Rank Bush Murphy: ColourVision

Rank Bush Murphy: ColourVision 1

In 1964 Britain we were still mainly enjoying the 405 Black and White television service. However, also in 1964 the 625 service had just been launched, so some were getting used to dual standard TV’s on offer and the highbrow content of BBC2.

With each passing year receiver design & development improved, thinner tubes had done away with the dowdy square box and the now familiar landscape cabinets were becoming the norm. There were a vast array (some RBM offerings here) of receiver choices to the customer, but this was all about to change even further in just three short years.

Rank Bush Murphy: ColourVision 2
A typical store view from the mid 60’s, a few years before the launch of colour.

RBM (Rank Bush Murphy) for the past eight years (1958) had been working in the labs on colour television. During this time and leading up to the launch of the colour service in 1967, RBM were also engaged in the design of a wide variety of specialised monitoring and test equipment that would be needed by the transmitting authorities.

In 1964 three years before the service launch, RBM released a training suite for dealers covering colour television, It was called “ColourVision Principles”. I’ve been looking for this course for a number of years and only ever came across parts not the whole. Over the past few years I managed first to find the manual, a few years later the accompanying audio LPS, then finally last week the slides that complete the suite of the lecture.

Rank Bush Murphy: ColourVision 3
Rank Bush Murphy: ColourVision 4
An “up- market” store demonstrating the colour TV’s now available to the public

ColourVision Principles

Here are a few photos of the RBM released a training manual “ColourVision Principles”, the LP records that provide an audio representation of the lecture and the slides in their case. Sadly, I am missing LP4 of the 1-5 set. I’m hoping it will turn up.

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The plan is to try and preserve this and make it available, to that end I will set about filming it for the YouTube channel. Did you attend any of the lectures at the time? Were you an RBM dealer and given these? Any anecdotal recollections can be left via the comment section below.

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Nuvistor
Member
4 months ago

The photo of the colour TV chassis looks very like the CTV25 they introduced in 1967.

Jayceebee
Member
Reply to  Nuvistor
4 months ago

Correct, looks to be the later Mk3 version with the quadrupler. No GY501 but still had the Xray generating PD500.

Jayceebee
Member
4 months ago

Never knew about the slides but we had the records and literature where I worked. Wonder if accredited RBM dealers got these free or had to purchase them.

Nuvistor
Member
Reply to  Jayceebee
4 months ago

We were accredited dealers but I have no idea if they had to be purchased. We didn’t have the slides, may have had the books but not in 1964.

Jayceebee
Member
4 months ago

Anyone recognise the set being demonstrated in the photo at the top of the article? I think know most of the models shown but not that one.

Last edited 4 months ago by Jayceebee
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