First edition of Omnibus

Image: Oliver Reed as Rossetti and Judith Paris in a dream sequence from 'Dante's Inferno', Ken Russell's film which tells the tortured life story of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Friday 22 December 1967.

The long running BBC arts programme Omnibus started on 13 October 1967, as a successor to Monitor. Over the years the flagship show has been responsible for many of the most innovative and highly regarded programmes on television. In its first year alone, Omnibus featured episodes as varied as Jonathan Miller’s adaptation of the M.R. James ghost story - Whistle and I'll Come You - and Tony Palmer's revelation of pop music, All My Loving.

The first presenter of Omnibus was playwright and actor Henry Livings. He introduced the debut programme, an impressionistic portrait of Montreal's Expo '67. The following weeks saw profiles of singer Elena Suliotis, actor/manager John M. East, Jacqueline du Pre, A.E. Coppard and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the latter by Ken Russell. There was also a performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony - conducted by Colin Davis - and an examination of Blake’s poem Tyger,Tyger. Other presenters over the years included Richard Baker and Humphrey Burton.

Omnibus won a dozen BAFTAs in its lifetime. It came to an end in 2003, finishing with a programme on novelist E Annie Proulx. BBC Arts coverage continues with its replacement Imagine, fronted by Alan Yentob, who made the celebrated 1975 Omnibus on David Bowie, Cracked Actor.