Hi All,Here's some trivia for you. Interesting to say the least. Shalom, Peter
The telephone was not widely appreciated for the first 15
years because people did not see a use for it. In fact, in
the British parliament it was mentioned there was no need
for telephones because "we have enough messengers here."
Western Union believed that it could never replace the
telegraph. In 1876, an internal memo read: "This telephone
has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a
means of communication."
***
Irish scientist, Dr. Dionysius Lardner (1793 - 1859) didn't
believe that trains could contribute much in speedy transport.
He wrote: "Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because
passengers would die of asphyxia."
***
In 1966, Time Magazine predicted, "By 2000, the machines will
be producing so much that everyone in the U.S. will, in
effect, be independently wealthy." In that year too CoCo
Chanel said about miniskirts: "It's a bad joke that won't
last. Not with winter coming."
***
In the early 20th century a world market for only 4 million
automobiles was made because "the world would run out of
chauffeurs." Shortly after the end of World War II (1945),
the whole of Volkswagen, factory and patents, was offered
free to Henry Ford II. He dismissed the Volkswagen Beetle
as a bad design.
***
In 1894, the president of the Royal Society, William Thomson,
Lord Kelvin, predicted that radio had no future. The first
radio factory was opened five years later. Today, there are
more than one billion radio sets in the world, tuned to more
than 33 000 radio stations around the world. He also pre-
dicted that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible.
The Wright Brother's first flight covered a distance equal
to only half the length of the wingspan of a Boeing 747.
***
In 1927, H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, asked, "Who the hell
wants to hear actors talk?"
***
In 1936, Radio Times editor Rex Lambert thought "Television
won't matter in your lifetime or mine."
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