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As to Bell’s talking telegraph, it only creates interest in scientific circles, and, as a toy it is beautiful; but … its commercial value will be limited. Elisha Gray, letter November 1876
I did not expect to find the electric cable in its primitive state, such as it was on leaving the manufactory. The long serpent, covered with the remains of shells, bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted with a strong coating which served as a protection against all boring mollusks. It lay quietly sheltered from the motions of the sea, and under a favorable pressure for the transmission of the electric spark which passes from Europe to America in .32 of a second. Doubtless this cable will last for a great length of time, for they find that the gutta-percha covering is improved by the sea water. Jules Vern
We must raise the salaries of our operators or they will all be taken from us, that is, all that are good for anything. You will recollect that, at the first meeting of the Board of Directors, I took the ground that, ‘It was our policy to make the office of operator desirable, to pay operators well and make their situation so agreeable that intelligent men and men of character will seek the place and dread to lose it.’ I still think so, and, depend upon it, it is the soundest economy to act on this principle. Samuel F B Morse, letter 1848
Congrats. Stop. Have discovered only person in the world less funny than you. Name: Baldrick. Yours E Blackader. Stop. P.S. Please please please stop. Blackadder Goes Forth: Plan C – Major Star, Blackadder to Bob, BBC 1989
We’ve received a telegraph from Mr Chaplin himself at Senate Studios: twice nightly screening of my film in trenches good idea. But must insist E Blackadder be projectionist. P.S. Don’t let him ever stop. ibid. Darling to Blackadder
Just like Jacquard’s punch cards, the genius of Morse and Vail’s code lay in its simplicity. Order and Disorder with Jim Al-Khalili II: The Story of Information, BBC 2012
The telegraph system would spread around the entire globe. ibid.
The key to understanding the telegraph is understanding a special kind of magnet – an electro-magnet. Jim Al-Khalili, Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity 2/3: The Age of Invention, BBC 2011
The 1858 cable was never fully repaired. ibid.
A new branch of research into the electromagnetic spectrum, and solve the problems of the Atlantic telegraph. ibid.
Professor Oliver Lodge ... He would set in motion a series of events that would revolutionise the Victorian world of brass and telegraph wire. Jim Al-Khalili, Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity 3/3: Revelations & Revolution
1859: Disrupting telegraph service and creating auroras visible down to the equator. (Sun & Telegraph) The Universe s5e7: Total Eclipse, History 2010
The electric telegraph was born out of a series of incremental steps. The Genius of Invention III: Communication, BBC 2013
The Great Eastern was the only ship large enough to take the seven thousands tons of cable needed for the extraordinary achievement of laying the first successful transatlantic telegraph in 1866. Mark Williams, More Industrial Revelations s2e8: Heavy Metal, Discovery 2005
Siemens completed his Indo-European telegraph in 1870. Ronald Top, Industrial Revelations s3e6: The European Story: Generation Electric, Discovery 2005
Dwight: Stop it!
Jim: Stop what?
Dwight: You’re talking about me in Morse code. Well, you know what? Joke’s on you ’cause I know Morse code. Ha!
Jim: Yeah, that’s what we’re doing. In our very limited free time and with our very limited budget, we went and got a nanny and then we went out and took a class on a very outmoded and very unnecessary form of communication just so we could talk about you in front of you.
[cuts to Jim and Pam before camera] Jim: Yup. That’s exactly what we did. The Office US: The Cover-Up s6e24, Michael, BBC 2010
The major advances in speed of communication and ability to interact took place more than a century ago. The shift from sailing ships to telegraph was far more radical than that from telephone to email! Noam Chomsky
A hundred years ago, the electric telegraph made possible – indeed, inevitable – the United States of America. The communications satellite will make equally inevitable a United Nations of Earth; let us hope that the transition period will not be equally bloody. Arthur C Clarke
In 1884 a Clydebuilt ship headed out of Glasgow and across the Atlantic ocean to Canada to become part of something truly groundbreaking. And this is her: the Mackay-Bennett … The creation of an underwater cable network that connected Britain with her future commonwealth for the first time, and in doing so sparked a communication revolution that would change the world for ever. Clydebuilt: The Ships that Made the Commonwealth II: CS Mackay-Bennett, BBC 2014
The real prize was the transatlantic telegraph. ibid.