Goblin Timespot radio receiver with electric clock, 1947

Goblin Timespot lw/mw/sw broadcast radio receiver, with built-in electric clock for automatic switch-on, 1947. There are several versions of the Timespot. All seem to have featured a three-waveband radio (short, medium and long wave), a fairly standard four valve plus rectifier superhet. The valve line-up was 6K7G, 6K8G, 6Q7G, 6V6G, 5Z4G.

The Goblin Timespot, released in 1947, appears to have been the first ever commercial radio alarm clock. Early promotions described it as a “Goblin Controlled Time Domestic Radio, Incorporating Superhet Radio Receiver with Synchronous Electric Clock”. It cost £24 when first released and was the first radio that incorporated a clock so that the owner could pre-set the time for it to come on and turn off. In the same year Ekco released a clock radio, the A33 Radiotime – their comparatively modern looking cabinet was designed by the architect and designer Wells Coates.