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Britain's Oldest Working Television For Sale

Posted by samzenpus on from the not-cable-ready dept.

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."

4 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Not quite. by leathered · · Score: 3, 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.

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    For all intensive porpoises your a bunch of rediculous loosers
  2. Re:Mirror, Mirror! by NixieBunny · · Score: 3, Informative

    You can make the people appear any which way you like, by reversing the leads to the deflection yoke.

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    The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
  3. more details by spongman · · Score: 3, Informative

    What a crap article, they couldn't even find a http://www.earlytelevision.org/images/marconi-702-hd.jpg of the thing.
    here's some more technical info on this TV.

  4. Re:It looks quite modern by spongman · · Score: 4, 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!