Flashback to when Blue Peter showed off an amazing new invention – the mobile phone

When you think of Blue Peter, you’re more likely to have visions of sticky-backed plastic and rampant baby elephants than cutting-edge technology, but in 1976, they gave their young viewers a glimpse of the phone of the future.

#OnThisDay 1976: Blue Peter showed off a phone with no cable that you could even take outside. It'll never catch on. pic.twitter.com/jQ0q7hidxZ

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) October 14, 2021

The clip went down well on Twitter, picking up comments like these.

"[I don't] see any reason why in the future it wouldn't be possible for just about everybody to be walking around carrying one of these: their own portable communication set!" https://t.co/1NzvCKxrMf

— Marc Allera (@MarcAllera) October 15, 2021

Yes, they brought out a phone in a briefcase that cost £3 a minute. Very handy indeed!

— Ｊｏｈｎ Ｃａｓｓｅｒｌｙ (@DLbi12John_boy) October 15, 2021

Anyone going outside like that stands a good chance of being arrested (mistakenly) for indecent exposure.. pic.twitter.com/3vzWhi5Rbw

— Onioki (@Onioki) October 14, 2021

Try telling the kids today that that was a “perfectly normal” telephone 🤣

— womble16 (@womble16) October 14, 2021

I'm quote retweeting this from a landline. https://t.co/DAWm9OvY7D

— The Tweets (@Needles_Toosay) October 14, 2021

Best tech demo I've seen for a while. Live TV walk and talk, in the rain, with a dog, over three filming locations.

Also, am going to start finishing all conversations with "I'm going to cancel the circuits* now."

(* yes, I know) https://t.co/sEhk4PDGoT

— Keith Dyer (@keithdyer) October 15, 2021

We just know there’s a hipster out there, trying to track one of these down.

READ MORE

This old clip of Blue Peter catching fire puts the comedy elephant in the shade

Source BBC Archive Image Screengrab