Meet the woman still watching the same TV - four decades on

It was also the year in which Cara Sandys won her black-and-white JVC Videosphere TV in a WHSmith competition, when she was only 12.

You might think Southampton resident Cara would have changed her TV since 1972 – but you’d be wrong.

The advantage to still viewing in black and white, Cara says, is that it costs £49, compared to the normal £145.50 licence.

She told the Echo: “I won my TV in a competition through WHSmith when I was on a family holiday on the Thames in 1972.

The TV, which is shaped like a space helmet, was a design which was inspired by the moon landings of that era.

“My slogan “I could not be called a square when my TV was round” was enough to win me the prize and a trip to Pangbourne to collect it. I was even featured in the local paper with my TV.

“Over the years, the TV has lived in numerous homes and went to University with me in Swansea, where it was living until recently. It will now join the 37 other black and white TVs in Southampton that are still going strong.”

Cara, who is also an usher at Southampton’s Nuffield Theatres, lives seasonally in Southampton and Swansea, and the portable TV and license moves with her.

The TV is spherical in shape, and she won it by coming up with the slogan “I could not be called a square when my TV was round” from WHSmith in Pangbourne, Berkshire.

The jewellery maker said: “I see no reason to switch to colour if my TV still works, but a major incentive is the reduced license fee.

“I actually watch very little TV, preferring to listen to Radio 4.

“My black-and-white licence fee is therefore my contribution to the BBC services I use.”

As previously reported, after more than 50 years of colour broadcasting, 37 Southampton homes still do not own a colour TV license, and 109 homes in Hampshire.