THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG

This is a very apt question for events currently unfolding on the World stage - Can broadcasting stop war it asks......... Since the publication of this headlined article from 1934, apart from the current one which is not a war but a 'Special Military Operation', there have been the following 27 flagrations: -  Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936-1939 Second World War, 1939–1945 Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine, 1944-1948 Partition of India, 1947 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1948 onwards Malayan Emergency, 1948–1960 Yangtze Incident, 1949 Korean War, 1950–1953 Kenya Emergency, 1952–1960 Cyprus Emergency, 1955–1959 Vietnam War, 1955–1975 Suez Crisis, 1956 Brunei Revolt, 1962–1963...

 Throughout the 1950s, the corridors of the BBC often echoed with the same question: “How can a ventriloquist possibly be appreciated on radio?”. It seemed pointless for an audience to miss out on seeing a skilled performer throw their voice and speak without moving their lips, yet this anomaly appears to have led to Educating Archie becoming one of the corporation’s most successful comedy broadcasts of all time.  The show ran for ten years, during which period it introduced the listening public to some of British entertainment’s greatest comedy stars. Despite its old-fashioned Variety segments such as musical interludes, it...

Don't you just love this picture from 1952 that shows an electric eye sensor connected to a burglar alarm.  There are so many things that are quaint about this picture, not least the clunky alarm system sensor. I don't know which is my favourite bit - the yellow wallpaper - perhaps the house owner worked at Roberts Radio!!!!!! Or is it the fact that de rigueur 50's house breaking apparel included a trilby hat and a horsehide A2 flying jacket and was that jacket stolen from an American fighter pilot in a prior home raid? Still this technology was a...

The term ballistic describes the flight of an object through space, however, this same term is colloquially used to describe someone being extremely and unusually excited anxious or angry.    There seems to be a lot of that about in the World at the moment. Here is a nice picture from 1957 of a one of the first ballistic devices (yes I do know about the V2!!!), it is of course a colourful representation subject to artistic licence of Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite launched on 4 October 1957.   It orbited for three weeks at an apogee (furthest point from Earth)...

We all love our "tuna tin' transmitters and other QRP paraphinalia but low power is nothing new as you can see from this charming advert from 1936.  There again large wattages were expensive so like many aspects of 1930s life, you tended to do more with less!