paved the way for a switch to BBC1 and the show would then be watched by millions. Sadly Notts County were still struggling in the 4th tier and did not warrant an appearance on the programme during the 1960's.

Football on ITV
Tyne Tees Television (North East) and then Anglia Television (in the East of England) began screening regular highlights programmes to showcase their local teams in 1962, but other regions were slow to catch onto the idea. ATV (then weekend broadcasters to the London area) began covering London teams on Sunday afternoon's in October 1965, ABC (the weekend channel for the Midlands and North) then introduced "World of Soccer".
In 1968 ATV took over the commercial Midlands service full-time and they began showing a local highlights show called "Star Soccer" from the start of the 1968/69 season, it was presented by Billy Wright with commentaries by Hugh Johns, Notts were still languishing at the foot of the 4th tier at the time and were understandably ignored by the "Star Soccer" producers during the show's first few season's, but County did make an appearance on another region's football show.....

22/02/1969 Colchester United 1 (Gibbs) Notts County 1 (Butlin)
commentator: Gerald Sinstadt for ANGLIA
This was Notts' first known game to be covered by an ITV station, but only viewers in the East of England* could watch highlights of this 4th Division match on ANGLIA's exclusive Sunday afternoon highlights show Match of the Week. With less local teams to choose from (and most of them playing in the lower divisions), it was not unusual for ANGLIA to regularly dip into the 3rd or 4th division. County took the lead in the 53rd minute through Barry Butlin, who was on loan from Brian Clough's Derby County (he would later team up with Clough again at Forest), Brian Gibbs netted the equaliser for promotion chasing Colchester on 67 minutes.
Lincolnshire was still ANGLIA territory at the time (the station had covered Lincoln City v Scunthorpe United the previous week) and this allowed favourably positioned Nottingham households the opportunity of tuning into watchable pictures of this broadcast via the Belmont transmitter.
 

Look! it's Meadow Lane!
Glancing at the televised fixtures for this period, TV cameras appeared to have ignored the Notts County ground in the 1960's, but this was not entirely the case - ATV covered Nottingham Forest 0 Coventry City 0 on 14th September 1968 when Forest were playing home matches at Meadow Lane after a fire had burnt down the City Ground's main stand during a match v Leeds United on 24th August 1968 (ATV had covered that game too). The Notts ground may also have been seen on television on 8th June 1967 during Granada's "Play of the Week" during the DH Lawrence season, this particular episode was titled "Strike Pay", the synopsis reads....... "Ephraim Wharmby is persuaded by his mates to go with them to Nottingham to watch a football match - and loses his strike-pay money on the way. He knows his wife and mother-in-law are waiting at home for him - and his money. Tom Radford goes part-way with them - to a pub on the Nottingham road - and then back home with his money almost intact. The story happens on March 13, 1912. For that was the day Notts County played Aston Villa - the game the miners go to see." (An early TV appearance here for Geoffrey Hughes, later to find fame as Eddie Yates in Coronation Street and providing the voice of Beatle Paul in the animated film "Yellow Submarine").