Why has the BBC decided on February to mark the 80th anniversary of the BBC 'World Service'?  For starters, the 'World Service', as an entity, only came into being in what - 1965?  When the first overseas transmission was broadcast by King George V on 19th December 1932 it was known as the Empire Broadcasting Service, becoming the Overseas Service in November 1939 with a dedicated European service added in 1941.

Doubtless there must've been some test transmissions from Daventry prior to His Maj. speaking to his Empire, where the new transmitting station (two ST&C transmitters and eighteen aerials) was commissioned in October 1931, but when did these test transmissions take place?  Are there any records of them?

What, in short, is the benchmark by which the BBC wishes to commemorate eighty years of this momentous occasion?