

Crystal set with Braille dial marking, supplied by the British Wireless for the Blind Fund and made by Burne-Jones and Company, London, England, 1929-1935.
The British Wireless for the Blind Fund was set up in 1928 by Captain Sir Beechcroft Towse, a member of the armed forces who had lost his sight in 1900 during the Boer War, and who established the fund to help blind people with the often prohibitive cost of purchasing a radio. The BWBF was the only charity permitted to broadcast on Christmas Day, beginning in 1929 with an appeal by Winston Churchill. By 1931, the BWBF had raised £37,000 and provided 17,000 wireless sets to blind listeners. This set has braille markings on the dial, allowing a blind person to tune the radio.
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Science Museum: Information Age Gallery: Broadcast
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Details
- Category:
- Radio Communication
- Object Number:
- 1970-660
- Materials:
- glass, metal (unknown), plastic (unidentified) and wood (unidentified)
- type:
- radio receiver
- taxonomy:
-
- component - object
- credit:
- Donated by R. D. Gunn
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