30-03-2017, 09:20 AM
Yes, and not just near the border.
In the Dublin area, they pointed the aerials across the Irish Sea to transmitters in Wales.
In 1961, my Scout Troop spent summer camp in the village of Mornington at the mouth of the Boyne, about half way between Dublin and Belfast. The local Bush dealer in town sold the TV96, I noted, the fringe area version of the TV95 I was used to back home. Aerials pointed north.
I'd had occasion to visit the village Post Office a few times while we were there and went in the last day before we left.
The little old lady who ran it asked "Could I be after asking you something?" "Yes", said I. "How much are you after paying for the television licence in England?" she asked.
"£4," I replied, "and £1 for the wireless licence."
"Ah!" she said, "We don't have the television licence and we're only after paying the seventeen shillings and sixpence for the wireless licence."
When I left, she was looking very pleased with herself. But this was, of course, before Telefis Eireann started transmissions. That was set to happen the following January.
The following day we spent a couple of hours in Dublin on our way to the ferry, and the evening papers were on sale everywhere, bold headlines proclaiming '£4 TELEVISION LICENCE FROM JANUARY - WIRELESS LICENCE UP TO £1'.
I wish I could have seen the expression on that woman's face back up the coast!
In the Dublin area, they pointed the aerials across the Irish Sea to transmitters in Wales.
In 1961, my Scout Troop spent summer camp in the village of Mornington at the mouth of the Boyne, about half way between Dublin and Belfast. The local Bush dealer in town sold the TV96, I noted, the fringe area version of the TV95 I was used to back home. Aerials pointed north.
I'd had occasion to visit the village Post Office a few times while we were there and went in the last day before we left.
The little old lady who ran it asked "Could I be after asking you something?" "Yes", said I. "How much are you after paying for the television licence in England?" she asked.
"£4," I replied, "and £1 for the wireless licence."
"Ah!" she said, "We don't have the television licence and we're only after paying the seventeen shillings and sixpence for the wireless licence."
When I left, she was looking very pleased with herself. But this was, of course, before Telefis Eireann started transmissions. That was set to happen the following January.
The following day we spent a couple of hours in Dublin on our way to the ferry, and the evening papers were on sale everywhere, bold headlines proclaiming '£4 TELEVISION LICENCE FROM JANUARY - WIRELESS LICENCE UP TO £1'.
I wish I could have seen the expression on that woman's face back up the coast!
