Nice memories of your youth. We had a black and white console TV. Can't remember what year we finally got a color TV. I do remember the first time I got to watch TV in color. A childhood friend on the street invited us over on a Sunday night to watch Walt Disney's weekly show. That was sometime in the 50's.
I managed to visit England twice in 2006 and 2007. I booked a 3 week bus tour of the British Isles with Trafalger. It was my first time going overseas. I flew over a week ahead of the tour starting because I wanted to be able to do some sightseeing in and around London. I had a bucket list of places I wanted to visit during that week, and managed to get everything done. Managed to get a room at the same hotel the tour was leaving from. It was just down the street from Victoria Station....about 1 1/2 miles from Buckingham Palace. I got there on a Saturday. The next day I took a walk over there. Turns out they were celebrating the anniversary of the Royal Marines, and a big parade of veterans, and several bands came marching by. I walked my feet off that day. Finally ended up at Waterloo Station 2 1/2 miles away. Too old now to travel like that. My knees would never take the walking.
One of multiple visits to the UK, I traveled from Bath to Edinburgh on a Sunday morning. I noted the flag at half staff while passing the Edinburgh castle. Thinking perhaps the Queen Mother had died, the cab driver replied that Princess Diana had died a few hours earlier. Shocking. It was a memorable visit, albeit incredibly somber traveling south to London for the trip home.