The question “Who invented television?” is simple enough, but the answer is surprisingly controversial. No one person was responsible for producing what we think of as television today and the credit is due to various inventors.

The Scotsman, John Logie Baird, is considered by many to be the inventor of television. He showed early signs of his inventing ingenuity by setting up a telephone exchange to connect his house to those of his friends near by. His first interest in television came in 1903, after he read a German book on the photoelectric properties of selenium. In 1873, this element was discovered to have the capacity to generate a current based on the amount of light applied to it. Working initially in Hastings, England, Baird famously created an apparatus using an old hatbox he bought in a used goods store, a pair of scissors, some needles, some bicycle light lenses and an old tea chest. Baird also used a Nipkow disk, created by German inventor, Paul Nipkow, and a lot of his work was based on the previous work by German, Arthur Korn. In February 1924, Baird demonstrated moving silhouette images on a ‘television’. Later that year, after nearly destroying the house and nearly killing himself with an electric shock, Baird moved to London, where he gave the first public display of his invention. On 2 October 1925, Baird used an office assistant, William Taynton, to move for his transmitted pictures, and Taynton became the first person to be televised moving and in full tonal range. Baird is also later credited with demonstrating the first images on colour television, on 3rd July 1928, although the credit for being the inventor of colour television is again disputed. Another first for Baird was transmitting the first television pictures across the Atlantic in 1928. Although Baird was well known for his invention, he also became famous for refusing an offer of £100,000 for the shares in his company, which was an enormous sum at that time. Baird famously said that he would not be able to sleep at night, knowing he had that much money.

Philo Farnsworth successfully demonstrated electronic television in San Francisco, in 1927, using a different system. Farnsworth realised that a picture could be dissected by a simple television camera into a series of lines of electricity. The lines would be transmitted so quickly that the eyes would merge the lines. Then, an image dissector, which Farnsworth created, would change those lines back into a picture. The Russian inventor, Vladimir Zworykin, built on this work and it was Zworykin’s designs that were eventually used by the BBC in the UK to replace Baird’s system.

Baird’s initial work would not have been successful without the previous work of Paul Nipkow. Nipkow came up with the idea of ‘scanning’ a television image by using a spinning disk with a spiral of small pinholes. When spun at a high rate of speed, each hole would allow light to fall on a selenium cell on the other side of the disk. The amount of voltage the cell generated would depend on the amount of light reflected from the object being photographed. One rotation of the disk equalled one frame of “video”. At the place where the signal was received, the process would be reversed. A similar disk spun in sync and a neon lamp reacted to the changes in voltage with the speed required to keep up with the spinning disk and projected the images onto a screen. Although Nipkow created the disk and acquired a patent for his invention, he did not create the apparatus to project images. The patent expired after 15 years, as no one was interested then in the work. Baird’s first practical television systems used an electro-mechanical picture scanning method, the method that Nipkow had helped create with his disk. Nipkow became a celebrated scientist in Germany for his work, but the mechanical nature of the Nipkow Disk caused the invention to fade to obscurity with the use of the cathode ray tube.

Arthur Korn was another German scientist working in the same field as Baird and Nipkow and it was his work that allowed the development of Nipkow’s work that in turn led to Baird’s breakthroughs. Korn’s early work was focused on the transmission of visual telegraphic transmission, using his developments in amplification tube technology. He sent a picture of the German Crown Prince 1800 kilometres in 1906 and sent a picture of the Pope across the Atlantic in 1923. Korn’s work was celebrated and, from 1928, the German police used his technology to send photographs and fingerprints.

Finally, another American, Charles Francis Jenkins, has a claim to be the inventor of television. Jenkins, who at the time was very well known for inventing the motion picture projector, first transmitted a silhouette picture from one room to another in 1922. Jenkins founded a broadcasting company in 1928, but the crash of 1929 forced him out of business. Most people agree that Baird gave his first public demonstration of television a couple years earlier than Jenkins, but this is disputed in some places.

It is plain to see why any claim to be the inventor of television is said to be controversial. In many cases, the answer to the question, “Who invented television?”, often just depends on from which country the person answering the question is.

Let the would-be writer beware! Anyone foolhardy enough to embark on a career as a writer – whether it be an academic treatise, a novel, or even an article – should first read this!

People think that writing as a profession is glamorous; that it is just about sitting down and churning out words on a page, or more likely these days on a computer screen. If only it were! So what exactly does writing a book entail? Being a writer is about managing a galaxy of contradictory feelings: elation, despair, hope, frustration, satisfaction and depression-and not all separately! Of course, it also involves carrying out detailed research: first to establish whether there is a market for the planned publication, and second what should be the content of the book. Sometimes, however, instinct takes the place of market research and the contents are dictated not by plans and exhaustive research, but by experience and knowledge.

Once the publication has been embarked upon, there is a long period of turmoil as the text takes shape. A first draft is rarely the final text of the book. Nearly all books are the result of countless hours of altering and re-ordering chunks of text and deleting the superfluous bits. While some people might think that with new’ technology the checking and editing process is sped up, the experienced writer would hardly agree. Unfortunately, advanced technology now allows the writer the luxury of countless editing’s; a temptation many writers find hard to resist. So a passage, endlessly re-worked may end up nothing remotely like the original, and completely out of place when compared with the rest of the text.

After the trauma of self-editing and looking for howlers, it is time to show the text to other people, friends perhaps, for appraisal. At this stage, it is not wise to send it off to a literary agent or direct to publishers, as it may need further fine-tuning of which the author is unaware. Once an agent has been approached and has rejected a draft publication, it is difficult to go and ask for the re vamped text to be considered again. It also helps, at this stage, to offer a synopsis of the book, if it is a novel, or an outline if it is a textbook. This acts as a guide for the author, and a general reference for friends and later for agents.

Although it is tempting to send the draft to every possible agent at one time, it is probably unwise. Some agents may reject the publication out of hand, but others may proffer some invaluable advice, for example about content or the direction to be taken, information such as this may be of use in finally being given a contract by an agent or publisher.

The lucky few taken on by publishers or agents, then have their books subjected to a number of readers, whose job it is to vet a book: deciding whether it is worth publishing and whether the text as it stands is acceptable or not. After a book has finally been accepted by a publisher, one of the greatest difficulties for the writer lies in taking on board the publisher’s alterations to the text. Whilst the overall story and thrust of the book may be acceptable, it will probably have to conform to an in-house style, as regards language, spelling and punctuation. More seriously, the integrity of the text may be challenged, and this may require radical re-drafting which is usually unpalatable to the author. A books creation period is complex and unnerving, but the publisher’s reworkings and text amputations can also be a tortuous process.

For many writers, the most painful period comes when the text has been accepted, and the writer is wailing for it to be put together for the printer. By this stage, it is not uncommon for the writer to be thoroughly sick of the text.

Abandon writing? Nonsense. Once smitten, it is not easy to escape the compulsion to create and write, despite the roller-coaster ride of contradictory emotions.

A

Real Tennis as it is called in Britain, Royal Tennis as it is called in Australia, Court Tennis as it is called in the States, Jeu de Paume as it is called in France, or Tennis as it is properly known, is the oldest of all the racket games, and unlike most of the others, such as squash or lawn tennis, it is a product of evolution rather than pure invention.

B

The game started to form into something recognizable in the 11th century. It started as hand ball, played by monks around the cloisters of monasteries of Italy and France, much as schoolchildren do today in corners of their school playground. Gradually as monks travelled to other monasteries, more enjoyable rules were adopted, the more bizarre rules abandoned and people started to add features to their courtyards that improved the pastime, and demolish or modify others that detracted from it. The monks enjoyed the game so much that the Pope banned the playing of it, and by the 14th century the game had spread from cloister to castle and became a game of the nobility. There are other theories about the origins of the game. A tennis historian, Roger Morgan, has theorized that the game owes its origins to playing in medieval streets which is a nice idea but as the streets were also used as sewers, it couldn’t have been much fun.

C

The 16th and 17th centuries were the heyday of tennis. It was played by the nobility of France and Britain and there were reputedly 1800 courts in Paris alone at this time though a lot of these would have been quite ramshackle structures. In Britain the game flourished with royalty being famous players. King Henry VII was enthusiastic though not skilled but his son Henry VIII (more famous for his wives!) was an adept. Kings Charles I and II of England were both keen players and the game actually indirectly led to the death of King James I. One French king also died as the result of being hit by a tennis ball. Modern real tennis is virtually indistinguishable from the game played in those days.

D

Originally the game was played with the bare hand, later with a glove, then someone had the bright idea of attaching cord or tendons to the fingers. It was a short step from there to attaching these cords to a frame and adding a handle to make a racket. The ball, although similar in appearance to a lawn tennis ball is made with a core of cork, covered with cloth, tightly bound in string and covered in felt. The balls are all hand stitched and last about 2 weeks. This method has been used throughout history, although other substances such as hair or wool were used for the centre, and the balls were a good deal lighter.

E

The influence of real tennis can most clearly be seen in the Basque games known by the catchall name of pelota. There are various forms of pelota with different types of court, ball and racket, and there are forms which still uses the hand or even a basket type racket. Similarities can be seen in the court layout and rules. Probably most racket sports owe something to real tennis to some extent. Squash though derives from a game known as rackets which was developed in the debtor prisons of 17th and 18th century Britain.

F

As we have seen above, tennis of one kind or another has been played in France as far back as the 12th century. It was not until the late 19th century though that lawn tennis became popular. Major Walter Wingfield, in search of a more vigorous game than croquet for the leisure classes, devised an activity that was a hybrid of badminton and real tennis. He called it Sphairistike, Greek for ball games. In 1877 the All England Club held a tournament later to be known as Wimbledon. Eventually the game was modified from the prescriptions laid out by Major Wingfield. For instance Wingfield’s rules called for the game to be played on a court the shape of an hourglass. Soon it was played on a rectangular court. There have also been changes in the quality and type of clothing and equipment used. Early last century shorts were a radical idea. During the last few decades racket materials have radically changed with graphite and other compounds being used. Wooden rackets are now an anachronism, to the lament of the purists.

G

Nowadays there is a real tennis circuit as there is for lawn tennis. The top professionals are as fit and skilled as their lawn tennis counterparts if not as famous and well paid. Every court in the world has its own professional or professionals and these players travel round the world playing the top competitions as well as looking after their home courts. In fact real tennis is now probably played at a higher standard that at any other time in its history.

H

In the mid 19th century there was a renaissance in tennis and a flurry of court construction and the first courts were built in the US and Australia. Unfortunately the coming of the First World War cut short tennis’ re-emergence. Over the last 25 years tennis has again begun to grow. The modern costs of building the courts inhibits the growth a bit but new courts have been springing up in the US, France, Australia and the UK with talk of court construction going on in Holland, Russia and South Africa. The future again looks bright for real tennis.