Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Queen and I (a short history of my television viewing)

Last week there seemed to be a lot of hoopla about a royal wedding.  I usually start my day with coffee and the Today Show, so I caught the last bit of the ceremony during my morning ablutions.  I suppose to commemorate this historic event I should have had my morning coffee out of the cup my sister sent me to commemorate my birth.


My first outing as a baby was to go to my grandparents' house on June 2, 1953 so my parents could watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on television.  I was 8 days old.


Televisions were in shorter supply in those days and my parents couldn't afford one.  My grandparent's black and white set sported a whopping 9 inch screen.  You had to sit up pretty close to be able to distinguish the images on that television.  TVs just weren't as fancy back then but not for wont of trying as evidenced in this cartoon from 1953:


Back then watching a show was a one shot deal.  No pausing the DVR or rewinding to catch something you missed.  Watching the coronation of the Queen on television was considered THE event in 1953.

Odds are I missed the entire thing since I spent my time back then sleeping, crying, eating and eliminating what I ate.  This time around I missed most of the royal event again for the same reasons.  (Minus the crying.)

Guess when it comes right down to it, things don't really change all that much after all...
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