ITV's popularity grew enormously from the moment its first station went on air on 22 September 1955. Although, for the first 2 years, the fledgling companies hemorrhaged money to the point where investors ran away as quickly as possible with burnt hands, the system had potential.

More and more people were getting Band III aerials; ITV began to climb up the ratings and then knocked the BBC out of the top ten for most of the 60s. The BBC reacted by switching its attention from radio - where it still held an official monopoly - to television and began to fight back. The BBC also played, with some justification, its ace card - 'we are a public service, they are not'.

ITV had no answer to this. They were, after all, commercial undertakings. The BBC had the argument that, as one huge corporation, they were more accountable than 15 or so limited companies dotted around the country.

The ITA did have an answer to this. The ITA had decided the mechanism for appointing the companies to the pattern it had chosen. The ITA could answer the BBC's shrieks of 'unaccountable', 'profit-driven' and 'confusing'.

It did, by publishing a book called 'ITV 1963'. The book had only a limited print run, as it was obvious that only industry insiders and members of the public with a strong interest would lay out seven shillings and sixpence (37.5 new pence). The book explained the ITV system, the way the ITA regulated every company, the achievements of ITV since its launch 8 years before.

The book was a phenomenal success, exhausting its print run in a month and requiring a reprint in May. The ITA had backed a winner - and a source of income, which pleased HM Treasury.

The book continued to sell throughout 1963. The ITA, keen to capitalise on this success, continued publishing an annual 'yearbook' from 1964.

Looking back on these books now, in an age of 250 digital channels beaming down from an orbit 23,000km above Zaire, there can be a sense of wonder - or even mystification - that people would need to have a television system explained to them. They did, because television with one channel was a novelty. Television with two was something amazing. We are now able to think of time shifting, video on demand, interactive television, internet television, without a sense of wonder. In 1963, man had not yet walked on the moon. Integrated circuits, microchips, microwaves were unheard of. The 'White Heat of Technology' had yet to be coined. Television was amazing!

For the historian, these yearbooks allow a glimpse of the yesteryear mentioned above, when all was new. For the television historian, they add a new dimension. They take us back to an age when North and West Wales had it's own company, when the 'North' was served by two companies 5-days and 2-days rather than east and west, when television hours and content were regulated by a government agency. The books tell us of TWW, ATV, ABC, Associated-Rediffusion, and other forgotten (or half-remembered) companies. They tell us of Speedy advertising 'Alka-Seltzer', and to remember that Road Accidents Are Caused By People Like You.

They tell us what Britain was like then, and therefore, what Britain is like now.