To mark the 100-year anniversary of the first successful operation of a television, the IET together with RTS are running a special edition of its John Logie Baird Lecture series.

The IET have held the John Logie Baird Lecture annually since 2003. It was started by the Multimedia Communications Professional Network that has evolved into today’s Media Technical Network. These lectures focus on the key technologies or issues of the day, ranging from the move from Broadcast to IP based video distribution, to content piracy and the privacy of the consumer.  

For this year’s JLB lecture, the IET together with RTS are running an evening of presentations to celebrate 100 years of TV, on the anniversary of the first successful television transmission of a recognisable image of a person.

100 years of television: John Logie Baird lecture 2025

Television successfully came into being on Friday the 2nd of October 1925 at a small lab at 22 Frith Street in London, where John Logie Baird focused his work. It had a long gestation period, with significant developments going back into the 1870s, as old as the contributing organisations to what is now the IET.

Now, 100 years later, we are to celebrate a century of Television with a look back at the events of that time in the 1920s, when the high pace of development around the world was driving towards getting moving images into homes through what had already, in 1900, been termed Television. The date that we are meeting on commemorates the 100th anniversary of the display of firstly “Stookie Bill”, swiftly followed by the first human face – William Taynton - the first on screen talent. We would call him talent as he had to be paid 2/6d to keep his face in place under the strong lighting for the image to be picked up and transmitted the short distance to the receiver and the screen. This is just one of the many 100ths that will be celebrated in the coming years, including the public debut for television that took place in January 1926.

The event will focus on seeing and understanding the technology of early televisions, as well as hearing from key speakers from the industry, and notably Iain Logie Baird. We shall also have a demonstration of a reproduction of Baird’s televisor, produced by students from the University of Strathclyde.

Starting at 19:00, there will be presentations from with key perspectives on the events of the time, including the very personal one of Iain Logie Baird, Communications Historian and grandson of the inventor himself.