Back when John Logie Baird’s black and white idea was fairly new, I had a mate whose dad bought a magnifying screen for their TV, which had a screen of 21″ or thereabouts, IIRC. Certainly not as tiny as my brother’s 14″ Vidor, a good bit bigger. The magnifier assembly was screwed to the edges of the screen with a framework and almost obscured some controls. It made the picture almost ‘goldfish bowl’ shape, but no comment was allowed as my mate’s dad was a big drunken control freak and he had bought the thing: you did not oppose this bloke, or denigrate anything he possessed. No idea why he thought it was a good idea, as the set was a nice Ferguson and the picture was very good.
A plot was in order, with a cast of 3 other mates. Waiting until his dad was well into a pub session and mam shopping in Mansfield, we made sure that all of us were seen in a local beauty spot, sneaked back while his dad was at work, removed and dumped it back at the spot again, where it would never be found. We messed up the lounge as if for a break – in before we transported it. His dad came home so plastered, missed all the mess and went to bed. His mam apparently found the mess and woke dad, who raged about thieves, called the police but did not suspect a thing.
We kids used to stand up for each other and we still do now we are older: still in touch with the survivors. Most of whom are women, of course. Mate’s dad eventually died in his 40’s of a heart attack and the fainting attacks his son was prone to at school, stopped. So did his bruises. Pit village solidarity, long gone.
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.
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