What year did breakfast TV start

A. Breakfast television was launched in a blaze of glory in 1983. Helped by a government grant for computer equipment, the BBC won the race to start first on January 17 at 6.30am. The first anchors were an avuncular Frank Bough in a jumper and Selina Scott. They appeared on a red leather sofa. Their Breakfast Time co-hosts were Nick Ross and Diana Moran, the green goddess of exercise., astrologer Russell Grant and weatherman Francis Wilson.

Q. What did ITV do

A. Two weeks later TV-am launched Good Morning Britain. The famous five - David Frost, Michael Parkinson, Robert Kee, Angela Rippon and Anna Ford - started at 6am with a mixture of news, entertainment and "sexual chemistry". Despite its high-profile launch, however, audiences dropped to a low level and within six weeks Peter Jay had been forced out.

In April, both Anna Ford and Angela Rippon were sacked from their jobs - Ford was reportedly earning 75,000 a year, and Rippon 60,000. Robert Kee and Michael Parkinson stayed longer. Parkie was most visible at weekends when he and wife Mary were hosts on a magazine programme about celebrity gossip and re-recorded items from Nick Owen, the station's then sports reporter.

In June at a reception held by Lady Melchett, Anna Ford threw a glass of wine over Jonathan Aitken MP, her former boss, over the way she had been treated. ITV ordered a re-think and among the new recruits was Roland Rat, Kevin the gerbil and Anne Diamond from BBC Birmingham. Her partnership with Nick Owen was a winner.

Selina Scott left in March 1987, moving to America, and in November 1987, Frank Bough left amid lurid drug allegations.

In 1989, Channel 4 launched its Daily breakfast programme which promised to satisfy business and the more discerning.

Q. Did the channels base their ideas on any existing programmes

A. Despite umpteen changes over the years, breakfast television remains a difficult market. Both channels were originally said to have admired the snappy topicality of the American model "Today", which has been running since 1952.

Q. Was Channel 4 the new kid in the block then

A. Channel was launched only months before - November 2, 1982. The first show was Countdown, a tea-time anagram game with Richard Whiteley and farmer Ted Moult poring over an encyclopaedia. It was a hit and remains so today with co-host Carol Vorderman. The channel's first big drama was Walter, based on David Cook's novel about a mentally subnormal man's agonies after the death of his mother. Its first night ended with the Comic Strip's spoof on Enid Blyton, Five Go Mad in Dorset. Channel 4's most highly rated series was its soap Brookside, set in a Liverpool cul-de-sac, created and produced by Phil Redmond, originator of the BBC serial Grange Hill. Viewing figures fell after compaints from Mary Whitehouse and others about the language and behaviour of the residents, the Grants, the Collinses and the Crosses. It was also the show that made household names of big star celebrities such as Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston.

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By Katharine MacColl