THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG

I smiled when I saw this advertisement from 1955 concerning the Ericsson Etelphone as it appears to be undergoing a bout of acupuncture.    I once knew a girl who liked acupuncture though I never did get the full story but acquaintances were always saying "She'd had more pricks than a pincushion!"

So whats the story I hear you say? Well, during the 1930s, early tests showed  that conventional make-up techniques were not suitable for television for although superb in real life or still photography it looked truly appalling on black-and-white television. Just look at this photo showing what "slap" of the day looked like on a JLB televisor transmission: - No wonder then that Peter Eckersley, the BBC’s chief engineer until 1929, put it: It was “An insult to the public to put on such a poor service and encourage the idea that the broadcast pictures would improve”.  Further stating that  “If...

      Ah, the good old TS2,  advanced for its time but a stillborn project as it was canned by the Labour government of the day.    It's interesting to see mention of tantalum capacitors being used on the TSR2  but hardly exclusive to the electronics only as Tantalum has been used extensively in the superalloys  used in jet engine manufacture since the  1960s. The very high melting point of tantalum (3017°C, 5463°F)  helps strengthen the superalloy and guarantee long service times. Going back to tantalum capacitors though, which are typically made by sintering tantalum granules together then forming a...

I love this 1958 Pye advert.  Just look at the miserable traffic cop - or is it an Afrika Korps tank commander, it's hard to tell.  He could have a Francis Barnet bike but no, he has a rather lovely Triumph. 

I just love this pulp science fiction book cover, on so many levels.  First of all there's the delightful hedgehog boy sporting headphones - some of you may argue serval face or polecat mush but whatever, he's a great looker.     Then there's the rack mount 1950s electronics, simply super.  And then, to top it all, there are two TCC paper block capacitors, obtained from Mullard Magic, nestling atop an instrument panel top perfectly framing the mother of all Yagis inside a reflector - simply super stuff.