The call what he made [the history of mobile telephony]

Comedian Ernie Wise was one half of the UK's hugely popular comedy double act "Morcambe and Wise", and was famous for "the plays what he wrote"! However, on 1st January 1985, Ernie Wise made history by inaugurating the UK's first mobile telephone network. This therefore was "the call what he made" that signalled the start of our mobile communications revolution, which has today resulted in the situation where there are now more mobile phones than people in the country. Those early mobiles were huge, extremely heavy, very expensive, had limited battery life and could only make telephone calls. This lecture tells the story of how that technology has evolved over a relatively short period of time to deliver today's smart phone, which acts as our gateway to the Web, ensures that we have a camera with us at all times, can pinpoint our physical location within a few metres on the planet's surface and has transformed our lives and the very language we use to communicate.