World Television Day 2019: 15 Unknown And Interesting Facts About Television

If you go around and ask people about one of the most loved means of entertainment of all time, you may get to hear the name of television. It not only entertains its viewers but also gives them various information regarding science, politics, education, sports, weather, etc. On 21 November 2019, we celebrate World Television Day. It was in the year 1996 when the World Television Day forum was held on 21 November. Since then the day has been dedicated to observing the World Television Day by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

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Therefore, on this World Television Day, we have brought some interesting facts related to Television.

1. In the year 1884, Paul Nipkow experimented to show static black and white transmission of various images through his 'electric telescope'.

2. The world's first electronic television was invented by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in the year 1927. He was 21 years old at that time. He was born and brought up in a household where he didn't experience electricity till he was of 14 years. But the device wasn't known as television.

3. It was in the early 1900s when a Russian Scientist first named the device with moving images and sound effects as 'television' which means 'far vision'.

4. It was in 1925 when John Logie Baird, Scottish Inventor and Charles Francis Jenkins, an American Inventor invented a device that used rotating disk and had holes in a spiral pattern. It was more like a mechanical television.

5. Baird thought of telling people about his discovery and therefore, he went to the office of Daily Express Newspaper. The news editor was reportedly so much terrified that he went upstairs and asked somebody, "For God's sake, go down to reception and get rid of a lunatic who's down there. He says he's got a machine for seeing moving images with sound! Watch him - he may have a razor on him."

6. The early televisions had only 200-400 lines of resolution.

7. It was in the year 1928 when the first American Television started working. The BBC began in 1930.

8. 'The Television Ghost' an American show which aired during 1931 featured an actor who dressed up like a person who died. He then used to narrate the story of murders of different people.

9. You may be surprised to know that high definition television entered the market in the year 1936. However, if you compare them to today's high definition television, you find them close enough to what we have today.

10. During World War II, the BBC didn't broadcast for complete seven years. It is said that the last show to air on BBC was the Mickey Mouse cartoon and in 1946, after seven years, the BBC resumed its transmission by airing that same cartoon show.

11. It was in the year 1987 when a man hijacked a television station. While he did this, an episode of Dr. Who was being aired. The man had worn a mask and went on speaking nonsense. Interestingly, the man was never recognised or caught!

12. It was after World War II only when television sets became quite popular. In 1948, many American households had television sets.

13. The first television satellite was launched in the year 1962. This later led to the huge popularity of television among people.

14. Over 600 million people are said to have watched the moon landing in 1969 through television while sitting in their respective homes.

15. Philo Farnsworth, inventor and one of the pioneers of television didn't fancy television. He quoted, "There's nothing on it worthwhile, and we're not going to watch it in this household, and I don't want it in your intellectual diet."

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We hope you like these unknown facts related to television.

Happy World Television Day.