主播大秀

As one of the pioneers of television, John Logie Baird has been written about a great deal over the years. The image we get from these accounts is of an unworldly, somewhat lonely figure dedicated to science, whose work wasn鈥檛 fully appreciated in his lifetime. The accounts contained in the 主播大秀鈥檚 Oral History collection do little to contradict any of this. But they also reveal a great deal of sympathy for him on a personal level, and some embarrassment about how the 主播大秀 dealt with him.

In his interview, the 主播大秀 engineer Tony Bridgewater 鈥� who worked directly for Baird before joining the 主播大秀 鈥� described the Scotsman as 鈥渜uiet, reserved, shy, very polite, not quite with you, you鈥� sensed he was probably thinking of something else鈥�. Bridgewater also gives a description of the 主播大秀鈥檚 big 鈥榦pening night鈥� of 2 November 1936, when the regular high-definition service was formally launched.

He noted that various bigwigs were at Alexandra Palace to take part in the opening ceremony 鈥� the Postmaster General, the chairman of Baird鈥檚 own company, and so on. But:

It was a very sad thing that poor old Baird, whom I think could have been treated a bit better, wasn鈥檛 invited to sit among the party and he was left walking up and down the corridor outside 鈥� very bitter, very upset about that.

Recalling the 主播大秀鈥檚 decision in 1937 to finally reject his mechanical system completely in favour of the rival electronic one, another engineer, Harold Bishop, described Baird as being 鈥渃ast out鈥�: 鈥渢he whole thing was a bit unpleasant鈥�.

Perhaps the most intimate account from the 主播大秀 Oral History collection, though, comes from Stuart Williams, who鈥檇 joined the 主播大秀 as a junior sub-editor on the Radio Times, when he was sixteen years old, and later worked in outside broadcasts. Through a family connection he saw 鈥渜uite a lot鈥� of Baird at home in the early-1930s 鈥� and so got to know him in his most private moments:

In reality, Baird had very little direct contact with the 主播大秀, preferring to concentrate on his laboratory work. Most of the negotiating between Baird鈥檚 television company and the Corporation or the Post Office was conducted by another important figure, Sydney Moseley.

Moseley had been a prominent radio critic for several newspapers and magazines, and took it upon himself to campaign vociferously on behalf of Baird鈥檚 technology. He delighted in presenting the 主播大秀鈥檚 reluctance over Baird鈥檚 mechanical system as a David and Goliath struggle. Unfortunately, he constantly made exaggerated claims for the technology 鈥� claims the 主播大秀 knew to be false, and which appeared to the Corporation to present a serious risk of destroying an already fragile public faith in the new medium.

It was through Sydney Moseley that Stuart Williams had met Baird 鈥� because Moseley was his father-in-law. This brought Williams into regular contact with the man he describes in his 主播大秀 Oral History interview as 鈥渢he power behind Baird鈥�: