1930s Television Experience

Television believe it or not, was not the main source of entertainment in bygone years.  With that said, in the 1930’s, television was becoming increasingly popular as it became more widely available across the UK.

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Inventor John Logie Baird was the brains behind our beloved box back in the 20’s – All praise that man! We have no idea how we would cope without Eastenders let alone without the television all together!

In 1930, John Logie Baird installed a television receiver at the Prime Ministers home in London.  Soon after, the BBC started broadcasting on a regular basis on a television channel which was later established as BBC One.

So, what shows and broadcasts were available? Broadcasts became more regular by the BBC, thus prompting the TV giants to create still standing channel – BBC One, although broadcasting came to a halt in 1939 at the beginning of WW2 after it was thought signal information would become available to the Germans. The first television presenters were Leslie Mitchell, Jasmine Bligh and Elizabeth Cowell.

What about Christmas television? The first ever Coca Cola Christmas advertisement was in 1931 and displayed the trucks with the ‘Holidays are coming’ logo.  On top of that, ‘A Christmas Carol’ was released in 1938 and starred Gene Lockhart, Reginald Owen and Kathleen Lockhart. To this day ‘Scrooge‘ is still as popular as ever.

While television was growing more popular in the 30’s, Christmas was not a time to be gathered round the television as the majority of homes were still without a television due to the cost.  The first televisions to be released were considered to be a real luxury in any household with them costing a whopping £100 – which in ‘those days’ was the equivalent of the cost of a small car.  Considering televisions had just a 10″ screen, its a sharp contrast to the 60″ televisions that are available today.

Trying to find out ahead of time what was going to be on the television would have been very difficult as the Radio Times didn’t start including TV listings in the magazine until 1936!

Do you have any stories to share about your first ever TV?

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