Summary

Within years of the creation of the world’s first electric telegraph system in the UK, services had expanded to Europe and – 175 years go this year – across the Atlantic to the United States. Greenwich, Woolwich and North Woolwich in East London played an important part in the first 100 years of that story: one manufacturer for example made 82% of the world’s subsea cables! Alcatel Submarine Networks, the successor to that company, remains on that same site today.

In this talk, Alan Burkitt-Gray will look at the story of how global telecoms developed in London during the 19th century – and persisted to become one of few high-tech industries left in the London area.

About The Speaker

Alan Burkitt-Gray was a technology and business journalist from 1973 until 2023, working for titles such as Computing, Global Telecoms Business and Capacity. He is now taking a sabbatical but planning new ventures from 2024 onwards!

http://www.burkitt-gray.com

russell 002 -- The Great Eastern taking on cable. Pic by Robert Dudley in WH Russell's The Atlantic Telegraph 

telcon001 -- cable storage tanks in Greenwich, from Telcon centenary book, 1950

Channel cable punch.jpg -- Punch cartoon, 1851, on the first cross-Channel cable

BBC Today prog pic -- me speaking about the telecoms industry on the Today programme, BBC Radio 4