Early television sets were mechanical, but by the 1930s TVs had become entirely electronic.
During this decade, John Logie Baird made the first ever outside broadcast from the 1931 Epsom Derby.
The BBC also began broadcasting - televising the FA Cup Final for the first time in 1938. However, its operations ceased abruptly on the outbreak of war in 1939, with the British government fearful that broadcasts could be used by the enemy as homing signals.
The pictured television set, the Ecko TA-201, was made in 1939. It could receive just one channel and was for pictures only (sound could be heard by connecting it to a radio). It cost 22 guineas - or around ?1000 in today’s prices.
