[lazythread]

The very first EMI (HMV, Columbia, Parlophone) 45rpm records were pressed with large holes, this would have been around 1952/3 I think. Not sure about Decca who possibly preceded them. Shortly after both EMI and Decca generally pressed with "spiders" so that you could play on a standard machine or break it out to play on a large spindle one, like a jukebox. I think that the spider was "dinked" after pressing as a few EMI singles were solid.

Large hole records were quite common among smaller labels, possibly depending on the pressing company they used. Polygram often pressed with large holes.