Telecommunications

The Telecommunications gallery is a must for anyone looking to discover the many uses of the electric telegraph, the telephone and radio.

A prominent feature is a mock-up of a telecommunication exhibition of about 1929, a 'show within a show' which captures a little of the excitement of the rapid advance of telecommunications technology in the 1920s.

At one end of the gallery you’ll find a reconstruction of a typical ship's radio cabin of about 1910 – the Titanic had a radio cabin much like this one.

Elsewhere, a clever illusion contrasts the typical office equipment available in 1883 with its descendants of 1983. Before your very eyes you’ll see one office magically transformed into the other using a trick known as a 'Pepper's Ghost' illusion.

Ironically, however, the pace of change brought by the internet has made historical artefacts of even the 'new' equipment displayed here.