THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG — ECKO
ERIC'S EKCO AND OTHER ECHOES SUCH AS ECCO AND ECKO! PART 1 - THE EARLY DAYS
Posted by STEVE M on
EKCO was founded by Eric Kirkham Cole in 1922 and with his wife, Muriel Cole nee Bradshaw started out making radio sets in 1924. William Streatfield Verrells, a schoolmaster and freelance journalist from Southend-on-Sea, wrote an article in a local newspaper asking if it was possible to power a radio set from the mains electricity supply rather than batteries. Cole saw a possible business opportunity and set about building his battery eliminator, which he later demonstrated to Verrells. Suitably impressed, Verrells joined Cole in a business venture, with Cole manufacturing the battery eliminators, and Verrells marketing them. In 1926 a private...