GOLDEN OLDIE Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 (edited) Given that television first started in 1936 when there were 500 sets in the UK, with most people buying one after the Coronation in 1953, does anyone know anyone who was affluent enough to have one in the early days? Edited August 3, 2019 by GOLDEN OLDIE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaci Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, GOLDEN OLDIE said: Given that television first started in 1936 when there were 500 sets in the UK, with most people buying one after the Coronation in 1953, does anyone know anyone who was affluent enough to have one in the early days? Don't think there was anyone on our Road with a TV in 1953. I do remember listening to the Coronation on the radio in our house along with a lot of the neighbours when the street party was called off. We got our first tele in 1959! a Bush set with push buttons, think Dad rented it from Wiggies. Edited August 3, 2019 by zaci Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaffa1 Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 We didn't get a telly until 1964 and ours was on the weekly from Wiggys. The first telly I saw was in 1955 when our neighbour got one, my friend invited me in to watch their new television. The program that was on at the time was about the death camps in Poland, I remember seeing the piles of dead bodies on the screen. As I was born after the war I didn't know anything about the war and what happened so I really didn't know what I was watching but I know it stuck in my mind. I wasn't in a big hurry to watch their telly in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Petre Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 If I recall didn't it pour down all day in London and Sheffield on Coronation day (I was six). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaffa1 Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 57 minutes ago, St Petre said: If I recall didn't it pour down all day in London and Sheffield on Coronation day (I was six). Yes it did, I remember the adults fixing up red white and blue trimmings across the yard and they had like a wax coating on them. I suppose today we would call them waterproof but even so we all had to pile into a neighbours house for our jelly and custard to keep out of the rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillsbro Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 We got our first TV in 1952 and, aged four, I soon became an Andy Pandy and Flower Pot Men viewer! I remember the Coronation - a dozen or so neighbours crammed into our living room to watch the live broadcast, while my mum served up tea and buns. The set cost 40 guineas (that is, £42) from Wigfall's - this was about a month's wages for my dad. There was only one station (BBC of course) and Wiggy's engineer tuned it to the Holme Moss transmitter. The set was a 9-inch Pye, similar to this one. https://i.postimg.cc/fRGtrs04/111.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreb48 Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 My experience is similar. Ours arrived a few months before the Coronation courtesy of Wiggies It was on the never, never just like the fridge and the washer. It was a tiny Bush set but that didn’t stop my dad inviting all the immediate neighbours round to view the proceedings. We lived in a prefab at Totley and the signal was poor, being in a valley, so my dad had a huge H aerial erected on a big pole on the front garden that was held up by guy ropes. Cant remember much about the day itself other than it was dark in our tiny front room with all those bodies crammed in and the curtains closed which was an essential part of early tv watching Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenlunn Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 where i lived at fence cottages we didnt have electric never mind television Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitsmoorboy Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 20 hours ago, hillsbro said: The set was a 9-inch Pye, similar to this one. https://i.postimg.cc/fRGtrs04/111.jpg Did all the neighbours have a piece ? 😂😂 (sorry I couldn't resist) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitsmoorboy Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 (edited) We got our first TV. in the late 50's when I was about 10. It was a KB. New Queen Fringe. the name has stuck with me all these years. Dad bought it from "Wiggy's" no idea how much it cost. Edited August 4, 2019 by pitsmoorboy additional info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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