No broadcast. A mere 270 guests. The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in Hollywood on May 16, 1929. The name Oscar was not used for another few years. Emil Jannings was the first Best Actor and Janet Gaynor Best Actress.

There was little chance of the nominees being too nervous to eat their broiled chicken on toast as they sat waiting for the first Academy Awards to be presented on Thursday May 16, 1929. The first 12 winners (and the 20 films that were given an honorary scroll of commendation) had already been revealed in the Los Angeles Times three months earlier.

The inaugural awards were the only time in Academy history that the ceremony wasn't broadcast in some way; even a year later it was covered live on radio. Now, of course, it is a global phenomenon. The 2016 Oscars were watched by more than 37 million TV viewers in the US alone and there were 440,000 #Oscars tweets per-minute when Leonardo di Caprio won best actor.

There were 3,300 guests in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles in February to watch the 2016 event, a fair few more than the 270 guests who paid $5 a piece for their tickets to the black-tie event in 1929. Those Jazz Age revellers were treated to some fillet of Sole Sauté au Beurre along with their chicken.