INSTANT REPLAY ?

Today is a remembrance day for actor Bill Stewart, born 7^th December 1942 who died 29^th August 2006.

Something else rather momentous occurred on this day in 1963. CBS Sports Director Tony Verna invented a system to enable a standard videotape machine to instantly replay on 7 December 1963, for the network's coverage of the Army-Navy Game. The instant replay machine weighed 1300 pounds. After technical hitches, the only replay broadcast was Rollie Stichweh’s touchdown. It was replayed at the original speed, with commentator Lindsey Nelson advising viewers "Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again!"

The replay has since become a standard feature and no-one need be advised accordingly. Indeed the digital retake has become so prominent if our lives that it has now become the final arbiter in the rules of the game. All forms of sport now require digital technology to settle disputes and challenges arising in competition. The reliance on visual technology has become so pervasive that the whole of the UK Air Traffic Control system was in disarray today because of a breakdown of computer systems.  There was no one left in the control booths who knew how to operate the old system of tags and cards, consequently chaos ensued and the delays in flights, both landing and take off, has caused a backlog around the world.

I recently heard a mother talking about her child who was holding a framed photograph and moving his finger across it in frustration as the image refused to move.

Perhaps it is time I resorted entirely to producing digital text with the facility to swipe it with one’s digit to make it perform in different ways.

Bill Stewart was an old fashioned guy who enjoyed a pint in a pub and made friends wherever he went. Solid, down to earth, straightforward. The real deal. I wish there could be an instant replay.