THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG

"Upcycling" now there's a phrase that's a euphemism for repurposing old junk into something either aesthetically pleasing and/or useful.    There again from my standpoint, my definition would be the occasional ruin of scarce and historical artefacts. But pressing things into alternative uses is not a new thing and one such example that may pique the interest of the military radio collector is the particular example shown in the film, The Earth Dies Screaming from 1964. The  film, using Shere in Surrey as a the location has a plot that goes something like this........  A small group of survivors  are penned...

Although Hitachi was one of the sponsors for the 2021 Olympics, there is very little fanfare about their involvement.  That said a Hitachi female employee did try and dowse the olympic flame though. Back in 1964 though, Hitachi supplied portable cameras with miniature Vidicon tubes to monitor track and field events.    

For those who don't know their Pye Plugs from their Admiralty or their Niphans well this quick identifier photo is just for you.

I just love this period photo from 1959 which shows a Norwegian family taking their television on a summer picnic.  Dad looks a bit worried maybe because they need to get a wiggle on to get the TV set up in time such that Mrs Hansen doesn't miss Kroning Gate! For extra points can any of my regular readers identify the make and model of the TV please? The car of course is the PV544 Duett, an early SUV that was built from 1951 - 1969.    As you can see, the Duett is both a handsome vehicle and can handle...

Major, The Honourable, John Wickham Gascoyne Beresford Steed, MC, OM usually known as John Steed, is a fictional  British Intelligence agent  in both the 1960s British spy series The Avengers and its 1970s sequel The New Avengers and played by Patrick McNee. Steed was educated at  Eton where he got into a fight with James Bond , the school bully.  After a succession of escapades which were frowned upon he was eventually expelled. Steed went on to distinguish himself in WW2 initially serving as a Royal Navy motor torpedo boat commander before transferring to the  Coldstream Guards and thence to the Intelligence Corps.  His military career resulted in...