Greg Jenner

It's been an absolute pleasure.

And in Comedy Corner, we have the superstar Sophie Duker.

Thank you, Sophie.

And to you, lovely listener, join me next time as we raise another overlooked historical subject up through the ranks.

But for now, I'm off to go and have a lie down.

My producers fed me a weird tasting cake before the recording and I feel a bit woozy.

Bye!

Bye!

And our executive editor is Philip Sellers.

Ahoy hoy! And welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously. My name is Greg Jenner and I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster. And today it is our 150th episode and so we are picking up the receiver and dialing back exactly 150 years.

to learn all about the invention of the telephone. And to help us with this special anniversary episode, we have two very special callers on the line. In History Corner, he's professor of history at the University of Aberystwyth, and he's an expert on the history and culture of Victorian science. You may have read one of his wonderful books, including How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon, and you'll remember him from our episode on vital electricity. It's Professor Johan Morris. Welcome back, Johan! It's a pleasure to be here again, Greg. Delighted to have you back.

And in Comedy Corner. She's an award-winning comedian, writer, actor and podcaster. You may have seen her hilarious stand-up shows or on the TV, on Last One Laughing Island, QI, The Mash Report, Live at the Apollo. Maybe you've heard her Radio 4 show. Too long, didn't read. But you'll certainly remember her from one of our many past episodes, including the history of general elections. And Julie Dobiny, who is it? Of course it is, the wonderful Catherine Bohart! Hi!

This is the So What Do You Know? This is where I have a go at guessing what you, our loving listener, might know about today's subject. And like Catherine, you know what a phone is. In fact, you're probably listening to this podcast on a phone right now, aren't you modern? But what about the phone's early history and invention? Maybe you've heard of Alexander Graham Bell, like Catherine had. Maybe you've seen period movies, where people are speaking to complicated looking contraptions and asking to speak to the operator.

But was Bell really the first inventor? How did people react to this novel communication technology? And what does it mean to get your wires crossed? Let's find out. Right, Catherine, our big anniversary year was 1876, at least for our purposes. So we're going to rewind to before the telephone.

What else would people might have done?

Did that not convey your message afar? I mean, sure. I mean, if you're a great romantic, maybe it did. Yeah, I think I am. Put your heartbreak into the ether and hope that they heard you. How did people communicate over long distances before we're into electricity?

This is a peak Victorian complaint, Catherine. They said the world got too fast too quickly and they couldn't cope anymore. Just can't keep up. Yeah. It would have taken weeks for news to reach from, months from Australia, weeks from Central Europe or America. And so, yeah, I mean, so you're on obviously the telegraph machine. That is the crucial world changing technology, isn't it? Yeah. From the beginning of the 19th century, people start trying to figure out, look, you know, we can do all sorts of interesting spectacular things with electricity, shocks, sparks, I mean, all sorts of stuff.

Conveying information about all sorts of commercial stuff. That's kind of boring, man. Basically as quickly as possible. Where's the gossip telegraph? That's my question. There's a chap called Mr. Reuters who set up a news agency because he realised, hang on a second, I can make some money on this.

You're going to buy it when it arrives on the market, knowing how much it costs then. Because it's still going to take weeks to come across on the boat. So you can't send wheat by telegraph. So the food itself is on the boat going slowly, but your information you've got in advance, you can buy in advance. You can pre-buy things when they're cheaper.

Onko hän skollinen? Hän on. Hän on syntynyt Skolleissa. Hän on syntynyt Edinburghissa vuonna 1847. Johan, hänen perheensä on kiinnostavaa ääniä ja ääniä, koska hänen isänsä on syntynyt. Hän on kiinnostavaa ääniä ja ääniä, koska hän on syntynyt. Hän on kiinnostavaa ääniä ja ääniä.