‘I made the UK's first mobile phone call in 1985 - and I had no idea how important it would be’

• January 1 will mark 40 years since the UK’s first mobile phone call.
• Michael Harrison made the call to his father in 1985, which would signify the start of a mobile phone revolution.
• Since then, mobile phones have evolved at an astonishing pace.
• But at the time, Michael had “no idea” how significant the call would become.

40 years ago, Michael Harrison made history - with a phone call that would change the way we communicate forever.

Just after midnight on January 1, 1985, Harrison called his father, Sir Ernest Harrison, using the Vodafone transportable VT1. The device, as large and heavy as a car battery, symbolised the dawn of mobile telephony in the UK.

Michael made the surprise call to his father from London’s Parliament Square, with a crowd watching the historic event.

“People were looking at me thinking, what is that person carrying in his hand?,” Michael said.

“It looks rather like a car battery with some bit of plastic stuck on top, which of course is what it was. I made the very first call a few minutes after midnight and everything worked well. The call went through and I said, ‘happy New Year dad, it's Mike here’ - and this is the very first call ever made to the UK mobile network.”

Fast forward to today and the tradition of connecting with loved ones during the New Year remains strong. New research from Vodafone shows that two in five people plan to make a call to wish friends and family a Happy New Year in 2025.

Since Michael's historic call, mobile phones have evolved at an astonishing pace. 93% of people surveyed agree that mobile technology has revolutionised the way we live, work and interact, with 84% considering it one of the greatest inventions of our time.

But Michael said that, at the time, he “had no idea” how significant the call would become - or how mobile technology would revolutionise life today.

“In 1984, you still had to wait 10 years before the internet came along,” he added.

“The visionaries in that time, like my father, for example, he was convinced it would take off because he always felt people love to talk and human beings are naturally social animals.

“And if you give them the opportunity to contact more people more easily, wherever you are in the country, in the world, people will grasp that opportunity. And whether it's for work reasons or whether it's for your social reasons, people would grow to love the ability to do that.”

Millennials least likely to call family on December 25

The Vodafone research found that Millennials are more likely to send a WhatsApp message to their family this Christmas rather than take the time to call and speak.

But while the generation appears to be the least interested in connecting with family on December 25, both younger and older generations are happiest to share season’s greetings over the phone.

Gen Z - age 18 to 27 - are the most likely to use a video call to wish loved ones a ‘happy Christmas’ while the Baby Boomer generation - age 60 to 78 - prefer to the time-honoured tradition of picking up the phone.

Last year, Vodafone customers sent some 16 million SMS messages and made 21 million calls on Christmas Day, with around 404 million texts and calls from December 24 to January 1.

That’s a considerable leap since the world’s first text message was sent over the Vodafone network in December 1992, which read ‘Merry Christmas’.

Watch the full interview with Michael in the video above.