[Denis G4DWC]

I've been out of circulation for a while due to various reasons but have been lurking here periodically.

I'd have been about 10 and heard that Neutral and Earth pins on the Mains supply were connected together, somewhere.
I connected the loudspeaker output of my old Marconi valve radio to the Neutral and Earth pins of a plug and then connected a old loudspeaker to the same pins on another plug. I could plug the loudspeaker in any mains socket in the house and get music along with a bit of 50Hz hum. I was really lucky all the sockets were connected with the correct polarity.

When I was an apprentice in the TV trade I had a friend who was a first year apprentice at another TV shop in Wallingford. He was repairing a Morphy Richards CA75 iron and the little MES green bulb wasn't working. He thought he would take it out and test it. He didn't know about the Shunt across which the low voltage bulb was connected. He put the bulb across the mains and apparently there was a bright flash and tiny pieces of flying glass.

It's lucky we're all still here. Fifty years on and I still keep in touch with that friend.

Denis