This invention relates to a display apparatus comprising: a) a light source; b) a light guiding plate for transmitting light from the light source outward from a two-dimensional light-providing surface, one dimension of the light-providing surface defined in a width direction orthogonal to the path of incident light from the light source defined in a width direction orthogonal to the path of incident light from the light source and the other dimension of the light-providing surface defined in a length direction, orthogonal to the width direction; c) a linear divergence reduction surface for reducing the divergence of light from the light providing surface predominantly with respect to the width direction, to provide a linearly divergence-reduced illumination, whereby divergence along the width direction at full-width half-maximum is less than about 50% of divergence at full-width half-maximum along the length direction; d) a liquid crystal display component for modulating the linearly divergence-reduced light to form a modulated light according to image data, and, e) a diffusing surface in the path of the modulated light.