Events & News

I use this page to report on any interesting developments relating to the book – such as reviews, references in the media or public lectures to promote DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM.  Watch this space!

8th November 2015
I’ve been rather busy recently, and it has been quite a while since the website was last updated. Some recent lectures are listed below:
– 8th October 2014, Stevenage, IET Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Local Network.
– 18th April 2015, Chelmsford, Essex Society for Family History.
– 1st August 2015, Upminster, East of London Family History Society.
– 17th September 2015, Welwyn Garden City, Herts Engineers Luncheon Club.
and one booking for next year:
– 10th February 2016, Harlow, Harlow Heritage Society.

26th September 2014
After a bit of a break, I’m back on the lecture circuit with a presentation today at Imperial College in London. Further bookings include Stevenage on 8th October (details here) and a talk to the Essex Society for Family History on 18th April 2015 at the Galleywood Heritage Centre, Chelmsford.

14th March 2013
Many thanks to the sixty or so brave souls who turned out in wintry conditions for the DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM lecture in Chelmsford last night. If you missed it, the good news is that I’ve been asked to do a couple more! Watch this space for further details.

24th February 2013
I’m giving another of my DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM lectures at Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford on 13th March. It’s open to the public, and it’s free! Further details can be found here.

14th January 2013
Attended a fascinating seminar at the IET in London on “Extreme Electromagnetics”. It covered a range of phenomena, including “space weather” and high-energy electromagnetic pulses, that can cause massive disruption to telecommunications networks and electricity power grids. It’s scary stuff! Take a look here if you would like to learn more.

24th September 2012
The “175 Years of UK Telecommunications” conference that took place today at the IET’s Savoy Place headquarters was a sell-out (if that is the appropriate term for a conference where admission was free). There were excellent talks covering the history of telegraphy, telephony, Alec Reeves (inventor of PCM), transmission, circuit switching, radio, satellites, mobile networks and packet switching. I hope that the IET will organise more conferences like this – there’s clearly a demand for them.

3rd March 2012
I attended the Archaeology of Communications conference in Salford. It looked at communications in a wider context than just telecommunications, but there was some excellent material covering telecoms from the invention of the telegraph to the present day. Concern was expressed that telecoms and IT are progressing so fast that important archaeological artefacts are being lost before their significance is truly appreciated.

27th February 2012
I visited the BT Archives today in London’s High Holborn. Although there are some old telephones on display, the main interest is in the extraordinary collection of documents that they hold. I was amazed to discover from their collection of old telephone directories that an ancestor of mine appears as early as 1884 – that’s only 8 years after the telephone was invented!

29th January 2012
I’ve had a couple of comments on blog postings claiming that my RSS feed is not working properly. (The RSS feed is labelled “Follow Ramblings blog”, and is located near the top RH corner of each page on this site.)  However, I’ve checked with a number of subscribers, and they tell me that the feed is working just fine. If you want to follow the blog but don’t want to use RSS, it can also be found on facebook at DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM or on twitter at andrewwheen.

24th December 2011
I’ve decided to start blogging! I’ll include interesting stories from the history of telecoms mixed with occasional thoughts about more recent developments. Readers will be able to comment on my efforts (although I will filter out anything offensive), so any questions that you would like me to address would be most welcome. Select Ramblings Blog or click here to see the first few posts. To receive new posts as I publish them, click on the orange icon at the top RH corner of the page labelled “Follow Ramblings blog”.

23rd December 2011
Many thanks to Brendan for posting a great customer review on amazon.com.

16th December 2011
It has just been pointed out to me that DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM is now available on iBooks. Apple fans can read the book on iPad, iPhone (3rd Generation or later) or iPod Touch (2nd Generation or later).

15th December 2011
I gave a lecture based on DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM to the IET Cambridge local network on 15th December at the British Antarctic Survey headquarters in Cambridge. Many thanks to the 100 or so people who turned up, and for the very stimulating question & answer session at the end! I’m planning some additional lectures, so watch this space if you are interested.

26th November 2011
Imperial Engineer magazine published a great review of DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM in their Autumn edition. It’s not currently available online, but it should eventually appear here.

16th November 2011
A review of DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM has appeared in this month’s edition of Engineering & Technology magazine. It’s also available online (scroll to the bottom of the page).

29th October 2011
I’ve just received a signed copy of Julia Jones’s new book: “A Ravelled Flag“. Alec Reeves, and the Oboe navigation system that he invented, play a central role in the story. Julia first came across Alec Reeves in DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM (p76), and she has kindly included a reference to the book in her list of acknowledgements.

19th October 2011
I gave a lecture based on DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM to the IET Beds & Herts local network on 19th October in Welwyn Garden City. Many thanks to all those who turned out on a cold evening to make the event such a success!

30th September 2011
Another 5-star review has appeared on amazon.co.uk! A big thank-you to AlanM.

21 August 2011
Two more customer reviews have appeared on amazon.co.uk, and both awarded the book 5 stars!! Many thanks to Gatherer and ART.

12 July 2011
First customer review to appear on amazon.co.uk! Many thanks to Duncan W. for getting things going. An extract from a review by F. A. Cassara in Choice, Vol. 48 (10), June 2011 has also appeared on the same page.

23 June 2011
Here’s a review on the bookbag website.

3 June 2011
My publishers have been testing me! Click here if you want to know the answers to any of the following questions:

  • What was the key breakthrough that enabled the dramatic growth in mobile communications?
  • What were the most important technological advances that lead to the Internet?
  • What does the future hold for telecommunications?

16 March 2011
A review of the book was published by the IET’s Engineering & Technology magazine. Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

14 Jan 2011
Here’s a press release from the launch of the book.

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