Introduction
Scotsman John Logie Baird (1888-1946) built and demonstrated the first working TV, which he assembled largely from ordinary household objects in his own home.
IN 1923, John Logie Baird pressed an old hatbox, a pair of scissors, some darning needles, a handful of lenses taken from bicycle lights, a tea chest, and some glue into service, and made the world’s first working tv set.
He had already had some success as an entrepreneur with a medicated sock for soldiers in the trenches of the Great War. His youthful attempt to turn graphite into diamonds had merely fused all the lights in Glasgow’s Rutherglen area.
But on 2 October 1925, he made history with the world’s first tv transmission, starring a ventriloquist's dummy nicknamed ‘Stooky Bill’.
In 1928, Baird sent tv pictures across the Atlantic for the first time, from London to Hartsdale, New York, and three years later he oversaw the world’s first remote outside television broadcast, at the Epsom Derby.*
Some of Baird’s innovations were far ahead of their time, including colour tv in 1928, and three-dimensional, high-definition tv in the early 1940s.
A flat (i.e. no jumps) horse race, held at Epsom in Surrey in early June each year.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Area. Trench. Work.
2 Bill. Derby. Outside.
3 New. Set. Sock.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding un-.
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Older. 2 Highest. 3 Greater. 4 Early. 5 Far. 6 Remote. 7 Colourful. 8 Farther. 9 Old.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
scr (6+2)
saucer. scar. scare. score. scour. secure.
saucier. scree.
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