You may well be asking yourself why does a Naval Museum have a collection of commercial radio's,  radiogram's, gramophones and recording devices ?

Well the answer is that by default, the Museum shows you the equipment the sailors of the Royal Navy used to fight wars {both 'hot' and 'cold'} and in between, to maintain her policing role, pax britannica, for which the Navy is a protagonist on the international scene, so why not also show what their loved ones used back home to listen for news of their men-folk, and to entertain themselves during the long separations in the days before television in the UK, became commercially viable and of course, affordable. 

Bill Legg, our Curator, introduced this section of the Museum which proved to be a shrewd move, for the exhibits always stimulate comments like "I can remember my Granny winding up the gramophone and training the large horn-shaped loudspeaker towards her chair...." Sited adjacent to these commercial by-gone's are the pieces of captured enemy W/T gear, a fitting reminder of war, and that many of their menfolk did not return home, some resting in wrecks which are war graves along with their equipment now long ago, rusted away and no more.

It is not our intention to catalogue the equipment we have, which is a great deal, but simply to show a few pictures below and let your own memories do the rest.

A lady of the 1920's listens to her radio which is a very simple wooden box with two small round holes on the front which are the heat vents for the two valves immediately behind them.  The loudspeaker connection was external.

This is that little receiver,

and this is the receiver with the heat-vent cover laying to the left of the receiver and the lid lifted upwards and backwards.