Presented is the early life of John Logie Baird, from his birth on 13th August 1888 up to the end of 1921.

The exact date of Baird's arrival in Hastings is not known. Baird in his autobiography (of 1941) mentions his arrival in Hastings as being in 'the late spring' of 1923. Mrs. M. Baird and S.A. Moseley in their biographies referred to the winter of 1922-23 and 1923 respectively; P. Waddell and T. McArthur, and B. Norman in their books suggest late 1922 and 1922 respectively. While in Hastings, the possibility exists that Baird read an article on 'A development in the problem of television' by N. Langer. In his article, Langer described the rudimentary principles of television and proposed a solution based on the use of oscillating mirror scanners, a selenium cell, a 'light valve' of string galvanometer type and a suitable amplifier. The most important aspect of Langer's paper concerned the results which he had obtained from some experiments 'to ascertain the limit of speed of change which a selenium cell was capable of recording'. These results showed that selenium cells were capable of responding to variations in light at a frequency of 10 kHz; that with an increase of speed the sensitivity of the cell was greatly reduced; and that by the use of valve amplifiers it was possible to compensate largely for the loss in sensitivity at high speeds.

In his workroom in Frith Street, Baird continued his researches. These he described in a paper published in the January 1925 issue of Wireless World and Radio Review. Baird was now attempting to transmit the image of an object by reflecting light from it rather than by having a source of light behind the object. This was a problem of quite a different order of difficulty to the problem of the transmission of shadowgraphs. The latter problem requires the light cell to distinguish between total darkness on the one hand and the maximum intensity of the light source, possibly several thousand candle power, on the other hand; but in viewing an object by reflected light, the photocell has to discriminate between darkness and the very small light flux reflected from the white parts of the object. As Baird noted in his paper, 'the apparatus has therefore to be capable of detecting changes of light, probably at least a thousand times less in intensity than when shadowgraphs are being transmitted.'

O.G. Hutchinson became Baird's business manager. The association enabled Baird to concentrate on laboratory work and to devote all his energy and inventive skills to the furtherance of television development without being encumbered by the need to attend to business matters. Hutchinson's first task was to obtain some much needed extra financial assistance for Baird's endeavours. This he did by reorganising the nominal capital of Television Ltd., and persuading various persons and bodies to take up shares in the company. The chosen date for the first public demonstration of television was Tuesday, 26th January 1926. The Times report for 28th January was the only press statement obtained first-hand of this historic event. Baird's invention does not seem to have been a success. He hinted at the reason for this in his patent when he noted that the best results were obtained when the object and the screen were placed as close as possible to the ends of the bank of tubes-a very serious constraint-otherwise a 'slight blurring effect is obtained'. The patent is of some note, for it mentions the use of 'thin rods or tubes of glass quartz or other transparent material' in place of the metal tubes, and states that the rods 'need not necessarily be straight but could be bent or curved, or in the case of very fine quartz fibres, could be flexible'. Optic fibres are now extensively employed in communications engineering.

In his early experiments with television, Baird had great difficulty in reducing the intensity of the light used to illuminate his subjects without impairing the results achieved by his apparatus. The photocells which were available in 1926 were small cells which had a high ambient noise level. This, together with the parasitics introduced by the then dull-emitter valves which were used in the amplifiers, caused the received picture to have a very poor signal to noise ratio. Baird accordingly set out to select cells whose colour response matched the luminosity-wavelength characteristic of his floodlights and this led him to experiment with various coloured lamps and filters. According to J.D. Percy, it was during these tests that the lamps were masked, as an experiment, with wafer thin ebonite sheet so that all visible light was cut off and only infra-red radiation played on the subject. 'Much to Baird's surprise, the picture was not only visible at the receiver, but the signal/noise ratio, since he was using red sensitive cells, was surprisingly good.' Baird had earlier tried ultra-violet rays but these had proved to be very objectionable for the subject and had the added disadvantage that the lenses used attenuated the radiation very considerably. Infra-red rays, on the other hand, did not cause any discomfort and therefore 'noctovision', as Baird named his latest discovery, came into being and occupied much of his attention for the next five years.

This chapter recounts the experiences of John Logie Baird in his development of television. The chapter focuses on the story of Colonel Ian Anderson, a partner in the firm of Vowler and Company, a speculator who was persuaded to take interest in television.

The lack of enthusiasm shown by the BBC towards Baird's low-definition system was a source of much concern and frustration to Baird and his supporters, and resulted in delays in the execution of their plans. The monopolistic position of the Corporation during the early years of the Baird companies was, of course, a considerable obstacle. Essentially, the BBC was not interested in participating in the advancement of television on the basis of a system that could not reproduce images of, say, a test match at Lord's or tennis at Wimbledon; the BBC considered that low-definition television was inappropriate to its service. As a consequence, the BBC's policy towards Baird's work was necessarily negative in outlook and did not conduce to a rapid advancement of Baird's aspirations. Patronage and encouragement are important factors in the early development of an invention. Marconi initially was fortunate in this respect.

This chapter discusses Baird's first experimental television broadcast in September 1929. Baird utilized his invention to transmit what was popularly called television screen news. He also invented a method of transmission using strip scanning apparatus which allowed drawings, photographs, and documents to be reproduced at a distance which was called telewriter. Also, Baird demonstrated Teletalkies, a system of televising film images.

This chapter discusses the history of television broadcasting outside of Britain, and the interest shown in Baird's television system by the Germans, Australians, South Africans, the USA, Belgium, France and Italy.

This chapter presents the development of large-screen television equipment. It focusses on the research work of John Logie Baird and his company.

The American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) commenced its experimental study of its television programme when 'it began to be evident that scientific knowledge was advancing to the point where television was shortly to be within the realm of the possible”. The company was of the opinion that television would have a real place in world-wide communications and that it would be closely associated with telephony. It was certainly well placed to advance television, not only because of the extensive facilities of the newly formed (1925) Bell Telephone Laboratories but also because of the experience acquired in the R&D work which had made transcontinental and transoceanic telephony and telephotography possible.

In September/October 1930, O.G. Hutchinson visited the USA in the hope of founding a vast company there - he was always longing for the big deal. As Margaret Baird has written: 'Hutchinson, carried a long way on the tide of success, had ideas which bordered on the extravagant, seeking to take John's place at meetings of the board and dreaming of financial deals that had more connection with a dream world than with the real world.' He visited the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and had talks with Mr O. Schairer, the Patents Manager of RCA. The power and influence of RCA and its affiliated companies in the USA were well recognised by Baird Television Ltd. Its directors felt that if some proper arrangement could be made with RCA and its affiliated companies for the exploitation of the Baird patents, trademarks and improvements in the USA, with reciprocal rights in regard to new inventions and improvements, such an arrangement would be to the ultimate, and possibly immediate, benefit of both RCA and to Baird Television Ltd.

By the summer of 1931, Baird's low-definition experimental television service had been in operation for two years. The studio productions were being financed by Baird Television Ltd. and their indefinite continuance in their present form was, possibly, a waste of money besides being a cause of some inconvenience and irritation to the programme and engineering staffs of the BBC. Furthermore, it was likely that the company had obtained from its transmissions all the experi mental data which it required for the specification, design and implementation of the 30-line system. There had to be a change.

This chapter looks at the life and personality of John Logie Baird, focusing in particular on an episode of his life in 1931.

On 11th November 1932, Mr. I. Shoenberg, the Director of Research at Electric and Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI), invited the BBC's Chief Engineer, Mr. N. Ashbridge, to a private demonstration of both the transmission and reception of television.

The Television Committee submitted a report to the Right Honourable Sir Kingsley Wood on 14th January 1935. It recommended that a start should be made by the establishment of a television service in London with two television systems operating alternately from a single transmitting station. Baird Television Ltd. and Marconi-EMI Television Ltd. were each to be given the opportunity to supply, subject to conditions, the necessary apparatus for the operation of their respective systems at the London station.

From the outset of his life's work on television, Baird had been interested in cinema television. Indeed, when he commenced his activities in Hastings, the Hastings and St. Leonards Observer reported in January 1924, 'A Scotsman has come... to Hastings [who] is now engaged upon perfecting an invention which at some not very distant date may enable people to sit in a cinema and see on the screen the finish of the Derby at the same moment as the horses are passing the post, or may be the Carpentier-Demsey fight...'. A few years later, in June 1931, Baird had televised, albeit crudely, the Derby from Epsom, and in June 1932 he had shown images of the Derby on a large-screen in the Metropole Cinema.

The principal product of John Logie Baird Ltd. was an impressive all-purpose piece of equipment which displayed a bright television picture on the flat 22 in. × 19 in. screen of a 27 in. diameter cathode ray tube, and which incorporated in the cabinet a Plessey 11-band radio receiver and a Plessey auto-change gramophone record player. In 1946, a production unit was set up at 466 Alexandra Avenue, Rayners Lane, Harrow and there several costly but well specified television receivers were manufactured. The Adelphi had a distinctive bow-fronted cabinet, the Garrick was provided with an all-wave radio, and the Lyric was a superb example of the cabinet makers' art. Presumably, Jack Buchanan, the actor Chairman, chose the theatre names of the sets. It is believed that 600 receivers were constructed at Rayners Lane. Baird did not live to see television, which he had pioneered from 1923, become the universal medium of entertainment of the post-war years. One day in February 1946, he went for a walk, returned home tired, went to bed, and suffered a stroke during the night. Nurses were engaged to attend to him, as Mrs. Baird's own health was near to breaking point and her mother was almost bedridden. For the next 13 weeks, Baird spent much time in bed fighting for his life.

After Marconi's death, Sir Ambrose Fleming, a friend of both Marconi and Baird, wrote an appreciation of the great radio pioneer which could equally well have applied to Baird.

This Appendix contains a list of John Logie Baird's patents on television.

Presented in this Appendix is Baird's 1944 memorandum to the Television Committee (sometimes known as the Hankey Committee after its Chairman, the Right Hon. the Lord Hankey). This has not been previously published and is reproduced here verbatim. The document, which responds to several questions posed by the Television Committee, is of some historical significance since it records the last known views of the television pioneer on the post-war development of television.

Presented in this Appendix are the awards presented to John Logie Baird, the buildings named in his honour, memorial plaques, portraits, and commemorative events and activities.