To that it's almost inconceivable now that telly used to go off-air every night

[fishdishwish]

Even though I grew up in an age before 24 hour TV (I'm 38), it seems like a million years ago!

To think, even!!!

DD flatly refuses to believe the telly ever just went off, she also can't grasp the concept of just 3 channels, none of which were just for kids. She either thinks i am making it up or I grew up in some kind of work house with oliver twist!

It does doesn't it

Don't tell anyone, but I was about 6 before we got a coloured TV, the man tuned it into Tom & Jerry - I was mesmerised :)

I remember Children's Hour ! literally one hour's viewing per day just before the evening news, plus Watch With Mother for fifteen minutes each afternoon. No daytime telly for adults at all!

Nancy I have been getting the from the 9yo too. It just doesn't compute!

I remember my brothers watching snooker on the telly.

Sadly, it was in black & white though they still claimed to be able to tell which ball was which.

I remember falling asleep and waking up to the beeeeeeep with the little white dot.

Chipping DD is 9 too, she keeps questioning me about telly in the olden days (i am 39 ffs!) I think she is trying to catch me out. I tild her the other day that on a Saturday afternoon we used to watch wrestling - she thinks I have totally lost the plot :)

I remember having to put coins in my grans telly so it would work! The cut off when the credit ran out, jeezo those were the days

I can just about recall the three channel era - I remember watching Channel 4's opening moments back in 1982!

Old-school Saturday afternoon grappling beats that WWE nonsense any day of the week!!

My nan had an electric metre that you had to put 50ps in but not a pay as you go telly!

TV ended to the National Anthem and the Bedtime Routine song.
TV sets should be unplugged,
Last thing every night.
Fires can start in unexpected ways,
So switch off all your fires at night,
They could set your home alight,
Fires can start in oh so many ways.

Care routine, show your intention,
Fire prevention. Fire prevention.
Check and make sure
You close every door.
We mean
Your life could depend on your bedtime routine.
How's your bedtime routine.

I think I might still remember the dance.

Weird, I was only talking with my mum today about this! She says that the telly would go off at teatime to let you get the kids to bed before coming back on in the evening ...

Hard to believe. That can't be true, surely?

Kiss I remember going away with my Aunty & cousins and having to put 5p coins in the electric meter! I loved it :)

nancy - I showed her some clips of The Phoenix and the Magic Carpet, which I thought was FAB at her age, she actually really enjoyed it too, but by god technology has improved Yes all of the 'but when you were little....' I do occasionally remind her that I'm not actually that old

I know. I was a terrible sleeper as a nipper, (I make up for it now though)and I'd be up to past midnight some nights and I remember this clock thing with the dots and I would put my finger on the dots until they'd disappeared. Did anyone else used to do this.

BOF I seem to remember my grandparents saying something like that... it was years ago and didn't really compute at the time, but something about the 'telly back on of an evening'. Of course when it first started it was only broadcasting a couple of hours a day!

To me, it doesn't seem all that long ago that TV used to be far more limited.
BBC1 used to start with the lunchtime news, followed by Pebble Mill at One, followed by Watch with Mother. Then it often went off air until the repeat of Playschool at about 4.00pm.

Children's hour was Playschool, then Jackanory, then, Newsround followed by either Blue Peter, Crackerjack or a children's drama, then finally a 5-minute programme (Magic Roundabout, Roobarb & Custard, Hector's House, Captain Pugwash etc) before the early evening news.

The evening programmes usually finished at about 11.30-ish, but certainly before midnight. An announcer used to come on air at closedown and wish everyone good night, then the BBC globe appeared and the National Anthem was played - and that was that!

I rather liked it.

I would put my finger on the dots until they'd disappeared. Did anyone else used to do this.

Yes!

It was off in the afternoon too for some channels (well, out of the 3 of them!) Anyone remember this?

Did anyone elses parents used to rush to unplug the aerial if there was a thunderstorm?

I recall the days of 3 channels pretty well, and we didnt have a tv with a remote.

i remember a colour tv being delivered to the house in 1979 and the black and white one being taken away. i was 5 or 6 then.

Yes; BBC2 would put up that test card with the girl drawing on the blackboard and a weird clown in the background. It was spooky even then and looking back on it it seems just even more peculiar.

I think a remote is a reasonably new thing - imagine the horror of having to get off your backside and press a button yourself - dd would never cope!

Peculiar? Playing noughts and crosses with a toy clown?

That's what DCs were for Nancy. That's why people had bigger families then.

True Dione I knew there was a good reason for my parents having my brother :)