The present status of colour television

It has been known since the time of Sir Isaac Newton that, if spectrum colours are mixed in different proportions, mixture colours are produced that cover a wide gamut. Exactly 100 years ago Clerk Maxwell demonstrated the reproduction of a scene in colour by the superimposition of the images of three lantern slides in the three additive primary colours, red, green and blue. Modern television projection displays for simultaneous colour reproduction adopt the same technique. This article is based on an informal lecture `Recent developments in colour television¿, given by the author at a Hull District Meeting.