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Just thinking.  Back in the early days of tv 50/60s it seemed, ln my circles anyway, that most folks rented a set from, Wigfalls, Radio Rentals, Rediffusion etc.  Understandable as many cost several weeks wages and about two men to lift 'em.

In todays market of big LCD screens, solid state, and relatively light and  inexpensive sets do folks still rent a tv or are the rental companies out of business?

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I rented a black and white T.V the first year we got married.

Then a colour for the second year. (both from Southwell Tv rentals, way cheaper than the national TV rental co's)

Then bought a colour in the third year.

 

I've never rented any other domestic appliance,

I bought a second hand washer, Hoover Keymatic, for the first one, then always new afterwards.

 

I would think for the millions?? of people who currently rent houses and flats then renting appliances is not a strange idea, especially if they're younger and always want the latest models.

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I worked for a couple of years in the late sixties for East Coast Personal Finance. They were based in Nottingham in the same block as the Albany Hotel. They were part owned by the giant Phillips Electrical Group. Phillips had interests in electrical retailers through the country. In this area it was Alex Owen who stretched out as far as Skegness. They were big in television rental and slot television. My area, where I was regional accountant, was the whole of Scotland and every month I would fly up there for a couple of days of wining and dining. I also spent some time in Manchester where I would stay during the week at the Piccadilly or Midland hotel. It was a magnificent dining experience every weekday evening. I never intended to stay there for ever but it was an interesting experience. I left to work as accountant for a building and property development company. That was a dodgy setup and I left after a year to work in manufacturing industry for the rest of my working life where I subsequently moved onto the technical side and forgot all about accountancy!

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I think sets were less reliable then.  If it broke down you just called the company.  They would send a repair man who would leave a loaner if he had to take yours into the shop. So you were never without one and no expensive repairs.  Always remember a Wigfalls guy who described them as "Wiggy's super service. "

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We never had a TV at all for many years and that was a bit of a novelty in those days; people couldn't believe that anyone didn't have a telly in their house.

 

When my parents eventually took the plunge, the television sets we had were rented, and I'm sure it came from Rentaset. 

 

In fact the first TV we had was a 625-line set with BBC2. That was a big  novelty because I didn't know anyone else in our area who had such a thing; everyone else still had a 405-line set with just BBC1 and ITV.

 

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Out first TV was a Pye, nine inch console model with a black screen. We had it in 1953 in time to watch the coronation. We must have had it on hp. Our next door neighbour, who was a bit of an electronics whizz, was building his own tv at the time! I remember our first colour television which would have been around 1970.

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My dad worked for DER (Domestic Electric Rentals) from mid-1960s onwards as a TV repair technician, having been trained by Rediffusion a few years before.  He would carry three or four spare sets in his Anglia/Escort/Fiesta estate car so that if on-site repair was taking too long he could leave a good one and take the faulty one back to the guys in the workshop (in Bulwell at first and later in Broad Marsh).  I think they were told to leave a slightly upmarket one (i.e. bigger) to try to get customers to upgrade (more rent!)

 

DER was owned by Thorn and was later joined by Radio Rentals.  Brands covered by Thorn included Ferguson, Baird, Alba and Ultra (all similar internally).

 

As time progressed colour TVs came out and Dad carried the latest models.  He had to bring all the sets into the house overnight for security (bet we weren't insured for that!)  We could choose to watch a 'massive' 26" colour TV in the front room or the family-owned B&W in the living room.  I learned how to do the 'convergence' where you try to get the red, green and blue images to overlay as best you could by twiddling a couple of dozen adjusters.  Apparently those big colour TVs cost about £300 to buy back in the day - no wonder so many folk rented.  They were quite heavy and took two people to carry one safely.  Along came video recorders and cameras to hire so we got to play with those as well.

 

Here is a link with some contemporaneous prices:

 

https://www.radios-tv.co.uk/der/

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Last major buy I made several years ago was a Panasonic projector.  No bigger than a slide projector and can throw an H D image 12 feet across onto a white wall or screen.  These days I don't watch tv much anymore.  The news and commercials are even more horrible 12 feet wide.  Some of the old remastered Cinerama flicks look good though.  Especially the roller coaster ride just 15 feet away from the screen.

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1 hour ago, The Engineer said:

Here is a link with some contemporaneous prices:

 

https://www.radios-tv.co.uk/der/

 

One point immediately struck me about those adverts - Because there were only 3 channels (BBC1, 2, and ITV) there was no need for a remote changer (and probably the technology hadn't been invented yet) .

 

You had to get up and press a button.

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The first remote controls were wired, then they brought out ultrasonic ones.  You could change channel by jangling a set of keys (accidentally or on purpose to annoy someone!)

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Remember them tells that you had to put 50 pence in a slot at the back in the 70,s ?

I can remember one Sunday evening we were watching a film called hell drivers , and half way through the film the 50 pence had run out and the telly cooked out , our dad ses " right kids , off to bed , we haven't got any money for the telly"

Never did see the ending to the film until years later.

Does anyone remember the T.V with the slot at the back ?

Or the film , I think Sean Connery was one of the hell drivers , or was it Stanley baker ,not sure , but maybe some folks on here remember the film and who starred in it.

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Way back in the early 1970’s I worked as a trainee TV service engineer. The company I worked for had a number of contracts for various sales outlets to repair TV’s and general electrical items, radiograms, hifi etc, that in those days were often bought on hire purchase. I think Rumblows (spelt?) was one company we did a lot of house visits for. You would find that there wasn’t a great deal of skill needed in repairing many tv’s as certain models would have common faults. I did hundreds of home visits most of which are lost in my memory but I well recall one. I went to a house on the Bulwell Hall estate. The whole family were on the doorstep waiting my arrival. They had been tv less for a couple of days and were obviously addicted and were completely lost without their box. The set was exhibiting a common fault, just a bright white line horizontally on the screen. I knew exactly what the fault was and replaced one of the line output valves. Yes they did still had some valves although they were mainly solid state at this period. Picture restored in moments to immense joy and cheers. I think at that moment I could have slept the the wife and eldest daughter. I left to cries of joy and slaps on the back hailed as a hero. 

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19 minutes ago, Stuart.C said:

David.

Yes Sean and Stanley Baker and McGoohan

Hell Drivers, the one with the mirror in the floor.

They were all racing to get the highest number of loads from the quarry.

 

The good guys won in the end.

 

5CYYntT.png

 

 

@Stuart.C yes that was the one thanks for the info , I was about 13 years old , and was disappointed when the telly ran out of money , but the memories come flooding back !

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Stuart, 'Hell Drivers', some of the cast were...

Sean Connery, Patrick McGoohan,  Sid James, Alfie Bass, William Hartnell, Stanley Baker, David McCullum, to name but a few. The real stars were the trucks, carrying gravel, all speeded up on lanes.

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I've got a DVD of the film, if anybody wants a copy. I used to drive a Dodge, but ours were twin wheeled 20 tonners. My uncle, who I worked for said we were like Hell drivers. 

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23 hours ago, philmayfield said:

I worked for a couple of years in the late sixties for East Coast Personal Finance. 

My Father in law Bill Higgins worked for East Coast as a rep, late sixties early seventies.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just found this photo in my archives, Bridge street Newark branch, a good time after they left Newark, now a charity shop

 

Bridge-street-Newark.jpg

 

Rog

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