Switching on to a monochrome world

Twenty four Oldham households still have a black and white view of the world

New figures reveal there are 24 black and white TV licences still in force in Oldham — nearly 46 years after the advent of colour TV.

TV Licensing says across the UK more than 13,000 homes have a black and white TV still in use.

The number of black and white licences has declined steadily. In 2000 there were 212,000 black and white TV licences, but by 2003 that had shrunk to 93,000; in 2006 there were fewer than 50,000 and now there are only 13,202

Manchester has the most black and white licences in the North-West with 413, followed by Liverpool with 185. Oldham is joint eighth with Rochdale.