News about Alexander Graham Bell

Sir Rocco has been the owner of Mayfair's legendary Brown's Hotel since 2003. Here, he discusses the hotel's fascinating past, announcing that staying here puts you among the most illustrious guests, which also includes Rudyard Kipling and Alexander Graham Bell, who made Europe's first telephone call at the hotel.

They were one of his afternoon radio shows, snippets of trivia from around the world so bizarre that listeners were never quite sure if they were correct or false. These 'factoids' were such a hit feature that the legendary DJ, who died this week at the age of 69, that he wrote two books of his favorites, whether it was discovering the immense shoe size of a celebrity chef or revealing the name of the film with the first flushing toilet.

For a large portion of my childhood, I battled the Scottish cringe. I was probably in my thirties before I felt I had it licked. However, a new strain of it has been unleashed, and resistance for this Scot seems to have been futile.

The Smithsonian Institution is the world's biggest museum, education, and research complex, with 19 museums and the National Zoo under its umbrella. A unequivocable number of mysteries, unknowns, and marvellous artefacts are among the city's countless treasures, cryptic, and rare finds. From the institute's strange beginnings to ultra-rare items in its collections, read on for 21 amazing facts about the institution.

Carlton Reid stayed at the hotel for a memorable stay, including a glimpse inside the Sir Paul Smith Suite and chatting with historian Andy Williamson about the hotel's rich history and its illustrious past guests. Brown's, which opened in 1837, is London's oldest luxury hotel with the same name and location.

Roma Agrawal (pictured) toyed with the idea of naming this book Nuts And Washers, but she found it insufficient, so here's a shorter version in all its (serious) glory. Agrawal, an engineer who is also an author and television presenter, is perhaps best known in engineering circles for his role on the building of The Shard, the obnoxious skyscraper outside London Bridge station.

The final words of well-known people are a point of fascination to fans of their respective lives in the hopes of receiving a last burst of wisdom from those who have lived a life less privileged. The words used in those days often reveal the individual's state of deterioration. However, there have been some notable examples of well-known celebrities' parting shots around the globe over the years. Here are a few of the best of the bunch.

Neil Darbyshire's road tour begins in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he dines on delectable lobster and tours the city's majestic Citadel, which was built in 1749 as a bulwark against the French. He then moves into the Canadian wilderness in search of bald eagles, moose, and a cultural education, canoeing in Bras d'Or Lake's blue-black water and listening to hardcore fiddle music in the village of Cheticamp.

When compared to what he is best remembered for, Francis Galton's contributions as an entrepreneur, meteorologist, and statistician pale into insignificance. The Victorian scientist was the eugenic father: the movement sought to eliminate supposedly undesirable human characteristics from the population. Now, a recent BBC Radio 4 documentary by well-known scientist and author Adam Rutherford is supposed to detail the dark past of eugenics. The beliefs became hugely popular in the early 20th century, with the first international congress on the subject being held in London in 1912. Among the attendees were future Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone's developer. However, the belief that the human race's genetic makeup could be enhanced led to some of the twentieth century's worst horrors. In 1907, the first sterilisation bill in Indiana was implemented in the United States state of Indiana. Around 70,000 people were forcibly sterilized in the country before the procedure was eventually stopped in the 1970s, and then the Holocaust was born. Families in Topeka, Kansas, are also pictured: In 1925, families were attempting to find the most eugenically perfect family; in 1925, prisoners were released in the death camp Auschwitz; since its liberation in 1945.

At its high point, there were one in nearly every office and doctor's surgery in the United States. However, the fax machine took more than 100 years to develop, with the equipment behind it being developed in 1843 by Scottish engineer Alexander Bain, 33 years before Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. The devices were not until the 1960s, when American company Xerox introduced the first modern fax (right) machines for office use, that the company was catapulted into the mainstream. They became widespread in companies of all sorts, allowing records to be sent thousands of miles without the use of just a telephone line. An in-car fax machine was the height of sophistication in the late 1980s (bottom left), as the technology continued to advance. However, the death of the fax machine was firmly on the horizon when the internet was first introduced in the 1990s and the increasing use of email. Now, with emerging technologies like file sharing platforms eliminating any need for the machines, telecoms regulator Ofcom is hoping to eliminate the need for telecoms providers to provide the 'outdated' service. It means that the fax machine will go the same way as the once ubiquitous VHS player and the increasingly rare cheque book.

Karen Wilson, 62, has slammed Wetherspoon because they refused to help her disabled son because they felt he was inebriated. When a staff member at Edinburgh's Alexander Graham Bell pub denied him that he had cerebral palsy, Ross, 35, was left feeling 'humiliated.' Ms Wilson, 62, said she told the employee that she was a teacher and that this was 'clearly discrimination' under The Equality Act, but he smirked and refused to give her her the employee's name. Ms Wilson said she and Ross, who live in Newtongrange, Midlothian, were spotted at the bar with her older son Sean, and the two men shared a few lagers. Ross had learning and mobility difficulties, as a result of their ataxic gait, and she had gone to the toilet a few times before being admitted to the final round.