This isn’t quite tech-ops, but I thought it might be of interest. My late father-in-law never threw anything away, and the time has come for those of us left to clear the house, which is taking months and many van loads. Deep in a shed were the hand-outs obtained when he bought a tv in 1955…

The front page of an HMV brochure featuring models ranging in price from 67 to 114 guineas. Guineas was a strange ancient measure of money dating from the 17th century, or maybe earlier, but used in the 1950s to disguise the real price, as 1 guinea was worth £1.05. Thus the most expensive of the sets actually cost £119.70. A calculation based on figures in Whittakers Almanack gives a current equivalent price of over £2000. In the photo, singer Alma Cogan is leaning on this expensive machine.

Here’s some more from the collection – some technical details, a TV licence, a sell for special “fringe” machines, and Cossors finest.

There’s a Times supplement produced especially for the 1955 Radio Show. This is a page, not quite at random. The whole supplement is amazingly tedious, but this page has not only an appropriate tech-ops picture, but also an article entitled “Lighter Fare” which turns out to be anything but….