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The city of
St John's in Newfoundland shares many charactistics with Cornwall
- geographically remote, culturally unique and a fishing heritage
that has declined in recent years.
The people are
proud of their differences with the rest of Canada, which includes
a time difference of an hour and a very important half from the
mainland.
They are also
proud of their history. The first European landings in north America
by the Vikings more than a thousand years ago, the arrival of John
Cabot from England and of course the birth of global communications
with the first radio message to bridge the Atlantic.
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| The young Marconi at work. |
The young Italian
inventor Guglielmo Marconi arrived in St John's Newfoundland hoping
to prove his doubters wrong - that radio waves could carry messages
over the horizon and indeed across the Atlantic.
He received
that message on Signal Hill high above the city, a cold, bitter
place in December. He succeeded in flying a kite as his aerial in
the icy winter wind - something which the Canadian Armed Forces
have been trying to achieve in recent days and finding it more difficult
than they first imagined.
How many Canadian
soldiers does it take to fly a kite? The answer, about twenty complete
with logistical support units and I am yet to see them get the replica
kite off the ground for more than a few seconds.
Standing by
is the U.S. Navy ready to apply their replica receiving devices
similar to the ones Marconi used a hundred years ago.
All this to
hear a spark sent by the RAF from Poldhu.
Celebrations
All year the
provincial Government here in Newfoundland has been organising events
to mark the centenary of radio.
In September
an international array of communications experts and politicians
from all over the world attended the Global Wireless Vision Congress
that included Arthur C Clarke live from his home in Sri Lanka.
The year's events
will be concluded on Wednesday with a ceremony involving top Canadian
politicans, the British High Commissioner, Marconi's grandson and
the Italian President.
For Newfoundlanders
it has been a year of connecting with their history and the world.
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