A Timeline of Media and Communications

By Tim Lambert

c 3,200 BC Writing is invented in Iraq

c 1,600 BC The alphabet is invented in Lebanon and Israel

c 200 BC Paper is invented in China

c 1445 AD Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press

1476 William Caxton introduces the printing press into England

1512 Henry VIII created the Royal Mail

1635 King Charles I allows private citizens to send messages by Royal Mail for a fee

1665 The first real English newspaper is printed

1690 The first American newspaper is printed

1702 The first successful daily newspaper in England is published

1752 The first Canadian newspaper is published

1783 The first daily american newspaper is published

1785 The Daily Universal Register is printed. In 1788 it is renamed The Times.

1791 The Observer is founded

1803 The first Australian newspaper the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser is printed

1806 Carbon paper is invented by Ralph Wedgwood

1821 The Manchester Guardian is founded. In 1859 it is renamed The Guardian.

1837 The telegraph is invented. Isaac Pitman invents shorthand.

1840 Rowland Hill invents the Penny Post

1853 Post boxes are introduced in Britain

1855 In Britain stamp duty on newspapers is removed making them much cheaper

1858 In the USA Albert Potts patents a mailbox designed to fit lamposts

1874 The first successful typewriter goes on sale

1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone

1880 The New York Graphic is the first newspaper to print a photo

1887 Paris and Brussels are linked by telephone

1888 The Financial Times is first printed

1891 Paris and London are linked by telephone

1901 Marconi sends a radio message across the Atlantic

1891 The Daily Graphic is the first newspaper in Britain to print a photo

1900 The Daily Express is first published

1903 The Daily Mirror is first published

1922 The BBC begins radio broadcasting

1925 Television is invented

1927 The first transatlantic telephone line opens

1930 A telephone link is established between Britain and Australia

1936 The BBC begins broadcasting high definition television

1958 Liquid paper is patented by Bette Nesmith Graham

1960 Echo, the first communications satellite is launched

1964 The Daily Herald becomes the Sun

1969 The laser printer is invented by Gary Starkweather

1973 Martin Cooper invents the first handheld cell phone

1978 The Daily Star is first published

1985 The first mobile telephone in Britain is made

1986 The Independent is first published

1989 Satellite television begins in Britain

1999 A free newspaper called Metro is published

2010 i, an abbreviated version of The Independent is first published