Television Is Booming In England, Says Mr. H. R. G. Percy

Wanganui Chronicle, 7 November 1950, Page 4

Television Is Booming In England, Says Mr. H. R. G. Percy

“Television is booming in England and is in great demand in all parts of the country," said Mr. H. R. G. Percy in an interview with the "Chronicle" last night. After an absence of*three years in England, where Mr. Percy was a member of the teaching staff or Oundle School, he and Mrs Percy and family returned to Wanganui last night.

Mr. Percy said all the important sporting fixtures were televised and enabled one to obtain a first-class view of each event. Among some of the athletic events he had seen by television were the Olympic Games, the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, Wimbledon and a professional boxing contest. Because of loss of revenue from the gate, few professoinal boxing bouts v were televised he added. ' He said one obtained a better view of the boat race through television than if one were present at the race. As an undergraduate at Oxford he han attended the boat race and one was lucky if he caught a brief glance of the crews as they flashed by. Through television he and his wife had seen the race from start to finish. The cheapest television set cost £4O. For a fee of £2 2s one obtained a television and radio licence. Excellent plays and variety shows featured the programmes of television. Mr. Percy mentioned that he and his wife had seen the film of the British Empire Games held in Auckland last February, and both were Impressed with its wide scope.

A former member of the Wanganui Amateur Athletic Club, it is Mr. Percy's intention to rejoin the club and take an interest in pole vaulting. It will be recalled that Mr. Percy, before going to England had stimulated interest in pole vaulting in Wanganui, and had represented Wanganui at the New Zealand Championships. Both Mr and Mrs Percy expressed their pleasure at being back l n Wanganui.