History of Telecommunications, sponsored by Marconi


After digging to a depth of 100m last year, Russian scientists found

traces of copper wiring dating back 1000 years, and came to the

conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one

thousand years ago.



So as not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, American

scientists dug 200m,and headlines in the US newspapers read: "US

scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibres,

and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Russians.



"One week later, the Irish press reported the following: "After

digging as deep as 500m, Irish scientists have found absolutely nothing.

They have concluded that 5000 years ago, their ancestors were already using mobile phones."