TV Times & Technology
Television was invented by John Logi Baird in the late 1920s but because of the 2nd world war, Television did not appear in some British Homes until the late 1940s or early 1950s. I remember our family's first set which was 12" Pye model which was placed on a little stand with a magnifier close by which made the screen look larger.
The first main event I remember watching on the television was the coronation of Queen Elizabeth 2nd which took place on the 2nd of June 1953. At that time the BBC was the only TV station available, their studio's at the time was in Lime Grove London.
The programmes did not commence till approximately 5pm, the first programme transmitted was Children's hour, my particular favourites at the time were Muffin the Mule and Crackerjack and all the big football matches.
In 1956 a commercial station Independent Television (ITV) or Granada was available for the first time in our region, I remember westerns such as Gun law, Maverick and Cheyenne, being shown regularly at the time. Many Quiz shows were screened also; the main two were 'Take Your Pick' and 'Double Your Money'.
In December 1960 a new programme called 'Coronation Street' appeared this programme was about working class people living in Salford. This program is screened at least five times a week now.
In the late 1960s technology had evolved and televisions showing colour images started to become popular. Nowadays Black and White sets are like antiques. Eventually more channels became available, i.e. BBC 2, channel 4 and channel 5.
The satellite was further developed and Sky Television, enabling programs to be screened from places far away, such as Australia, America, and China and many more places. Programmes can now be seen twenty-four hours a day, and almost every television is accompanied with a video recorder.
A later development is digital television; and at the time of writing the whole country is getting ready for the change over to this new medium.