George Hersee

George Hersee (29 December 1924 – 11 April 2001) was an English television engineer for the BBC. He is the developer of Test Card F, which came about after Hersee was asked to intervene by the committee charged with the creation of technical standards for the new colour television services. He began working for the BBC's studio installation and planning department, holding responsibility for buying and installing equipment in the chain from the camera lens or microphone to the transmitting aerials at the BBC Studios. Hersee also established England's first talking newspaper in 1970. He retired from the BBC in 1979, working for a small private engineering company dealing with lenses.

Early life Hersee was born on 29 December 1924 at Orchard Cottage, Loxwood, near Wisborough Green, West Sussex, England. He was the son of the estate clerk Ernest Alfred George Hersee and his wife, the shop manager Florence Lillian . Hersee had two siblings. Hersee later won a bursary to attend Chichester High School For Boys, where he was educated from 1935 to 1941. From there, Hersee joined the Army Cadet Force. with responsibility for the acquisition and installation of the equipment in the chain from the camera lens or microphone to the transmitting aerials at the BBC Studios. Hersee became to be a specialist in the cameras and equipment for viewing captions, which led to designing and, with the greetings-card designers Messrs Royles. During BBC Television's first years in the 1930s, cameras were primitive; however, as technology became more advanced, it became necessary to have a test card at which the camera could be pointed to check the technical performance of the transmission from studio to viewer. However, they liked the photograph of Carole because it was of higher quality, a small firm dealing with lenses. Hershee became the honorary secretary of the BBC Retired Engineers' Luncheon Club (RELICS), a club for retired BBC engineers that holds three informal social gatherings every year. He also maintained his connections with the University of Southampton, reviving the London Branch of Convocation that became the University of Southampton Society in 1949; Hershee missed only two of the annual dinners held there in five decades.

Personal life He married Audrey Florence Mayers, whom he had met through the BBC rambling club, on 29 April 1957. They had two children. Hershee suffered a heart attack while shopping with his wife, and although revived by ambulance paramedics, he had another heart attack the day after. He died at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital on 11 April 2001.