NOSTALGIA: TV sets with no remote! How on earth did we cope?

This marvellous view along High Street, Old Portsmouth, belongs to my colleague Barry Cox who had the picture lifted from a magic lantern slide.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th Jul 2018, 20:28 BST
Updated 16th Jul 2018, 17:07 BST
A marvellous hand-tinted view along High Street, Old Portsmouth.A marvellous hand-tinted view along High Street, Old Portsmouth.
A marvellous hand-tinted view along High Street, Old Portsmouth.

The building with the portico on the right was once the town hall and later became the city museum. It was damaged during the blitz on the city in the Second World War and later demolished.

Where the blue shop blind can be seen is the corner of Pembroke Road and just this side of it the Dolphin Hotel which, as we know, is still trading to this day.

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In the far distance would be the George Hotel where Lord Nelson spent his last hours before leaving for Trafalgar.

When the radiogram was the ideal piece of furniture, and televisions had not been introduced to remote controls.When the radiogram was the ideal piece of furniture, and televisions had not been introduced to remote controls.
When the radiogram was the ideal piece of furniture, and televisions had not been introduced to remote controls.

The tram would have been horse-drawn so we can date the photograph to not later than 1903.

'¢Â Do you remember when having a radiogram made you the envy of your neighbours?

These fine pieces of furniture really were the thing to be had in your front room, even better if it was a stereogram. Imagine, music emanating from two speakers!

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These were of course the upmarket versions of the old gramophone which our grandparents might have had several decades before.

A recently completed terrace of houses in Trevis Road, Milton. The canal would be at the top of the road.A recently completed terrace of houses in Trevis Road, Milton. The canal would be at the top of the road.
A recently completed terrace of houses in Trevis Road, Milton. The canal would be at the top of the road.

The version in the centre of the photograph with the lifted lid is just like the one in our house in the mid-1960s. LPs and 45rpm singles could be stored in the sides where the lids lifted as well.

In the background is something younger generations would find archaic if not barbaric '“ a television without a remote control.

This meant you had to actually get out of your chair and walk across the room to change channels. Mind you, there were only three to choose from, BBC1, BBC2 and ITV, not the hundreds available today.

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The furniture here was made at the ULTRA factory in Gosport and comes from the booklet Memories of ULTRA.

A corporation bus heading for the floating bridge.A corporation bus heading for the floating bridge.
A corporation bus heading for the floating bridge.

'¢Â And so to the picture of the houses. Seen some time at the turn of the last century this is Trevis Road, Portsmouth, when the far end of Locksway Road, Milton, was being developed. This block of terraced houses was built on land to the north of the Portsmouth-Arundel canal. Since then of course, the other side of the road has been developed.

'¢Â If anyone today saw a Portsmouth bus with its destination board stating '˜Floating Bridge' I am sure they would imagine some magnificent structure.

It was, of course, simply the vessel that carried cars and lorries from Point, Old Portsmouth, across the harbour to Gosport. When the '˜bridge' ceased to run in 1959 the bus destination changed to Point.

Related topics:NostalgiaOld Portsmouth