HISTORY
Selfridges radio and television department circa early 1928. The apparatus at the right is a Simple Televisor. It includes a large square viewing tunnel, a large Nipkow disc, and a smaller light interrupter disc. Image source: Selfridges Ltd., Royal Television Society RTS 36-86
In 1936, when the BBC television service began from Alexandra Palace, Selfridges became one of the largest retailers of 240/405-line television sets in London. In March 1939, Selfridges operated its own television studio in the store, (equipped with 405-line EMI ‘Emitron’ cameras) to help sell television sets, while the threat of war with Germany began to escalate. For many thousands of customers, the store would be the first place they would see television. The flagship Selfridges store is still in business at the same Oxford Street location today and still sells television sets. Conclusion As well as providing more understanding of one of the most well-known events in Baird’s life, the Selfridges part of the story reflects most of the earliest stages of television set retailing in Britain, from the struggling inventor demonstrating a new technology, to inspiring the amateur constructor, to the first ready-made home receivers. The latter were optimistically made available in small numbers prior to the beginning of regular programmes—but nonetheless symbolic of the public’s dream of seeing as well as hearing by wireless in the foreseeable future. Another year would pass before the concept of purchasing a home televisor to use for watching regularly-scheduled broadcasts would become a reality.
The broad range of positive effects that various demonstrations had on Baird’s ongoing efforts are addressed in the many past and recent books about Baird and early British television. It is made clear here that the Selfridges demonstrations were similarly successful in terms of generating a great deal of publicity, both face-to-face within the store and in newspapers, and in a few popular, specialist and academic publications. The numerous inventions and innovations exhibited at Selfridges now included Baird’s television among them. What is also made clear was that Baird still had much more work to do before he could demonstrate recognisable moving pictures of a human face, what he had always considered would be the foundation of ‘true television’. As P.R. Bird would write of his experience at Selfridges, ‘…I am certain of one thing. However fair to behold the wireless pictures of the future may be, and whatever beauties Television may bring in time to come, I shall never forget the grinning gargoyle that Mr. Baird showed me—the first face I had ever seen by wireless.’
bandwidth to handle high-definition images in quick succession. Baird and his colleagues had thus started to work with Ultra Short Wave transmitters operating on 6.3 metres. A demonstration for scientists and experts was arranged, billed as ‘Television by Ultra Short Waves. A New Departure. First Public Demonstration in the World’. It took place on 29 April 1932, between a transmitter installed on the roof of the Baird Company premises at Long Acre and a receiver installed in a hut on the roof of Selfridges. Two actors were televised, Marie (later Dame Marie) Tempest and Leslie Mitchell. Tempest, who still had the figure of a girl of sixteen, was especially known for her starring roles in comedy. Mitchell (twenty-six), who in 1936 became the BBC’s first full-time television announcer, had played the lead role of Captain Stanhope in R.C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End on tour in South Africa and also in a BBC radio broadcast. Although a fairly standard mirror-drum televisor was used, depicting a 30-line image on a ground glass screen 9 by 4 inches, the main advantage of ultra-short- wave transmissions was that they could accommodate 180-line pictures. For two weeks in August of 1932, television was demonstrated nine times per day in the radio and television department on a large screen 3 feet wide by 7 feet tall featuring performances by artists from the Savoy Follies.
SEPTEMBER 2025 Volume 47 No.3
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