TO the residents of a quiet street in Shipley, it was an ordinary morning in the autumn of 1929. But behind the front door of one house, history was being made - the first television broadcast outside London.
In a recent feature looking back on the event, the T&A reported that it took place at the home of Sydney Wright, manager of the radio department at Christopher Pratt & Sons and president of Bradford Wireless Society.
When Lynn George read the article she realised the historic moment had taken place in her house. Lynn got in touch with us and we arranged for Iain Logie Baird, grandson of the inventor of television, John Logie Baird, to visit her home in Bankfield Drive, Nab Wood, to see where live sound and vision flashed 200 miles through the air, nearly a century ago.
It was January 26, 1926 when John Logie Baird first demonstrated his working television set. Three years later came the decision that the BBC would broadcast regular television programmes, made by the Baird Company. TV signals were sent from the Baird studios in London through phone lines to the BBC’s main radio transmitter.
On October 8, 1929, Harry Barton-Chapple, who’d taught electrical engineering at Bradford Technical College before joining the Baird Company, travelled by train from London with Baird associate Sydney Moseley, bringing a model ‘A’ portable televisor. They went to the home of Sydney Wright, a prominent figure in radio, and at 11am a picture was received with 30 vertical lines of definition, reproduced by the televisor mechanically using a spinning disc punched with a spiral of 30 tiny holes. Two minutes of vision and two minutes of sound was received using the televisor, about 2inx2in x1ft, and Sydney’s own wireless set and speaker.
A T&A reporter, invited to capture the moment, wrote: “Through an aperture measuring, roughly, 4ins by 2ins...dots of orange light appeared. Quickly the dots flashed past the eye until nothing but a square of orange light was to be seen. An adjustment here, and the dots formed themselves into the shape of a man’s face.
“Enthralled, the five people in the room watched as he turned his head to one side then the other, opened his mouth, raised his eyebrows, laughed and scowled.” A portrait of the Prince of Wales then appeared on the screen, “easily recognised by the observers in Shipley.”
Photo: 1929 issue of Television magazine
The historic broadcast is said to have taken place in the sitting-room of Sydney’s home. But, looking at the T&A photo of the event, Lynn and her husband Joel realised it was actually a bedroom. “We could tell by the position of the door; this was the only room it could have been,” said Lynn. “Maybe there was more space in there to set up the equipment. You could perhaps imagine Sydney’s wife not wanting all that mess in the sitting-room...
“We’d done a bit of a search on occupants of the house - we’ve lived here 23 years and the previous owners were here over 40 years - but we had no idea that it was part of television history.”
So why was Sydney’s house chosen for this historic broadcast? He was a radio pioneer - the Northern representative of the Radio Society of Great Britain - known to the Baird company, and Barton-Chapple would have brought radio equipment from him, says Iain Logie Baird. Sydney supplied his own radio receiver and loudspeaker for the transmission.
See Emma's previous article: https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/23064890.shipley-sitting-room-played-lead-role-story-television/
Iain, who has been researching descendents of the Wright family, was delighted to see the room where it took place. “All I had from that day was the photo. Being here brings an element of reality to it, and a personal touch.
“Sydney had arranged for Bradford’s transmitter to be in a corner of Christopher Pratts on Simes Street. A 180ft long aerial was strung between two mill chimneys nearby. The chimneys are gone now - but this house is still here.”
Iain says markings on the exterior of the house could be from where the aerial was attached.
“When we moved in there was a shed at the bottom of the garden which had old curtains at the window,” says Joel. “Maybe Sydney used it to store wireless equipment.”
Iain says the shed "was almost certainly the 2DR transmitter location."
He added: "Dangerous voltages would have been present when the transmitter was switched on, hence the sturdy door and lock. The potential for an electrical fire from sudden component failure would have been a motive for using asbestos.
“He may also have held meetings of the Bradford Wireless Society in there. And he was a motorcycle enthusiast and took part in amateur racing, so he may have kept bikes in there too.”
Lynn and Joel have three daughters, Estelle, 17, Amelia, 20, and Maya, 24. Like all 21st century families, they watch TV through various mediums around the house. “One thing we watched together was The Apprentice, it was nice to sit in one room in front of the TV,” says Lynn. “We grew up with a few channels, now the kids stream TV on phones and laptops. I’m still blown away by what TV can do now. To think those first television images came through to this house, it feels very special.”
Iain reckons his grandfather would’ve welcomed developments in TV and the ways it is viewed. “He was a visionary; he’d be pleased to see how it has gone,” he said. He revealed that the face that initially appeared as dots of orange light was probably a member of staff at Baird’s studio: “A secretary or engineering assistant moving their head around. They had a pianist and sang Vaudeville songs for the images. Sometimes you saw feet dancing.”
Bradford City of Film director David Wilson said: "Part of the our function as a UNESCO City of Film is to celebrate the film and TV heritage of Bradford district and also enable this heritage to inform our future as a creative city.
"The events which took place at Sydney Wright's house in Shipley not only add to our local screen heritage but were also instrumental in the development of TV broadcast around the world. These kinds of discoveries are not only relevant at a professional level but also in instilling civic pride in the area for its connections to film and TV."
The son of a Bingley mill-owner, Sydney Wright and his wife, Dorothy, a local politician, lived in Bankfield Drive from 1922-32, before moving to Stockport. Sydney worked in police radio and later became a hotel manager. An exhibition on his career is at Shipley Library.
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