7 March 23

The history of the telephone centers on the 1876 invention by Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant, Thomas Watson. Bell's entry in his journal for 10 March reports that the first conversation consisted of his words "Mr Watson, come here. I want to see you." But it seems likely that the actual date of that event was quite a bit earlier, because Bell filed his patent application for the telephone on 7 March 1876. Exactly fifty years later (1926), the post office in London connected over a shortwave radio signal with Bell Laboratories in New York to hold the first-ever transatlantic telephone call. My tie shows the characters from Peanuts® using 1980s-vintage cellular phones.