An Eye to the Future

A promotional film for Pye Ltd., Cambridge: a company in the vanguard of the application of science to early media and scientific equipment.

Establishing shots of Cambridge, its colleges and the Cavendish Laboratory introduces the history of Pye Ltd., a company started in 1900, producing the first portable radio receiver in 1922 and, later, the television camera. At the factory a television camera is designed, assembled and tested. Various cameras, including one bearing a BBC logo, are seen in use. The versatility of the cameras is depicted in various environments including outside broadcasts of a boxing match and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The film concludes with the demonstration of an experimental colour camera, and a display of other Pye scientific equipment including an early video recorder and radio telephones.

Featured Buildings

Cavendish Laboratory; Clare Bridge; King's College Chapel; Pye Ltd

Keywords

Broadcasting; Cameras; Radios; Televisions; University of Cambridge