Today,
You can watch Television until your eyes pop out and your brain completely fries itself.
It seems like a lifetime ago but there once was a time (The 1980’s & Early 90’s) when TV ended for the night.
Early in the morning actually.
When the last programme was finished,
A clock appeared on the screen.
A voice would announce that television was finished for the night.
Sometimes they even wished all the viewers a good night.
Nice touch.
After that,
The National Anthem would be played and BBC TV ended for the night.
Over.
It was like this:
The screen would be black for an hour or so until the Test Card appeared on screen.
The Test Card!
It used to creep me out.
Especially The BBC’s most famous one.
Test Card F:
Sinister.
Sinister if you’re a small boy up at strange hours staring at a TV screen in a dark living room while everyone else is asleep upstairs.
Upstairs, Asleep and therefore completely useless to you when the girl and the clown in the Test Card reach out and pull you into the screen to play noughts & crosses forever.
😦
Heheh.
Funny the things you think about when you’re wee isn’t it.
Did you ever wonder what became of the girl on the Test Card?
I did.
So I looked her up.
Her name is Carole Hersee and these days she looks like this:
Nobody knows whatever became of the clown…
The Unravelling Of Al Cook... 
I always used to think it was a complete waste of time showing the Test Card or at least that picture.
No offence to Carole or Bubbles (that was the scary toy’s name apparently) BUT I always thought they could’ve asked British Rail if they could put a camera in the cab window of several trains line one on the West Coast Main Line, one n the East Coast Main Line, a camera in the cab of a train from London to Penzance, Inverness to Wick and Thurso and in cab windows of trains operating on various routes in Wales.
It would’ve been more entertaining and I’m sure technology was advanced enough to squeeze the video footage into the circle where the image of Carole and Bubbles appears.
Just from Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley alone takes 4 hoursish and add the return journey and there’s 8 hours of Test Card broadcasting that is also more entertaining than looking at a still picture with a frighteningly ugly toy on it.