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Our First Telly

re tv

ernie.i remember the toppers,that woman presenter.angie rippon,was one i think,can remember b/w minstrels on radio not tv,sorry.there are still a lot of them H beams still on pots here,i tryed to repair one,that i found in the scrap yard,iwanted for ham use,but it was too corroded.my old tv was a radio as well.
 
I don't know which year we had our t.v. I do know that the people next door had 'ITV!!' which I was allowed to go around and watch sometimes. I can always remember - 'Hands that do dishes can be soft as your face', and 'Emergency Ward Ten'. Very daring I seem to remember being told!! When we eventually got our own television, it was BBC - there always seemed to be a pair of hands making a clay pot or really OLD people, with moustaches!!! (Also speaking some very POSH language). One thing which really stands out in my memory - is seeing pictures of rocket ships and lots of talk about war & atom bombs. (Later finding out about Cuba during the 'Cold War') I remember dashing past the bomb site wall along Thomas Street, so that I could get home to my mum before they dropped 'The Bomb'.
 
Watton. I know I am going off thread a bit but I wonder how many people remember how scary " The Bomb" was back in the 1950's.
 
GER22VAN
I don't think we as children did know what it was all about. As always, the media gives & probably gave, the gravest scenarios. All I remember is that something horrible was or could happen to me and to my family. Such was the power of this new media (to us). At the time all I remember doing, was watching (probably) 'Panorama', and being very, very frightened. It really worries me, the effects modern day tv has on our childrens' minds and emotions. That's probably one of the reasons I so enjoy 'soft' tv, on a Sunday evening!!!!
 
Watton. I agree with you how shocking things are today and satellite TV pulls no punches with TV reporting. With the bomb in the 1950's it was a case of a bomb could blow a house up but now there was one that can blow an entire city up.
 
A neighbour of ours in The Broadway had the first TV I can remember - this would be about 1951 and it was a 9" Bush. Massive bakelite cabinet with this tiny oval of purple glass. It took two strong men to lift it. I was occasionally invited in to watch programmes like 'The Lamplighters' and 'Billy Bean's Funny Machine' - now I really am dating myself!

Our first box was a 12" Pye bought from the original Curry's shop at Witton Circle. You turned it on at about 4.30 so it'd be all warmed up for start of programmes at 5.00. It buzzed and produced so much heat from those beer-bottle valves that it actually warmed the room! It wasn't the most reliable piece of kit, and when the guarantee ran out my dad would spend hours trying to 'get a better picture'. But at least we watched The Coronation on it, which is why it was bought.

These days I think TV is 99% dumbed-down rubbish and rarely watch it.

Big Gee
 
Lovely pic Alf. Our ariel was in the loft and my Dad was often up there adjusting the ariel while we (the family) shouted as to which direction it should face tin order to receive the best picture.:D

Pete, don't forget you can go on the Whirligig site and revisit your childhood programmes on the radio and tv from the l950's at www.whirligig-tv.co.uk
Billy Bean is definitely there.
 
Thanks Jennyann I'm so glad I took the photo it was one of the first Pics I took on my first camera it was a 35mm Iford I'd saved for months for.:)
 
hello,BIG GEE billy bean i loved that program. :D pete

"Billy Bean built a machine
"To see what it would do.
"He made it out of sticks and stones
"And nuts and bolts and glue.
"The motor sang 'Rattle-na-rang
"Rattle-na-ranga-na-rator.
"When all of a sudden a picture appeared
"On the funny old cartoonerator"....

There's memory for you!

There used to be a Billy Bean website at one time, but I can't find it now.

Big Gee
 
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