The very first news broadcast in the United Kingdom hit the airwaves on Nov. 14, 1922 courtesy of what was then known as the British Broadcasting Company. On that day, Director of Programmes Arthur Burrows read news bulletins informing listeners about a "rowdy meeting" with Winston Churchill, a train robbery and London fog from the Strand in London.
The British Broadcasting Company had been created less than a month prior for its first broadcast by a group of major wireless manufacturers, including Marconi. Within the year, the company would broadcast everything from plays to concerts to speeches, with some news at night.
But soon, the BBC, as it's known today, became a major news source not just for the U.K. but for the world. BBC News hit TVs across the U.K. in 1948, which would soon give way to a host of famous entertainment programs beloved by domestic and international audiences alike.
Now 92 years later, BBC Radio is still a major player in the broadcast game. BBC Radio 1, the country's Top 40 radio channel, averaged nearly 11 million listeners a week in the last three months of 2013. Even in this day and age of everything going digital, BBC Radio 1 has a huge online presence with some of the most famous pop stars of today singing covers that instantly go viral. Lorde's cover of Jeremih's "Don't Tell 'Em," which she sang in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge" on Nov. 13, is just the latest one to do so, but there are plenty more where that came from. Celebrate the BBC Radio's birthday by listening to the best covers to ever hit BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.
Florence + the Machine - "Take Care," originally recorded by Drake (Nov. 25, 2011)
Ben Howard - "Call Me Maybe," originally recorded by Carly Rae Jepsen (May 8, 2012)
Kelly Clarkson - "Princess of China," originally recorded by Coldplay (June 6, 2012)
Bastille - "We Can't Stop," originally recorded by Miley Cyrus (Sept. 9, 2013)
Thirty Seconds to Mars - "Stay," originally recorded by Rihanna featuring Mikky Ekko (Sept. 17, 2013)
Jessie J - "I Knew You Were Trouble," originally recorded by Taylor Swift (Sept. 19, 2013)
Justin Timberlake - "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)," originally recorded by The Jackson Five (Sept. 23, 2013)
Chvrches - "It's Not Right But It's Okay," originally recorded by Whitney Houston (Sept. 25, 2013)
Miley Cyrus - "Summertime Sadness," originally recorded by Lana Del Rey (Nov. 12, 2013)
Ed Sheeran - "Stay With Me," originally recorded by Sam Smith (June 5, 2014)
Sam Smith - "Fast Car," originally recorded by Tracy Chapman (Sept. 3, 2014)
Lorde - "Don't Tell 'Em," originally recorded by Jeremih (Nov. 13, 2014)
Image: Theo Wargo / Getty Images
