1961: How TELEVISION Works | Science and Life | Retro Tech | BBC Archive

Science and Life is a series of programmes for schools that illustrates the history of science and technology.
In this edition, David Ingram explains the processes that make television possible.
Originally broadcast 15 March, 1961.
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[@fidelcatsro6948]

Great explanation of TV for a 60yr old show, even my cat understood him!!

[@garryleeks4848]

Meow 😸

[@Millay2006]

If this had been used at school to explain Persistence of vision I may have learnt it a lot more quickly

[@garryleeks4848]

In the day , remember giving the tele a Big Bang , worked every time 👍

[@jasonayres]

Open hand, smack bang down on the wood veneer surface above the screen. Always improved the reception. *Remember to stare closely at the screen and keep trying until desired effect. 🤔Closed fist and growling at the screen if necessary?

[@jamesslick4790]

"percussive maintenance" 😜

[@gavinives8760]

This article must have been the inspiration for so many of Ronnie Barker's sketches on the Two Ronnies.

[@NoosaHeads]

Has the presenter suffered a terrible groin injury in the past?

[@garryleeks4848]

He banged on the telly 🤫

[@daniel.t.h.]

Really interesting that most of us now see this video though a different method then they did back in the day. Als lsd screens produce images differently then the old tv's

[@TinLeadHammer]

Yes, such is the power of LSD that it generates surrealistic images without the need of an electron beam.

[@davidpanton3192]

All that was missing was his pipe.

[@clavichord]

Not everyone in 1960s Britain smoked though. He might have been a minority non-smoker

[@jerrydjones5328]

Oh it’s there brother. Just look between the zipper on his pants

[@Peter-hb9bm]

This was awesome

[@fidelabc123]

Incandescent bulbs and the phosphor coatings both have a "lag". In other words, they didn't instantly turn off. They dimmed off which wasn't fast enough to keep up with the scanning presented in this example or CRT tvs

[@saemranian]

Awesome, Thanks for sharing.

[@jamesslick4790]

This was a damn cool demo! 👍👍

[@marktubeie07]

Looks like a 405 line kinescope recording - 405 didn't look half bad actually _(minus the film quality naturally)._

[@adityabiyani387]

badiyaaaaaaa

[@JoshuaGalka]

Nice. What TV was...

[@glassowlie]

One more day #BBC100

[@pauldavies6037]

Better times when everybody was smartly dressed and spoke in the Queens english although this is a much simplified explanation how tv actually works good fun old chap

[@TinLeadHammer]

Smartly dressed? Boring and dreadful. Thankfully, only car salesmen and devout christians wear suits now, and I interact with neither of them.

[@kamandi1362]

@@TinLeadHammer I’m sure they’re profoundly thankful.

[@detectingadventuresscotlan6177]

Sometimes we say TV crap the night but what invention can rem. Baird n Decca TV 2 to carry it esp if had put coins in it lol

[@clavichord]

Television will never catch on 😂

[@jasonalba5768]

Interesting but I still don't get it, like if You really think about it, it's no way any of this could be possible without some kind of enchantment. I've broke open a TV before and all I saw was a green board with tiny attachments and weird patterns that's still doesn't explains much of anything. Nobody really cares anymore do they. It's just acceptable because the sophistication is not worth trying to comprehend so we just dismiss what we don't understand and just accept it. I guess we don't have much a choice now do we.

[@DylanJo123]

Jesus christ man. Go read a book

[@jckoibra2662]

Yeah they are mostly produced on assembly lines using Fordism and unskilled workers, so only the head engineers actually study the workings behind it, but listen, a lot of this information is out there but you just have to find it well. The mainstream internet isn’t exactly the best place all you will find is probably some science videos for kids or something, I Recommend finding a book or looking at a patent. I have this book it’s called Cathode Ray Tube Displays , of radiation lab series, it’s very good, I think you should read it .

[@jckoibra2662]

The actual way the tube works is extremely simple as long as you have some equipment and experience in glassblowing you could probably make the tube, the main complicated bit is the circuitry. That’s the part that you actually need to have some smarts for

[@jckoibra2662]

See I think it’s very simple for a television to produce a single dot and maybe wavelenghts using a crystal mechanism but you need super weird circuitry to actually get a video on the screen and that’s the main hard part