TV remote? That’s Flash!
QUESTION Who invented the TV remote?
The Zenith Radio Corporation of
Chicago, Illinois, sold the first TV remote control in 1950. The Lazy Bone could turn its emerson TV on and off, plus change channels. however, it was not wireless and was attached to the TV by a cable.
Although it worked well, users complained about tripping over the wire.
Zenith engineer eugene Polley solved the problem by inventing the first wireless TV remote. The Flash-Matic looked like a torch and operated by aiming a flashlight at photocells in each corner of the TV cabinet. Unfortunately, in summer, sunlight hitting the photocells sometimes changed channels at random.
Radio and sound signals were considered as replacements until Zenith engineer Robert Adler came up with a device using ultrasonics — high-frequency sounds outside the human range of hearing. Inside the Zenith Space Command transmitter were four aluminium rods that emitted high-frequency sounds when struck at one end. each rod was a different length, to create its own sound that controlled a receiver inside the TV.
Launched in 1956, it raised the cost of a TV by 30 per cent, as the receiver in the set needed six additional vacuum tubes. Despite its cost, the remote was a huge success. Adler’s patent application read: ‘It is highly desirable to provide a system to regulate the receiver operation without requiring the observer to leave the normal viewing position.’
In the 1960s, transistors began replacing vacuum tubes in TVs. They were smaller, faster, generated less heat and were cheap to produce. The cost of the remote dropped and it became smaller.
Adler’s ultrasonics system remained the standard technology until the 1980s when it was replaced by infra-red remote controls, which use a low-frequency light beam to send a signal to the TV.
Andrew Barnes, Wolverhampton, W. Mids.
QUESTION Contrary to popular belief, was Rasputin killed quickly and quietly?
LegenD swirls around the figure of grigori Rasputin, the Siberian peasant and mystic whose supposed ability to improve the health of Alexei nikolayevich, the haemophiliac heir to the Russian throne, made him an influential member of the court of emperor nicholas II and empress Alexandra.
Despite being known as the Mad Monk, he was never ordained and never held an official position in the Russian Orthodox Church.
The famous story of his protracted death is attributed to lead assassin Felix Yusupov, the nobleman who had invited Rasputin to dine at his home in December 1916.
Yusupov claimed Rasputin’s food and drink had been laced with cyanide. When that failed to kill him, Yusupov shot Rasputin. It was alleged that minutes later the lifeless body lunged towards his attacker, who fled into the snow.
A fellow conspirator shot Rasputin again and again before a group of assassins bundled him over a bridge into the freezing river below, where he drowned.
An autopsy found that Rasputin had been shot three times: in the left side of his chest, his back and a fatal shot in his forehead. There were no traces of poison in his body or water in his lungs, so he was dead before being thrown into the water. This suggests the story of his protracted assassination was concocted as propaganda to suggest Rasputin was possessed by the Devil.
Karen Massie, Virginia Water, Surrey.
QUESTION Why do we use the title Edward I when there were previous monarchs called Edward?
AFTeR William, Duke of normandy, conquered england, he did his best to eradicate Anglo- Saxon culture and history. In effect, 1066 became Year Zero.
The lives and feats of earlier monarchs were no longer regarded as important. Today, most people would be hard pressed to name an Anglo-Saxon monarch other than Alfred the great and harold, who was defeated by William.
The first regnal number to distinguish between monarchs with the same name was William II, son of William the Conqueror, who was also known as William Rufus because of his red hair.
Imitating the monarchs of europe, henry VIII was the first to use a regnal number as part of his formal address. he was also the first to adopt the title of Majesty, in imitation of Charles V of Spain, who began to use it when he was created holy Roman emperor. Films and TV dramas often get this wrong when depicting earlier monarchs.
Anglo- Saxons didn’t use regnal numbers. They gave nicknames to each king to identify them, usually after their death. The three edwards who reigned before 1066 were known as edward the elder (son of Alfred the great), edward the Martyr and edward the Confessor.
edward the elder can’t properly be called king of england because he only ruled over Wessex and Kent before adding Mercia and Anglia to his kingdom on the death of his sister.
The first king of england as we know it was edward’s illegitimate son, Athelstan. he conquered the Danish- occupied lands in northumbria and Cumbria to form the first united kingdom of england, fulfilling the dream of his grandfather, Alfred the great.
Some countries have used regnal numbers to create a fake history. Sweden’s eric XIV and Charles IX took numbers based on a fictional history published in 1544, which invented six early kings of each name. eric XIV should really have been eric VIII.
Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.
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