This little Perdio Mini 66 was released onto the UK market in 1962. It was manufactured by Perdio Ltd of London, England. Perdio is derived from PERsonal RaDIO and was established in 1955. This new company was wholly committed to the new transistor radio industry (they never made tube/valve radios). In 1957 they released their first model, the PR1.
In 1965 they went into liquidation, folding under intense pressure from foreign competition; principally imports from the Far East. Imports from this part of the world now accounted for 50% of all transistor portables on sale in England. Following their demise Perdio sets were ironically made in Hong Kong and bore the legend «Empire Made». Radios bearing the Perdio logo continued to be churned out until at least 1972. In all Perdio made at least 56 different models between 1957 and 1972.
REF: Radio! Radio! (Third Edition 1996) by Jonathan Hill
This Mini 66 works on both LW and MW. It is preset on LW for the BBC’s Light Programme. It originally sold in the UK for £13.2s.6d. It is well constructed with a high gloss black cabinet and gold trim. It is embossed on the back ‘Made in England’ and has sockets for external earphone and aerial. It has three small cut-out windows on the front, MW/LW selector, dial scale and the ‘up arrow’ which is not part of the volume knob but is the other half crescent of the hidden round tuning dial. When the tuning dial is turned the arrow goes up and down in the opposite direction to the dial scale numbers. It seems somewhat unnecessary but simply adds to the quirky nature of this radio with its eccentric crowned lion (waving??!) and prominent gold screw on the front (it attaches the cabinet to the chassis via the center of the tuning knob).
I have seen this radio with a red face and silver trim and with a white face, red script and gold trim. It measures 70 x 108 x 28 mm / 2.8 x 4.3 x 1.1 inch.
This Mini 66 came to me from Walsall, West Midlands in the UK. It is complete with its somewhat tatty gift box. The gift box is marked on the top with a serial number that matches a number found on the circuit board of the radio but is different to the actual ‘serial number’ listed on the label inside the back cover. Although that number may relate to the BBC license fee label on which it is stamped. It is also marked with what appears to be a sale price and the colour ‘BLK’.
This Mini 66 uses six Mullard transistors. These radios used either Mullard or Impex transistors. It uses dial string for the tuner which is unusual for a radio of this size. It has a BBC License Fee label inside and the circuit board is stamped B0026894 and MADE IN ENGLAND PC33.
