Most teasmades (sometimes incorrectly spelled 'teasmaid') which were very popular from the 1950s era and gave the 'with it' house wife a luxury item of gadgetry which comprised a teapot, kettle and clock. The teasmade did require a bit of prepiration the night before. To prepare the teasmade ready for use tea, or teabags, fashionable in the 70s, were added to the pot and water into the kettle and then the alarm was set for the time you wanted to wake up to enjoy your freshly made pot of tea.

Teasmades are essentially British, inescapably comical, and a bit improbable. Outside of the UK, The Teasmaid never really took off, it was a great idea but perhaps with the advent of automatic kettles, teabags and a growth in the popularity of coffee saw the demise of the Teasmaid.

The teawaker worked by gas and needed a permanent pilot light but it worked on exactly the same principles as the modern Teasmade. Water was boiled in a specially designed "kettle" and fed into a teapot.

The final Teasmade goblin introduced was the mid-70s 870, illustrated on this page. This was significant in that it was the first radio Teasmade, as all previous models had a rather irritating buzzer.

Alas, the mighty Teasmade fell on hard times, usurped no doubt, by cappuccino makers and their ilk. For the great teamaker revival is quite possibly here. The 'teasmade' was one of the few gadgets of the period to have survived, creating its own market and developing into a recognised household appliance.

The Teasmade now seems a relic of a more innocent age, when "hot stuff in bed" just meant a cuppa. But there must be plenty of people who don't share my opinion, as it has remained in production for more than 50 years (Morphy Richards has just brought out the, futuristic in style and name, Tea:AM). It's a little bit of retro chic in the morning or indeed whenever you want. It fits nicely on the bedside table and has a light on it. The very large dial, glows discreetly in the dark and although we use it to make coffee in rather than tea, it gives two good mugs of tea or coffee.