I do love a quirky bit of Broadland history, and this one fits firmly into that box. A while ago I spotted an old press photograph for sale on a well know auction website. Captioned and dated on the back to August 1994, it was both intriguing and comical. Too late to be an April Fool, but was this a wind up, or was it actually part of a BBC licensing campaign?
Titled “Watching You Watching TV on the Water“, the caption read: “State of the art underwater tracking technology. The latest hand-held detection device and Licence Administration Support System is demonstrated by model frogman Chris Wilson.”
“Holidaymakers relaxing on a Broads cruiser could be disturbed by an unwelcome visitor when up from the water pops a TV licence man. The TV licensing team is swapping pinstripes for wetsuits to dive in on licence dodgers.”
When I managed to stop laughing, I had a quick Google but, surprise surprise, found no evidence of underwater TV licence detectors. In fact the question of whether these hand-held devices, or the TV detector vans which once roamed our streets, were actually capable of detecting anything at all remains hotly debated. Some claim they worked by picking up the electromagnetic signal given off by the old CRT TV’s and could pinpoint the exact room it was in, and even what channel you were watching. Others say it was complete bunkum and just a ruse to frighten people into thinking they could be caught out if they didn’t purchase a licence.
One online comment I found from 2010 claimed to be from someone in the know: “I used to work for TV licensing driving around in the detector van. It was full of fancy looking equipment for show only. NONE OF IT WORKED! They have a database of the houses without licences which they got by selecting streets and looking at who HAS got the licence, the remaining are targeted. Leaflets will be dropped through those doors advising them to buy a licence as the TV detector van will be in the area in a few weeks time. After driving round the area for days on end in a highly visible van with large antennae, leaflets are dropped again through doors saying they have been picked up by the van and need to buy a licence or face prosecution. Most people paid.”
So was this an April Fool that was just filed away at a later date, or was this genuinely designed to encourage the purchase of a TV licence. I have to say, that box doesn’t look particularly watertight! If anyone has access to the full article from 1994, or can shed some light on the story, then please get in touch via the usual methods.
