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TIL that Sir David Attenborough is largely responsible for tennis balls being yellow (or green, depending on who you ask). (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by sjmarf@sh.itjust.works to c/todayilearned@lemmy.ml

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In 1967, Sir David Attenborough was in charge of BBC2’s coverage of Wimbledon. The event was being televised in color for the first time, and he decided to change the tennis balls from white to yellow for easier visibility when they crossed the white pitch lines. It caught on, and now almost all tennis balls are yellow.

CNN Article on the topic

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[–] peter@feddit.uk 10 points 11 months ago

he decided to change the tennis balls from white to yellow for easier visibility
That's not what the article says, the article says that he was one of the people pushing for Wimbledon to be broadcast in colour, which resulted in the International Tennis Federation doing a study to determine the optimal colour for the ball for easier visibility on a television screen which they decided was yellow.