Empire ship the Normandy invasion depended on the successful construction of the Mulberry ports. These were prefabricated ports, constructed at Southampton, Gosport, Portsmouth, Tilbury Docks, and even as far north as Birkenhead and Hartlepool. Two hundred tugs then took three months to tow the components of the harbours from where they were constructed to assembly areas on the South Coast. Between 7 June 1944 and the end of July, the tugs towed the materials across the channel to Normandy. Before D-Day, sixty old merchant ships and four old warships were selected as blockships, to be scuttled in a line to give protection
Coast to Coast (UK TV series) (supplemented in later years by "Scene Midweek"). The first edition of "Coast to Coast" was broadcast on New Year's Day 1982 at 9:25 am with a pan-regional special entitled "Bring in the New" (TVS's first programme), introducing the new station and featuring TVS's first news bulletins. The first sub-regional editions of the programme were aired at 5:15 pm on the same evening - reportedly watched by nearly a million viewers. Originally, the programme aired between 5:30 pm & 6:30 pm, consisting of two sub-regional segments at 5:30 pm & 6:20 pm, ITN's "News at 545" bulletin and a pan-regional segment