AS we approach the Queen’s Diamond jubilee I am reminded of the Coronation day by the monochrome footage being replayed on TV.

I remember as a small boy in Gosport, shyly cowering half way up the stairs peering down through the banisters into a crowded lounge full of our neighbours.

My father that day had installed what to me was a large polished wooden sideboard magically showing those now famous crackly grey images of the new Queen in her coach.

At that age I had not even been to the cinema so was totally bewildered.

Nobody had seen anything like it in our street, so I was very privileged despite not appreciating it at the time.

I treasured the mug and miniature gold model coach and horses for many years.

All this, I later learned, was only possible because of something clever that had just been built on the Isle of Wight.

How time flies and how fast technology moves on too.

Now I can view it all in digital HD colour or on my telephone whilst waiting for a bus.

MIKE ROBERTS-BUTLER, Dolbery Road, Poole