I was reading Max the other day and he brought back memories of the days of long ago, back when it was 'always now' and the days longer, sunnier and energy never lacked, until nasty parents forced you unwillingly inside to feed and push you to a far too early bedtime.
Not that you could get up in the morning mind.
Max spoke about the TV of the 50's and that brought to mind the old 'Ferranti' tv that we obtained, by rental, from either 'Currys' or the 'Leith Provident' (who, being a 'Co-op' gave a dividend!). This model found here on 'Pure Energy' is very like the one that arrived in 1958 in the corner of our house.
The programme on while the TV was being installed was 'The Army Game,' a comedy set in an army barracks laughing at what life the majority of men, and many women, had endured during the war only a dozen years before.
In those far off days, much further far off than I would like, there was a choice of two TV stations, BBC and STV. I cannot mind the actual numbers but I think to change from one channel to another meant getting up, turning the dial from '10' to '8,' then standing back to ensure the picture was not rolling up or down. This meant playing with the knobs at the rear until the picture settled.
However, as Max reminded us we had such fine Historical dramas to entertain us as kids, 'The Lone Ranger,' 'Gunsmoke,' and many John Wayne westerns. I remember 'Robin Hood' and 'William Tell,' all with dynamic leading men, a woman who did little, fast action, dramatic music, and an audience of millions around the nation.
It was many years before we realised the actual 'History' offered in such programmes was nil! By the mid 60's, once we were all at work, we realised the 'Wild West' was not fought with 'Colt 45's' blasting Indians (now called by white middle classes 'Native Americans,' though they all had their own tribal nation names anyway), Indians who fell off their horses, always forward, and by the dozen, at the firing one one bullet from a man looking backwards while riding a horse at the gallop!
As for 'Robin Hood' and 'William Tell,' well!
The BBC at the time had a high reputation for journalism, especially after the war when the Beeb had stood up to government pressure, Winston wanted to take it over Geobells style, and gave as honest a news service as possible without giving away secrets. The new style news programmes such as 'Tonight' which offered decent, popular much liked presenters, interesting and often humerous reports from around the nation, as well as more serious topics in a sensible manner. Cliff Michelmore and Fyffe Robertson became household names, and not like the 'celebs' of today.
TV started in the evenings only, Scotland did have the 'One o'Clock Gang' in which Larry Marshall and his gang offered repeats of jokes told many times before, as well as a song or two, also repeated often.
The afternoons may have featured the boring black and white coverage (all was black and white until the early 70's) of cricket, that most boring of games, that was made more boring by being in black and white, with Peter West, a racist Englishman who did not like Scotland, commentating in a frightfully English manner. I went out and played football night after night like the majority of schoolboys and ignored such appaling TV.
However, some programmes were unmissible. 'Hancock's Half Hour,' which on radio had 25 million listening weekly transferred to TV and the audience followed. Imagine 25 million watching any programme today other than the World Cup Final! The result was conversation the next day which always began with the TV from the night before. The nation had something to keep them together, although TV also helped divide them.
The 1956 Suez crisis would have been seen by many on TV news. This brought a sharp division and soon a new Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan. He was one who could make use of TV and was keen to do so. A new situation arose, words on radio were no longer good enough to get elected, you had to look the part, not just sound it. Many were slow to accept this.
Today, TV is something I never watch. The output on 50 Free channels is usually vile, tepid, repetitious or banal. I watch football via the laptop and occasional programmes only, I miss nothing. Few can converse regarding last nights TV as almost all watch different poor quality trash. Many young folks are on video games, older folks also, and music means more to young than TV. The BBC, especially in these last dozen years, has failed to report in a journalistic manner. UK news is tainted with Tory propaganda, ITV and Sky follow suit, social media is the way to get news today. Boris and his cabal already own the major press, now they have quieted the TV output. Whoever owns the major news, press, TV and radio, can keep the people under. The majority, though suspicious, will never react in the hope they can survive and not get blamed.
2 comments:
Bring back The Flowerpot Men! We did not have a TV until the early sixties when father decided it was useful to watch horse racing. BBC had a habit of putting on wildlife programmes which involved animals eating each other just when I was having tea on returning from school...not appreciated!
There were informative programmes as well as coverage of horrors like the Royal Variety Performance full of loud mouthed unfunny Americans, but even those might be preferable to the slewed coverage of news offered today.
Fly, 1958 we got ours, the last people in the stair.
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