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1874
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Guglielmo Marconi is born in Bologna, Italy, on 25 April.
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Marconi as a young man (Marconi plc)
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1896
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Marconi begins work in England on his wireless system and is granted the world's first wireless telegraphy patent.
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First Marconi system, 1896 (UCL)
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1901
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Marconi succeeds in transmitting the letter 's' in Morse code by radio telegraph across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland in Canada.
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The first transatlantic radio signal was received in Newfoundland via an aerial held aloft by a kite (Marconi plc)
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1910
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Marconi's wireless is used to penetrate the disguise of Dr Crippen and his companion Miss Le Neve aboard the transatlantic liner in which they were escaping to America after the murder of Mrs Crippen in London.
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The ship's captain contacted Scotland Yard via wireless (Marconi plc)
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1912
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The Titanic disaster, 14 April. Marconi narrowly misses travelling on the Titanic during her maiden voyage, having joined an earlier ship to America. Those who were saved on the Titanic survived because of wireless, which was used to raise the alert.
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The Titanic leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage
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1920s
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The first regular radio broadcasts take place.
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Vintage wireless from the 1950s
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1937
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Marconi dies on the 20 July at the age of 63.
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Memorial to Marconi at Poldhu, Cornwall
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1950s
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Television starts to take over from radio.
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Early BBC Television studio
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1962
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Goonhilly, one of the largest commercial Earth stations in the world, opens in Cornwall, a few kilometres from where Marconi sent the first signal across the Atlantic.
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Goonhilly pioneered television transmissions across the Atlantic
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1962
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Telstar 1 is launched on 10 July by a Delta rocket from the US space base of Cape Canaveral and relays radio signals via Goonhilly for the first live transatlantic television broadcasts.
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Telstar's equipment could handle only one black-and-white television channel
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1964
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Twelve nations form Intelsat (International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation), to develop a global communications network.
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1965
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Intelsat launches Intelsat 1, the first commercial satellite in geostationary orbit, nicknamed Early Bird.
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2001
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Satellite phones allow people to communicate from remote areas and war zones.
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Satellite phones allow BBC correspondents to report from Afghanistan
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