William Edward Taynton

Taynton was an employee of a firm at 22 Frith Street in Soho, the same building where Baird maintained his laboratory. After Baird achieved a breakthrough in transmitting the "halftone" image of a puppet named Stooky Bill he sought a human subject to verify that the apparatus could capture living people. Baird "almost dragged" Taynton to come and act as a subject that would provide the necessary motion. Despite the intense heat from the apparatus, Taynton remained in place long enough for Baird to achieve the first true television picture. When Baird asked Taynton for his opinion of the picture he replied that it was "very crude". ^[5] For his contribution, he received a payment of half a crown, which is cited as the first "television fee" ever paid to a performer.^[1]

Taynton's birth was registered in Islington in late 1905, though his later records cite a birth date of 2 August 1904. He was the son of Charles Edwin Taynton. He largely remained out of the public eye following the experiment although did appear on broadcasts and articles talking about the experiment. He married in Bromley in 1941.^{[citation needed]} He died in 1973.^[6]