1. Test Card F
It is estimated that Test Card F has been shown on TV for 70,000 hours. It was used by the BBC to give viewer's something to look at whenever there was no programming, which was frequent many years ago. Test Card F was introduced in July 1967. It was created by television engineer George Hersee who used his young daughter Carole to pose with a freaky looking puppet (a clown called 'Bubbles') in the midst of playing noughts and crosses on a blackboard. The image has become iconic in the United Kingdom and much parodied. There was frequent very groovy muzak accompanying Test Card F which you can buy on Amazon, if you are a sad nerd like me. Test Card F was not just there for viewers to be bored by, it had important engineering functions too. I won't bore the arse of you with the technical details of the latter. Test Card F was last seen on TV in 1997. The advent of rolling BBC News coverage on BBC 1 and late night programming on BBC 2 made it largely redundant. But we will always have fond memories of The Girl, The Doll, The Music.