Radio and TV - Memories and Favourites

I like the old story of Mike and Bernie at the Glasgow Empire. Mike started the "act" alone with his introductory ramble to absolute silence. After a short while Bernie's head pokes through the curtains wearing that fatuous grin. A loud voice from the audience is heard, "Oh ***, there's two of em!"

Working from home, the TV is usually on in the background (after Ken Bruce has finished on Radio 2). I started thinking this morning about what I really liked to watch. There is so much rubbish on now days and very few good comedies. It has to be "Only Fools & Horses", I have the complete collection on DVD. No matter how many times you watch it, there is always something that will make you smile.

I reckon the joint first funniest scenes were the "brace yourself, Rodney" chandelier smashes into a thousand pieces, and the M&W Andr

Hi Slim Really hard to pick a favourite, but the best ones were the ones with grandad in?

Can anyone remember the day when their family got its first TV set? I can't. I can remember watching children's programmes such as "Robin Hood" and "Watch With Mother", and as I was born in 1952 we would have had a TV by the mid/late 1950s. I find it hard to believe my parents had bought a TV in the early 1950s, as they were not technology pioneers: they never had a car, only bought their first fridge in1965, and didn't get a colour TV until 1975, when the black-and-white TV finally packed up. Post copied from topic Memories - early or general on 8th Mar 2021 6:20 pm

We already had a black and white TV when I was born but I remember the first colour TV arriving and a made for TV movie called Killdozer which was released in 1974 so it was some time between then and 1977 when we moved house.

We had a coin-operated one, supplied by a chap called Rollason. He spent more time behind it, fixing it, than we ever did watching it.

Don't know when we got our TV, but I do remember it was about 8" square and in a cabinet the size of a chest of drawers. Early programmes I remember were Muffin The Mule, Bill & Ben (with Little Weed).

I loved Watch With Mother - all of those wonderful progammes. I didn't like Andy Pandy but I was always ready to watch whatever the BBC had to offer.

The biggest sale of televisions was in 1952.

Thought it might have been 1953, for the Coronation

Apparently it was 2009 (10 million) in preparation for the digital switchover.

MR. No, had nothing to do with the Coronation, when supplies were available.

TV sales went up rapidly in the 1950s, from 14% in 1952 to 21% in 1953 and 31% in 1954 (source - RETROWOW Television in the 1950s). The Coronation in 1953 was one of the most watched events during that period, another being the 1953 FA Cup Final between Blackpool and Bolton, known as the Stanley Matthews final. I watched it, aged 11, on a 9 inch black and white TV set at my auntie and uncle's. The 1953 Coronation is usually seen as the moment when TV was instantly transformed from a primitive minority activity into a sophisticated mass medium. Many people rented TVs just for the Coronation and a significant number held on to them afterwards. Also the easing of hire purchase restrictions in 1954 was arguably more important than the Coronation in turning TV into a mass medium. Source for this paragraph - Radio Times archives.

Hi Ken, can you remember the make of your auntie and uncle's TV?