Witness History John Logie Baird invents television
Jan 26, 2026
Iain Logie-Baird, grandson of inventor John Logie Baird and a museum professional, shares vivid family recollections. He describes the 1926 attic televisor demo, a beard-getting-caught mishap, and how light was converted into moving images. He also covers press scepticism, funding struggles, technical scanning breakthroughs, and Baird’s later experiments in colour TV.
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The Risky Royal Institution Demo
- John Logie Baird described a crowded demonstration at the Royal Institution where visitors climbed narrow stairs into attic rooms to view his televisor experiment.
- A bearded volunteer had part of his beard caught in the spinning disk but insisted on continuing while his face was transmitted to the next room.
Fighting Skepticism With Repetition
- Ian Logie-Baird recounts his grandfather's frustration with sceptical scientists and the need to repeatedly demonstrate the televisor.
- He says Baird 'had to fight, he had to kick, he had to scream' to convince people the invention worked.
Rejected By Marconi
- Baird visited Marconi seeking financing and was kept waiting before being brusquely told there was 'no interest' in television.
- He later wrote the encounter felt like asking Mr Grey if he was interested in brothels, showing how dismissed the idea was in 1925.