Technologies Introduced On Programme
In many cases the show offered the British public its first chance to see key technologies that subsequently became commonplace, notably:
- The Breathalyser (1967)
- The ATM (1969)
- The pocket calculator (1971)
- The digital watch (1972)
- Teletext (Ceefax) (1975)
- The personal stereo (1980)
- The compact disc and player (1981)
- The camcorder (1981)
- Barcode reader (1983)
- Radio Automation, pioneered on Pirate FM 102 (1992)
- Clockwork radio (1993)
- Robotic vacuum cleaner, pioneered on Electrolux Trilobite prototype (1996)
Perhaps the best-remembered item in the programme's history was the introduction of the compact disc in 1981, when presenter Kieran Prendiville demonstrated the disc's supposed indestructibility by spreading strawberry jam on a Bee Gees CD. The show also gave the first British TV exposure to the group Kraftwerk, who performed their then-forthcoming single "Autobahn" as part of an item about the use of technology in musicmaking. Another programme concerning new technology for television and stage lighting featured The Tremeloes and the Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd.
Read more about this topic: Tomorrow's World
Famous quotes containing the words introduced and/or programme:
“The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“In the case of all other sciences, arts, skills, and crafts, everyone is convinced that a complex and laborious programme of learning and practice is necessary for competence. Yet when it comes to philosophy, there seems to be a currently prevailing prejudice to the effect that, although not everyone who has eyes and fingers, and is given leather and last, is at once in a position to make shoes, everyone nevertheless immediately understands how to philosophize.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)