Britain's Oldest Working Television For Sale 108
If you happen to be in London on April 19th you have a chance to own a piece of history. A Marconi type–702 television set, which was built using England's then secret radar research, is going up for auction at Bonhams Mechanical Music and Scientific Instruments sale. Built in 1936, the set is believed to be the oldest working television in Britain. From the article: "The machine was bought for almost £100 three weeks after television transmissions began. But Mr GB Davis of Dulwich, south–east London would have only been able to able to watch it for a few hours. The nearby Crystal Palace and its transmitter burned down three days after Mr Davis bought the Marconi type–702 set on November 26. The area could not receive pictures again until 1946."
Not quite. (Score:4, Informative)
TV transmissions were moved to Alexandra Palace and continued up until the outbreak of war when there were almost 40,000 TV sets in London. Coverage was fairly widespread so I find it hard to believe that Mr Davis couldn't receive a picture in Dulwich.
Re:Mirror, Mirror! (Score:4, Informative)
more details (Score:4, Informative)
What a crap article, they couldn't even find a http://www.earlytelevision.org/images/marconi-702-hd.jpg [slashdot.org] of the thing.
here's [blueyonder.co.uk] some more technical info on this TV.
Re:It looks quite modern (Score:5, Informative)
well, it was capable of receiving both the 240-line Baird and the 405-line EMI systems. so yes, in it's day it was high-def! [screenonline.org.uk]