I alluded to this particular item the other day, but if one thing has had an almost paradigm-shattering positive impact on my life, it would have to be humble domestic Video Cassette Recorder.
Or VCR to it's friends.
Monday 5th December
For anyone that's interested (and I'm sure you all aren't), there is plenty of fascinating reference material online concerning the history and development of industrial and domestic video recorders. And I recommend you go and read a portion of it so I can keep this brief, as is my self-imposed, erm... brief.
I can't remember exactly when I learned that it was possible to record television programmes off the air to watch again and again, but I can only imagine that it blew my tiny young mind.
More importantly, you could watch your favourite programmes when your parents weren't around to make sarcastic comments. (A genuinely priceless advancement for any self-conscious young Monoid).
More importantly, you could watch your favourite programmes when your parents weren't around to make sarcastic comments. (A genuinely priceless advancement for any self-conscious young Monoid).
Anyway, I finally managed to persuade my parents to buy a VCR sometime around 1984. My first blank cassettes were AGFA E-180 in black slipcases with a flash of orange and blue, and the first tape I ever hired was the stupendous Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
And not having digested the instruction booklet very well, I ended up rewinding the tape on picture search, so it could be said that I soon knew the movie almost literally back-to-front.
But for a youth with a rapidly growing interest in archive television, it was the start of a long and exciting journey into realms once thought unreachable.
And I will never forget that.
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