Born Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing, Gilbert Russell was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in the United Kingdom and the United States. On November 2, 1936, the BBC began the world's first regularly scheduled television service, less than two weeks later, on November 13, 1936 the British Music Drama Opera Company under Rosing's direction presented the world's first televised opera, Pickwick by Albert Coates.