Television and Me

Television and Me—The Memoirs of John Logie Baird

The inventor of television tells his own extraordinary story

About the Ebook

'Funds were going down, the situation was becoming desperate and we were down to our last £30 when at last, one Friday in the first week of October 1925, everything functioned properly. The image of the dummy's head formed itself on the screen with what appeared to me almost unbelievable clarity. I had got it! I could scarcely believe my eyes, and felt myself shaking with excitement.'

In one of the most extraordinary and entertaining autobiographies to be written by any scientist or inventor, John Logie Baird tells the story of his life and the scientific journey which led to the creation of television. He writes with blunt candour and caustic wit about his childhood in Scotland and the wild escapades of his early business career, when he marketed his own patent brand of medicated undersocks, failed in a hilarious attempt to set up a jam-making factory in the Caribbean and went on to sell soap wholesale. Then he gives the definitive account of the epoch-making experiments through which television was created, and his later troubled relationship with the fledgling BBC and his bête noir, Lord Reith, who disliked television. The BBC obstructed and snubbed Baird at every opportunity.

Some of his commercial and scientific rivals made a concerted attempt to discredit his status as the central figure in the invention of television, and even today, this has led to his importance being misunderstood. Edited and introduced by Baird's only son, Malcolm, this new edition will help to set the record straight.

This edition features a new preface and updated and expanded footnotes, referencing two important technical books by Dr. Douglas Brown on Baird's work on colour and 3D television during World War II. In August 2020, an American journal published a research article by Brandon Inglis and Prof, Gary Couples, with details of the special photocell that Baird used in early stages of his research (1924-26). 

Why You'll Love This Ebook

• Read the memoirs of the man who changed how the world sees itself
• Discover the obsession, poverty, and genius behind a world-changing invention
• Experience television history from the inside, in Baird's own words
• Read another celebrated title from Birlinn Ltd - Independent Scottish Publisher

Reviews

'A fabulous distillation of all the joy and bitterness, hurt and humour of an extraordinary man… I doubt there will be a better written, more interesting or important book published in Scotland this year' Daily Mail (2004)

About the Author

I was born in 1888. My father was the Minister of the West Parish of Helensburgh, a small watering place near Glasgow. He had gone there immediately after finishing his studies at Glasgow University, where he obtained his MA and BD, and showed remarkable talent. A small body of residents in this little seaside resort sent a request to the University that a student should be sent to open a small church to serve their needs, and my father was chosen for the task.

Among those who came to his church was Miss Jessie Inglis, one of a wealthy family of shipbuilders, who came to Helensburgh for the summer, and looked rather askance at the struggling young clergyman when he proposed marriage. The opposition, however, was overcome, and Miss Jessie Inglis became Mrs Baird. The little church prospered; my father must have been energetic and enterprising. Among his other activities he formed a literary society, of which the future Prime Minister, Bonar Law, was once a member.

Publication Details

Publisher: Birlinn Ltd

Publication Date: 17 December 2020

Print Length: 172 pages (Ebook edition)

ISBN (Ebook): 9781788854467

Format: Ebook

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