Test Card F

BBC test card

Test Card F is a test card made by the BBC to be used on television in the United Kingdom. It was first shown on television on July 2, 1967. It was shown on television when no shows were being played. The test card shows Carole Hersee playing noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe) with a clown doll with many test signals showing. The test card was made by George Hersee, Carole Hersee's father and a BBC engineer.[1] It was shown less in the 1980s because BBC started showing Ceefax pages more. After 1999, it was only shown by BBC Two for one minute. In the 2010s, the test card was used for HTTP errors on the BBC website.[2] Test Card F made Carole Hersee the most shown face in British television.[3]

In the 1990s, three versions of Test Card F were made, including Test Card J (which had small changes of Test Card F), Test Card W (a widescreen version), and a different widescreen version.[4]

References change

  1. "Test card special". BBC News. April 19, 2001. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  2. "BBC website down: Incredibly creepy clown in error message is freaking people out". Mirror. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  3. Paul Sawtell, ‘Hersee, George (1924–2001)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, January 2005
  4. Meldrum, Darren. "BBC Test Cards". MHP The Test Card Gallery. Retrieved May 12, 2020.