On this day in 1976
Channel Television switches to colour
Channel Television switched from black and white to colour broadcasts in 1976, with a party in a tent beside its transmitter on Jersey’s Freemont Point. It had taken a long time and much discussion for the technicians to work out how to transmit the signals without causing interference to neighbouring networks, on account of the power that their own transmitter would need to put out. In the end, they settled on installing a SABRE aerial in Alderney, developed specifically by IBA engineers. This relayed colour broadcasts from Stockland Hill in Devon, and thus completed the “colourisation” of the UK’s independent television network.
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Yesterday…
Queen Elizabeth II visits Jersey
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh began their 1957 tour of the Channel Islands by sailing in to St Helier on the Royal Barge.
Tomorrow…
Jack Higgins was born Henry Patterson, on 27 July 1929. He is best known for his 1975 thriller, The Eagle Has Landed.
Jersey power station opens for business
The Jersey Electricity Company was established in St Helier in April 1924 and, in July the following year, it opened its first power station.
Author and actor Anthony Faramus is born
Anthony Faramus, who became an author and actor, was working as a hairdresser in St Helier when arrested early in the occupation.