The Y2K problem
In the popular memory, the millennium bug was something that failed to come to pass. However, that is only because an army of coders made sure it didn’t.
British Telecom
The name vanished in 1991. Except not quite…
The Millennium Dome
It cost too much money. It ruined political careers. It was a monument to corporate sponsorship. Welcome to the queue.
Phonecards
They were once a modern miracle. No longer did you have to have a pocketful of coins to make a phone call. Instead, you could reach for the magic card.
Finisterre
Every day in the UK, the Meteorological Office issues four weather forecasts for people in boats. Lots of people not in boats listen to the Shipping Forecast, too. So, when you propose changing it, the result is outcry.
01 for London
London’s been 01, 071, 081, 0171, 0181, then 020. No wonder so many people don’t know their own telephone number.
CD-ROMs
CD-ROMs were the flavour of the 1990s. What happened to them?
Netscape Navigator
This was once the way to see the World Wide Web. In the mid-1990s, as the web began to take off, the Netscape Navigator browser was used by more than 90% of people online.
Two-Way Family Favourites
This radio programme is why British people taste the tang of Yorkshire puddings when they hear Doris Day. And sometimes vice versa.
Phone numbers you had to remember
Nowadays, we have subcontracted out the memorising of numbers to our devices, not our brains. You used to have to know someone’s number to be able to dial it, or look it up in a phone directory or the soon-to-be extinct Yellow Pages.
