A 73-year-old television – believed to be Britain’s oldest in working order – has been discovered in a competition run by Bradford’s National Media Museum.

The black-and-white Marconiphone 702, dating from 1936, was around for King George VI’s 1937 coronation and survived the Blitz.

It has a 12-inch screen and is estimated to have been manufactured in November 1936, the same month as the BBC television service from Alexandra Palace was first broadcast.

When new it cost 60 Guineas – the equivalent of about £11,000 today.

It is likely to have screened landmark broadcasts, including King George VI’s Coronation Procession in 1937, the 1948 London Olympic Games and the Queen’s Coronation in 1953.

The only addition is a set top box which has converted the TV from analogue to digital, bringing the device into the 21st century.

Jeffrey Borinsky, a consultant engineer, of North London who has owned the set for ten years, won the competition to find the country’s oldest TV.

The competition was set up by Digital UK and Iain Logie Baird, television curator at the National Media Museum and grandson of the inventor of TV, John Logie Baird.

Mr Logie Baird said: “A small fraction of pre-war tellies still exist – many fell into disrepair or were simply thrown out when a newer set arrived, and we know about 3,000 were lost in the London bombings.”

A variety of televisions from throughout the ages, including a Marconiphone 702, are on display in the Experience TV Gallery at the National Media Museum.

Jon Steel, of Digital UK, said: “This unique example from the very earliest days of television is proof that even the oldest sets can continue to work long after analogue signals have been switched off.”

In 1936 there was one channel – the BBC which was only available in Greater London. The average TV was owned for between ten and 15 years and was seen as a financial investment. Programmes were aired from Monday to Saturday for just two hours each day.

Now the choice of channels has never been greater with more than 300 channels available through digital and satellite TV.