3 December 1992: the world’s first text message is sent

Twenty two years ago, a developer working in Newbury, Berkshire, sent a two-word text message, marking the start of a whole new way of communicating.

The idea of sending messages to mobile phones by text isn't particularly new. The concept of the SMS' or short messaging system was created 30 years ago, in 1984, by Friedhelm Hillebrand of Deutsche Telekom and Bernard Ghillebaert of France Tlcom. Between them, they developed the system that still exists today.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.