Having recently considered that new-fangled invention, the book, we can now turn our attention to the yet newer-fangled gadget the telephone – and not just any telephone, but, gasp, the telephone with a dial, no less.

This is the instruction video, 1927 style, overcoming some major challenges – how do you get across the difference between a ringing tone and an engaged tone in a silent film.  But it takes seven minutes to do almost nothing more than explaining how to dial (though there is an amazing bonus scene of a directory enquiries call centre).

Again, the serious point is to underline just how alien new technologies can be to first-time users, however quickly they subsequently become self-evidently straightforward to everyone.