Dad was an electronic fanatic and so we had all the latest gadgets
in our house long before they became commonplace. I can’t remember ever not
having a television, although TV viewing in those days was very different to
today. In the 1950s:
The BBC was the one and only station. The picture
was in black and white and the screen was tiny.
Daily transmissions didn’t start until 5 pm but you had to
turn the TV set on a good five minutes beforehand to let it ‘warm up’.
The Epilogue ended the day’s transmissions with a religious talk and then the picture disappeared in on itself
leaving just a white dot in the middle of the screen that lasted long after you
pulled out the plug.
Dad was always adjusting either the horizontal or the vertical
line hold and sometimes both. The picture would scroll up and over the screen or
it would skid round sideways.
There were often gaps in-between the programmes. It wasn’t
as slick and professional as it is today. Whenever there was a bit of spare
time they would have an Intermission. One of these was The Potter’s Wheel.
Our whole family would sit down together to watch programmes like Dixon of
Dock Green. I saw an extract from an old episode not so long ago and it was painfully
naive. We were so unsophisticated and easily pleased in those days.
How far back does your TV memory go?
