Designed in the 1950s, it still gets 'rave reviews'

Here, for example.

"Designed by D.E.L. Shorter and H.D. Harwood of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) in the mid-1950s, the lip mic was designed to deliver broadcast quality speech while rejecting a high level of background noise........

This oddball microphone has been in constant production ever since its introduction more than 60 years ago by British STC. the Coles 4104 is a child of the 1950s, it remains a valuable tool for on-location mobile audio. There is a good reason it is still used by news organizations throughout the world."