Someone else has contributed a Baird Televisor, "the last time a lone inventor working in difficult conditions... could invent something that would change the world.

Very soon, however, several other inventors claimed they had invented a television device. One of these inventors, Vladimir Zworykin, worked for the powerful Radio Corporation of America.

Inventors in the US say there is an increasing demand from Brits for these mechanical bed partners, including interest from a woman wanting one that looked like TV star Graham Norton.