Moiré patterns ....

 Looking at Rishi's wife's much derided / unusual dress ...

...it reminded me of a question that has haunted me all my life.  In the 80s the late political journalist John Cole was famous for wearing this coat...

...he wore a coat because he was always out in the cold on Westminster Green because in those days lobby journalists were banned from inside the Houses of Parliament.  Should one be caught there an MP could proclaim "I spy stranger!" and throw them out into the cold.  TV was completely verboten.  Cameras weren't even allowed in the chambers till the late 80s.  Anyway...

...this meant John was forever being filmed on Westminster Green in the rain interviewing MPs in this coat.  The problem was with it's zig zag pattern it created all kinds of Moiré patterns on the limited 625 line TV system of the time.

Now if you go on TV (so I've been told by many people including Ava Alexis) they give you a lot of advice on what not to wear.  Even today where Moiré patterns aren't so much of an issue due to increased picture resolution and contrast, they give you a lot of advice about colour and contrast.  So the question is...

Did John really not know this was happening?

Or did he not care?

Or did he have special dispensation?

Or did he wear it precisely because he knew it would make him stand out?

Or was it that as a journalist he thought he was above such things?

Or was the BBC so siloed that the News department just didn't have a costume department full stop?

Or... Or...

Can anyone answer this mystery from history?