When was TV first broadcast in the UK?

Answer 1

Television didn't "come" to England as such. The world's first working television was developed and demonstrated in England by a Scot called John Logie Baird. He showed his first working system to the public in March 1925 at a London department store called Selfridges.

After more develpment work, Baird agreed a deal with the BBC who began public broadcasts from their London studio in 1929. Although they were largely experimental, it was a regular broadcast and people who had a television could tune into the broadcasts.

Baird's system used a rotating disc to create an image. In 1936, the BBC adopted a new, fully electronic system of television. This service continued until 1939 when the outbreak of the Second World War caused television broadcasting to cease. It resumed shortly after the end of the war and has continued since.

Answer 2

Television first became available in both Britain AND the USA as early as 1927, a mere year after it's inventor, Scottish electronics engineer John Logie Baird, first demonstrated the technology to the Royal Society. Huge advances were made in TV technology in '28, with San Francisco tecnologist Philo Harnsworth developing the all-electronic broadcasting system, which did not depend upon the earlier, more primitive 'scanning disc' mechanism. Simultaneous audio / visual broadcasting was perfected (previously, TV broadcasts were silent, with seperate synchronised sound accompaniment having to be sent out seperately on the radio!). Baird made the first transatlantic broadcast on the 9th February, and also the first outside broadcast with actor Jack Buchanan. The first colour broadcast was made on 3rd July (meaning that amazingly, colour television appeared before the advent of talking films, a little-known fact!!)

TV sets were on the market for the cost of about $75 (about £50) on both sides of the Atlantic- amongst the most popular was the Baird Phonodisc, which had a circular screen of only 4 inches diameter! The Wimbledon tennis tournament was first broadcast on 12th July, and the first television play, The Queen's Messenger, was broadcast in the US on 11th September.

By the late 1930s, television was a well-known broadcast medium, although it was usually only the well-off who bothered to buy TV sets and most people didn't have them, with broadcasts were limited to only about 4 hours per day. Broadcast quality had improved enormously, sets were larger and had square or oblong screens, and programme schedules were included in magazines. The first British Coronation to be broadcast live was NOT that of Queen Elizabeth II as most people suppose, but that of her father George VI in 1937.

During the War, television was shut down in both Britain and the US, as it was feared that it could prove to be a highly dangerous Propaganda tool that could be used by the Nazis. The Germans, too, were well advanced in television development, and it would have been all too easy for them to have sent out fake news bulletins apparently showing them to have occupied nations that they had not, or to have developed awesome science-fiction-style weapons (it was easy to dismiss phoney radio broadcasts, but if a news programme was accompanied by actual visual footage that seemed to show that the Germans had invaded England, or perfected the atom bomb or a laser cannon, then this could have caused real panic in the Allied nations). However, TV broadcasting continued in Germany, and unfortunately one of the first statesmen to have addressed his nation via TV was Dr. Joseph Goebbels.

Resuming broadcasting in 1946, TV went on to become ever more widely available to the general public, and by the early '50s many people had their own sets. Remote-controlled TV was developed in the very early '60s; in the United States, most broadcasts were transmitted in colour by 1963, and by '71 in the UK.

Answer 3

The world's first public demonstration of television took place in London in March 1925. John Logie Baird showed off his working television system in Selfridges department store.

The world's first public broadcast was using Baird's system when the BBC began regular but limited broadcasts from 1929.

Answer 4

The BBC began broadcasting television in 1928 although they were no more than test broadcasts in that year. 1929 saw the first scheduled broadcasts but the schedule was far from a 24 hour service. It was limited to just a few hours each week.

The viewing public was limited as well. The televisions were very expensive and only the wealthy could justify such an investment for such a limited service.

Answer 5

It wasn't "brought into Britain" - it was invented in Britain. Look at the related link below.