Probably the most important things to consider about a staff newspaper is that it contains three key elements:

1. Staff – to read it.
2. News – to write in it.
3. Paper – on which to print it.

It seems, however, that there are now less staff, not a lot of good news and the trees… WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE TREES!

For those of you who have read my previous obituary to the BBC Diary, you will remember my fondness for free stuf that my Dad would bring home for work. Well Ariel was no different. Even as a nipper I remember this yellowing newsprint paper, with an almost red top masthead, being brought home each week. I thought it was quite neat that this pseudo newspaper of very few pages was put together an printed every week for the staff of the BBC. It spurred me to make my own magazine for my parent’s friends, although the circulation never matched that of Ariel itself! My favourite sections were always the letters pages, for their sheer comedy, and best of all the classifieds, especially the section for ‘motors’. Why not just ‘cars’?

When I joined the BBC I held Ariel in quite high regard but it soon became clear that it wasn’t appreciated as much by some of my colleagues. I found that it was something that I could interact with, even as a paper based publication. Over the years I had small articles published, competitions won and snippets printed in the ‘Green Room’ section on the back page. Possibly my finest moment in Ariel was published the week after I left the BBC. Before my departure I photographed Television Centre in a David Hockney style and was honoured with a centre spread featuring the image itself and a piece about my efforts. I was never prouder, as was my Dad. It has to be said that he beat me to the centre spread by several years when he was the first lighting director to light up the whole of the front of Television Centre for Children in Need, complete with a giant glitter-ball. This earned him a prized spot in Ariel all of his own!

Ariel was definitely the kind of publication that gave back as much as you put in and I don’t think many people really appreciated that. It was like a weekly soap opera of comments and moans from staff, mostly moans, always received in good humour. For such a large organisation Ariel was really the one thing that everyone had in common, the department you could all interact with and the place you went to find out what was going on, who was saying what to whom and all the news the BBC wanted you to know.

There was a criticism that Ariel always painted the BBC as a happy, happy place, but in difficult times perhaps what you need is something that shouts about the good things about where you work rather than harping on about the bad. The letters page was always there to take the brunt of staff frustrations but on the whole it had the feel of a club magazine for those on the inside, which is exactly what we were.

The daily newspapers always mined its pages for trinkets and titbits of information that would subsequently appear within the pages of The Guardian and Broadcast but it was nice to be able to read the first sometimes! I think, perhaps, it will be them who miss Ariel most. By closing down the print version of Ariel it reduces the surface area of the BBC so it might prove more difficult to hit it but having a newspaper in your hand sometimes makes it easier to deflect what’s being hurled at you.

I’ve not heard about whether the cut down version of Ariel for retired staff, Prospero, is also being closed. That’s certainly not a group of people I’d want to mess with. Perhaps bits of print Ariel will live on after all?

As a child I recall the delivery of the BBC diary as an annual event in our house. My Father would bring home his new navy blue diary, smartly embossed with the BBC lozenges, along with an extra one for my Mother (you could get one for your wife/partner in those days). They diligently transfered birthdays and phone numbers from their current diaries to the next years and then used them throughout the year to record arrangements, work schedules and events of import.

The BBC diary is unique in that it contained a variety of BBC specific information, only of use to those lucky enough to work here. Addresses and phone numbers (and laterly email addresses) of all BBC premises across the UK were accompanied by first aid and medical emergency information, the date of the annual Corporation Day and the brithdays of all past DGs. The BBC diary knew how to keep up with the times.

The BBC Diary grew up an only child but was drawn into a larger family in later life. Joined by it’s slim and pocket varieties the BBC diary evolved into a wall calendar and even created extra value through the 15 month calendar complete with its system of BBC weeks. During the late 80’s and early 90’s the BBC diary was joined by its distant cousin the Filofax diary, but with the decline of the Yuppie and the advent of the New Labour government this dairy was lost at a young age. The grand daddy of them all was the A4 day per page diary that sat majestically on many a desk, guiding its proud owner through their daily tasks.

Over the years the BBC diary existed in a range of colours. Its early years were marked by a classic navy blue but as it grew older it grew bolder in its annual outfit. Colours of note include an icky green, a blood curdling red and a peculiar brown which, it was claimed, had no pantone reference at all.

At this sad time we send our best wishes for the wellbeing of the BBC Club, BBC Resources and the holy grave of Petra, the original fake Blue Peter dog.

The BBC diary leaves behind the BBC calendar.

Quote about the BBC Diary:

“I have had a few big fat desk diaries over the years, usually because some firm has given me a big fat one for free. For three years I had a BBC diary. Huge thing. What a mistake. Now, on the shelf where I keep my 40 years of life lined up, the BBC diaries stick out, ruining the symmetry.”

Comment: All you need is life – and a decent diary
Independent, The (London),  Dec 13, 1999  by Hunter Davies  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19991213/ai_n14264691