On 27 March 1899, the first international radio transmition was sent across the English Channel by Guglielmo Maconi.

Guglielmo Marconi

The message was to ‘The Times’ newspaper from a correspondent in northern France. This was the message that was broadcast:

“Communication between England and the Continent was set up yesterday morning by the Marconi system of wireless telegraphy....Signor Marconi is here conducting the trials and is very satisfied with the results.”

World's First Radio Message

On 13 May 1897, Guglielmo Marconi sent the world's first radio message across water from Lavernock Point on the South Wales coast (overlooking the Bristol Channel) to Flat Holm island 3 miles (4.8km) away.

Wales is in the background

Mouth of the River Severn (includes photos above)

Who was Guglielmo Marconi?

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was born in Bologna, Italy and has been called the 'father of radio'.

Early Radio

The name of Maconi is always associated with the early days of radio, but he did not invent it, he just developed and commercialised it. In fact Michael Faraday predicted the use of electro-magnetic waves in 1831, and a long forgotten American called Mahlon Loomis was sending radio signals in Virginia in 1864.

Also on this day .....

27 March 1790 - The shoelace was invented in 1790 by Harvey Kennedy.

British Summer Time Begins (daylight savings = clocks go forward 1 hour)