OTD in early British television: 17 August 1939
John Wyver writes: ‘Television set for £23’, promised a 17 August 1939 Daily Telegraph article penned by the paper’s well-informed radio correspondent L. Marsland Gander. He was writing ten days ahead of the popular trade fair Radiolympia which attracted thousands of listeners and lookers-in as well as those professionally involved with the broadcast industry.
Radiolympia the previous year had been an important moment for television, with blanket broadcasting from the Olympia exhibition halls followed by a significant uptake in sales. Gander was positive about the attractions for 1939, but awareness of the ever-more-likely declaration of war (which would cause the fair to shut early) is indicated by his note that at the forthcoming show, ‘the Navy, Army and Air Force have their own exhibits for the first time.’
Gander nonetheless enthused, promising that in 1939 Radiolympia
will differ in many respects from previous radio exhibitions. This year the manufacturers have made their biggest effort to dress the annual shop windown for their trade with real showmanship. The radio theatre, reintroduced, is a replica of the ‘Bowl’ Theatre in Hollywood. It cost £5,000 to build, and has a semi-circular revolving stage that will hold more than 300 performers…
Last year visitors had top crowd round the windows of the television studio, and many had an unsatisfactory view. This time the theatre stage will be used as a television studio, shows being televised in the presence of the 2,000 people in the seats.
Television is again the big attraction and more than 20 firms will be showing about 100 different models between them. According to present information the cheapest television set will be an add-on unit, costing about £23, to be used in conjunction with ordinary radio sets.
There will be more discussion of the Radiolympias from 1936 to 1939 over the coming days here.
Image: a detail from the cover of the the September 1939 edition of Television looking forward to the many attractions of Radiolympia.
[OTD post no. 243; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication on 8 January 2026 of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain, which can now be pre-ordered from Bloomsbury here.]
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