Tomorrow's World: Mobile Phone 13 September 1979 - BBC

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Michael Rodd makes a call with an experimental cordless mobile phone.
It's 1979 and time for the telephone to go mobile. In this report from a longer programme, Michael Rodd (pictured above) examines a British prototype for a cordless telephone that allows the user to make calls from anywhere. Also included at the end of this item is a rather nice out-take as Rodd also experiences the first mobile wrong number.
#bbc
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[@victormanteca7395]

Watching this in a smartphone is quite a metacommentary itself.

[@kilIstation]

Victor Manteca YOU’RE IN A SMARTPHONE?!?

[@Loz2oopz]

On*****

[@KarmasAbutch]

crazybird We all are! Part of a Sims game “God” is playing didn’t u know? 😂

[@nikolac290v7]

Amazing

[@avinashs.m3213]

@@kilIstation He is neither in or on a smartphone. The content is in the smartphone. So stop being judgemental all the time

[@TheGiantKillers]

It's a real shame the mobile phone never caught on.

[@leonvdd]

Luke Wilcox instead*

[@ludovica8221]

I still don't have one. I still have a proper curly wire phone :)

[@ricoloco2251]

just search they are available in all colors www.ebay.nl/itm/New-Native-Union-POP-PHONE-Vintage-Retro-Handset-for-iPhone-Android/302338442695?hash=item4664c685c7:m:mJgS5db1CWWL-ZAIma6Pv9Q:rk:1:pf:0

[@martinmowbray6448]

Ulster Groundhopper 😂😂😂

[@Bithe7011]

Yea thay seemed cool!

[@Trump20244thewin]

Now I can talk to myself in public and people think I'm on Bluetooth.

[@KiskeyaLife]

And now we need a reaction video of Michael Rodd (the presenter, he's alive and well) watching this on his iphone...

[@ahmedalshalchi]

Anybody knows his number so could send him this please ?

[@agastbody]

interesting

[@scottquiggyquigg7479]

No he's dead

[@rmcguire7033]

It will result in physical body chips, under the skin....and then dear friends, that is where anonymity and privacy Die

[@daz090979]

He is very much alive and well in North Shields 76 years young

[@Vanargand23]

I was married five days before this was broadcast in 1979, I’m still married, but bloody hell how the world has changed in forty years.

[@strangelpeaceful]

To be honest, I'm quite envious of you to be able to live through these changes and experience them, because for me; I can't wait to see what more the future has to offer.

[@legobrickabrac]

I wasn't alive.

[@hardyzme]

Like how if you live in London,you can go outside your house and immediately be transported to Lahore.

[@720069mf]

So true, born in 1953 i remember rotary dial phones, rabbit ears on the tv to get all four stations. Today on my I Mac pc, i was looking for a good deal on an I phone... Oh my, a drone just flew by!!! ; )...

[@BeardofBeesPool]

I was -7 years old when this came out.

[@pycroft]

I'll bet when he made this little film he couldn't imagine that one day people would be watching it on their phones...

[@kasperkjrsgaard1447]

pycroft They will what?? Don’t be daft. It’ll never work. Who’d want a thing like that?

[@mikejenkins4924]

On the shitter of all places.

[@TheShotenZenjin]

I’ll bet when he put that jacket on, he couldn’t imagine that one day people would be totally gobsmacked at the size of the lapels...

[@CuriousChronicles82275]

I'm watching this on my tablet

[@troysvisualarts]

@@mikejenkins4924 lol

[@mattskustomkreations]

My mom’s boss had a car phone in 1979 or ‘80. It literally looked like a house telephone sitting on the floor console. His sons were about my age and they insisted on getting their dad to drive around town and show it to me; I was amazed. Their favorite “trick” was to call a crosstown friend from in front of the friend’s house and say “Hey, can we come over?” When the friend said “Yes”, one of the brothers would jump out of the car and ring the doorbell while the other kid was still on the phone. “HOW did you get here so fast!?!?!”

[@mikeonfreeserve2926]

Did he park his car in a cave and only bring it out when he saw a big searchlight in the sky?

[@mattskustomkreations]

@@mikeonfreeserve2926 Yes. Oddly the car was black and shot flames out the back. Had no idea what that was about. Seeing this post triggered a memory of seeing perhaps the earliest digital p8rn in ‘80-‘81 at their house. And when I say digital, I mean digital! There was a program and it put a seemingly random series of characters on that green screen, but if you backed up far enough, say to Cleveland, you could see the pattern actually took the shape of a nude woman! Some geek must have spent weeks putting that together.

[@enorelbot]

Omg...

[@Pelgram]

Was the kid wearing a superman costume when he rang the doorbell?

[@mattskustomkreations]

@@Pelgram Haha! Or maybe a Flash costume. The phone in the car was a straight up big-ass house phone, with the coiled wire between the handset and phone body. I can’t specifically remember if it had a rotary dial…most likely was an early push-button type. Definitely wild stuff. Later on in the 80’s my mom was in pharmaceutical sales so she had a ‘bag phone’ to have in the car. You had to carry a dang satchel to lug the phone around.

[@dungeoncartographer1759]

If your call is longer than three minutes, "You're wasting airwaves." How was this never accepted as a societal rule?

[@Ozymandias1]

As mentioned in the video back then there wasn't a reserved band for mobile phones back then. You could interfere with a broadcast of emergency services.

[@jrmcferren]

Mobile phones back then didn't use the cellular radio techniques that made modern mobile phones possible. I'm more familiar with mobile history here in the US where one of the ways the reduced airtime was to charge an absolute fortune for it and even then you might find a pay phone prior to finding an available mobile phone channel. Prior to cellular a mobile phone base station had a range of about 25 miles and in some cities could only serve two calls at a time through two channels. Cellular could handle hundreds of calls per base station, and served cells in three directions. In the early days each cell could 40-some channels, later 56 per phone company, but each base station served three cells. Cellular is a short range technology and it was possible to use the same channel 50 miles away where the old system required a 150 mile or more distance prior to re-using the same channel. This increased capacity meant that such limits weren't necessary. I haven't even touched on the digital technologies such as GSM which vastly increased capacity even further.

[@hoofie2002]

When they first came out you get your chat time down. I once ended up on the phone for an hour whilst in France in 1995. That one call cost over a hundred quid and I had to bill the customer for it.

[@tyler_drdn]

I've felt a great disturbance in the force as if millions of Karens asked to talk to a manager due to limiting their rights for longer conversations.

[@Phoenix_cataclysm_in_2040]

Well, people are too paranoid now to speak over the phone, they'd rather text, so... ☎️ 🤔

[@garywebb2997]

They cut out the parts where he kept receiving PPI Claim calls and calls about the car accident he never had.

[@Frank.and.Beanzz]

😂😂😂

[@markharrisllb]

That really did make me laugh out loud.

[@markperryman1797]

And the Indian scammers telling you that your computer is under possible hacking....

[@saltysponge9965]

(strong Indian voice) hello my name is David, am I speaking to Mr perryman?

[@markperryman1797]

@@saltysponge9965 Yes, can I ask what you are calling about?....

[@bustedfender]

Call me a crazy dreamer, but imagine how powerful it would be with a cine camera and a record player attached...

[@claudiosalib774]

Now Sir, you are grossly exaggerating and living in some deluded Neverland. It will never happen or be a reality, at least not in our lifetime. Should you wish to listen to some nice music, Sir you may always turn the dial on your wireless for some smashing music, Sir. As for me I do not envisage your science fiction being reality anytime soon, only as some fantastic dream concocted by your childlike imagination. You may as well state that we could fly to the moon in a rocket. No, Sir these are fanciful things for young children to imagine and not for adults to delve into such fantasies.👴

[@NandiCollector]

Oh man. That would be out if this world. Imagine watching BBC or movies on the palm of your hand!

[@exgren]

What about a calculator or a clock or a diary, now that would be amazing

[@AndyJarman]

Ridiculous idea.

[@AndyJarman]

I'm still waiting for my silver jump suit with triangular chest panel and pointed calf length boots to become fashionable like they promised.

[@simoneast1973]

Blimey the battery lasted a whole six minutes. Battery life my iPhone can only dream of.

[@DanaTheInsane]

Maybe its time to trade up from your IPhone five?

[@marklittler784]

One bit of battery and the new ones fall apart.

[@cryptoeejit]

I remember seeing this on telly, Tomorrow's world was a must watch back then!

[@ZeusHelios]

Same here, I remember it too.

[@undercoverhamster2549]

Me too!

[@davidthompson6834]

Me too remember the cd disc

[@MadeInManny0161]

watchin it for the 1st time on my samsung galaxy.

[@RWL2012]

@@davidthompson6834 the compact disc disc?

[@Arcsecant]

They totally missed the point of mobile phones: ads and selfies.

[@Metatron141]

😃👍

[@Readzboox]

You forgot games

[@Readzboox]

And porn

[@cntmg]

Для приложения в play market "Yo!"

[@traptownkys1947]

Spying and ideology propaganda

[@cashbonanza963]

The irony is today's phones are used for everything but phone calls.

[@AgentHEKTAH]

Brainwashing mostly.

[@carolynellis387]

How true. We seemed to have lost the art of conversation Used to have brilliant times in the pub and great fun too

[@eyal4463]

Social media is such an evil thing that recommends stuff that don't open your mind. Group-x will get more group-x media that is hate for group-y, just because hate sells more.

[@warrenedwards5860]

@@carolynellis387 so true 👍

[@markholmes5695]

@@carolynellis387 ah jeez lads stop being so melodramatic. The pub, yea where people used to sit sometimes all day.. the good old days :) I still have great conversations with friends, in fact I can contact friend I live nowhere near now. Also family abroad. Can do my online banking, shop, even watch KZbin videos and am subscribed to many educational channels. Have learned how to do minor plumbing, electrical work, some wood work in the new house we bought. Can research things, translate things. Snap picture memories. Not all is bad, relax! Your parents thought the music you listened to as a child was the end of the world. Past generations always think the future is strange/bad 🙄 nothing in this world is simply black and white. Sure social media(FB, Twitter and the likes due to unregulated forums can be a cesspit) hence why I choose not to use them. you too have a choice not to 👍🏽

[@MCVessels]

As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, somebody called to ask whether he'd been in an accident in the last three years.

[@kmanev]

Or which is your current utilities supplier

[@meadroad]

Classic... well done 😂😂

[@alightweightflying2978]

😂😂😂

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

Someone calling themselves "David Parker" (with the strongest Indian accent you have ever heard) calls him from British Leyland Automotive Dealings and tells him that he has overpaid on his 1977 Austin Maxi. But the refund cheque they posted him has too much money on it so he has to repay them with Grace Brothers gift cards.

[@craigfowler7098]

Very funny, that made my day - or PPI

[@gumboe2007]

I always enjoyed Tomorrow's World with Michael Rodd. He has a great presenting style which I always enjoyed and looked forward to as a child many years ago. He's one of those ageless people who make me wish we could rewind the clock. Thank you Michael.

[@jayyt2969]

Spoiler Alert: The camera man is recording this on his smartphone.

[@pumpkinspice5848]

No silly he is recording on a Nokia he forgot his smartphone at home

[@francissantiago1410]

Lol

[@nshaidang99]

... with retro effect.

[@stiannobelisto573]

@@nshaidang99😛 yes..we need to ask what app he is using, looks like real film

[@nshaidang99]

@@stiannobelisto573 He use BBC app, you can see its watermark in the upper left corner :D

[@saibea5t523]

oh, the good ol days.. back when i wasn't born yet

[@IAm-zo1bo]

I remember this because i was still in my dads ballsack

[@MichaelSHartman]

We all feel the same way.

[@hendriyanar1465]

@@IAm-zo1bo My dad wasn't even born, lol

[@needforspeedgaming7148]

@@hendriyanar1465 hi child

[@sirloin8745]

Yeah, I often heard them say that when I was young.

[@supahfly_uk]

When he says "A dialling tone" one can imagine a whole generation looking confused.

[@shaunsmith1825]

And then watching him dialling... " wtf that turny thing? "

[@Awibrahor]

41 years on, I’m watching this video on a pocket-size iPhone while sending this comment round the world. As with old-fashioned phone calls, I could have spent my time more productively.

[@reallyryan_]

Pocket sized? What other sizes does apple do 🤣

[@matrixstrobe1176]

I remember when mobiles first came out and most people wondered why anyone thought they were so important they needed to carry one How times have changed

[@dariusanderton3760]

Mobile phones were associated with the wealthy, and one day we saw a woman in her 20's on the bus (this is in western Canada) talking on a mobile, and we thought she was being so pretentious and absurd, because if you could afford a mobile you could easily afford your own car and not take a bus. The buses were only used by poor people and students.

[@masbaiy4858]

What do you mean we bring our phone? I for instance only have portable KZbin player with me all the time. Indeed it has telephony app integrated, but it's useless add-on.

[@balls8758]

I still feel that way

[@matrixstrobe1176]

@@dariusanderton3760 i know mobiles have always been expensive but i dont think they were ever the same price as a car

[@disobeytoday4685]

I remember when I tried to live without a bank account. Impossible.

[@mickyhovis]

it will never catch on

[@MonoLith2049]

Micky Browne not while we have good clean phone boxes!

[@kdmc40]

Micky Browne The suit or the phone?

[@c4pc]

Ya especially without a headphone jack!

[@leonvdd]

c4pc #crapple

[@wolfme4030]

Micky Browne or flappy bird

[@davidjames666]

It’ll never take off. who would want to talk to someone while driving or out in public where others can hear them. i’ll take my phone calls in the privacy of my own kitchen

[@marklittler784]

😂😂😃😂😃😂😃😂😃😂😃

[@cohencohen54]

In 1975 for a school paper i predicted cell phones would be everywhere soon. My teacher wrote: delusional.

[@damntuff62]

Get in contact with the delusional teacher if he/she is still alive

[@robwatts4988]

Arthur C Clarke wrote about cell phones in the 60s . Nikola Tesla predicted the mobile phone in 1901 and predicted the smart phone in 1926 , you say you predicted the cell phone in 1975 makes me wonder if you had read and watched 2001: a space odyssey, both written book and film came out in 1968

[@grahamsanderson8053]

what do you want? a medal?

[@johnmcvey7014]

@@grahamsanderson8053 that will do nicely thank you! Oops! I'm thinking of American Express. Dunce cap for me, no medal.

[@TheMarrification]

It goes to show that teachers don't know everything! When I was in primary school in 1992 I had to write about what I did on the weekend; our city had just got Toys R Us, newly opened, and I talked about going in there. My teacher marked me down for writing the 'R' backwards. They know jack shit.

[@BensoftMedia]

And here I am watching this video on my computer, using my phone as a mobile hotspot.

[@HimynameisJermHicks]

Ha and that's how different technology is today.

[@Tacsmoker]

ok but almost 40 years later and half the planet thinks its a flat planet, jokes are outlawed, fat is beautiful, ill settle for the old ways to your hotspot any day lol ;-)

[@Elldeeve]

@@Tacsmoker People think the world is flat again, People are arrested for telling a joke, life expectancy is less than it was 10 years ago, fats back. we are going backwards, the old days wont be long.

[@rdouthwaite]

I'm just watching it on the phone.

[@glenn9683]

@@rdouthwaite and the phone is watching you

[@bokaboi]

I bet it gets better battery life than my iPhone.

[@dcangrlish8802]

But you can't beat a would-be mugger to death with an iPhone. Yin and Yang.

[@Katya_Lastochka]

Patryk Wieczorek Yeah they had things like cameras back then, and people greeted strangers, pondered their life, and observed nature.

[@jrag1000]

Books are too fast.

[@phreak1118]

This thing was analog... very bad on battery life.

[@theallknowingsause8940]

it was a joke, buzz kill much?

[@elliotwhitworth8239]

Why did I think the guy in the thumbnail was Jonathan Pie?

[@chockergram]

There's something so Alan Partridge about Michael Rodd's delivery...

[@TheCatBilbo]

Funny - watched several Partridge clips, then this one and thought the same!

[@Keth417]

He's even got the gate....the country gate

[@kevrockism]

I was thinking its like something of brass eye lol or the day today show

[@rodd1000]

Ah haaa!!

[@DCI-Frank-Burnside]

I think it's the earnestness of the man, strolling out into the wilds of Essex to make a pioneering phone call on a 'Bakelite' mobile phone, that cracks me up.

[@wado1942]

The sound quality is pretty amazing for a 16mm production from 1979. I wish current TV docs were this well-done.

[@RobinsVoyage]

They had great sound engineers!

[@Andrew-ss7jd]

The opening part sounds like he's filling for words on a 2000 word essay

[@MasterOfKnowledge.]

Sounds like me when I'm trying to make up sentences just to hear my own voice

[@kingjames4886]

the point was that he could talk and move around lol... it would have blown your mind in the 70s.

[@MASTERJJ1995]

Even this has an audio jack where the latest smartphones don't.

[@onemediaopticalukltd8398]

Look how far we have come in mobile phone technology from 1979 to 2021, amazing.

[@Virtual.Nature]

Oh my, a mobile phone with a built in fidget spinner. They were more innovative back then than I thought!

[@sanjivjhangiani3243]

There are rotary phone dial apps available 😄

[@mattfox14]

But the question still remains, where are those papers??

[@TheJanDahl]

mattfox14 Some say he's still searching to this day.

[@connectplus247]

TheJanDahl could well be in his download folder on his mobile.

[@AD-kv9kj]

Those papers he wanted were his king size Rizla.

[@dean1100110]

Lost to the BBC archives probably XD

[@this_is_a_tiny_town]

They'll be in the last place he looks.

[@zaphodbond]

"An elegant phone for a more civilized age."

[@shibolinemress8913]

The Force is strong with this one.

[@ritahorvath8207]

😬

[@Pwwh0711]

& it all came true: A council estate hoody with a mobile in one hand & a kitchen knife in the other!

[@andy86i]

Not as a clumsy or as random as a smartphone

[@troysvisualarts]

Very interesting to see what came before the famous brick phone in 1983, am surprised they still used an old fashion rotary dialer instead of push button dialer which was already available in the 70s

[@Syntax.error.]

This is most likely so you don't push the buttons too fast. The bandwidth they worked with was super low and very slow.

[@3lttlbrds]

@@Syntax.error. oooh that's why, thank you

[@hoofie2002]

Push button dialling or DTMF wasn't common in the UK until later on. Pulse dialling lasted a long time

[@TestGearJunkie.]

@@hoofie2002 Still works, even on our full fibre "Digital Voice" line..!

[@mrah2423]

Wish there were still programmes like this on tv

[@Khalil.8611]

Are people still watching TV nowadays?

[@albertteng1191]

You can watch Click also on BBC

[@rayvega3163]

@@Khalil.8611 Yes.

[@nathkrul]

Same, I loved tomorrow's world as a child, couldn't wait for it to be aired every Thursday, think it was on then lol

[@forzauk1]

The gadget show was simular

[@favela222]

It’s a pity it doesn’t still cut off after 3 minutes. It would stop people talking a load of bollocks on the phone

[@itsanarse]

you're not wrong hahaha

[@TheRightLadder]

Wasting airwaves. What a wonderful idea

[@Mxyzptlksac]

Do people still talk on the phone?

[@freebirdh604]

@@Mxyzptlksac 🤣🤣 no! My partner shouts, for some reason he gets louder than he usually is...and has the bloody thing on speaker, so everyone hears everything. Totally oblivious to anyone else’s needs. 🤦‍♀️

[@KesselRunner606]

Must have taken all afternoon to type out a text with that dial.

[@matthewhopkins666]

Forget the phone I'm just loving the reel to reel tape player/recorder.

[@lythsian]

I laughed when he walked out of the room with the phone still attached. Looked like a Monty Python skit.

[@clarissamcpigeon7857]

It's also so weird these days to see an office desk without some kind of computer on it.

[@albertbatfinder5240]

The entire 70’s were a Monty Python skit.

[@karlpj1]

Even in that time would look ridiculous. You have no way to get rid of the phone part, that you need to hold in the hand forever.

[@neithere]

The entrance looked like the one when Cleese's reporter character was carried out with the desk. Could be the same, actually. Too lazy to check.

[@jazzman1626]

Albert Batfinder Back in the 1970s, I didn’t have a silly walk like I do now. Well, that’s me ol’ joints to blame for that.

[@Poney01234]

1979: People might even watch 2020 BBC on it! 2020: *watches 1979 BBC on it*

[@alahraralahrar878]

No more serious work mate ..70s 80s never come back ..💚💚💚 bbc is shit 2020

[@nealefrazer4247]

Well played 👏👏

[@Bulletguy07]

@RACHEL LAWRENCE BrexSHIT

[@danielrobbins7078]

Nah....nobody said that Justyou

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

This is the very same Michael Rodd with his legendary tape-driven satnav from eight years earlier. Looks a lot older in this clip. And also this wasn't a "mobile phone" in the modern sense. This was basically just a tricked-out walkie talkie that could connect by radio into the conventional PSTN. But it was a very good start and laid the groundwork for what we take for granted today.

[@FFM0594]

Automatic call termination after 3 minutes. Love the idea!

[@TestGearJunkie.]

Still the case on the Band III MPT1327 trunked system we used at the bus company I used to work for.

[@brucekennedy5274]

Invented to talk to each other, now used to ignore each other.

[@cessposter]

oH mY gOd iM sO eDgY

[@alightswitch8912]

I'm 14 and this is deep

[@brucekennedy5274]

@Dominic Currie Deeper than Eddie Murphy going deep deep undercover.

[@Banthah]

@ Bruce Kennedy -You’ve nailed it!

[@stevedoubleu99B]

I really wish i'd said that! Brilliant.....and true.

[@rtsharlotte]

Intelligent TV before this X-Factor, Love Island and Strictly bollocks came along.

[@gunner678]

Well said!

[@danw1374]

Junk food and junk tv. Making people stupid, deliberately!

[@sillygoose635]

shut up, oldhead

[@sillygoose635]

TW was bollocks too

[@jazzman1626]

Ha ha ha ha “Strictly bollocks”. I call it “Strictly Dumb Prancing”.

[@LudvigIndestrucable]

Despite him heavily stressing the 'digital information' aspect, it was based on analogue transmission. Connecting a mobile device to a PTSN (phone network) was mainly an issue of regulation and processing power.

[@zaphenath6756]

i'm guessing he meant digital as in 'having to do with digits', ie the numbers he was dialing

[@m9078jk3]

There was a really great time when we had cellular phones that used analog signals mostly back in the 1980's and 1990's. Those were great fun times for people who had radio scanners that could be easily modified to pick up those frequencies. There was no encryption for cell phones at the time and people that used cellular phones were being listened to by a lot of other people so they didn't have a private conversation. Often times hilarious pranks were pulled on the owners.

[@tonysmith1682]

Yes, I had one of those scanners back around the mid 80's. I recall the majority of the conversations in the evenings were business men on their way home from work either arranging dates with their mistresses or thanking them for a great night previously, whilst driving home to wifey and a cooked meal on the table.

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

@@tonysmith1682 Back in those days it was only really yuppie wideboys and fat cats who were into mobile phones in a big way. They are exactly the sort of person to engage in that sort of behaviour.

[@ericgeorge5483]

Watching this reminds me of just how great a programme Tomorrows World really was.

[@TSR1989FF]

This prototype was UK made though, thus TW was technically accurate in their framing. It would be another decade before the first Cellular Network was set up in the UK.

[@Locutus]

*Tomorrow's* World.

[@ericgeorge5483]

@@TugIronChief But they were not mass market; just an idea that didn't catch on then.

[@ericgeorge5483]

@@TSR1989FF Absolutely correct.

[@TSR1989FF]

^ Spam Bot much?

[@lesjames5607]

Home Office: "Those wavelengths will never be made available". Vodafone; "We will give you £5 billion for them" Home Office; "Oh ok then, they're yours"

[@tayokarate]

Les James lol

[@g6ztz]

I worked at Vodafone during the bidding process, it was fascinating how it worked. The bids were sent in by ... FAX. 🤣

[@Laffy-ix5xy]

@Armando Silvier That's what Thatcher said 🤔

[@ian9outof10]

@Armando Silvier Someone has to regulate the bandwidth and spectrum or it would be utter chaos.

[@buddhastaxi666]

@Armando Silvier You would end up with it being like British railways with multiple companies. Or one private monopoly run by an autocrat.

[@GeordieAmanda]

Ah the dashing Michael Rodd ❤ I loved 'screen test' with him too

[@10thmountainmax70]

Whoever is making these look like “back in the days” is doing a bang up job. Maybe they can bring back movies with the feel of yesteryear too!

[@calderarecords]

How charming the 70's seem from this side of the clock.

[@thefacelessmen2101]

They weren't

[@davidfellows1650]

Thatcher just came in. Need I say more.....

[@hunkydory1973]

If you discount all the peadophiles on tv

[@jayrox40]

Everything was great before Thatcher wasn't it? Unions had the country by the bollocks, winter of discontent. Yeah life was great under labour wasn't it?

[@imogenimeson664]

@@thefacelessmen2101 They damn well were!coolest decade ever.

[@crusty21]

These were later sold as a kit which included : The handset , the radio, and grey flannel jacket with phone hook and coin box. Only $999.99

[@RapiDEraZeR]

you get only a flimsy shit phone for 300 bucks more these days.drop it and you'll pay a premium

[@joojoojeejee6058]

I'm pretty sure the price would've been much higher than that. Probably more than $5000. Early mobile phones were expensive.

[@GaiaMediaIndustries]

Then Apple wrapped it in tin foil and started charging $9999999.99 for theirs. Except you couldn't dial out. And you could only use it facing north. And you could only use it if you had a subscription to Beezer comic.

[@barrybarnard836]

The replies are hilarious

[@johntovey8084]

Two minutes after recording this, the Indians started the first scam calling center

[@cessposter]

Bro I still can't believe you did us like that

[@hamzasultanzuberi3552]

hahahaha

[@microaggressionsurvivor2937]

@Thomas Livingstone They select numbers from a database at random

[@stuartkelly3106]

Hahaha

[@san-chil]

we can do that in under a minute ...

[@chitekwe]

I remember watching this and thinking "Yeah, right!! "...

[@ponzitizen]

My mobile is always on charge, might as well be a landline.

[@domxem5551]

Haki Kaki That’s true and the reason is because you don’t make calls anymore with a phone. My first cellphone, a Motorola flip-phone lasted for days and the batteries I carried with me actually were spares.

[@markillingworth1929]

Haki kaki Me too, if I unplugged the charger I'd have an hour tops. Needles to say I now have a (home phone).

[@keithdainton6043]

Then you are using it to much put it down and get a life.

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

Haki Kaki is it? Get a better one then.

[@alt1579]

Call is cut off after 3 minutes? I need to give my wife one of these.

[@salmajama9431]

😂😂😂

[@JamieLikesGames]

Bruh 😂

[@simongill4715]

And the cost of a call back then

[@ddavies1967]

Great to see Michael Rodd & this old Tomorrows World piece. I used to love this. And Screen Test.

[@jestronixhanderson9898]

In the 90s as a kid. I could use the TV at the far end of the dial to tune into people’s mobile phone calls, they then started channel skipping, only took a second to find the call again, and let me tell you it was a million times more exciting than TV.

[@MrJonsonville5]

Yeah, I used to do that too on a portable radio I had that could receive the audio from TV stations. Sometimes you could hear only one side of the conversation, sometimes both. I totally forgot about that til you mentioned it, that was hours and hours of fun for a 12 year old.

[@jestronixhanderson9898]

@@MrJonsonville5 yep, it only lasted for a few years if that , considering government agencies would have been using it , it was super lax security. I suspect it was only when available channels were full , sometimes there was nothing at all.

[@andym28]

I liked the days when you couldn't get in touch with someone. The world has lost its mystery.

[@blackneos940]

+Andy M Not if you unplug the Ethernet Cable..... ;) People EVERYWHERE will be wondering where you are, or what you're doing....... :3

[@Kelly14UK]

+Andy M Cycling in the remote countryside isn't really the adventure it was. We still get punctures and stuff and rained on, no smartphone can prevent all that, but the sense of being "cut off" from family and civilisation has gone.

[@clarissamcpigeon7857]

+Andy M Agreed. I'm only 28, I work in IT, and even I think we're just too closely connected. People get upset or start looking for you if you don't respond to them within seconds and that's really sad as well as irritating. Even in the 90s as a kid, people could go hours doing their own thing completely cut off from the world - and it was bliss.

[@Kelly14UK]

+Clarissa McPigeon Same. We depend too fast on the technology and it's not without its faults. We get impatient. I used to not bother with a mobile in 2003 cos i was old school. Never had one permanent till 2004.

[@Kelly14UK]

You know what i hate about these friggin "smartphones"? You have to be a smart ARSE to navigate them and also to put up with texting naturally, Sick of fixing spelling errors. And the advertising. And. And etc

[@vink6163]

Wow I wish today's shows were as focused and informative as this! Everything today is over simplified and with flashy graphics and music detracting from the content. Eh, I must be getting old.

[@grahamblack1961]

I agree. They didn't feel the need to make everything into a pop video in those days. TV shows could be serious.

[@jimboAndersenReviews]

Click, on BBC is much in this spirit. Besides that; I'm rather sure, that a lot of viewers, back in 1979, where not all that convinced about the viability of a wearable telephone. -But it certainly was viable :3

[@socallife890]

well this is BBC UK and not for the US audience. BBC always has had more sophisticated programming, IMO.

[@TheOne-xl5dz]

That's because there were no "shows" back then. Instead, there was a range of "programmes". That might seem like a trivial difference in linguistics, but it's really much more than that. I blame the USA for popularising brainless "shows".

[@JackKing12.]

Today they don't make tech programmes like tomorrow's world...

[@theaussiewhinger]

A mobile telephone. Amazing. I look forward to owning one someday.

[@BrokenSofa]

"Interference from a passing motor car" holy hell we've come a long way in 40 years

[@Knock_off_Ginger]

Watching this on a mobile telephone 40 years later.

[@843idfa]

What we have now is not a phone, it’s really a computer. It does not utilize any technologies from the phone in the video.

[@Jwdude123]

You thank Apple. USA

[@mittfh]

"It does not utilise any technologies from the phone in the video" Largely because some of the key technologies underlying traditional voice telephony have changed since then (e.g. how numbers are transmitted through the system). However, the basic flowchart is similar - information is converted to radio waves, transmitted to a receiver, which converts it back to an electrical signal, which after passing through more equipment, interfaces with the traditional telephone network (and vice versa). Plus, some of the technological limitations of that prototype were baked in due to a combination of the frequency it was using (probably shared with numerous other applications) and lack of encryption - the idea being to minimise the amount of radio bandwidth used.

[@antfletch31]

@@Jwdude123 they didn't invent the first mobile, the first smartphone or even the first touchscreen mobile phone.

[@archhangell]

Amazingly I just realised this fact reading your comment. 🤣

[@marksparkes1]

The technology has advanced at an unimaginable paced while the human intelligence has gone in the opposite direction.

[@hashtag_thisguy]

This statement contradicts itself...

[@pinarellolimoncello]

@@hashtag_thisguy just because you have a smart phone doesn't mean you"re smart is what he's trying to say.

[@pinarellolimoncello]

You've hit the anilin the head for the cherry picking nonsense that is the theory of evolution, massive leaps and bounds have taken place in technology but where is the evolution of our society or country, its been dumbed down and repressed.

[@chuckmaddison2924]

You should live in Australia, even worse.

[@markisaac3550]

So true

[@wilgapilot]

This technology will never take off.

[@cluckycluck3053]

I disagree. A litle bit futuristic, yet the technology looks promising to me.

[@monteceitomoocher]

A remarkable little film, right at the birth of digital communications and the web, how far we've come 45 years, i feel privileged to have lived long enough to see electronics progress from cumbersome valve based stuff to devices that contain multi billion semiconductor equivalents of them that can do almost anything, and yet still fit in a shirt pocket, a pity such technology has also brought immense social change and not always for the better, perhaps we as the end users now need to undergo the same evolution to make ourselves as good as our technology.

[@nord1486]

I remember sitting through this waiting patiently for Top Of The Pops to come on

[@fiftypeehead]

smith23 Aaaaahhh Thursday nights. Good times

[@ShearForce1]

And it used to be on just after The Kenny Everett Show

[@Handmethekeys]

yep.....back in the innocent days ☺

[@davidjames3125]

smith23 this show then Jimmy Savile presenting Cliff Richard, bbc peadophile rings peak days.

[@gollycom]

Blondie Heart of glass and Gary's Gang keep on dancing were part of the show.🤡🤡🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🌕🌕☄🔥😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@diggerpete9334]

At least that mobile phone didn't bend in his pocket.

[@moramento22]

And it didn't explode...

[@the_panda_bear9680]

Because it's already bent...

[@alberteinsteinthejew]

I remember in the 90s I used to call all of friends in my phone book list just to say hello, but now with all of those easiness I really try not to talk on the phone with people lol

[@BogoEN]

His demo of the TEAC Tascam 144 is pure gold.

[@iandennis1]

Micheal Rodd a 70s presenter it's still ok to like

[@CCCW]

At least he didn't sexually molest corpses

[@TheSmoothie1973]

He touched me......too soon?

[@solcutta-zt9uw]

Yes I was about to say the obvious why cos he didn't abuse any kids.. But it was obviously inferred in the comment and thus didn't need pointing out even tho I did. Haha

[@gabrielueta6908]

www.parliamentspeakers.com/Speaker/Michael+Rodd

[@benshahrabi]

It's nice to see Essex in 1979. No false tans, grating voices or tacky shops in sight.

[@04smallmj]

This is the northern part of Essex though, it's the southern part that you want to avoid ;-)

[@stevedoubleu99B]

Ben Shahrabi - FlipBen ProductionsYes, Although Danbury is still quite unspoilt to this day.

[@leonvdd]

Ben Shahrabi - FlipBen Productions that's because they didn't exist yet

[@matfix1258]

I would give anything for it to be 1979 again. Today's world is a joke, for the most part. :-/

[@-SUM1-]

Exactly. Completely agree, as someone born and living in South Essex.

[@RichardDzien]

Never mind the phone. That tape recorder was/is a work of art!

[@orangewobbly2980]

That tape recorder still looks 'credible' today.

[@TestGearJunkie.]

Nagra IS. Nagras are still the best portable tape recorder ever made for journalists, reporters etc. Digital versions are still being made.

[@harreson1968]

I grew up watching Tomorrows world as a kid, amazing how long it took for some of these inventions to become commonplace

[@veedub95]

It will never work. A mobile phone. Ha ha. Never work

[@enescakr4203]

Valery Willis send from my iPhone.

[@matezsiros3650]

I know right? What's next? A global electric information superhighway where you can text with others and watch videos? Hah! Silly people.

[@DawingmanT900]

Máté Zsiros Exactly, it seems too complicated for it's own good, we should just keep writing letters, and take down even more trees

[@edfordham9620]

We should never have come down from the trees, let alone wrote letters and cut the trees down to make paper - then have to recycle the paper to make more paper so that we can plant more trees. Next week there was a typewriter attached to the handset to allow mobile telemessages to be sent.

[@claudiosalib774]

I concur with your thoughts, Sir. It will never happen or be a reality, at least not in our lifetime. Should you wish to listen to some nice music, Sir you may always turn the dial on your wireless for some smashing music. As for me I do not envisage your science fiction being reality anytime soon, only as some fantastic dream concocted by your childlike imagination. You may as well state that we could fly to the moon in a rocket and talk to people on Earth. No, Sir these are fanciful things for young children to imagine and not for adults to delve into such fantasies.👴

[@todlindley8101]

YES BRING BACK TOMMOROWS WORLD, -GOOD QUALITY TV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@todlindley8101]

Michael Rodd, the Fresh face of Tomorrows World !

[@northzero2390]

But not on the paedophile supporting BBC!

[@GaiaMediaIndustries]

Also bring back The Great Egg Race.

[@peterdavidasige8073]

Can’t do. Tomorrow has gone.

[@geroldgrimel4811]

Some say, that even to this day, he STILL hasn't found that piece of paper...

[@karlr2908]

Even I get excited by this... What an era for TV

[@iamjimb]

Can you imagine if he held it up and started pouting for a picture

[@stickykitty]

If only someone would have told him That in 50years This video would be watched on a mobile phone The look on his face would have been priceless

[@KiskeyaLife]

Michael Rodd is still alive. He probably is watching this himself on his iphone and is having a good laugh...

[@michaeltreend3567]

40 years actually!

[@MrMann0123]

Well... not watching on, using it to broadcast to the telly.

[@macmillan4487]

In another 50 years, you dont need to watch anything, it will be directly transponded into your brain and it will gives you the experience and knowlege

[@FenceThis]

People actually not only imagined but also counted on the future inventions step by step that would gradually lead to gadgets such as modern smart phones

[@patrickn3595]

1979 me: Dad, I want a walkabout phone!

[@iliketowatch.]

I am American. When I hear "home office" I think of a spare bedroom where you have a desk, a computer and a locking door to keep the children out.

[@2bobaf]

You have a spare bedroom for that. My office IS my bedroom. Typical rich American rubbing our faces in it.

[@Skippy-id9yt]

@@2bobaf ??? You must be young and not working or living alone yet and it all seems a bit unreal to you ....grow up you rude little prick...IM Australian and Home office sounds strange to me also

[@Yamezzzz]

Meanwhile when I hear an American say that he walks around in public in his pants, I think he's just wearing underwear.

[@Yamezzzz]

@@Skippy-id9yt the dude was just joking. Most standard homes in the UK have a study/office.

[@hoofie2002]

Home Office = UK. Foreign Office = outside UK. British logic at its simplest.

[@davidlister370]

Absolutely amazing! How do you think they would have reacted in 1979 if they knew I was one day watching this video on a smartphone using mobile data in the middle of countryside! Incredible!

[@nkt1]

David Lister I doubt they would be very surprised, given how rapidly technology had advanced in the previous 30 years or so.

[@timweatherill3738]

nkt1 : You're correct, in general. Some stuff was sadly disappointing, ( manned space missions, etc. ) but some stuff has been a delight.

[@ross6668]

And when you take into account that your 3 million years into deep space it's even more impressive..

[@njrifai5734]

They would have told you to stop wasting your money and get WiFi

[@fidelcatsro6948]

witchcraft

[@Topline40]

Christ I saw this the first time around. I was just a kid. The world has changed at a frightening pace. Not always for the better.

[@colinellis8661]

I lived in New Zealand in 1973 and I had to book a call to the uk at Christmas time. and it wasn't cheap either . now we have skype and its free.

[@sailenkatel3436]

How does it feel to have lived in an era when so much has changed so fast? Genuinely curious as I am much younger.

[@dariusanderton3760]

@@sailenkatel3436 I really wonder about all the change witnessed by people in earlier decades. My great great grandmother was born about 1860 when the US Civil War was happening, and she died about 1960 when Elvis Presley and television existed. From horses to automobiles, and candles to electricity, telephones, movies, television. And the changes in politics and society back then.... Wow. As for my own life, I am surprised how fashion and music seem to have changed very little in the past 25 years, compared to the huge changes between 1950 and 1975. Seems bizarre how little these things have changed. But the changes brought by computers, internet, mobile phones are massive. We knew computers would have a huge effect on the future, but we really didnt know in what ways. We had seen that electricity had a huge effect on society from the 1800s to 1970, so we knew computers would have a huge effect in the future. Thankfully sentient computers have not taken control of society (at least not yet) like in some dystopian movies like The Matrix and Terminator. It is harder to learn new things as you get older, but slowly I have picked up the technology that matters in my life (I use an iPhone extensively with my job) but other aspects of technology I dont need to bother with (video gaming, facebook). Time does seem to pass faster when you are older. The last 10 years really seem to have flown by. You kind of get used to people much younger than you knowing more about technology than you do. Its just the way things are. When you are young you have spare time to learn all the newest tech, and when you are older you are too busy with work and other things in life to learn all the constantly changing tech. Some of it changes so fast its not worth learning about (like that stupid original version of Windows 8, - what a waste of time that was). Thanks to science fiction we have a rough idea of what might be coming (1960s Star Trek with its Communicators (mobile phones) and then 1990s Star Trek with its touch screen computers and interactive talking computers ). In the next several decades I imagine more use of self-driving cars, holograms, greater use of DNA technology, genetic engineering of individuals etc. Star Trek's replicators might happen to a small degree (3D printers) but probably will not be able to replicate food or living creatures. So anyways if we start to see these things in the future I wont be 100% shocked. Even in the 1960s I read some futurists were predicting that waves of migration into Europe and the West would become a very big issue, whereas in the 1960s that issue was less significant.

[@fuzzyfoyz]

OMG. The clicking sound of an analogue phone dialing.. I actually miss that. I also used to get very paranoid when I'd here the clicking sounds mid conversation that someone was listening in! 🤣🤣🤣

[@jakethedude100]

I loved this programme! Everyone on tv sounded so proper🤣i was 9 when this was broadcast..

[@cageordie]

Ah, BBC RP, the only way to talk.

[@charlesnolan7602]

That rotary dial brings back fond memories of "speed" calling into radio stations to win valuable prizes and free concert tickets!

[@rodneykemp2770]

Lame prize

[@Philjj61]

We used to dial all the numbers except for the last and hope it didn't cut out before they called it open for calls on the radio.

[@OneofInfinity.]

The irony of watching this video on a smartphone.

[@MrDaiseymay]

I think that's why it's being shown

[@MCVessels]

It's like rain on your wedding day.

[@codrinn9999]

Do you know what irony is?

[@HouseholdDog]

This is the future calling. This technology must be destroyed.

[@oliverhwd]

And now in 2024 I’m watching this show from 1979 on my mobile phone.

[@jumpleadsx2]

Can't wait for this to come out. Making a call in the park. Incredible.

[@dapdapbamban]

Now you can be told “you’ve been in an accident” anywhere.

This is so totally appropriate on a flashback Friday! OMG! 1979! I so remember!

[@TheTwick]

Dialing the phone...in the middle of the countryside...that’s crazy talk. The BBC, in 1979, didn’t have a clue.

[@brownier2448]

That some top notch modern tech right there, I'm gonna head straight down to woolworths in my Austin p6 whilst listening to my favourite cassette tape to purchase this wonderful device.

[@YujiUedaFan]

+Brownier I think you mean 8-track.

[@GoatzombieBubba]

+YujiUedaFan they had cassette tapes in the 70's

[@YujiUedaFan]

***** The only time I saw the 70s was in Life on Mars UK.

[@Landie_Man]

Brownier *rover p6

[@djgingecoldwell10]

Have played Pong yet lol

[@ogweasel4273]

This is total BS. How can a phone work wireless??

[@MrBisketTV]

Yeah and look how hard it is to send digital data...! 😀

[@JohnNugroho]

It's wizardry is what it is

[@bayuplay10]

It's witchcraft :D

[@googleuser2609]

They can't. They're still in prototype.

[@dennisglass412]

They had a better reception in 1969 from the moon

[@harjitbhambra4769]

Awesome to see where it started

[@DarkAmbientEscapes]

I remember me and my friend were the first people in our secondary school to have a mobile phone. It was a Vodaphone and resembled a black brick, never the less it was a phone. And everyone thought we were weird for having one!