This Is Your Life article

The start of the new BBC television channel was postponed last night after an extensive power failure. The breakdown came only 25 minutes before BBC2 was due to go on the screen for the first time.

The point of no return for the 625-line service came at 9.45 pm. Mr Michael Peacock, chief of programmes on BBC2 said: "Obviously I am disappointed, but not to worry. We will have a jolly good night tomorrow if the power is restored."

The only doubt the new channel's planners had before the blackout was of rain, which could ruin the planned firework display at Southend. On Sunday night Mr Peacock said: "Constant rain could seep into the fireworks and affect the electric contacts which set them off." The article in the Radio Times was headed "Off with a bang".

The failure, thought to be due to a fault in a 60,000 volt feeder at Iver (Buckinghamshire) – also blacked out many parts of London and disrupted road traffic, hospitals, entertainment, trains and sport. Underground trains were halted for 10 minutes, several cinemas closed, hospitals switched on stand-by generators, and the American singer Lena Horne's Palladium appearance was by dim emergency lighting. Theatre performances cancelled included "No Strings," "Boeing, Boeing" and "The Formation Dancers".

Even the Windmill

Piccadilly Circus was in darkness, restaurants had to serve cold food, public-house customers drank by candlelight – and the audience at the Windmill Theatre ("We Never Close") were sent home after an hour of seeing the revue by torch and bicycle lamp.

The Prime Minister and other distinguished guests ate by candlelight at a Café Royal dinner and had to walk up six flights of steps because the lift was not working. The National Sporting Club's professional boxing tournament was cancelled and Walsall's football match with Queen's Park Rangers at Shepherd's Bush was abandoned after 26 minutes because floodlights could not be used.

At the Television Centre the studio audience for the "This Is Your Life" programme were sent home and eventually, when the emergency lighting system began to run down, everyone in the building was advised to leave "while the going is still good".

Jammed with enquiries

The switchboard was jammed with inquiries about the failure – all viewers of BBC2 saw were announcements explaining the delay and a "newsroom" programme beamed from Alexandra Palace at 10 pm. On the BBC's main television channel a film was shown, followed by "Panorama" from Liverpool.

The power situation was worsened when one of London's biggest power stations at Battersea was put out of action when fire in a cable-room damaged a 66,000-volt cable.

The station, which generates enough power to supply Manchester and Salford, was producing no electricity late last night, said a fire officer. The fire had caused a transformer to explode after the power failure.