Tomorrow's World

[mrs the esk]

I loved this programme when I was a child.

 

[Dylan]

Me too. Was a great show!

 

[malfosse]

I wonder how many ideas became reality.

 

[Durham Toffee]

It's stunning what people actually reckoned our world would be like ony 25-30 years in advance.

Look at it.

Just bloody look at it...

 

[bizzaro]

I loved this programme when I was a child.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

I wonder how many ideas became reality.

http://www.gocompare.com/covered/2013/232922/six-real-things-from-tomorrows-world/

Prototype was on there in 1979, it rang, presenter answered & it was a wrong number.

School computers became mainstream in the 1980s when children spent their ‘IT lessons’ on the behemoth of a computer stuck in the corner of the room, manoeuvring a turtle around the screen by entering in co-ordinates.

The hypnotic sound of the dial-up modem whirring and clacking away promised the idea of a new universe to explore via something named the Internet.

However, Tomorrow’s World introduced us to the idea of using computers for education in 1969, when the plucky, forward-thinking boys of Forest Grammar School used theirs - called Nellie, presumably because its mass was similar to that of an elephant - to solve maths equations and even play music.


LASER EYE SURGERY

Photo: Capt' Gorgeous

The thought of letting someone loose on your retinas with a massive laser isn’t one that most of us would relish, but did you know that the surgery was first practised in the 1960s?

Indeed, the decade that health and safety forgot is responsible for this modern-day surgical marvel. Today, you can pop out on your lunch break and regain your vision without even batting an eyelid.

Dubbed as ‘tomorrow’s eyes’ - yes, they probably should have gone with a less creepy strapline - it was thanks to the pioneering work in the ‘60s that you now have the option of throwing away your glasses.

PLASTIC GARDENS

Photo: Dominic's Pics

Appearing on Tomorrow’s World in 1968, a plastic garden was featured as the next big thing. Imagine city gardens and countryside alike full to bursting with toxic green turf, never-wilt flowers and rigid foliage. Sounds grim, right?

Luckily, as a nation we decided that the au naturelroute was the one for us. Who wants to hoover their lawn or Mr Muscle their petunias? No thank you, we'll just continue to enjoy our garden in all its overgrown glory.

Of course, the technology has come in handy in the form of astroturf. As all of us who've been on the receiving end of an acute sports-related turf burn will know, that stuff is indestructible! If ever you feel the need to play hockey in a freezing-cold downpour or make your front lawn resemble a doormat, astroturf is the way forward.


COMPUTERISED BANKING

Imagine a world where, instead of carrying cash around everywhere, we can simply transfer funds from our accounts to a shop. Oh right, that happens now. Thanks, Tomorrow’s World.

After initially regarding it as some kind of witchcraft, we have grown accustomed to the chip-and-pin method of paying for things.

Casually typing in that four-digit code as we chatter nonchalantly with friends; spending our money without a care in the world. We laugh scornfully at our apparently antique cheque book cowering in the corner of an unused drawer, hoping that one day we might use it again.


The Barcode Reader

Beep beep beep. Black and white lines would revolutionise shopping, host Maggie Philbin stated to a hypnotised and slightly nauseous public.

The Breathalyser
In the past people got drunk and drove home. Then they woke up wondering why their car was in the living room. Former Spitfire flying presenter Raymond Baxter ended this when he demonstrated how crystals changed colour depending on how much alcohol was breathed on them. The breathalyser was born. The drunk driver was arrested.


The Camcorder
The 80s were Camcorder crazy. In 1981 TW was explaining how twomachines (the camera and the video recorder) had become one. Progress was fast leading to everyone buying the wrong machines and staring at piles of Betamax tapes instead of the television. It was a good time.

CCTV
In only TW’s third programme Raymond Baxter did an Orwell. ‘Robot television cameras’ would be placed in strategic positions to deter robberies, he said while worrying that privacy would be infringed. They were and it was. Still he never wrote a book about it.

Ceefax

TW might not have predicted the internet, but it did tell viewers all about Ceefax which had been developed by the BBC. The same station that produced TW. Other predictions on that show included some music, darkness and probably sleep. Amongst other things Ceefax did give insomniacs two repeating news stories to read once the national anthem had finished.

The Clockwork Radio
One of the more recent inventions featured on TW was the clockwork radio. Inventor Trevor Baylis explained how, with a little bit of arm power, music and news could be available to anyone day and night. After his spot on the show the clockwork radio was singing all over Africa.

The Compact Disc

Music would never sound the same again. Plus it would be indestructible. To prove this in 1981 presenter Kieran Prendiville (later creator of Ballykissangel!) smeared a Bee Gees disc with strawberry jam. It still played.

The Digital Camera
It never worked. How could it work, it wasn't even in the studio. There was no digital camera. But way before anyone had linked photographs with computers TW was talking about it. It would happen. Even if no-one was quite sure how.

The Digital Watch

In 1970 Swiss chemical firm Hoffman La Roche patented liquid crystal display (LCD).In 1972 Judith Hann said the future was digital. She was talking about clocks and watches. She was right. Then TV went digital. It was something different but Judith had predicted it. Kind of.

The Fax Machine
There might be some people who don’t even know what a fax is anymore. A fax is like a scanner with email. Or a photocopier attached to a computer. It was important for about two and a half years. They made futuristic whirring and beeping sounds a bit like a washing machine having sex with a microwave. No-one quite knew what faxes were. The commercial fax was first shown on TW. People got excited. Then they forgot about it.

Fibre-Optics

Fibre-optics are now so widely used that no-one has a clue what they are. It’s the same as electricity. So when communicating with fine strands of light-carrying glass instead of copper was discussed as a real idea of the future on an early edition of TW viewers chuckled.

Global Positioning System (GPS)
All old technology is massive. It’s one of the rules. GPS navigation was performed on TW but it came in a massive computer in the boot of a four door saloon. The A-Z was safe in the glove-box for another twenty years.


The Hovercraft
TW thought amphibious vehicles were the future. And they were. Passenger hovercrafts later shuttled customers across the English Channel. Still Raymond Baxter was disappointed that the full potential of the great machine was never fully utilised over land. People would later be transported by high-speed train to Paris through a 'Channel Tunnel'. TW had said this would happen twenty years earlier.

In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)

Judith Hann was a real scientist which meant the bits no-one else watched really interested her. Becoming a champion for IVF Judith helped many would-be parents get the advice and information they so desperately sought. Later shows would talk about too many people living on the planet.

Kraftwerk
German synth combo Kraftwerk were always from the future. They still are. Back in 1975 they were live on TW making robot sounds.


The Personal Stereo
In 1980 music went mobile. Viewers looked at their record players and tutted. This new walking around with a cassette player and a pair of headphones with pink hair and funny coloured socks would never catch on. But it did. It was just the music that was crap.

Phone Cards
Back when there were phone boxes that weren’t just for tramps a common problem was loose change. These were the days of one pound notes and half penny coins. So TW featured a neat looking plastic card that could be used in special phone booths. It could also cut vandalism since there wouldbe less cash in phone boxes to be nicked. Tramps everywhere looked confused, mainly as a result of being tramps.

Pocket Calculators

One of the stars of TW was inventor Sir Clive Sinclair. Back in the 80s he invented the Sinclair C5, a battery operated electric car bike type thing. It was stupid. But in the 70s he’d already come up with the pocket calculator. He introduced it on TW and soon everyone had one. No-one kept it in their pockets.

Pong
Video games weren’t so good in the beginning. Two sticks, a ball and one shared space beep. But Raymond Baxter enjoyed playing it on the show with his American wife Sylvia. Later he would demonstrate a new bulletproof vest with a gun and an assistant. Sylvia was unavailable.

Suspenderless Stockings

TW wasn't all science. Or else no-one would have watched it. In between the microscopes and radiation were women’s legs and the age old question: How do you keep a stocking in place without a suspender? Fat legs and lard were two wrong answers.

Some of the things that didn't quite work out:
Worms as food, the floating bicycle, paper underpants, waterproof paper, the sheep-shearing robot, the snooker-playing robot, the portable bath, the paper suit, the glow-in-the-dark fishing rod, interplanetary etiquette, pills for an all-chemical meal, centrally-heated ski poles, squash ball warmers, real plants that double as television aerials.

 

[verreauxi]

What they didn't anticipate is that most home computers would be used to surf porn and make cheeky comments on internet forums, not teach the children and manage your finances; we still generally suck at that as a society.

 

[ste d' indica]

Where's the jetpack money Bill?

 

[coollino]

 

[wm02]

Gotta love Italians. They can even make a calculator ad sexy.

 

[peteblue]

Still expecting a pair of hoverboots for Christmas........