When tellies were still young in the UK there was a test card.
I remember it so well, as much as I remember my fave TV shows.
Trouble is, I don't know why I know the test card because it only appeared at midnight or thereabouts.
The end of telly.
The cut-off point until the morrow.
Was I up at midnight or did the test card go right into my teens and beyond in the Seventies?
I recall my old Dad falling asleep during late shows like Kodiak and the test card whistling. Is that right? Did it whistle? To wake you up?
Strange how it all seemed so normal at the time, when now you can watch telly anywhere, anytime and it doesn't whistle to rouse you!
I wonder what happened to the test card girl? Did she get promoted to a proper show? Oh, I guess I could look it up but I like to ponder about her life.
The doll was strange too. A sort of green clown. Was it a commercially available toy? And did she ever finish her game of noughts and crosses?
Did you have a test card on TV at the close of the day where you are?
I remember an earlier b/w BBC Test Card in the 50's that was broadcast all day so shops selling TV's could adjust aerials when the set was installed to show a picture.
ReplyDeleteAt night when TV ended the National Anthem was played before the Test Card again was shown so engineers around the country could test their systems.
By the 70's and both colour and commercial TV, during the early hours of the day before the TV schedule began TV Commercials were test broadcast for Advertising Agencies to show clients their new ads.
Boring as the Test Card was, during the early days of just BBC TV they showed 'Interludes' which were things like a potter at the wheel creating a pot or fish in a tank. This was because the BBC only had limited studio space and they needed to change the sets between live broadcasts.
I remember the UK test card coming to "life" in the "Life on Mars" TV series.
ReplyDeleteIn Oz we had similar test patterns during the black and white and colour eras, but they only had lines and colours - no children or dolls on ours... On Channel 9 on Saturday mornings, the test pattern would end at 6.00am when Thunderbirds would go to air. Cheers, Tony