Mains radio receiver, model A100; designed by A.F. Thwaites for Murphy; Welwyn Garden City, 1946

Mains radio receiver, 'handbag'-shaped, compression moulded in a maroon phenol formaldehyde ('Bakelite'), it flares out front and back at its base. The front and back faces are perforated with nine vertical slots, increasing in length from side to centre to form a circle. The speaker is covered in fabric on one side, the other is blank. The narrow sides each have a central ridge with a slight flute either side. The top is cylindrically-shaped, with a tuning scale on a gold base, with Murphy logo, with a clear plastic cover in the centre. The ends of the cylinder have ridged controls for tuning and volume. Between these and the centre scale are switches to turn the set on and off, and wave change. The base has impressed information and a nameplate for the set.

Purchased by the V&A Circulation Department in 1976 from Patrick Cook, proprietor of Bakelite Radio Sets, Blackheath Road, London. On entry to the Museum it was noted that a piece was missing, that the tuning scale was illegible and that the case was cracked front and back (a common complaint with this model). [RF 76/709].

The first successful radio transmission was made by David Edward Hughes (1831-1900) in 1879. Some years later, in 1896, Gugliemo Marconi (1874-1937) patented a system of electromagnetic radio wave communication which, unlike the already-established telegraph system, was ‘wireless’, meaning signals could be heard by anyone with a radio receiver in range of the broadcast. Marconi established the world’s first radio factory in Chelmsford in 1898, where sets were hand-built to high specifications for mostly scientific, governmental and military customers. Another early customer was Queen Victoria who in 1898 had a set installed at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, so she could communicate with the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, as he convalesced aboard his yacht at Cowes.

Military applications meant that radio technology advanced rapidly during the First World War, and in the 1920s regular civilian broadcasting began, changing the domestic experience forever. The previously diverse parts of the radio; the valves, controls, wires and speakers, began in the mid-1920s to be enclosed inside a single cabinet. In this early period, radios were seen essentially as furniture and some companies employed cabinet-makers and well-known furniture designers. As radios were new to the domestic interior, their design had no precedent, which allowed manufacturers to design them creatively. This struck a chord in the late-1920s and 1930s with the expanding synthetic plastics industry; oil-based plastics were also a recent innovation, the first, Bakelite (phenol-formaldehyde), having been successfully synthesised in 1907. The collaboration between industrial designers and manufacturers gave rise to many very modern radio designs, particularly in America. Tastes in Britain remained, in general, more conservative, favouring wooden cabinets or Bakelite cabinets imitating wood. During the Second World War, the manufacture of civilian radios essentially ceased in the United Kingdom, with the exception of the ‘Utility’ radio (see V&A CIRC.678-1975), produced under government directive by 42 companies.

An example of this model was shown at the V&A's 1946 exhibition, 'Britain Can Make it', organised by the Council of Industrial Design. This exhibition was a precursor to the 1951 Festival of Britain in that it showcased contemporary British design. The exhibition ran for only three months but was visited by over 1.4 million people. The intention of the show was to demonstrate the transition from wartime to peacetime industrial production. This radio is particularly interesting as it dates from the immediate post-war period and is an example of a design that utilises a technological advance resulting from wartime research: miniature valves. This innovation revolutionised radio design and allowed manufacturers an opportunity to promote the idea of lightweight second radio sets for households, something which became common with the invention of the transistor a few years later.

Murphy Radio Ltd was established in 1929 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, by Frank Murphy and E.J. Power. Murphy was one of the first companies to work with furniture designers, entering into partnership with Gordon Russell early in their history, and producing highly modern cabinet designs. Initially it was insisted that their radios be made from wood. This design dates from 1946, nine years after Frank Murphy had departed the company to found FM Radios.

Small 'handbag'-type radios began to appear in the immediate post-war period as manufacturers looked to take advantage of a newly-perceived market for women. An example of this model was shown at the V&A's 1946 exhibition, 'Britain Can Make it', organised by the Council of Industrial Design. This exhibition was a precursor to the 1951 Festival of Britain in that it showcased contemporary British design. The exhibition ran for only three months but was visited by over 1.4 million people. Its intention was to demonstrate the transition from wartime to peacetime industrial production. This radio is particularly interesting as it dates from the immediate post-war period and is an example of a design that utilises a technological advance resulting from wartime research: miniature valves. This innovation revolutionised radio design and allowed manufacturers an opportunity to promote the idea of lightweight, portable second radio sets for households, something which became common with the invention of the transistor a few years later.

CIRC.273-1976