The earliest on-screen URL

It was all the rage back then. A couple of ILR stations (Radio West and Signal ?) had programmes (not programs !) about computing, and would incorporate databursts during the show, and more lengthy transmissions overnight after closedown. Even the Beeb got in on the act with Radio 4's 'The Chip Shop' hosted by Barry Norman.

Quite easy back then to make a direct cassette recording from the radio that you then played back into your computer, a bit tricker (but by no means impossible) for TV

Netscape was the first browser i first used. My sister was a chatter box so at the weekends i often found myself disconnecting the net so she could chat with her school friends for an hour. Or disconnecting if mum and dad wanted to make a call.

The very cleverly titled Chip Shop Takeaway Service

I used to love this programme - The Net - complete with its own datablast called "Netcetera".

Guinness claim to be the first UK television advertisement to include a website, back in 1995:


Vauxhall had one in their ads for the Frontera by the end of that year too.

Tomorrow's World keeping both bases covered in 1995.

I remember on the Sci-Fi Channel 'Sightings' show around this time the presenter used to say triple-dub, which was almost as good as Patrick Moore saying c-o dot u-k

BBC World Service still give out URLs and email addresses that way.

Yes a few other places do it too, understandable for outside the UK, not many countries have URLs in that format (South Africa is the one that springs to mind)

The BBC's world facing webpages are .com but I don't think that their email addresses are

Barry says "VHF" at 0:29, an outdated term for FM when BBC used the term FM later in 1984.

I wonder if it was partially because [Station] FM is catchier than [Station] VHF. I can't see them deciding to call it 1VHF when they shortened Radio 1's name in the late 80s!

Fascinating! Didn't know you could distribute cross-platform software in that way. Also interesting that the post code is TVC rather than Broadcasting House.

W12 8QT was actually Lime Grove, and specifically the post room there. Lots of programmes expecting significant volumes of mail used that address. (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13751491 and a previous thread at https://www.tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/bbc-postcodes-40402/)