Is the world ready for a self-raising bowler hat? Or an edible spoon? Or even a pair of braces for escaping from burning buildings? The infinite variety of man's inventiveness is revealed in tonight's programme, which includes some of the more unusual inventions patented in Britain and America over the last 100 years.
Most of the inventions have been specially constructed for the first time for this programme and will be tested out to see if they work the way the inventors intended. Also described is the 500-year saga of man's still-continuing attempts to invent and build a successful perpetual motion machine.
Presented by Kenneth Robinson
With Heinz Wolff, Janet Webb, Carole Allen, Christopher Serle, Jonathan Webb
(Colour)