'Stereo Spectacles'

Helper notes and answers

This is the wrapper for a pair of 3D glasses, designed to allow people to watch stereoscopic film, an early form of 3D cinema. These glasses, worn by the audience in the newly-built ‘Telekinema’ shown in the second document, date from 1951. Like the ‘Rota’, the ‘Telekinema’ was a brand new form of entertainment built for visitors attending the Festival of Britain. Cinema was an established form of popular entertainment by the 1950s, yet these documents show that new technology was being used to enhance, and even revolutionise the viewing experience.

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This is an example of an object that we keep in our collection at the archives. Look at it closely. What do you think it is?

The note next to it says: Wrapper used around stereo spectacles at Telecinema

What do you think ‘stereo spectacles’ were? Where might they have been used?

Can you spot a date on this object?