I used to think the clown's body was a green balloon
As a very small child I remember seeing the testcard and generally taking in the image. Slowly, as I got older, it started to sink in as to what it was- but like you I didn't get it right at first
ISTR that it took me ages to work out what the clowns body was and IIRC, Carols skirt and the clowns feet took a long time to work out too!!!
I have fond memories of the test card, but I never found it creepy. In those days, clowns were not regarded as scary like they are today. I used to love the music more than anything and would record it on my cassette recorder.
Fans of that test card music should check YouTube. I wouldn't be surprised if every piece of that test card music is there. You'll also find collections of Trade Test Transmissions programmes. I am so go glad that people have uploaded these for posterity.
I have fond memories of the test card, but I never found it creepy. In those days, clowns were not regarded as scary like they are today. I used to love the music more than anything and would record it on my cassette recorder.
Fans of that test card music should check YouTube. I wouldn't be surprised if every piece of that test card music is there. You'll also find collections of Trade Test Transmissions programmes. I am so go glad that people have uploaded these for posterity.
The genuine original music of that period is available on two CDs. 'The girl, the doll, the music' and 'Big Bandwidth', both on the Flyback label. Probably long gone now. But it's weird listening to them now, as the tunes are in the same order as they were played on the test card and I find I know what's coming next. I suppose over 20 years at the repair bench does that to you!
I seem to remember there was an advert which took the testcard - or a testcard like picture - and then rapidly aged the girl in the picture. I remember that seriously creeping me out. I've never been able to track down what the advert was for, so I'm half assuming I've imagined the whole thing, but if so, what a bizarre thing to imagine.
You do encounter some utterly ludicrous concepts online but fear of an inanimate graphic is still astonishing. I also recall some poor souls sharing their fear of the Yorkshire TV ident.
Tell me, how are either going to harm the poor lambs? Will Carol Hersee's clown come in the night to murder them? Will the grid lines descend from the ceiling in the night to suffocate them? Should they be allowed out without a carer?
This thread is bonkers ! The girl & clown were used because these included almost the full range of displayed colours with grey scale ....... Adding to the info already there in earlier grids and diffraction patterns for monochrome .......
Ha ! I realise this is an old thread but I have just found this after some Googling about that famous test card. I thought it was just me that saw some kind of toy with a green skull and strange square yellow body facing the girl ! It always used to baffle me when I heard people referring to the girl and the doll/toy etc (singular). To me there was clearly two; the clown and the green head doll thing. In fact I think I may have been in my late teens or early twenties before I twigged that the skull was the clown's body. I think the thing is, when you are a kid you are programmed to see people FACING a blackboard, not sat beside it looking out. I remember the girl being so much older than me, looking maybe even old enough to be a teacher at school, so my mind was expecting to see someone facing her. It looked like some kind of weird doll or toy with either a big skull or even a helmet, leaning back and looking up at the girl. You could even see the tip of the nose, which is actually the clown's arm. What used to puzzle me as a child was the green head thing's left arm / shoulder which looked like some kind of tiny stunted thing at the end of a square shoulder, obscured by the girl's arm. Look at the clown's two buttons. That looked to me like studio lights shining on the smooth green skull / helmet. I don't think I ever wondered where the clown's body was. I guess I assumed it was obscured by that oversized green skull. I think it just used to puzzle me, not scare me. Anyway, I was never scared of clowns, but was wary of aliens with big green shiny heads and yellow square bodies.
It was only in the past few years that I realised that the yellow at the bottom of the doll (Bubbles) was a tablecloth; I had previously thought that it was the girls (Carole) skirt!
The girl looked strangely creepy as if she knew something you didn't - and I always wondered why she was playing noughts and crosses with a green glass skull. It wasn't until the internet came along in the late 1990s that I ever heard anyone mention that the green thing was part of the clown. Even now that seems 'wrong' to me.
Having grown up in the days of Test Card C and played with Dx TV a lot in my teens, test cards of many kinds were a regular part of my life. Therefore when colour and Test Card F came along I was well into adulthood and not spooked by it one bit. I just saw it for what it was, a novel way of showing colours and providing a centre mesh for convergence setting.
There was nothing remotely scary about it. I knew that the testcard was there because programmes hadn't yet started. And the testcard had accompanying light music.
My issue as a kid was all about the gameplay itself on the board. Was she "X" or "O" - why did she not put an X in the centre square? And it always puzzled me why there were no future moves made. By not putting the first move in the centre square I was pretty sure that a positive outcome to the game was more likely. Guess I was just a geek.
Comments
I used to think the clown's body was a green balloon
As a very small child I remember seeing the testcard and generally taking in the image. Slowly, as I got older, it started to sink in as to what it was- but like you I didn't get it right at first
ISTR that it took me ages to work out what the clowns body was and IIRC, Carols skirt and the clowns feet took a long time to work out too!!!
Children can be frightened by all sorts of innocuous things. Even if you haven't had children yourself, surely you remember being a child?
Fans of that test card music should check YouTube. I wouldn't be surprised if every piece of that test card music is there. You'll also find collections of Trade Test Transmissions programmes. I am so go glad that people have uploaded these for posterity.
The genuine original music of that period is available on two CDs. 'The girl, the doll, the music' and 'Big Bandwidth', both on the Flyback label. Probably long gone now. But it's weird listening to them now, as the tunes are in the same order as they were played on the test card and I find I know what's coming next. I suppose over 20 years at the repair bench does that to you!
Stunned anyone was even mildly entertained by it, let alone was made to feel uncomfortable in any way shape or form..
Edit - found it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LbSBXLpls4
Can't say I ever have!
Tell me, how are either going to harm the poor lambs? Will Carol Hersee's clown come in the night to murder them? Will the grid lines descend from the ceiling in the night to suffocate them? Should they be allowed out without a carer?
Don't think that 'Life On Mars' will have helped either
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrKuH8_yKPY
It was only in the past few years that I realised that the yellow at the bottom of the doll (Bubbles) was a tablecloth; I had previously thought that it was the girls (Carole) skirt!
https://youtu.be/OIIxIJshmTw