GEC Bakelite Television

Donated by Tim and Michael Blackman on behalf of their father Peter and his late wife Sadie Blackman.

Sadie and Peter bought a house from new in Charlesfield Road, Rugby in 1949. They lived there until 2021, 71 years and all their married life.

They bought the television new ahead of the Queen’s Coronation and were the first in the road to own a TV. At the time of the Coronation all the neighbours were invited to watch the event consequently it was standing room only. My mother would say much later that she had been looking forward to seeing the event but missed it as she was busy making sandwiches and cups of tea. My main memory is of grandfathers visiting each year to watch football cup final. Whilst it must have been state of the art new, it was black and white, UHF and you could only get the BBC and only for a few hours each day. It was in use for a number of years until replaced by a Radio Rentals model so they could watch ITV. Upon replacement my father put the TV in their loft where it remained until early 2021 when we donated it to the museum.