Blog: In a digital daze but tuning in to nostalgia

If I hadn't already been completely baffled as to how sound and pictures arrive in the corner of your room at the touch of a button, I am now.

Our previous telly was a monster. It took six Royal Marines to carry it from one room to another.

But at least, in a way, it made some kind of sense to me. Do you know what I mean?

The body of the thing, the height and depth and weight of the box which contained all the gubbins behind the screen – well that was where all the little television people lived, right? The newscasters, David Attenborough, the cowboys and indians, the crew of the Starship Enterprise, and those good folk of Downton Abbey – that's where they all lived.

But now, with this thing, this wafer-thin screen with nothing behind it, well I'm more confused than ever.

And (although I've yet to get to grips with all this myself), our sons tell us you can get the internet on it and everything!

It's the kind of technology that Gerry Anderson portrayed in his vision of the 21st century – in his programmes Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. But when we were kids watching all that, I'm not sure we thought it would ever actually happen.

Seems to me, we've come an awfully long way in just a few decades.

All this got me thinking about what many now refer to as 'the golden age' of radio and television, those early years when it all really did seem like magic.

One of the companies in Shrewsbury that helped generations enjoy this revolution in the dissemination of information, entertainment, education and enlightenment, was A. R. Mitchell.

The photograph seen here of their shop comes from one of David Trumper's wonderful books of old pictures, A Glimpse of Old Shrewsbury.

The shop was at the junction of Mardol and Claremont Street and the picture is from 1953.

A. R. Mitchell had opened an electrical shop at 15 Claremont Street way back in 1923. Years before this, his father had established a boot and shoe shop in Wem but A. R. had no wish to follow in this (dare I say?) walk of life; nor follow in (dare I say it?) his Dad's footsteps. Shoes, walk of life, footsteps – get it?

No. The son had caught the radio bug. He had spent time as a wireless officer while a naval cadet and had become fascinated by radio.

Explains David Trumper: "An important link was forged in 1931 after a visit to the town by Frank Murphy. He was directed to Mr Mitchell's shop after enquiring where the best wireless shop in Shrewsbury was. The outcome of that meeting was that Mitchell's became the sole distributor for Murphy's radios in the town. The business grew and was able to expand around the corner into Mardol. It also opened another shop on St John's Hill and a workshop in Belle Vue."

The firm was very much in demand with its personal address system taking it to all the top attractions and sporting events in the county.

Along with other electrical firms it also helped to organise the annual Electrical Homes Exhibition at the Music Hall.

If you look very closely at the photograph you can see in the shop window fridges, kettles and vacuum cleaners and a host of other electrical appliances. So, one can well imagine, that in those austere post-war years, A. R. Mitchell played a massive role in helping Shrewsbury families to make their home lives more comfortable and less labour-intensive.

The firm would also have been at the forefront of providing the most up-to-date radios and televisions as the years rolled by.

In short, A. R. Mitchell was surely a major player in the social history of our town during those decades. Frankly, I think they're one of these local firms deserving of a book all to themselves.

The chances are, our mum and dad, over their lifetime, would have bought many an electrical appliance from Mitchell's, and very possibly including the radios and televisions which played such an important part in our upbringing.

I wonder if any readers out there can shed any more light on this firm? If so, I would love to hear from you - email [email protected]

Meanwhile, I really must try to work out how this new telly works.