h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My first memory of T.V. in the 50s is watching the coronation of the present queen in 1953 when I was 7 years old. Out of the 19 houses in our street one had a T.V. set so it was a very crowded affair as more neighbours joined to watch.
I'm not too sure of the year that it was transmitted but Quatermass caused quite a stir at the time. Although it was in black & white and the screens in those days were miniscule compared to now, boy, were we all scared ? I'll sat so

Bristly,
Wasn't Quatermass on the radio, or the wireless as it was called then, as a serial? I seem to remember listening to it. You had to turn it on a few minutes before the desired programme and wait for the valves to warm up.
We had no television. There was one house in the street with a television. I remember watching Muffin the Mule and the Test Card but not much else. About 10 neighbourhood kids would sit in a semi-circle on the linoleum, which was called lino or oil-cloth. Nobody had carpets. People would choose rolls of lino in various colours and patterns, carry them home and cut them to size to fit a room.
On Coronation Day we had a street party with red, white and blue bunting and all the kids got jelly and blancmange to eat served by a band of mums.
Prime Minister Harold MacMillan was famous for saying "You've never had it so good!".

Children's television of the 1950s seems to have produced some programmes that lasted long beyond the decade: Blue Peter, Crackerjack (...), the original Pugwash, Pinky and Perky and Ivor the Engine were all born.

As regards 50s television - does anyone remember the first commercials? (They were mainly American ads at first weren't they?) The Interludes? (Potter's wheel and so on...)

Do you remember how people reacted to seeing the Coronation on television? It must have been a really exciting time, with the Queen being so young, a new Elizabethan Age and all that. And (remembering the Royal Wedding) - did people make a big fuss about the coronation gown?

In 1956 my dad, as a member of the Civil Defence Association, took part in the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph. We were invited over to watch the broadcast by the people who owned the only television in our street. They were both enthusiastic members of the British Legion and insisted on all of us standing when the national anthem was played. Even as a four year-old, I found this a bit strange.
It took another three years before we managed to persuade our dad to get us a television set; he thought they were a waste of time and generally refused to watch it.

Hello luckyLlarggub
Can't recall Quatermass on the wireless, tho' it probably was. But I do remember Archie Andrews, the puppet of , I think, ventriloquist Peter Brough. Must have been one of the easiest jobs around, a ventriloquist on the radio.
I also remember Uncle Mac who introduced "Children's Favourites" every Saturday morning. The most requested tunes I seem to remember were Sparkie's Magic Piano, I'm A Blue Toothbrush You're A Pink Toothbrush by Max Bygraves ( who ,incidently, was also on The Archie Andrews Show & Burl Ives singing I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly.
What you might call "innocent" times but definitely not

Hi Natalie
The first advert on British T.V. was for Gibbs SR toothpaste. If you are interested in the history of T.V. advertising :- http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/NMPFT/insight/downloads/AShortHistoryOfBritishTelevisionAdvertising.asp - would be a good starting point.
I must have been 9 or 10 years old when advertising began on the telly and remember that there was more talk of the adverts than the actual programmes next day at school.
One of my favourite children's programmes was "Hank". He was a puppet cowboy, his horse was called Silver King ( I think !) and his adversary was Mexican Pete. Francis Coudrill made the puppets and presented the show. In 1969 I was working in St. Ives, Cornwall and Mr Coudrill had a studio there. He showed me the original puppets etc. used on the show. The work involved in preparing scenes and movements of the puppets was tremendous, no computer graphics then

My grandparents got a TV before my parents did. I can remember watching two American programs in the late '50's: Sea Hunt, an adventure series about a scuba diver played by Lloyd Bridges (I think) and something called 'Hiram Holiday' of which I can't recall much as I was about 6 or 7 then. While on holiday in a guest house in Bournemouth I recall there being a TV in the lounge and it was showing the Olympic games (from Melbourne I think), anyway it was my first memories of those games.
Adverts on TV I recall were: Pepsodent toothpaste "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent": the very first jingle I can remember. "You're never alone with a Strand" a cigarette that hasn't been available for a very long time.
Eventually my parents bought a set and I remember feeling good that it seemed so MODERN compared to one our neighbours had which had a tiny screen and massive wooden/plastic? surround.
Lunchtime TV just for an hour or two then closedown until later in the afternoon when I'd watch that TV mast with concentric waves emanating like ghostly circular rays to all the houses (an ever increasing number) which had a 'set'.
Some people rented rather than bought their TV. I don't know when that started. Then there was Reddifusion (sp?) a very early version of cable TV I think (this was in and around the Birmingham area).
Very early broadcasts by David Attenborough in Africa with wildlife programmes. One showed an unfortunate stork type bird in a tree with a spear through it; I don't know if it was saved, and another with David and a team trying to help young flamingos which had heavy anklets of hardened mineral deposits from those volcanic lakes in east Africa.

Listen With Mother and Childrens Hour on the radio - including Toy Town with Mr Mayor and Larry the Lamb and Watch With Mother on the black and white tv.

The obvious ones were Andy Pandy, The Woodentops, The Flowerpot Men and Picture Box (I think). Anyone remember Shirley Abicare and her puppet Lamb Chop? There was also Celia The Seal and, later on, The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Robin Hood (I just bought a 3 dvd box set of all the early Lone Ranger series )

I had a longish spell in hospital in 1959 and came home raving about wrestling. After that my dad and I would spend every Saturday afternoon watching such notables as Billy Two Rivers and The Royal Brothers battling it out in the ring. Other sport favourites were The Boat Race, Cricket, Football, Tennis and The International Horse Show. I think 'Pot Black' was about then too or, certainly, some billiards or snooker was shown in black and white which made working out the colours pretty tricky.

Family viewing would include What's My Line, Dixon of Dock Green, Hancock's Half Hour (first heard on the radio obviously), Sunday Night at the London Palladium, Emergency Ward 10, Double Your Money, Opportunity Knocks and I Love Lucy.

I'm pretty sure that there were long gaps when nothing was shown - wasn't there a policy that made the tv stop broadcasting so that the children would go to bed? I've seen my share of Potter's Wheel and the test card.

shazz

Shirley Abicare was a singer who played the zither. Lamb Chop was the puppet of Sheri Lewis. Sorry to be pedantic!!