Auction of rare radio withdrawn after the war as it looked like Japanese flag

RISING SUN MODEL MADE IN CAMBRIDGE CAUSED OUTRAGE

- By ED CHATTERSON

A RARE 1940s radio which was withdrawn in Britain following the Second World War because it looked like a Japanese flag is set for auction after being unearthed.

Cambridge-based maker Pye caused outrage 77 years ago after launching the acrylic radio back in 1948, which featured a rising sun design.

The M78F model was promptly recalled, thrown on the scrapheap and burned due to the public outcry just three years after the end of the war.

Only about 200 survived and one "very rare and sought after" radio is now set to go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbys.

The small radio, just 7½in (18.5cm) high and marketed as "personal", has an estimate of £700 to £1,000 but could fetch more on Friday (October 10).

Pye adopted the rising sun design, in the art deco style, in the 1920s.