Commemorative coin from The Royal Mint's series commemorating famous British inventors pays tribute to the father of television. Almost 75 years have passed since the death of John Logie Baird.

Scotsman John Logie Baird was an inventor. He was oddball, his neighbours complained about lightning coming from his flat, he repeatedly confessed and his inventions failed to break through - whether it was industrialised diamonds, hemorrhoid ointment or a glass razor. But then Baird managed to build a device designed to transmit images remotely, which is what his colleagues had been trying in vain to do for decades. It was far from the television as we know it today. The first public demonstration of broadcasting took place at Selfridge's shop in London in 1925, and Baird sent a television picture across the Atlantic in 1928 and a year later he began regular broadcasts. He put sound on the air for two minutes and a picture for another two minutes, and the performers had a heavy make up to be hardly recognisable. Although the mechanical device was quickly surpassed by fully electronic television, Baird was at the birth of a medium that has brought us entertainment and education.

The reverse side of the coin, the work of the Osborne Ross design studio, presents the transmitter from which the television signal is broadcast to the world. The signal incorporates a series of texts that recall the life milestones of the inventor of television. The composition of the reverse side is supplemented with the inscription JOHN LOGIE BAIRD - TELEVISION PIONEER, 1888-1946. The obverse side of the coin is then dedicated to the attributes of the issuer - i.e. the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, the text ELIZABETH II D G REG F D (Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith), the nominal value of 50 PENCE (GBP) and the year of issue 2021.

The commemorative coin minted from base metals, is stored in a special packaging that presents the life and work of the Scottish inventor (in English).