Robert Hitchcock: How I love America’s rewriting of history!
It is an undisputed fact that Baird designed, patented and built the television first, displaying it a full 3 years before Farnsworth's inferior version.

Chris, Warrington, Great Britain

UK companies are too often complacent, parochial and amateurish, and so they go bust. Now add public sector job losses and financial incompetence into the toxic mix and you have the recipe for a serious social collapse.
If I had money I'd leave before the riots start.

C Smith, Norwich, UK

Loewe and Metz engineer and make high-quality TVs in Germany ( like Miele with washing machines, dishwashers). Philips has a modern TV plant in Hamburg and Sony in Salzburg, Austria. Siemens TVs are imported. Poland, Czechia, Slovakia have many TV assembly plants.

djames, Manchester, England

If it were true that we had stopped making TVs I think that would be something to be proud of.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Lowe

But they probably don't manufacture anything in Germany

Robin Northcott, Banbury, UK

If that picture of a woman producing a CRT screen is what passes for modern British TV production, then it should come as no great surprise that production has moved elsewhere.

Julian, Twickenham, UK

So is this story about the demise of the CRT based TV? This is nothing new and has been on the cards for some time now-
technology moves on and so must the manufacturers.

For the record, Toshiba still manufacture TVs in Plymouth, Devon, and as far as I am aware, Devon is in Britain!

Seth, Plymouth, Devon

So what about the Toshiba Factory in Plymouth? They still produce televisions there. So no, the UK has not stopped producing TVs entirely. (I don't work for Toshiba)

Brian, Plymouth, UK

Germany and Japan are not where TVs imported into the UK are made. Japanese companies have been enthusiastic sourcers of products from China and Eastern European countries owing to the strong yen. As for Germany, does anyone know of a German TV manufacturer?

Chris May, London, England

Tom - 3 hr wages for a nice new tv, is that a really cheap tv or just you get paid alot more than most ;)

I personally think we need to move forward in this country, being at the cutting edge end of renewable energy, incorporating energy efficiency and becoming a world leader in this area...

John, London, UK

Germany and Japan may not be noted for low wages but they are noted for building quality products that may cost more in the short term but are cheaper in the long term

Luke, London, UK

Television, as we know it today, was invented by Philo Taylor Farnsworth who was a "farm boy", from Utah USA.
Baird, Vladimir Kosma Zworykin etc. were working on the same thing, but Farnsworth's invention was the first that worked and displayed a picture electronically.

Robert Hitchcock, Redditch, England

The mechanical television demonstrated by JLB was technically inferior to the cathode ray technology developed in the united states and proved a commercial disater. Hardly a good start...

andrew, london, uk

Yep, we invented a lot and were the first at many things. So what did we do? Rested on our laurels, cut back on investment/privatised and watched as the rest of the world overtook us. Genius.

JT, Singapore, Singapore

We don't make anything. Look at our trade deficit and weep.

Roger Slade, winchester,

My grandfather, a friend of Baird, a fellow Scot, told me Baird showed him a 3d 600 line colour TV in the 40's. No glasses needed-sitting in a certain area sufficed.

As with Colossus, TV was beyond the mental scope of UK government. Else the TV and computer would have stayed primarily British.

iain, bedford, uk

This is an icon of the decline of the UK economy. Almost total reliance on City slickers gambling away fortunes.
Government can guarantee any amount of lending - it will all end up supporting jobs elsewhere in the world. The economy will change but it will be very, very painful.

Eddie Reader, birmingham, england

So much for moving the UK out of manufacturing and into the Service Industry in the 1980's. This is the result!

Pat, BOURNEMOUTH, United Kingdom

60 years ago, Land Rover, Jaguar cars ,Royal Enfieldmotorbikes, Murphy radiosets were the best. Whatever happened to that? Today Indian bikes, cars, radios, TVs have better quality but the Chinese are cheaper. Thankfully, the markets have rejected Chinese stuff here in India save a few bric-a-brac

Ramesh yer, Madras , India

Question, does the old CRT set use more or less electricity than an equivalent sized LCD or plasma?

Sue Doughty, Twyford, UK

This report highlights the dire plight of the UK. The TV is one of many products no longer manufactured here Cars, Ships ( bought from Germany - not noted for low wages), Trains, Motor Cycles, Planes - the list goes on. I cant see how it can be revived once the technical the skills are lost.

Pat, BOURNEMOUTH, United Kingdom

Very sad. If its any consolation, near where I live in San Diego, Sony shut down their Trinitron manufacturing facility in 2006. Twenty years ago, it was truly amazing to watch CRT assembly. Maybe three people supported their entire automated manufacturing line.

David Oakley, San Diego, USA

Our first TV in 1953 cost about 8 weeks wages for the average worker. Today you can buy the same size screen with colour and a remote for about 3 hours wages. Long live Japan and China!!

Tom Graham, Perth , Australia

It didn't have to be like this.

All we need is for government to focus on what could make this country great and wealthy. Everything else would follow from that - at least it can't be any worse than the social mess that now accompanies the economic mess.

M Carter, Leeds,