Rediffusion London

Background
Associated-Rediffusion was the first ITV franchise to go on air, providing London's first weekday (Monday through Friday) service. A-R launched with a gala performance, presented jointly with ABC, on Thursday 22 September 1955. In 1964 the channel shortened its name to "Rediffusion London". In 1968, the company's franchise wasn't renewed and it was replaced by Thames (a forced joint venture between Rediffusion and EMI, which by then owned Associated British Corporation, ABC's parent company; ABC had also lost its franchise that year). The surviving A-R/Rediffusion London archive material is owned by Archbuild Ltd. and is held by the British Film Institute. In 1994, Victor Lewis-Smith purchased the rights to the Associated-Rediffusion name (and related trademarks) and launched a new company under the legendary name (which has produced a number of acclaimed documentaries). The present-day A-R (http://www.associated-rediffusion.tv) is active as a producer of documentaries and drama programming for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

1st Logo (1955-1964)
Nicknames: "Spinning Star", "Adastral"

Logo: On a black background, a 16-pointed star (called the "Adastral" by the company's owners) spins a little clockwise while "Times New Roman" and "Times New Roman" or "Times New Roman" slide from the right and left sides of the screen, respectively.

Variant: There is a still logo that's already formed and just the music plays.

FX/SFX: The star spinning, and the sliding text.

Music/Sounds: A five-note trombone fanfare with five beeps, which represent Associated-Rediffusion's initials in Morse code (short-long, short-long-short).

Music/Sounds Variant: The original version used a stately eleven-note jingle played on a trombone.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (Late 1950s?-1964)
Logo: Set against what appears to be a car is a slightly smaller version of the star from before with the words "Times New Roman" are shown with "Times New Roman", in a slightly smaller font, below that. The camera then quickly pans up to a cameraman on a crane.

FX/SFX: It's all live-action.

Music/Sounds: Same as the first logo.

Availability: Extinct; apparently used on outside broadcast (live remote) shows and news programming.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1964-1968)
Nicknames: "Spinning Star II", "Adastral Mk. 2", "Rediffusion Star"

Logo: On a gray background, a black rectangle extends to both sides of the screen. Once it is done, "REDIFFUSION" in white appears on the rectangle. The Adastral star and "LONDON" appear above and below "REDIFFUSION" respectively. The star spins counterclockwise.

Variants:
 * On the first year it was used, after the above details, the gray background would turn black via a sliding effect.
 * A version was used at the end of shows, where the only movement is the Adastral rotating and the background is black.
 * A color version from 1967 has been reported to exist. The logo is the same, but the background is blue, the Adastral is red (yellow on a few programs), "REDIFFUSION" is a deeper white, and "LONDON" is colored yellow.
 * A Christmas variant exists where the background is a live-action batch of tinsel, tightly bound into a spiral rotating counterclockwise, and the "Rediffusion" text is a old-timely font which has a heavy drop-shadow effect that wipes in before.

FX/SFX: The rectangle, star spinning, and sliding.

Music/Sounds: A seven note horn fanfare composed by Johnny Dankworth. The Christmas variant has this blended with a rendition of "Deck the Halls".

Availability: Same as the previous logo. Was seen in-credit with animation on Ready, Steady Go! VHS releases in the mid-1980s. The color version was probably used in a few color programs prior to the 1968 loss of this franchise.