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Quiz Monkey |
Swedish scientist Jons Jacob Berzelius discovers selenium, a metalloid that conducts electricity |
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1817 |
Irish telegraph operator Joseph May accidentally discovers the photosensitive properties of selenium (it's a better conductor in the light than in the dark) |
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1873 |
German student Paul Nipkow proposes and patents the first (electromechanical) TV system (he never built a working model) |
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1884 |
German inventor Karl Braun introduces the cathode ray tube for commercial use |
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1897 |
Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi coins the word television, in a paper read in Paris |
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25 August 1900 |
Dr. John Ambrose Fleming patents the two–diode thermionic valve |
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16 November 1904 |
John Logie Baird decides to build an apparatus based on Nipkow's theory |
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1918 |
Baird visits Victor Mills, a Hastings schoolboy who had built a sophisticated wireless set; Mills subsequently worked with Baird, and would claim 55 years later that the first television image was of his hand |
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February 1923 |
Baird advertises in The Times for finance to develop "SEEING by WIRELESS" |
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27 June 1923 |
Baird patents a system of transmitting pictures by telegraphy |
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26 July 1923 |
Baird demonstrates "silhouette television" at Selfridge's, Oxford St., London |
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25 March 1925 |
Baird privately transmits live moving greyscale images (5 frames/second) |
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2 October 1925 |
Baird gives the first public demonstration of televised moving images (12.5 fps) |
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26 January 1926 |
The first regularly scheduled TV service begins in Washington DC |
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2 July 1928 |
Baird transmits the first live sports coverage (The Derby) |
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1931 |
Official BBC service – the world's first "high–definition" service – begins; covered by the broadcast receiving licence |
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2 November 1936 |
Wimbledon televised for the first time |
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1937 |
The first (BBC) TV news bulletin |
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1938 |
Boat Race, FA Cup Final and the Trooping of the Colour televised for the first time | ||
Television licences (including radio licence) issued in the UK for the first time, on resumption of the service after World War II |
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1 June 1946 |
The first television weather forecast (presented by George Cowling) |
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11 January 1954 |
Commercial television (ITV) starts in the UK |
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1955 |
Eurovision Song Contest first broadcast |
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1956 |
The Sky at Night first broadcast (presented by Patrick Moore; his last episode as presenter was broadcast on 7 January 2013 — 29 days after his death — making it the world's longest–running TV programme with the same presenter) |
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24 April 1957 |
The Queen's Christmas speech first televised |
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1957 |
Blue Peter first broadcast |
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1958 |
Coronation Street first broadcast |
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1960 |
Grand National first televised (by the BBC) |
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1960 |
First episode of Doctor Who |
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23 November 1963 |
BBC2 launched |
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21 April 1964 |
Cigarette advertising banned from British television |
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1965 |
Britain's first colour broadcast (BBC2) |
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1 July 1967 |
Parliament (House of Lords) televised for the first time, in a three–day experiment |
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1968 |
Monty Python's Flying Circus first broadcast |
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1969 |
Princess Anne's wedding to Mark Phillips is the first royal wedding to be broadcast in colour |
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14 November 1973 |
Barbara Edwards becomes the first woman to present the weather forecast on BBC television |
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January 1974 |
Children in Need broadcast (by the BBC) for the first time
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1 November 1980 |
Channel 4 launched |
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October 1982 |
BBC Breakfast Time starts |
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17 January 1983 |
TV–am launched |
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1 February 1983 |
Regular television broadcasts from the House of Lords begin (initially as an experiment, made permanent soon afterwards) |
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23 January 1985 |
First episode of EastEnders |
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19 February 1985 |
Red Nose Day broadcast (by the BBC) for the first time
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8 February 1988 |
Proceedings in the House of Commons televised for the first time |
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21 November 1989 |
Noel Edmonds presents the first National Lottery draw |
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19 November 1994 |
Channel 5 (rebranded in 2002 as Five) starts |
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1997 |
CBBC and CBeebies (the latter for children of 6 and under) launched as separate channels |
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2002 |
BBC3 launched |
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9 February 2003 |
BBC4 launched |
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March 2003 |
BBC3 "linear channel" closed |
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16 February 2016 |
© Haydn Thompson 2017–24