The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), headquartered in London, is the world's oldest and largest public service broadcaster, employing around 22,000 staff. Originally founded as a private company on 18 October 1922, it became the BBC under a royal charter on 1 January 1927. Its primary funding comes from a mandatory annual television licence fee paid by UK households, which also supports the BBC World Service (launched in 1932) and the iPlayer streaming service, alongside revenue from its commercial arm, BBC Studios. The BBC's enduring mission to "inform, educate and entertain" stems from its first general manager, the Scottish engineer John Reith, who set this directive in the 1920s following the public's fascination with the first live broadcast by soprano Dame Nellie Melba in 1920. Affectionately nicknamed the "Beeb" or "Auntie," the corporation has a massive cultural footprint, including launching Radio Times in 1923, whose 1988 Christmas edition sold a record 11 million copies—the biggest-selling edition of any British magazine in history.