THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG — MARCONI

Perusing the panoply of valve advertisements from the halcyon days of yore, I was struck to use the above by-line.  Let me explain further...... First of all there was BTH in 1924 telling us that the valve was "the heart of the wireless" and questioning whether or not your set had "valvular disease." Then we have Marconi in 1925, also telling us that the valve is t"he heart of wireless"  i This theme continues as we see in 1945 when Raytheon  issued a hearty advert extolling the use of their valves in an electronic stethoscope. Interestingly, Mullard was "heartless" and if fell...

I have seen loads of comments in various technical fora about the benefits -  and the pitfalls of using WD40.  That said, its nice to see that in the early 1930s Marconi exhorted us all to use WD40 in our radios:- Many of us will have used WD40 penetrating spray for all sorts of other jobs and this eclectic brew has an interesting back story.   It was invented in 1953 by Norman Lawson  in his garage and  the rights to formulate and market was sold to the Rocket Chemical Company  for  $500. WD-40 is abbreviated from the term Water Displacement, 40th formula...

Just been shopping and stood behind some idiot at the checkout and had to endure overhearing a banal conversation whilst the poor harried shop assistant was waiting for the little darling to pack and pay.    Mobile phones - what a curse - sometimes I wish I went around with a 800 - 1300MHz white noise generator!!!!! Imagine my surprise when I then came across this wonderful photo from 1979:- I do believe that this is Michael Rodd extolling the virtues of the latest elec-trickery invented by those clever people at Marconi Laboratories in Chelmsford. What we have here is a...