Carole Hersee (born 25 November 1958) is an English costume designer who is best known for appearing in the centrepiece of the United Kingdom television Test Card F (and latterly J, W, and X), which aired on BBC Television from 1967 to 1998. As such, she became the most aired face in British television history.

Test Card F

The card was developed in 1967 by her father, BBC engineer George Hersee, who started by snapping test photographs of Carole and her younger sister, Gillian; Carole believes she was ultimately chosen to appear on the card simply because Gillian was without two of her front teeth at the time. However, in an interview with Andy Emmerson in 1988 George recollects photographing both, but the committee chose Carole as she had lighter hair. Someone noticed Carole appeared to be left-handed, so to make it seem that she was holding the chalk in her right hand they flipped the transparency. She was posed with a strategically placed Noughts and Crosses board (the "X" painted in the left centre square was directly in the middle of the screen) The card (actually a 35mm transparency) was used on television in the UK and elsewhere for more than four decades, usually while there was no on-air programming.

Because of the card's prolonged exposure on the BBC, Hersee received fan mail during her teenage years and was regularly contacted by media outlets for interviews, but she quickly grew tired of the publicity. However, she denied this in a May 2007 interview with The Daily Telegraph, saying, "[It] can't be put in the Guinness Book of Records because it isn't a record that somebody else can achieve, apparently". Hersee still owns the Bubbles doll, which she keeps stored inside a box.

See also

  • Lenna

References

  • The Test Card Circle Details of the UK's Trade Test Transmissions including the history of the BBC and ITA Test Cards, a look at the music used and full details about the Trade Test Colour Films shown from the late fifties to 1973.
  • The Story of Carole Hersee - The BBC Test Card Girl (documentary on Youtube)