Over the past 30 years, we’ve acquired some of the most historically significant television-related artefacts in the world. One which deserves particular mention is the first television set ever put on sale in Britain.
The Model B Televisor in our care was donated to us in 1994 by the Royal Television Society.
The Model B Televisor was produced in late 1928 by my grandfather’s company, the Baird Television Development Company Ltd.
Making the model B
The Baird Model B Televisor was officially known as a ‘Dual Exhibition Receiver’ due to its ability to reproduce both vision and sound. It was also nicknamed the ‘Noah’s Ark’ Televisor because of its shape and wooden construction. The latter name seems to have stuck.
From 1928–1932 the Baird Company rented premises at 133 Long Acre (Covent Garden) in London. In 1928, all of the Baird Company’s television set manufacturing took place there.
Selling the Model B
My best estimate is that only about a dozen Noah’s Ark Televisors were built, although some historians think that up to 20 were made. The Model B cost £40 which was an awful lot of money in 1928. Add in a couple of deluxe radio receivers, and the whole kit and caboodle would have cost a staggering £150.
Noah’s Ark Televisors played a part in some of Baird’s most important experiments and demonstrations; including the first demonstration of stereoscopic (3D) television on 10th August 1928.
Struggling to get on the air
John Logie Baird and his company were eager to initiate regular broadcasts to stimulate the sales of the Model B and their other new Televisors.
After much argument between the Baird Television Development Company, the BBC, and the Government it was finally decided that regular television broadcasts would begin over the BBC London station, 2LO, in late September, 1929. However, the Baird Company would have to make the programmes on its own premises.
The first broadcast
The very first broadcast opened on the morning of 30 September 1929. From the outset, these broadcasts were semi-experimental, featuring a regular schedule of entertaining programmes, often attracting professional artistes from theatre, music, film and radio eager to try out the new medium.
There is little doubt in my mind that our model B would have been one of those tuned in to the first British television broadcast, because it would have been among fewer than 30 Televisors across Britain available to tune in on 30 September 1929.
The low-definition television broadcasts would continue for the next six years, with viewership building up to a few thousand ‘lookers-in’ as awareness spread among the pre-existing radio audience that there was something to watch as well as hear over the airwaves.
The museum’s Baird Model B is NOT the only surving example, one was sold at Christies on 10th December 1992 Sale 4868 Lot 25 for £8800
Dear Dennis, Thanks for letting me know about this lot. This sale occurred a couple of years before I began my career as a TV historian, and unfortunately, as it was not much publicised since, has never got onto my radar. Although I no longer work at the Media Museum, I am writing a greatly expanded article about the Model B Televisors, and will add this information and anything else you could tell me about its origin in 1992, and current owner if known. It seems that there are presently two Model B and two Model C Televisors in existence; three in SMG collections and one in private ownership? Please get in touch with me at Iain810 ‘at’ hotmail.com in the future.
I used to work for bairds tv in 1965 to 1970
A fascinating read. Pertaining to an underrated engineer whoe’s invention affects so many souls over the world, that being television
As i sit here on the key board ,i am listening to the Australian T V Logies, next door, that are the ‘down under’ equivalent of the , Oscars in the U S. Who ever thought of the name, to honor the great man, must have been highly versed and respectful of John Logie Baird,And therefore the entertainment business.
As a quick summary,Just how we have progressed, from the transmission of that famouse dummy ,to a TV that we can now hold in the palm of the hand (smart phone) A century has not yet passed
The comparison of a smart phone is all we need to see how the future has progressed. Imagine another 100 years hence, nobody can imagine what the Human race itself is going to be like, are we still going to be in charge of our planet or is AI going to take over, are we still going to be around, if we are, we have a fantastical future, who knows! If i am correct & machines are going to do the vast majority of work, most of us will be at our will to do anything we want, humans are good at inventing & making things too, with plenty of time on our hands, how will that play out?
Is there evidence whether any of the Long Acre manufactured receivers were actually sold on the general market before the advent of Baird’s Televisor model in April 1930? There is no mention of any purchases in Television magazine during this period. There were two models on sale in the US during 1928: one manufactured by the Daven Corporation of Newark, NJ, the other by Hollis Baird (no relation) of Boston, Mass. The former was priced at $75 and operated on 24-lines, compared with the 30-lines of the John Logie Baird models