Radio broadcasting was made possible in the United Kingdom in 1920 with the establishment of Marconi’s experimental radio station in Essex. Based in a decomissioned army hut in Writtle, it offered daily half hour broadcasts of news and light entertainment. Radio was popularised as a form of entertainment through developments such as the founding of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), the widespread use of short-wave radio in the mid-1920s and an increase in the number of broadcasting stations throughout the country.

This is an expensive, precision-engineered radio, made from high specification materials, such as the red plastic alloy, by the Dutch company Philips, for the high end of their range. Owing to its cost, relatively few of this model were sold.