Perdio Electronics
Maker of portable and pocket transistor radios, of Bonhill St, Finsbury, London
Perdio Radio was a British electronics company (Perdio Electronics Limited) founded by Derek Willmott (born 4 January 1924) and Joyce Willmott in 1955. Former RAF pilot Derek Willmott was a DECCA researcher developing RADAR applications and was already an inventor, with designs for multiple miniaturisation applications in consumer electronics, including designs for portable personal tape players (similar to the later success of Sony's Walkman) and small radios and televisions. The newly available transistors allowed the Willmotts to enter the market with Perdio, producing the PR1 in 1957. A 5-Transistor design meant a highly compact and efficient unit which led on to production of 56 models bearing the Perdio name. Perdio also produced the Portarama Television set currently on display in London's Science Museum along with a 'Spinny' radio.[1]
1962 Name changed to Perdio Electronics Ltd, Bonhill Street, London, EC2 (when Perdio became a public company) and opened a factory on Pallion Trading Estate in Sunderland
1956 Incorporated as a private company Perdio Ltd[2]
1961 Plans for a new factory to make radios in Sunderland; the radios were made largely by hand, which was felt to give the company flexibility and avoided high capital charges.
1961 Broadened interests by acquisition of Kenure, Holt and Co and Kenure, Holt Electronics, precision engineers and electronic designers (and A. R. Willmott and Sons (Redhill) which had been absorbed and was no longer trading).
1962 Public company: change of name to Perdio Electronics. Flotation of shares in the company[3] Had developed a transistorised television set, said to be the first mass-produced in Europe.
1963 The Sunderland factory was completed early but production was delayed[4] and the cost of moving production from London was underestimated[5]
1965 Brayhead acquired an interest in the company[6] but plans to sell Perdio some subsidiaries and thereby gain control did not succeed[7]
1965 October: The company was to be put into compulsory liquidation but at the last moment Dansette Products said it would purchase the goodwill and trading assets[8]