[egrandUS]

I find this discussion fascinating as I don't think unplugging electronics or appliances was ever that common here in the US. The exceptions were when someone left on vacation or during a lightning storm.

In fact, toward the end of the tube era some TV's and radios had an "instant on" feature that kept a reduced voltage going to the filaments to keep them warm so they would begin emitting faster when the device was turned on.

Outlet switches are not common at all here in the US for newer homes, but some older ones I know of had at least one outlet switched at the wall by the front door. That was so you could plug in a lamp and switch it on as soon as you came home. I had an aunt that kept her TV plugged into that switched outlet so she could keep the TV turned on to the same volume all the time and just use the wall switch.

Before remotes, it was not unusual to find hotels/motels that had their TV's plugged into an outlet that had a wall switch by the bed. That way a guest could turn off the TV without getting out of bed.