HOW very different does a store selling televisions look today?

In this picture we see the old box style television sets which were the first ones to appear on shelves.

There were various television shops in the Bolton area and many people would rent their sets rather than buy them.

When Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1953 not everyone had a television set to watch the spectacle on.

Families gathered in the homes of the lucky people to own a television set making it a rather special occasion for the whole street.

Electronic television was first successfully demonstrated in San Francisco on September 7, 1927.

The system was designed by Philo Taylor Farnsworth, a 21-year-old inventor who had lived in a house without electricity until he was 14.

Television in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising.

We would love to hear from you if you have memories of television in the early days.

Were you the first family in the street to get a television set or perhaps you did not see one until you were in your teenage years.

Do you remember hiring a television set from a shop rather than buying one and what did you do before the television took over as a form of entertainment?

We know that in Bolton there were dozens of theatres and cinemas that were responsible for the entertainment of the vast majority of our more mature readers.

The highlight of their week was a trip to the cinema on a Saturday morning or a visit to the theatre in Churchgate in Bolton followed by a pastie from Ye Olde Pastie Shoppe which would stay open to feed the theatre-goers.

Contact Gayle McBain on 01204 537269 or email gayle.mcbain@nqnw.co.uk with your memories and we will include them in Looking Back.