ON THIS DAY (PLUS FROM THE DAY BEFORE)

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1 June, 1980

CNN

Ted Turner's Cable News Network (CNN), headquartered in Atlanta, began 24-hour live news broadcasts this day in 1980 and gained worldwide attention in 1991 for its around-the-clock coverage of the Persian Gulf War.

As of December 2023, CNN had 68,974,000 television households as subscribers in the US. According to Nielsen, down from 80 million in March 2021. In June 2021, CNN ranked third in viewership among cable news networks, behind Fox News and MSNBC, averaging 580,000 viewers throughout the day, down 49% from a year earlier, amid sharp declines in viewers across all cable news networks.

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2 June 1953

Elizabeth II Coronation

On this day in 1953, 27-year-old Elizabeth II, the elder daughter of King George VI, was crowned queen of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey, having taken the throne upon her father's death in February 1952.

The coronation was held more than one year later because of the tradition of allowing an appropriate length of time to pass after a monarch dies. It also gave the planning committees adequate time to make preparations for the ceremony.

During the service, Elizabeth took an oath, was anointed with holy oil, was invested with robes and regalia, and was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

Twenty-seven million people across Britain watched the event live on the BBC Television Service, many having purchased or rented television sets specifically for that purpose. The number of license holders doubled from approximately one and a half million to three million. The coronation was the first to be televised in full; the BBC's cameras had not been allowed inside Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II's parents' coronation in 1937 and had covered only the procession outside. There had been considerable debate within the British Cabinet on the subject, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill against the idea; Elizabeth refused his advice on this matter and insisted the event take place before television cameras.

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