Soho is definitely one of the best known places on the map of London. Reputed for the nightlife and adult-entertainment, Soho same into a period of considerable demise in the 1980s and 1990s, but today the area is quickly getting back on its feet. There are many things to love about Soho, and also much more to the area than its adult film theatres and clubs. Here we have gathered some interesting facts about the area that you might not have heard about.
The first public demonstration of television
John Logie Baird was a Scottish engineer, inventor and innovator who used to live in a small house in the district of Soho in the 1920s. Baird is remembered for his pioneer work in the development of modern day television and it was namely here, in Soho, in the garage attached to his home, where he made the first public demonstration of a transmission. His laboratory was on 22 Frith Street. A reporter from The Times and members of the Royal Institution were present at the demonstration which actually marked the beginning of a new era. At that time the scan rate was 12.5 frames per second, which was a gradual improvement over past accomplishments. The event which took place on 26 January 1926 was recorded in history as the first demonstration of a television system that could broadcast live moving images with tone graduation. Baird also went on to create and demonstrate the first colour transmission in history, two years later on 3 July 1928.
The district of the failed artists
By the 1930s cheap accommodations and places to eat attracted much of the bohemian population of the capital of England to Soho. According to local folklore, in the period between 1930 and 1960 there was not a single bar in Soho where one could not come across poets, novelists and artists drinking their earthly woes away. The goes that most of them never actually stayed sober for enough time to actually accomplish something in their respective fields. Now even though it might not be too far from the truth, but one should bear in mind there however were some artists and writers who emerged from the art-scene of Soho and are now considered to be a permanent fixture in the culture of England. Such names include the celebrated poet Dylan Thomas, jazz musician George Melly, and several others.
We Love Soho
It was on Valentine’s Day 2006 when the public campaign called I Love Soho was launched. As we have already had the chance to mention, by the end of the 20th century Soho was in a period of considerable decline. The goal of the campaign was to attract business and public interest back to the area. Judging from the changes that occurred in the past decade here, one can say that it was more or less successful. Celebrities that backed up I Love Soho included Charlotte Church, Amy Winehouse and Paris Hilton, in addition to the former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, the Soho Society, Westminster Council and Visit London.
