Green is the colour
30 May 2023
Showing my age now, but I remember when my parents treated the family to a colour TV for the first time. It was back in 1970 and, like many other households, we had the set delivered in time for the football World Cup held in Mexico – the first to be broadcast in glorious colour.
England hoped to retain the trophy they had historically won four years earlier, but Brazil (including the legendary Pele) eventually ran out as worthy winners, beating Italy 4-1.
However, the significant thing was that we didn’t buy the set: we rented it. Colour televisions were expensive, screen size and the technology were constantly advancing, and few people wanted to buy something that could become obsolete pretty quickly.
So my late father hired it from one of the many companies that sprang up like Granada, DER and the rather oddly named Radio Rentals. Indeed, the last-mentioned business produced a helpful booklet explaining it all, saying, “You probably have a number of questions about the quality and reliability of colour televisions. Let us reassure you…”
Several years later when the technology had become established we, like countless others, bought a set outright.
This is surely very similar to the take-up of sustainable equipment, from electric vehicles to solar lighting. The machines are evolving as photovoltaic panels, telematics software and other components develop, and batteries utilise new formulations.
Indeed, one hirer told me recently that they are now investing heavily in newly launched lithium-ion powered equipment to offer alongside the models using lead acid batteries that they have successfully had in their fleet for some years.
This obviously requires quite a financial commitment but it shows the beauty of the hire model. Like early colour TVs, much of the equipment can be expensive to buy and is evolving, but hirers can offer it at sensible rates that make it affordable for the customer, while obtaining the maximum working life and return on investment, gradually replacing and upgrading the fleet in light of future developments.
And the sustainable benefits are appreciated by the end user and, indeed, the planet.
Of course, it’s important that hirers choose the most appropriate equipment from trusted suppliers; but that’s been the case since hire began.
It’s an exciting hire opportunity. And perhaps like colour TV back in 1970, it provides a pleasing picture for many to contemplate.
● Recalling the advent of colour TV for a BBC report in 2010 celebrating the 40th anniversary of its World Cup coverage, the broadcaster asked several people for their memories.
Jonathan Martin, former head of BBC Sport and producer at Mexico 1970, said: “The move from black and white to colour transformed people’s enjoyment of watching sport on TV. The 1970 Mexico World Cup was the first time the viewing public could see the wide variety of the national teams’ coloured strips. The most memorable moment was witnessing Gordon Banks’ save against the yellow-shirted Pele when England played Brazil, which has gone down as one of the greatest saves in football history.”
Alan Hart, former head of BBC Sport and Controller of BBC One, commented: “In 1970 new technologies helped us show the games as they had never been seen before. It was also the first time we had used slow motion replays. The machines could overheat and there were stories of BBC engineers throwing foam over them to cool them down. There are so many new devices on which people can watch the World Cup today, but technological advances felt just as innovative and exciting in 1970.”
And John Motson, the legendary BBC football commentator who died in February, said back in 2010: “Colour television had only been introduced two or three years before I joined, and many of the techniques that now entail merely the push of a button had not yet been developed. I still have memories of trying to pacify angry viewers in the 1970s who still watched black and white, and saying ‘for the benefit of those watching in black and white, Spurs are in the yellow shirts.’”
Photo: Gerd Altmann
