100 Voices that made the BBC – The Birth of TV

[ppppenguin]

Trevor's got the point I was making. Whatever Baird's technical weaknesses (which were many) he was the guy who pushed the BBC and this country into TV. Without his spur would EMI have recruited Shoenberg et al and set them to work on TV? This is the sort of counterfactual history that's impossible to write. Other companies such as Cossor and Scophony were certainly experimenting with TV. Could any UK company other than EMI have achieved the undoubtedly successful results? EMI couldn't have done it without form Marconi-EMI. For 2 main reasons, Marconi's transmitter technology which was the very best** and Marconi's access to a lot of RCA patents.

**Baird's vision transmitter made by Metropolitan Vickers was also of great value since it formed the basis of the Chain Home radar TX. Its continuously pumped demountable output valves were tougher and more suited to the rough condtions of radar.