FIRST WORKING TELEVISION SYSTEM DEMONSTRATED IN LONDON
London, U.K. (JFK+50) If you invented something that would revolutionize the world, would you expect someone to call you a "lunatic?"
Well, a hundred years ago, January 26, 1926, John Logie Baird* demonstrated the first working television system at his workshop located at 22 Frith Street here in London. About fifty people were invited to witness this revolutionary demonstration.
Earlier, Mr. Baird had gone to the Daily Express to inform them of his work. He was described as "a lunatic" by the editor who proclaimed... this guy says
"hes got a machine for seeing by wireless.
Watch him, he may have a razor!"
The electrical engineering graduate from the University of Strathclyde, working from two attic rooms he used for a laboratory, was the first person to transmit moving images by television--"a moment that laid the foundations of one of the most influential technologies of the modern era."
*John Logie Baird (1888-1946) was born in Helensburgh, Scotland & graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 1914. JLB was named as one of the ten greatest Scottish scientists in history.
JFK+50 NOTE
Mr. Baird also invented the first publicly demonstrated color television system. During his demonstrations, he used a ventriloquist dummy named "Stooky Bill." His first televised images were far from high definition (30 lines) but human faces could be transmitted & received.
SOURCE
"From Strathclyde to the world, 100 years since television's first demonstration," January 26, 2026, www.strath.ac.uk/
