Chelmsford can claim to be the birthplace of radio. Guglielmo Marconi (1874 - 1937) arrived in England in 1896 and took over a former silk mill in Chelmsford in 1898 and established it as the world’s first radio factory. Development work on aircraft radio in the early 1900’s played an important role in the development of commercial broadcasting and in June 1920 the first publicised entertainment broadcast in Britain was transmitted from Chelmsford, when Australian prima donna Dame Nellie Melba sang.
Chelmsford Borough Council have now produced an interesting leaflet (free) highlighting the history of radio broadcasting in Chelmsford with a map taking you around some of the sites associated with Marconi.