In 1880, there were so few telephones in London that it was possible for '1' to be your phone number. In this clip from the 1988 CHRISTMAS LECTURES "The home of the future", Gareth Roberts takes a look at a small, red book – the London telephone directory from that year. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe This video is from our 2017 advent calendar. Watch the full series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbnrZHfNEDZyvS5Cx-aRTX-Y8IBJCNmYm The Royal Institution 2017 advent calendar ‘Transmissions Through Time’ looks through the lens of CHRISTMAS LECTURES past to share the best demonstrations around the science of communication. From Attenborough and Sagan to Woollard and Fong, we revisit old favourites and find new gems to bring you a little gift of science every day in the lead up to Christmas. http://bit.ly/RiAdvent17 The Ri is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com/ Our editorial policy: http://www.rigb.org/home/editorial-policy Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter