Green’s Dictionary of Slang

the television.

1959		Guardian 9 Nov. 5/5: Switch the goggle-box on at 10 a.m.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 86: The way they spend most of their spare time with their beaks stuck in the goggle box these days!
1970		New Scientist 28 May 43: There is no proof that watching the inflammatory material which appears on the goggle drives kids to rape, or arson, or flagellation.
1977		(con. 1950s) Nicholson & Smith Spend, Spend, Spend (1978) 69: They’d all have their mouths open at the goggle-box.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 143: Just havin’ a quiet night in with the goggle-box.
1995		Clifford et al. Television and Children vii: [...] ‘the plug-in drug,’ ‘the boobtube,’ ‘the electronic baby sitter,’ ‘the goggle box,’ ‘the idiot box,’ ‘the hypnotist,’ and ‘the Trojan horse.’.
2006		E. St Aubyn Mothers Milk 260: Not enjoying life as much as she used to. Can’t even watch the goggle box. Eyes gone.
2014		Indep. 18 Feb. 19/1: Channel 4’s smash hit show of 2013 Gogglebox [...] showed that TV can unite a nation.