2 June 1953: Queen Elizabeth II is crowned before an audience of millions

British TV changed for ever on this day in 1953 with the live broadcast of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
(Image credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Global television events' are ten a penny these days, what with royal weddings, the Eurovision Song Contest and pretty much every sporting fixture under the sun being watched live by audiences of billions.

But that wasn't the case in the 1950s. Then, televisions were very much luxury items, and what they showed was, to be frank, pretty dull stuff. Britain had just one channel, and that only broadcast for part of the day.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.