In 1880, there was momentary confusion every time a telephone rang at Belfast’s fire station. Before the firemen could ask the caller about the fire, a more fundamental question had to be addressed — which of the two telephones was actually ringing? The fact there were two phones in the station was not due to … Continue reading Crossed lines at Belfast’s fire station
Category: Connecting a Nation
Lloyd’s of London had a problem with hawks. Their station at Torr Head in Co Antrim, part of a network of lookout posts around the coastline, was supposed to inform head office in London by telegraph of shipping movements but the ships were often invisible due to the mist and rain which regularly descended on … Continue reading The Italian and the hungry hawks
How the telegraph put a stop to illicit drinking in Galway, and made Leopold Bloom think about astronomy instead of STIs.
Deryck Fay 