Auntie

‘Auntie’ has been the jocular, and once derisive, nickname for the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) since the mid-1950s. The first known citation is believed to be a Leslie Illingworth cartoon, which appeared in The Daily Mail in 1953 welcoming the news of commercial television in competition with ‘Auntie’, namely the BBC. The BBC’s own written archives gives the following information on the nickname. "A phrase of obscure origin: presumably journalistic, possibly from cartoons. Increasingly used in 1950s to contrast BBC's prudish, cosy, puritanical ‘refrained’ image with that of the much brasher ITV [Independent Television]. Certainly had wide currency by July 1959.”