Engineering TV series back in 1979....way before Mythbusters

[Pat Pending]

Before Prototype This....before Mythbusters...way back in 1979, there was this on BBC2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/

Only could find the opening theme on youtube

[Zad]

Yeah I was looking for an episode of The Great Egg Race to post to the Amp Hour comments. It sounds like the BBC are being rather obsessive about getting clips deleted, which is a shame because it was a brilliant show.

[Noize]

Here's the BBC's page with a load of episodes. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/10804.shtml

Yeah I was looking for an episode of The Great Egg Race to post to the Amp Hour comments. It sounds like the BBC are being rather obsessive about getting clips deleted, which is a shame because it was a brilliant show.

[robrenz]

Here's the BBC's page with a load of episodes. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/10804.shtml

Won't play in the US

[Uncle Vernon]

Australia being a much more advanced civilisation had several shows that predated these overseas copycats.

The Curiosity Tediousity Show 1972



and the venerable Dr Julius Sumner Millers "Why is it So?" from mid to late 60's

[AntiProtonBoy]

Hah, I forgot about the Curiosity Show!

[GeoffS]

I remember Julius Sumner Miller well - but only in black and white 

One of my favourites was The Secret Life Of Machines from the late 1980's. Rex and Tim would give Mythbusters a run for their money, at least as far as enthusiasm goes. 

[Pat Pending]

Now ... the Great Egg Race had actual teams competing against one another.

If I wanted to make sun glasses, I'd be better off watching Blue Peter

[mikeselectricstuff]

I remember Julius Sumner Miller well - but only in black and white 

One of my favourites was The Secret Life Of Machines from the late 1980's. Rex and Tim would give Mythbusters a run for their money, at least as far as enthusiasm goes. 

SLoM is my all-time favorite TV series - worth re-watching carefully for some subtle jokes, like the Telecom approval sign on the wall behind the lathe fax machine.
I've subsequently met Tim a few times & he's a great guy.
If you're visiting London, check out his Secret Life of the Home exhibition hidden away in the basement of the Science Museum. Look carefully at the labels on the stuff in the  freezer.

[davec]

Secret Life of Machines was a huge influence on me, it took me from accepting that things came in boxes and that magic happened inside, to taking the lids off to find out how they worked. Tim and Rex were definitely of the 'Don't turn it on - take it apart!' school of thinking.

I remember a Z80 with a whole bunch of LED's on and they had that running with the clock slowed down so you could see it in action. It was full of simple, practical illustrations like that, the best was to show how pressure switches worked on washing machines using bits of old washing machines bolted onto the side of another old washing machine.

I recorded a lot of them when they were first on, but sadly, most didn't survive the years. Ironically, I did find one episode on an old tape and it turned out to be the one about the VCR. I kept looking out for repeats or DVDs but there doesn't seem to have been any, so I was excited to find all the episodes on the net a couple of years ago, and lost a whole weekend watching them all through.

Great stuff, well worth a watch as a lot of it is fundamental principles and is still relevant 20 years later.

[timorousme]

I prefer the extremely-accurate super-serious educational program "Look Around You"

[Uncle Vernon]

If I wanted to make sun glasses, I'd be better off watching Blue Peter

Your options to escape any risk of knowledge or learning are indeed wide.

[mikeselectricstuff]

For Secret Life of Machines fans, also check out the TV prog Tim made earlier : Why things go wrong