The day the first public TV started – level 3

02-11-1936

It is 1936 and a big competition is culminating in Britain. It’s a competition for who will provide the first regular television broadcast. The BBC has two suppliers to choose from.

One company is from the famous Scottish inventor John Logie Baird, who already thrilled the whole country 10 years ago when he was able to transfer a moving figure to the screen with a mechanical device. Against him stands EMI, which has teamed up with the famous inventor of the wireless telegraph and Nobel Prize winner, Guglielmo Marconi.

In the summer of 1936, both sides did a test broadcast, and on November 2, 1936, they went officially on the air.

EMI’s system was better, offering better resolution, and so EMI took over the broadcasting.

TV broadcasts in London were on the air for four hours daily from 1936 to 1939. There were from 12,000 to 15,000 receivers.

The start of the Second World War caused the BBC service to be suddenly stopped on September 1, 1939, at 12:35 pm, so that transmissions could not be used to guide enemy planes to London. It resumed, again on June 7, 1946 after the end of the war.

Difficult words: culminate (come together), broadcast (send a TV or a radio signal), thrill (to make excited and happy), device (a machine), go on the air (to start to send a TV or a radio signal), take over (to be in control of something), receiver (an antenna that can get a TV or a radio signal), resume (to start again).

What would have been the impact of television broadcasts had they continued uninterrupted throughout the war period in Britain?

LEARN 3000 WORDS with DAYS IN LEVELS

Days in Levels is designed to teach you 3000 words in English. Please follow the instructions
below.

How to improve your English with Days in Levels: 

Test

  1. Do the test at Test Languages.
  2. Go to your level. Go to Level 1 if you know 1-1000 words. Go to Level 2 if you know 1000-2000 words. Go to Level 3 if you know 2000-3000 words.

Reading

  1. Read two new articles article at Days in Levels every day.
  2. Read one previous article too and check if you remember all new words.

Listening

  1. Listen to the new article and read the text at the same time.
  2. Listen to the new article without reading the text.

Writing

  1. Answer the question under the new article and write your answer in the comments.

Speaking

  1. Choose one person from the Skype section.
  2. Talk with this person. You can answer questions from Speak in Levels.