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Old 1st Mar 2016, 10:12 pm   #129
Phil G4SPZ
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 4,735
Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

An episode of 'Downton Abbey' featured a wireless set being installed in 1924 to enable the household to listen to the King's first broadcast. The anachronism I spotted when the programme was aired was that the wireless set took several seconds to warm up, and the audio was preceded by mains hum, an unlikely scenario for a battery set of that era.

My wife, a keen Downton enthusiast and owner of the official companion book entitled "Downton Abbey - A Celebration", pointed out the excellent still photo on page 20-21 taken from the scene set in 1924. The photo reveals that the wireless set is a beautifully restored 1922 Gecophone BC2580. However, it's playing through a horn loudspeaker which looks uncannily like a Sterling Model 33 (RR 3rd Ed, Fig 881, p. 211) which dates from 1927!

I realise that this is nit-picking in the extreme, and I doubt that any viewer noticed. I assume that the radio and speaker were loaned by the BVWTVM. All involved are to be congratulated on the extent to which period accuracy was achieved.
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