On the 10th of March, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell spoke the first complete sentence ever heard via telephone: "Watson, please come here. I want you." Was this historic moment carefully scripted and rehearsed? Well, not exactly. Bell's words were picked up by his assistant at the other end -- when Bell blurted them out after spilling acid on his pants.
[When the first transcontinental telephone line was completed in 1915, Bell, on the East Coast, was called upon to do the honors once again. His historic words on this occasion? "Watson, please come here. I want you." Bell was only joking; Watson was in California, 3,000 miles away.]
Sources
M. Driscoll, ed., 5087 Trivia Questions & Answers; Isaac Asimov`s Book of Facts
